THE THIRD NIGHT. 207 



the deep snow much easier, and as the steeper it became the 

 quicker we descended, we did not care how precipitous it was 

 so that it remained practicable, and our progress did not 

 become a case offacilis descensus Averno. 



" Half-an-hour brought us to the first growth of ' mountain 

 quakers;' and an hour more to the commencement of the pine 

 forest clothing the slope of the mountains. 



"Under these trees the ground was much more level, 

 and the snow less deep, and we therefore still made good 

 progress. We found, indeed, descending a mountain 

 mantled with snow to be a very different affair , from 

 climbing one. 



"By dark we had made such good headway that we had 

 got down among the upper breaks of the highest of the foot- 

 hills, we were surrounded with timber, the snow was no 

 longer deep, and the climate had sensibly moderated. 



" Then the spirits of my companion, who had been very 

 despondent, rose, and he commenced as loud as he could bawl, 

 and in a tune with wooden turns, to inform all creation, in 

 the words of a popular Western parody, that, 



Away down souf in de Arkinsaw timber, &o. , &c. , 



until the wolves and coyotes in the vicinity howled again. 



" We halted for our third night out under the spreading 

 boughs of the pines, at the very first place we came to where 

 there was any picking for the animals, and at once went to 

 work to make ourselves comfortable for the night. 



" We soon found lying on the ground a sound seasoned 

 pitch-pine, lopped off its branches, logged up its trunk, and 

 built and lit a huge bonfire. 



