GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY. 



To give the reader some idea of the central portion of 

 New York, in which the scenes of this work are laid, and 

 through which I traveled ; and that he may not regard 

 it mere child's play to penetrate it, I would say that 

 across it either way is about the distance from New York 

 to Albany — varying from a hundred to a hundred and fifty 

 miles. It is the same as if the whole country from New 

 York to Albany, and extending, also, fifty miles each side 

 of the Hudson, was an unbroken wilderness, crossed by no 

 road, enlivened by no cultivation, not a keel disturbing its 

 waters, while bears, panthers, wolves, moose and deer 

 were the only lords of the soil. 



Imagine such a tract of country, about the size of Massa- 

 chusetts and Connecticut put together, most of which lies a 

 neglected waste, through which you must make your way 

 with the compass, sustained by what your own skill can 

 secure, and you will obtain a faint conception of the Adiron- 

 dack region. And yet, you will hardly get a correct one, 



