ADIRONDAC. 83 



assured us, we should find a hunter's cabin ready built. 

 A half-hour's march brought us to the locality, and a 

 most delightful one it was, — so hospitable and invit- 

 ing that all the kindly and beneficent influences of the 

 woods must have abided there. In a slight depression 

 in the woods, about one hundred yards from the lake, 

 though hidden from it for a hunter's reasons, surrounded 

 by a heavy growth of birch, hemlock, and pine, with a 

 lining of balsam and fir, the rude cabin welcomed us. 

 It was of the approved style, three sides inclosed, with 

 a roof of bark and a bed of boughs, and a rock in front 

 that afforded a permanent back-log to all fires. A faint 

 voice of running water was heard near by, and, follow- 

 ing the sound, a delicious spring-rivulet was disclosed, 

 hidden by the moss and debris as by a new fall of snow, 

 but here and there rising in" little well-like openings, as 

 if for our special convenience. On smooth places on the 

 logs I noticed female names inscribed in a female hand ; 

 and the guide told us of an English lady, an artist, who 

 had traversed this region with a single guide, making 

 sketches. 



Our packs unslung and the kettle over, our first 

 move was to ascertain in what state of preservation a 

 certain dug-out might be, which, the guide averred, he 

 had left moored in the vicinity the summer before, — 

 for upon this hypothetical dug-out our hopes of venison 

 rested. After a little searching it was found under the 

 top of a fallen hemlock, but in a sorry condition. A 

 large piece had been split out of one end, and a fear- 



