text:  The trees of the forest staggered and tottered for a moment as if making an effort to bear up against the storm; but it was in vain: the next instant with a report like that of ten thousand cannon whole acres of mighty trees were snapped off their branches shivered their roots torn up; it was no longer a forest but a chaos; an ocean of boughs and tree-trunks that were tossed about like the waves of the sea or thrown into the air like straws