1858.6 美国 切桑库克

shiyi18

U.S.
Chesuncook
By Henry David Thoreau
JUNE 1858 ISSUE
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Strange that so few ever come to the woods to see how the pine lives and grows and spires, lifting its evergreen arms to the light,—to see its perfect success; but most are content to behold it in the shape of many broad boards brought to market, and deem that its true success. But the pine is no more lumber than man is, and to be made into boards and houses is no more its true and highest use than the truest use of a man is to be cut down and made into manure. There is a higher law affecting our relation to pines as well as to men. A pine cut down, a dead pine, is no more a pine than a dead human carcass is a man. Can he who has discovered only some of the values of whalebone and whale oil be said to have discovered the true use of the whale? Can he who slays the elephant for his ivory be said to have "seen the elephant " ? These are petty and accidental uses; just as if a stronger race were to kill us in order to make buttons and flageolets of our bones; for everything may serve a lower as well as a higher use. Every creature is better alive than dead, men and moose and pine-trees, and he who understands it aright will rather preserve its life than destroy it.


Is it the lumberman, then, who is the friend and lover of the pine, stands nearest to it, and understands its nature best? Is it the tanner who has barked it, or he who has boxed it for turpentine, whom posterity will fable to have been changed into a pine at last? No! no! it is the poet; he it is who makes the truest use of the pine,—who does not fondle it with an axe, nor tickle it with a saw, nor stroke it with a plane,—who knows whether its heart is false without cutting into it,—who has not bought the stumpage of the township on which it stands. All the pines shudder and heave a sigh when that man steps on the forest floor. No, it is the poet, who loves them as his own shadow in the air, and lets them stand. I have been into the lumber-yard, and the carpenter's shop, and the tannery, and the lampblack factory, and the turpentine clearing; but when at length I saw the tops of the pines waving and reflecting the light at a distance high over all the rest of the forest, I realized that the former were not the highest use of the pine. It is not their bones or hide or tallow that I love most. It is the living spirit of the tree, not its spirit of turpentine, with which I sympathize, and which heals my cuts. It is as immortal as I am, and perchance will go to as high a heaven, there to tower above me still.

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Erelong, the hunters returned, not having seen a moose, but, in consequence of my suggestions, bringing a quarter of the dead one, which, with ourselves, made quite a load for the canoe.

After breakfasting on moose meat, we returned down Pine Stream on our way to Chesuncook Lake, which was about five miles distant. We could see the red carcass of the moose lying in Pine Stream when nearly half a mile off. Just below the mouth of this stream were the most considerable rapids between the two lakes, called Pine Stream Falls, where were large flat rocks washed smooth, and at this time you could easily wade across above them. Joe ran down alone while we walked over the portage, my companion collecting spruce gum for his friends at home, and I looking for flowers. Near the lake, which we were approaching with as much expectation as if it had been a university,—for it is not often that the stream of our life opens into such expansions,—were islands, and a low and meadowy shore with scattered trees, birches, white and yellow, slanted over the water, and maples,—many of the white birches killed apparently by inundations. There was considerable native grass; and even a few cattle—whose movements we heard, though we did not see them, mistaking them at first for moose—were pastured there.

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On entering the lake, where the stream runs southeasterly, and for some time before, we had a view of the mountains about Ktaadn (Katahdinauquoh one says they are called), like a cluster of blue fungi of rank growth, apparently twenty-five or thirty miles distant, in a southeast direction, their summits concealed by clouds. Joe called some of them the Souadneunk mountains. This is the name of a stream there, which another Indian told us meant "Running between mountains." Though some lower summits were afterward uncovered, we got no more complete view of Ktaadn while we were in the woods. The clearing to which we were bound was on the right of the mouth of the river, and was reached by going round a low point, where the water was shallow to a great distance from the shore. Chesuncook Lake extends northwest and southeast, and is called eighteen miles long and three wide, without an island. We had entered the northwest corner of it, and when near the shore could see only part way down it. The principal mountains visible from the land here were those already mentioned, between southeast and east, and a few summits a little west of north, but generally the north and northwest horizon about the St. John and the British boundary was comparatively level.

Ansell Smith's, the oldest and principal clearing about this lake, appeared to be quite a harbor for batteaux and canoes; seven or eight of the former were lying about, and there was a small scow for hay, and a capstan on a platform, now high and dry, ready to be floated and anchored to tow rafts with. It was a very primitive kind of harbor, where boats were drawn up amid the stumps,—such a one, methought, as the Argo might have been launched in. There were five other huts with small clearings on the opposite side of the lake, all at this end and visible from this point. One of the Smiths told me that it was so far cleared that they came here to live and built the present house four years before, though the family had been here but a few months.

I was interested to see how a pioneer lived on this side of the country. His life is in some respects more adventurous than that of his brother in the West; for he contends with winter as well as the wilderness, and there is a greater interval of time at least between him and the army which is to follow. Here immigration is a tide which may ebb when it has swept away the pines; there it is not a tide, but an inundation, and roads and other improvements come steadily rushing after.

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As we approached the log-house, a dozen rods from the lake, and considerably elevated above it, the projecting ends of the logs lapping over each other irregularly several feet at the corners gave it a very rich and picturesque look, far removed from the meanness of weather-boards. It was a very spacious, low building, about eighty feet long, with many large apartments. The walls were well clayed between the logs, which were large and round, except on the upper and under sides, and as visible inside as out, successive bulging cheeks gradually lessening upwards and tuned to each other with the axe, like Pandean pipes. Probably the musical forest gods had not yet cast them aside; they never do till they are split or the bark is gone. It was a style of architecture not described by Vitruvius, I suspects though possibly hinted at in the biography of Orpheus; none of your frilled or fluted columns, which have cut such a false swell, and support nothing but a gable end and their builder's pretensions,—that is, with the multitude; and as for "ornamentation," one of those words with a dead tail which architects very properly use to describe their flourishes, there were the lichens and mosses and fringes of bark, which nobody troubled himself about. We certainly leave the handsomest paint and clapboards behind in the woods, when we strip off the bark and poison ourselves with whitelead in the towns. We get but half the spoils of the forest. For beauty, give me trees with the fur on. This house was designed and constructed with the freedom of stroke of a forester's axe, without other compass and square than Nature uses. Wherever the logs were cut off by a window or door, that is, were not kept in place by alternate overlapping, they were held one upon another by very large pins, driven in diagonally on each side, where branches might have been, and then cut off so close up and down as not to project beyond the bulge of the log, as if the logs clasped each other in their arms. These logs were posts, studs, boards, clapboards, laths, plaster, and nails, all in one. Where the citizen uses a mere sliver or board, the pioneer uses the whole trunk of a tree. The house had large stone chimneys, and was roofed with spruce-bark. The windows were imported, all but the casings. One end was a regular logger's camp, for the boarders, with the usual fir floor and log benches. Thus this house was but a slight departure from the hollow tree, which the bear still inhabits,—being a hollow made with trees piled up, with a coating of bark like its original.

