ff** 





pit-holes opening into it, some of which we explored. 

 The voice of running water was everywhere heard, 

 betraying the proximity 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 mount- 

 ain ; this accounted for its warmth to the hand which 

 surprised us all. 



""lairds of any kind were rare in these woods. A 

 pigeon-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 climb- 

 ing, to an elevated region of pine forest, years before 

 ravished by lumbermen, and presenting all manner 

 of obstacles to our awkward and encumbered pedes- 

 trianism. 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 tenautless. 

 The most noted object was a mammoth pjue, appar- 

 ently the last of a great race, which presided over a 

 cluster of yellow birches, on the side of the mountain, 



