An Etcher s Voyage of Discovery. 275 



to have seen a river under an aspect so strikingly new. 

 There exists, unfortunately, an especial difficulty in ren- 

 dering the peculiar beauty of these effects in etching ; 

 and, knowing this, I have not wasted time in the at- 

 tempt. The art of etching cannot reserve white lines 

 of sufficient thinness and purity to give the effect of 

 lamp-light on delicate sprays and grasses. The effect 

 would be broadly given, and it would be possible enough 

 to reserve white lines, but not with the fineness neces- 

 sary to do full justice to the kind of delicacy which, in 

 subjects such as these, would become the particular 

 aim of the artist. Nothing struck me so much, in this 

 delightful little voyage with the lamp, as the exquisite 

 tenuity of the smaller plants as they came out with tiny 

 leaves and stems against the black void of night. This 

 might be approximately interpreted in wood-engraving, 

 which most naturally works in white lines, but not so 

 well in other processes. It was found that this voyag- 

 ing by night added considerably to the interest of the 

 exploration, for the mystery of the unknown was still 

 more strongly felt when all that lay before us was in 

 absolute darkness, and only became suddenly illumi- 

 nated as the lamp approached. 



He who attempts the exploration of a river not re- 

 puted navigable must be prepared for passages of such 

 extreme difficulty that it may be necessary to remove 

 his canoe altogether from the water, and drag her over 

 the dry land. The morning after the voyage by lamp- 

 light I had a good deal of such work, so much that at 

 length I lost patience and hired a spring-cart in which 



