We started the next morning on an exploring voyage round the lake, to look into the bays and inlets, try the fish and deer, and see what we could see generally. We struck across to an island opposite our landing-place, containing five or six acres, covered with a dense3 growth of spruce, hemlock4, and fir, with an occasional pine standing5 with its tall head proudly above the other forest trees, while along the ground the low whortleberry bushes, loaded with fruit, now just ripening6, grew. This island is near the south shore, and separated from it by a narrow channel some twenty rods in width. We landed, and were regaling ourselves upon the berries, leaving our boats and guns on the lake side of the island. We had wandered near the centre of the island, when three deer started up within two rods of us, and rushed whistling and snorting in huge astonishment7 across the island in the direction of the mainland, and dashing wildly into the water, swam to the shore and disappeared into the forest. We, in truth, were little less astonished than they, for we certainly expected no such game to be hiding there, and when they leaped up so suddenly and plunged8 away, crashing and snorting through the brush, it startled us somewhat; but our boats and guns were on the other side of the island, and we could only look on as they swam boldly to the shore without the power to harm them.
At the east end of the lake a large stream, deep, sluggish9, and tortuous10 enters, which we voted came from a lake or pond, back at the base of the hills, seen some three or four miles distant in that direction, and while the other boats passed in another direction, Spalding and myself started upstream to explore it. As we advanced, the alders11 and willows12 encroached more and more upon the channel, until it became too narrow for rowing. Our boatman took his paddle, and seated in the stern of our little craft, propelled it up stream for an hour or more. The alders gradually contracted, the channel becoming narrower until we were passing under a low archway of branches, covered with dense foliage13, through which the sunlight could not penetrate14. The arch grew lower and lower, and the channel narrower, until we at last absolutely stuck fast among the branches of the alders which, here grew almost horizontally over the stream. We could not turn round, and to go further was absolutely impossible; there was but one mode of extrication15, and that was to back straight out the way we had entered. Our boatman changed his position to the bow of the boat, and after much labor16 and exertion17, we started down stream. After two hours of hard work, pushing with the oars18 and pulling by the branches, we emerged into daylight, came out into the open stream, not a little fatigued19 by our efforts to find the imaginary pond at the base of the mountains.
This stream, with the broad alder marsh20 that stretches away on either side, was doubtless once a beaver dam; and we thought we could discover where these singular and sagacious animals had erected21 the structure that made for them an artificial lake. Our theory on this subject may have been true or false, but this much is a fact, that in all this region of lakes and rivers, I have seen no alder or other marsh of any considerable extent, save this. In the times of old, when the Indian and his brother the beaver, lived quietly together, before the greed of the white man had built up a war of extermination22 between them, this must have been a glorious country for the beaver. The lakes are so numerous and the ponds and rivers so fitted for them, that they must have had a good time of it here for centuries. The Indians never disturbed them, never made war upon them; their flesh was not needed or fitted for food, and the value of their fur was unknown. Tradition, speaking from the dim and shadowy past, tells us of the vast numbers of these sagacious and harmless animals which congregated23 in these regions, living in undisturbed quiet and happiness all the year, building their dams, their canals, and cities on all the ponds, rivers, and lakes hereabouts. But they are all gone now. I inquired if any had been seen of late years, and could hear of but a single family, which some ten years ago were said to dwell somewhere in the vicinity of Mud Lake, the highest and wildest of all these mountain lakes. The last of these was taken four or five years ago, since which no sign of the beaver has been discovered. They are doubtless all gone, and as this was their last abiding-place, they may be regarded as extinct on this side of the Alleghany ranges, and probably on this side of the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains. Like the beaver, the Indian who turned against him, will soon be gone too. Annihilation is written as the doom24 of both. The wild man must pass away with the woods and the forests, before the onward25 rush of civilization, and history will soon be all that will remain of the Indian and his ancient brother the beaver.
