BEECH-TREE. 119 



in short, pithy, interrupted sentences, which are no doubt 

 expressive of their enjoyments and friendly feelings." 



Other races subsist upon our mast. These are indi- 

 genous forest hogs, the property of forest-keepers, and 

 which chiefly depend for their livelihood, during winter, 

 on the roots of fern. You may see hundreds of these 

 creatures, labouring with all their might to obtain a scanty 

 subsistence by turning up the ground, when our noble 

 branches wave against a wintry sky : and thus the winter 

 passes, till our boughs are again loaded with plenty, when 

 their sonorous grunts are heard from amid the forest depths; 

 and freely do they help themselves, although no stirring 

 sounds of forest melody cheer them at their daily meals. 

 Some, also, of the grunting tribe wander at will, without 

 any settled habitation. They affect the most lonely and 

 thickly wooded parts, where many a friendly tree affords them 

 both food and shelter* No care is extended towards them, 

 if their delving snouts are unable to penetrate the ground 

 by reason of hard frost ; no kind hand ministers to their 



