II 



DANDY TURNED FARMER TROUT FISHING, &C. CHRIS- 

 TENING A BARN. 



Backwoods, June 28. 



Dear H : 



There is not a wilder region in our country than 

 the northern parts of "Warren and Hamilton Counties. 

 An almost unbroken wilderness stretches away from 

 the Adirondack Mountains, from a hundred to a hun- 

 dred and fifty miles across. Imagine such a wilder- 

 ness in the heart of New York State, in which you 

 may wander month after month without stumbling on 

 a clearing. There are places in it never yet trod by 

 the foot of a white man. It is not merely an unculti- 

 vated country, but a succession of ragged mountains, 

 darkened with pine and hemlock — ploughed up with 

 ravines and rendered barren by rocks and swamps. 

 An over-wrought brain has driven me into these soli- 

 tudes for rest and quiet — ^my only companions being 



