EST AUDUBON'S LABRADOR 



branch, which went off at right angles thirty- 

 two inches from the ground. From the center 

 to the tip of the branches on all sides was 

 nine feet, making a diameter for the whole tree 

 of eighteen feet. It is true that many of the 

 clumps of evergreen bushes are made up of a 

 number of small trunks, but it is also true, as 

 I found, that trunks of the size just described 

 were not uncommon. In places the trunks are 

 four or even five feet high. When the trees are 

 continuous over a considerable area they form 

 an almost impassable barrier. Many times, be- 

 guiled by a favorable opening, I determined to 

 disregard the difficulties and pass through a 

 hundred yards or so to open land beyond, when 

 I found my progress so barred after a hard 

 struggle of a few yards that it seemed an 

 economy of both time and effort to walk even 

 a mile around, rather than to attempt the 

 straight and extremely narrow course. Where 

 the trees are only a foot or two high, one can 

 walk on their tops, but this is out of the 

 question in trees four or five feet high; per- 

 haps one might manage it with modified snow- 

 shoes! 

 To delve beneath those ancient trees — for 



