There was actually, then, such a sight to be seen on earth; and it was not less, but far more wonderful than they had said.
My first feeling on entering the high woods was helplessness, confusion, awe, all but terror.

One is afraid at first to venture in fifty yards.

Without a compass or the landmark of some opening to or from which he can look, a man must be lost in the first ten minutes, such a sameness is there in the infinite variety.

That sameness and variety make it impossible to give any general sketch of a forest.

Once inside, 'you cannot see the wood for the trees.' You can only wander on as far as you dare, letting each object impress itself on your mind as it may, and carrying away a confused recollection of innumerable perpendicular lines, all straining upwards, in fierce competition, towards the light-food far above; and next of a green cloud, or rather mist, which hovers round your head, and rises, thickening and thickening to an unknown height.