walking upon the ice at two o’clock, when at four on the same day—thanks to a high wind—the waters were entirely free. For some days now the ice has been lying quite detached from the shores, looking all the more unsightly for the narrow border of clear blue water encircling the gloomy island.
Explored a sunny bank in the woods, with the hope of finding a stray ground laurel, but we saw only the buds. Berries were very plenty; it was a perfect bed of the squaw-vine and partridge berry. Stout young pines threw their branches over the bank, and the warm afternoon sun pouring upon trees and plants, brought out strongly the aromatic odors of both; the air was highly scented with this fresh, wild perfume of the forest. A wood of evergreens is generally fragrant; our own pines and cedars are highly so; even the fallen pine leaves preserve their peculiar odor for some time. There is an ancient allusion to the fragrance of the cedar of Lebanon, in the last chapter of the prophet Hosea, who lived in the eighth century before the Christian era; speaking of the mercies God had in store for his people, he says, “ I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon.”
The little partridge plant is also very aromatic. Like the orange-tree, this humble plant bears fruit and flowers together; its white cups hanging side by side with the coral berries through the mild weather, from early in May to the sharpest frosts in October. It is true these plants grow in groups, and, although side by side, fruit and flower may belong to different items; but we have seen the berries and fresh blossoms on the same stalk. There is no period of the year when you may not find the berries,
