IN THE HEMLOCKS. 55 



grees may have the same climate as places 

 under that of thirty-five degrees, and similar 

 flora and fauna. At the head-waters of the 

 Delaware, where I write, the latitude is that 

 of Boston, but the region has a much greater 

 elevation, and hence a climate that com- 

 pares better with the northern part of the 

 State and of New England. Half a day's 

 drive to the southeast brings me down into 

 quite a different temperature, with an older 

 geological formation, different forest timber, 

 and different birds, even with different 

 mammals. Neither the little gray rabbit 

 nor the little gray fox is found in my locality, 

 but the great northern hare and the red 

 fox. In the last century a colony of beavers 

 dwelt here, though the oldest inhabitant can- 

 not now point to even the traditional site of 

 their dams. The ancient hemlocks, whither 

 I propose to take the reader, are rich in many 

 things beside birds. Indeed, their wealth in 

 this respect is owing mainly, no doubt, to 

 their rank vegetable growths, their fruitful 

 swamps, and their dark, sheltered retreats. 



Their history is of an heroic cast. Rav- 

 ished and torn by the tanner in his thirst for 

 bark, preyed upon by the lumberman, as- 

 saulted and beaten back by the settler, still 



