192 SQUATTER SOVEREIGNTY. 



among these mountains and lakes, sketching and painting the 

 transcendently beautiful views they everywhere present. 

 There is nothing like them on all this continent. We talk 

 about the scenery of Lake George. It is all tame and 

 spiritless compared with what may be seen here ; it possesses 

 not a tithe of the variety, the bold and grand, the placid 

 and beautiful, all mingled, and changing always, as you pass 

 from point to point along these lakes. Why do not the 

 artists whose business it is to make the "canvas speak," 

 drift out this way, and deal with nature in all her ancient 

 loveliness, clothed in her primeval robes, and smiling in her 

 freshness and beauty, as when thrown from the hand of 

 Deity? It would repay them for their labor, and yield 

 them a rich harvest of gain. 



We had heard of the shanty in which we were to encamp, 

 and we rowed straight through the whole length of the lake 

 towards it. We reached it as the sun wa% going down, and 

 stowed away our luggage before the darkness had gathered 

 over the forest. We took possession by the right of squat- 

 ter sovereignty, the owner being unknown, or at all events, 

 absent from the woods. This lake is one of the few in all 

 this region that I had never visited before, and is next in 

 beauty to its namesake, two days' journey nearer to civiliza- 

 tion. It is about twelve miles in length, and from one to 

 two miles in width, with many beautiful bays stealing around 

 behind bold rocky promontories, and sleeping in qniet beauty 

 under the shadows of the tall forest trees that tower above 

 their shores. It is dotted, too, with beautiful islands, some 



