332 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



bases densely covered with timber, but stony and irre- 

 gular towards their summit, frown over your head ; 

 precipices, cliffs, and yawning chasms alternately vary 

 the prospect, throwing, for grandeur, the choicest wilds 

 of Scotland in the shade. Only an able poet, with a 

 romantic turn of mind, is wanted to immortalise by 

 soul- stirring lays these stupendous mountain fast- 

 nesses, accessible alone to the wild denizens of the 

 forest, or to him who is gifted with the nerve, steady 

 foot, and reliable eye of the chamois hunter of the 

 Alps. 



Having at length reached the upper portion of the 

 village of Upton, an entire change comes over the 

 landscape ; far beneath your feet, lies nestled, in all 

 the splendour of luxuriant timber, with irregular and 

 changing outline, the lovely sheet of water, Umbagog, 

 thickly studded with innumerable islands of every 

 form, size, and outline. On first beholding this scene, 

 Loch Lomond was visibly recalled to mind, and the 

 more frequently I beheld this picture, the stronger 

 was the impression of the striking similarity. Again, 

 this lake will have additional charms to the sportsman, 

 for here trout abound in immense numbers. But, 

 supposing you started from Bethel after breakfast, the 

 sun must now be near dipping the horizon, when you 

 have reached thus far, so that you had better hurry 

 forward and gain the hospitable roof-tree of Mr. 

 Simeon Frost, the hotel proprietor, ere night envelopes 

 the earth with her sombre mantle of darkness. 



Being met on the porch by the honest, straight- 

 forward Simeon, you may safely resign yourself to his 

 care, which would be dangerous in this locale in many 

 other hands, as some of the hosts are peculiar in their 



