WILD ANDIALS. 61 



gorges of the Adirondack Mountains, but they 

 never come down, unless in the depth of winter, 

 to the shores of the lakes to the west, or the banks 

 of the rivers. Many years have passed since one 

 has been seen by any of the guides. The region 

 traversed by parties is as free from them as the 

 State of Massachusetts. 



Black bears abound in some localities, but 

 more timid, harmless creatures do not exist, all the 

 old stories to the contrary notwithstanding. In 

 temper and action toward men they resemble very 

 closely the woodchuck. Their first and only anx- 

 iety is to escape man's presence. If you penetrate 

 far enough into the wilderness, you will occasional- 

 ly, at night, hear them nosing around your camp, 

 with hedgehogs and the like, but ever careful to keep 

 out of your sight. A stick, piece of bark, or tin plate 

 shied in the direction of the noise, will scatter 

 them like cats. The same is true of wolves. They 

 are only too anxious to keep out of your sight and 

 hearing. Touch a match to an old stump, and in 

 two hours there will not be a wolf within ten miles 

 of you. I wish all to take the statement as in every 

 sense true, when I declare that there is absolutely 

 no danger, nor indeed the least approach to danger, 

 in camping in the wilderness. Many and many a 

 night has my wife, when John and I were ofi" on a 

 hunt, slept soundly and without a thought of 

 danger, in the depths of the forest, fifty miles 



