THE COUNTRY. 171

 per and smothered murmur, as though feathers
 blew against one another. The reflections of
 these great folds of moss are so wonderfully
 clear, that at times, instead of floating through
 mirrored tree-tops and blue skies, the canoe
 seems to drift across banks of gray, still clouds;
 but that is when the moss has quite covered and
 killed the trees upon which it hangs.
 For the most part, it is the fresh and living
 green which is mirrored in the crystal darkness
 of the creek. There is such wonderful green-
 ness in these forests which march beside the
 creeks, that their leaves have a certain vigor
 about them which is almost light The lurk-
 ing shadows under the great branches have
 green tones in them; the very air itself is lumi-
 nous as an emerald, shimmering with the pulses
 of the sun which the matted boughs have shut
 out. One looks down the aisles of the woods,
 and sees green nets of shadows stretched from
 tree to tree, quite motionless, and unstirred by
 any wandering wind; only showing here and
 there a gold thread of sunshine- braided down
among them.