FOREST SCENERY. 59 



lization ; and equally in vain does the sun attempt with 

 Ids rays to pierce through their waving tops and illumine 

 the gloom below." Amongst this luxurious foliage, crags 

 of the most picturesque description often present them- 

 selves to the view ; whilst the surface of the ground is 

 strewed in every direction with large and broken fragments 

 of rock. Many of these immense masses have doubtless 

 been detached from the neighbouring crags ; but others 

 again are lying loose and disjointed, in such situations 

 that they could only have found their way there owing to 

 some extraordinary convulsion of nature. Though the 

 wild forest scene is at all times sufficiently monotonous, 

 the landscape is often relieved by some of the numerous 

 tarns and lakes, often beautifully studded with islands, 

 that cover the face of the country ; whilst streams, even 

 if iinseen, may at times be heard gurgling through some 

 deep and lonely deil. 



In calm weather a solemn and death-like stillness 

 often reigns in these desolate regions ; but during storms, 

 the crash and noise amongst the trees is sometimes tre- 

 mendous. Vast numbers of pines, which for ages, per- 

 haps, have set the elements at defiance, are then either 

 uprooted or rent in twain by the force of the blast. In 

 such situations where the trees are only slightly embedded 

 in the soil, the fall of one often causes the destruction of 

 all around it, so that it is not unusual to see the trunks of 

 thirty or forty lying in immediate succession. Were not 

 the numerous morasses, which intersect the country, and 

 the broken nature of the ground sufficient obstacles, this 

 cause alone would prevent the Scandinavian forests from 

 being traversable in any other manner than on foot, the 

 number of prostrate pines rendering it almost impossible 

 to proceed on horseback. 



But how very different the scene in the winter time. 

 " Beautiful as is the forest in the spring," says the 



