CA MPING ALONE. 
79 
animal world makes mountain regions among 
the most favorable of all fields for the study of 
the variation of species, and, therefore, especially 
interesting to the naturalist. 
Although Mr. Maxwell hoped to return so 
soon, it was two weeks before he was again at 
liberty. Mrs. Maxwell and her little girl spent 
the time clambering over the rocks in quest of 
berries, in pursuit of the shy birds and squirrels, 
who were their only companions, and in preserv- 
ing the varied fruits of their rambles. The ber- 
ries were taken into camp, and, by a process of 
which Mrs. Maxwell was perfect mistress, made 
into delicious jam, while the care of her other 
trophies so fully occupied her remaining time, 
that, even had she been disposed, she had no 
leisure to be oppressed by loneliness. 
“ To him who, in the love of nature, holds 
communion with her visible forms, she speaks a 
varied language,” leaving no more occasion for 
that kind of oppression, if one be a good listener, 
than would be felt in the company of many 
friends. In no place is her voice more audible 
than amid the mountains, and Mrs. Maxwell 
had no more thought of loneliness, than had 
Thoreau in his hermitage, or Audubon in his 
wanderings. 
Mountains, like the sea, satisfy one’s deepest 
cravings for what is grand and sublime, and, like 
