230 LEAVES FROM THE BOOK OF NATURE. 



trees. "When confervas alone are at work, the peat lies 

 in the shape of thin, paper-like leaves, as if year after 

 year a new generation had lain down to rest on the corpses 

 of the preceding season. Small streams of water, flowing 

 under ground, complete the decay of the vegetable matter, 

 and consolidate the whole, till it becomes blended in one 

 confused mass. 



Dark and dismal the green turf stretches far away, as 

 far as eye can reach. It knows neither spring nor sum- 

 mer. Below is the dark, unfathomed abyss. Here and 

 there fierce gusts of wind, or strange powers from, below, 

 have torn the gloomy shroud asunder, and the dark, black 

 waters stare at you, like the despairing eye of the dying 

 sinner. Even the bright sun of heaven cannot light up 

 the haunted mirror its golden face looks pale and leaden. 

 No fish swims in the inhospitable water ; no boat passes 

 swiftly from shore to shore. Whatever has life and dreads 

 death, flees the treacherous moor. Woe to the unfortunate 

 man who misses the narrow path ! A single step amiss, 

 and he sinks into the gulf; the green turf closes over 

 him and drowns the gurgling of the waters and the anxious 

 cry of the victim. 



Far, far down in the depths of the moor there lies 

 many a secret of olden times. Below the grim, ghastly 

 surface, below the waters, below the black remnants of 

 countless plants, lie the sad memorials of ages unknown 

 to the history of man. Huge trees stand upright, and 

 their gigantic roots rest upon the crowns of still older 

 forest-giants ! In the inverted oaks of Murten Moor, in 

 Switzerland, many see the famous oak-woods that Charle- 



