Page:Monthly scrap book, for June.pdf/4

4 traveller's privilege, were I to attempt to give an idea of their dimensions. Pines one hundred and sixty feet height, and perfectly straight, were on all sides to be observed, whilst many hardwood trees, from their highest branch to the surface of earth, were concealed with long grey moss, which hung in graceful festoons, and formed a curtain, behind which the wood nymphs might gambol unseen.

A beautiful bird, which flew past me before I could raise my gun to my shoulder, alighted in a part of the wood which had been partially cleared, about fifty yards on my right, and, although warned to keep the direct roads, its beautiful plumage tempted me to follow it. As I approached, it rose again, and again alighted at a short distance. When I left the road and entered the wood, I was delighted with its fragrance. The wild figtree grew in abundance, offering its delicate fruit; the jessamine and myrtle exhaled their delicious perfume; and, at times, I could perceive the yellow orange peeping from amidst its umbrageous retreat, and my mind arose in grateful acknowledgement of the Power that sprinkled the forest with beauty, and whose all-creating hand is as visible in the simplest floweret as in the proudest and loftiest of yon heaven-towering pines!

I was yet in pursuit of the richly-coloured bird had seen, and which still attracted me forward, when the ground became swampy, long dank grass occasionally interrupted my progress, and I was convinced a retreat ought to be contemplated, when I approached a space where two or three pines had