and mink, the marten, the sable, and the beaver; and if, in the most genial seasons, there should be found a scarcity of birds, you can never fail to hear the plaintive whistle of the Canada bird, or muscicapa of scientific dreamers. In the Valley of the Potomac this favorite bird of ours is the very first harbinger of spring, coming from the South even before the blue-bird; and when heard there late in autumn, you may be sure that winter has asserted his empire on the Northern frontiers. We have heard it in the pine forests of Florida, among the mountains of Tennessee, along the glorious rivers of New Brunswick, Canada, and a part of Labrador, but never with more. pleasure than in the forests of Maine. When away from home, it always carries us back in fancy to the region where our lot is cast, and to our friends; and when at home it reminds us of far-off places and other friends linked with happy recollections. Its whole life, it seems to us, is devoted to singing, in a kind of monotone, about the joys of the wilderness.

"Of permanent human inhabitants, the forests of Maine can boast of but a small supply; but for about nine months in the year the hardy lumbermen, consisting of explorers and choppers, of swampers, or road-cutters, and teamsters, make their dim, interminable aisles alive and cheery with their presence and manifold employments. In the autumn, small parties, equipped like trappers, go up the rivers in canoes and locate the lands which are to be grappled with in winter; and when winter comes, the great majority, with their oxen and axes, their salt pork and flour, migrate to the selected grounds, and, after housing themselves and their cattle in cabins half covered with snow, they proceed to the work of extermination; and when the spring arrives, down to the tributary streams do they drag their logs; and when the first great thaw arrives, away they go down the larger rivers, driving the produce of their toil through lakes and lakelets, and over waterfalls, with many a wild and wayward shout, until they reach the booms where they would be; and then for home and their happy families nearer the sea. All this for money? Most true. But where will you find better specimens of true manhood than among these lumbermen? And as for poetry and romance, where can we find their equal among the laborers for hire in any land but ours? Fancy the heart-bursts of true patriotism, and the wild stories told by the side of their watch-fires, the hoot of the great white owl at midnight in those dim solitudes, the white moonlight on the still whiter

snow, the ringing cadences of the frost, the wolf prowling for food

around the sleeping camps, the cave-like forest pictured against the cold blue sky, the terrible storms of sleet and hail, and then the thousand dreams of wives and children sleeping in their distant and peaceful homes.

“The continuousness of the Maine woods, taken in connection with their extent, is one of their most impressive features. Unless there were something to relieve their monotony, a sensitive man could never have journeyed from one extremity to another without becoming a personification of gloom; but behold with what exquisite taste and skill nature interposes her relief! She plants old Moosehead near the centre of the great forest, and scatters a thousand smaller gems of purest water on every side; bids a few mountain peaks rise up as watch-towers against the northern sky; sends the most beautiful rivers like flashes of light in every direction singing to the sea; and in a few localities spreads out those wonderful fields which have been denominated 'oceans of moss,' sometimes several feet in thickness, and in one instance covering a space of many miles. But more than this: around the lakes and along the water-courses are permitted to grow as great a variety of the more delicate and graceful trees as the climate will allow, with shrubs and vines, and flowers innumerable. All this is the workmanship of nature; but it is man who marks the earth with ruin, and, not content with robbing the old forests of their giant treasures, he sometimes sets them on fire for his amusement, or by accident, and thus come into existence the desolate burnt districts to take the places of trees once valuable, and grand, and beautiful.

"The last object that the wide-awake tourist beholds on leaving the great wilderness of Maine, is Mount Katahdin; and that reminds us of the mountain forests of the Northern and Southern States. The representative peaks of the North are Katahdin, Mount Washington, the Camel's Hump, Tahawus, and High Peak; and around all these are to be found the hemlock and spruce, the cedar and fir, the maple, the ash, the elm, and the birch, in such numbers, and variety, and beauty as to bewilder the mind. The declivities up which travellers climb oftentimes frown upon them as if to warn them of coming danger, but the tough and rugged trees plant their roots in the rocky fissures and hold on with heroic fortitude; nor do they cease their persevering efforts, while apparently changing their places at each zone, until, robbed of their luxuriance and reduced to mere bushes by the savage winds and by the cold, they peep out from their hiding places only to behold the stupendous fields of granite desolation, thou

sands of feet above the sea, shrouded in fogs, or bounded by the sea. Inaccessible, for the most part, as are these Northern forests, the enterprise of man has been such as to penetrate their hidden depths for his advantage, and plunder them of their wealth. In Maine, selfish man robs them of their stately leaders; in New Hampshire, he builds fairy-like palaces, and invites the world to come there and be happy; in Vermont, he gashes the maple trees and compels them to yield up, for his enjoyment, the sweetness of their lives; and in New York he hammers out of their mountain sides, in their lonely retreats, the valued iron ore, and meanly strips the hemlock of its shaggy bark, and leaves it to perish ingloriously upon the hills."

MINERALS.

The mineral resources of Maine are limited. Copper pyrites, lead, and manganese are found in small quantities, but iron, lime, and a fine granite are plentiful. The principal iron deposit occurs on the Aroostook River, about 50 miles from its mouth, and the country along the west branch of the Penobscot furnishes a limited quantity of an excellent marble. A fine quality of slate is found in the region between the sources of the Kennebec and St. John rivers. The granite of which the Treasury Extension in Washington City is built, was brought from the coast of Maine.

CLIMATE.

The climate of Maine is considered healthy, in spite of the extreme northeastern situation of the State, because it is less subject than that of the other New England States to sudden and violent changes. The winters are severe and long. The mercury sometimes falls to 20 or 30 degrees below zero, but for the greater part of the season there is a uniform temperature averaging about 18°. The summers, though short, are warm. The thermometer has been known to indicate a heat of 100°, but the average temperature is about 60°. The snow lies on the ground from 3 to 5 months, and the season of vegetation lasts scarcely 4 months. The spring and early summer are rendered unpleasant by the cold northeast winds, which sweep down from the ice-fields of the Atlantic.

SOIL AND PRODUCTIONS.

The soil is not uniform. Between the Kennebec and Penobscot, the lands are generally good and productive, and the same may be said of the valley of the St. John and the country watered by some of the lesser rivers. The lands in the mountainous districts and along the coast are for the most part poor, and require laborious culture.

In 1869, there were 2,704,133 acres of improved lands, and 2,996,622 acres of unimproved lands in the State. Its agricultural wealth in the same year may be stated as follows :

The staple export of Maine is lumber. The coast offers the best inducements for commerce of any State in the Union. It is so thickly studded with bays and navigable rivers that vessels can find an excellent harbor at any point along its whole length. Shipbuilding is carried on to a considerable extent. The commercial returns for the year 1860 were as follows:

Besides these, large quantities of marble, granite, lime, and ice are produced, of which we have no statistics. The tonnage owned in the State in 1863 was 774,040 tons.

In 1863, the total foreign imports were $3,911,468, and the exports $7,016,342. In the same year, only 99 vessels were built in this State, which in 1853 built 351 of all classes.