204 BOONEVILLE TO SABATOGA. 



with primitive Nature herself, tliat were very grateful and 

 satisfying. 



There is a single carry of half a mile, much traveled and 

 easy, between Raquette and Utowana lakes — the only one 

 we w^ere obliged to cross that day. The j(Mu-ney through 

 Utowana and Eagle lakes was charming. On the northern 

 shore of the latter, is a comfortable farm-house aiul a nidcly 

 conducted farm of forty or fifty acres. Vic saw a number of 

 cow^s feeding in a pasture sloping down to the shore, — a 

 sight which savored so highly of civili/.al ion that 1 involun 

 tarily attempted to adjust my neckerchief, which had 

 wandered around under my woolen shirt collar from one 

 shoulder to the other at its own free will, all (he way from 

 Old. Forge. We saw Ned Buntline's old home, "The 

 Eagle's Nest," a substantial little house of hewn logs, which 

 stands near the shore and in front of the neat, white far- 

 mer's cottage of later growth. 



Pushing and winding our narrow way up llie shallow 

 and rocky inlet, we entered Blue Mountain Lake, and gazed 

 upon a water view of surpassing loveliness. This, among 

 smaller lakes, is what the Raquette is among the larger. It is 

 three miles long and two wide. Says one author, in endeav- 

 oring to convey some idea of its beauty: " Numerous islets 

 and islands of various forms and aspects, some frowning 

 with adamantine sternness, others smiling in robes of charm- 

 lug green, lie in its waters.of translucent purity like agates 

 and emeralds in settings of burnished silver. To traverse 

 the winding water-courses formed b}^ these picturesque 

 groups, is to penetrate a labyrinth of intricate and bewil- 



