46 THE ADIRONDACK. 



far away seem the strifes of men and the discords of 

 life. To-night my couch of balsam boughs shall be 

 welcome, until the cloudless morn floods this wild 

 scene with light. 



But I find I am getting on too fast. To begin at 

 the beginning — I started with four companions, from 

 where I had been for some time fishing, for a stretch 

 through the wilderness, to ascend Mount Marcy, as it 

 is foolishly called, — properly Mount Tahawus, — and go 

 through the famous Indian Pass. Here there are no 

 mule paths, as in Switzerland, leading to the bases 

 of mountains, whence you can mount to the summits ; 

 but all is woods ! woods ! woods ! The highest and 

 most picturesque of the Adirondack peaks lie deep in 

 the forest, where none but an experienced guide can 

 carry you. To reach Mount Tahawus, you must 

 come in from Caldwell or Westport, about thirty miles, 

 in a mail wagon, and then you have a stretch of 

 some forty miles through the woods to the Adiron- 

 dack Iron Works. There is but one road to these 

 Works, where it stops, and he who would go farther 

 must take to the pathless woods ; indeed, it was 

 made solely for these iron quarries, by the company 

 which owns them. 



