A Governor May Sit Upon The Top Of Olympus And
Issue Wise Decrees Like Jupiter, But Unfortunately He Does Not Possess
The Thunderbolts, As The Country Is So Poor That It Cannot Afford To Pay
The Salaries Necessary For The Support Of Foresters And The Officers
Required For This Special Department.
I myself met droves of donkeys and
mules loaded with wood and accompanied by their owners with their
destructive axes, all wending their way through the forest to the town
of Morphu, which is thus supplied with fuel for baking, cooking, lime-
burning, and all other purposes.
It is impossible to feel amiable when passing through these desolating
scenes, where nature, originally so beautiful, has been defaced, and the
people, instead of deriving pleasure from natural beauties, are obtuse
to all the surroundings, which, according to educated taste, would
ensure appreciation. I felt inclined to upset the donkeys, capture their
proprietors, and . . . I could not have hung them upon the trees that
they had defaced, for no bough had been left that would have supported
their weight . . . and there was no rope.
While these vindictive and statesman-likethoughts boiled within me, the
naturally courteous people made their graceful salaams as we passed, and
studiously conducted their heavily-laden donkeys out of the path to make
way for our advance, that otherwise would have been effectually choked
by the throng of bush-and-faggot-laden animals, which looked like
"Birnam-wood marching to Dunsinane." In my heart I immediately forgave
the poor people; I knew that the man with the axe who marched behind was
as ignorant, and not so strong, as his donkey who carried the load.
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