CHESUNCOOK. 
139 
believed. We also heard the hylodes and tree-toads, 
and the lumberers singing in their camp a quarter of a 
mile off. I told them that I had seen pictured in old 
books pieces of human flesh drying on these crates; 
whereupon they repeated some tradition about the Mo- 
hawks eating human flesh, what parts they preferred, 
etc., and also of a battle with the Mohawks near Moose- 
head, in which many of the latter were killed; but I 
found that they knew but little of the history of their 
race, and could be entertained by stories about their 
ancestors as readily as any way. At first I was nearly 
roasted out, for I lay against one side of the camp, and 
felt the heat reflected not only from the birch-bark above, 
but from the side; and again I remembered the suffer¬ 
ings of the Jesuit missionaries, and what extremes of 
heat and cold the Indians were said to endure. I strug¬ 
gled long between my desire to remain and talk with 
them, and my impulse to rush out and stretch myself on 
the cool grass; and when I was about to take the last 
step, Joe, hearing my murmurs, or else being uncomfort¬ 
able himself, got up and partially dispersed the fire. I 
suppose that that is Indian manners, — to defend your¬ 
self. 
While lying there listening to the Indians, I amused 
myself with trying to guess at their subject by their 
gestures, or some proper name introduced. There can 
be no more startling evidence of their being a distinct 
and comparatively aboriginal race, than to hear this unal¬ 
tered Indian language, which the white man cannot speak 
nor understand. We may suspect change and deteriora¬ 
tion in almost every other particular, but the language 
which is so wholly unintelligible to us. It took me by 
surprise, though I had found so many arrow-heads, and 
