So ADIRONDAC. 



were various other crannies and pit-holes opening 

 into it, some of which we explored. The voice of run- 

 ning water was everywhere heard, betraying the prox- 

 imity of the little stream by whose ceaseless corroding 

 the cave and its entrance had been worn. This 

 streamlet flowed out of the mouth of the cave and 

 came from a lake on the top of the mountain ; this ac- 

 counted for its warmth to the hand which surprised us 



all. 



Birds of any kind were rare in these woods. A pig- 

 eon-hawk came prowling by our camp, and the faint 

 piping call of the nut-hatches, leading their young 

 through the high trees was often heard. 



On the third day our guide proposed to conduct us 

 to a lake in the mountains where we could float for 

 deer. 



Our journey commenced in a steep and rugged as- 

 cent, which brought us, after an hour's heavy climbing, 

 to an elevated region of pine forest, years before rav- 

 ished by lumbermen, and presenting all manner of ob- 

 stacles to our awkward and encumbered pedestrianism. 

 The woods were largely pine, though yellow birch, 

 beech, and maple were common. The satisfaction of 

 having a gun, should any game show itself, was the chief 

 compensation to those of us who were thus burdened. 

 A partridge would occasionally whir up before us, or 

 a red squirrel snicker and hasten to his den ; else the 

 woods appeared quite tenantless. The most noted ob- 

 ject was a mammoth pine, apparently the last of a great 



