CHAPTER VII 



Among the Pines 



& Firs, & in 



the Larch Plantations 



AT one time, no doubt, a very considerable 

 portion of the British Isles was covered by wood- 

 lands of Scots pine, our only indigenous conifer, 

 formerly called the fir. The extent of these prim- 

 eval woods and the method of their destruction, 

 having already been referred to in the first two 

 chapters, need not again be touched on. But 

 in Holinshed's time there were still large tracts 

 under pine, which have now mostly been cleared 

 away. * The firre, frankincense, and pine, we 

 do not altogether want, especiallie the firre, 

 whereof we have some store in Chatleie moore in 



