then was my heart bitter to see the bones of the good earth laid bare with winds where the destroying hands of men had tornthe heather and the fern and burnt them to make sacrifice to melko and to lust of ruin ; and the thronging places of the bees that all day hummed among the whins and whortlebushes long ago bearing rich honey down to tavrobel -- these were now become fosses and [ ? mounds ] of stark red earth , and nought sang there nor danced but unwholesome airs and flies of pestilence .