There was but little wind, the faintest breath coming now and then from the hills on the southern bank.

The air was of a genial warmth, the sky free from clouds and only faintly dimmed with the haze around the horizon.

The forest was in the mellow tints of autumn, and the wide expanse of foliferous trees, dotted at frequent intervals with the evergreen pine, rivalled the October hues of our New England landscape.

Hills and low mountains rose on both banks of the river and made a beautiful picture.

The hills, covered with forest from base to summit, sloped gently to the water's edge or retreated here and there behind bits of green meadow.