174 AUTUMNAL LEAVES. 



bordering turf and a fringe of graceful Bracken 

 rich in its changing colours Holly, Birch, Beecli 

 and Oak above and Tormentils below lending their 

 contrasting foliage to heighten the picturesqueness 

 and beauty of the forestal scenes. Eeaching the 

 crest of our road we can look down beyond us 

 upon the autumnal forest which again hides our 

 road as it bends away round to the left. 



The sun has already commenced to sink in the 

 West and the sky seems almost to reflect the 

 colours of the spreading woods, for the fleecy 

 clouds, shown against the blue, are tinged with 

 orange and gold and pink and purple and crimson. 

 Presently the trees cluster less thickly and give 

 place to glades of singular beauty. Our road, 

 first descending, again rises. One moment it is 

 lost as it gently ascends a little way in front of us 

 and then suddenly dips as if it had lost itself in 

 the leafy depths of the trees away beyond. 

 Beaching the point beyond which the further 

 course of the road is hidden from view we look 

 down over its slope, stretching far away into a 

 leafy hollow of the forest, the road losing itself 

 midway on the hill as it ascends on the opposite 