The cellar was a separate building, like an ice-house, and it answered for a refrigerator at this season, our moose meat being kept there. It was a potato hole with a permanent roof. Each structure and institution here was so primitive that you could at once refer it to its source; but our buildings commonly suggest neither their origin nor their purpose. There was a large, and what farmers would call handsome, barn, part of whose boards had been sawed by a whip-saw; and the saw-pit, with its great pile of dust, remained before the house. The long split shingles on a portion of the barn were laid a foot to the weather, suggesting what kind of weather they have there. Grant's barn at Caribou Lake was said to be still larger, the biggest ox-nest in the woods, fifty feet by a hundred. Think of a monster barn in that primitive forest lifting its gray back above the tree-tops! Man makes very much such a nest for his domestic animals, of withered grass and fodder, as the squirrels and many other wild creatures do for themselves.

There was also a blacksmith's shop, where plainly a good deal of work was done. The oxen and horses used in lumbering operations were shod, and all the iron-work of sleds, etc., was repaired or made here. I saw them load a batteau at the Moosehead carry, the next Tuesday, with about thirteen hundredweight of bar iron for this shop. This reminded me how primitive and honorable a trade was Vulcan's. I do not hear that there was any carpenter or tailor among the gods. The smith seems to have preceded these and every other mechanic at Chesuncook as well as on Olympus, and his family is the most widely dispersed, whether he be christened John or Ansell.

Smith owned two miles down the lake by half a mile in width. There were about one hundred acres cleared here. He cut seventy tons of English hay this year on this ground, and twenty more on another clearing, and he uses it all himself in lumbering operations. The barn was crowded with pressed hay, and a machine to press it. There was a large garden full of roots,—turnips, beets, carrots, potatoes, etc., all of great size. They said that they were worth as much here as in New York. I suggested some currants for sauce, especially as they had no apple-trees set out, and showed how easily they could be obtained.

There was the usual long-handled axe of the primitive woods by the door, three and a half feet long,—for my new black-ash rule was in constant use,—and a large, shaggy dog, whose nose, report said, was full of porcupine quills. I can testify that he looked very sober. This is the usual fortune of pioneer dogs, for they have to face the brunt of the battle for their race, and act the part of Arnold Winkelried without intending it. If he should invite one of his town friends up this way, suggesting moose meat and unlimited freedom, the latter might pertinently inquire, 'What is that sticking in your nose ? " When a generation or two have used up all the enemies' darts, their successors lead a comparatively easy life. We owe to our fathers analogous blessings. Many old people receive pensions for no other reason, it seems to me, but as a compensation for having lived a long time ago. No doubt our town dogs still talk, in a snuffling way, about the days that tried dogs' noses. How they got a cat up there I do not know, for they are as shy as my aunt about entering a canoe. I wondered that she did not run up a tree on the way; but perhaps she was bewildered by the very crowd of opportunities.

Twenty or thirty lumberers, Yankee and Canadian, were coming and going,—Aleck among the rest,—and from time to time an Indian touched here. In the winter there are sometimes a hundred men lodged here at once. The most interesting piece of news that circulated among them appeared to be, that four horses belonging to Smith, worth seven hundred dollars, had passed by farther into the woods a week before.

The white-pine-tree was at the bottom or farther end of all this. It is a war against the pines, the only real Aroostook or Penobscot war. I have no doubt that they lived pretty much the same sort of life in the Homeric age, for men have always thought more of eating than of fighting; then, as now, their minds ran chiefly on the "hot bread and sweet cakes;" and the fur and lumber trade is an old story to Asia and Europe. I doubt if men ever made a trade of heroism. In the days of Achilles, even, they delighted in big barns, and perchance in pressed hay, and he who possessed the most valuable team was the best fellow.

We had designed to go on at evening up the Caucomgomoc, whose mouth was a mile or two distant, to the lake of the same name, about ten miles off; but some Indians of Joe's acquaintance, who were making canoes on the Caucomgomoc, came over from that side, and gave so poor an account of the moose-hunting, so many had been killed there lately, that my companions concluded not to go there. Joe spent this Sunday and the night with his acquaintances. The lumberers told me that there were many moose hereabouts, but no caribou or deer. A man from Oldtown had killed ten or twelve moose, within a year, so near the house that they heard all his guns. His name may have been Hercules, for aught I know, though I should rather have expected to hear the rattling of his club; but, no doubt, he keeps pace with the improvements of the age, and uses a Sharps' rifle now; probably he gets all his armor made and repaired at Smith's shop. One moose had been killed and another shot at within sight of the house within two years. I do not know whether Smith has yet got a poet to look after the cattle, which, on account of the early breaking up of the ice, are compelled to summer in the woods, but I would suggest this office to such of my acquaintances as love to write verses and go a-gunning.

