172 



THE OCEAN. 



Pico. 



of Pico presents a great variety of beauty. One 

 afternoon it was lightly powdered with snow, so as 

 to give it a tint of sober olive ; with a larger quan- 

 tity of frost or snow, and stronger and more direct 

 sunshine, it has looked like dead silver ; at another 

 time it was tipped with fire ; at another it was pavi- 

 lioned in flame-coloured clouds ; — a few light mists 

 would shut it entirely out, or, where transparent, 

 give to it a wan and visionary hue ; and in the even- 

 ing, when the clouds put on a gayer livery, becoming 

 rose-coloured, or purple, or bronzed, the changes and 

 flushes would almost remind you of the variable 

 colours on a pigeon's neck ; or, as a poet has said, 



'Of hues that blush and glow 

 Like angels' wing.*.' "* 



* Bullar's Azores, i. 368. 



