CHAPTEK XIX. 



A SEARCH AFTER SOLITUDE. 



How use doth breed a habit in a man ! 



The shadowy desert, unfrequented woods, 



I better brook than flourishing peopled towns. 



[Shakspeare. 



It may be laid down as a position which will seldom de- 

 ceive, that when a man cannot bear his own company, there 

 is something wrong. [Dr. Johnson. 



AVING fished all the pools in the 

 neighborhood of our main camp, 

 I fancied that I could enjoy my- 

 self for a little while in a some- 

 what more primitive manner, 

 alone, fishing some famous pools 

 . ten or twelve miles higher up 

 the river. For, to tell the truth, 

 our luxurious surroundings hardly 

 comported with my early educa- 

 tion in wood-craft, or with my . ideas of the ma- 

 terial elements which should enter into the camp- 

 life of those who were even ostensibly " roughing 

 it." Our commissary had assured us that it would 

 be good for our general health to " live low on the 

 river." But what a strange conception he had of 



