Georgies Present | Page 6

a very expert method of rapidly whirling moss and dry leaves and bark in his hands, so as to cause a draught, and in a wonderfully short time he succeeds in making a cheerful blaze."
"And what has he to eat?"
"Plenty of venison, for there are large flocks of deer in the country. You will wonder where these creatures find pasture; I will tell you. At the time when your grandfather travelled, the whole land was covered with snow, excepting on the tops of some of the hills, from which the snow had melted. These lofty, bare spots are called 'naps,' and they resemble island meadows in an ocean of snow. Upon these, the deer were grazing leisurely, like cattle, in numerous herds. They go in quest of food from one of these naps to another, in places near water, which after long frost becomes exceedingly scarce; in the interior, the tracks of the deer were as thick as of cattle in the snow in a well-stocked farmyard. There were, beside, plenty of ptarmigan, which abounded on these hills, searching for a species of cranberry, a food of which they are very fond."
"Vension and grouse! dainty dishes, indeed, dear granny; after all, that is not quite a land of barrenness."
"Nay, child! there is provision made in all places of our heavenly Father's dominions for the supply of the necessities both of man and beast. But I must hasten on, or you will be weary of my tale."
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CHAPTER III.
"In addition to the first guide, your grandfather now engaged one of the Indians with whom they had passed the night, to accompany him. The three cheerfully proceeded on their route, and for the first few days enjoyed very brilliant weather, and made so much progress upon the hard snow, that I believe they had nearly traversed a third of their destined route across to St. George's Bay.
"But now they began to suffer severely from the state of their eyes which became exceedingly painful, and no wonder; for by day they were exposed to the full glare of the sun upon the wide expanse of snow, and all night to the red glare of the fire, together with the pungent wood-smoke, which proved a constant trial to the sight. At length they became almost blind, and to add to their distress, provisions began to fail them. They had counted on securing plenty of game as they went along, and no one ever thinks of carrying provisions for more than a day or two into the interior with them. Now, unhappily, this resource was at an end; for not one of the three could see well enough to use a gun, or, indeed, bear to look upwards.
"What follows is very sad; it is touchingly told in the journal, and I will read the account as it is there given:--'The atmosphere now became so thick, that, had we not been troubled with snow-blindness, we could not have seen more than a few yards, and could not possibly have made our way in an unknown country.
"'These Newfoundland fogs are fearful things; they surpass, indeed, the imagination of Europeans. You seem to be actually in cloud-land; for nothing but cloud is visible above, around, and beneath. This state of things lasts often for days; now it is a bright white, as though the day were struggling through; now it becomes shaded, and now almost night. Sometimes there are little openings, and you catch a clean vista between two walls of vapour, but it is presently shut out by the rolling masses of fog. I could compare it to nothing but ghost-land; nothing is real except the danger!"
"Were you ever in such a fog as that, grandmamma?" asked George.
"Yes, George; once at sea we were overtaken by a most fearful and prolonged fog; never in my life did I experience such feelings of awe and alarm as during that weary week.
"But I must tell you of that another time. Your grandfather often used to recall his emotions when travelling in that thick cloud. One day they rested in the icy chamber they had dug for the night's resting-place, and he said, 'That was indeed an oratory;' and fervently did we pray, 'Give us our daily bread,' and 'Lighten our darkness we beseech Thee, O Lord.'
"The tears dropped fast when he thought of my anxiety on his account, and of the probability that his usefulness was at an end, and that we should meet no more on earth.
"At length he came to the resolution to retrace his steps, hoping to make the scanty supply of biscuit which still remained hold out until they could regain the spot where the Indians had encamped, and where they had buried some venison. Of the three travellers, he suffered least from snow-blindness, which he