SUMMER RETREAT IN ARKANSAS. 29 



The hu;,'c trees seem immortal, their roots look as 

 if they struck to the centre of the earth, while the 

 gnarled limbs reach out to the clouds Here and there 

 may be seen one of these lordly specimens of vegetation, 

 furrowed by the lightning ; from its top to the base you 

 can trace the subtle fluid in its descent, and see where 

 it shattered oflf the gigantic limb, or turned aside from 

 slight inequality in the bark. 



These stricken trees, no longer able to repel the nu- 

 merous parasites that surround them, soon become fes- 

 tooned with wreathes and flowers ; while the damp air 

 engenders on living tree and dead, like funereal drapery, 

 the pendant moss, which waves in every breeze and seems 

 to cover the whole scene with the gloom of the grave. 



Rising out of this forest, for ten square miles, is the 

 dense cane-brake, that bears the name of " Satan's Sum- 

 mer Retreat;" it is formed by a space of ground where, 

 seemingly, from its superiority of soil, more delicate 

 vegetation than that which surrounds it, has usurped 

 the empire. Here the reed, whith the disciple of Izaak 

 Walton plays over the northern streams like a wand, 

 grows into a delicate mast — springing with the prodi- 

 gality of grass from the rich alluvium that gives it sus- 

 tenance, and tapering from its roots to the height of 

 twenty or thirty feet, it there mingles in compact and 

 luxuriant confusion its long leaves. 



A portion of this brake is interwoven with vines of 

 all descriptions, which -makes it so thick that it is al- 



