312 THE "BIG AVOODS." 



stacks. Then we leave the open country and the outposts of 

 civihzation, and strike into the forest, thick, tangled, dark, 

 and sombre. In the course of our journey we have passed 

 numerous jagged cliff mounds, which constitute an inter- 

 esting feature of this section. One might imagine that 

 Wisconsin was most abundantly fortified, and that a redoubt 

 was perched on every hill, so striking is the resemblance that 

 most of these bear to works of art and military defences. 

 These cliffs are composed of a stratum of limestone under- 

 laid with stratified sand-rock of the purest whiteness, and 

 crop out from the hillside with singular regularity, a little 

 below the top and generally on the southern or eastern side. 

 The strata, crossed by transverse seams, give the whole the 

 resemblance of walls of liewn stone, while the mound itself, 

 being destitute of trees and apparently smooth as a terrace, 

 renders the illusion still more complete. The most singular 

 of these is " Monument Eock," a huge pillar fifty feet high, 

 which stands alone in the prairie, the earth around it having 

 been washed away. 



As may be imagined, the "Big Woods" is the paradise of 

 hunters. Here and there through the forest, the old " coons" 

 have their shanties, and large are the packs of pelts which they 

 often carry out to the settlements at the close of the wintei''s 

 hunt. Even now one of the craft is seen to emerge stealth- 

 ily from concealing brush, with a saddle of venison slung 

 on his shoulders, and approach the camp. He says his 

 shanty is miles away, and begs to tarry for the night. With 

 permission granted, he heaves his burden upon the grass, and 

 squats comfortably beside the fire, seeking the thickest of the 

 smoke that rolls from a zone of " smudges " which have been 

 made to keep off the diabolical flies and ever-to-be-intonsely- 

 anathametized musquitoes. We are just upon the eve of a 

 repast. All around us our stores, provisions, utensils, etc., 

 lie scattered, and convenient for use ; wet clothes and musty 

 boots hang on sticks to dry ; camp-stuff is strewn promis- 

 cuously about. Upon the coals, old Tick, a veteran, is frying 