After a dinner, at which apple-sauce was the greatest luxury to me, but our moose meat was oftenest called for by the lumberers, I walked across the clearing into the forest, southward, returning along the shore. For my dessert, I helped myself to a large slice of the Chesuncook woods, and took a hearty draught of its waters with all my senses. The woods were as fresh and full of vegetable life as a lichen in wet weather, and contained many interesting plants; but unless they are of white-pine, they are treated with as little respect here as a mildew, and in the other case they are only the more quickly cut down. The shore was of coarse, flat, slate rocks, often in slabs, with the surf beating on it. The rocks and bleached drift-logs, extending some way into the shaggy woods, showed a rise and fall of six or eight feet, caused partly by the dam at the outlet. They said that in winter the snow was three feet deep on a level here, and sometimes four or five,—that the ice on the lake was two feet thick, clear, and four feet including the snow-ice. Ice had already formed in vessels.

We lodged here this Sunday night in a comfortable Bedroom, apparently the best one; and all that I noticed unusual in the night—for I still kept taking notes, like a spy in the camp—was the creaking of the thin split boards when any of our neighbors stirred.

Such were the first rude beginnings of a town. They spoke of the practicability of a winter road to the Moosehead carry, which would not cost much, and would connect them with steam and staging and all the busy world. I almost doubted if the lake would be there,—the self-same lake,—preserve its form and identity, when the shores should be cleared and settled; as if these lakes and streams which explorers report never awaited the advent of the citizen.

The sight of one of these frontier houses, built of these great logs, whose inhabitants have unflinchingly maintained their ground many summers and winters in the wilderness; reminds me of famous forts, like Ticonderoga or Crown Point, which have sustained memorable sieges. They are especially winter-quarters, and at this season this one had a partially deserted look, as if the siege were raised a little, the snow-banks being melted from before it, and its garrison accordingly reduced. I think of their daily food as rations,—it is called "supplies;" a Bible and a great-coat are munitions of war, and a single man seen about the premises is a sentinel on duty. You expect that he will require the countersign, and will perchance take you for Ethan Allen, come to demand the surrender of his fort in the name of the Continental Congress. It is a sort of ranger service. Arnold's expedition is a daily experience with these settlers. They can prove that they were out at almost any time; and I think that all the first generation of them deserve a pension more than any that went to the Mexican war.

Early the next morning we started on our return up the Penobscot, my companion wishing to go about twenty-five miles above the Moosehead carry to a camp near the junction of the two forks, and look for moose there. Our host allowed us something for the quarter of the moose which we had brought, and which he was glad to get. Two explorers from Chamberlain Lake started at the same time that we did. Red flannel shirts should be worn in the woods, if only for the fine contrast which this color makes with the evergreens and the water. Thus I thought when I saw the forms of the explorers in their birch, poling up the rapids before us, far off against the forest. It is the surveyor's color also, most distinctly seen under all circumstances. We stopped to dine at Ragmuff, as before. My companion it was who wandered up the stream to look for moose this time, while Joe went to sleep on the bank, so that we felt sure of him; and I improved the opportunity to botanize and bathe. Soon after starting again, while Joe was gone back in the canoe for the frying-pan, which had been left, we picked a couple of quarts of tree-cranberries for a sauce.

I was surprised by Joe's asking me how far it was to the Moosehorn. He was pretty well acquainted with this stream, but he had noticed that I was curious about distances, and had several maps. He and Indians generally, with whom I have talked, are not able to describe dimensions or distances in our measures with any accuracy. He could tell, perhaps, at what time we should arrive, but not how far it was. We saw a few wood-ducks, sheldrakes, and black ducks, but they were not so numerous there at that season as on our river at home. We scared the same family of wood-ducks before us, going and returning. We also heard the note of one fish-hawk, somewhat like that of a pigeon-woodpecker, and soon after saw him perched near the top of a dead white-pine against the island where we had first camped, while a company of peetweets were twittering and teetering about over the carcass of a moose on a low sandy spit just beneath. We drove the fishhawk from perch to perch, each time eliciting a scream or whistle, for many miles before us. Our course being up-stream, we were obliged to work much harder than before, and had frequent use for a pole. Sometimes all three of us paddled together, standing up, small and heavily laden as the canoe was. About six miles from Moosehead, we began to see the mountains east of the north end of the lake, and at four o'elock we reached the carry.

The Indians were still encamped here. There were three, including the St. Francis Indian who had come in the steamer with us. One of the others was called Sabattis. Joe and the St. Francis Indian were plainly clear Indian, the other two apparently mixed Indian and white; but the difference was confined to their features and complexion, for all that I could see. We here cooked the tongue of the moose for supper,—having left the nose, which is esteemed the choicest part, at Chesuncook, boiling, it being a good deal of trouble to prepare it. We also stewed our tree-cranberries (Viburnum opulus), sweetening them with sugar. The lumberers sometimes cook them with molasses. They were used in Arnold's expedition. This sauce was very grateful to us who had been confined to hard bread, pork, and moose meat, and, notwithstanding their seeds, we all three pronounced them equal to the common cranberry; but perhaps some allowance is to be made for our forest appetites. It would be worth the while to cultivate them, both for beauty and for food. I afterward saw them in a garden in Bangor. Joe said that they were called ebeemenar.

While we were getting supper, Joe commenced curing the moosehide, on which I had sat a good part of the voyage, he having already cut most of the hair off with his knife at the Caucomgomoc. He set up two stout forked poles on the bank, seven or eight feet high, and as much asunder east and west, and having cut slits eight or ten inches long, and the same distance apart, close to the edge, on the sides of the hide, he threaded poles through them, and then, placing one of the poles on the forked stakes, tied the other down tightly at the bottom. The two ends also were tied with cedarbark, their usual string, to the upright poles, through small holes at short intervals. The hide, thus stretched, and slanted a little to the north, to expose its flesh side to the sun, measured, in the extreme, eight feet long by six high. Where any flesh still adhered, Joe boldly scored it with his knife to lay it open to the sun. It now appeared somewhat spotted and injured by the duck shot. You may see the old frames on which hides have been stretched at many camping-places in these woods.

