Few trees in this forest-front rise to a greater 

 height than twelve feet. The average height is 

 about eight feet, but the length of some of the 

 prostrate ones is not far from the normal 

 height. Wind and other hard conditions give 

 a few trees the uncouth shapes of prehistoric 

 animals. I measured a vine-like ichthyosaurus 

 that was crawling to leeward, flat upon the 

 earth. It was sixty-seven feet long, and close 

 to the roots its body was thirty-eight inches in 

 diameter. One cone-shaped spruce had a base 

 diameter of four feet and came to a point a few 

 inches less than four feet above the earth. Here 

 and there a tough, tall tree manages to stand 

 erect. The high wind either prevents growing 

 or trims off all limbs that do not point to lee- 

 ward. Some appear as though molded and 

 pressed into shape. A profile of others, with 

 long, streaming-bannered limbs, gives a hopeful 

 view, for they present an unconquerable and 

 conscious appearance, like tattered pennants 

 or torn, triumphant battle-flags of the victori- 

 ous forest! 



The forest is incessantly aggressive and 



51 



