THE RIVER LEHIGH. 167 



the evening and a portion of the night in dancing and frolicking 

 in their own simple manner, in the most perfect amity, seldom 

 troubling themselves with the idea of the labour prepared for 

 them on the morrow. That morrow now come, one sounds a 

 horn from the door of the storehouse, at the call of which they 

 all return to their work. The sawyers, the millers, the rafters, 

 and raftsmen are all immediately busy. The mills all are 

 going, and the logs, which a few months before were the 

 supporters of broad and leafy tops, are now in the act of being 

 split asunder. The boards are then launched into the stream, 

 and rafts are formed of them for market. 



"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-constructed 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 gene- 

 rally 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 in that range was extremely abundant. The 

 elk 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 tlie 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 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 pulling up from the rivulets the 

 sparkling fish, allured by the struggles of the common grass- 

 hopper. 



" A comical affair happened with some 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 mountains, at the season when the 

 huckleberries are ripe and plentiful, were suddenly apprised of 