For some reason or other, the going to the forks of the Penobscot was given up, and we decided to stop here, my companion intending to hunt down the stream at night. The Indians invited us to lodge with them, but my companion inclined to go to the log-camp on the carry. This camp was close and dirty, and had an ill smell, and I preferred to accept the Indians' offer, if we did not make a camp for ourselves; for, though they were dirty, too, they were more in the open air, and were much more agreeable, and even refined company, than the lumberers. The most interesting question entertained at the lumberers' camp was, which man could "handle" any other on the carry; and, for the most part, they possessed no qualities which you could not lay hands on. So we went to the Indians' camp or wigwam.

It was rather windy, and therefore Joe concluded to hunt after midnight, if the wind went down, which the other Indians thought it would not do, because it was from the south. The two mixed-bloods, however, went off up the river for moose at dark, before we arrived at their camp. This Indian camp was a slight, patched-up affair, which had stood there several weeks, built shed-fashion, open to the fire on the west. If the wind changed, they could turn it round. It was formed by two forked stakes and a crossbar, with rafters slanted from this to the ground. The covering was partly an old sail, partly birch-bark, quite imperfect, but securely tied on, and coming down to the ground on the sides. A large log was rolled up at the back side for a headboard, and two or three moose-hides were spread on the ground with the hair up. Various articles of their wardrobe were peeked around the sides and corners, or under the roof. They were smoking moose meat on just such a crate as is represented by With, in De Bry's " Collectio Peregrinationum," published in 1688, and which the natives of Brazil called boucan (whence buccaneer), on which were frequently shown pieces of human flesh drying along with the rest. It was erected in front of the camp over the usual large fire, in the form of an oblong square. Two stout forked stakes, four or five feet apart and five feet high, were driven into the ground at each end, and then two poles ten feet long were stretched across over the fire, and smaller ones laid transversely on these a foot apart. On the last hung large, thin slices of moose meat smoking and drying, a space being left open over the centre of the fire. There was the whole heart, black as a thirty-two pound ball, hanging at one corner. They said that it took three or four days to cure this meat, and it would keep a year or more. Refuse pieces lay about on the ground in different stages of decay, and some pieces also in the fire, half buried and sizzling in the ashes, as black and dirty as an old shoe. These last I at first thought were thrown away, but afterwards found that they were being cooked. Also a tremendous rib-piece was roasting before the fire, being impaled on an upright stake forced in and out between the ribs. There was a moose-hide stretched and curing on poles like ours, and quite a pile of cured skins close by. They had killed twenty-two moose within two months, but, as they could use but very little of the meat, they left the carcasses on the ground. Altogether it was about as savage a sight as was ever witnessed, and I was carried back at once three hundred years. There were many torches of birch-bark, shaped like straight tin horns, lying ready for use on a stump outside.


For fear of dirt, we spread our blankets over their hides, so as not to touch them anywhere. The St. Francis Indian and Joe alone were there at first, and we lay on our backs talking with them till midnight. They were very sociable, and, when they did not talk with us, kept up a steady chatting in their own language. We heard a small bird just after dark, which, Joe said, sang at a certain hour in the night,—at ten o'clock, he believed. We also heard the hylodes and tree-toads, and the lumberers singing in their camp a quarter of a mile off. I told them that I had seen pictured in old books pieces of human flesh drying on these crates; whereupon they repeated some tradition about the Mohawks eating human flesh, what parts they preferred, etc., and also of a battle with the Mohawks near Moosehead, in which many of the latter were killed; but I found that they knew but little of the history of their race, and could be entertained by stories about their ancestors as readily as any way. At first I was nearly roasted out, for I lay against one side of the camp, and felt the heat reflected not only from the birch-bark above, but from the side; and again I remembered the sufferings of the Jesuit missionaries, and what extremes of heat and cold the Indians were said to endue I struggled long between my desire to remain and talk with them and my impulse to rush out and stretch myself on the cool grass; and when I was about to take the last step, Joe, hearing my murmurs, or else being uncomfortable himself, got up and partially dispersed the fire. I suppose that that is Indian manners,—to defend yourself.


While lying there listening to the Indians, I amused myself with trying to guess at their subject by their gestures, or some proper name introduced. There can be no more startling evidence of their being a distinct and comparatively aboriginal race than to hear this unaltered Indian language, which the white man cannot speak nor understand. We may suspect change and deterioration in almost every other particular but the language which is so wholly unintelligible to us. It took me by surprise, though I had found so many arrow-heads, and convinced me that the Indian was not the invention of historians and poets. It was a Barely wild and primitive American sounds as mueh as the barking of a chickaree, and I could not understand a syllable of it; but Paugus, had he been there, would have understood it. These Abenakis gossiped, laughed, and jested, in the language in which Eliot's Indian Bible is written, the language which has been spoken in New England who shall say how long? These were the sounds that issued from the wigwams of this country before Columbus was born; they have not yet died away; and, with remarkably few exceptions, the language of their forefathers is still copious enough for them. I felt that I stood, or rather lay, as near to the primitive man of America, that night, as any of its discoverers ever did.



美国
切桑库克
作者：亨利-戴维-梭罗
1858年6月号
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奇怪的是，很少有人到森林里去看松树是如何生活、生长和耸立，向光亮举起它的常青手臂，看它的完美成功；但大多数人都满足于看到它以许多宽大的木板的形状被带到市场，并认为这是真正的成功。但是，松树并不比人更适合做木材，被制成木板和房屋并不是它真正的最高用途，就像人最真实的用途是被砍掉并制成粪便一样。有一条更高的法律影响着我们与松树的关系以及与人的关系。一棵被砍掉的松树，一棵死去的松树，就像一具死去的人的尸体一样，不属于松树。仅仅发现了鲸骨和鲸油的一些价值的人，能说是发现了鲸鱼的真正用途吗？为了象牙而杀死大象的人，能说是 "看到了大象 "吗？这些都是小的和偶然的用途；就像一个更强大的种族为了用我们的骨头做纽扣和旗杆而杀了我们一样；因为任何东西都可能有低级和高级的用途。每种生物都是活的比死的好，人、驼鹿和松树都是如此，正确理解它的人宁可保存它的生命也不破坏它。


