ANCIENT FORESTS OF EUROPE. 19 



' These forests of particular kinds, such as pines, birches, 

 limes, oaks, &c., have each received in the Russian lan- 



fuage special names which express the nature of their 

 inds. The richness of this language to express the idea 

 of a forest demonstrates the ancient predominance of 

 forests in this country. Thus they call a forest of firs, 

 pichtovnikk ; one of birches, bereznikk ; a thick forest upon 

 a marsh, luiva ; debre is a forest placed in a hollow ; a 

 forest of pines and birches situated in a sandy country is 

 called borr ; one composed of lofty trees is doubrava, &c. 

 Formerly, when France presented a forest condition analo- 

 gous to that of Russia, this language designated also by 

 special names each kind of forest ; people said a chesnaie, 

 an aulnaie, an urnaie, a boulaie, a possellniere, expressions 

 which fell into desuetude as soon as the forests afforded 

 little else than a mixture of all these kinds. 



' Lithuania forms a vast frontier boundary which separ- 

 ates Russia from Poland ; it is there that the celebrated 

 forest of Bialowieza, which extends all over the district of 

 Bialistock, and which still serves as a refuge for the last 

 descendants of the urus of Oriental Europe. This forest is 

 the only one in this region which is worthy the name of 

 primeval forest ; for it remained a few years ago abandoned 

 to the operations of nature, and forest science made no 

 provision for its management. It is among these aged 

 woods, which overshadow the source of the Narova, that 

 the urus wanders in company with the buffalo and the elk. 



c Amid these primitive scenes of nature there subsists 

 a distinct population, the Ruskes, almost as savage as the 

 animals which surround them. In several forests of Lithu- 

 ania the beech has entirely disappeared ; pines, birches, 

 and oaks replace this tree. In Esthonia, in Courland, 

 limes re-appear, and constitute vast forests. 



'In the vicinity of the Oural, the birches, larches, and 

 cedars have ceased to form distinct forests ; they are asso- 

 ciated with other kinds, with firs, which like marshy 

 ground j with pines, which grow upon stony places. 



' In going towards Russia from Asia, the forest line is 



