SOME LABRADOR TREES 



mournful song. The valley was picturesque 

 in its rugged beauty and full of deep interest. 

 This larch was the largest in a group of gnarled 

 and twisted monarchs that must have defied 

 the storms for many ages. He was still alive 

 and the green buds of promise were appear- 

 ing on his topmost boughs, which were fully 

 thirty feet up in the air. At a distance of 

 two and a half feet from the ground he meas- 

 ured six feet in circumference. How I should 

 have enjoyed counting his rings, which must 

 have numbered many hundreds, but even if it 

 had been possible to cut him down and smooth 

 off his stump it would have been indeed sac- 

 rilegious. May he live for many ages yet to 

 come ! 



On this same island, however, I did steel my 

 heart and cut down a splendid spreading mat 

 of verdure, a balsam fir that had grown com- 

 paratively rapidly on a southern slope, but 

 one that was so exposed to the gales from the 

 gulf that it had reached a height of but three 

 feet. One could walk over its compact top sur- 

 face, which measured eighteen feet from side to 

 side, but could not rest under the shadow of its 

 branches unless one had been able to burrow 



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