Hot Days and Cold Nights. 24] 



SECTION SEVENTH. 

 JOLLY SPOET ON BATTLING EUN. 



" Oh ! not in camp or court 

 Our best delights we find, 

 But in some loved resort 

 With water, wood, and wind ; 

 Where nature works, 

 And beauty lurks, 

 In all her craft enshrined." 



The days were divided into four hours of night, made scin- 

 tillant by the aurora borealis, and the lunar bow more bril- 

 liant than daylight, but cool and hushed, so that no sounds 

 remained but the rushing waters, the splashing of the royal 

 salmon, and the piteous cries of seals ; three hours of morn- 

 ing, mild and serene, enlivened by the wild music of the birds 

 of the wilderness and the occasional sounds of animals forag- 

 ing for breakfast in the mountain forests by which we were 

 surrounded ; fourteen hours of a day, when clear, ranging in 

 the sun from eighty to ninety degrees Fahrenheit ; and three 

 hours of mild twilight, with light enough to read. 



The morning was clear and still ; not a zephyr swept 

 through the gorge by the falls, or came up laden with the 

 fragrance of codfish from the Gulf The shrill music of our 

 two charming birds and an occasional splash of feeding sal- 

 mon were the only sounds which relieved the monotone of the 

 clear and rapid river. Our plateau, surrounded by majestic 

 mountains, steep and rocky, formed a vast amphitheatre. 

 The river was still falling, and as thin and clear as possible. 

 Our assembling at breakfast proved that the black flies had 

 partially desisted from scoring us, and each member of the 

 party felt relieved of farther danger from that scourge. It 

 is worthy of remark, that from the almost unbearable annoy- 

 ance caused by the punishment from black flies on our ar- 

 rival, we had in one short week become so accustomed to 

 them that they ceased to elicit our fear ot attention. 

 The morning time to angle for salmon having expired, we 



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