THE NOCTURNAL LIFE OF ANIMALS 



PRIMEVAL FOREST. 



IF the vivid appreciation and sentiment of nature which 

 differ so greatly in nations of different descent, and if the 

 natural character and aspect of the countries which those 

 nations now inhabit, or which have been the scene of their 

 earlier wanderings or abode, have rendered different lan- 

 guages more or less rich in well denned and characteristic 

 expressions denoting the forms of mountains, the state of 

 vegetation, the appearance of the atmosphere, and the 

 contour and grouping of the clouds, it is also true that 

 long use, and perhaps their arbitrary employment by literary 

 men, have diverted many such words from their original 

 meaning. Terms have been gradually regarded as synony- 

 mous which ought to have been preserved distinct; and 

 thus languages have lost part of the vigour and the grace, 

 as well as the fidelity, which they might otherwise have 

 been capable of imparting to descriptions of natural scenery 

 and of the characteristic physiognomy of a landscape. With 

 the view of shewing how much an intimate acquaintance 

 and contact with nature, and the wants and necessities 

 of a laborious nomade life, may increase the riches of a 



