56 GREAT PINE SWAMP. 



During the summer and autumnal months, the Lehigh, a small river 

 of itself, soon becomes extremely shallow, and to float the rafts would 

 prove impossible, had not art managed to provide a supply of water for 

 this express purpose. At the breast of the lower dam is a curiously con- 

 structed lock, which is opened at the approach of the rafts. They pass 

 through this lock with the rapidity of lightning, propelled by the water 

 that had been accumulated in the dam, and which is of itself generally 

 sufficient to float them to Mauch Chunk, after which, entering regular 

 canals, they find no other impediments, but are conveyed to their ultimate 

 destination. 



Before population had greatly advanced in this part of Pennsylvania, 

 game of all descriptions found within that range was extremely abun- 

 dant. The Elk itself did not disdain to browse on the shoulders of the 

 mountains, near the Lehigh. Bears and the Common Deer must have 

 been plentiful, as, at the moment when I write, many of both kinds are 

 seen and killed by the resident hunters. The Wild Turkey, the Pheasant 

 and the Grouse, are also tolerably abundant ; and as to trout in the streams 

 — Ah, reader, if you are an angler, do go there, and try for yourself. 

 For my part, I can only say, that I have been made weary with puUing 

 up from the rivulets the sparkUng fish, allured by the struggles of the 

 common grasshopper. 



; A comical affair happened with the bears, which I shall relate to you, 

 good reader. A party of my friend Irish's raftsmen, returning from 

 Mauch Chunk, one afternoon, through sundry short cuts over the moun- 

 tains, at the season when the huckle-berries are ripe and plentiful, were 

 suddenly apprised of the proximity of some of these animals, by their 

 snuffing the air. No sooner was this perceived than, to the astonishment 

 of the party, not fewer than eight bears, I was told, made their appear- 

 ance. Each man, being provided with his short-handled axe, faced 

 about, and willingly came to the scratch ; but the assailed soon proved 

 the assailants, and Mdth claw and tooth drove off" the men in a twinkling. 

 Down they all rushed from the mountain ; the noise spread quickly ; 

 rifles were soon procured and shouldered ; but when the spot was reached, 

 no bears were to be found ; night forced the hunters back to their homes, 

 and a laugh concluded the affair. 



I spent six weeks in the Great Pine Forest — Swamp it cannot be call- 

 ed — where I made many a di'awing. Wishing to leave Pennsylvania, 

 gnd tp follow the migratory flocks of our birds to the south, I bade adieu 



