3CO The Unknown River, 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE river now flowed through very majestic sylvan 

 scenery, equal in some places to the finest parts 

 of the Thames, and curiously destitute of every thing 

 that we in England are accustomed to consider especi- 

 ally French in character. The banks were often rocky, 

 and the foregrounds rich in heather and fern, with im- 

 mense quantities of broom. Out of this rose gigantic 

 oaks, that would have done credit to any park in Eng- 

 land. Here is a sketch of the trunk of one which I 

 found to be fifty feet in circumference. 



This noble tree was in every respect one of the most 

 perfectly and equally developed I ever met with. Suf- 

 ficiently isolated for its growth not to be in the least 

 interfered with, and yet at the same time not too much 

 exposed to any prevailing wind, its massive column rose 

 straight upwards, and its enormous branches (themselves 

 equal to considerable trees) spread equally in every 

 direction. I have only given the trunk here because 

 the attempt to represent the whole tree always failed to 

 give any notion of its vast dimensions. Its crown of 

 foliage, too perfect and too regular to be picturesque, 

 was like a sylvan world erected on a pedestal. At some 

 distance the tree did not strike one as being particularly 

 big, probably on account of its beautiful proportions, 



