rect track through the forest, and took the
road to Versailles, which lay in a more northerly direction than the route
we had proposed to ourselves. This road was one of those newly cut through
the forest, and there frequently occurred intervals of five or six miles
between the settlements; and of the road itself, a tolerably correct idea
may be formed by noting the stipulations made with the contractors, which
are solely that the roads shall be of a certain width, and that no stump
shall be left projecting more than _fifteen inches_ above the ground.

On the night of the second day we reached the vicinity of Versailles, and
put up at the residence of a backwoodsman--a fine looking fellow, with a
particularly ugly _squaw_. He had come from Kentucky five years
before--sat down in the forest--"built him" a log-house--wielded his axe
to the tune of "The Hunters of Kentucky," and had now eighteen acres of
cleared land, and all the _et ceteras_ of a farm. We supped off
venison-steaks and stewed squirrel. Our host told us that there was "a
pretty smart chance of deer" in the neighbourhood, and that when he first
"located," "there was a small sprinkling of _baar_" (bear), but that at
present nothing of the kind was to be seen. There was very little comfort
in the appearance of this establishment; yet the good dame had a
side-saddle, hung on a peg in one of the apartments, which would not have
disgraced the lady of an Irish squireen. This appears to be an article of
great moment in the estimation of West-country ladies, and when nothing
else about the house is even tolerable, the side-saddle is of the most
fashionable pattern.

From Versailles, we took the track to Vernon, through a rugged and swampy
road, it having rained the night before. The country is hilly, and
interspersed with runs, which are crossed with some difficulty, the
descents and ascents being very considerable. The stumps, "corduroys"
(rails laid horizontally across the road where the ground is marshy)
swamps, and "republicans," (projecting roots of trees, so called from the
stubborn tenacity with which they adhere to the ground, it being almost
impossible to grub them up), rendered the difficulty of traversing this
forest so great, that notwithstanding our utmost exertions we were unable
to make more than sixteen miles from sunrise to sunset, when, both the
horse and ourselves being completely exhausted, we halted until morning. I
was awoke at sunrise by a "wh