1 88 SOUNDS HEARD IN THE FOREST. 



sounds heard in the forest, when this deathlike still- 

 ness prevails, so as to determine whether they are loud 

 noises afar off, or small noises near by, and it is only 

 by attentively listening for their repetition that one can 

 distinguish their origin. Such sounds heard at night 

 often assume a most weirdlike unearthly character; 

 some of them of course may proceed from the cries of 

 birds and beasts which inhabit the forest; but they 

 are frequently caused by the falling of a rotten branch, 

 the fall of snow from trees, the creaking of twisted 

 boughs in the wind, the formation of cracks or fissures 

 in the ice upon the surface of water, or even 

 explosions within the trees themselves, caused by the 

 freezing of the sap; these latter frequently represent 

 pistol shots, and a combination of all these noises 

 often sounds like the stealthy passage of wild beasts 

 or human beings, rustling among the adjacent bushes. 

 They are however in the great majority of cases, caused 

 by some one or more of such-like natural causes, and 

 the traveller may generally sleep safely at his ease, 

 as the light of his camp fire is seldom visible more 

 than a very short way off, through the bushes, and 

 darkness puts a stopper upon the movements of human 

 intruders, except during the very brightest moonlight. 

 We have however often heard newly arrived settlers, 

 and others, speak of such matters, and complain how 

 greatly they were disturbed by them: we therefore 

 take occasion to make a brief reference to them here. 



In Russia and other countries where much snow 

 falls, the winter is the most favourable season of the 

 whole year for many kinds of work, such as drawing 

 heavy loads, like timber, etc., through the forest by 

 means of sledges; where there are no railways this is 



