the groves displayed masses of pale purple and brown the sounds of the storm with this wild of light and motion the profound bass of the naked branches and like the quick tense of the pine needles now rising to a shrill whistling hiss now falling to a murmur the rustling of laurel groves in the and the keen click of leaf on leaf � all this was heard in easy analysis when the attention was calmly bent the varied gestures of the multitude were seen to fine advantage so that one could recognize the different species at a distance of several miles by this means alone as well as by their forms and colors and the way they reflected the light all seemed strong and comfortable as if really enjoy v the mountains of ing the storm while to its most enthusiastic greetings we hear much nowadays concerning the universal struggle for existence but no struggle in the common meaning of the word was manifest here no recognition of danger by any tree no but rather an invincible gladness as remote from exultation as from fear i kept my lofty perch for hours frequently closing my eyes to enjoy the music by itself or to feast quietly on the delicious fragrance that was streaming past the fragrance of the woods was less marked than that produced during warm rain when so many and leaves are like tea but from the of branches against each other and the incessant of of needles the gale was to a very degree and besides the fragrance from these local sources there were traces of brought from afar for this wind came first from the sea against its fresh waves then through the rich and spreading itself in broad over many a flower ridge of the coast mountains then across the golden plains up the purple foot hills and into these woods with the varied incense gathered by the way winds are of all they touch however much or little we may be able to read them telling their wanderings even by their alone detect the perfume of d winds far at sea and sea winds carry the fragrance of and far inland where it is a wind storm in the forests � quickly recognized though mingled with the of a thousand land flowers as an illustration of this i may tell here that i breathed sea air on the of forth in scotland while a boy then was taken to where i remained nineteen years then without in all this time having breathed one breath of the sea i walked quietly alone from the middle of the valley to the gulf of on a excursion and while in far from the coast my attention wholly bent on the splendid tropical vegetation about me i suddenly recognized a as it came through the and blooming vine which at once awakened and set free a thousand associations and made me a boy again in scotland as if all the intervening years had been most people like to look at mountain rivers and bear them in mind but few care to look at the winds though far more beautiful and sublime and though they become at times about as visible as flowing water when the north winds in winter are making upward sweeps over the of the high the fact is sometimes published with flying snow a mile long those portions of the winds thus embodied can scarce be wholly invisible even to the darkest imagination and when we look around over an agitated forest we may see something of the wind that it by its effects upon the trees yonder it in a rush of water like and sweeps over the bending pines from hill to hill nearer we see detached and leaves now by on the mountains op level currents now whirling in or escaping over the edges of the soaring aloft on grand of air or tossing on flame like smooth deep currents falls and sing around every tree and leaf and over all the varied of the region with telling changes of form like mountain rivers to the features of their channels after tracing the streams from their fountains to the plains marking where they bloom white in falls glide in crystal gray and foam filled in choked and slip through the woods in long tranquil reaches � after thus learning their language and forms in detail we may at length hear them all together in one grand and comprehend them all in clear inner vision covering the range like lace but even this spectacle is far less sublime and not a whit more substantial than what we may behold of these storm streams of air in the mountain woods we all travel the way together trees and men but it never occurred to me until this while swinging in the wind that trees are in the ordinary sense they make many journeys not extensive ones it is true but our own little journeys away and back again are only httle more than tree � many of them not so much when the storm began to i dismounted and sauntered down through the woods the storm tones died away and turning toward the east i beheld the countless hosts of the forests hushed and tranquil towering above one another a wind storm in the forests on the slopes of the hills like a devout audience the setting sun filled them with light and seemed to say while they listened my peace i give unto you as i gazed on the impressive scene all the ruin of the storm was forgotten and never before did these noble woods appear so fresh so joyous so immortal chapter xi the river floods the rivers are every spring by the melting of the snow as regularly as the famous old they begin to rise in may and in june high water mark is reached but because 