Well, be it so, and who will regret it? It is a sad thing to see a whole race perish, wiped out from the aggregate26 of human existence. But in this instance, its place will be filled by a higher and nobler race, and the hunting-ground of the savage27 and the pagan, be converted into cultivated fields; where stood the wigwam, will stand the farm-house; where the council-fires blazed, will stand the halls of enlightened and Christian28 legislation; churches and school-houses, and all the accompaniments of Christianity and civilization will take the place of ancient forests; and educated, intellectual, cultivated minds take the place of the rude, untaught, and unteachable men and women of the woods.
As we re-entered the lake, we saw a noble buck29 feeding along the shore, a short distance from us. We dropped behind a point of willows, from the outer edge of which we would be in shooting distance. We paddled silently round the point, and there, within fifteen rods of us, he stood, broad side to us, presenting as beautiful a mark as a man could wish. I counted him certainly ours, when I drew upon him with my rifle. Well I blazed away, and as I did so, he raised his head suddenly, gazed in astonishment at us for a moment, with his ears thrown forward, and in an attitude of wildness, and then dashed madly away into the forest, snorting like a war-horse at every bound. I had not touched him, and I knew it the moment I fired. Our little boat was light and rollish, and just as I pressed the trigger, it rolled slightly on the water and my ball passed over, but mighty30 close to the back of that deer. I was mortified31 enough at this mishap32, for I prided myself on my coolness and marksmanship, and here was a failure apparently33 more inexcusable than any that had occurred. But there was no help for it. The deer was gone, and Spalding and the boatman indulged in a hearty34 laugh at my expense.
Some half a mile up the lake, we saw a great turtle sunning himself on a rock which was partly out of water. He was twice as large as any of the fresh-water kind I had ever seen. His shell was all of two feet in diameter, and his scaly35 arms, as they hung loosely over the side of the rock, were as large as the wrists of a man. He was some six or eight rods from us, and Spalding gave him a shot with his rifle. The ball glanced harmlessly from his massive shell against the ledge36 behind him, and starting from his sleep, he clambered lazily and clumsily into the water.
We threw out a trolling line as we passed up the lake; but we caught no trout37. Along the shore, however, we caught small ones in plenty with the fly. These shore trout, as I call them, seem to be a distinct species, differing in many respects from the other trout of the lakes or streams. They are uniform in size, rarely exceeding a quarter of a pound in weight. They are of a whitish color, longer in proportion than the lake, river, or brook38 trout, have fewer specks39 upon them, and those not of a golden hue40, but rather like freckles41. They are found among the broken rocks where the shores are bold and bluff42, or near the mouths of the cold brooks43 that come down from the hills. I caught them at every trial, and whenever we wanted them for food. Their flesh is white and excellent—better, to my taste, than that of any other fish of these waters.
We rejoined our companions in a little bay that lay quietly around a rocky promontory44, where we found them enjoying a dinner of venison and trout, under the shade of some huge firtrees, by the side of a beautiful spring that came bubbling up, in its icy coldness, from beneath the tangled45 roots of a stinted46 and gnarled birch. Happily, there was enough for us all, and we accepted at once the invitation extended to us to dine. Towards evening, we rowed back to our shanty47. The breeze had entirely48 ceased, and the lake lay still and smooth; not a wave agitated49 its surface, not a ripple50 passed across its stirless bosom51; the woods along the shore, and the mountains in the back ground, the glowing sunlight upon the hill-tops were mirrored back from its quiet depths as if there were other forests, and other mountains and hills glowing in the evening sunshine away down below, twins to those above and around us. We saw on our return along the beach, the track of a bear in the sand, that had been made during the day, and we had some talk of trying the scent52 of our dogs upon it. But it was too near night, to allow of a hope of securing him, even if the dogs could follow, and we gave up the idea, promising53 to attend to bruin's case another day.
As we sat with our meerschaums, in the evening, speculating upon the chances of securing a bear, or a moose, before leaving the woods, a wolf lifted up his voice on the hill opposite as, and made the old forest ring again with his howling. He was answered as in the night previous, from away down the lake, and by another from the hill back of us, and another still from the narrow gorge54 above the head of the lake. However discordant55 the music appeared to us, they seemed to enjoy it, for they kept it up at intervals56 during all the early part of the night.
