ASPECTS OF THE NEW WORLD. 3 
have wandered. Insight of lofty hills, bordered 
by forests, he would have heard only the bells 
of the cattle, pasturing in the valleys beyond, 
the horn of the boatman, or the hooting of the 
owl. 
Or, to adventurous spirits, yet more tempting 
perhaps might seem those sterile wilds—the 
homes of the Esquimaux. Upon their rugged 
shores vast tracts of snow dappled country are 
seen clad with stunted vegetation of firs or 
tangled creeping pines. Innumerable beds of 
richly tinted mosses relieve the desolation of 
huge mountain ridges, and the barren aspect of 
these wastes. . 
Far above the boisterous waves of the St. 
Lawrence, towers a line of crag and cliff, like a 
granite bulwark of the waters. From its sum- 
mit open all around, in gorgeous array, fertile 
valleys, thickets clothed with green, and glassy 
lakes, over which hover birds of varied wing, 
and banks of snow backed by mountains, ming- 
ling their gray tints with those of the cold 
northern sky. On the numerous low islands 
dotting the western coast of these regions, are 
multitudes of cormorants and other aruatic 
wanderers, their sable wings sailing with aston- 
ishing rapidity over the waters, or spread to seek 
their nests among cliffs washed by the surge. 
But whether on northern or southern soil, 
