258 INHOSPITABLE LANDSCAPE. 



purposes, this wild country will become the centre 

 from which the engineers and contractors of the 

 future will obtain the material for their iron roads 

 and complicated machinery. Coal is also abundant. 

 In many places it can be observed cropping out 

 through the surface ; while shale, a long acknow- 

 ledged indicator of the presence of petroleum, is 

 observable where the under strata are exposed. 



A country rich in coal and metal, particularly 

 when they lie close to the surface, would, but for the 

 value which man attaches to these mineral treasures, 

 prove so unattractive that it would remain a desert ; 

 for in such districts the landscape possesses an air 

 of inhospitality, the timber is stunted and gnarled, 

 the brushwood scarce, the grass patchy and of irre- 

 gular growth, in fact, all is destitute of the verdant 

 colouring which is so fascinating to the sight. 



The silence is here so oppressive that the report 

 of a gun, or the sound of a human voice, seems to 

 be heard with such joy that it is again and again 

 repeated by the echoes ; the little hills and rocks 

 rejoice over it ; and even the mighty mountains seem 

 to laugh and nod at a music which is new to them. 



From the rocks and decayed timber beautiful 

 mosses hung in considerable variety, waving play- 

 fully in the breeze ; but as I generally associate these 

 with dank caverns, and climates adverse to the 

 growth of more substantial vegetation, I gaze with 

 greater pleasure upon the feathery graceful birch, 

 the stately elm, or the lordly oak. 



