-for daylight. At last it came; and, with the aid of the tree which had so generously sheltered me, I mounted my poor beast, who, shaking and trembling in every limb, had evidently resigned himself to his fate, though I had made him eat a few leaves I had gathered from the overhanging boughs.

We crawled on for a few paces, not knowing whether to turn to the right or to the left. Snow mountains above us, snow precipices below us, snow in front of us, snow in the rear. Snow everywhere; nothing but snow between earth and heaven! I, in my blue riding-habit, being the only dark speck upon the great white expanse, when suddenly the sun came out-and oh the glorious sight that burst upon me!

I forgot my hunger; I forgot my danger. I seemed to escape for a moment from that spectre of death whose clammy shadow had enfolded me closer and closer during the vigils of the night.

Who amongst us has not felt something of rapturous exhilaration upon beholding the first fall of snow in the country? But here was a whole world of snow-clad beauty and grandeur. For miles and miles-yes, for fifty miles away— I could see dome after dome rise glistening up to heaven, as slanting bars of pink and amber coruscated on their sides like scintillations from

morning angels' wings. Every rock and boulder had taken that symmetrical form which only a coating of snow can give. Every rugged precipice of stern magnificence had changed to winsome loveliness. Every tree had its infinity of leaves transformed into strings of pearls and sparkling gems, as they caught up the dazzling splendour of the early beam of day. Surely few mortal eyes have ever gazed upon so much of God's glory spread upon this earth as was unfolded before me that memorable morning. There was a blissful stillness and repose in the atmosphere, which imparted even to my shattered nerves something very like peace. The bitterness of death had passed over me, and I was left at least a choice of how I would die; whether to sit still and be calmly folded to sleep in the icy mantle of snow, or to brave the terrific precipices and stern rocks, over which I should certainly fall if I attempted to make my way in the snow, and as certainly be dashed to pieces, unless some miracle intervened. I decided on the latter course. I had to give up trying to ride, and led the horse by the bridle; and I had struggled for an hour or two with nothing worse than slips and bruises, when, on a sudden, I heard a sound-oh! joy it was!—the panting of a horse and surely he must have a rider! We had been the last party in the Valley; but

there might be some one leaving for the winter months. I raised my voice and shouted, "Help! help!" with all the wild delirium of rapture with which this sudden promise of rescue filled my soul.

My voice rent the air, clear and shrill; but there came no other answer than the echo of the mountains, which doled out "Help! help!" with a despairing wail. Again I heard the panting sound. It came from the other side of a high granite crag, around which there was but a very narrow ledge. I had to tempt it! The snow concealed its real dimensions; but I kept close in to the rock, testing well with my feet before I trod.

I rounded the corner with a beating heart and exultant hope, and found myself face to face with a grizzly bear-so near that our eyes actually met; and I shall carry the memory of his expression to my dying day.

He

I do believe that beast saw the agony of my soul when this horrible crisis of my fate assailed me. He never attempted to touch me. never moved the almost pitying eyes with which he regarded me.

I turned to fly-missed my footing-fell over the precipice-was caught for a moment by some Manzanita bushes growing to the rocks; then, bounding down, I struck upon cliff, and scaur,

and bramble, and rock, now and again, until I lost consciousness. Of course it was the work of

a second.

When I came to myself, the sun was high in heaven I was lying in a deep ravine, the snow

:

crimsoned with blood; and the fierce precipice looming ominously above me.

The Manzanita and the deep snow-bed had saved my life.

I had fallen into a ravine, through which in the early spring would roar a little mountain torrent.

I knew that if I had the strength to follow that track it would lead me in sight of the Valley. It might be ten or twenty miles; but there it went.

I rallied my strength for the effort, for I had lost my horse on the ledge where I had encountered the benevolent bear; and, without enumerating all the trials and difficulties I went through on the occasion, suffice it to say that I was found at the close of the second day, frozen and insensible, by a hunter; was carried to a shelter, and cared for with all that true Christian charity which we often find in the roughest natures.

The moral I draw from this experience is that bears, whether quadruped or biped, are not so bad as they are represented to be. This was the end of my visit to the Great Yo-Semite.

CHAPTER VI.

UP THE MISSISSIPPI TO ST. LOUIS.-BUILDING

UP EXTRAORDINARY.

HE banks of the Mississippi-that is to say, ascending from Cairo-are low and sandy, but covered with ver

dure, whose vivid and glorious tints pen would fail to describe or pencil to depict, so wondrous are the contrasts, so brilliant the hues. Sometimes, for a hundred miles together, the foliage in autumn is like a bouquet of flowers culled from a hot house, and artistically arranged.

The peculiarity of the forest trees in this country is, that in autumn their leaves vie in brilliant transparency with the most beautiful garden flowers. As we advanced up the Mississippi, the scenery increased in grandeur, the banks gradually rising to bluffs, and from bluffs into precipitous cliffs. Sometimes the river stretches out, and forms islands of several miles in length, from whose marshy banks flocks of