52 WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 



brought down to the ground a dozen small ones in 

 its fall. Its bark has already begun to drop off! 

 And that heart of Mora close by it is fast yielding, 

 in spite of its firm, tough texture. 



The tree which thou passedst but a little ago, 

 and which perhaps has lain over yonder brook for 

 years, can now hardly support itself, and in a 

 few months more it will have fallen into the water. 



Put thy foot on that large trunk thou seest to 

 the left. It seems entire amid the surrounding 

 fragments. Mere outward appearance, delusive 

 phantom of what it once was! Tread on it, and 

 like the fuss-ball, it will break into dust. 



Sad and silent mementos to the giddy traveller 

 as he wanders on! Prostrate remnants of vege- 

 table nature, how incontestably ye prove what we 

 must all at last come to, and how plain your 

 mouldering ruins show that the firmest texture 

 avails us nought when Heaven wills that we 

 should cease to be ! — 



"The cloiid-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, 

 The solemn temples, the great globe itself, 

 iYea, all which it inhabit, shall dissolve, 

 And, like the baseless fabric of a vision, 

 Leave not a wrack behind."* 



Cast thine eye around thee, and see the thou- 

 sands of nature's productions. Take a view of 

 them from the opening seed on the surface, send- 

 ing a downward shoot, to the loftiest and the 

 largest trees, rising up and blooming in wild lux- 

 uriance ; some side by side, others separate ; some 

 curved and knotty, others straight as lances ; all, 

 in beautiful gradation, fulfilling the mandates 

 they had received from Heaven, and though con- 



*A curious misquotation of the author's. See The Tempest, 

 Act IV, Sc. I. 



