:;i>8 Pit A IX IE AND FOREST. 



that these noble fish are debarred from visiting this choice 

 water. A few miles farther your course winds by a beau- 

 tiful mountain brook well stocked with trout, and in which 

 a good basket can always be taken. We will now suppose 

 you have reached the Half-way House, a pretty little road- 

 side tavern, where the horses are baited, and the traveler, 

 if he chooses we would strongly advise you not to fail to 

 may insist upon making the acquaintance of mine host, 

 a worthy man, with a wonderful fund of information on 

 various interesting subjects. The allotted half-hour hav- 

 ing expired, and the inner man been refreshed, forward is 

 again the word, and more beautiful becomes the scenery. 

 Wild, irregular hills, with bases densely covered with tim- 

 ber, but stony and irregular toward their summit, frown 

 over your head ; precipices, cliffs, and yawning chasms 

 alternately vary the prospect, throwing, for grandeur, the 

 choicest wilds of Scotland in the shade. Only an able 

 poet, with a romantic turn of mind, is wanted to immor- 

 talize by soul-stirring lays these stupendous mountain fast- 

 nesses, accessible alone to the wild denizens of the forest, 

 or to him who is gifted with the nerve, steady foot, and 

 reliable eye of the chamois-hunter of the Alps. 



Having at length reached the upper portion of the vil- 

 lage of Upton, an entire change comes over the landscape ; 

 far beneath your feet lies nestled, in all the splendor of 

 luxuriant timber, with irregular and changing outline, the 

 lovely sheet of water, Umbagog, thickly studded with in- 

 numerable islands of every form, size, and outline. On 

 first beholding this scene, Loch Lomond was visibly re- 

 called to mind, and the more frequently I beheld this pic- 

 ture the stronger was the impression of the striking simi- 

 larity. Again, this lake will have additional charms to 

 the sportsman, for here trout abound in immense numbers. 

 But, supposing you started from Bethel after breakfast, the 



