SOUTH AMERICA. 25 



at this grand picture of vegetable nature ; it is a FIRST 



JOURNEY. 



reflection of the crowd thou hast lately been in, - 

 and though a silent monitor, it is not a less 

 eloquent one on that account. See that noble 

 purple-heart before thee ! Nature has been kind 

 to it. Not a hole, not the least oozing from its 

 trunk, to show that its best days are past. Vigo- 

 rous in youthful blooming beauty, it stands the 

 ornament of these sequestered wilds, and tacitly 

 rebukes those base ones of thine own species, who 

 have been hardy enough to deny the existence of 

 Him who ordered it to flourish here. 



Behold that one next to it ! Hark ! how the 

 hammerings of the red-headed woodpecker re- 

 sound through its distempered boughs ! See what 

 a quantity of holes he has made in it, and how its 

 bark is stained with the drops which trickle down 

 from them. The lightning, too, has blasted one 

 side of it. Nature looks pale and wan in its 

 leaves, and her resources are nearly dried up in 

 its extremities ; its sap is tainted ; a mortal sick- 

 ness, slow as a consumption, and as sure in its 

 consequences, has long since entered its frame, 

 vitiating and destroying the wholesome juices 

 there. 



Step a few paces aside,' and cast thine eye on 

 that remnant of a mora behind it. Best part of 

 its branches, once so high and ornamental, now 

 lie on the ground in sad confusion, one upon the 

 other, all shattered and fungus-grown, and a prey 



