CHAPTER V. 



THE GREAT FOREST. CROWS. THE FIRST BIVOUAC. THE 



SQUIRREL-HUNT. OUR YOUNG GUIDE. THE CHANT IN 



THE DESERT. 



WE were now more than 5000 feet above the level of 

 the sea, and the coldness of the breeze quite sur- 

 prised my son, who, being accustomed to the climate of the 

 Terre-Temperee, had never before felt any thing like the 

 atmosphere we were now in. As if by instinct, he held his 

 fingers in his mouth, to prevent their getting numbed. But 

 when the sun had reached a certain height, there was no 

 longer any need to complain of the cold. 



As we advanced, the trees grew closer and closer togeth- 

 er. Lucien, who now for the first time saw these enormous 

 trees, to whom centuries were no more than years are to us, 



