For For ml and Stream. 
W ,e £*'*1*1 §» ufe - 
M Y acquaintance with this route pertains to the ante- 
Murruy period. I have been over it twice, and ex* 
| plored it in its length, breadth and depth, from Marlin's to 
the head of Tapper’s Lake, and from Hough’s to Mother 
I Johnson’s. These excursions were made in the years 1860 
and 1868, and were the source to me of untold gralifica- 
I . tion. In my early years it used to be debated whether 
I there is more pleasure in anticipation or fruition. I do not 
I propose to decide this issue, which may depend greatly on 
i circumstances, but wish to suggest another alternative — 
the pleasures of retrospection, or of memory. Campbell 
sung the pleasures of Hope, Akenside the pleasures of Im- 
agination, Rogers the pleasures of Memory. They all had 
scope for their finest powers, and produced felicitous re- 
sults. There is great pleasure in them all, particularly as 
I applicable to the Adirondack field. I have passed through 
in large measure the pleasures of hope and fruition rdSpect- 
| iug it, and begin to have recourse to retrospection and the 
> pleasur es of memory. Whether my lucubrations are read 
or not, I hrSfe my reward in these reviews. As an enthu- 
siastic Bugler once told me, he fouud his chief pastime, 
| amid the cares of business in the opening year, in prepar- 
ing and projecting for his June vacation. Then he took it, 
and had joy enough, aud for the remainder of the year he 
L liked to think and speak and write about it. 
In relation to this route, I would first remark the pleasing 
I variety of the modes ol travel connected with it, and even 
[ I its lack of opportunity for fatigue by walking. In other 
F localities I have walked eleven or twelve miles "on a 
| stretch” on my way to the lakes, but I can go from my 
I house to the depths of the wilderness in this way without 
I walking scarce a mile. The route from all points to White- 
I hall is by railroad, where the tourist steps into the steam- 
| boat as easily as I write this sentence. There he sleeps, if 
I lie chooses, and has every accommodation for dreams of 
I waking bliss; or lie enjoys the charms of Lake Champlain 
r till Port Kent receives him. Thence he proceeds by stage 
I or private conveyance, via Keeseville, over good roads, in 
k l the enjoyment of exhilarating air and an entertaining land- 
I scape, to the Lower Saranac, where he takes boat und 
[ guide, and can go, os Martin says, an hundred miles. Till 
I he reaches Bartlett's he has walked ouly a few rods. 
There he can promenade for a quarter of a mile", and then 
I at the Indian carry for a mile, but for his next walk he may 
I have to return. 
Circumstances led me on my first trip into the house and 
I lands of Milotc Baker, Esq., and I must say that he did all 
[ 1 could reasonably expect to promote my happiness, and 
I made my sojourn very agreeable. My favorite fishing 
I ground while there was that high, long sloping rock just 
I below the dam up the river. On one side was rushing 
I water, and underneath lay Lie spangled darlings, those 
I dazzling naiads of the wave, waiting to be wooed and won. 
I On the other side, most accommodatingly, there was a 
I minnow stream, or oozings from the river, where the little 
I ones collected, and could bo taken without difficulty. I 
I used a small gang, as the water was violent, and stauding 
I on the rock, with reel rendy to epiu and all prepared, 1 
I dropped the minnow. Stars, what a rush! and how he 
I goes down tho river way off an hundred feet! Well, let 
him run; I fear it is his last swim. Asa lad fisherman 
I once said, hnving caught his first trout, "O, you beauty, 
I how sorry I am that I've got you; but I can’t let you go." 
I »5o I reel in my prize on the other aide of the rock, where 
I the water is quiet and peaceable, and the trout even more 
I quiet than the water — a pound and a half. 
1 have almost invariably found in my experience that 
however well domiciled I have been in the woods, I have 
I seen and enjoyed far more when, after suitable prepura- 
I l i°n, I have committed mysolf under Providence to the 
care of my guide, and moving ofT with him for weeks and 
miles uway have camped where the night overtook ns. 
