CAMP FIRES IN THE FOREST BY NIGHT. 143 



The intense darkness, the deathlike stillness, and the 

 absolute isolation from the outer world, all combine 

 to exert a powerful effect upon the imagination. 

 There are places in the forests of the great North 

 West, where it is possible to march straight ahead, 

 even for weeks, without coming to an end of the 

 woods. In every direction, there is still forest- 

 nothing but forest and after leaving the settlements, 

 and penetrating some distance into the woods, a man 

 is lost to the world, unless he knows how to make 

 his way out again. His friends might as well seek 

 for a needle in a haystack, and an army might search 

 for him in vain the sense of isolation is therefore 

 complete, more so even than at sea. Nevertheless, 

 when a man has confidence in himself, and in the 

 fidelity of his companions and guides, these things do 

 not break in upon his rest, nor diminish aught from 

 his keen enjoyment of the sylvan beauties of Nature's 

 wild domain. And settled comfortably to rest for 

 the night, beneath her verdant roof, wonderfully 

 picturesque are the effects sometimes to be witnessed; 

 when as the camp fire burns up brilliantly, he gazes 

 aloft, and sees the overhanging canopy of closely 

 intertwining branches, glistening like some richly 

 decorated ceiling, cast as in a mass of molten silver, 

 suspended at an immense height above. This is pro- 

 duced by the glaucous foliage of many of the silver 

 firs, whose leaves, on their lower side, are of a beautiful 

 silvery white, particularly striking when seen illuminated 

 by the firelight at night. On turning up a spray of 

 the picea nobilis, picea nordmanniana, and many other 

 species, by day, the reader will easily see for himself 

 that this is so. 



