OUT IN THE WOODS IN WINTER. 107 



beauty of the forest, whose pines, some of which tower 

 up above 200 feet in height, are decked and wreathed 

 with snow, and where no sound is heard, except the 

 occasional chirrup of a squirrel, or the explosions of 

 trees cracking with intense frost, excites admiration 

 and stimulates curiosity. The intense stillness and 

 solitude, the travelling day after day through endless 

 woods without meeting a sign of man, and rarely 

 seeinc/ a living creature, strikes very strangely on the 

 mind at first. The half-breed trapper delights in 

 wandering alone in the forest ; but Cheadle, who tried 

 the experiment for two days, found the silence and 

 loneliness so oppressive as to be quite unbearable. 



The interest in the pursuit was constantly kept up 

 by the observation of tracks, the interpretation of their 

 varied stories, and the account of the different habits 

 of the animals as related by our companion. There is 

 also no small amount of excitement in visiting the 

 traps previously made, to see w^hether they contain 

 the looked-for prize, or whether all the fruits of hard 

 labour have been destroyed by the vicious wolverine. 



At night, lying on a soft, elastic couch of pine 

 boughs, at his feet a roaring fire of great trees heaped 

 high, from which rises an enormous column of smoke 

 and steam from the melted snow, the trapper, rolled 

 up in his blanket, sleeps in peace. Sometimes, how- 

 ever, when the cold is very intense, or the wind blows 

 strongly, a single blanket is but poor protection. The 

 huge fire is inadequate to prevent the freezing of one 

 extremity, while it scorches the other, and sleep is im- 

 possible, or, if obtained, quickly broken by an aching 

 cold in every limb as the fire burns low. On these 



