THE LIQUID HIGHWAYS OF THE FOREST. 159 



" the underbush grew dense and rank between the tall 

 trees, making a cover so thick that in many places it was 

 impenetrable ; and nowhere could the eye see as far as a bow 

 could carry. No horse could penetrate it, save by following 

 the game trails or paths chopped with the axe. Here and 

 there it was broken by a rare hillside glade or meadow, but 

 elsewhere a man might travel for weeks in a perpetual twi- 

 light, the interlacing twigs forming a dark canopy above his 

 head." * 



At that time narrow trails such as are here described, 

 led through the recesses of the forest, from one clearing 

 to another, and often formed the only channels of 

 communication with the outer world. 



When the darkness of the night closed in upon them, 

 these isolated spots, which were often separated from 

 each other by several days' journey, were as much 

 cut off from all external help and intercourse with the 

 world, as if they had been situated in mid ocean; all 

 moving about by night, within the shadow of the 

 trees, being impossible. But in most places it was 

 the rivers which formed " the liquid highways of the 

 wilderness " f and it was by their means that all the 

 main lines of communication were kept up throughout 

 the country. From time immemorial the Red Indian 

 forest tribes had used them as such. 



It is impossible to conceive anything more perfect 

 than the beauty and romantic nature of the scenery 

 along the course of some of these streams, which wind 

 like a silver thread through the pathless depths of the 

 woods, whose overhanging branches often dip into the 

 current, and whose dark masses of pines and other trees, 



* The Winning of the West, by Theodore Roosevelt, 1889, Vol. i., 

 p. 80 



f The Conspiracy of Pontiac, by Francis Parkman, 1885, Vol. i., 

 P- 155- 



