320 



THE FIR TRIBE. 



beautiful adaptation of these organs to the cir- 

 cumstances in which they are placed. The thin 

 dilated leaves commonly to be found during the 

 simimer months on deciduous trees, in the 

 plains, would here be soon torn to pieces or scat- 

 tered by the wind ; if, on the other hand, they 

 partook of the character of the lowland ever- 

 greens, such as the Laurel and Bay, that is to say, 

 if they had a broad surface and a tough substance, 

 the very resistance they offered w^ould bring 

 destruction on the tree they clothed. The wind 

 would act on them mechanically, like the force 

 exerted on the long arm of a lever, and the 

 breeze, instead of passing freely through the 

 branches wdth a low murmur (one of the plea- 

 santest sounds in nature), would be as destructive 

 as the most terrific hurricanes which occasion- 

 ally devastate the forests of countries within the 

 Tropics. 



But besides being admirably adapted for with- 

 standing the violence of the storms, to which 

 the Firs are, from their situation, peculiarly liable, 

 the leaves of these trees are no less remarkable in 

 other respects. Subject to almost uninterrupted 

 exposure to cold, the resinous juices in which 

 they abound serve as a safeguard against its 

 injurious effects, and yet their shape is such as to 

 be naturally the cause of their temperature being- 

 lower than that of surrounding bodies. A person 

 walking through a mist will soon find his eye- 

 lashes and hair covered with small drops of water 

 while the rest of his person remains dry; if he 

 examines the ground, he will also find that the 

 blades of grass by the way-side are fringed Vvdth 

 dew-drops, while the road itself is quite free from 



