246 A BIRCH-BARK CANOE TRIP 



horses, going to their winter's exile in the grim forests in a very 

 jolly frame of mind, keeping up their spirits with lively son^ .UK I 

 breakdowns. 



In another hour we had our canoe drawn ashore at Metajx -tli.i 

 and our journey was for the present at an end, for here \vas tin- 

 railway station, and we were soon on board the train for BathuiM. 

 whence we had started exactly four weeks previously. 



I am sorry to have to record that Joe took the first opportunity 

 of getting gloriously drunk on that ' drink of heroes ' as Dr. 

 Johnson styles brandy and showed he could be as heroic in his 

 potations as in his hunting feats. 



Full many a glorious morning had I seen 

 Flatter the mountain tops with sovereign eye. 

 KissiVg with golden face the forests green, 

 Gilding pale streams with heavenly alchemy. 



After such a trip there will survive lifelong memories of melan- 

 choly plains burnt to a sober russet colour by the summer suns ; 

 of hissing rapids and thundering plunges of confused waters ; 

 of the tranquil beauty of placid lakes over which ospreys circle, 

 where on calm evenings trout leap incessantly, while beaver and 

 wild-duck break the glassy surface into ripples ; of meadows where 

 the huge moose, like a brown shadow thrown from a magic-lantern, 

 steals with astonishing noiselessness across the scene, suddenly 

 vanishing like the baseless fabric of a vision ; of mountains where 

 the rich repast of wild whortleberries attracts stealthy bears, that 

 batten undisturbed, except on some rare occasion when the fatal 

 lead speeds to finish their last feast ; of caribou like gigantic 

 goats rapidly treading the rocky ways of desolate bluffs ; of red 

 deer stealing down to the riverside, half hidden by wild grasses, 

 to drink as the evening shadows lengthen ; and, perhaps beyond 

 all other scenes in impressiveness, that wonderful transformation 

 of the forest when a blaze of scarlet and golden splendour bursts 

 over the foliage just previous to the fall of the leal. 



