330 TI£E ADIRONDACK. 



lated to excite very highly the expectations of a 

 novice. Their faces and necks were all scarred up, and 

 about the color of boiled lobster. They had been out 

 only five days, but in that time the thorough phlebo- 

 tomy practised by the mosquitoes and midges had com- 

 pletely disfigured them. The midges are worse than the 

 mosquitoes, for, almost invisible from their small size, 

 they penetrate everywhere. Webster, in his dictionary, 

 says the word "midge" is not much used. If he' had 

 visited the Adirondacks before he compiled his work, 

 he would have left that out. He would have found 

 that the word comprised half the vernacular of the 

 country. 



These two gentlemen said they had killed five deer. 

 That was at the rate of one a dav. I could not but ask 

 mentally what they did with the carcases. One would 

 be ample for the entire party the whole five days ; 

 hence the four others must have been shot down for 

 sport, and left to rot on the shores. This is constantly 

 done by men who visit this region in summer, and who 

 call themselves sportsmen. They cannot bring out the 

 deer in hot weather, yet are unable to resist the tempta- 

 tion to fire at every one they see, and hence the butch- 

 ery. I was told of one clergyman, a doctor of divinity, 



