re. The greatest degree of cold prevails toward the end of
January, for a few days occasionally so intense that the human frame can
scarcely endure exposure to it for any length of time. When winter has
set in nearly every bird disappears, and few wild animals are any longer
to be seen; some, like the bear, remain torpid, others change their
color to a snowy white, and are rarely observed. Rocks of the softer
kinds are often rent asunder, as if with the explosion of gunpowder, by
the irresistible expansive power of the frost.[159] Dogs become mad
from the severity of the cold, and polished iron or other metal, when
exposed in the air for a little time, _burns_ the hand at the touch as
if it were red hot.[160] During the still nights of intense frost the
woods send forth a creaking sound, like the noise of chopping with
thousands of hatchets. Sometimes a brief thaw occurs in the middle of
winter, when a very extraordinary effect, called by the Canadians _ver
glas_, is occasionally produced upon the bare trees: they are covered
with an incrustation of pure ice from the stem to the extremities of the
smallest branches; the slight frost of the night freezes the moisture
that covered the bark during the day; the branches become at last unable
to bear their icy burden, and when a strong wind arises, the destruction
among trees of all kinds is immense. When the sun shines upon the forest
covered with this brilliant incrustation, the effect is indescribably
beautiful.

The months of March and April are usually very hot, and the power of the
sun's rays is heightened by the reflection of the ice and snows. Toward
the end of April or the beginning of May, the dreary winter covering has
altogether disappeared; birds of various kinds return from their wintery
exile; the ice accumulated in the great lakes and streams that are
tributary to the St. Lawrence breaks up with a tremendous noise, and
rushes down in vast quantities toward the ocean, till again the tides of
the Gulf drive them back. Sometimes the Great River is blocked up from
shore to shore with these frozen masses; the contending currents force
them together with terrible violence, and pile them over each other in
various fantastic forms. The navigation of the river is not fairly
practicable till all these have disappeared, which is generally about
the 10th of May.

When the young summer fairly sets in, nothing can be more charming than
the climate--during the day bright a