那么，是不是伐木工是松树的朋友和情人，站在离它最近的地方，最了解它的性质？是给它剥皮的皮匠，还是给它装松节油的人，后人会传说他最后变成了一棵松树？不！不！是诗人；是他最真实地利用了松树，--他没有用斧子抚摸它，没有用锯子挠它，也没有用刨子抚摸它，--他没有切开它就知道它的心是否虚假，--他没有购买它所在乡镇的树桩费。当那个人踏上林地时，所有的松树都在颤抖和叹息。不，是诗人，他爱它们，就像爱自己在空中的影子一样，并让它们站起来。我曾去过木材厂、木匠铺、制革厂、灯饰厂和松节油空地；但当我最后看到松树的顶端在森林其他地方的高处挥舞着，反射着光线时，我意识到前者并不是松树的最高用途。我最喜欢的不是它们的骨头、皮或牛油。我同情的是树的活的精神，而不是它的松节油精神，它能治愈我的伤口。它和我一样是不朽的，而且有可能去到同样高的天堂，在那里仍然耸立在我之上。

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一会儿，猎人回来了，他们没有看到驼鹿，但由于我的建议，他们带来了四分之一的死驼鹿，加上我们自己，给独木舟带来了不少负担。

吃过麋鹿肉的早餐后，我们沿着松树溪返回，前往约五英里外的切桑库克湖。在离松树溪近半英里的地方，我们可以看到躺在松树溪里的驼鹿的红色尸体。就在这条溪流的口子下面，是两个湖之间最可观的激流，叫做松树溪瀑布，那里有被冲刷得很光滑的大平石，这时你可以很容易地从上面涉水而过。乔独自跑了下来，而我们则走过了港湾，我的同伴为他家里的朋友收集云杉树胶，而我则在寻找花。我们满怀期待地接近湖泊，就像它是一所大学一样，因为我们生活的溪流并不常有这样的扩展，湖泊附近有一些岛屿和低矮的草地，岸边有零星的树木，白色和黄色的白桦树，斜插在水面上，还有枫树，许多白桦树显然是被洪水冲死的。这里有相当多的本地草；甚至还有几头牛--虽然我们没有看到它们，但听到了它们的动作，一开始还误以为是麋鹿--在那里放牧。

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在进入湖泊时，溪流向东南方向流去，在之前的一段时间里，我们看到了关于Ktaadn（Katahdinauquoh一说，它们被称为）的山脉，就像一簇蓝色的菌类等级生长，显然是在东南方向，距离二十五或三十英里，它们的山顶被云层掩盖。乔称其中一些为苏阿德内克山。这是那里一条溪流的名字，另一个印第安人告诉我们，它的意思是 "在山与山之间奔跑"。虽然一些较低的山峰后来被揭开，但我们在树林里时，没有看到更完整的克塔德恩。我们要去的空地在河口的右边，绕过一个低点就可以到达，那里的水很浅，离岸边很远。切桑库克湖向西北和东南方向延伸，称为18英里长，3英里宽，没有一个岛屿。我们已经进入了它的西北角，当靠近岸边时，只能看到它的一部分。从这里的陆地上可以看到的主要山脉是已经提到的东南和东部之间的山脉，以及北面以西一点的几个山顶，但一般来说，关于圣约翰和英国边界的北部和西北部地平线是比较平整的。

安塞尔-史密斯（Ansell Smith）是这个湖泊中最古老、最主要的空地，似乎是一个相当大的船艇和独木舟的港口；有七八个前者躺在那里，还有一个装干草的小船，以及一个平台上的绞盘，现在又高又干，随时可以漂浮和锚定来拖动木筏。这是一个非常原始的港口，船被拉到树桩中间，我想，这样的港口可能是阿尔戈号下水的地方。在湖的对面还有五间小屋，有小块空地，都在这一端，从这一点上可以看到。史密斯家的一个人告诉我，这里已经被清理得很干净了，他们来到这里居住，并在四年前建造了现在的房子，尽管他们家在这里只有几个月。

我很想看看一个先驱者是如何在这个国家的这一边生活的。他的生活在某些方面比他在西部的兄弟更冒险；因为他要与冬天以及荒野抗争，而且在他和随后的军队之间至少有更大的间隔时间。在这里，移民是一种潮水，当它扫除了松树之后就会退潮；在那里，它不是潮水，而是洪水，道路和其他改进措施会稳步地涌来。

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当我们走近木屋时，它离湖面有十几米远，而且高出湖面很多，木头的凸出部分在四角不规则地相互拍打着，有几英尺高，使它看起来非常丰富和如画，与风化板的卑劣相去甚远。这是一座非常宽敞的低矮建筑，长约八十英尺，有许多大房间。墙壁上的原木之间有很好的粘土，这些原木又大又圆，除了上面和下面，里面和外面一样明显，连续鼓起的脸颊逐渐向上变小，用斧头互相调和，就像潘迪安的管子。也许森林里的音乐之神还没有把它们扔到一边；它们永远不会这样做，直到它们被劈开或树皮消失。这是一种维特鲁威没有描述过的建筑风格，我怀疑虽然可能在《奥菲斯传》中暗示过；没有你的褶皱或凹槽的柱子，这些柱子都是假的，除了屋檐和它们的建造者的自命不凡，也就是和众人一起支撑。至于 "装饰"--建筑师们用来描述他们的装饰的一个死板的词，还有地衣、苔藓和树皮的边缘，这些都是没有人关心的。当我们在城镇里剥掉树皮，用白铅毒死自己时，我们当然会把最漂亮的油漆和木板留在树林里。我们得到的只是森林中一半的战利品。为了美丽，请给我带着毛的树。这座房子的设计和建造是以林务员的斧头的自由划动为基础的，没有其他的罗盘和方块，只有大自然的使用。凡是被门窗切断的原木，也就是说，没有通过交替重叠来保持原位，就用非常大的销子把它们一个个固定在另一个上面，在两边可能有树枝的地方斜着打进去，然后紧紧地上下切断，不超过原木的凸起，就像原木互相抱在一起。这些原木是柱子、钉子、木板、墙板、板条、石膏和钉子，都是一体的。市民使用的仅仅是一片或一块木板，而拓荒者使用的是整棵树的树干。房子有大石烟囱，用云杉树皮做屋顶。窗户是进口的，除了外壳以外都是。一端是普通的伐木者营地，供寄宿者使用，有通常的枞木地板和原木长椅。因此，这所房子与熊仍然居住的空心树略有不同，它是用树木堆积而成的空心，上面有一层像原来那样的树皮。

