EARLY SPRING IN SAVERNAKE FOREST 215 



and woodland in our origin ; also because the 

 sound is infinitely more varied as well as more 

 human in character. There are sighings and 

 moanings, and wails and shrieks, and wind-blown 

 murmurings, like the distant confused talking of 

 a vast multitude. A* high wind in an extensive 

 wood always produces this eflFect of numbers. 

 The sea -like sounds and rhythmic volleyings, 

 when the gale is at its loudest, die away, 

 and in the succeeding lull there are only low, 

 mysterious, agitated whisperings ; but they are 

 multitudinous ; the suggestion is ever of a vast 

 concourse — crowds and congregations, tumultu- 

 ous or orderly, but all swayed by one absorb- 

 ing impulse, solemn or passionate. But not 

 always moved simultaneously. Through the near 

 whisperings a deeper, louder sound comes from 

 a distance. It rumbles like thunder, falling and 

 rising as it rolls onwards ; it is antiphonal, but 

 changes as it travels nearer. Then there is 

 no longer demand and response ; the smitten 

 trees are all bent one way, and their innumerable 

 voices are as one voice, expressing we know not 

 what, but always something not wholly strange 

 to us — ^lament, entreaty, denunciation. 



