pike, at the point where it crosses the brook, which is a few rods north of the Rev. Josiah Prentice's house. It is storied that this hunter sat his gun by a bush and lay down to drink; when suddenly it fell down, and a twig caused it to go off, which happened to fall in a direction to dis charge its contents into his body. "Those who delight in the marvellous," relate that strange noises are heard at the place where he was killed. It is a dreary place, and the shrill note of the night bird, on such imaginations, is sufficient to perpetuate such a belief. Indeed there are but few of the inhabitants of Northwood, even to this day, who do not believe in the apparitions of departed friends, and that witches are omnipresent. And this with a devotedness "that would do honor to a better cause." Until 1814, the ruins of one of the first saw-mills built in the town, were to be seen about half way between where the brook crosses the turnpike, and Wiggins' meadow. About that time a grist-mill was erected upon the spot, but the water growing less every year, rendered it in two or three years entirely useless. It is said in the "Gazetteer of New-Hampshire," that the water which falls from the eaves of a certain barn in this town runs into three different rivers. The barn meant was that owned by the late Jonathan Clarke, Esq. But it is believed that in regard to this circumstance, the editor was mistaken; the writer of this, from observations upon the spot, was unable to come to such a decision. Beasts.-Dr. Belknap, in the third volume of his History of New-Hampshire, has said nearly * This work was got into a state of forwardness by Phinehas Merrill, Esq., of Stratham, but he dying about 1814, the work came into the hands of Eliphalet, his brother, of Northwood, who after considerable delay caused it to be published. Some of the crrors are probably chargeable to those whom the latter employed to correct it, before going to the press; he not choosing to trust his own grammatical knowledge, all that need be said on this head. I will remark therefore on but few of them. The BEAVER disappeared inmediately after the town was settled, though some of their monu ments still remain. Only one, however, is known to the writer, which is a dam, very firm and perfect across the principal inlet of Suncook pond. Many stories are told of the wonders of this curious animal. One who wrote very early upon the Natural History of this part of the country, has this passage in his description of the Beaver, which as a curiosity is extracted. After describing the wolf he says, "The next in mine opinion fit to be spoken of is the Beaver ; which is a beast ordained for, land and water both, and hath fore [four] feete like a Cunny, [Cony,] her hinder feete like a goose, mouthed like a Cunny, but short eared, like a serat; fishe in summer and wood in winter, which he conveys to his house, built on the water, wherein he sits with his taile hanging in the water, which else would overheate and rot off. Hee cuts the bodies of trees down with his fore teeth, which are so long as a boares tuskes ; with the help of other Beavers (which held by each others tayles, like a teame of horses, the hindmost with the logg on his shoulder stayed by one of his fore feete against his head,) they draw the logg to the habitation appointed ;§ N. Eng. Canaan, 77. "The Beaver feeds in preference on young wood of the birch, aspen, and poplar trees." Henry, 128. See Carver's Travels, 462. § "It must be observed," says Hearne, Journey, 228, "that the Beaver which build in rivers and creeks, always cut their wood above their houses,50 that the current, with little trouble, conveys it to the place required." Seo also Carver, ut supra. But I do not find the story of their forming themselves into teams corroborated, though Carver, 461, says that "when they are about to choose themselves habitations, they assemble in companies sometimes of two or three hundred, and after mature deliberation fix on a place," &c., but whether that author was ever present in one of these conventions, he does not inform us. The story of their removing logs with their tails is believed by many in New-England. placing the loggs in a square, and so by pyling one upon another, they build up a howse which with boghes is covered very strongly, and placed in some pond, to which they make a damme of brush-wood, like a hedge. So strong, that I have gone on the top of it across the current of that pond. The fleshe of this beaste is excellent foode.† The fleece is a very choice furre, which (before the Salvages had commerce with the christians) they learned of the tayle. This beaste is of a masculine vertue, for the advancement of Priapus, and is preserved for a dish for the Sachems." Even the Indians have not surpassed many travellers, in their astonishing accounts of the Beaver. These people say, they "were formerly a people. endowed with speech, not less than with the other noble faculties they possess; but the great Spirit has taken this away from them, lest they should grow superior in understanding to mankind."