318 



THE BEECH. 



was seven feet in diameter at seventeen feet above 

 the roots. Darwin thus describes his attempt to 

 penetrate a Beech forest in that country : — 

 Finding it nearly hopeless to push my way 

 through the wood, I followed the course of a 

 mountain torrent. At first from the w^ater-falls 

 and number of dead trees, I could hardly cravvd 

 along ; but the bed of the stream soon became a 

 little more open, from the floods ha\dng swept 

 the sides. I continued slowly to advance for an 

 hour along the broken and rocky banks, and was 

 amply repaid by the grandeur of the scene. 

 The gloomy depth of the rapine v\'ell accorded 

 with the universal signs of violence. On every 

 side were lying irregular masses of rock and 

 torn-up trees : other trees, though still erect, 

 were decayed to the heart, and ready to fall. 

 The entangled mass of the thriving and the 

 fallen reminded me of the forests within the 

 tropics : yet there was a difference ; for in those 

 still solitudes Death, instead of Life, seemed the 

 predominant spirit. I followed a watercourse till 

 I came to a spot where a great slip had cleared 

 a straight space down the mountain side. By 

 this road I ascended to a considerable elevation, 

 and obtained a good view of the surrounding 

 woods. The trees all belong to one kind^ the 

 Fagus letido'ides, (the Birch-like Beech,) for the 

 number of the other species of Fagus and of 

 the Winter's Bark'^ is quite inconsiderable. This 

 Beech keeps its leaves throughout the year ; 

 but its foliage is of a peculiar brownish-green co- 



^ This tree, Drimys Winieri.^ is closeh' allied to the genus Magno- 

 lia, and furnishes the aromatic Winter's Bark, which is remarkable ' 

 for its resemhlance to that of Cinnamon. 



