and conscience in the path of love and duty which his Creator points
out, is God's noblest work; but man, left to the freedom of his own
fallen will, sinks morally lower than the beasts that perish. Well
may every Christian wish and pray that the name and the gospel of the
blessed Jesus may be sent speedily to the dark places of the earth;
for you may read of, and talk about, but you _cannot conceive_ the
fiendish wickedness and cruelty which causes tearless eyes to glare,
and maddened hearts to burst, in the lands of the heathen.

While we are on this subject, let us add (and our young readers
will come to know it if they are spared to see many years) that
_civilization_ alone will never improve the heart. Let history speak,
and it will tell you that deeds of darkest hue have been perpetrated
in so-called civilized though pagan lands. Civilization is like the
polish that beautifies inferior furniture, which water will wash off
if it be but _hot enough_. Christianity resembles dye, which permeates
every fibre of the fabric, and which nothing can eradicate.

The success of the trappers in procuring beaver here was great. In all
sorts of creeks and rivers they were found. One day they came to one
of the curious rivers before mentioned, which burst suddenly out of
a plain, flowed on for several miles, and then disappeared into the
earth as suddenly as it had risen. Even in this strange place beaver
were seen, so the traps were set, and a hundred and fifty were caught
at the first lift.

The manner in which the party proceeded was as follows:--They marched
in a mass in groups or in a long line, according to the nature of
the ground over which they travelled. The hunters of the party went
forward a mile or two in advance, and scattered through the woods.
After them came the advance-guard, being the bravest and most stalwart
of the men mounted on their best steeds, and with rifle in hand;
immediately behind followed the women and children, also mounted, and
the pack-horses with the goods and camp equipage. Another band of
trappers formed the rear-guard to this imposing cavalcade. There was
no strict regimental order kept, but the people soon came to adopt the
arrangements that were most convenient for all parties, and at length
fell naturally into their places in the line of march.

Joe Blunt usually was the foremost and always the most successful of
the hunters. He was therefore seldom seen on the march except at the
h