" SWITZERLAND OF AMERICA " 247 



Here the writer climbed up the side of a mountain 

 for a hundred feet, while the guide from the same 

 elevation climbed an old hemlock tree. He sat up 

 there, and I stood on a rock, gazing out upon that vast 

 marsh, expecting certainly to see at least a band of 

 caribou or a pair of moose, but not a single mammal 

 enlivened the scene. 



Of bird life, we noted a marsh hawk and a sparrow 

 hawk searching for their evening meal, and a pair of 

 kingfishers circling overhead; but this was all. Our 

 expected game were undoubtedly up the sides of the 

 mountains, but the brush the everlasting brush kept 

 us from getting near them. 



There are certain rules of ethics carefully observed 

 among trappers and others up here. When Kibbee 

 first put in an appearance with his traps on this 

 favored ground, a man by the name of Moxey claimed 

 possession, and it was buyout or " git out." Kibbee 

 bought out, getting, in addition to the right, all of 

 Moxey's stock of traps. 



Then another man appeared who knew not the land, 

 but who claimed rights upon it. He built a cabin, but 

 before it was finished Kibbee " went to see " him. 

 There were but few words spoken between them ; the 

 man sold out and left. Now none is there to dispute 

 Kibbee's title to the trapping lines. 



This great marsh is the natural home of the beaver. 

 We went over no fewer than nineteen of their dams, 



