guide’s. He said it was the one with blinds.
We landed opposite his door at about four in the afternoon, having come some forty miles this day. From the Piscataquis we had come remarkably and unaccountably quick, probably as fast as the stage or the boat, though the last dozen miles was dead water.
Polis wanted to sell us his canoe, said it would last seven or eight years, or with care, perhaps ten; but we were not ready to buy it.
We stopped for an hour at his house, where my companion shaved with his razor, which he pronounced in very good condition. Mrs. P. wore a hat and had a silver brooch on her breast, but she was not introduced to us. The house was roomy and neat. A large new map of Oldtown and the Indian Island hung on the wall, and a clock opposite to it.
Wishing to know when the cars left Oldtown, Polis’s son brought one of the last Bangor papers, which I saw was directed to “Joseph Polis,” from the office.
This was the last that I saw of Joe Polis. We took the last train, and reached Bangor that night.
FOOTNOTE: [8] These twigs are called in Rasle’s Dictionary _Sediak_.
APPENDIX I. TREES The prevailing trees (I speak only of what I saw) on the east and west branches of the Penobscot and on the upper part of the Allegash were the fir, spruce (both black and white), and arbor-vitæ, or “cedar.”
The fir has the darkest foliage, and, together with the spruce, makes a very dense “black growth,” especially on the upper parts of the rivers. A dealer in lumber with whom I talked called the former a weed, and it is commonly regarded as fit neither for timber nor fuel.
But it is more sought after as an ornamental tree than any other evergreen of these woods except the arbor-vitæ. The black spruce is much more common than the white. Both are tall and slender trees. The arbor-vitæ, which is of a more cheerful hue, with its light-green fans, is also tall and slender, though sometimes two feet in diameter.
It often fills the swamps.
Mingled with the former, and also here and there forming extensive and more open woods by themselves, indicating, it is said, a better soil, were canoe and yellow birches (the former was always at hand for kindling a fire,--we saw no small white birches in that wilderness), and sugar and red maples.
The aspen (_Populus tremuloides_) was very common on burnt grounds. We saw many straggling white pines, commonly unsound trees, which had therefore been skipped by the choppers; these were the largest trees we saw; and we occasionally passed a small wood in which this was the prevailing tree; but I did not notice nearly so many of these trees as I can see in a single walk in Concord. The speckled or hoary alder (_Alnus incana_) abounds everywhere along the muddy banks of rivers and lakes, and in swamps. Hemlock could commonly be found for tea, but was nowhere abundant. Yet F. A. Michaux states that in Maine, Vermont, and the upper part of New Hampshire, etc., the hemlock forms three fourths of the evergreen woods, the rest being black spruce. It belongs to cold hillsides.
The elm and black ash were very common along the lower and stiller parts of the streams, where the shores were flat and grassy or there were low gravelly islands. They made a pleasing variety in the scenery, and we felt as if nearer home while gliding past them.
The above fourteen trees made the bulk of the woods which we saw.
The larch (juniper), beech, and Norway pine (_Pinus resinosa_, red pine) were only occasionally seen in particular places. The _Pinus Banksiana_ (gray or Northern scrub pine), and a single small red oak (_Quercus rubra_) only, are on islands in Grand Lake, on the East Branch.
The above are almost all peculiarly Northern trees, and found chiefly, if not solely, on mountains southward.
II. FLOWERS AND SHRUBS It appears that in a forest like this the great majority of flowers, shrubs, and grasses are confined to the banks of the rivers and lakes, and to the meadows, more open swamps, burnt lands, and mountain-tops; comparatively very few indeed penetrate the woods. There is no such dispersion even of wild-flowers as is commonly supposed, or as exists in a cleared and settled country. Most of our wild-flowers, so called, may be considered as naturalized in the localities where they grow.
Rivers and lakes are the great protectors of such plants against the aggressions of the forest, by their annual rise and fall keeping open a narrow strip where these more delicate plants have light and space in which to grow. They are the _protégés_ of the rivers. These narrow and straggling bands and isolated groups are, in a sense, the pioneers of civilization. Birds, quadrupeds, insects, and man also, in the main, follow the flowers, and the latter in his turn makes more room for them and for berry-bearing shrubs, birds, and small quadrupeds.
One settler told me that not only blackberries and raspberries but mountain maples came in, in the clearing and burning.
