NORTHERN FORESTS BY NIGHT. 389 



trees and boulders, with which the ground in places was 

 thickly strewed. The moon, however, which was at the 

 full, and shining brilliantly, was of essential service in illu- 

 mining our path ; without its aid, indeed, it would hardly 

 have been possible for us to have reached the shelter of a roof 

 before the morning broke. 



" Something approaching to the appearance presented by a 

 northern climate in summer," to quote Mr. Inglis again, 

 "may be witnessed in other countries; but the splendours 

 of a winter scene belong only to the higher latitudes. For 

 when night comes and whoever saw the glories of night 

 save in a northern clime! out burst the stars, countless 

 and burning, studding the deep-blue sky. Perhaps the 

 borealis, with its pale-yeUow light, streams over half a 

 hemisphere ; or perhaps the winter moon, full and high, 

 looks down from the brow of night, spangling with ten 

 million stars the beauteous net-work thrown over the lower 

 world." 



The weather was severe ; the quicksilver, as ascertained by 

 a thermometer always carried in my kit, some 15 below 

 zero of Fahrenheit that is, there were near 50 of cold; 

 and it was felt the more, as during the chase we had been 

 excessively heated. What with perspiration, and the melting 

 of the snow consequent on the heat of our bodies, we were 

 both wet to the skin. Provided as I was with a flannel- 

 shirt and a moderately warm jacket, I suffered no serious 

 inconvenience. But it was not so with my faithful comrade, 

 who, from being somewhat thinly clad, and from wearing a 

 linen-shirt next the skin, suffered much from the cold, and 

 trembled like an aspen leaf. And no wonder; for be it 

 remembered, that from the severity of the frost our coats, 



