BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON MIFFLIN AND COMPANY MDCCCCVI COPYRIGHT 1864 BY TICKNOR AND FIELDS COPYRIGHT 1892, 1893, AND 1906 BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. All rights reserved...

O n the 31st of August, 1846, I left Concord in Massachusetts for Bangor and the backwoods of Maine, by way of the railroad and steamboat, intending to accompany a relative of mine, engaged in the lumber trade in Bangor, as far as a dam on the West Branch of the Penobscot, in which property he was interested. From this place, which is about one hundred miles by the river above Bangor, thirty miles from the Houlton military road, and five miles beyond the last log hut, I proposed to make excursio

The next morning we drove along through a high and hilly country, in view of Cold-Stream Pond, a beautiful lake four or five miles long, and came into the Houlton road again, here called the military road, at Lincoln, forty-five miles from Bangor, where there is quite a village for this country,—the principal one above Oldtown. Learning that there were several wigwams here, on one of the Indian islands, we left our horse and wagon and walked through the forest half a mile to the river, to procur

A t five P. M. , September 13, 1853, I left Boston, in the steamer, for Bangor, by the outside course. It was a warm and still night,—warmer, probably, on the water than on the land,—and the sea was as smooth as a small lake in summer, merely rippled. The passengers went singing on the deck, as in a parlor, till ten o’clock. We passed a vessel on her beam-ends on a rock just outside the islands, and some of us thought that she was the “rapt ship” which ran “on her side so low That she drank wate

I started on my third excursion to the Maine woods Monday, July 20, 1857, with one companion, arriving at Bangor the next day at noon. We had hardly left the steamer, when we passed Molly Molasses in the street. As long as she lives, the Penobscots may be considered extant as a tribe. The succeeding morning, a relative of mine, who is well acquainted with the Penobscot Indians, and who had been my companion in my two previous excursions into the Maine woods, took me in his wagon to Oldtown, to a

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 sough

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 la

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, especial

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 Riv

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....

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 co

2. From William Willis , on the Language of the Abnaquies, Maine Hist. Coll., Vol. IV. Abalajako-megus (river near Ktaadn). Aitteon (name of a pond and sachem). Apmogenegamook (name of a lake). Allagash (a bark camp). Sockbasin, a Penobscot, told him, “The Indians gave this name to the lake from the fact of their keeping a hunting-camp there.” Bamonewengamock , head of Allegash, Cross Lake. (Sockbasin.) Chesuncook , Big Lake. (Sockbasin.) Caucongamock (a lake). Ebeeme , mountains that have plums