Dogs and cattle often suffer
great inconvenience from getting their muzzles filled with the quills of
the porcupine, the former when worrying the poor little animal, and
the latter by accidentally meeting a dead one among the herbage; great
inflammation will sometimes attend the extraction. Indians often lose
valuable hounds from this cause. Beside porcupines, Indiana told her
companions, there were some fine butter-nut trees on the island, and they
could collect a bag full in a very short time. This was good news, for the
butter-nut is sweet and pleasant, almost equal to the walnut, of which it
is a species. The day was passed pleasantly enough in collecting nuts and
grapes; but as this island did not afford any good cleared spot for passing
the night, and, moreover, was tenanted by black snakes, several of which
made their appearance among the stones near the edge of the water, they
agreed by common council to go to Long Island, where Indiana said there was
an old log-house, the walls of which were still standing, and where there
was dry moss in plenty, which would make them a comfortable bed for the
night.
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