Though plants are often referred to primitive woods as their locality, it cannot be true of very many, unless the woods are supposed to include such localities as I have mentioned. Only those which require but little light, and can bear the drip of the trees, penetrate the woods, and these have commonly more beauty in their leaves than in their pale and almost colorless blossoms.
The prevailing flowers and conspicuous small plants of the _woods_, which I noticed, were: _Clintonia borealis_, linnæa, checkerberry (Indian cucumber-root), small _Circæa_ (enchanter’s nightshade), and perhaps _Cornus Canadensis_ (dwarf cornel).
Of these, the last of July, 1858, only the _Aster acuminatus_ and great round-leaved orchis were conspicuously in bloom.
The most common flowers of the _river_ and _lake shores_ were: and _Canadense_ (St. John’s-wort); horsemint; horehound, _Lycopus Branch, (goldenrod); _Diplopappus umbellatus_ (double-bristled aster); lily); _Platanthera peramœna_ and _psycodes_ (great purple orchis and small purple fringed orchis); _Mimulus ringens_ (monkey-flower); dock (water); blue flag; _Hydrocotyle Americana_ (marsh pennywort); shores, (Joe-Pye-weed); _Apocynum Cannabinum_, East Branch, (Indian hemp); _Polygonum cilinode_ (bindweed); and others. Not to mention, among inferior orders, wool-grass and the sensitive fern.
In the water, _Nuphar advena_ (yellow pond-lily), some _potamogetons_ (water-parsnip).
Of these, those conspicuously in flower the last of July, 1857, were: _Aster Radula_, _Lilium Canadense_, great and small purple orchis, _Mimulus ringens_, blue flag, virgin’s-bower, etc.
The characteristic flowers in _swamps_ were: _Rubus triflorus_ (dwarf full bloom, (great willow-herb); and _Erechthites hieracifolia_ (common brake). At _old camps, carries, and logging-paths_: _Cirsium clover; herd’s-grass; _Achillea millefolium_ (common yarrow); deflexa_, East Branch, (spurred gentian); _Antennaria margaritacea_ (pearly everlasting); _Actæa rubra_ and _alba_, wet carries, (red and white cohosh); _Desmodium Canadense_ (tick-trefoil); sorrel.
The handsomest and most interesting flowers were the great purple orchises, rising ever and anon, with their great purple spikes perfectly erect, amid the shrubs and grasses of the shore. It seemed strange that they should be made to grow there in such profusion, seen of moose and moose-hunters only, while they are so rare in Concord. I have never seen this species flowering nearly so late with us, or with the small one.
The prevailing underwoods were: _Dirca palustris_ (moose-wood), _Acer frequently _Taxus baccata_, var. _Canadensis_ (American yew).
The prevailing shrubs and small trees along the shore were: _osier rouge_ and alders (before mentioned); sallows, or small willows, of two or three kinds, as _Salis humilis_, _rostrata_, and _discolor_ (American mountain-ash); _Corylus rostrata_ (beaked hazelnut); prostratum_, in some places, (fetid currant).
More particularly of shrubs and small trees in _swamps_: some willows, (Labrador tea), _Ribes lacustre_ (swamp gooseberry), and in one place _Betula pumila_ (low birch). At _camps and carries_: raspberry, alongshore) (wild red cherry), _Amelanchier Canadensis_ (shad-bush), _Sambucus pubens_ (red-berried elder). Among those peculiar to the Of plants commonly regarded as _introduced_ from Europe, I observed at Ansel Smith’s clearing, Chesuncook, abundant in 1857: _Ranunculus (shepherd’s-purse); _Spergula arvensis_, also north shore of Moosehead Dens-leonis_--regarded as indigenous by Gray, but evidently introduced _Rumex Acetosella_, common at carries, (sheep sorrel); _Trifolium pratense_, 1853, on carries, frequent, (red clover); _Leucanthemum vulgare_, carries, (whiteweed); _Phleum pratense_, carries, 1853 and arvense_, abundant at camps, 1857, (Canada thistle); _Rumex crispus_ between Bangor and lake, 1853, (common mullein).
It appears that I saw about a dozen plants which had accompanied man as far into the woods as Chesuncook, and had naturalized themselves there, in 1853. Plants begin thus early to spring by the side of a logging-path,--a mere vista through the woods, which can only be used in the winter, on account of the stumps and fallen trees,--which at length are the roadside plants in old settlements. The pioneers of such are planted in part by the first cattle, which cannot be summered in the woods.
