802 THE CANADIAN NATURALIST. 



on, entering the tall woods on the other side, and emerging, 

 as I understand, about a mile farther, into the stage road 

 from Compton to Hatley. We penetrated a few rods into 

 the Brule, to see if there were any clearing, but could per- 

 ceive no change in the ugly, dead, half-burnt spruce ; and, 

 therefore, returned. This singular piece of ground contains 

 some thousands of acres, and is said to owe its origin to the 

 beavers, which were formerly numerous, damming up the 

 streams, which, overflowing and spreading over the flat lands, 

 killed the growing timber. It is a resort of wolves, bears, 

 and other wild animals, though we perceived no sign of life 

 in the stillness which pervaded the solitude ; nor indeed in 

 the whole journey, with the exception of one or two little 

 birds, which were not near enough to be identified ; and a 

 few insignificant insects, in the forest. — Having satisfied our 

 curiosity, we began to return as we came, until we arrived 

 at the bridge, when, instead of retracing the course of the 

 stream, we crossed the bridge, and continued to pursue the 

 road, which for some distance led us through towering spruces 

 and hemlocks, as before. On a sudden the character of the 

 woods changed : we found the sides lined with young maple, 

 birch, beech, &:c. which met overhead at the height of about 

 twelve feet, forming a very perfect and regular continued 

 Gothic arch, or rather a long series of arches. This long 

 green avenue was the most pleasant part of our walk ; and 

 the more so, as it was quite unexpected. We presently 

 opened into a large field, which had been just mown ; and 

 here we were rather laughably bewildered : the place was a 

 terra incognita ; we had never before seen it, nor could we 

 recognise any object, so as to guess at our " whereabouts." 

 There appeared to be no outlet through the woods by which 

 the field was environed : — in one part was the skeleton of 

 an old log-house, without a roof; and a portion of the field 

 was planted with potatoes. We at length saw a path through 



