ItO FOREST IJFK IN ACADTE. 



our l)agg;io;o, we left to tlic tuno of a ponl of mony bells 

 which the pony (^JiiTicd attm:) d to (litlrrciit parts of tho 

 1 Kin loss. 



Our roiul lay throui^di a valley, skirted Ity the lofty 

 wooded sloj)es of the ColxMpiids. These hills are the 

 J jijreat stronghold of the carihoo, aiul his last resort in 



i Nova Scotia ; they extend through the isthmus whirh 



' connects the province with that of New lirunswick, and 



I are covered with large hard-wood forests of sugar and 



, white maple, hirch, and beech. On their l)roa<l tops and 



sides tlu^ carihoo has an unl)roken raniic of more than a 

 \ hundred miles, and their eastern sj»urs, descending into 



f a tlat district of dense fir forests, with numerous chains 



• of lakes, offer secure retreats in the breeding season. 



! The country was new to us, and its features novel : 



I the evergreen forest, so (;hara(;teristic of the greater jwr- 



i tion of the province, here almost entindy gave way to 



! hard-woods, narrow lines of hemlock or s})ruce springing 



i up from some deep gorge on the mountain side, here and 



there showinji; their dark summits, and coursing like 

 veins through the great i-oUiug si'a of ma])les. The latter 

 part of the stonn had l)een unaccompanied by wind, and 

 the snow lay in heavy masses on the trees, giving the 

 forest a most beautiful aspect ; it covered every branch 

 and every twig, and was thickly spattered against the 

 stems, and all the complicated tracery of the denuded 

 lu'anches was l)rought to noti<*e, even in the; deepest 

 recesses, by the white pencil of the snow-storm. In the 

 fir forest the effect of nc^wly-fallen snow is very fine also, 

 but the very masses which cover the broad and retentive 

 bi'anches of the evergreens and clog the younger trees 

 until they seem like solid cones of snow, hinder and 



lV_!. 



