WANDERINGS IN SOUTH AMERICA 107 



uprooted it in its prime, and it has brought down to the 

 ground a dozen small ones in its fall. Its bark has already 

 begun to drop off! And that heart of ]\[ora close by 

 it is fast yielding, in spite of its firm, tough texture. 



The tree which thou passedst but a little ago, and which 

 perhaps has lain over yonder brook for years, can now hardly 

 support itself, and in a few months more it will have fallen 

 into the water. 



Put thy foot on that large trunk thou seest to the left. 

 It seems entire amid the surrounding fragments. Mere 

 outward appearance, delusive phantom of what it once 

 was ! Tread on it, and like the fuss-ball, it will break into 

 dust. 



Sad and silent mementos to the giddy traveller as he 

 wanders on ! Prostrate remnants of vegetable nature, how 

 incontestably ye prove what we must all at last come to> 

 and how plain your mouldering ruins show that the 

 firmest texture avails us nought when Heaven wills that 

 we should cease to be ! — 



" The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, 

 The solemn temples, the great glohe itself, 

 Yea, all which it inhabit, shall dissolve. 

 And, like the baseless fabric of a vision, 

 Leave not a wreck behind." 



Cast thine eye around thee, and see the thousands of 

 nature's productions. Take a view of them from the 

 opening seed on the surface, sending a downward shoot, to 

 the loftiest and the largest trees, rising up and blooming in 

 wild luxuriance ; some side by side, others separate ; some 

 curved and knotty, others straight as lances ; all, in 

 beautiful gradation, fulfilling the mandates they had 

 received from Heaven, and though condemned to die, 

 still never failing to keep up their species till time shall 

 be no more. 



