THE FORESTS OF ACADIR. 87 



especially pleasing to tlio eye when .stuclyiiig details of 

 a landseape in whieh the various forms of vegetation 

 form the leading features. The luxuriant mosses and 

 great lichens whieh cover or cling to everything in the 

 forest act a similar part. Even the dismal hlack swamps 

 are somewhat enlivened by the long beards of th(^ Usnca; 

 fallen trees are often made quite brilliant ))y a profusion 

 of scarlet cups of Cladonia gracilis. 



But now let us examine further into the specific cha- 

 racter of at least some of the individuals of which the 

 forest is composed. As we wander on we chance, perhajis, 

 to stumble upon what is called, in woodsman a j^cirlaucc, 

 a " blazed line " — a broad chip has been cut from the side 

 of a tree, Jind the white surface of the inner wood at once 

 catches the eye of the watchful traveller ; a few paces 

 farther on some saplings have been cut, and, keeping the 

 direction, we perceive in the distance another blazed mark 

 on a trunk. It may be a path leading from the settle- 

 ment to some distant woodland meadow of wild grass, or 

 a line marking granted property, or it may lead to a lot 

 of timber trees rnai'ked for the destructive axe of the lum- 

 berer — perhaps a grove of White Pine. This is the great 

 object of the lumberer's search. Ascending a tree from 

 which an extensive view of the wild country is commanded, 

 he marks the tall overbearing summits of some distant pine 

 ; grove (for this tree is singularly gregarious, and is gene- 

 i rally found growing in family groups), and having taken 

 * its bearings with a compass, descends, and with his com- 

 g rades proceeds on his errand of destruction. In the 

 I neighbourhood of the coast, or on barren soil, the pine is 

 a stunted bushy tree, its branches feathering nearly to the 

 ground ; but the pine of the forest ascends as a straight 



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