390 A VOYAGE IN THE NORTH SKAS. 



lover's, and the other played among the luxuriant tresses of her hair. 

 The smooth hard sand of the beach lay beneath them, strewed near 

 the sea with shells and pebbles of innumerable forms and colours, 

 amid which, with a gentle and ceaseless murmur, the tiny waves 

 spilt their small white ripples and foambells; while, in the clear 

 depths of the waters, myriads of plants clothed the bottom with sub- 

 marine meadows of woven silver and green, or shot up in huge 

 branches of ten or twelve yards in height, waving slowly their im- 

 mense arms with the undulation of the waves ; and amid all this 

 luxuriant vegetation, troops of fishes could be seen deep down in the 

 clear element, wheeling and darting forward and turning up their 

 silver scales, giving the magic of life and animation to the silent 

 under-world. The sky and the everlasting mountains were calm as 

 the sea in which they were reflected. It was a scene and an hour 

 when the feeling heart dreams over what words can never express, 

 when deeper thoughts of tenderness than language can utter are 

 poured forth from the fountains of love, and hope, and memory, 

 when the soul, feeling herself to be part of that nature which she sur- 

 veys, yields up all her faculties to the prevailing sentiment which 

 breathes from every feature of the scene. That sentiment, even in 

 the bleak scene before them, was love ; for every thing spoke of the 

 unforgetful love of God towards all his creatures, for whom, even 

 here, on the very confines of eternal frost, he had spread a table in 

 the wilderness. A philosopher would have sought in the laws of 

 refraction an explanation of the gorgeous spectacle, but lovers are 

 rarely philosophers. 



From this period their occupations assumed a more systematic 

 form, so that a description of one twenty-four hours may serve for 

 that of the whole time they remained on the island. By the ele- 

 vation of the sun they knew when it was day or night in the 

 southern regions; but they were ignorant of the more minute divisions 

 of time, and had lost, or rather gained, more than one day while 

 tossed about amid the mist. When the shadow of the ice-cliff, 

 therefore, was thrown upon the opposite rocks, they retired to rest, 

 and arose when they felt sufficiently refreshed. While Flora bathed 

 in the pool of the waterfall, Arundei took a plunge in the sea, and 

 then rambled among the rocks, and brought home a few tern-eggs, 

 and a fowl or two for their day's provision. By means of the simple 

 expedient of a crooked nail, he also contrived to catch plenty of fish, 

 which proved to be excellent food. At his return he found the 

 fire, which he had made before he left the hut with a little dry moss 

 and drift timber, burnt down to a heap of hot ashes, fitted for roast- 

 ing their eggs, or preparing their birds or fish in a way which might 

 have delighted a gourmand. Meantime Flora had gathered a quan- 

 tity of the mellow berries among the rocks, and, having arranged 

 them upon a handful of the fresh white moss, they sat down with 

 grateful hearts to their simple meal. The flesh of the deer, rabbit, 

 hare, and every kind of wild fowl, varied their diet; and a delicious 

 spring which ran past the door of their dwelling slaked their thirst. 

 The rest of the day was variously occupied. 



