[1] Springer, in his Forest Life (1851), says that they first remove the leaves and turf from the spot where they intend to build a camp, for fear of fire; also, that “the spruce-tree is generally selected for camp-building, it being light, straight, and quite free from sap;” that “the roof is finally covered with the boughs of the fir, spruce, and hemlock, so that when the snow falls upon the whole, the warmth of the camp is preserved in the coldest weather;” and that they make the log seat before the fire, called the “Deacon’s Seat,” of a spruce or fir split in halves, with three or four stout limbs left on one side for legs, which are not likely to get loose.

[2] The Canadians call it picquer de fond.

[3] Even the Jesuit missionaries, accustomed to the St. Lawrence and other rivers of Canada, in their first expeditions to the Abenaquinois, speak of rivers ferrÉes de rochers, shod with rocks. See also No. 10 Relations, for 1647, p. 185.

[4] “A steady current or pitch of water is preferable to one either rising or diminishing; as, when rising rapidly, the water at the middle of the river is considerably higher than at the shores,—so much so as to be distinctly perceived by the eye of a spectator on the banks, presenting an appearance like a turnpike road. The lumber, therefore, is always sure to incline from the centre of the channel toward either shore.”—Springer.

[5] “The spruce tree,” says Springer in ’51, “is generally selected, principally for the superior facilities which its numerous limbs afford the climber. To gain the first limbs of this tree, which are from twenty to forty feet from the ground, a smaller tree is undercut and lodged against it, clambering up which the top of the spruce is reached. In some cases, when a very elevated position is desired, the spruce tree is lodged against the trunk of some lofty pine, up which we ascend to a height twice that of the surrounding forest.”

To indicate the direction of pines, one throws down a branch, and a man on the ground takes the bearing.

[6] The bears had not touched things on our possessions. They sometimes tear a batteau to pieces for the sake of the tar with which it is besmeared.

[7] I cut this from a newspaper: “On the 11th (instant?) [May, ’49], on Rappogenes Falls, Mr. John Delantee, of Orono, Me., was drowned while running logs. He was a citizen of Orono, and was twenty-six years of age. His companions found his body, enclosed it in bark, and buried it in the solemn woods.”

[8] These twigs are called in Rasle’s Dictionary Sediak.