THE TREES OF AMERICA. 39 



PLATE YI. 



THE CHARTER OAK, HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.^: 



This venerable and historic tree has at last, after the " lapse of nearly ten cen- 

 turies, yielded to the storm winds, and bowed its head low in the dust. -^Could it 

 but answer our questionings,- it would tell us. tales'" of the buried past, long ages 

 before the pale-faces commenced that -havoc upon' the forest, which, in the pro- 

 phetic language of Bryant, may cause them to vanish hence, " as the red man has 

 done, leaving perhaps iu a short time scarcely a trace to tell of their occupancy." 



This prophecy,' which the' poet puts in the mouth of the red man, is so in 

 accordance with what we ate c(jnstantly witriessiag,' and shows, withal, such 

 scientific knowledge of the subject-, that we quote' it entire.' 



" But I behold a fearfiil sign, : ,, ' 



To which the white men's eyes are blind; 

 Their race may vanish hence like mine, 



And-leave no trace behind,. 

 Save ruins o'er the regions spread, 

 And the white' stones above. the dead. 

 . ^ .* ,\ ' ■- ' f 



" Before these fields were shorn" and tilled, 

 Full to the brim our rivers flowed ; 

 - • The melody of waters filled 



The firesh and boundless wood ; 

 And^torrents dashed, and rivulets played. 

 And fountains spouted in the" shade. 



" Those grateful sounds are heard no more j . 



The springs are silent in the sun ; 

 The rivers, by the blackened shore, 



With lessening current run ; 

 The realms our tribes are crushed to get 

 May be a barren desert yet." 



