197 
THE ALLEGASH AND EAST BRANCH. 
tinct vista through the wood, which it takes an experi¬ 
enced eye to detect. 
We had no sooner pitched our tent than the thunder¬ 
shower burst on us, and we hastily crept under it, draw¬ 
ing our bags after us, curious to see how much of a shel¬ 
ter our thin cotton roof was going to be in this excursion. 
Though the violence of the rain forced a fine shower 
^through the cloth before it was fairly wetted and shrunk, 
with which we were well bedewed, we managed to keep 
pretty dry, only a box of matches having been left out 
and spoiled, and before we were aware of it the shower 
was over, and only the dripping trees imprisoned us. 
Wishing to see what fishes there were in the river 
there, we cast our lines over the wet bushes on the shore, 
but they were repeatedly swept down the swift stream in 
vain. So, leaving the Indian, we took the canoe just before 
dark, and dropped down the river a few rods to fish at 
the mouth of a sluggish brook on the opposite side. We 
pushed up this a rod or two, where, perhaps, only a canoe 
had been before. But though there were a few small 
fishes, mostly chivin , there, we were soon driven off by 
the mosquitoes. While there we heard the Indian fire 
his gun twice in such rapid succession that we thought it 
must be double-barrelled, though we observed afterward 
that it was single. His object was to clean out and dry 
it after the rain, and he then loaded it with ball, being 
now on ground where he expected to meet with large 
game. This sudden, loud, crashing noise in the still aisles 
of the forest, affected me like an insult to nature, or ill 
manners at any rate, as if you were to fire a gun in a 
hall or temple. It was not heard far, however, except 
along the river, the sound being rapidly hushed up or 
absorbed by the damp trees and mossy ground. 
