167 



FOREST. 



FOREST. 



188 



tion of animals, belong to the most remote physical antiquity. As 

 land of the present period, with its appropriate organic beings of both 

 kingdoms, of the present period also, including man himself, the 

 great continent of Europe, Asia, and Africa, would appear to be the 

 oldest ; America, as a country of the present period, seems* to have 

 been produced and peopled next ; while Australia, together with the 

 eastern portion of the Indian Archipelago (which, as very recently 

 shown by an accomplished traveller and naturalist, Mr. Alfred K. 

 Wallace, belongs to the same natural region), forms a still newer world. 

 The differences with respect to the association of plants which pro- 

 duces what we term forests, and to vegetation in general, between 

 Australia proper and America, are no doubt dependent principally on 

 the peculiarities of climate of the former, which have already been 

 noticed in the article DESERTS. 



America, accordingly, is, of all parts of the world, the most thickly 

 covered with wood. Beginning with the north, we find the Russian 

 territory on the north-west coast abundantly stocked with fine timber : 

 pines 300 feet high and 45 feet in circumference, Canadian poplar, 

 alders 40 feet high below the branches, birch, yew, black and common 

 oak. American ash, sycamore, sugar maple, cypresses 24 feet in circum- 

 ference, and willows. The islands on this coast have also magnificent 

 forests of pine and other lofty trees. 



In AVw Britain the forests are extensive, but they present little 

 variety, and in some parts, to the northward particularly, the larches 

 and birches are stunted in their growth. The environs of Lake Winni- 

 peg are covered with the trees common to Canada. 



In Greenland there are only a few stunted willows and birches ; and 



Labrador has merely some pines and pinasters in the valleys. 



Canada contains immense forests. Pines and evergreens are the 

 most abundant, after which come the red and the sugar maple, the 

 birch, the lime, the American elm and iron-wood, the yew, the com- 

 mon and mountain-ash ; also a great variety of oaks, different from 

 the European species, which do not thrive here. 



New Brunswick has large forests of fine timber, particularly pine, 

 which it exports. 



" Scotia produces good oak ; but the principal wood is pine, fir, 

 and birch. 



The island of Cape Breton furnishes immense oaks and magnificent 

 masts. Newfoundland, and the other islands at the mouth of the St. 

 Lawrence, also produce timber fit for naval and other constructions. 



The United States are abundantly wooded, the cleared land even in 

 some of the Atlantic states being inconsiderable when compared with 

 that still covered with the primitive forests, which contain an immense 

 variety of trees. There are about forty different kinds of oak, fourteen 

 of pine, besides cedar, cypress, and larch ; several maples, among which 

 is that from which sugar is obtained, birch, ash, beech, iron-wood, 

 hornbeam, hickory, wild cherry, and apple, mulberry, poplar, willow, 

 magnolias, elm, chesnut, Ac. Of all the states, Ohio perhaps contains 

 the finest forest-trees. The woods of Florida present a mixed vege- 

 tation, exhibiting the productions of both the north and the south. 

 Thus there is red and white pine, evergreen oaks, chesnut, mahogany, 

 walnut, cherry, maple, logwood, Brazil-wood, and sassafras. There are 

 also in Florida whole forests of red and white mulberry, the finest in 

 America. All European fruits also grow here, and the oranges are finer 

 than in Portugal. In California the pine attains an enormous growth, 

 and the timber has been found to be of excellent quality. The Oregon 

 territory and British Columbia are both well wooded. 



In Mexico or New Spain there are abundant forests, differing in 

 character according to their position on th heights or in the plains. 

 <as there are great plains covered with .palms, while the heights 

 are clothed with the timber-trees of Louisiana. The mountains in the 

 neighbourhood of Ouanaxuata and Valladnlid are covered with forests, 

 and the Intendance of Mexico abounds in cedar and other large trees. 



Yucatan is famous for its logwood and mahogany ; the latter is also 

 produced in great abundance round the Bay of Hondurat. 



' has groves of palms which attain an immense magnitude ; 

 and in C'utCa Rira and Varagnay there is fine forest-timber. 



The Wat India Islands generally abound in wood, though there are 

 exce]i> 



In Xiiulh America the C'araccas possess inexhaustible forests, which, 

 besides the finest timber, produce also a great variety of beautiful 

 woods for cabinet-work, dye-woods, drugs used in the arts, and medi- 

 cinal plants, as the sarsaparilla, bark, &c. 



In New Grenada the plateau of Bogota, Popayan, and Pasto have 

 fine forests. The neighbourhood of Guayaquil, besides the common 

 timber of the country, possesses a wood remarkable for strength and 

 solidity, which is said to be incorruptible, and to resist worms better 

 than any other ; qualities which render it invaluable for the keels and 

 ribs of vessels. 



Peru, is rich in forests, which furnish timber, gums, resins, dye- and 

 cabinet-woods, all of the finest quality. 



possesses forests of gigantic trees, many of incorruptible wood, 

 and others useful for their gums, resins, tc. Pines and cedars are 

 abundant. The whole chain of the Andes abounds in wood, varying 

 in kind according to height, latitude, and aspect. The vigour of the 

 vegetation in some parts is inconceivable : thus in Chile trees have been 

 found so large, that an entire church, 60 feet long, with all its wooden 

 appurtenances of doors, windows, Ac., has been built of a single tree. 



The ifagellanic Lands, on the west or mountainous part, contain 

 forests. 



