108 ADIRONDAC. 



Of wild animals, such as bears, panthers, wolves, 

 wild cats, etc., we neither saw nor heard any in the 

 Adirondacs. " A howling wilderness," Thoreau says, 

 "seldom ever howls. The howling is chiefly done 

 by the imagination of the traveler." Hunter said he 

 often saw bear tracks in the snow, but had never yet 

 met Bruin. Deer are more or less abundant every- 

 where, and one old sportsman declares there is yet a 

 single moose in these mountains. On our return, 

 a pioneer settler, at whose house we stayed over 

 night, told us a long adventure he had had with a 

 panther. He related how it screamed, how it fol- 

 lowed him in the brush, how he took to his boat, 

 how its eyes gleamed from the shore, and how he fired 

 his rifle at them with fatal effect. His wife in the mean 

 time took something from a drawer, and as her hus- 

 band finished his recital, she produced a toe-nail of the 

 identical animal with marked dramatic effect. 



But better than fish or game or grand scenery or 

 any adventure by night or day, is the wordless inter- 

 course with rude Nature one has on these expedi- 

 tions. It is something to press the pulse of our old 

 mother by mountain lakes and streams, and know 

 what health and vigor are in her veins, and how re- 

 gardless of observation she deports herself. 



