160 HILLS AND LAKES. 



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built up with boughs, to keep off the lateral dampness. 



Behind the log, we scooped out a rude trench, to 

 carry off the water that should drip from the eaves 

 of our dwelling ; thus, in two hours, we had construct- 

 ed a secure shelter from the rain, let it come when it 

 might. We gathered large quantities of hemlock and 

 spruce boughs for bedding, and prepared wood to 

 keep alive our fire. This was necessary, not for 

 warmth, but to keep the musquitos and black flies 

 from devouring us. 



Having finished our shantee, my guide, with Shack 

 at his heels, started towards the interior of the island. 

 This is the largest island of the Upper Saranac. I 

 soon heard him ordering Shack to " hunt 'em up," as 

 I have described. He returned, and we paddled 

 quietly down the lake, to a point fifty rods below, 

 where a low ridge terminated in a point, some distance 

 from the line of the shore. Here we shot close under 

 the bank, beneath the branches of a gnarled birch, 

 that grew out almost horizontally from the rocks. It 

 was half a mile to the main land from where we lay, 

 and it was the narrowest part of the channel which 

 divides the island from it. 



We had lain here but a few minutes, when we 



