BIRCH BROWSINGS. 217 



rest our packs against trees and take breath, 

 which made our progress slow. Finally a 

 halt was called beside an immense flat rock 

 which had paused in its slide down the moun- 

 tain, and we prepared to camp for the night. 

 A fire was built, the rock cleared off, a small 

 ration of bread served out, our accoutrements 

 hung up out of the way of the hedgehogs 

 that were supposed to infest the locality, and 

 then we disposed ourselves for sleep. If the 

 owls or porcupines (and I think I heard one 

 of the latter in the middle of the night) rec- 

 onnoitred our camp, they saw a buffalo robe 

 spread upon a rock, with three old felt hats 

 arranged on one side, and three pairs of 

 sorry-looking cowhide boots protruding from 

 the other. 



When we lay down, there was apparently 

 not a mosquito in the woods ; but the " no- 

 see-ems," as Thoreau's Indian aptly named 

 the midges, soon found us out, and after the 

 fire had gone down annoyed us much. My 

 hands and wrists suddenly began to smart 

 and itch in a most unaccountable manner. 

 My first thought was that they had been 

 poisoned in some way. Then the smarting 

 extended to my neck and face, even to my 

 scalp, when I began to suspect what was the 



