PINE WOODS. ' 369 



surface is green witli herbs and grasses, and often covered 

 with flowers. The thinness of these woods may be attrib- 

 uted to the practice, for two centuries past, of tapping the 

 trees for turpentine, causing their gradual decay. Their 

 tall forms and branchless trunks show that they obtained 

 their principal growth in a dense wood. 



The first visit I made to the pine barrens was after a 

 long ride by railroad through the plains of North Carolina. 

 It was night ; and I often looked from the car windows 

 into the darkness, made still more affecting by the sight 

 of the tall pines that raised their heads almost into the 

 clouds, like monsters watching the progress of our jour- 

 ney. The prospect was rendered almost invisible by the 

 darkness that gave prominence to the dusky forms of the 

 trees as they were pictured against the half-luminous sky. 

 At length the day began to break, and the morning beams 

 revealed to my sight an immense wilderness of giant 

 spectres. The cars made a pause at this hour, allowing 

 the passengers to step outside ; and while absorbed ia the 

 contemplation of this desolate region, suddenly the loud 

 and mellow tones of the mocking-bird came to my ears, 

 and, as if by enchantment, reversed the character of my 

 thoughts. The desert, no longer a solitude, inspired me 

 with emotions of unspeakable delight. Morning never 

 seemed so lovely as when the rising sun, with his golden 

 beams and lengthened shadows, was greeted by this 

 warbling salutation, as from some messenger of light 

 who seemed to announce that Nature over all scenes has 

 extended her beneficence, and to aU regions of the earth 

 dispenses her favors and her smiles. 



At the end of my journey I took a stroll into the wood. 

 It was in the month of June, when vegetation was in its 

 prime, before it was seared by the summer drought. 

 Many beautiful shrubs were conspicuous with their 

 flowers, though the wood contained but a smaU propor- 



16* X 



