204 THE PASSAGE STOPPED. 



across the island in the direction of the mainland, and dash- 

 ing wildly into the water, swam to the shore and disappeared 

 into the forest. We, in truth, were little less astonished 

 than they, for we certainly expected no such game to be 

 hiding there, and when they leaped up so suddenly and 

 plunged away, crashing and snorting through the brush, it 

 startled us somewhat ; but our boats and guns were on the 

 other side of the island, and we could only look on as 

 they swam .boldly to the shore without the power to harm 

 them. 



At the east end of the lake a large stream, deep, sluggish, 

 and tortuous enters, which we voted came from a lake or 

 pond, back at the base of the hills, seen some three or four 

 miles distant in that direction, and while the other boats 

 passed in another direction, Spalding and myself started up- 

 stream to explore it. As we advanced, the alders and wil- 

 lows encroached more and more upon the channel, until it 

 became too narrow for rowing. Our boatman took his pad- 

 dle, and seated in the stern of our little craft, propelled it 

 up stream for an hour or more. The alders gradually con- 

 tracted, the channel becoming narrower until we were pass- 

 ing under a low archway of branches, covered with dense 

 foliage, through which the sunlight could not penetrate. 

 The arch grew lower and lower, and the channel narrower, 

 until we at last absolutely stuck fast among the branches of 

 the alders which, here grew almost horizontally over the 

 stream. We could not turn round, and to go further wa? 

 absolutely impossible ; there was but one mode of extrica 



