At many parts of this seaboard the New England tribes, as at Damariscotta visited the tidal waters to obtain food.
When afterwards passing through the forests near Palenque, in Central America, I observed that whenever the Indians found it necessary to quit the track, they immediately broke off small branches from the trees, and placed them on the ground over which they had trodden. As an additional precaution, they also made marks on the trunks with their hatchets. It was thus easy for them to get back to the place from which they had started. It is however evident, that this plan is only useful in those cases where the path is intentionally left. When the path is accidentally missed, it is of the greatest importance not to lose touch with the spot where you happen to be when your error is discovered. This position will necessarily be within a short distance by a straight line from the place from which you wandered. It has been ascertained that it is the tendency of men who have lost their way to unconsciously move in a circle, and thus much time may be wasted in trusting to personal judgment. It is a good plan to make a series of short tentative marches in different directions, in straight lines from your starting point, which should be considered as a central position to which you can always return if necessary. Such straight lines of direction can be made by marking trees, and keeping them as much as possible in line with each other. In dense forests a watch is not serviceable, as the sun does not penetrate them, and its bearing cannot be seen. A compass is useful to a certain extent, but the constant deviations that have to be made to avoid obstacles, tend to make the line of progress a succession of broken curves, and it becomes unsafe to rely upon the accuracy of the direction. Explorers have found it desirable to send men occasionally to the tops of the tallest trees to observe the nature of the country that is being traversed. When Cortes made his celebrated expedition from Mexico to Honduras, he maintained a straight march by the use of a ship’s compass, but in that case there was no difficulty, for the direction was followed by cutting down the trees that were in the line of the advance.
See “Report on the Geology and Topography of a portion of the Lake Superior Land District,” by I. W. Foster and I. D. Whitney. Washington, 1850.
The Jesuit Mission that was placed at Sault Ste. Marie, at the entrance of Lake Superior was, during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, one of the most important and influential of the missionary establishments in North America. Many of the Fathers who were attached to it had received a good mathematical education and were capable of making accurate geographical surveys. An excellent plan of Lake Superior and its islands was made by them in 1670, and the coast lines and bays were traced over a distance exceeding fifteen hundred miles. Amongst the distinguished men who worked at the mission were the Fathers Jogues, Allouez, Mesnard (who lost his way and perished in the forest when travelling across the Kee-wai-wona promontory), Dablon, and the well-known and devoted missionary, Jacques Marquette.
At Marietta, there still exists an ancient Indian mound or tumulus, about thirty feet high. It is situated near the south-east limits of the inclosures. When I saw it, it was under the care of the local authorities.