The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1855-03-03
VOL. lS---NO. 81.
tbr Cnlrhnnian.
LIFE IN THE WILDERNESS.

written to friend of ours, bv gentleman
doing business for the winter. in the wilder
ness bordering upon Lake Superior 1t will
afford our readers good idea of life among
the natives. The letter is dated Wai>ky' 5
Bay, Jan. >, 1850:
~ sit down to while away the long, dull,
weary hours of winter evcning-a good long
DAYS walk from any white man--in a little
log cabin with 30 Indians and halt breeds,
chattcring French or growing Oiibwa, while
the old squaw that does the cooking is clat-
terins the tin plates and drinking cups of
.his inrtlcy crew, or swapping her fingers at a
'it'',, dirty pappoosc that, laced to small
board, is hung up on peg near the stove
In striking contrast to all this hubbub IS the
.lcep laundering Of the great waves, that
come chasing each other before the terrific
Northw'st "...u, to dash against the shore ui
The "rcat Father OF Lakes ,.ot a stone, throw
from our cabin, or the wild roar of the wind
as it strikes the unbroken forest, sway ing the
tall pines as il they were but reeds, and then
IN broken numbers mourntulv groaning away
in the deep wood as if disappointed and
cricvcd that it could not tear the old giants
up by the roots
Well do YOU take interest enough in a
friend TO inquire. What are YOU doin. a DAY 5
Journey from nowhere, and with such atroop
in such place. Well, % of the Indians
are chopplng wood, six of the halt-brec'!s with
their horses are drawing it TO TIE beach, two
are cutting roads, one prepares wood for the
house and cuts the hay tor the horses. and /
>ho,cls the snow and prepares ;fc eroin'! for
rilnc the wood and one shoes TIE horses at
little portable forge, mends the >led>, and
smokes his pipe And what do do !: Not
much, but look on. At in the morning my
repeater coc< off. and awakcs me. thunp
my cane on the floor the dog harks. and tins
rOuscS the whole crew, who are rolled up in
blankets asleep on the floor. At halt past
) an old Indian pulls me by the sleeve, which
is signal that the horses are fed and harness
ed, and the men are at breakfast. | pull a
part the buffalo skins that form the walls of
nv bedroom. that may see and a queer
''t''' - 80 H. LII. -.
round the walls Of th. ;:': on ;nc :!""r ..",
each with his pint cup and tin plate. and the
old Indian passes round with his basket OF
hard bread Each one takes cake about as
large as i Vermont crackers. Then the
s4uaw carries round a pan full of fried pork,
and each one takes his piece of pork. and I
spooniulls of fat then the old Indian goes
rourI with ra! full Of tea, and each takes
his pint cup full, dipping it into the pail then
from his pocket each takes his biz knife and
raps to pieces with the handle his cake Of
hard bread, letting it drop into his 4 spoon
tulls Of fat the knife is then put up and the
rest of the meal finished witt, the teeth
tongue, and fingers. At six the o!d Indian
parts the buffalo hangings, and grunts. which
is signal that the men are of to the woods
look at my watch, find they are up to time,
and take another nap, while the cabin is swept
out, the tin cups and plates washed, the wood
brought in, the water cask filled, the pappoo>t
hung up out of the way, &c. then get up
take my own frying pan, fry piece of pork
bake potato, open my voyaging chest. ant
making table Of the lid, sit down to N,
pork and potato, and such little things as til,
wife can cox and send to me. exc out
breakfast, don my moccasins and snow shoes
and take a look at the choppers, watch I'll,
sleek, we'll fed horses as they tug along will
their loads, look over the wood ward max,
each one feel that | know lust how mucI
work he is doing, and will cut down hi. wa
scs or discharge him unless all is right, an,
then sit down to books till noon. The sam
routine in the afternoon, and then there is tn
'On., long evening before me. In this lati
.ude, A. North, it is dark at half past iour
md though the nights are beautiful, li.hte
" the moon or the stars. or the more bril-
liant appearance of the Northern ghts tha
you ever see iii Vermont, still in the dar
forest there is not light enough for practica
purposes. So YOU can fancy the length o.
the evenings. There is no resource but book.
and one cannot keep large library in sue
place as this. lft will give you any ide
OF the man whom You knew as LoY. | vii
give YOU list Of my books as they lie upor
the shelf, and primitive one it s-two PEE
driven into au.er holes bored into the lor,
with a piece of riyen cedar laid across O
the light. for the grave studies of the fore
noon there is Abbott on Shipping. McCul
lOu.hs Dictionary, Story on Agency, Stor
on Contracts. and Cowens practice, all G
which, in this out of the way place, are ne
ccssary for one in any way connected wit
vessels or the forwarding business. and beIon
to the Office at the Saut.' Then there is al
Odd volume or two of the Spectator, D'Au
bigne> History Of the Reformation, Macau
lays England. Story's Washington. Cole
ridges Aids to Reflection, Holiness Poems
the Rector Of Bardolph, and a misccaneou
pile Of novels collected from the saloons OF
the upper lake boats when they laid up il
winter quarters. These, with few newspa
pcrs with dates to the 9th of December. (oul
.ast date from where folks livc) constitut,
the whole mental food for long, dreary win
.er, except the little pocket Biblc YOU use,