BIRCH BROWSINGS 159 



From this point through to Pennsylvania, a dis- 

 tance of nearly one hundred miles, stretches the 

 tract of wliich I speak. It is a belt of country from 

 twenty to thirty miles wide, bleak and wild, and 

 but sparsely settled. The traveler on the New 

 York and Erie Railroad gets a glimpse of it. 



Many cold, rapid trout streams, which flow to 

 all points of the compass, have their source in the 

 small lakes and copious mountain springs of this 

 region. The names of some of them are Mill 

 Brook, Dry Brook, Willewemack, Beaver Kill, Elk 

 Bush Kill, Panther Kill, Neversink, Big Ingin, 

 and Callikoon. Beaver Kill is the main outlet on 

 the west. It joins the Delaware in the wilds of 

 Hancock. The Neversink lays open the region to 

 the south, and also joins the Delaware. To the 

 east, various Kills unite with the Big Ingin to form 

 the Esopus, which flow^s into the Hudson. Dry 

 Brook and Mill Brook, both famous trout streams, 

 from twelve to fifteen miles long, find their way 

 into the Delaware. 



The east or Pepacton branch of the Delaware 

 itself takes its rise near here in a deep pass between 

 the mountains. I have many times drunk at a 

 copious spring by the roadside, where the infant 

 river first sees the light. A few yards beyond, the 

 water flows the other way, directing its course 

 through the Bear Kill and Schoharie Kill into the 

 Mohawk. 



Such game and wild animals as still linger in the 

 State are found in this region. Bears occasionally 