地窖是一个独立的建筑，就像一个冰室，在这个季节它可以作为一个冰箱，我们的驼鹿肉就放在那里。那是一个有永久屋顶的土豆洞。这里的每一个结构和机构都是如此原始，以至于你可以立即找到它的来源；但我们的建筑通常既不表明其来源，也不表明其目的。这里有一个很大的、被农民称为漂亮的谷仓，其中部分木板被鞭子锯锯断了；而锯木坑和它的一大堆灰尘，仍然在房子前面。谷仓的一部分上的长条形劈开的瓦片被铺上了一英尺，暗示着他们在那里有什么样的天气。据说格兰特在卡里布湖的谷仓还更大，是森林中最大的牛窝，有50英尺×100英尺。想想看，在那片原始森林中，一个怪物般的谷仓将它的灰色背部抬到了树顶之上! 人类用枯草和饲料为他的家畜做了很多这样的窝，就像松鼠和其他许多野生动物为自己做的那样。

这里还有一个铁匠铺，显然有大量的工作在那里进行。伐木作业中使用的牛和马在这里穿上了鞋，雪橇等的所有铁制品都在这里修理或制造。第二周二，我看到他们在Moosehead运货，为这个商店装载了大约1300磅的铁块。这让我想起火神的贸易是多么的原始和光荣。我没有听说众神中有任何木匠或裁缝。在切桑库克和奥林匹斯山，铁匠似乎比这些人和其他每一个技工都要早，而且他的家族是最分散的，无论他的名字是约翰还是安塞尔。

史密斯拥有湖面下半英里宽的两英里。这里有大约一百英亩的空地。他今年在这块地上割了七十吨英国干草，在另一块空地上又割了二十吨，他自己把这些干草全部用于伐木作业。谷仓里挤满了压制的干草，还有一台压制干草的机器。有一个很大的花园，里面种满了根茎类植物--萝卜、甜菜、胡萝卜、土豆等，都是很大的。他们说，这些东西在这里的价值和在纽约一样高。我建议用醋栗做酱汁，特别是他们没有苹果树，并向他们展示了如何轻松获得醋栗。

门边有一把原始森林中常见的长柄斧头，有三英尺半长，因为我的新黑灰规则一直在使用，还有一只毛茸茸的大狗，据说它的鼻子上长满了豪猪的毛刺。我可以作证，他看起来非常清醒。这就是先锋犬的通常命运，因为它们必须为自己的种族面对首当其冲的战斗，并在无意中扮演阿诺德-温克尔里德的角色。如果他邀请他的一个镇上的朋友来这里，建议吃麋鹿肉和无限的自由，后者可能会中肯地问：'你鼻子里塞的是什么？"当一两代人用完了敌人的所有飞镖，他们的继任者就会过上相对轻松的生活。我们要感谢我们的父辈们的类似的祝福。在我看来，许多老人领取养老金不是为了别的，而是为了补偿他们在很久以前的生活。毫无疑问，我们镇上的狗还在以一种嗤之以鼻的方式谈论着那些考验狗鼻子的日子。我不知道他们是怎么把猫弄上去的，因为他们就像我姑姑一样对进入独木舟感到害羞。我很奇怪，她在路上没有跑到树上；但也许她是被众多的机会迷惑了。

二三十个伐木工人，包括北方人和加拿大人，来来往往--阿勒克也在其中，而且不时有印第安人在这里碰头。在冬天，有时会有一百个人同时住在这里。在他们中间流传的最有趣的消息似乎是，属于史密斯的四匹马，价值七百美元，在一周前从更远的树林中经过。

白松树是这一切的底端或更远的地方。这是一场针对松树的战争，是唯一一场真正的阿罗斯托克或佩诺布斯科特战争。我毫不怀疑，在荷马史诗时代，他们的生活几乎是一样的，因为人们总是更多考虑的是吃，而不是打；那时和现在一样，他们的心思主要在 "热面包和甜蛋糕 "上；毛皮和木材贸易是亚洲和欧洲的一个老故事。我怀疑人们是否曾以英雄主义为业。甚至在阿基里斯的时代，他们也喜欢大谷仓，也许还喜欢压制干草，谁拥有最宝贵的队伍，谁就是最好的伙伴。

我们本来打算晚上沿着考科莫克河（Caucomgomoc）往上走，河口离这里有一两英里远，到十英里外的同名湖；但乔认识的一些印第安人在考科莫克河上做独木舟，他们从那边过来，对猎驼的情况说得很差，最近那里死了很多人，所以我的同伴们决定不去那里。这个星期天和晚上，乔和他的熟人一起度过。伐木工人告诉我，这里有许多驼鹿，但没有驯鹿或鹿。一个来自旧镇的人在一年内杀了10或12头麋鹿，离房子很近，他们听到了他所有的枪声。据我所知，他的名字可能是赫拉克勒斯，虽然我更希望听到他的棍子的响声；但是，毫无疑问，他跟上了这个时代的进步，现在用的是夏普斯步枪；可能他的所有盔甲都是在史密斯的店里制作和维修的。两年内，在这所房子的视线范围内，有一只麋鹿被杀，另一只被射中。我不知道史密斯是否已经找了一个诗人来照看牛群，由于冰雪提前融化，牛群不得不在森林里过夏，但我建议我的那些喜欢写诗和打猎的熟人来做这个工作。

