Song Birds and Water Fowl 
a strange, dirge-like accompaniment, not unlike 
the solemn resonance of a cathedral bell, whose 
echoes float in wild and wailing majesty upon 
the wind. There was no terrific crash, followed 
by a distant, disappearing roar that melts at 
last to silence. ‘The multitudinous reverber- 
ations of incessant thunderings were all merged 
into one long, loud, ever-present, and abso- 
lutely unvaried tone, like a deep organ-bass 
sustaining its sublime monotony, with neither 
swell nor subsidence—a resistless tidal wave of 
sound. For a brief time such an effect 
might not be impressive; but, as the moments 
passed, that persistent, restrained, and yet gi- 
gantic voice grew awful and overpowering. It 
was like the Apocalyptic ‘‘sound of many 
waters.’’ For fully ¢zventy minutes this heaven- 
filling tone remained unchanged, then gradu- 
ally grew fainter, until it died away—a noble, 
strange accompaniment to the most impressive 
night-scene I have ever looked upon. A moun- 
tainous region is the chosen home of tempest 
and lightning, but the natives declared that this 
surpassed any exhibition of the kind they had 
ever had at Lake George. 
234 