Concerning tastes, there must be no dispute; but I, at least, 
I do not resort to the woods for luxurious living, preferring 
of home after return. I go to find luxury in other things 
than those to which I am accustomed, and therefore choose 
the shanty and the tent, with their wild surroundings and 
better game, rather than those palaces in the wilderness 
near which no fish or deer can live. Brussels carpets in 
the - woods are surpassed by the carpets of Nature, and 
hemlocks are better than feathers there for rest— 
Where the spirit mild of Nature’s child 
On the breast of her holy mother, 
In the silence sweet may hear the beat 
Of her loving heart and tender. 
Nor wish to change the wlldwood'8 range 
For all earth's pomp nnd splendor. [Or. Bethune. 
William Moody was my guide; another or better I did 
not. desire, nor could I have obtained. It is remarkable, 
in his case, that somewhere or somehow he had received a 
bullet through his lungs, and yet he lived on many years, 
strong and capable. I met him twice afterwards — once at 
Arnold's the next year, and again at Bartlett’s in 18G8, with 
a heavy string of lake trout in his hands, caught from set 
lines. He has since, lam told, paid the debt of Nature. 
We entered the lake via the river, raid way up, aud on the 
heights at the left, bathed in sunlight, took our first re- 
past. Arriving at the rapids, or quasi falls, over the rocks 
of the inlet, where there is a short portage, I moved for a 
trout, and trout seconded the motion. I had him, and he 
was a big one. After playing him awhile, as if exhausted 
he thrust himself for refuge in shoal water between two 
stones, where he was wedged. Moody was equal to the 
situation, which he at once comprehended. Wading in, 
guided by the line which I held, he inserted his right hand 
and lifted a two pounder. 
Why is it that Round Lake is so easily disturbed and agi- 
tated V It appears to have a quick temper — one readily 
roused and ruffled. I have generally found it, ns others 
have, full of high rolling waves, though the Saranacs were 
at rest. On this first occasion of crossing it the distance 
was doubled, because here we went up, up, up, and down, 
down, down. We reached Bartlett's after a long succes- 
sion of ascents and plunges, agreeable for variety but not 
favorable for expedition. I noticed the umbrella of which 
I had read, which Dame Nature keeps hospitably spread 
over an island in case of rain. 
All right at Bartlett’s. The river comes down stairs 
there in a hurry to meet arriving guests, and the scenery is 
romantic and picturesque. We are iu comfortable quarters, 
where nothing is left undone which should be doue for re- 
pose. Motions for a meal are always in order, and it is laid 
upon the table without debate. I retain two incidental re- 
collections of my sojourn there. Mr. B. showed me an 
otter, the only one I have ever seen, remarking that he was 
"great on fish." Producing one, he committed it to the 
care of the black little imp. Applause immediately fol- 
lowed. The energy and vehemence with which he received 
it, chewing it to pieces right and left, while looking up 
with prodigious satisfaction, was a ludicrous 6cene, which 
in its way could not be surpassed. "Ah," said Mr. B., "I 
told you he was great on fish." I was pleased in the morn- 
ing with his simple, effective way of supplying his visitors 
with live bait. These essentials arc generally procured 
with difficulty aud loss of time; but Mr. B. had trained 
shiners and company to be near his dwelling by feeding 
them. Tuking his fine hand net with him, nothing doubt- 
ing, he threw in an attractive morsel to concentrate them, 
and with one swoop supplied all the live bait we required 
through the entire day. Verbum sapuntibus satis. 
Launching our craft on a bright morning on the waters 
of the Upper Sarauac, we proceeded as happy as larks over 
a section of the lake to the Indian carry. I this time took 
the route, as it is mapped in Street’s "Woods and Waters," 
directly to the head of Tupper's Lake. Directly as to 
place, for we did not wander, but not as to time, for we 
were in no hurry. Our boat was drawn across the carry 
by a yoke of oxen. We rested as we walked, before set- 
tling ourselves for further navigation. Down the twists 
aud turns of the Ampersand Creek we took our tortuous 
way to the lovely, silent, solitary Racquette River. Mon- 
otonous in its solitude of charms, we glided over its wind- 
ing waters, walled on both sides with spiral trees— tama- 
rack, cedar, hemlock, spruce, nnd balsam— inhaling health, 
pure draughts of medicated air, inspirations of Nature in 
its fairest scenes— (a pull); well, a fish must be attended to 
any time, even if it breaks up my poetry. 1 bring him lu. 
line upon line, no matter just uow about tho precept upou 
precept, but here a little and there a little, and he comes 
bouncing into the boat, good fora dinner at one o'clock. 
