262 A HALT. 



that it would either clear up or commence raining, so 

 often I found myself wrong. The fatigue of walking 

 over soft ground, rendered still softer by occasional 

 showers, and the heavy drip from the surrounding 

 foliage, more penetrating by far than rain, did not 

 conduce to render the journey agreeable. After a 

 fatiguing day we reached a bad halting-place ; but, 

 overcome with fatigue, we were satisfied with it. A 

 blister over the right shoulder, produced by the 

 pressure of my pack, did not tend to add to my 

 comfort. By degrees, however, my pack had become 

 considerably diminished. Experience taught me 

 that I could do without this and that article of my 

 equipment ; and these discarded portions were 

 stuck up in some conspicuous place, that the way- 

 farer, whether red-skin or white man, coming across 

 them, might have his brains puzzled by the 

 question how they came there, or by speculations 

 as to their use. A knife, fork, and spoon, a hair- 

 brush, an empty powder canister, a roll of bandage, 

 and what once had been a pair of woollen socks, now 

 almost footless, would be prizes to an Indian family. 

 With what curiosity would they be inspected ! and 

 who can tell the uses to which they might be turned ? 

 As we progressed to the northward there was a 

 marked change in the quantity and variety of the 

 timber. The quivering-leafed poplar was particularly 

 abundant, fir and spruce-trees were also numerous, 

 while an occasional white pine and birch, by their 

 silver-coated bark, added a pleasing variety among 



