on. We
greatly missed our tea. Sometimes we used an article called
Labrador, and sometimes steeped spruce or hemlock bark for
drinking, but I despised it.

There were no domestic animals in our settlement at first except
one black and white cat, which was a great pet. Some wicked
fellows, who came from the States, killed, roasted and ate the cat,
to our great indignation. A man named Conley owned the first cow.
Poor Conley afterwards hanged himself, the reason for which was
never known.

For years there were no teams, and our people had to work hard to
get their provisions. Potatoes were planted among the black stumps
and turned out well. Pigeons used to come in great numbers and were
shot or caught by the score in nets. We found in their crops some
small round beans, which we planted; they grew very well and made
excellent green beans, which we ate during the summer. In the
winter time our people had sometimes to haul their provisions by
hand fifty or a hundred miles over the ice or through the woods. In
summer they came in slow sailing vessels. On one occasion Dr. Earle
and others went up the river to Canada on snowshoes with hand
sleds, returning with bags of flour and biscuits. It was a hard and
dangerous journey, and they were gone a long time.

For several years we lived in dread of the Indians, who were
sometimes very bold. I have heard that the Indians from Canada once
tried to murder the people on the St. John River. Coming down the
river they captured an Indian woman of the St. John tribe, and the
chief said they would spare her if she would be their guide. They
had eleven canoes in all, and they were tied together and the canoe
of the guide attached to the hindermost. As they drew near the
Grand Falls, most of the party were asleep; and the rest were
deceived by the woman, who told them that the roaring they heard
was caused by a fall at the mouth of the stream which here joined
the main river. At the critical moment the Indian woman cut the
cord which fastened her canoe to the others and escaped to the
shore, while the Canada Indians went over the fall and were lost.[1]

[1] It is of interest to know that this legend was told by
the Indians to the English settlers shortly after their
arrival. The name of the Indian heroine is given as