A COMPANIONABLE COUNTRY 



"Skated up the river ... in spite of the snow and wind. . . . We went up . . . and came down . . . again with the 

 wind and snow dust, spreading our coat tails, like birds, though somewhat at the risk of our necks, if we liad struck a foul 

 place. I found that I could sail on a tack pretty well. . . . Sometimes we had to jump suddenly over some obstacle, which 

 the snow had concealed, to save our necks. It was worth the while for one to look back against the sun and wind, and 

 see the other sixty rods off. ... In the midst of . . . curling snow steam, he sweeps and surges this way and that, and 

 comes on like the spirit of the whirlwind. At Lee"s Cliff we made a fire, kindling with white pine cones. . . . Then cast 

 on some creeping juniper wreaths and hemlock boughs to hear them crackle." (Feb. 3) — Thore.au 



