ANCIENT FORESTS OF EUROPE. 25 



' Sicily has lost the greater part of the forests which 

 invested the sides of her valleys. The crests of Mounts 

 Gemelli, Hersei, and Nebrodes are only slightly shaded. 

 Etna alone has saved the crown which surrounds the mean 

 region of her summit. The wood of Catania, which con- 

 stitutes the woody region, is not less than eight, leagues 

 long. 



' Sardinia, less unprovided with wood than Sicily, has 

 seen, however, from the time of the first Carthaginian 

 establishments, her forest mantle gradually becoming nar- 

 rower from the effect of fires and in consequence of the 

 improvidence of the peasants. Forests form still the sixth 

 part of the territory of the island, and several are true 

 primeval forests. This forest line of Sardinia continues 

 beyond the strait of Bonifacio, upon the chain which crosses 

 Corsica almost longitudinally, and the culminating points 

 of which are Mounts Rotondo, Paglia-Orba, Ciuto, and 

 Cordo. These are forests of remarkable beauty. They 

 are principally formed of pines, white and green oaks, 

 chestnuts, junipers, &c. Olive woods are distributed on 

 several points. In these forests there are grottoes whose 

 entrance is embellished with a multitude of shrubs, and 

 which serve as a refuge to the shepherds and their 

 flocks. 



' Italy also possessed magnificent forests, of which there 

 are nothing more than a few rare vestiges. We now find 

 with difficulty the trace of those which the Romans have 

 signalised for us on account of their extent. What has 

 become of that celebrated Cimian wood, which, from the 

 borders of Lake Ronciglione, spread as far as the centre of 

 Etruria? It is now reduced to a few groups of wood. 

 One might say as much of the forest of Mcesia, of the forest 

 of Alba, of the Sylva Lttana, which extended from the source 

 of the Panaro to that of Secchia, and whose name appears 

 to have drawn its origin from the extent it occupied. 



' One would seek vainly now for the forest of Aricie, 

 which the Jews doubtless began to destroy, which was 

 established there in the time of Juvenal. 



