This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1856 edition. Excerpt: ... broken by the slightest sound. It happened once that by the upsetting of a carriage, I was left alone in one until the driver had ridden back to procure another, and during that time my only fear was that the silence to which I listened should be broken; the fall of a leaf would have terrified me. Strange sights meet one in such places where nature reigns in the gloomiest and most solitary aspect; the solemn firs, indeed, scarcely seem to own that reign, but rather to exist in despite of it. It is true there are pretty and pleasant glades in these forests, where in summer the tall white-stemmed birch dances its light boughs over the greensward, green and bright as an English park, and the great boulders are covered with curious lichens. Very often these rocks are covered. with a bright red one, in the most extraordinary patterns, having all the appearance of being painted on "the rock. And here loves the little grey squirrel to sport till it pays with its life the penalty of wearing a valuable coat. But, while these open glades do here and there appear, they seem like little nooks where nature still held her sway, and are quite in contrast either with the stern, solemn, majestic aspect of the scene in general, or with the wild havoc, or fantastic disorder which are sometimes met with. Ponderous pines perched on a barren rock may seem to scoff at the ordinary laws of nature, and many there are like fantastic dancers, resting a single toe on solid ground, while the other roots, like those reversed limbs, are stretched up into the air. Then, great stems, so tall and straight and round, which one would think might make a noble mast--"To brave a thousand years, The battle and the breeze." lie cracked in two, and the green head, still green, ...