Haw-Ho-Noo; Or, Records of a TouristLanman, Charles
History
Haw-Ho-Noo; Or, Records of a Tourist
Lanman, Charles
Fishing -- North America; United States -- Description and travel
number of miscellaneous furs to render his assortment complete. Heavy
spring rains have set in, the water courses are nearly released from
their icy fetters, and on issuing from his cabin, after a night of
conflicting dreams, he finds that the neighboring stream has become
unusually full. A single glance at its turbid waters is enough. He cuts
down a suitable tree and builds him a canoe, and in this does he stow
away his furs and all his other plunder; and, seizing his paddle, he
jumps into his seat, and with a light heart starts for his distant home.
The rains are over and gone, and although our voyager has already been
ten days upon the waters, he has yet at least a thousand additional
miles to travel. Rapids without number are to be passed, many a
laborious portage must be made around huge waterfalls, and at least two
months must elapse before he can moor his little barge in the haven
where he would be. Day follows day, and his course is onward. All along
his route the forest trees are bursting their buds and decking
themselves with the livery of the vernal season, while the grasses and
flowers of the prairies are striving to overreach each other as they
loom into the pleasant sunshine. And then, too, the heart of our voyager
is cheered by the singing of birds. When night comes, and he has lain
himself down by his watchfire on the shore, in some little cove, he is
lulled to sleep by the murmuring music of the stream. If, on a pleasant
day when he is fatigued, he happen upon an Indian encampment and finds
that an extensive ball-play or an Indian horse-race, or any important
medicine ceremony is about to occur, he tarries there for a few hours,
and then, as his mind dwells upon the grotesque and laughable scenes he
has witnessed, resumes his voyage in a more cheerful mood. Day follows
day, and the stream upon which he is now floating is broad and deep, and
sweeps onward as if rejoicing with pride for having triumphed over the
obstacles of the wilderness, and is rapidly approaching the fields and
the abodes of civilization. It is now the close of a day in the leafy
month of June, and our voyager is gliding noiselessly into the quiet
cove beside his cabin, and, uttering a loud whistle or whoop and firing
his gun, his wife and children hasten to the shore, and—the trapper is
at home!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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