SOUNDS TEOM TEEES. 



" The earliest chant," says Momsen, " in the view of 

 the Eomans, was that which the trees sang to themselves, 

 in the green solitudes of the forest. The whisperings and 

 pipings of the favorable spirit ia the grove were repeated 

 by the singer, with the accompaniment of the pipe." 

 Certaui trees belonging to the sacred groves gave oracular 

 sounds, which were interpreted by musicians, and received 

 by aU men with faith and reverence. From the earliest 

 ages men have listened to sounds from trees as music and 

 as the voice of some deity, affording auguries of future 

 events ; for, as they reasoned, if a deity speaks to us, 

 what sounds would be a more appropriate medium of 

 communication than those of the trees which formed their 

 temples and their altars 1 The sanctity attributed to cer- 

 tain gToves by the ancients was probably owing to some 

 peculiar sounds emitted by the trees, no less than to the 

 grandeur and impressiveness of their assemblages. 



Every tree, when swept by the winds, gives a sound in 

 harmony with the character of its leaves and spray. The 

 sounds from the lofty branches of firs and pines remind 

 the listener of the murmuring of waters, and inspire 

 the most agreeable sensations. How often have I sat 

 under the shade of a pine wood, and listened to the 

 fancied roaring of the distant waves of the sea, as the 

 winds passed through their foliage. When the breeze 

 commences, we hear the first soft rippling of the waves ; 

 as it increases, succeeding waves of fuHer swell flow trem- 

 ulously upon the strand, and as the wind subsides melt 



