70 EAMBLES OF A NATUEALIST. 



wheel or impel some system of machinery, the noise 

 of which resounded from afar. However much the 

 inhabitant of a level country may boast of the fer- 

 tility of his plains, the majesty of his rivers, or the 

 wealth of his cities, he can never comprehend the 

 sentiments of tender affection with Avhich a moun- 

 taineer looks at any spot which recalls to him the 

 image of his native district. 



The road wound gradually upwards from this 

 valley until we reached a steep ascent, which brought 

 us to a gently sloping plain, which we did not again 

 leave ; and here in an instant was displayed before 

 our eyes a landscape, diifering in all respects from 

 the country which we had traversed. We had 

 emero'ed from one of those fissures in the earth's 

 crust which owe their origin to the upheaval of 

 granitic masses and which still preserve traces of 

 their violent origin. In another moment w^e found 

 ourselves on a soil which had been deposited by the 

 action of water — a mode of formation of which 

 everything around bore evidence. The surface of 

 the soil was undulatino- and rounded : the sides of 

 the road exhibited, below a vegetable soil, parallel 

 strata of pebbles, wdnch had obviously once formed 

 a part of the neighbouring rocks. The solitude of a 

 wild mountain gorge was succeeded by the cheerful 

 brightness of a softer, although not less picturesque, 

 landscape. The road wound among hills covered 

 with rich harvests, or crossed tracts of fallow land 

 broken up into patches by hawthorn hedges and long 

 rows of oak trees. The sturdy trunks of the trees 

 rose from a narrow band of grass, bright with w^ild 



