272 
RURAL HOURS. 
heart of an old tree, in this way, by some opening near the roots, 
and burns away the inside, leaving merely a gray outer shell. 
One Avould not expect the bark to be left in such cases, but the 
wood at the heart seems more inflammable than the outer groAvth. 
Whatever be the cause, such shafts are not uncommon about our 
hills, gray without, chan'ed Avithin. 
Tliere is, indeed, much charred Avood in our forests ; fires Avhicli 
SAveep over the hills are of frequent occurrence here, and at times 
they do much mischief. If the flames are once fairly kindled in 
dry Aveather, they Avill spread in all directions as the Avind varies, 
burning sometimes for weeks together, until they have SAvept over 
miles of Avoodland, withering the verdure, destroying the Avood al- 
ready cut, and greatly injuring many trees which they do not con- 
sume. Several years since, in the month of June, there Avas quite 
an extensive fire on the eastern range of hills ; it lasted for ten 
days or a foidnight, spreading several miles in different directions. 
It Avas the first important fire of the kind Ave had ever seen, and 
of course we Avatched' its progress Avith much interest; but the 
spectacle was a A’er}^ different one from Avhat we had supposed. 
It Avas much less tenible than the conflagration of buildings in a 
tOAvn ; there Avas less of power and fierce grandeui*, and more of 
treacherous beauty about the flames as they ran hither and thither 
along the mountain-side. The first night after it broke out Ave 
looked on with admiration ; one might have thought it a general 
illumination of the forest, as the flames spread in long Avinding 
lines, gaining upon the dark Avood every moment, up and 
doAvn, and across the hill, collecting here and there Avith greater 
brilliancy about some tall old tree, which they hung Avith fire like 
a giant lustre. But the next day the sight was a sad one indeed : 
