SCIENTIFIC SURVEY. g^j 



necessary articles. We reached Mud pond, which is distant from 

 the farm about eight or ten miles, during the same afternoon, and 

 commenced carrying across the portage. It is not an easy task to 

 carry on one's back a heavy load across a muddy, miry portage, 

 of two or three miles in length. From Mud pond we had a fine 

 view of Mt. Katahdin, the exposure being, of course, to the north- 

 west. The land around Mud pond and the adjoining lake Umba- 

 zooksus is^low and covered with mixed conifers. A good deal of 

 fair lumber still remains to be cut from this district, although it 

 has already been pretty well thinned. 



June 4th. The black flies have troubled us sadly ever since the 

 first of June, or the day when the wild cherry trees blossomed. 

 We have had them at all hours from the rising to the setting of 

 the sun. The approach of the musquito is sufficient warning of 

 itself, but the black fly comes noiselessly and gives no intimation 

 of his presence till he is ready to fly away. The insect as figured 

 in Harris' Insects of Massachusetts, is a little smaller than we have 

 usually found them. Since they are common in the woods of 

 Maine from June to August, it becomes the duty of one who urges 

 settlers to take up the lands described in this report, to call atten- 

 tion to the remedy for this nuisance. At Chamberlain farm I was 

 told that the workmen were not much annoyed by them after the 

 first few days. In many cases the application of some unctuous 

 substance to the skin is found to give an absolute exemption from 

 the pest. But after a large clearing is made, when several houses 

 are quite near together, the black fly becomes rare. So that this 

 drawback which has kept so many from entering upon the occupa- 

 tion of new land, is really not so formidable as it at first seems. 

 It may be thought indiscreet in me to say anything about this dis- 

 comfort to settlers, but I am sure that "although a survey may 

 gain a temporary popularity by the exaggeration of certain facts 

 and suppression of others," it is better to state all the facts, pro and 

 contra, as they really are found. 



Penobscot Waters again. 

 The stream flowing from the lake Umbazooksus to Chesuncook 

 is quite crooked, and, near its mouth, runs through a widely ex- 

 tended meadow. This interval land, and other land in the vicin- 

 ity, appears to be desirable for farming ; in fact, at Chesuncook 

 lake, a few miles further down, we found fields under a good de- 



