11 PREFACE. 



tion will be acknowledged yet, and every summer will 

 witness throngs of travelers on their way to those wild 

 mountains, and surpassingly beautiful lakes. No such 

 scenery is to be found in our picturesque country, and none, 

 that in my opinion, will match it this side of the Alps. De- 

 scriptions cannot, of course, give an adequate idea of it, as 

 Prof. Emmons, in his work embraced in the great Geologi- 

 cal Report of the State says : 



" It is not, however, by description that the scenery of 

 this region can be made to pass before the eye of the imagi- 

 nation ; it must be witnessed, the solitary summits in the 

 distance, the cedars and firs which clothe the rocks and 

 shores must be seen ; the solitude must be felt or if it is 

 broken by the scream of the panther, the shrill cry of the 

 northern diver, or the shout of the hunter ; the echo from 

 the thousand hills must be heard before all the truth in the 

 scene can be realized." 



After such a glowing description emboded in our State 

 Reports, I think there is little danger that anything I shall 

 say will be considered as exaggerated. 



Some may object to the want of gravity, or as others will 

 term it, " dignity," in these letters. All that I can say, is, 

 they are a faithful transcript of my feelings and experience, 

 and hence the fault if it be one, has no remedy but in 

 dishonesty. 



In the woods, the mask that society compels one to wear 



