THE FIRST CHAIN OF PONDS. 125 



channel, which, for half a mile above the forks, comes roar- 

 ing and tumbling through a mountain gorge, plunging over 

 falls, and whirling and surging among the boulders, in a de- 

 scent of three or four hundred feet in all. Around these, and 

 seven other rapids of greater or less extent, our boats had 

 to be carried. 



We reached the lower chain of ponds within an hour of 

 sunset, and found our tents pitched at a pleasant spot which 

 looked out over the easternmost one of these beautiful little 

 lakelets. There are three of them, connected together by 

 narrow passages or straits, the banks of which, as the boat 

 glides along, the oars will touch. They are surrounded by low 

 but pleasant hills, so arranged as to form a varied but de- 

 lightful scenery. From the western one, the hills rise from the 

 water with a steep acclivity, covered with a gigantic growth 

 of timber, save on the northern side, where a pleasant natural 

 meadow, covered with rank grass and a few spruce and fir 

 trees, stretches away. It contains about two hundred acres, 

 and its waters are deep and pure. The middle one, though 

 smaller, is equally beautiful, skirted on three sides with 

 wood-covered hills, and on the other by a continuation of the 

 same natural meadow. The eastern one, on the western 

 banks of which our tents were located on a beautiful little 

 bay, is the prettiest of them all. It contains perhaps six 

 hundred acres, and the scenery around it is exceedingly cheer- 

 ful and pleasant. The northern shore is bound by a natural 

 meadow of luxuriant wild grass, between which and the 

 water is a hard sandy beach, at low water some thirty feet 