How I like these telegraphic despatches from the depths! 
Well, let us move on. 
Arrived at the rapids, the scene became exciting. Here 
one man iu his boat was throwing the fly, and there an- 
other. Here a fish was coming aboard, and there oue, with 
sober second thought (thought he wouldn’t), while sounds 
of water curling round the rocks lent their music to the 
scene. I took my share as we went through, and loitered 
for the welcome passengers. The trunk of a fallen tree at 
one point to the right afforded a good footing for casting 
the fly, so disembarking, I stood on it and had sport. I 
could see trout through the transparent water before feel- 
ing the unsophisticated creatures on the end of my line, 
and then with my fingers. 
Tapper’s is one of the most beautiful of all lakes. Noth- 
ing is lacking to it for delightful scenery. High rocky 
walls are there, and rocky islands, ns well ns isles of green. 
Capes, bays, and promontories, streams and falls, echoes, 
deer, and the sal mo in variety, all combine. I saw the dis- 
tant silver of Bog River where it sought the lake, coursing 
down over a base that broke it into foam, and drew near, 
attracted by its illumined white. While there I caught a 
deer. I was throwing in for what might be under, when 
looking to the right I discovered the deer, not far from 
the shoie, which had entered the river to swim across. Let 
him swim. We lay low and kept still till he was opposite, 
mid-way over, when we took a notion to call on him. Beat- 
ing ourselves in the boat, we moved in the direction of the • 
deer. He began to look seven ways for Sunday, and seemed 
to contemplate which was the nearer shore. The novelty 
of his position evidently turned his hend. If I could im- 
agine such a thing as his having ever read Shakespeare, I 
could fancy him saying: “Now would I give a thousand 
furlongs of sea for an acre of new ground, long heath, 
brown furze, anything. The wills above be done; but I 
would fain die a dry death." We made up to him. "Good 
morning, my friend, how are you?" No reply. "Would 
you like to come aboard?" Nary. "Well, come here and 
let me pat you, if it is compatible." He came near to us, 
or we to him. I patted him, played with him, nnd let him 
go. Nothing but the direst famine would have induced me 
to harm him, thrown os he was on ray hospitality. Moody 
pronounced him a yearling. He struck out for t^ shore, 
but Bill was determined to make him cross an island which 
was near. Ho headed him off with the order, "Go to the 
island." The deer finally nimed for it. We saw him go 
up it and down on the farther side and take to the water 
back again whence he came, aud disappear in tho forest. 
Need I say that wc did not see him ugain all that day. 
Doubtless he long since was venison. 
Wc met on this lake several remnunts of tho aboriginal 
tribes. I visited them at their wigwams, and was kindly 
received. They were engaged in making baskets, which I 
was told might be a profitable business for them if they 
could escape from the fascinations of the chase. One 
evening while we were at the falls two canoes approached. 
In the one was an erect, stern looking Indian, with squaw 
and papooses, nnd in tho other, paddled by another Indian, 
were the family effects— eatables, blankets, dogs, and guus. 
They were on their way up the Bog River after moose. 
Ou my return, I was trolling one evening as wo passed 
aloug the river, till, coming to a place of rocks, I took a 
trout, and circling round soon took another. Becoming in- 
terested in the sport, I passed back und forth over it re- 
peatedly. Meanwhile a storm was coming on. The clouds 
were growing denser and darker, but I did not heed them 
till down came a drenching rain, and the thought was 
forced upou us that right there, on those wet banks where 
we were, we would hare to pass the night. We protected 
ourselves from the rain as much as possible till it was over. 
1 My rubber coat was called into requisition, aud donned im- 