Paraguay is rich in wood, on the borders of the Upper Uraguay ; 

 and, among other trees, produces in abundance that from which the 

 resin termed dragon's-blood is obtained. 



Brazil contains extensive forests, which cover immense tracts, and 

 are composed of palms, Brazilian cocoa, loftier than the Indian, together 

 with an endless variety of other trees peculiar to the country : some of 

 these are of extraordinary size. The Brazilian pine furnishes very fine 

 masts : this country exports a large quantity of timber, and supplies 

 all the Portuguese shipping. Brazil also produces the dye-wood 

 which bears its name. 



Guiana has extensive forests in its higher parts ; but the wood of 

 many of the trees is so soft as to be only good to burn, and that of 

 others is too hard to be worked. It produces many dye-woods. 



The forest-region of the river Amazon and of the upper Orinoco, 

 according to Humboldt, covers an area of about 719,000 square miles. 



The entire extent of the valley of the Amazon, with the exception 

 of some very small portions, is covered with one dense and lofty 

 primeval forest, the most extensive and unbroken which exists upon 

 the earth. It is the great feature of the country, that which at once 

 stamps it as a unique and peculiar region. Here we may travel for 

 weeks and months inland, in any direction, and find scarcely an acre of 

 ground unoccupied by trees. It is far up in the interior where the 

 great mass of this mighty forest is found; not on the lower part of 

 the river, near the coast, as is generally supposed. A line from the 

 mouth of the river Parraiba, in long. 41" 30' W., drawn due west 

 towards Guayaquil, will cut the boundary of the great forest in long. 

 78 30', and, for the whole distance of about 26UO miles, will have 

 passed through the centre of it, dividing it into two nearly equal 

 portions. For the first 1000 miles, or as far as long. 56 W., the 

 width of the forest from north to south is about 400 miles ; it 'then 

 stretches out both to the north and south, so that in long. 67" W. it 

 extends from 7 N., on the banks of the Orinoco, to 18 S , on the 

 northern slope of the Andes of Bolivia, a distance of more than 1700 

 miles. From a point about 60 miles south-east of Tabatinga, a circle 

 may be drawn of 1100 miles in diameter; the whole area of which 

 will be virgin forest. 



" The forests of no other part of the world," observes Mr. A. H. 

 Wallace, from the scientific additions to whose ' Travels on the Amazon 

 and Rio Negro' we derive these corrected particulars of the forest- 

 region of the Amazon, " are so extensive and unbroken as this. Those 

 of Central Europe are trifling in comparison ; nor in India are they 

 very continuous or extensive ; while the rest of Asia seems to be a 

 country of thinly-wooded plains, and steppes, and deserts. Africa 

 contains some large forests, situated on the. east and west coasts, and 

 in the interior south of the equator ; but the whole of them would 

 bear but a small proportion to that of the Amazon. In North 

 America alone is there anything approaching to it, where the whole 

 country east of the Mississippi and about the great lakes, is or has 

 been an almost uninterrupted extent of woodland." 



The forests of the Amazon are distinguished from those of most 

 countries by the great variety of species of trees composing them. 

 Instead of extensive tracts covered with pines, or oaks, or beeches, we 

 scarcely ever see two individuals of the same species together, except 

 in certain cases, principally among the palms. A great extent of flooded 

 land about the mouth of the Amazon is covered with the Miriti Palms 

 (Maurititia Jtexuosa and M. rini/era), and in many places the Assai 

 (Euterpe edulis) is almost equally abundant. Generally, however, the 

 same species of tree is repeated only at distant intervals. On a road 

 for ten miles through the forest near Pant, there are only two 

 specimens 'of the Masserauduba, or Cow-tree, and all through the 

 adjoining district they are equally scarce. The Leguminosce are by far 

 the most abundant species among the forest-trees of the Amazon. 



The following list of the principal vegetable productions of the 

 Amazon forests is given by Mr. Wallace : " India-rubber, from the 

 sap of the Siphonia elastica ; Brazil-nuts, the seeds of the Bertltolletia 

 excelsa ; Salsaparilha, the roots of Smilax sypfiilitica ; Tonquin- beans, 

 the seeds of Dipteryx odorata ; Puxiri, the fruit of Nectandrum 

 puchury ; Sassafras oil, tree not known ; Andiroba oil, from the fruit 

 of an unknown tree ; Crajuru, a red colour prepared from the leaves 

 of Bignonia ckica ; Pitch exudes from a forest tree; Cacao, the 

 seeds of Theobroma cacao and other species ; Cravo, from an unknown 

 tree ; Canella, the bark of Canttta aloa ; Vanilla, the fruits of various 

 species of Vanilla ; Guaramit, a preparation from a fruit, grated in 

 water, to form an agreeable and medicinal drink ; Piassdba, the fibres 

 from the petioles of a palm, LeopoUlinia, n.s.; Balsam Capivi, from 

 the Gojiaifera ojficinalis ; Silk -cotton, from various species of Bombax," 



From the above rapid sketch of the forest-lands of the globe, it 

 appears that they still cover a great portion of its surface, nor can it 

 be doubted that the immense tracts of wood we have enumerated exer- 

 cise a very powerful influence on the physical economy of the it: th 

 This influence is both direct and indirect. The direct influence of 

 forests is the diminution of temperature, effected, according to Hum- 

 boldt, " 1, By screening the soil from the heat of the sun's direct rays; 

 2, by the powerful evaporation of moisture from the leaves ; and 3, 

 by the immense surface which these same leaves offer to the cooling 

 process of radiation." 



