102 ADIRONDAC. 



things is in some way associated with water, 

 and one may notice that in his private walks 

 he is led by a curious attraction to fetch all 

 the springs and ponds in his route, as if by 

 them was the place for wonders and miracles 

 to happen. Once, while in advance of my 

 companions, I saw, from a high rock, a com- 

 motion in the water near the shore, but on 

 reaching the point found only the marks of 

 a musquash. 



Pressing on through the forest, after many 

 adventures with the pine-knots, we reached, 

 about the middle of the afternoon, our desti- 

 nation, Nate's Pond, a pretty sheet of water, 

 lying like a silver mirror in the lap of the 

 mountain, about a mile long and half a mile 

 wide, surrounded by dark forests of balsam, 

 hemlock, and pine, and, like the one we had 

 just passed, a very picture of unbroken soli- 

 tude. 



It is not in the woods alone to give one 

 this impression of utter loneliness. In the 

 woods are sounds and voices and a dumb 

 kind of companionship ; one is little more 

 than a walking tree himself ; but come upon 

 one of these mountain-lakes, and the wild- 

 ness stands revealed and meets you face to 

 face. Water is thus facile and adaptive, 



. 



