Ch. VIIL] TIEW FROM THE PEXA BLANCA. 147 



has been surmounted. Looking down on the tops of the 

 trees, every shade of green from nearly brown to yellow 

 meets the eye, here light as grass, there dark as holly, 

 whilst the fleecy clouds above cast lines of dark shadows 

 over hill and dale. 



Directly south-east is a high rock, about three miles 

 distant, and beyond it the Carca and the Artigua rivers 

 must meet, judging from the fall of the country. The 

 course of the Carca is marked by some patches of light 

 green, that look like grass, and are probably clearings 

 made bv the Indians. 



tf 



To the south the eye first passes over about six miles 

 of forest, then savannahs and grassy ranges stretching to 

 the lake, which is only dimly seen, with the peaks of 

 Madera and Ometepec more distinct, the latter bearing 

 south-west by west. Alone on the summit of a high 

 peak, with surging green billows of foliage all around, dim 



mistv mountains in the distance below, and above the 



j 



blue heavens, checkered with fleecy clouds, that have tra- 

 velled up thousands of miles from the north-east, thoughts 

 arise that can be only felt in their full intensity amid 

 solitude and nature's grandest phases. Then man's intel- 

 lect strives to grapple with the great mysteries of his 

 existence, and like a fluttering bird that beats itself against 

 the bars of its cage, falls back baffled and bruised. 



Another shower of rain came on, quickly followed by 

 sunshine again. Great banks of vapour began to rise 

 from the forest, and fill the valleys, and now looking down 

 over the precipice, instead of foliage there was a glisten- 

 ing white cloud spread out below, up through which 

 came the cries of birds. The hills stood up through 

 the cloud of mist like islands. To the south-west, over 



L 2 



