EFFECT OF THE SCENERY. 71 



that on which we were engaged, it often becomes 

 even a duty to stifle our sensations ; or, rather, 

 though we may and must feel, there are times 

 when we must be careful not to express the 

 feeling. 



After labouring, with frequent halts, through 

 the thick woods, we came suddenly upon the 

 spot from which the picturesque and beautiful 

 view from Portage la Loche bursts upon the 

 sight. A thousand feet below, the sylvan land- 

 scape lay spread before us, to the extent of 

 thirty-six miles, in all the wild luxuriance of its 

 summer clothing. Even the most jaded of the 

 party, as he broke from the gloom of the wood on 

 this enchanting scene, seemed to forget his weari- 

 ness, and halted involuntarily with his burden, to 

 gaze for a moment, with a sort of wondering ad- 

 miration, on a spectacle so novel and magnifi- 

 cent. My own sensations, however, had not the 

 keenness of those of a stranger to the sight ; and 

 it was not without a sort of melancholy, such as 

 results from satiety, that I contrasted my present 

 feelings with the rapture which I had formerly 

 experienced. It was, to me, Portage la Loche, 

 and nothing more, — the same beautiful and 

 romantic solitude through which I had passed 

 and repassed on two former expeditions. There 

 was nothing new to excite surprise, or quicken 

 delight ; not a spot or latent beauty, not even 



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