me to a French hut about a mile
from the Indian Fort. The Frenchman was not at home, but his wife, who
was a squaw, had some discourse with my Indian friend, which I did not
understand. We tarried there about two hours, then returned to the
Indian village, where they gave me some victuals. Not long after I saw
one of my fellow-captives who gave me a melancholy account of their
sufferings after I left them.

"After some weeks had passed," Gyles continues, "we left this village
and went up St. John's river about ten miles to a branch called
Medockscenecasis, where there was one wigwam. At our arrival an old
squaw saluted me with a yell, taking me by the hair and one hand, but
I was so rude as to break her hold and free myself. She gave me a
filthy grin, and the Indians set up a laugh and so it passed over.
Here we lived on fish, wild grapes, roots, etc., which was hard living
for me."

Where the one wigwam stood in 1689, there stands today a town of 4,000
people. The stream which Gyles calls Medockscenecasis is the
Meduxnakik and the town is Woodstock. On the islands and intervals
there, wild grapes and lily roots, butter-nuts and cherries are still
to be found, and many generations of boys have wandered with light
hearts in quest of them without a thought of the first of white boys,
who in loneliness and friendlessness trod those intervals more than
two hundred years ago.

It seems to have been the custom of the Indians at the beginning of
the winter to break up into small parties for the purpose of hunting,
and Gyles' description of his first winter's experience will serve to
illustrate the hardships commonly endured by the savages.

"When the winter came on," he says, "we went up the river, till the
ice came down running thick in the river, when, according to the
Indian custom, we laid up our canoes till spring. Then we traveled,
sometimes on the ice and sometimes on land, till we came to a river
that was open but not fordable, where we made a raft and passed over,
bag and baggage. I met with no abuse from them in this winter's
hunting, though I was put to great hardships in carrying burdens and
for want of food. But they underwent the same difficulty, and would
often encourage me by saying in broken English, 'By and by great deal
moose!' Yet they could not answer any question I asked them; and
knowing very little of their customs and ways of life, I thought it
tedious to be constantly moving from place to place,