"Seeing that bear's track, and hearing the howl of those wolves," said the Doctor, "reminds me of a story I heard told by an old Ohio pilot, whom I found in drifting down that noble river in a pirogue, some five and twenty years ago. We tied up one night by the side of another similar craft, that had gone down ahead of us, the people on board of which had landed and built a camp-fire, and erected their tent. They were strangers to us, but in those days everybody you met in the wilderness57 which skirted the Upper Ohio was your friend, if you chose to regard him so. I was a mere58 boy then, and was in company with my father and three other gentlemen, who owned a township of land not far from Cincinnati; that is not far now, considering the difference in the mode of travelling between then and now, and we were on our way to explore that township. I did not regard it as of much value then, though it has since brought a heap of money to its owners. We found the company belonging to the other boat busily employed in cooking a supper of venison and bear-meat, they having in the course of the day killed two deer and a bear that they found swimming the river. We were invited to help ourselves; an invitation which, being cordially given, we as cordially accepted. We had been passing during most of the day through unbroken forests, standing up in stately majesty59 on both sides of the river, and stretching back the Lord knows how far. After the darkness gathered, the wolves made the wilderness vocal60 with their howling. It was the first time I had ever heard them, and for that matter the last, until since we have been in these woods: but when that old fellow over the lake lifted up his voice last night, I recognized it at once. I can't say I admired it as a musical performance then, and I don't appreciate its harmony now. If there are those who like it, why, de gustibus non, and so forth61.
"But I set out to tell the story that the old Ohio pilot told that night, while the travellers sat smoking around their camp-fires, and the wolves were howling in the wilderness about us. I do not, of course, vouch62 for its truth; I simply tell it as he told it to us. He seemed to believe it himself, for he told it with a gravity of face, and a seriousness of manner, which would ill comport63 with its falsity. His hearers did not seem to regard it as passing belief, but they laughed at the idea of drowning a bear.
"'Twenty odd years ago,' said the old pilot, as he lighted his pipe and seated himself on the head of a whisky-keg, 'there warn't a great many people along the Ohio, except Ingins and bears, and we didn't like to cultivate a very close acquaintance with either of them, for the Ingins were cheatin', deceivin', and scalpin' critters, and the bears had an onpleasant way with 'em, that people of delicate narves didn't like. I came out for some people over on the east side of the mountains, lookin' land, in company with four men who had hunted over the country. Ohio warn't any great shakes then, but let me tell you, stranger, it had a mighty big pile of the tallest kind of land layin' around waitin' to be opened up to the sunlight. It's goin' ahead now, and people are rushin' matters in the way of settlin' of it, but you could stick down a stake most anywhere in it then, and travel in any direction a hundred miles climbin' a fence.
"'Wal, we came down the Alleghany in two canoes, and shantied on the Ohio, just below where the Alleghany empties itself into it. We hid our canoes, and struck across the country, and travelled about explorin' for six weeks, and when we got back to our shantyin' ground, we were tuckered out you may believe. We rested here a couple of days, layin' around loose, and takin' our comfort in a way of our own. Early one morning, when my companions were asleep, I got up and paddled across the river after a deer, for we wanted venison for breakfast. I got a buck, and was returnin', when what should I see but a bear swimmin' the Ohio, and I put out in chase right off. I soon overhauled64 the critter, and picked up my rifle to give him a settler, when I found that in paddlin' I had spattered water into the canoe, wettin' the primin' and makin' the gun of no more use than a stick. I didn't understand much about the natur of the beast then, and thought I'd run him down, and drown him, or knock him on the head. So I put the canoe right end on towards him, thinkin' to run him under, but when the bow touched him, what did he do, but reach his great paws up over the side of the canoe, and begin to climb in. I hadn't bargained for that; I felt mighty onpleasant, you may swear, at the prospect65 of havin' sich a passenger. I hadn't time to get at him with the rifle, till he came tumblin' into the dugout, and as he seated himself on his stern, showed as pretty a set of ivory as a body would wish to see. There we sat, he in one end of the dugout and I in the other, eyein' one another in a mighty suspicious sort of way. He didn't seem inclined to come near my end of the dugout, and I was principled agin goin' towards his. I made ready to take to the water on short notice, but at the same time concluded I'd paddle him to the shore, if he'd allow me to do it quietly.
