INTRODUCTORY. 



THERE is a broad sweep of country lying between 

 the St. Lawrence and Lake Champlain, which civil- 

 ization with its improvements and its rush of pro- 

 gress has not yet invaded. It is mountainous, rocky, 

 and for all agricultural purposes sterile and unpro- 

 ductive. It is covered with dense forests, and 

 inhabited by the same wild things, save the red 

 man alone, that were there thousands of years ago. 

 It abounds in the most beautiful lakes that the sun 

 or the stars ever shone upon. I have stood upon the 

 immense boulder that forms the head or summit of 

 Baldface Mountain, a lofty, isolated peak, looming 

 thousands of feet towards the sky, and counted 

 upwards of twenty of these beautiful lakes sleep- 



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