PARAS-NATH. 13 
temperature, at three in the morning, was 65°, with no dew, the grass 
only 61°. As the sun rose, Paras-Nath appeared against the clear grey 
sky, in the form of a cone, with a rugged peak, of a deeper grey than 
the sky. It is a remarkably handsome mountain, sufficiently lofty to be 
imposing, rising out of an elevated country, the slope of which, upward 
to the base of the mountain, though imperceptible is really considerable, 
and surrounded by lesser hills of just sufficient elevation to set it off. 
The atmosphere, too, of these regions is peculiarly favourable for views : 
it is very dry; but still the hills are clearly defined, without the harsh 
outlines so characteristic of a moist air. "The skies are clear, the sun 
werful; and there is an almost imperceptible haze that seems to 
soften the landscape, and keep every object in true perspective.* 
Our route led over a barren country towards the picturesque hills 
and valleys in front. The rocks were all hornblende and micaceous 
schist, cut through by trap-dykes, great crumbling masses (or bosses) 
of white ungrateful quartz protruded through the soil. The stratified 
rocks, too, were often exposed, pitched up at various inclinations, 
sometimes at right angles: they are frequently white with effloresced 
salts, which entering largely into the composition of the rocks tend 
to hasten their decomposition, and being obnoxious to vegetation, 
render the sterile soil more hungry still. There is little cultivation, 
and that of the most wretched kind; even rice-fields are few an 
scattered, no corn, grain n ), nor Castor oil no Poppy, 
Cotton, or Carthamus, or other crops of the richer soils that flank 
the Ganges and Hooghly; a very little Sugar-cane, Dhal (Cajana), 
Mustard, Lintseed, and Rape, the latter three are cultivated for their 
oil  Hardly, a Palm is to be seen: the cottages never boast the 
* The difference between a clear view in the moist atmosphere of the Himalayah 
and on the dry plains of India is most remarkable In the former case the unnatural 
clearness and precision of the outline of objects, Als es off, is Wii the 
snowy mountains are advanced bodily to within a few miles of the ee € = 
object on a large mirro 
effect is that of looking at a distant obj behind s e's b 
eight and startling forms of t ups of cones, peaks. de Boon 
the brillianey and dazzling whiteness of the snow, and the bow hues that reflect 
fr sun, together, a tableau w to be even, must be 
seen, and which after be e imagination itself fa Inco ly 
fine as such a prospect is, it is due to an optical illusion, a trick ature's, 
as obvio: aly as is the or Fata Morgana. Pers is yed, ligh 
and w abolished; but the ee us = too fascina feel the loss of these 
first elements of beauty in a landsca d I question whether, if even they existed, 
the eye would not love best | to dell or on the harmonious colouring and true perspective 
of Paras-Nath on a February morning. 
