6 



DESCRIPTIVE OUTLINE 



some time that one looks in vain for those which in 

 the great system of succession must necessarily 

 somewhere or other be sinking towards decay. They 

 are at last discovered, but their fate is not allowed 

 to disfigure the general cheerfulness of the scene, 

 and they are seen enjoying what may literally be 

 termed a green old age. The extremities of their 

 branches break off as they die, and when nothing 

 is left but the hollow trunk, it is still covered with 

 twigs and leaves, and at last is gradually con- 

 cealed from view by the young shoot, which, born 

 under the shelter of its branches, now rises rapidly 

 above it, and conceals its decay. A few places are 

 met with which have been burnt by accident, and 

 the black desolate spot, covered with the charred 

 trunks of trees, resembles a scene in the human 

 world of pestilence or war. But the fire is scarcely 

 extinct, when the surrounding trees all seem to 

 spread their branches towards each other, and 

 young shrubs are seen rising out of the ground, 

 while the sapless trunks are evidently mouldering 

 into dust. 



The rivers all preserve their course, and the 

 whole country is in such beautiful order, that if 



