218 OUTDOOR STUDIES 
I recall another path which leads from the 
Lower Saranac Lake, near “ Martin’s,” to what 
the guides call, or used to call, “The Philoso- 
pher’s Camp” at Amperzand. On this oddly 
named lake, in the Adirondack region, a tract of 
land was bought by Professor Agassiz and his 
friends, who made there a summer camping- 
ground, and with one comrade I once sought 
the spot. I remember with what joy we left 
the boat, ——so delightful at first, so fatiguing 
at last ; for I cannot, with Mr. Murray, call it 
a merit in the Adirondacks that you never have 
to walk, and stepped away into the free for- 
est. We passed tangled swamps, so dense with 
upturned trees and trailing mosses that they 
seemed to give no opening for any living thing 
to pass, unless it might be the soft and silent 
owl that turned its head almost to dislocation 
in watching us, ere it flitted vaguely away. 
Farther on, the deep, cool forest was luxurious 
with plumy ferns; we trod on moss-covered 
roots, finding the emerald steps so soft we 
scarcely knew that we were ascending ; every 
breath was aromatic ; there seemed infinite heal- 
ing in every fragrant drop that fell upon our 
necks from the cedar boughs. We had what I 
think the pleasantest guide for a daylight tramp, 
—one who has never before passed over that 
particular route, and can only pilot you on gen- 
