270 FOREST LIFE IN ACADIE. 



crowded pines and green moss, but with scattered trees ; 

 and a variety of beautiful lichens, or reindeer moss, 

 partridge-berries, and whortle-berries, loaded the ground. 

 The Xylosteum villosum, a pretty, erect shrub, was in 

 full fruit by the sides of the rocks ; grouse, Tetrao albus, 

 the indigenous game-bird of the country, rose in coveys 

 in every direction, and snipes from every marsh. The 

 birds of passage, ducks and geese, were living over us to 

 and fro from their breeding places in the interior and the 

 sea coast ; tracks of deer, of wolves fearfully large, of 

 bears, foxes, and martens were seen everywhere. 



" On looking back towards the sea coast, the scene was 

 magnificent. We discovered that under cover of the 

 forest we had be^n uniformly ascending ever since we 

 left the salt water at Eandom Bar, and then soon arrived 

 at the summit of what we saw to be a great mountain 

 ridge that seems to serve as a barrier between the sea 

 and the interior. The dense black forest, through which 

 we had pilgrimaged, presented a novel feature, appear- 

 ing spotted with bright yellow marshes and a few glossy 

 lakes in its bosom, some of which we had passed close by 

 without seeing tlieisu 



" In the westward, to our inexpressible delight, the in- 

 terior broke in sublimi!} before us. What a contrast did 

 this present to the conjectures entertained of Newfound- 

 land ! The hitherto mysterious interior lay unfolded 

 before us — a boundless scene, emerald surface, a vast 

 basin. The eye strides again and ag^in over a succes- 

 sion of northerly and southerly ranges of green plains, 

 marbled with woods and lakes of every form and extent. 

 The imagination hovers in the distance, and clings invo- 

 luntarily to the undulating horizon of vapours frr into 



