264 



Portable Boats. 



with brass cut- waters, riveted on. One great peculiarity 

 of the boat is that no iron or steel is placed in it, and the 

 surveyor using it in the reconnaissance of a lake will have 

 no trouble with local attraction of the needle. The name 

 which I have given it is that of the Adirondack lake on 

 which it was first practically put to the test. 



Ampersand Pond ! Glorious lake, silent and remote in 

 the depths of the Adirondack forest. Walled in on the 

 south by the dark, massive summits of Mt. Seward — 

 loneliest of peaks — and on the north by the ridge of Am- 

 persand or Moose mountain, while other peaks clustering, 

 seem eager to shelter it from all view save that of the 

 celestial orb of day that gilds the valley with its glory, and 

 fills its wavelets with sparkling brilliancy. Well do I re- 

 member that day, when the guides, having tied in the light 

 boughs, that we had cut a short while before, carried it 

 down and placed it lightly on the water. Their merriment 

 at the idea that " such a pork bag," as they called it, could 

 float or carry anything, was scarcely concealed. But when 

 the huge hound, after gazing at it with gravity, walked 

 out upon the log beside which it floated, and soberly 

 climbed in, they could not restrain their laughter, but yefc 

 exclaimed, u Well, it looks just like a boat." And then I 

 persuaded first one and then the other, to enter — the boat 

 floating meanwhile like a feather, and with the dip of the 

 paddles we were off, over the flashing waters, seeing each 

 wavelet, as it rippled against the sides, flash in the morning 

 sun. 



How we traversed the lake over its deepest waters, with 

 nothing between us and the water but the thin canvas ; 

 how, with sextant and compass used from the boat we had so 

 lately occupied as bed or teut by turns, the figure of the lake 

 was mapped ; how in it we chased a deer, almost catching 

 him as he leaped ashore, or how, shortly afterward, in 

 pushing down into the outlet of the lake, we suddenly came 

 upon a monstrous panther stretched at full length upon a 



