THE CONIFEROUS FORESTS 
for food and rest when on some longer 
journey than usual. 
Like the sailor he also has learned 
some of the secrets of nature. He 
does not usually possess a compass, 
but he can tell its points by more 
familiar signs: by the pendent tops 
of the hemlocks, which usually bend 
toward the east, or by the mossy sides 
of the trees, which are generally 
in the direction of the coolest and 
moistest quarter of the heavens. In 
an extreme case he will even mount 
one of the tallest of the trees to find 
his bearings in his oceanlike forest. 
If well judged, the sighing of the 
wind in the boughs, I have been told, 
says much about the coming weather; 
just as the sickly wash of the waves 
means something to the sailor. Withal, 
139 
