THE ROCKY MOUNTAIN TRAPPER. 113 



ficial for the natural. The cousins roamed the woods 

 together, admiring and wondering at the sublime forms 

 in which Nature presented herself the thundering cas- 

 cade, the awful precipice, the vast silvan corridors 

 through which the winds moaned, the gloom of night 

 pierced by the lightning of the midnight storm, the pil- 

 lared vistas of the moonlit forest streaked and flecked 

 by the silver beams which lighted the timid doe or 

 stately buck to pasture. 



These scenes had impressed their young imaginations, 

 and filled them with a love of nature which led them 

 from home to undertake long and perilous journeys; 

 in a word, to live as hunters in the western wilder- 

 ness. 



They had the advantage of some education, of which 

 their veteran companion was destitute. But still Jake, 

 in his own rude way, loved nature as truly as did the 

 youths themselves. He was one of a class now nearly 

 extinct the brave, eccentric Rocky Mountain trapper. 

 A few of these originals still survive the innovations 

 of the times, and year after year retire further before 

 the encroachments of the ever-increasing multitudes 

 who stream westward. 



In a few years the romance of the prairies will be a 

 tradition of the past. Nay, the pig has already replaced 

 the buffalo, and the policeman has supplanted the In- 

 dian. Already has civilization nearly achieved a con- 

 quest over the wilderness ; but the world has scarcely 

 become happier. Perhaps Nature will be avenged, and 



