24 VOICES FROM THE WOODLANDS. 



moss. He possesses the singular property of throwing up 

 new shoots in the upper portion of his thickly-entangled 

 branches, while the lower part gradually decays ; and thus 

 the course of years produces no other effect upon this 

 member of our tribe than the deposit of vegetable mould, 

 and the rising, as it were, of one layer upon another, till 

 hollow places are filled up, and the huge trunks and branches 

 of fallen trees are concealed from view. 



Roman roads have in consequence been discovered at the 

 depth of eight or ten feet, as also coins, and warlike instru- 

 ments, with those of husbandry ; and some years since, the 

 body of a woman was found in one of the Lincolnshire 

 peat-mosses. The night of centuries must have passed 

 over her since, flying perhaps for refuge to one of her 

 native forests, she perished in its recesses, and her lone 

 requiem was that of winds or birds ; for her antique sandals 

 afforded evidence that she must have remained undiscovered 

 for ages, and yet there was no trace of decay. In Ireland 

 one of her earliest aborigines was in like manner recently 