III. LIST OF PLANTS The following is a list of the plants which I noticed in the Maine woods, in the years 1853 and 1857. (Those marked * not in woods.)
1. THOSE WHICH ATTAINED THE HEIGHT OF TREES _Alnus incana_ (speckled or hoary alder), abundant along streams, etc.
_Thuja occidentalis_ (American arbor-vitæ), one of the prevailing.
_Fraxinus sambucifolia_ (black ash), very common, especially near dead water. The Indian spoke of “yellow ash” as also found there.
_Populus tremuloides_ (American aspen), very common, especially on burnt lands, almost as white as birches.
_Populus grandidentata_ (large-toothed aspen), perhaps two or three.
_Fagus ferruginea_ (American beech), not uncommon, at least on the West Branch. (Saw more in 1846.)
_Betula papyracea_ (canoe birch), prevailing everywhere and about Bangor.
_Betula excelsa_ (yellow birch), very common.
_Betula lenta_ (black birch), on the West Branch in 1853.
_Betula alba_ (American white birch), about Bangor only.
_Ulmus Americana_ (American or white elm), West Branch and low down the East Branch, _i. e._ on the lower and alluvial part of the river, very common.
_Larix Americana_ (American or black larch), very common on the Umbazookskus; some elsewhere.
_Abies Canadensis_ (hemlock spruce); not abundant; some on the West Branch, and a little everywhere.
_Acer saccharinum_ (sugar maple), very common.
_Acer rubrum_ (red or swamp maple), very common.
_Acer dasycarpum_ (white or silver maple), a little low on East Branch and in Chesuncook woods.
_Quercus rubra_ (red oak), one on an island in Grand Lake, East Branch, and, according to a settler, a few on the east side of Chesuncook Lake; a few also about Bangor in 1853.
_Pinus Strobus_ (white pine), scattered along, most abundant at Heron Lake.
_Pinus resinosa_ (red pine), Telos and Grand Lake, a little afterwards here and there.
_Abies balsamea_ (balsam fir), perhaps the most common tree, especially in the upper parts of rivers.
_Abies nigra_ (black or double spruce), next to the last the most common, if not equally common, and on mountains.
_Abies alba_ (white or single spruce), common with the last along the rivers.
_Pinus Banksiana_ (gray or Northern scrub pine), a few on an island in Grand Lake.
Twenty-three in all (23).
2. SMALL TREES AND SHRUBS _Prunus depressa_ (dwarf cherry), on gravel-bars, East Branch, near Hunt’s, with green fruit; obviously distinct from the _pumila_ of river and meadows.
_Vaccinium corymbosum_ (common swamp blueberry), Bucksport.
_Vaccinium Canadense_ (Canada blueberry), carries and rocky hills everywhere as far south as Bucksport.
_Betula pumila_ (low birch), Mud Pond Swamp.
_Prinos verticillatus_ (black alder), 1857, now placed with _Ilex_ by Gray, 2d ed.
_Prunus Pennsylvanica_ (wild red cherry), very common at camps, carries, etc., along rivers; fruit ripe August 1, 1857.
_Ribes prostratum_ (fetid currant), common along streams; on Webster Stream.
_Sambucus Canadensis_ (common elder), common along riversides.
_Sambucus pubens_ (red-berried elder), not quite so common; roadsides toward Moosehead, and on carries afterward; fruit beautiful.
_Ribes lacustre_ (swamp-gooseberry), swamps, common; Mud Pond Swamp and Webster Stream; not ripe July 29, 1857.
_Corylus rostrata_ (beaked hazelnut), common.
_Taxus baccata_, var. _Canadensis_ (American yew), a common undershrub at an island in West Branch and Chesuncook woods.
_Viburnum lantanoides_ (hobble-bush), common, especially in Chesuncook woods; fruit ripe in September, 1853, not in July, 1857.
_Viburnum Opulus_ (cranberry-tree), on West Branch; one in flower still, July 25, 1857.
_Viburnum nudum_ (withe-rod), common along rivers.
_Kalmia glauca_ (pale laurel), swamps, common, as at Moosehead Carry and Chamberlain Swamp.
_Acer spicatum_ (mountain maple), a prevailing underwood.
_Acer striatum_ (striped maple), in fruit July 30, 1857; green the first year; green, striped with white, the second; darker, the third, with dark blotches.
_Cornus stolonifera_ (red-osier dogwood), prevailing shrub on shore of West Branch; fruit still white in August, 1857.
