124 A TASTE OF MAINE BIRCH. 



as copper compared with silver. It is very irregular 

 in shape ; now narrowing to the dimensions of. a slow 

 moving grassy creek, then expanding into a broad 

 deep basin with rocky shores, and commanding the 

 noblest mountain scenery. It is rarely that the 

 pond-lily and the speckled trout are found together, 

 the fish the soul of the purest spring water, the 

 flower the transfigured spirit of the dark mud and 

 slime of sluggish summer streams and ponds ; yet in 

 Moxie they were both found in perfection. Our camp 

 was amid the birches, poplars, and white cedars near 

 the head of the lake, where the best fishing at this 

 season was to be had. Moxie has a small oval head, 

 rather shallow, but bumpy with rocks ; a long, deep 

 neck, full of springs, where the trout lie ; and a very 

 broad chest, with two islands tufted with pine-trees 

 for breasts. We swam in the head, we fished in the 

 neck, or in a small section of it, a space about the 

 size of the Adam's apple, and we paddled across and 

 around the broad expanse below. Our birch-bark 

 was not finished and christened till we reached Moxie. 

 The cedar lining was completed at Pleasant Pond, 

 where we had the use of a bateau, but the rosin was 

 not applied to the seams till we reached this lake. 

 When I knelt down in it for the first time, and put 

 its slender maple paddle into the water, it sprang 

 away with such quickness and speed that it disturbed 

 me in my seat. I had spurred a more restive and 

 spirited steed than I was used to. In fact, I had 

 never been in a craft that sustained so close a relation 



