Frequently, We Had To Go Nearly
A Mile From The Hand-Cart Before We Could Find Any Fit Place.
Having Lighted Upon A Good Thicket, The Next Thing Was To Clear
Away The Under-Brush, And Have Fair Play At The Trees.
These trees
are seldom more than five or six feet high, and the highest that I
ever saw in
These expeditions could not have been more than twelve;
so that, with lopping off the branches and clearing away the underwood,
we had a good deal of cutting to do for a very little wood. Having cut
enough for a "back-load," the next thing was to make it well fast
with the rope, and heaving the bundle upon our backs, and taking
the hatchet in hand, to walk off, up hill and down dale, to the
hand-cart. Two good back-loads apiece filled the hand-cart;
and that was each one's proportion. When each had brought down
his second load, we filled the hand-cart, and took our way again
slowly back, and unloading, covering the hides for the night,
and getting our supper, finished the day's work.
These wooding excursions had always a mixture of something
rather pleasant in them. Roaming about in the woods with hatchet
in hand, like a backwoodsman, followed by a troop of dogs; starting
up of birds, snakes, hares and foxes, and examining the various kinds
of trees, flowers, and birds' nests, was at least, a change from
the monotonous drag and pull on shipboard.
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