only like a native, but like a well-bred native,--was not ignorant
of thoughts and books,--and altogether seemed a man superior to most in
nature, intelligence, and manners. His birthplace was Quebec, and he had
formerly possessed a very considerable fortune; but losing this through
fraud, and finding himself deserted by "summer friends," he had
conceived a disgust at polite society, and escaped to these solitudes.
Here his wounds had healed, and his nature recovered its tone. His
labors prospered; a healthy and handsome family grew up to enrich his
household; and no regrets drew him back to the big world he had left
behind. Nature preserves to herself the right of asylum, no matter how
the Louis Napoleon of civilization may demand its surrender,--preserves
a place of rest and refuge for the weary hearts which are self-sent into
spiritual exile.

It is also to be considered whether this terrible region does not play a
most serviceable part in the physical geography of the continent. I have
not science enough to speak here with entire confidence; and yet I am
rationally convinced. Without the ice-fields in the North, and the
frigid current which these send down to meet the tepid waters of the
Gulf Stream, would not this low and level America, with its dry
atmosphere, suffer fearfully for want of rain? would it not, indeed, be
one great desert? Could we dispense with the collisions and sudden
interchanges of cold and hot currents of air which are due to these
causes? Do we not obtain thus the same effects which in South America
are produced by the snowy summits of the Andes? The cold current meets
the warm, chills its vapor, precipitates this in fruitful rain. Our
northeast winds are the chief bringers of rain. Take these away, and
what about wheat and corn? Take away Labrador and the Arctic current,
and what about northeast winds? They would still blow; would they still
force the warm air to yield its vapor for the benefit of our fields? The
extreme changeableness of our climate is, I am fully persuaded,
connected very closely and indispensably with the fertility of the
continent. Thank God, therefore, for Labrador!

CHAPTER VI.

LIFE ON BOARD.

I have recounted above the manner in which the good divinity spoiled the
Labrador triumph of the malign god. To that veracious history belongs
the following _addendum_. The evil power was deeply chagrined to be so
robbed of his victory. Rubbing his brow with vexation, he ch