412 DARTMOOR AND THE DART. 



that little pool in the rocky stream, a trout leaps into 

 the air ; another, and another ; though the dimensions 

 of the pool are such as you might stride across, and 

 its depth seemingly fathomable with your hand. 



The furze begins to take form, and to look like 

 dwarf trees, and far above frowns the blue peak of 

 Kow Tor, around which dark clouds are gathering. 

 Now the granite blocks become thicker and more 

 numerous, till we find ourselves crossing a wilderness 

 of boulders, where we can proceed only by scrambling 

 from one to another, there being literally no way 

 between, the narrow interstices being choked with 

 brake and moss, and the stone-crop. I never before 

 saw a place which gave me such an idea of utter deso- 

 lation. At length we reach a single solitary oak, the 

 outpost of the wood, and after a little more difficult 

 and dangerous scrambling over the blocks, we enter 

 the weird forest itself. 



I despair of conveying an idea of the strange scene 

 by words. The granite boulders continue as close as 

 before, with the stunted and most gnarled trees 

 springing out of the interstices. It is said that these 

 narrow passages go down, down, to an unknown depth ; 

 and some have thought that we see only the summits 

 of the trees, the trunks, of ordinary height, being 

 rooted in the earth far below. I did not think of 

 probing the treacherous crevices, which are reputed 

 to swarm with adders ; but there is that in the aspect 

 of the trees which at once confutes this hypothesis ; 

 not to speak of the absurdity of supposing that the 



