18 ADVENTURES IN THE WILDERNESS. 



work, and work sharply; but I have no special 

 love for labor, in itself considered; and certain 

 kinds of work, I am free to confess, I abhor ; and 

 if there is one kind of work which I detest more 

 than another, it is tramping; and, above all, 

 tramping through a lumbered district. How the 

 thorns lacerate you ! How the brambles tear your 

 clothes and pierce your flesh ! How the mesh- 

 work of fallen tree-tops entangles you ! I would 

 not walk two miles through such a country for all 

 the trout that swim ; and as for ever casting a 

 fly from the slippery surface of an old mill-dam, 

 no one ever saw me do it, nor ever will. I do not 

 say that some may not find amusement in it. 

 I only know that I could not. Now, in the North 

 Woods, owing to their marvellous water-communi- 

 cation, you do all your sporting from your boat. 

 If you wish to go one or ten miles for a " fish," your 

 guide paddles you to the spot, and serves you while 

 you handle the rod. This takes from recreation 

 every trace of toil. You have all the excitement of 

 sporting, without any attending physical weariness. 

 And what luxury it is to course along the shores 

 of these secluded lakes, or glide down the winding 

 reaches of these rivers, overhung by the outlying 

 pines, and fringed with water-lilies, mingling their 

 fragrance with the odors of cedar and balsam ! To 

 me this is better than tramping. I have sported 

 a month at a time, without walldng as many miles 



