Mysterious, solemn, cold and clear.
Their steps majestic rise,
Like barriers round this earthly sphere,
Like gates of Paradise.
Well may imagination faint
Before your sacred blaze,
And baffled science fail to paint
The source of heaven-lit rays.17
The ora borealis is a phenomenon which I always contemplate with mingled admiration and pleasure. All that is seen, all that is heard in this unfathomable solitude, is both agreeable and instructive. It strikes, captivates and elevates the mind toward the Author of mature, ldiwbdiia opera Lomii!
After much fatigue, labor and admiration, on the r 5th we traversed the high lands separating the waters of Oregon from those of the south branch of the Saskatchewan, or the ancient Bourbon river, so called before the Canadian conquest by the British. It is the largest tributary of the [lake] Winnipeg, wbich flows into Hudson Bay by the fiver Nelson, 58' north latitude.
The Christian's standard, the cross, has been reared at the source of these two rivers: may it be a sign of salvation and peace to all the scattered and itinerant tribes east and west of these gigantic and lurid mountains.
On the cypress which serves for constructing the cross, the eagle, emblem of the Indian warrior, perches himself huntsman aims-the noble bird lies prostrate, and even in his fall, seems to retain his kingly pride. It so forcibly recalls to memory the beautiful lines of the illustrious, Campbell, that I quote them in full:
Fallen as he is, the king of birds still seems
Like royalty in ruins. Though his eyes
Are shut, that looked undazzled on the sun,
He was the sultan of the sky, and earth
17 Park Benjamin.