2 THE PRIMITIVE FOREST. 



upon its clearings, opened the hill-tops to a view of the 

 surrounding prospect, and cheered the solitude by some 

 gleams of civilization, then came the naturalist and the 

 man of science to survey the aspect and productions of 

 this new world. And when they made their first ex- 

 cursions over its rugged hills and through its wooded 

 vales, we can easily imagine their transports at the sight 

 of its peculiar scenery. How must the early botanist 

 have exulted over this grand assemblage of plants, that 

 bore resemblance to those of Europe only as the wild 

 Indian resembles the fair-haired Saxon ! Everywhere 

 some rare herb put forth flowers at his feet, and trees of 

 magnificent height and slender proportions intercepted 

 his progress by their crowded numbers. The wood was 

 so generally uninterrupted, that it was difficult to find a 

 summit from which he could obtain a lookout of any 

 considerable extent ; but occasional natural openings ex- 

 posed floral scenes that must have seemed like the work 

 of enchantment. In the wet meadows were deep beds 

 of moss of the finest verdure, which had seldom been 

 disturbed by man or brute. On the uplands were vast 

 fields of the checkerberry plant, social, like the European 

 heath, and loaded half the year with its spicy scarlet 

 fruit. Every valley presented some unknown vegetation 

 to his sight, and every tangled path led him into a new 

 scene of beauties and wonders. It must have seemed to 

 him, when traversing this strange wilderness, that he 

 had entered upon a new earth, in which nature had im- 

 itated, without repeating, the productions of his native 

 East. 



Along the level parts of New England and the ad- 

 jacent country, wherever the rivers were languid in their 

 course, and partially inundated their banks in the spring, 

 were frequent natural meadows, not covered by trees, 

 the homes of the robin and the bobolink before the 



