Much the children marvelled
what country it might be that lay in the dim, blue, hazy distance,--to
them, indeed, a _terra incognita_--a land of mystery; but neither of her
companions laughed when Catharine gravely suggested the probability of this
unknown shore to the northward being her father's beloved Highlands. Let
not youthful and more learned reader smile at the ignorance of the Canadian
girl; she knew nothing of maps, and globes, and hemispheres,--her only
book of study had been the Holy Scriptures, her only teacher a poor
Highland soldier.
Following the elevated ground above this deep valley, the travellers at
last halted on the extreme, edge of a high and precipitous mound, that
formed an abrupt termination to the deep glen. They found water not far
from this spot fit for drinking, by following a deer-path a little to the
southward. And there, on the borders of a little basin on a pleasant brae,
where the bright silver birch waved gracefully over its sides, they decided
upon building a winter house. They named the spot Mount Ararat: "For here.
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