Excerpt From: “j-r-r-tolkien-lord-of-the-rings-01-the-fellowship-of-the-ring-retail-pdf.

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“The others looked in the direction that Merry pointed out, but they could see little but mists over
the damp and deep-cut valley; and beyond it the southern half of the Forest faded from view.. / / /
The sun on the hill-top was now getting hot. It must have been about eleven o’clock; but the
autumn haze still prevented them from seeing much in other directions. In the west they could not
make out either the line of the Hedge or the valley of the Brandywine beyond it. Northward, where
they looked most hopefully, they could see nothing that might be the line of the great East Road,
for which they were making. They were on an island in a sea of trees, and the horizon was veiled.
On the south-eastern side the ground fell very steeply, as if the slopes of the hill were continued
far down under the trees, like island-shores that really are the sides of a mountain rising out of
deep waters. They sat on the green edge and looked out over the woods below them, while they
ate their mid-day meal. As the sun rose and passed noon, they glimpsed far off in the east the grey-
green lines of the Downs that lay beyond the Old Forest on that side. That cheered them greatly;
for it was good to see a sight of anything beyond the wood’s borders, though they did not mean to
go that way, if they could help it: the Barrow-downs had as sinister a reputation in hobbit-legend
as the Forest itself.
At length they made up their minds to go on again. The path that had brought them to the hill
reappeared on the northward side; but they had not followed it far before they became aware that
it was bending steadily to the right. Soon it began to descend rapidly and they guessed that it must
actually be heading towards the Withywindle valley: not at all the direction they wished to take.
After some discussion they decided to leave this misleading path and strike northward; for
although they had not been able to see it from the hill-top, the Road must lie that way, and it could
not be many miles off. Also northward, and to the left of the path, the land seemed to be drier and
more open, climbing up to slopes where the trees were thinner, and pines and firs replaced the oaks
and ashes and other strange and nameless trees of the denser wood.
Note: Original copy from my iBooks