90 ADIRONDAC. 



About noon we came out upon a long shallow sheet 

 of water which the guide called Bloody-Moose Pond, 

 from the tradition that a moose had been slaughtered 

 there many years before. Looking out over the si- 

 lent and lonely scene, his eye was the first to detect 

 an object apparently feeding upon lily-pads, which 

 our willing fancies readily shaped into a deer. As we 

 were eagerly waiting some movement to confirm this 

 impression, it lifted up its head, and lo ! a great blue 

 heron. Seeing us approach, it spread its long wings 

 and flew solemnly across to a dead tree on the other 

 eide of the lake, enhancing, rather than relieving the 

 loneliness and desolation that brooded over the scene. 

 As we proceeded it flew from tree to tree in ad- 

 vance of us, apparently loath to be disturbed in its 

 ancient and solitary domain. In the margin of the 

 pond we found the pitcher-plant growing, and here 

 and there in the sand the closed gentian lifted up its 

 blue head. 



In traversing the shores of this wild, desolate lake, 

 was conscious of a slight thrill of expectation, as if 

 some secret of Nature might here be revealed, or 

 Borne rare and unheard-of game disturbed. There is 

 ever a lurking suspicion that the beginning of things 

 is in some way associated with water, and one may 

 notice that in his private walks he is led by a curious 

 attraction to fetch all the springs and ponds in his 

 route, as if by them was the place for wonders and 

 miracles to happen. Once, while in advance of my 

 companions, I saw, from a high rock, a commotion ir 



