328 UNTRA VERSED WILDS. 



by the lapse of time, are numerous. Bobinson 

 Crusoe's surprise at the discovery of footprints in the 

 sand of Juan Fernandez could not have been more 

 genuine than ours, to find that once more we were 

 so near to our own flesh and blood. Whether the sen- 

 sations of my companion on this occasion were those 

 of pleasure or not I cannot say ; but, speaking for 

 myself, I can safely state they were the reverse, for 

 I wished to enjoy to the last moment with no other 

 society than that I now possessed, the solitude of 

 these wilds untraversed by human paths. 



The scenery that surrounded us was lovely. More- 

 over, there was a tranquil repose resting upon it 

 that invited the sojourner to halt, and absent him- 

 self for ever from contact with the selfish popula- 

 tion of the cultivated portions of the world. This 

 neighbourhood will not long remain possessed of 

 these seductive attractions. It requires little fore- 

 sight to predict that the date is not far distant when 

 man's dwellings will dot its surface ; its now graceful 

 trees be laid prostrate from contact with the wood- 

 man's axe, and the flowers and herbage lie torn from 

 their roots by the cruel culter of the husbandman's 

 plough. But such is as it should be, many, the 

 majority of my race, will say; the world is made 

 alone for man, and all that's in it must suffer to 

 forward his selfish views. 



But let those that know what war is recall to 

 memory its results ; ruined ' dwellings, smouldering 

 farm-yards, charred and dead trees, scattered and 



