12 November The Forest Road. 



separated from the surrounding forest-land ; it made 

 several sudden turns, and finally offered us a bifurcation. 

 Having nothing to guide us but a general project of wan- 

 dering, we took the side which seemed most in our in- 

 tended direction, and followed it where it might lead. 

 The wheel-ruts soon ceased altogether ; the road became 

 a mere footpath, and after winding in an uncertain manner 

 for a long distance emerged at last on the very summit 

 of a lofty knoll, where, in the midst of an open space of 

 greensward, stood four enormous chestnuts, surrounded 

 by tall bushes of holly with an abundance of red berries 

 in the midst of its varnished green. Although we were 

 certainly on the top of one of the many hills which carry 

 this great forest upon their ample sides, it was impossible 

 to see anything beyond the narrow circle of the open 

 space around us. We were enclosed by a sylvan wall, 

 penetrable indeed by a pedestrian traveller, but as im- 

 pervious to his vision as if it had been built of granite 

 blocks. We were certainly not on our own land ; these 

 giant chestnuts were not mine, for all the great old 

 forest-trees that belonged to me were known to me as 

 the richest plum-trees in his orchard are known to the 

 market-gardener. It was impossible to ascertain the 

 points of the compass. The whole sky was covered 

 with one dense low cloud, not lighter in one place than 

 another, so that we could not guess the sun's position ; 

 nor did any inclination of the trees, or any growth of 

 moss, give a reliable indication of the prevailing wind, 

 and if they had done so the indication would have been 

 useless to us in our ignorance of the local meteorology. 



