Thoreau
November 9
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and Other Natural History Essays |
 Henry David Thoreau American Writer  Canoeing on Clayquot Sound, 1910  Muskrat  H. D. Thoreau, a Writer's Journal  Thoreau A Book of Quotations  Excursions  The Journal of Henry David Thoreau: 1837-1861 Kindle Edition  Walden  Thumbing Through Thoreau A Book of Quotations by Henry David Thoreau  Walden, or Life in the Woods Poster  Kindle 6" Display, U.S. & International Wireless |
High
wind and rain in the night. Still more strong and gusty but remarkably
warm southwest wind during the day. To Fair Haven Hill by boat with W.E.C. We rowed against a very powerful wind, sometimes scarcely making any headway, It was with difficulty often that we moved our paddles through the air for a new stroke. As C. said, it seemed to blow out of a hole. We had to turn our oars edgewise to it. But we worked our way slowly upward, nevertheless, for we came to feel and hear it blow and see the waves run There was quite a sea running on the lee shore - broad black waves with white crests, which made our boat toss very pleasantly. They wet the piers of the railroad bridge for eighteen inches up. I should guess that the whole height from the valley between to the top of a wave was nearer fifteen inches.
It is remarkable how little effect the waves have on them, while a heap of manure or a haycock would be washed away or undermined at once. I opened one. It was composed of coarse grass, pontederia stems, etc., etc., not altogether in mouthfuls. This was three feet and a half above water, others quite four. After taking off a foot I came to the chamber. It was a regularly formed oval or elliptical chamber, about eighteen inches the longest way and seven or eight inches deep, shaped like a pebble, with smooth walls of the weeds, and bottomed or bedded with a very little drier grass, a mere coating of it. It would hold four or five, closely packed. The walls are of such [thickness at] the bottom that the water in the gallery probably never freezes. If the height of these houses is any sign of high or low water, this winter it will be uncommonly high. Soon after, we saw a mink swimming in the agitated water close to the shore, east side, above 'Nut Meadow Brook. It showed the vvhole top of the back and part of the tail, unlike the muskrat, and did not dive. Stopped a moment when we headed toward it, and held up its head at the end of its long neck toward us, reminding me of pictures of the otter, then turned and swam and ran the other way; dark-brown. Landed and walked over Conant's Indian rye-field, and I picked up two good arrowheads. The river with its waves has a very wild look southward, and I see the, white caps of the waves in Fair Haven Bay. Went into the woods by Holden Swamp and sat down to hear the wind roar amid the tree-tops. What an incessant straining of the trees! It is a music that wears better than the opera, methinks. This reminds me how the telegraph-wire hummed coarsely in the tempest as we passed under it. 1853 Other Entries |