44 THE PINE-TREE, OR 



CHAPTER II. 



The Pine twenty-five Years ago — Its rapid Disappearance. — Explorations. — 

 Outfit. — Up-river Journeying. — Its Distance. — Mode of Nightly Encamp- 

 ment. — Cooking. — Disturbed Slumbers. — Ludicrous Fright. — Deer. — En- 

 counter with Bears. — Mode of Exploring. — Forest Observatory. — Climbing 

 Trees. — The Emotions excited by the View. — Necessity of Compass. — 

 Nature's Compass. — The Return. — Annoyances from mischievous Bears. — 

 Stumpage. — Permits. — Outfit and Return. — Crossing Carrying-places.— 

 A Strong Man. — Skill of Boatmen. — Item of personal Experience. — Blind 

 Path. — A Family in the Wilderness. — Things to be considered in locating 

 Camps. 



Allusion has been made to the peculiarity of the Pine-tree 

 in associating together in clusters or families. It is now a rare 

 thing to find a sufficient quantity of timber in one of those clus- 

 ters to meet the demands of a team during the usual period of 

 hauling, which, is about three months. 



Twenty-five or thirty years ago, large tracts of country were 

 covered principally with Pine-trees. Those tracks seemed pur- 

 posely located in the vicinity of lakes, large streams, and rivers ; 

 a winter's work could then be made contiguous to improved por- 

 tions of the country, which rendered little previous exploration 

 necessary. But the woodman's ax, together with the destructive 

 fires which have swept over large districts from time to time, 

 have, so to speak, driven this tree far back into the interior wil- 

 derness. In fact, the Pine seems doomed, by the avarice and en- 

 terprise of the white man, gradually to disappear from the bor- 

 ders of civilization, as have the Aborigines of this country before 

 the onward march of the Saxon race. 



The diminished size and number of these Pine communities, 



