54 GREAT PINE SWAMP. 



In America, business is the first object in view at all times, and right it 

 is that it should be so. Soon after my hostess entered my room, accom- 

 panied by the fine-looking woodsman, to whom, as Mr Jediah Irish, I 

 was introduced. Reader, to describe to you the qualities of that excellent 

 man were vain ; you should know him, as I do, to estimate the value of 

 such men in our sequestered forests. He not only made me welcome, but 

 promised all his assistance in forwarding my views. 



The long walks and long talks we have had together I never can for- 

 get, or the many beautiful birds which we pursued, shot, and admired. 

 The juicy venison, excellent bear flesh, and delightful trout that daily 

 formed my food, methinks I can still enjoy. And then, what pleasure I 

 had in listening to him as he read his favourite Poems of Burns, while my 

 pencil was occupied in smoothing and softening the drawing of the bird 

 before me ! Was not this enough to recall to my mind the early impres- 

 sions that had been made upon it by the description of the golden age, 

 which I here found realized .? 



The Lehigh about this place forms numerous short turns between the 

 mountains, and affords frequent falls, as. well as below the falls deep 

 pools, which render this stream a most valuable one for mills of any kind. 

 Not many years before this date, my host was chosen by the agent of the 

 Lehigh Coal Company, as their mill-wright, and manager for cutting down 

 the fine trees which covered the mountains around. He was young, ro- 

 bust, active, industrious, and persevering. He marched to the spot where 

 his abode now is, with some workmen, and by dint of hard labour first 

 cleared the road mentioned above, and reached the river at the centre of 

 a bend, where he fixed on erecting various mills. The pass here is so 

 narrow that it looks as if formed by the bursting asunder of the mountain, 

 both sides ascending abruptly, so that the place where the settlement was 

 made is in many parts difficult of access, and the road then newly cut 

 Avas only sufficient to permit men and horses to come to the spot where 

 Jediah and his men were at work. So great, in fact, were the difficulties 

 of access, that, as he told me, pointing to a spot about 1 50 feet above us, 

 they for many months slipped from it their barrelled provisions, assisted 

 by ropes, to their camp below. But no sooner was the first saw-mill erect- 

 ed, than the axemen began their devastations. Trees one after another 

 were, and are yet, constantly heard falUng, during the days ; and in calm 

 nights, the greedy mills told the sad tale, that in a century the noble fo- 

 rests around should exist no more. Many mills were erected, many dams 

 raised, in defiance of the impetuous Lehigh. One fuU third of the trees 



