Camps and Tramps About Ktaadn. 805 



a crest where Ktaadn and its retinue of lesser mountains burst 

 upon our view, — a revelation of grandeur and beauty all the more 

 impressive because the previous scenery had been so tame. At 

 noon, away out beyond the precincts of permanent habitation, we 

 had our first out-of-door dinner. Our sportsmen cast in Swift 

 Brook for trout without success — it was a bad time of year; but 

 a slice of pork toasted on a forked stick, a piece of hard-tack, 

 and a cup of milkless tea were, thus early in our quest of healthy 

 appetites, more palatable than a ragout at Delmonico's. The 

 excursionists, excepting myself, walked on ; two guides and I stuck 

 (with difficulty) to the wagon, upon a road consisting of a slit 

 cut through a dense forest, over a tract of stumps, mud, thinly 

 corduroyed swamps, and granite bowlders. The forest was broken 

 only by " the farm" or " Hunt's," where hay and vegetables were raised 

 in the early lumbering days, now a temporary habitation. Here, 

 on the east branch of the Penobscot, I found our party fishing 

 without success, but canoeing with great satisfaction. This whole 

 territory, except a few tracts, was burned over forty years ago ; 

 some of the new growth is already good timber, and here and there 

 a dead monarch stretches his huge form across our path. 



A canoe ride two miles up the east branch was to me as de- 

 lightful as it was novel. Our stalwart guide fairly lifted our larger 

 " birch " with its four passengers over the shallower rapids. A 

 short tramp thro\igh the forest brought us before sundown to our 

 first encampment on the "lower crossing" of the Wasatiquoik, 

 twelve miles from Sherman. 



Next morning, the 7th, we witnessed the construction, in two 

 hours, of a sled or "jumper," by means of an axe and a two-inch 

 auger. At ten o'clock the baggage was bound to two jumpers and 

 started off* by four horses, our party of eleven, on foot, forming 

 advance and rear guards. So we tramped over hill and occasional 



swamp, up the Wasatiquoik valley, 

 stopping as much time as moving, 

 occasionally holding the craft from 

 capsizing, and prying her over 

 fallen trees, stumps, and rocks. 

 Much of the surface of the country 

 A jumper. is a mass of granite bowlders of 



5IA 