_Pyrus Americana_ (American mountain-ash), common along shores.
_Amelanchier Canadensis_ (shad-bush), rocky carries, etc., considerable fruit in 1857.
_Rubus strigosus_ (wild red raspberry), very abundant, burnt grounds, camps, and carries, but not ripe till we got to Chamberlain dam and on East Branch.
_Rosa Carolina_ (swamp rose), common on the shores of lakes, etc.
_Rhus typhina_* (staghorn sumach).
_Nemopanthes Canadensis_ (mountain holly), common in low ground, Moosehead Carry, and on Mount Kineo.
_Cratægus_ (_coccinea_? scarlet-fruited thorn), not uncommon; with hard fruit in September, 1853.
_Salix_ (near to _petiolaris_, petioled willow), very common in Umbazookskus meadows.
_Salix humilis_ (low bush willow), common.
_Salix lucida_ (shining willow), at island in Heron Lake.
In all, 38.
3. SMALL SHRUBS AND HERBACEOUS PLANTS _Agrimonia Eupatoria_ (common agrimony), not uncommon.
_Circæa alpina_ (enchanter’s nightshade), very common in woods.
_Nasturtium palustre_ (marsh cress), var. _hispidum_, common, as at A.
Smith’s.
_Aralia hispida_ (bristly sarsaparilla), on West Branch, both years.
_Aralia nudicaulis_ (wild sarsaparilla), Chesuncook woods.
_Sagittaria variabilis_ (arrowhead), common at Moosehead and afterward.
_Arum triphyllum_ (Indian turnip), now _arisæma_, Moosehead Carry in 1853.
_Asclepias incarnata_ (swamp milkweed), Umbazookskus River and after; redder than ours, and a different variety from our var. _pulchra_.
_Aster acuminatus_ (pointed-leaved aster), the prevailing aster in woods, not long open on South Branch, July 31; two or more feet high.
_Aster macrophyllus_ (large-leaved aster), common, and the whole plant surprisingly fragrant, like a medicinal herb; just out at Telos Dam, July 29, 1857, and after to Bangor and Bucksport; bluish flower (in woods on Pine Stream and at Chesuncook in 1853).
_Aster Radula_ (rough-leaved aster), common, Moosehead Carry and after.
_Aster miser_ (petty aster), in 1853 on West Branch, and common on Chesuncook shore.
_Aster longifolius_ (willow-leaved blue aster), 1853, Moosehead and Chesuncook shores.
Chesuncook shore, 1853.
_Aster_, _longifolius_-like, with small flowers, West Branch, 1853.
_Aster puniceus_ (rough-stemmed aster), Pine Stream.
_Diplopappus umbellatus_ (large diplopappus aster), common along river.
_Ranunculus acris_ (buttercups), abundant at Smith’s dam, Chesuncook, 1853.
_Rubus triflorus_ (dwarf raspberry), low grounds and swamps, common.
_Utricularia vulgaris_* (greater bladderwort), Pushaw.
_Iris versicolor_ (larger blue flag), common, Moosehead, West Branch, Umbazookskus, etc.
_Calla palustris_ (water-arum), in bloom July 27, 1857, Mud Pond Swamp.
_Lobelia cardinalis_ (cardinal-flower), apparently common, but out of bloom August, 1857.
_Cerastium nutans_ (clammy wild chickweed) (?).
_Gaultheria procumbens_ (checkerberry), prevailing everywhere in woods along banks of rivers.
_Stellaria media_* (common chickweed), Bangor.
_Chiogenes hispidula_ (creeping snowberry), very common in woods.
_Cicuta maculata_ (water hemlock).
_Cicuta bulbifera_ (bulb-bearing water hemlock), Penobscot and Chesuncook shore, 1853.
_Galium_, one kind on Pine Stream, 1853.
_Trifolium pratense_ (red clover), on carries, etc.
_Actæa spicata_, var. _alba_ (white cohosh), Chesuncook woods, 1853, and East Branch, 1857.
_Actæa_, var. _rubra_ (red cohosh), East Branch, 1857.
_Vaccinium Vitis-Idæa_ (cow-berry), Ktaadn, very abundant.
_Cornus Canadensis_ (dwarf cornel), in woods Chesuncook, 1853; just ripe at Kineo, July 24, 1857, common; still in bloom, Moosehead Carry, September 16, 1853.
