KTAADN. 
o9 
damp and sombre forest of firs and birches, each with a 
sharpened stick, three or four feet in length, upon which 
he had spitted his trout, or roach, previously w r ell gashed 
and salted, our sticks radiating like the spokes of a wheel 
from one centre, and each crowding his particular fish 
into the most desirable exposure, not with the truest re¬ 
gard always to his neighbor’s rights. Thus we regaled 
ourselves, drinking meanwhile at the spring, till one 
man’s pack, at least, w T as considerably lightened, when 
w r e again took up our line of march. 
At length we reached an elevation sufficiently bare to 
afford a view of the summit, still distant and blue, almost 
as if retreating from us. A torrent, which proved to be 
the same we had crossed, was seen tumbling down in 
front, literally from out of the clouds. But this glimpse 
at our whereabouts was soon lost, and we were buried in 
the woods again. The wood was chiefly yellow birch, 
spruce, fir, mountain-ash, or round-wood, as the Maine 
people call it, and moose-wood. It was the worst kind 
of travelling ; sometimes like the densest scrub-oak 
patches with us. The cornel, or bunch-berries, were 
very abundant, as well as Solomon’s seal and moose- 
berries. Blueberries were distributed along our whole 
route ; and in one place the bushes were drooping with 
the weight of the fruit, still as fresh as ever. It was 
the 7th of September. Such patches afforded a grate¬ 
ful repast, and served to bait the tired party forward. 
When any lagged behind, the cry of “ blueberries ” was 
most effectual to bring them up. Even at this elevation 
we passed through a moose-yard, formed by a large flat 
rock, four or five rods square, where they tread down 
the snow in winter. At length, fearing that if. we held 
the direct course to the summit, we should not find any 
