248 FIRING THE FOREST. 



With the approach of night a thaw began, and the 

 heat of the atmosphere quickly melted our roof of snow. 

 The water trickled upon our clothing and imperceptibly 

 soaked through it. Our situation therefore soon became 

 critical. In order to warm ourselves, we thought of n 

 pastime which is popular enough in the northern districts 

 of Upper Canada. 



Our encampment was surrounded by a dense forest- 

 growth of cedars, pines, and birches. The latter trees change 

 their bark yearly, as serpents slough their skins. This 

 is one of the caprices of nature well known to botanical 

 students. Now, the old bark, which frequently remains 

 suspended in fragments to the trunks and branches of 

 the trees, burns as rapidly as straw ; it produces a bright 

 red flame like that of a coal fire, and the resin as it con- 

 sumes exhales a camphor scent of peculiarly agreeable 

 character. The Indians fashion this bark into close long 

 rolls, like torches in shape ; and their brilliancy is equal 

 to, if not more intense than, the brilliancy of torches of 

 pitch. 



With the aid of these materials we resolved on organiz- 

 ing a gigantic illumination as a worthy celebration of the 

 exploits of the day. As soon as night had come, we all 

 dispersed into the woods armed with our flaring torches, 

 and resolutely began to ignite, as we advanced, the frag- 

 ments of bark and the trunks of the birch-trees. Never 

 in my life have I seen a more magnificent spectacle ! 

 Figure to yourself, dear reader, fifty to sixty trees in a 

 perimeter of a quarter of a mile, wrapped in crimson 

 flames, which floated in spiral waves around each trunk 

 and branch, and rose even to the dim tops of the lofty 

 pines, to fall back afterwards in a thousand luminous 