_Medeola Virginica_ (Indian cucumber-root), West Branch and Chesuncook woods.
_Dalibarda repens_ (dalibarda), Moosehead Carry and after, common. In flower still, August 1, 1857.
_Taraxacum Dens-leonis_ (common dandelion), Smith’s, 1853; only there.
Is it not foreign?
_Diervilla trifida_ (bush honeysuckle), very common.
_Rumex Hydrolapathum_ (_?_) (great water dock), in 1857; noticed it was large-seeded in 1853; common.
_Rumex crispus_ (_?_) (curled dock), West Branch, 1853.
_Apocynum cannabinum_ (Indian hemp), Kineo (Bradford) and East Branch, 1857, at Whetstone Falls.
_Apocynum androsæmifolium_ (spreading dogbane), Kineo (Bradford).
_Clintonia borealis_ (clintonia), all over woods; fruit just ripening, July 25, 1857.
_Epilobium angustifolium_ (great willow-herb), great fields on burnt lands; some white at Webster Stream.
_Eupatorium purpureum_ (Joe-Pye-weed), Heron, Moosehead, and Chesuncook lake shores, common.
_Allium_ (onion), a new kind to me in bloom, without bulbs above, on rocks near Whetstone Falls (?), East Branch.
_Halenia deflexa_ (spurred gentian), carries on East Branch, common.
_Solidago lanceolata_ (bushy goldenrod), very common.
_Solidago_, one of the three-ribbed, in both years.
_Solidago thyrsoidea_ (large mountain goldenrod), one on Webster Stream.
_Solidago squarrosa_ (large-spiked goldenrod), the most common on East Branch.
_Solidago altissima_ (rough hairy goldenrod), not uncommon both years.
_Smilax herbacea_ (carrion-flower), not uncommon both years.
_Spiræa tomentosa_* (hardhack), Bangor.
_Campanula rotundifolia_ (harebell), cliffs, Kineo, Grand Lake, etc.
_Hieracium_ (hawkweed), not uncommon.
_Veratrum viride_ (American white hellebore).
_Lycopus Europæus_ (water horehound), var. _sinuatus_, Heron Lake shore.
_Mentha Canadensis_ (wild mint), very common.
_Galeopsis tetrahit_ (common hemp-nettle), Olamon Isle, abundant, and below, in prime, August 3, 1857.
_Hydrocotyle Americana_ (marsh pennywort), common.
_Hypericum mutilum_ (small St. John’s-wort), both years, common.
_Hypericum Canadense_ (Canadian St. John’s-wort), Moosehead Lake and Chesuncook shores, 1853.
_Lobelia inflata_ (Indian tobacco).
_Spiranthes cernua_ (ladies’-tresses), Kineo and after.
Chesuncook woods, 1853.
_Antennaria margaritacea_ (pearly everlasting), common, Moosehead, Smith’s, etc.
_Lilium Canadense_ (wild yellow lily), very common and large, West and East Branch; one on East Branch, 1857, with strongly revolute petals, and leaves perfectly smooth beneath, but not larger than the last, and apparently only a variety.
_Linnæa borealis_ (linnæa), almost everywhere in woods.
_Lobelia Dortmanna_ (water lobelia), pond in Bucksport.
_Lysimachia ciliata_ (hairy-stalked loosestrife), very common, Chesuncook shore and East Branch.
_Lysimachia stricta_ (upright loosestrife), very common.
_Scutellaria galericulata_ (skullcap), very common.
Chesuncook, 1853.
_Platanthera psycodes_ (small purple fringed orchis), very common, East Branch and Chesuncook, 1853.
_Platanthera fimbriata_ (large purple fringed orchis), very common, West Branch and Umbazookskus, 1857.
_Platanthera orbiculata_ (large round-leaved orchis), very common in woods, Moosehead and Chamberlain carries, Caucomgomoc, etc.
_Amphicarpæa monoica_ (hog peanut).
_Aralia racemosa_ (spikenard), common, Moosehead Carry, Telos Lake, etc., and after; out about August 1, 1857.
_Plantago major_ (common plantain), common in open land at Smith’s in 1853.
_Potamogeton_ (pondweed), not common.
_Potentilla tridentata_ (mountain cinquefoil), Kineo.
_Potentilla Norvegica_ (cinquefoil), Heron Lake shore and Smith’s.
_Polygonum amphibium_ (water persicaria), var. _aquaticum_ Second Lake.
