i88 In Touch with Nature. 



huge stump was discovered a prostrate tree, which 

 had fallen and been buried before the larger one 

 had sprouted. This lower-lying log was deter- 

 mined to be fully five hundred years old. Here, 

 then, is evidence of fifteen centuries that have 

 elapsed, and forests even before then had grown, 

 flourished, and decayed. It is a series of surprises 

 to dig into such strange earth. Think of passing 

 through an underground cedar swamp and coming 

 upon magnolias and sweet-gum still deeper down ! 

 What if there were tongues in such trees ? Here 

 is a spot whereat a poet might dwell to his and 

 the world's advantage. Not all the grandeur of 

 the world centres in the sea or rests upon a moun- 

 tain. There are other beauties than those of a 

 spreading landscape or a rocky gorge ; a strange, 

 peculiar beauty, worthy of a poet, clings to every 

 trunk and broken branch of this sunken sea-side 

 forest. 



When we consider that for miles at sea, as we 

 stand upon the present beach, we are looking upon 

 waters that cover what was once, and not so very 

 long ago, dry and habitable land, we can better 

 realize the one-time conditions of this region when 



