re in the wilds of Hancock. The
Neversink lays open the region to the south, and also joins the
Delaware. To the east, various Kills unite with the Big Ingin to form
the Esopus, which flows into the Hudson. Dry Brook and Mill Brook,
both famous trout streams, from twelve to fifteen miles long, find
their way into the Delaware.

The east or Pepacton branch of the Delaware itself takes its rise near
here in a deep pass between the mountains. I have many times drunk at
a copious spring by the roadside, where the infant river first sees
the light. A few yards beyond, the water flows the other way,
directing its course through the Bear Kill and Schoharie Kill into the
Mohawk.

Such game and wild animals as still linger in the State are found in
this region. Bears occasionally make havoc among the sheep. The
clearings at the head of a valley are oftenest the scene of their
depredations.

Wild pigeons, in immense numbers, used to breed regularly in the
valley of the Big Ingin and about the head of the Neversink. The
treetops for miles were full of their nests, while the going and
coming of the old birds kept up a constant din. But the gunners soon
got wind of it, and from far and near were wont to pour in during the
spring, and to slaughter both old and young. This practice soon had
the effect of driving the pigeons all away, and now only a few pairs
breed in these woods.

Deer are still met with, though they are becoming scarcer every year.
Last winter near seventy head were killed on the Beaver Kill alone. I
heard of one wretch, who, finding the deer snowbound, walked up to
them on his snowshoes, and one morning before breakfast slaughtered
six, leaving their carcasses where they fell. There are traditions of
persons having been smitten blind or senseless when about to commit
some heinous offense, but the fact that this villain escaped without
some such visitation throws discredit on all such stories.

The great attraction, however, of this region is the brook trout, with
which the streams and lakes abound. The water is of excessive
coldness, the thermometer indicating 44 deg. and 45 deg. in the springs, and
47 deg. or 48 deg. in the smaller streams. The trout are generally small, but
in the more remote branches their number is very great. In such
localities the fish are quite black, but in the lakes they are of a
lustre and brilliancy impossible to describe.

These waters have been much visited of late years by fish