_Nuphar advena_ (yellow pond-lily), not abundant.
_Nymphæa odorata_ (sweet water-lily), a few in West Branch, 1853.
_Pyrola secunda_ (one-sided pyrola), very common, Caucomgomoc.
_Ranunculus recurvatus_ (hooked crowfoot), Umbazookskus landing, &c.
_Typha latifolia_* (common cat-tail or reed-mace), extremely abundant between Bangor and Portland.
_Sanicula Marylandica_ (black snake-root), Moosehead Carry and after.
_Aralia nudicaulis_ (wild sarsaparilla).
_Prunella vulgaris_ (self-heal), very common everywhere.
1853.
_Sarracenia purpurea_ (pitcher-plant), Mud Pond Swamp.
woods, 1853.
_Smilacina racemosa_ (false spikenard) (?), Umbazookskus Carry, July 27, 1853.
_Veronica scutellata_ (marsh speedwell).
and Smith’s.
_Thalictrum Cornuti_ (meadow-rue), very common, especially along rivers, tall, and conspicuously in bloom in July, 1857.
_Cirsium arvense_ (Canada thistle), abundant at camps and highway-sides in the north of Maine.
_Cirsium muticum_ (swamp thistle), well in bloom, Webster Stream, August 31.
_Rumex acetosella_ (sheep sorrel), common by river and log-paths, as Chesuncook log-path.
_Trillium erythrocarpum_ (painted trillium), common West Branch and Moosehead Carry.
_Verbena hastata_ (blue vervain).
feathered in September, 1853; in bloom July, 1857.
_Achillea millefolium_ (common yarrow), by river and log-paths, and Smith’s.
_Desmodium Canadense_ (Canadian tick-trefoil), not uncommon.
_Oxalis Acetosella_ (common wood-sorrel), still out July 25 1853, at Moosehead Carry and after.
wood-path.
_Uvularia grandiflora_ (large-flowered bellwort), woods, common.
In all, 145.
4. OF LOWER ORDER _Scirpus Eriophorum_ (wool-grass), very common, especially on low islands. A coarse grass, four or five feet high, along the river.
_Phleum pratense_ (herd’s-grass), on carries, at camps and clearings.
_Pteris aquilina_ (brake), Kineo and after.
_Onoclea sensibilis_ (sensitive fern), very common along the riversides; some on the gravelly shore of Heron Lake Island.
_Polypodium Dryopteris_ (brittle polypody).
_Woodsia Ilvensis_ (rusty woodsia), Kineo.
_Usnea_ (a parmeliaceous lichen), common on various trees.
IV. LIST OF BIRDS WHICH I SAW IN MAINE BETWEEN JULY 24 AND AUGUST 3, 1857 A very small hawk at Great Falls, on Webster Stream.
_Haliæetus leucocephalus_ (white-headed or bald eagle), at Ragmuff, and above and below Hunt’s, and on pond below Mattawamkeag.
_Pandion haliaëtus_ (fish hawk or osprey), heard, also seen on East Branch.
_Bubo Virginianus_ (cat owl), near Camp Island, also above mouth of Schoonis, from a stump back and forth, also near Hunt’s on a tree.
_Icterus phœniceus_ (red-winged blackbird), Umbazookskus River.
_Corvus Americanus_ (American crow), a few, as at outlet of Grand Lake; a peculiar cawing.
_Fringilla Canadensis_ (tree sparrow), think I saw one on Mount Kineo, July 24, which behaved as if it had a nest there.
_Garrulus cristatus_ (blue jay).
bird.
_Muscicapa virens_ (wood pewee), Moosehead, and I think beyond.
_Muscicapa acadica_ (small pewee), common.
_Muscicapa ruticilla_ (American redstart), Moosehead.
_Vireo olivaceus_ (red-eyed vireo), everywhere common.
_Turdus migratorius_ (red-breasted robin), some everywhere.
_Turdus melodus_ (wood thrush), common in all the woods.
_Turdus Wilsonii_ (Wilson’s thrush), Moosehead and beyond.
_Fringilla albicollis_ (white-throated sparrow), Kineo and after, apparently nesting; the prevailing bird early and late.
_Fringilla melodia_ (song sparrow), at Moosehead or beyond.
_Sylvia pinus_ (pine warbler), one part of voyage.
_Picus erythrocephalus_ (red-headed woodpecker), heard and saw, and good to eat.
_Alcedo alcyon_ (belted kingfisher), very common.
