AMERICAN FORESTS IN THE EASTERN STATES NOW. I 2Q 



there, in which we should certainly say that what 

 mainly impresses the traveller is not, as might be 

 supposed, the gigantic size and girth of the trees, 

 because in most localities within reach of the settlements 

 the lumberer has been at work, and nearly all the best 

 and most valuable timber has been cut ; leaving behind 

 an immense and luxuriant growth of comparatively 

 small trees, growing into, and destroying one another, 

 much as may be seen any day in a neglected plantation 

 in Europe; while old trees of great size are only to 

 be found here and there, at intervals, sometimes standing 

 singly, and sometimes in clumps; their tops towering 

 like giants above their more insignificant neighbours, 

 which are generally found crowding closely in all 

 round them. 



The prevailing impression then, is at first somewhat 

 disappointing, and the noble vistas, beneath the over- 

 arching canopies of branches, which one naturally 

 expects to see, are of comparatively rare occurrence. 



What chiefly impresses the mind is the interminable 

 extent, the silence, gloom, and solitude of these great 

 woods, where the sounds of life are but seldom heard. 



The song of the bird too, which enlivens our English 

 groves, is silent, for the stillness of the American 

 woods is but rarely broken by the voices of birds; 

 upon this point the reports of travellers are practically 

 unanimous. 



The signs of animal life are also comparatively 

 scarce; and it is quite possible for the sportsman to 

 travel even for days, without getting a sight of a single 

 head of game ; the new-comer therefore is apt to conclude 

 that this is because scarcely any birds or animals exist 

 there: but this is to adopt a very erroneous view of 



VOL. n. 9 