"'Wal, I paddled away, the bear every now and then grinnin' at me, skinnin' his face till every tooth in his head stood right out, and grumblin' to himself in a way that seemed to say, 'I wonder if that chap's good to eat?' I didn't offer any opinion on the subject; I didn't say a word to him, treatin' him all the time like a gentleman, but kept pullin' for the shore. When the canoe touched the ground, he clambered over the side, and climbed up the bank, and givin' me an extra grin, started off into the woods. I pushed the dugout back suddenly, and gave him, as I felt safe again, a double war-whoop that seemed to astonish him, for he quickened his pace mightily66, as if quite as glad to part company as I was. I larned one thing, stranger, that mornin', and it's this, never to try drownin' a bear by runnin' him under with a dugout. It won't pay.'"
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1
alder
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| n.赤杨树 | |
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beaver
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| n.海狸，河狸 | |
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dense
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| a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的 | |
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hemlock
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| n.毒胡萝卜，铁杉 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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ripening
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| v.成熟，使熟( ripen的现在分词 )；熟化；熟成 | |
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astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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sluggish
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| adj.懒惰的，迟钝的，无精打采的 | |
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tortuous
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| adj.弯弯曲曲的，蜿蜒的 | |
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alders
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| n.桤木( alder的名词复数 ) | |
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willows
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| n.柳树( willow的名词复数 )；柳木 | |
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foliage
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| n.叶子，树叶，簇叶 | |
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14
penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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extrication
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| n.解脱；救出，解脱 | |
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16
labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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oars
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| n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 ) | |
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fatigued
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| adj. 疲乏的 | |
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marsh
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| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
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21
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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extermination
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| n.消灭，根绝 | |
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congregated
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| （使）集合，聚集( congregate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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doom
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| n.厄运，劫数；v.注定，命定 | |
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onward
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| adj.向前的，前进的；adv.向前，前进，在先 | |
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aggregate
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| adj.总计的，集合的；n.总数；v.合计；集合 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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29
buck
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| n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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mortified
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| v.使受辱( mortify的过去式和过去分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
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mishap
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| n.不幸的事，不幸；灾祸 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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hearty
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| adj.热情友好的；衷心的；尽情的，纵情的 | |
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scaly
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| adj.鱼鳞状的；干燥粗糙的 | |
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ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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trout
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| n.鳟鱼；鲑鱼(属) | |
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brook
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| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
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specks
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| n.眼镜；斑点，微粒，污点( speck的名词复数 ) | |
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hue
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| n.色度；色调；样子 | |
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41
freckles
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| n.雀斑，斑点( freckle的名词复数 ) | |
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42
bluff
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| v.虚张声势，用假象骗人；n.虚张声势，欺骗 | |
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43
brooks
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| n.小溪( brook的名词复数 ) | |
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promontory
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| n.海角；岬 | |
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45
tangled
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| adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词 | |
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46
stinted
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| v.限制，节省（stint的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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shanty
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| n.小屋，棚屋；船工号子 | |
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48
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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49
agitated
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| adj.被鼓动的，不安的 | |
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50
ripple
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| n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进 | |
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51
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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52
scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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53
promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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54
gorge
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| n.咽喉，胃，暴食，山峡；v.塞饱，狼吞虎咽地吃 | |
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55
discordant
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| adj.不调和的 | |
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intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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57
wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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58
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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majesty
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| n.雄伟，壮丽，庄严，威严；最高权威，王权 | |
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60
vocal
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| adj.直言不讳的；嗓音的；n.[pl.]声乐节目 | |
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61
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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62
vouch
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| v.担保；断定；n.被担保者 | |
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63
comport
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| vi.相称，适合 | |
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64
overhauled
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| v.彻底检查( overhaul的过去式和过去分词 )；大修；赶上；超越 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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mightily
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| ad.强烈地；非常地 | |
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