Deer-Hunti)ig on the An Sable. 



241 



the everlasting " burning." In summer, all is dry, yellow sand ; in 

 winter, a mantle of snow sometimes covers it charitably and conceals 

 some of the blackness and deformity of the dead pines. 



ON THE AU SABLE. 



The first day in camp was devoted to unpacking our traps and 

 provisions, filling our ticks with straw, disposing handily of our 

 various knickknacks, overhauling the rifles, and wasting ammunition 

 under excuse of getting one's hand in. My share being accom- 

 plished at noon, some of us started down to take a look at the Au 

 Sable River. After a walk of fifteen minutes or so, we came out of 

 the forest abruptly on the edge of a high sand-bluff, and there it lay 

 about one hundred and fifty feet below us. It came around a short 

 bend above ; it swept around another in front of us, and below us it 

 wound around a third. Its waters were the color of dark-brown 

 sherry, and its current was silent, swift, and powerful. Beyond, the 

 bank was low, and the forest stretched back over successions of 

 slightly rising plateaus to the horizon. Here and there one could 

 see the scars of the fires, and a sinuous track of the darkest foliage 

 16 



