160 NARRATIVES 



It was after nightfall, when we succeeded in obtaining a 

 lodging in the loft of a dilapidated farm-house, whose owner 

 reluctantly consented to receive us. The accommodations 

 were none of the choicest, and, accustomed as I was to clean 

 sheets, soft beds, and other amenities of civilization, the gen- 

 eral slovenliness of our dormitory, and the unyielding nature 

 of our couch, were not at all conducive to repose. New- 

 house, however, manifested an exemplary stoicism, and con- 

 soled me with the assurance that this was but a foretaste of 

 what was in store for us. 



The meagre amount of sleep which I enjoyed, and the 

 general uncomfortableness of my surroundings, were favor- 

 able to early rising ; and so we began our march soon after 

 daylight the next morning. Our baggage had been sent 

 ahead on horseback, so that we had but our guns to carry ; 

 and in the freshness of early morning, the hour's walk which 

 brought us to the border of the woods seemed a brief one. 

 A fence built directly across our path announced that we had 

 reached the verge of civilization ; and climbing this, in another 

 moment we were within the precincts of the forest. 



My first sensation was that of sublimity. An intense thrill 

 of delight pervaded my whole being, and I almost involun- 

 tarily commenced repeating the opening stanzas of " Evan- 

 geline : " 



" This is the forest primeval," &c. 



My second sensation, which almost instantly dissipated the 

 first, was that of mosquitoes not the comparatively mild 

 and inoffensive insect of polite society, but the savage and 

 blood-thirsty vampire of the North Woods. Most of us have 

 had experience with mosquitoes, and are more or less ac- 

 quainted with the nature of the insect ; but the mosquito of 

 civilization no more resembles the mosquito of John Brown's 

 Tract, than the bear trained to waltz to the music of the 

 hurdy-gurdy resembles the untamed grizzly of the Sierra 

 Nevada. 



But thanks to the providence of my companion, help was 

 at hand. Mosquitoes have an invincible repugnance to cer- 

 tain vegetable scents, the chief among which is, perhaps, that 



