He had spent many winters alone with nothing except his thoughts, face to face with nature--I should say, before the face of God.

He had tried the horrors of solitude and had acquired facility in bearing them.

I thought sometimes, if I had to meet my end in this place, that I would spend my last strength to drag myself to the top of the mountain to die there, looking away over the infinite sea of mountains and forest toward the point where my loved ones were.
However, the same life gave me much matter for reflection and yet more occupation for the physical side.

It was a continuous struggle for existence, hard and severe.

The hardest work was the preparation of the big logs for the naida.