§ Dr. Belknap refers to Hearne's Journey for the best account of the Beaver; we may now add Hearne, Carver, Charlevoix, Long, and especially Godman. The former being not often met with, and merely referred to by Belknap, will excuse the extracts in these Recollections. From the following it will be seen with what extravagance the subject has been treated. "I cannot refrain from smiling," says Mr. Hearne, T "when I read This agrees very nearly with Hearnes' account, 233. † Ibid, 226, and Henry, 138, who says the tail is reckoned a choice morsel. "They vary is color. The most valuable are black: but the general color is a chesnut brown, more or less dark. Some have been found entirely white, others spotted but both these kinds are very rare." Bewick, 115.— This author has followed Buffon and Goldsmith in two many of their fables. Major Long seems to have heard of "three specimens" of this animal. See Expd. Rocky Mountains, I. 464. Henry, 130, 131, where may be seen much curious information, ¶ Journey, 281. the accounts of different authors who have written on the œconomy of these animals, as there seems to be a contest between them who shall most exceed in fiction. But the compiler of the Wonders of Nature and Art seems, in my opinion, to have succeeded best in this respect, as he has not only collected all the fictions into which other writers on the subject have run, but has so greatly improved on them, that little remains to be added to his account of the beaver, beside a vocabulary of their language, a code of their laws, and a sketch of their religion, to make it the most complete natural history of that animal which can possibly be offered to the public." The Beaver appears to have been common both to Europe and America. "Before the discovery of America,we find in the ancient books of the hatters of Paris, regulations for the manufacture of Beaver Hats."'* The OTTER is now nearly if not entirely extinct here. There was one caught in Suncook pond as late as 1814. The MUSQUASH, or MUSKRAT. This interesting little animal not only very much resembles the beaver in form but in habit. He builds his house in nearly the same manner; usually upon a bed of hassocs, or in a bunch of alders, surrounded by water. It has It has generally several apartments, which the occupants are compelled to build, one above another, as the water rises. The beaver's house doubtless contains several rooms from the same cause, but which have given rise to the notion that they were built with great elegance, containing a dining room, kitchen, &c. The Musquash completes his cabin by the last of August. The meadows and ponds were formerly very full of them, but for several years they have been growing scarce. They are very easily taken, in * Charlevoix, Jour. of a Voyage to N. America, I. 151. steel traps or wicker nets. Seven of them have been taken in one of these nets or pots at a time. The method is this: the pot is let down just below the surface of the water, in a sluggish brook where they are known to swim up and down, and strips of boards or sticks are set up like stakes from each side of the net to the shores, so close together that they cannot swim between, and a wide piece edgewise upon the mouth of the net. When the animal comes to this fence, he dives down to find a passage under it, and thus makes his way into the snare. Their color is very nearly that of the beaver, and the skins of the old ones have sometimes been sold among them for the skins of that animal. Twenty years ago their houses were to be seen in almost every meadow, but at this time they seldom are met with; being few, they live in burrows, in the banks of streams and ponds. The subject of Zoology is always interesting, and every reader must be aware that the field is yet but partially cultivated. Little can be expected from a mere common observer, who views these subjects only as an occasional sportsman. MINERALOGY. Iron ore and Black Lead are perhaps the principal; neither of these are known however to be very plenty. On a tract of land owned by Rev. Mr. Prentice, there is a considerable quantity of the former, but of a very inferior quality, as experiment has proved. The latter has been found in a very pure state, but as yet in small quantities. TREES. The pine was formerly the most plenty; and but for which, Northwood might have remained many years longer uninhabited. It was a long time after the first settlement before the inhabitants turned their attention to much except lumber; and it was not until this began to fail that agriculture was much depended on. |