246 POPULAR GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



attention far too uncommon a sight to pass by unnoticed 

 is a large species of Equisetiim (Horsetail), growing 

 abundantly all around, which measures about fifteen feet in 

 height, and three inches in circumference at the lower part 

 of the stem a giant compared to the ordinary height of 

 the race though even these dimensions are puny compared 

 with those " which are found in a fossil state in the coal 

 strata, known to geologists under the name of Calamites, 

 with stems as thick as a man's body." 



For many a league we now travel on through thinly- 

 wooded country; nor are we much tempted to step aside 

 from the object of our journey by the dull, deserted-looking 

 little towns or large villages we sometimes pass, (called 

 into existence by the discovery of gold, and since the mines 

 have become nearly exhausted, allowed to fall into neglect,) 

 but we hasten on to a part of the country which is both 

 more thickly wooded and more thickly inhabited, which, by 

 the similarity of its vegetation, renews agreeable recollec- 

 tions of the Organ Mountains, and inclines us to think that 

 our former impression was correct. "In humid, shady 

 places" the Tree-ferns reach the height of thirty or forty 

 feet, and on rising ground we meet with many large trees 

 belonging to the Composite family, called Vernonias ; many 



