FORESTS. 



SOUTH AMERICA. 



A MONG the scenes which are deeply impressed on ray 

 "* mind, none exceed in sublimity the primeval forests, 

 undefaced by the hand of man whether those of Brazil, 

 where the powers of Life are predominant, or those of Tierra 

 del Fuego, where Death and Decay prevail. Both are tem- 

 ples filled with the varied productions of the God of Nature. 

 No one can stand in these solitudes unmoved, and not feel 

 that there is more in man than the mere breath of his body. 



In tropical forests, when quietly walking along the shady 

 pathways, and admiring each successive view, I wished to 

 find language to express my ideas. Epithet after epithet 

 was found too weak to convey to those who have not vis- 

 ited the intertropical regions the sensation of delight which 

 the mind experiences. The land is one great, wild, untidy, 

 luxuriant hot -house, made by Nature for herself, but taken 

 possession of by man, who has studded it with gay houses 

 and formal gardens. How great would be the desire in every 

 admirer of nature to behold, if such were possible, the scenery 

 of another planet ! Yet to every person in Europe it may be 

 truly said that, at the distance of only a few degrees from 

 his native soil, the glories of another world are opened to 



