112 
THE MAINE WOODS. 
they resemble grasses, as also palms somewhat. The 
hemlock is commonly a tent-like pyramid from the 
ground to its summit. 
After passing through some long rips, and by a large 
island, we reached an interesting part of the river called 
the Pine-Stream Dead-Water, about six miles below 
Pagmuff, where the river expanded to thirty rods in 
width and had many islands in it, with elms and canoe- 
birches, now yellowing, along the shore, and we got our 
first sight of Ktaadn. 
Here, about two o’clock, we turned up a small branch 
three or four rods wide, which comes in on the right 
from the south, called Pine-Stream, to look for moose 
signs. We had gone but a few rods before we saw very 
recent signs along the water’s edge, the mud lifted up by 
their feet being quite fresh, and Joe declared that they 
had gone along there but a short time before. We soon 
reached a small meadow on the east side, at an angle in 
the stream, which was, for the most part, densely cov¬ 
ered with alders. As we were advancing along the edge 
of this, rather more quietly than usual, perhaps, on 
account of the freshness of the signs, — the design be¬ 
ing to camp up this stream, if it promised well, — I 
heard a slight crackling of twigs deep in the alders, and 
turned Joe’s attention to it; whereupon he began to push 
the canoe back rapidly; and we had receded thus half a 
dozen rods, when we suddenly spied two moose standing 
just on the edge of the open part of the meadow which 
we had passed, not more than six or seven rods distant, 
looking round the alders at us. They made me think 
of great frightened rabbits, with their long ears and half- 
inquisitive, half-frightened looks; the true denizens of 
the forest, (I saw at once,) filling a vacuum which now 
