58 HILLS AND LAKES. 



the tall forest trees, and then peering through the 

 opening among the foliage, throwing bright spots upon 

 the surface of the water, and then, as he rose above 

 the brave old trees, giving his beams to wanton on the 

 still bosom of the lake. 



My guide had spent some days at this lake, during 

 the last season, and had constructed a canoe, which 

 we found where he had left it, hid away among some 

 bushes that grew near the shore. It required some 

 caulking before being launched, but by six o'clock we 

 had breakfasted, and were on the water. This lake 

 is some six or seven miles in circumference. On the 

 east of it are high mountains, riot disposed in ranges, 

 but isolated, thrown in as it were by handfuls, by 

 the great Creator. On the south, and stretching per- 

 haps for miles, is a valley which many years hence, 

 when the great west shall be filled up, will present 

 beautiful farms, rich in agricultural products, and 

 teeming with tame life. It is wild enough now. The 

 voice of the forest birds, the song of the brook that flows 

 along through its centre, and the sighing of the wind 

 among the trees, are the only sounds that are heard. 



We pushed from the beach, and paddled leisurely 

 along the shore, visiting its beautiful bays, and peer- 



