66 POPULAR GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



of water, the flame draws itself together and almost disap- 

 pears, then suddenly reaching a new dry surface of grass, 

 gains new and fearful power, and spreads into a wide sea of 

 smoke and fire, in which the columns of flame, whirling up 

 higher and brighter than the rest, mark the unlucky situa- 

 tions of human dwellings. 



Steppe fires of this kind often move about over a region 

 for eight or ten days, " crossing and diverging in directions 

 which cannot be calculated on, following every direction of 

 the breeze, and bidding defiance to the best-considered at- 

 tempts at escape." Such an aspect of nature is a thing we 

 had not dreamt of ; and we are rewarded for the resolution 

 with which we conquered our disinclination to explore these 

 regions, by the images of wildness and grandeur which we 

 have added to our store. 



For want of a guide we cannot now travel further in this 

 hemisphere; we have moreover something to employ us in 

 the corresponding zone on the opposite side of the world. 

 We have only one little memorandum to make about the 

 Oak before we leave this part of the world, which in this 

 zone finds its eastern limit at about 75 east longitude, in 

 latitude 55, though in gardens it may be met with in com- 

 pany with the Hazel-nut (Corylus Avellana), as far to the 



