2 THE WILDERNESS AND ITS TENANTS. 



There is perhaps hardly a single one of these which 

 does not recall some circumstance worthy of note, 

 connected either with some picturesque scene, or dra- 

 matic incident, which has fixed itself indelibly upon 

 the memory. If the life of a traveller is not full of 

 such recollections it must be due to some defect in 

 his own powers of observation, for no drama that has 

 ever been acted upon the boards of a play-house can 

 compare in variety, or in sensational incident, with 

 that which is being continually acted in the great 

 Theatre of Nature. This is the view which has impressed 

 itself more and more deeply upon our mind as we 

 have laboriously arranged these pages. 



It might be supposed that residence in a savage land 

 would usually be exceedingly bad for a man ; and be 

 certain^in almost all cases to have a decidedly unfavour- 

 able effect upon the mind and character of members 

 of a civilized community. Whatever influence a per- 

 manent withdrawal from the softening influence of 

 civilized life might have in this way, we hold that a 

 temporary sojourn in the wilderness ought to have, and 

 in many cases certainly has, a directly opposite effect. 

 There a man is of necessity left in direct communi- 

 cation with Nature ; the cares of a busy world have 

 been left behind him, and, except the daily routine of 

 travel, there is generally nothing to distract the mind 

 in its contemplation of the phenomena of Nature. In 

 Europe, as we know, the man harassed by the cares 

 of business seeks repose at some quiet spot at the 

 seaside, or in some secluded mountain valley that is 

 to say, he unconsciously seeks, for this purpose, 

 the [ nearest approach to the wilderness within his 

 reach; but in America, where considerable tracts 



