h mist. Hundreds of
feet below us was the gliding silver line of a stream.

At one of our stopping-places was a team of buffalo and oxen working
together. To see this chief Manitou of the Indians so degraded, was like
seeing a captive Jugurtha.

We found great changes had taken place within a year between Columbia
River and Puget Sound. Where we used to cross alone, in the deepest
solitude of the forest, there were cars running, gangs of Chinamen
everywhere at work, great burnt tracts, and piles of firewood. Once in a
while a stray deer bounded by, and turned back to look at us, with
pretty, innocent curiosity. And there were still some of the old trees
left standing, gnarled and twisted, and so thickly coated with moss,
that great ferns grew out of it, and hung down from the branches. What a
pity to destroy the work of centuries, the like of which we shall never
see again!

We saw to-day some of the pretty spotted sea-doves, that have just
arrived to spend the winter with us. Puget Sound, with its mild climate,
is their Florida or Bermuda. In early spring they return to the rocky
lagoons of the North, to pair and breed.

DECEMBER 15, 1872.

With our wider range from the hill-top to which we have removed, we
notice more how the appearance of the mountains changes with the changes
of the sky. This morning they were all rose-color; and are now so
ghostly, the snow like shrouds about them. Before, we had only single
chains and solitary peaks; here, we look into the bosom of a mountainous
country, and every change in the light reveals something new. Where we
have many times looked without seeing any thing, at length some
beautiful new outline appears in faint silver on the distant horizon.
Heaven ought to be more real to us for living in sight of what is so
inaccessible, and so full of beauty and mystery.

MARCH 9, 1873.

We are very much struck with the mixture of nationalities upon this
coast. We were so fortunate as to secure last winter the services of a
splendid great Swedish girl, the heartiest and healthiest creature I
ever saw. There did not seem to be a shadow of any kind about her, nor
any thing more amiss with her in any way than there is with the sunshine
or the blue sky. All kinds of work she took alike, with equal readiness,
and never admitted to her mind a doubt or anxiety on any subject.

We felt sorry enough, when we had had her only three weeks, to have the
foreman of the mill come and be