BRIGHTNESS OF THE CLEAR SKY. 125 



the rays of light. It is very striking, and such as I do 

 not remember to have seen in any part of Europe. 



Another thing which has struck me exceedingly, when 

 belated and travelling on a bright night, is the extraor 

 dinary clearness and brilliancy of the heavens. The stars 

 appear larger, and far more numerous, than one usually 

 sees them in Britain with the naked sight. One feels as 

 if one were piercing into far space, and could penetrate so 

 deep into the distant blue that nothing could escape the 

 eye. And then, when the auroras play with their varied 

 hues, though the attention is in some degree diverted, by 

 the play of colours, from the excessive clearness of the 

 moon and the constellations, still a mysterious interest 

 as well as beauty are imparted to the heavens, which 

 rarely characterise even a North British sky. 



The extensive clearings in this district which have 

 been made without any special reference to the future, 

 or perhaps in consequence of an unfounded faith in the 

 mineral resources of the country are already beginning 

 to operate in an unexpected way on the comforts of the 

 whole population. In the rage to clear and sell, the 

 hardwood timber on many farms in the valley has been 

 extirpated ; so that those kinds of wood which are most 

 esteemed for fuel and for building purposes, have 

 already become scarce and dear. White birch and 

 rock-maple are prized for fuel, and those who possess 

 land which bears these kinds of wood, now sell the right 

 of cutting it to their neighbours at 2 an acre. 



The white or Weymouth pine, which is best for a 

 frame-building, is not now to be had in the valley. Spruce 

 and such common timber are cheap, but the white pine 

 has often to be brought all the way from St John. 



As regards building-timber, there is no present 

 remedy for this improvident waste. The existing and 

 future generations must suffer for the lavish and waste 

 ful hewings down of the past. In a very short time 



