BROOKE NHUKST TO BURLEY AND RINGWOOD. 85 



fiery crimson marks the place below which the 

 sun is setting. 



As we pursue our journey the western sky 

 grows less bright, the empurpled cloud-banks 

 lose the freshness of their colouring, the streaks 

 of crimson fire grow duller. No bird voices are 

 heard near us, the hum of insects has ceased, and 

 profound quiet, which is almost oppressive, seems 

 to settle upon the forest. But suddenly the sound 

 of bells not far distant strikes upon our ears 

 and reminds us, whilst serving to make the pre- 

 vious silence felt, that the forest is no longer 

 what it was, and that villages and enclosures 

 house, field, and homestead now occupy spaces 

 that were once unbroken wood or continuous 

 heath or moorlancj. Yet no houses are in sight 

 and the ground on either side of our pathway 

 is genuine, open forest. The spreading Heather 

 branches are, in places, encrusted with grey 

 Lichen. Between the sprays of Heather the 

 ground is occupied by dark masses of the green 

 glossy blades of the Fine Heath Grass, inter- 

 mingled with taller forms of the coarser kinds, 

 whilst from out of the grassy, heathery clusters 



F 2 



