THE ALLEGASH AND EAST BEANCH. 
219 
than the regular carry which we had left. It led through 
an arbor-vitse wilderness of the grimmest character. 
The great fallen and rotting trees had been cut through 
and rolled aside, and their huge trunks abutted on the 
path on each side, while others still lay across it two 
or three feet high. It was impossible for us to discern 
the Indian’s trail in the elastic moss, which, like a thick 
carpet, covered every rock and fallen tree, as well as the 
earth. Nevertheless, I did occasionally detect the track 
of a man, and I gave myself some credit for it. I carried 
my whole load at once, a heavy knapsack, and a large 
India-rubber bag, containing our bread and a blanket, 
swung on a paddle; in all, about sixty pounds ; but my 
companion preferred to make two journeys, by short 
stages, while I waited for him. We could not be sure 
that we were not depositing our loads each time farther 
off from the true path. 
As I sat waiting for my companion, he would seem to 
be gone a long time, and I had ample opportunity to 
make observations on the forest. I now first began to 
be seriously molested by the black-fly, a very small but 
perfectly formed fly of that color, about one tenth of an 
inch long, which I first felt, and then saw, in swarms 
about me, as I sat by a wider and more than usually 
doubtful fork in this dark forest-path. The hunters tell 
bloody stories about them,—-how they settle in a ring about 
your neck, before you know it, and are wiped off in 
great numbers with your blood. But remembering that 
I had a wash in my knapsack, prepared by a thoughtful 
hand in Bangor, I made haste to apply it to my face 
and hands, and was glad to find it effectual, as long as it 
was fresh, or for twenty minutes, not only against black- 
flies, but all the insects that molested us. They would 
