a man who sits reading by a
window that overlooks the beautiful landscape. This is the home of
Sidney and Jane, and they are now enjoying a life of contentment that
cannot fail to encircle their lives with a halo of bliss which gold can
never buy. They never recrossed the Sierra in search of the riches that
still lie buried in the mountains and desert, for the mere mention of
them, vividly recalls the recollection of the terrible sufferings they
endured in their wanderings through the wilds of the west. The rest of
Mr. Duncan's children are also happily settled near them, while the
trapper is an inhabitant of each cottage and the forest alternately, as
inclination dictates, and is supposed to be the most contented man in
the Pacific valley.

We said that twelve years had elapsed since our wanderers reached the
Pacific Valley--that is a short period of time, yet it is long enough
for events to transpire whose influences shall be felt for centuries to
come; long enough to develop the strength and resources of a continent.
Great is the change which civilization has made in that portion of the
west. The broad and almost interminable forests have yielded to the
woodman's axe; the streams and rivers, and even old Ocean itself, have
become transformed into channels of commerce and trade, and bear upon
their bosoms the auxiliaries of progress and science. The mountains and
valleys, where once nothing but the wild shouts of untutored savages
and the howls of beasts of prey broke the stillness of the dismal
solitude, are now vocal with the voice and bustle of civilization, as
in giant strides science and art triumph over the rough barriers, and
open avenues for the advancement of moral reform.

The changes have been equally advantageous to the prosperity of Mr.
Duncan, whose evening of life is surrounded with ease and wealth, while
peace and the love of his children render those years the most blissful
of an eventful lifetime. Everywhere throughout the Pacific border of
the Sierra Nevada, the indomitable spirit of enterprise and the
unchecked perseverance of Americanism are busy at work, and the _golden
results_ bid fair, in a few years to convert that auriferous region
into a granary of wealth and agricultural prosperity.

THE END.

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WAVERLEY NOVELS. By SIR WALTER SCOTT.

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