OR, PLAIN 



train, followed by the multitude. 

 The procession having reached 

 the selected tree, the ceremony- 

 commenced by the arch-Druid 

 ascending the oak, and with a 

 golden sickle mowing off the 

 plant from its parent bark, while 

 a number of Druids, holding a 

 white cloth beneath, caught on 

 its typical purity the falling mis- 

 tletoe, which, being carried to 

 the temple, and consecrated by 

 prayers and blessings, was distri- 

 buted to the people. 



7 



623 



It was in the depths of woods, 

 too, that the Druidical altars, 8, 

 were raised, and their mystic 

 rites and ceremonies, and bar- 

 barous sacrifices performed. But 

 the forests, woods, and plantations 

 of those days were very different 

 from those that now exist. Hu- 

 man industry has transplanted 

 trees from one shore to another, 



teaching. 235 



and dotted various parts of the 

 earth with a new verdure. 



624. 



It would be exceedingly interesting to learn 

 what description of trees, shrubs, grasses, and 

 edible leaves and roots were known to our 

 British ancestors. The subject is, unfortunate>y, 

 surrounded with difficulty. It may, however, 

 be confidently asserted that, although the 

 vegetation of this island was exceedingly 

 vigorous, the orders of plants indigenous to it 

 were few. The principal trees and shrubs were 

 the oak, mistletoe, ivy, birch, alder, pine, 

 mountain ash, juniper, sweet-gale, dog-rose, 

 osiers, heaths, and a few others. The fir, 

 chestnut, beech, elm, poplar, mullerry, lime, 

 cypress, cedar, laurel, box, laburnum, and 

 weeping-willow were unknown. Of fruit- 

 bearing trees and shrubs, if any were then upon 

 the island, they were only the gooseberry, 

 currant, raspberry, alderberry, crab-apple, 

 strawberry, and a few rose-worts or bramble 

 berries; and these in so wild a state as to be 

 unproductive of any material contribution to 

 the food of man. The woods which crowned 

 the British island must therefore have been 

 vast assemblages of oaks, stately in the growth 

 of ages, then* spreading branches darkened by 

 the clustering mistletoe and ivy ; while under- 

 neath, seeking the neighbourhood of streams, 

 the alder put forth its dark green lea t es, and 

 lit the shades of the forest with its star-like 

 tiowers. In the undergrowth, brambles wove 

 in impenetrable net-work, amid tufts of rank 

 grass, heath, ferns, and mosses. The forest 

 foliage of the country was varied only by a few 

 pines, standing in solitude upon the hills, and 

 becoming more numerous towards their natural 

 habitat, Scotland ; while heath and juniper, in 

 wild luxuiiance, over-ran the downs.* 



The ivy, 9, is a plant of the 

 order liedera, from the Celtic 

 word hedira, a cord. The Eng- 



* Phil j>'» History of Progress in Great Br uio. 



