It is a fine game and fish country. Bear of several varieties,
moose, caribou, wolves and many fur-bearing animals abound. It
is doubtless the greatest country in the world for the silver and the
black fox. The rivers and lakes are teeming with many varieties
of fish, while grouse and rabbits are numerous along the shore.
Water fowl of many kinds are plenty and their long sojourning in
these inland waters gives to their flesh a flavor, which, although
high and gamy, never acquires that repulsive, fishy taste so uni-
versal to the fowls of this coast.
When once this country is made accessible from the Sound
points by proper transportation facilities, it can be reached in ten
days. Then it will become one of the greatest tourist countries of
the world, for where is grander scenery, a more beautiful climate, or
a more favored spot, than is this lake country during three months



INTRODUCTION xv

in summer ? The shores are bordered by strips of green meadow,
bedecked with wild roses and an endless variety of flowers of the
most delicate tints, while terraced, open and timbered slopes stretch
away to high mountains which in turn are backed by snow-capped
peaks.
During the whole summer scarcely any rain falls, with the excep-
tion of an occasional thunder-shower ; the sun is seldom lost sight
of except for a brief period at night.
