TREES GROWING NEAR WATER. 



I OS 



AHERICAN LARCH. TAHARACK. 



{Plate XL VJI.) 

 Larix lari'cina. 



HACKriATACK, 



Bark', close, becoming scaly. Leaves: less than three quarters of an inch 

 or two inches long ; sinijile ; thread-like ; growing in bunches of many on short 

 twigs along the branches and having no sheaths ; jjale green ; soft ; delicate ; 

 they wither and fail in the autumn. Cones: about half an inch long; 

 broadly ovate; growing on short i)eduncles at the ends of the branches; 

 greenish when young, and becoming purplish or brown at maturity. Seeds: 

 few ; rounded ; thin ; entire. 



" Give me of your roots, O Tamarack ! 

 Of your fibrous roots, O Larch-Tree! 

 My canoe to bind together, 

 So to bind the ends together 

 That the water may not enter, 

 That the river may not wet me ! 

 And the Larch with all its fibres. 

 Shivered in the air of morning, 

 Touched his forehead with its tassels, 

 Said, with one long sigh of sorrow, 

 Take them all, O Hiawatha 1 " 



How beautifully has Longfel- 

 low depicted the Indian as one 

 in sympathy with nature. When 

 Hiawatha began to build his 

 canoe, he went to all the trees 

 that he knew has such materials 

 as were necessary to him, and 

 said, " Give me — " ; and although 

 it should have caused their death, 

 they answered, " Take, O H 

 watha ! " Here was no ruthless 

 tearing away of life without per- 

 mission ; it was the tribute of a 

 man's understanding to these -""'''^^kj^j^'^-^^ 



mute inhabitants of the forest. ' LUrix laridna. 



