We were alternately on the ridge of a lofty mountain and in
the depths of a valley. At best, our path was obscure and we needed
guides to go before us. Night approaches, we halt and a fire is
kindled; the kettles are filled and we refresh ourselves; and we adore
Divine Providence, returning thanks for the salvations of the day and
committing ourselves to God for the night, whose presence is equally
in the recesses of the solitary wilderness and in the social walks of
the populous city. With the starry heavens above me, and having the
earth for my bed, I roll myself in a blanket, and without a dream to
disturb my repose, pass the night in quiet, and never awake till the
eye-lids of morning are opened, and the penetrating rays of the sun
look through the surrounding foliage.
"It may not be impertinent to observe that in this wilderness we
neither see nor hear any birds of music. These frequent only the
abodes of man. There is one _wood-bird_, not often seen, but heard
without any melody in his note, in every part of the wilderness
wherever I have been. In some parts of this extensive country, the
wild pigeons breed in numbers almost infinite. I once passed an
extensive valley where they had rested; and for six or eight miles,
where the trees were near and thick, every tree had a number of nests
upon it, and some not less than fifteen or twenty upon them.
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