晚饭后，苹果酱对我来说是最奢侈的，但我们的麋鹿肉却经常被伐木工人叫去吃，我穿过空地进入森林，向南走，沿着海岸返回。作为我的甜点，我帮自己吃了一大块切桑库克森林，用我所有的感官喝了一大口森林里的水。树林就像潮湿天气里的地衣一样新鲜，充满了植物的生命力，里面有许多有趣的植物；但除非是白松，否则它们在这里就像霉菌一样得不到尊重，而在其他情况下，它们只会被更快地砍掉。海岸是粗糙、平坦的石板岩，通常是板状的，上面有海浪的拍打。岩石和漂白的流木，延伸到蓬松的树林中，显示出六或八英尺的起伏，部分是由出口处的大坝造成的。他们说，冬天这里的雪有三英尺深，有时有四五英尺，湖面上的冰有两英尺厚，透明的，包括雪冰在内有四英尺。冰已经在船只中形成。

这个星期天晚上，我们住在这里的一间舒适的卧室里，显然是最好的一间；我在夜里注意到的所有不寻常之处--我仍然像营地里的间谍一样不停地做着记录--就是当我们的任何邻居有动静时，薄薄的木板发出的吱吱声。

这就是一个城镇最初的粗略雏形。他们谈到了一条通往驼峰山的冬季公路的可行性，这不会花费太多，而且会将他们与蒸汽和中转站以及所有繁忙的世界联系起来。我几乎怀疑这个湖是否会在那里--同一个湖--保持它的形式和特性，当海岸被清理和定居时；好像探险家报告的这些湖泊和河流从未等待过公民的到来。

看到这些用大木头建造的边疆房屋，其居民在荒野中坚定不移地维持着自己的地盘，让我想起了著名的堡垒，如提康德罗加或皇冠点，它们曾经历过令人难忘的围攻。它们尤其是冬季的基地，在这个季节，这个堡垒有部分荒废的样子，就像围城被提高了一点，雪堆从它面前融化，它的驻军也相应减少。我认为他们的日常食物是口粮--它被称为 "补给品"；一本圣经和一件大衣是战争的军需品，在这里看到的一个人是在值班的哨兵。你以为他会要求副署，并有可能把你当成伊桑-艾伦，以大陆会议的名义来要求他的堡垒投降。这是一种游骑兵服务。阿诺德的远征对这些定居者来说是一种日常经历。他们几乎在任何时候都能证明自己出去过；而且我认为，他们所有的第一代人比任何去参加墨西哥战争的人都更应该得到一份养老金。

第二天清晨，我们开始沿着佩诺布斯科特河返回，我的同伴想去穆斯海德河上方约25英里处的一个营地，那里靠近两个岔道的交界处，并在那里寻找麋鹿。我们的主人允许我们用我们带来的四分之一的麋鹿换取一些东西，他很高兴能得到这些东西。两位来自张伯伦湖的探险家与我们同时出发。在森林里应该穿红色的法兰绒衬衫，如果只是为了这种颜色与常青树和水形成的良好对比。当我看到穿着白桦树的探险家们的身影，在我们面前的急流中划船，在森林中遥遥领先时，我就这样想。这也是勘测者的颜色，在任何情况下都能看到最明显的颜色。和以前一样，我们在拉格姆夫停下来吃饭。这次是我的同伴沿着溪流往上走去寻找麋鹿，而乔则在岸上睡觉，这样我们就可以放心了；而我则利用这个机会来研究植物和洗澡。再次出发后不久，当乔回到独木舟上取走被留下的煎锅时，我们摘了几夸脱的树莓做酱。

乔问我离驼峰还有多远，这让我很吃惊。他对这条溪流相当熟悉，但他注意到我对距离很好奇，而且有几张地图。他和一般的印第安人，我曾与他们交谈过，都不能准确地描述我们的尺寸或距离。他也许能说出我们应该在什么时候到达，但不知道有多远。我们看到了一些木鸭、水鸭和黑鸭，但在那个季节，它们并不像在家里的河上那么多。在我们面前，我们害怕同一家的木鸭子，去而复返。我们还听到了一只鱼鹰的叫声，有点像鸽子啄木鸟的叫声，不久之后，我们看到它栖息在靠着我们第一次扎营的小岛的一棵死去的白松树顶上，而一群鸟儿在下面的低矮沙地上的麋鹿尸体上叽叽喳喳地打转。我们把鱼鹰从一个栖息地赶到另一个栖息地，每次都会引起一阵尖叫或口哨声，在我们面前有很多英里。我们的路线是逆流而上的，我们不得不比以前更努力地工作，而且经常需要使用杆子。有时我们三个人一起站着划，独木舟又小又重。在离穆斯海德大约6英里的地方，我们开始看到湖的北端以东的山脉，在四点钟的时候，我们到达了搬运处。

印第安人仍然在这里扎营。有三个人，包括和我们一起坐汽船来的圣弗朗西斯印第安人。其他的一个叫萨巴提斯。乔和圣弗朗西斯印第安人显然是清一色的印第安人，另外两个显然是印第安人和白人的混合体；但就我所看到的而言，区别仅限于他们的特征和肤色。我们在这里煮了麋鹿的舌头作为晚餐--把被认为是最美味的部分的鼻子留在了切桑库克，煮沸了，因为准备它很麻烦。我们还炖了树莓（Viburnum opulus），用糖给它们加糖。伐木者有时会用糖蜜来煮它们。它们在阿诺德的远征中被使用。这种酱汁对我们这些只能吃硬面包、猪肉和驼鹿肉的人来说非常感激，尽管它们有种子，但我们三个人都认为它们和普通的红莓一样；但也许要为我们的森林胃口做一些考虑。无论是为了美观还是为了食用，都值得去栽培它们。后来我在班戈的一个花园里看到了它们。乔说，它们被称为 "艾贝纳"。

在我们吃晚饭的时候，乔开始腌制麋鹿皮，我在航行中的大部分时间都坐在上面，他已经在考科姆戈莫克用刀割掉了大部分的毛。他在岸边竖起两根粗壮的叉形杆，高七八英尺，东西相距一样远，在皮子的两侧切开八或十英寸长、相隔同样距离的缝隙，把杆子穿进去，然后把其中一根杆子放在叉形桩上，把另一根杆子在底部紧紧绑住。两端也用杉树皮（他们常用的绳子）绑在直立的杆子上，通过短距离的小孔。兽皮就这样被拉长了，并向北倾斜了一点，使它的肉面暴露在阳光下，极端情况下，长8英尺，高6英尺。在还有肉的地方，乔大胆地用刀子划了一下，让它在阳光下暴露出来。它现在看起来有些斑驳，被鸭子打伤了。你可能会看到在这些森林的许多露营地点，有一些旧的框架，皮子就被拉在上面。

