THE INDIAN PASS. 31 



LETTER V 



THE INDIAN PASS. 



The only object remaining for me to visit, before I 

 returned again to civilized life, was tli€ famous Indian 

 Pass — probably the most remarkable mountain gorge 

 in this country. On Monday morning, a council was 

 called of our party, to determine whether we should 

 visit it. A teamster from the settlements had agreed 

 to come for us this day, to take us out the next; but 

 some of our number, fearing his inability to get through 

 the woods in one day, proposed we should abandon 

 all further expeditions, and make our way homeward. 

 But the Indian Pass I was determined to see, even if 

 I remained behind alone, and so we all together 

 started oif, some of us still lame from our excursion 

 to Mount Tahawus. It was six miles through the 

 forest, and we were compelled to march in single file. 

 Now skirting the margin of a beautiful lake, now 

 creeping through thickets, and now stepping daintily 

 across a springing morass, we stretched forward until 

 we at length struck a stream, the bed of which we 

 followed into the bosom of the mountains. We 

 crossed deer paths every few rods, and soon the two 

 hounds our hunter had taken with him parted from 



