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furrounding forefts, which I now furvey 

 with equal wonder and admiration, 

 cloathed in perpetual verdure, and ad- 

 orned with lofty trees, whofe eleva- 

 ted fummits are obfcured by the im- 

 pending clouds : Forefts, where the li- 

 beral hand of indulgent Nature has 

 ranged, in beautiful ruftic diforder, an 

 innumerable variety, an immenfe af- 

 femblage of vegetable produftions, feed- » 

 ing and flickering an equally innumera- 

 ble variety of animal beings. And here 

 I cannot but lament the unpardonable 

 indolence and inattention of the civi- 

 lized inhabitants of this country, few 

 of whom have ever penetrated the 

 woods farther than the confined li- 

 mits of their plantations ; and hence 

 the properties of that vafl multitude 

 of plants and herbs with which the 

 earth is every where covered, remain 

 almoft wholly unknown. Many of 



thefe 



