116 THE MOUNTAIN. 



ground. I had thought of it so much, that I could 

 scarcely believe that it was so easily attainable. 



Even now that I am writing, if I close my eyes, 

 and try to recall the scene which lay before me 

 when I descended from the vehicle, it seems more 

 like an ideal picture made up of the most beautiful 

 things that I had read or thought of, than a land- 

 scape which I had actually gazed upon. 



It was a most brilliant morning not a cloud 

 visible not a breath of wind stirring : a narrow 

 arm of the lake stretched in to the spot on which 

 we stood, and appeared to feed a stream or small 

 river which flowed in an opposite direction. The 

 clear water with its glassy surface was fringed by 

 a bright green turf ; at a short distance lay two 

 little steamers (even these appeared picturesque 

 here) waiting to receive passengers ; and beyond 

 all stretched " the everlasting hills," some rising 

 from the very edge of the lake, others shewing 

 their variously shaped crests, above and between, 

 here presenting a bold rugged outline, there a 

 summit as little defined as a mist-wreath. In one 

 or two places a glittering white spot shewed where 

 the snow had drifted to an extraordinary depth in 

 the winter, and where a mass still lay unthawed, 

 though the sun shone warmly enough, as I by-and- 

 by found, even at that elevation. I was not how- 

 ever allowed to admire the magnificent scene 

 before me as leisurely as you may have read my 

 description, for I was quickly summoned to break- 

 fast at the little inn of Balloch, since the steamers 

 were preparing to start in a very few minutes. In 

 less than half-an-hour we had been rowed to one 

 of them, and were proceeding on our voyage. As 

 it is not my object to describe scenery, I will say 



