t every one
knows--grows more luxuriantly and in greater quantities on the north
side of the tree. It is of little use to look at any tree separately:
this will perhaps only mislead you; but if you observe the general
aspect of the woods around, the indications may be of great service to
you. Towards the north, the trunks of the trees will appear light and
cheerful, while the south side will look dark and spotted. This plan,
however, will only answer amongst hard woods.* [* Deciduous trees are
called hard-wood.] The ridges mostly run north-east and south-west, and
the swamps parallel with them. Then, again, in pine woods the general
inclination of the timber is from the north-west. All these indications
have been successfully followed, and should be borne in mind.

People who lose themselves in the Bush seldom persevere long enough in
any one direction. They fancy they are going wrong, and keep changing
their course; till probably, after four or five hours' walking, they
find themselves near the spot from whence they started. This has
occurred to me more than once, and I shall relate a melancholy incident
which happened only a few years ago, and which proves what I have just
stated.

The person to whom I allude, resided in the township of Emily, and had
been all the summer working at his trade in the village of Bowmanville,
to earn money sufficient to pay for his land, which he had succeeded by
the fall in doing. As the cold weather had set in, he determined to
return home, and chop all the winter on his farm. He knew that by
crossing the township of Darlington and Manvers in an oblique
direction, twenty-five or six miles in length, he could reach his own
house in half the time, the distance by the road being more than double
that by which he proposed to travel. He therefore determined to try the
short way, although he was well aware that the last eight or ten miles
of his road was through the Bush, with not even a blazed line to guide
him. He was, however, young and active, and moreover considered himself
a good backwoodsman. He started one fine frosty morning early in
December, expecting he should be able to reach his own house sometime
before sundown.

For the first ten or twelve miles he got on pretty well, as he had a
sleigh-track to follow, and as long as the sun shone out he made a good
course. Unfortunately for him, a snow-storm came on and obscured his
only guide. He, however, struggled on manfully through c