_Tetrao umbellus_ (partridge), Moosehead Carry, etc.
_Tetrao cupido_ (_?_) (pinnated grouse), Webster Stream.
_Ardea cærulea_ (blue heron), lower part of Penobscot.
_Totanus macularius_ (spotted sandpiper or peetweet), everywhere.
_Larus argentatus_ (_?_) (herring gull), Heron Lake on rocks, and Chamberlain. Smaller gull on Second Lake.
_Anas obscura_ (dusky or black duck), once in East Branch.
_Anas sponsa_ (summer or wood duck), everywhere.
_Fuligula albeola_ (spirit duck or dipper), common.
_Colymbus glacialis_ (great northern diver or loon), in all the lakes.
_Mergus Merganser_ (buff-breasted merganser or sheldrake), common on lakes and rivers.
A swallow; the night-warbler (?) once or twice.
V. QUADRUPEDS A bat on West Branch; beaver skull at Grand Lake; Mr. Thatcher ate beaver with moose on the Caucomgomoc. A muskrat on the last stream; the red squirrel is common in the depths of the woods; a dead porcupine on Chamberlain road; a cow moose and tracks of calf; skin of a bear, just killed.
VI. OUTFIT FOR AN EXCURSION The following will be a good outfit for one who wishes to make an excursion of _twelve_ days into the Maine woods in July, with a companion and one Indian, for the same purposes that I did.
_Wear_,--a check shirt, stout old shoes, thick socks, a neck-ribbon, thick waistcoat, thick pants, old Kossuth hat, a linen sack.
_Carry_,--in an india-rubber knapsack, with a large flap, two shirts (check), one pair thick socks, one pair drawers, one flannel shirt, two pocket-handkerchiefs, a light india-rubber coat or a thick woolen one, two bosoms and collars to go and come with, one napkin, pins, needles, thread, one blanket, best gray, seven feet long.
_Tent_,--six by seven feet, and four feet high in middle, will do; veil and gloves and insect-wash, or, better, mosquito-bars to cover all at night; best pocket map, and perhaps description of the route; compass; plant-book and red blotting-paper; paper and stamps, botany, small pocket spy-glass for birds, pocket microscope, tape-measure, insect-boxes.
Axe, full size if possible, jackknife, fish-lines, two only apiece, with a few hooks and corks ready, and with pork for bait in a packet, rigged; matches (some also in a small vial in the waistcoat pocket); soap, two pieces; large knife and iron spoon (for all); three or four old newspapers, much twine, and several rags for dish-cloths; twenty feet of strong cord, four-quart tin pail for kettle, two tin dippers, three tin plates, a fry-pan.
_Provisions._--Soft hard-bread, twenty-eight pounds; pork, sixteen pounds; sugar, twelve pounds; one pound black tea or three pounds coffee; one box or a pint of salt; one quart Indian meal, to fry fish in; six lemons, good to correct the pork and warm water; perhaps two or three pounds of rice, for variety. You will probably get some berries, fish, etc., beside.
A gun is not worth the carriage, unless you go as hunters. The pork should be in an open keg, sawed to fit; the sugar, tea or coffee, meal, salt, etc., should be put in separate water-tight india-rubber bags, tied with a leather string; and all the provisions, and part of the rest of the baggage, put into two large india-rubber bags, which have been proved to be water-tight and durable.
Expense of preceding outfit is twenty-four dollars.
An Indian may be hired for about one dollar and fifty cents per day, and perhaps fifty cents a week for his canoe (this depends on the demand). The canoe should be a strong and tight one. This expense will be nineteen dollars.
Such an excursion need not cost more than twenty-five dollars apiece, starting at the foot of Moosehead, if you already possess or can borrow a reasonable part of the outfit. If you take an Indian and canoe at Oldtown, it will cost seven or eight dollars more to transport them to the lake.
VII. A LIST OF INDIAN WORDS 1. _Ktaadn_, said to mean _Highest Land_, Rasles puts for _Mt.
Potter.)
_Mattawamkeag_, place where two rivers meet. (Indian of carry.)
(_Vide_ Williamson’s History of Maine, and Willis.)
_Noliseemack_; other name, Shad Pond.
} } _Skuscumonsuk_, kingfisher. Has it not the pl. termination } _uk_ here, or _suk_? } Joe.
} } } _Moose_ (is it called, or does it mean, wood-eater?), _mous_ (Rasles).