TEE MAINE WOODS. 
96 
country appearing like, and perhaps being, partly a 
swamp, — and at length a gradual descent to the Penob¬ 
scot, which I was surprised to find here a large stream, 
from twelve to fifteen rods wide, flowing from west to 
east, or at right angles with the lake, and not more than 
two and a half miles from it. The distance is nearly 
twice too great on the Map of the Public Lands, and on 
Colton’s Map of Maine, and Russell Stream is placed 
too far down. Jackson makes* Moosehead Lake to be 
nine hundred and sixty feet above high water in Port¬ 
land harbor. It is higher than Chesuncook, for the lum¬ 
berers consider the Penobscot, where we struck it, 
twenty-five feet lower than Moosehead, — though eight 
miles above it is said to be the highest, so that the water 
can be made to flow either way, and the river falls a 
good deal between here and Chesuncook. The carry- 
man called this about one hundred and forty miles 
above Bangor by the river, or two hundred from the 
ocean, and fifty-five miles below Hilton’s, on the Canada 
road, the first clearing above, which is four and a half 
miles from the source of the Penobscot. 
At the north end of the carry, in the midst of a clear¬ 
ing of sixty acres or more, there was a log camp of the 
usual construction, with something more like a house 
adjoining, for the accommodation of the carryman’s fam¬ 
ily and passing lumberers. The bed of withered fir- 
twigs smelled very sweet, though really very dirty. 
There was also a store-house on the bank of the river, 
containing pork, flour, iron, batteaux, and birches, locked 
up. 
We now proceeded to get our dinner, *which always 
turned out to be tea, and to pitch canoes, for which pur¬ 
pose a large iron pot lay permanently on the bank. 
