THE ALLEGASH AND EAST BRANCH. 
245 
spiles standing in loose order, but often of twice the ordi¬ 
nary height, and mingled with and beating against them 
the w T reck of ten thousand navies, all their spars and tim¬ 
bers, while there rises from the water’s edge the densest 
and grimmest wilderness, ready to supply more material 
when the former fails, and you may get a faint idea of 
that coast. We could not have landed if we would, 
without the greatest danger of being swamped ; so blow 
as it might, we must depend on coasting by it. It was 
twilight, too, and that stormy cloud was advancing rap¬ 
idly in our rear. It was a pleasant excitement, yet we 
were glad to reach, at length, in the dusk, the cleared 
shore of the Chamberlain Farm. 
We landed on a low and thinly wooded point there, 
and while my companions were pitching the tent, I ran 
up to the house to get some sugar, our six pounds being 
gone; — it was no wonder they were, for Polis had a sweet 
tooth. He would first fill his dipper nearly a third full 
of sugar, and then add the coffee to it. Here was a 
clearing extending back from the lake to a hill-top, with 
some dark-colored log buildings and a storehouse in it, 
and half a dozen men standing in front of the principal 
hut, greedy for news. Among them was the man who 
tended the dam on the Allegash and tossed the bullet. 
He having charge of the dams, and learning that w r e 
were going to Webster Stream the next day, told me that 
some of their men, who were haying at Telos Lake, had 
shut the dam at the canal there in order to catch trout, 
and if we wanted more water to take us through the 
canal we might raise the gate, for he would like to have 
it raised. The Chamberlain Farm is no doubt a cheerful 
opening in the woods, but such was the lateness of the 
hour that it has left but a dusky impression on my mind. 
