<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 5.50.4134.600" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV>This little snippet came from the Mt Arthur Catchment Management Group in Tasmania. I think it's part of the grieving process - the aftermath of the loss of thousands of hectares of beautiful rainforest around them. It makes interesting historical reading for ANYONE living in those countries previously invaded by the British Empire some centuries ago.</DIV> <DIV>Brenda Rosser</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>"If you have ever come upon a grove that is full of ancient trees which have grown to an unusual height, shutting out a view of the sky by a veil of pleated and intertwinning branches, then the loftiness of the forest, the seclusion of the spot and the thick unbroken shade on the midst of open space will prove to you the presence of God. <BR>    <I>Seneca <BR><BR></I> To those who followed Columbus and Cortez, the New World truly seemed incredible because of the natural endowments. The land often announced itself with a heavy scent miles out into the ocean. Giovanni di Verrazano in 1524 smelled the cedars of the East Coast a hundred leagues out. The men of Henry Hudson's Half Moon were temporarily disarmed by the fragrance of the New Jersey shore, while ships running further up the coast occasionally swam through large beds of floating flowers. Whenever they came inland they found a rich riot of colour and sound, of game and luxuriant vegetation. Had they been other than they were, they might have written a new mythology. As it was, they took inventory.<BR>     <I>Frederick Turner (qu. Mathew Fox, Original Blessing) </I>  <BR><BR>The tree is a peculiar organism of unlimited kindness and benevolence that makes no demands for its sustenance and extends generously the products of its activity. It affords protection to all beings, extending shade even to the axeman who cuts it down.<BR>     <I>Gautama Buddha </I></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>What would the world be, once bereft<BR>  Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left, <BR>  O let them be left, wildness and wet.<BR>  Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet<EM>.<BR>     Gerard Manley Hopkins  (1844 - '89)"</EM></DIV><BR><TT><BR></TT></BODY></HTML>