ppetizing viands; partake of the richest
oyster stews and plumpest pies; engage myself in the labor and
preparation of curious dishes, and with them fill range upon range of
elegantly furnished tables until they fairly groaned beneath the
accumulated dainties prepared by my own hands. Frequently the entire
night would seem to have been spent in getting up a sumptuous dinner.
I would realize the fatigue of roasting, boiling, baking, and
fabricating the choicest dishes known to the modern cuisine, and in my
disturbed slumber's would enjoy with epicurean relish the food thus
furnished even to repletion. Alas! there was more luxury than life in
these somnolent vagaries.

It was a cold, gloomy day when I arrived in the vicinity of the falls.
The sky was overcast and the snow-capped peaks rose chilly and bleak
through the biting atmosphere. The moaning of the wind through the
pines, mingling with the sullen roar of the falls, was strangely in
unison with my own saddened feelings. I had no heart to gaze upon a
scene which a few weeks before had inspired me with rapture and awe.
One moment of sunshine was of more value to me than all the marvels
amid which I was famishing. But the sun had hid his face and denied me
all hope of obtaining fire. The only alternative was to seek shelter
in a thicket. I penetrated the forest a long distance, before finding
one that suited me. Breaking and crowding my way into its very midst,
I cleared a spot large enough to recline upon, interlaced the
surrounding brushwood, gathered the fallen foliage into a bed, and lay
down with a prayer for sleep and forgetfulness. Alas! neither came.
The coldness increased through the night. Constant friction with my
hands and unceasing beating with my legs and feet saved me from
freezing. It was the most terrible night of my journey, and when, with
the early dawn, I pulled myself into a standing posture, it was to
realize that my right arm was partially paralyzed, and my limbs so
stiffened with cold as to be almost immovable. Fearing lest paralysis
should suddenly seize the entire system, I literally dragged myself
through the forest to the river. Seated near the verge of the great
canon below the falls, I anxiously awaited the appearance of the sun.
That great luminary never looked so beautiful as when, a few moments
afterwards, he emerged from the clouds and exposed his glowing beams
to the concentrated powers of my lens. I kindled a mighty flame, fed
it wi