由于某种原因，我们放弃了去佩诺布斯科特河的分岔口，我们决定在这里停留，我的同伴打算在晚上去河边打猎。印第安人邀请我们和他们一起住，但我的同伴倾向于去携带的木头营地。这个营地又近又脏，而且气味难闻，如果我们不为自己扎营的话，我宁愿接受印第安人的提议；因为虽然他们也很脏，但他们更多的是在户外，而且比伐木者更令人愉快，甚至是更高雅的伙伴。伐木者营地里最有趣的问题是，哪个人能够 "驾驭 "其他任何人；而且，在大多数情况下，他们没有任何你无法触及的品质。于是我们去了印第安人的营地或假屋。

风很大，因此，乔决定在午夜后打猎，如果风小的话，其他印第安人认为风不会小，因为风来自南方。然而，在我们到达他们的营地之前，那两个混血儿在天黑时就去河边找驼鹿了。这个印第安人的营地是一个小小的、打补丁的东西，已经在那里站了几个星期了，以棚子的形式建造，向西边的火堆开放。如果风向改变，他们可以把它转过来。它是由两根分叉的木桩和一根横杆组成的，椽子从这里斜插到地上。覆盖物一部分是旧帆，一部分是桦树皮，很不完善，但绑得很牢，两边都落到地上了。一根大木头在后侧卷起作为床头板，两三张麋鹿皮铺在地上，毛发向上。他们的衣柜里的各种物品都在两侧和角落里，或在屋顶下偷看。他们就在这样一个板条箱上熏制麋鹿肉，在1688年出版的De Bry的 "Collectio Peregrinationum "中就有这样的描述，巴西的当地人称之为boucan（即海盗的意思），上面经常显示出与其他东西一起烘干的人肉碎片。它被竖立在营地前面通常的大火上，呈长方形。两根粗壮的叉状木桩，相距四或五英尺，高五英尺，两端打入地下，然后两根十英尺长的杆子横在火上，较小的杆子横向铺在这些杆子上，相隔一英尺。最后一根杆子上挂着大而薄的麋鹿肉片，正在冒烟和烘干，火堆中央留出一块空地。在一个角落里挂着整个心脏，黑得像一个32磅的球。他们说，这种肉需要三四天的时间来腌制，而且可以保存一年或更长时间。地上躺着的垃圾处于不同的腐烂阶段，还有一些垃圾也在火中，半埋在灰烬中咝咝作响，像一只旧鞋一样黑而脏。我起初以为这些东西被扔掉了，但后来发现它们正在被烹饪。还有一块巨大的肋骨在火前烤着，被钉在一根直立的木桩上，在肋骨之间被强行插入和取出。有一张麋鹿皮像我们一样被拉伸并腌制在杆子上，附近还有相当多的腌制皮。他们在两个月内杀了22头麋鹿，但由于他们只能使用很少的肉，所以他们把尸体留在地上。总的来说，这是我见过的最野蛮的景象，我一下子就被带回到了三百年前。有许多桦树皮的火把，形状像直的锡角，躺在外面的树桩上，随时可以使用。


因为怕脏，我们把毯子铺在他们的皮上，以免碰到他们的任何地方。起初只有圣弗朗西斯印第安人和乔在那里，我们仰面躺着和他们聊天，直到午夜。他们非常善于交际，当他们不与我们交谈时，就用自己的语言不停地聊天。我们在天黑后听到了一只小鸟的叫声，乔说，它在夜里的某个时刻唱歌，他认为是在十点钟。我们还听到了木耳和树蟾，以及四分之一英里外的伐木者在他们的营地里唱歌。我告诉他们，我曾在旧书中看到过这些板条箱上晾晒的人肉；于是他们重复了一些关于莫霍克人吃人肉的传统，以及他们喜欢什么部位等等，还提到了在莫斯黑德附近与莫霍克人的一场战斗，其中许多人被杀；但我发现，他们对自己种族的历史所知甚少，而且可以像任何方式一样轻松地用关于他们祖先的故事来娱乐。起初，我几乎被烤焦了，因为我躺在营地的一侧，不仅感觉到上面的白桦树皮反射的热量，而且感觉到侧面的热量。我又一次想起了耶稣会传教士的痛苦，以及据说印第安人要忍受怎样的酷暑和严寒。我在想留下来与他们交谈和冲出去在凉爽的草地上伸展自己的冲动之间挣扎了很久；当我要迈出最后一步时，乔听到我的喃喃自语，或者说他自己不舒服，就站起来，将火堆部分驱散。我想这就是印第安人的礼貌--保护自己。


当我躺在那里听印第安人说话时，我自娱自乐，试图通过他们的手势或介绍的一些专有名词来猜测他们的主题。没有比听到这种未经改变的印第安人语言更令人震惊的证据，证明他们是一个独特的、相对原始的种族，而白人既不会说也听不懂。我们可以怀疑几乎所有其他方面的变化和退化，但对我们来说完全无法理解的语言却是如此。这让我大吃一惊，尽管我发现了这么多箭头，并使我相信印第安人不是历史学家和诗人的发明。那是一种赤裸裸的野性和原始的美国人的声音，就像chickaree的叫声一样，我听不懂一个音节；但是Paugus，如果他在那里，就会理解它。这些阿贝纳奇人用艾略特的《印第安人圣经》所写的语言闲谈、大笑和开玩笑，这种语言在新英格兰已经说了多久了？在哥伦布出生之前，这些声音就已经从这个国家的木屋里发出来了；它们还没有消失；而且，除了明显的少数例外，他们祖先的语言对他们来说仍然是足够丰富的。我觉得那晚我站在，或者说躺在，与任何一个美洲的发现者一样接近美洲的原始人。