j4 "Thousand- Mile JValk 



only walking on the edge of the vast wood, that 

 I caught sight of the first palmetto in a grassy- 

 place, standing almost alone. A few magnolias 

 were near it, and bald cypresses, but it was not 

 shaded by them. They tell us that plants are 

 perishable, soulless creatures, that only man is 

 immortal, etc. ; but this, I think, is something 

 that we know very nearly nothing about. Any- 

 how, this palm was indescribably impressive 

 and told me grander things than I ever got 

 from human priest. 



This vegetable has a plain gray shaft, round 

 as a broom-handle, and a crown of varnished 

 channeled leaves. It is a plainer plant than the 

 humblest of Wisconsin oaks ; but, whether rock- 

 ing and rustling in the wind or poised thought- 

 ful and calm in the sunshine, it has a power of 

 expression not excelled by any plant high or low 

 that I have met in my whole walk thus far. 



This, my first specimen, was not very tall, 



only about twenty-five feet high, with fifteen or 



twenty leaves, arching equally and evenly all 



around. Each leaf was about ten feet in length, 



[92] 



