"TsClIiSiBater* 195 



left, frowns Raven Crag, (of which there nearly are as many 

 as there are of John Streets in London). And now, as we 

 steam out of the bay, turn your eyes southward, and if they 

 be not fairly enchanted No : the blackness of dark- 

 ness covers all ; a bitter wind, the herald of the hail-storm, 

 sweeps upon us : patter, patter, fall the huge frozen drops, 

 and all the well-intentioned worshippers of Nature betake 

 themselves to the cabin. There are but twelve of us, but 

 we nearly fill that uncheerful apartment; and it is with 

 something like terror that we read, upon a board that 

 supplies the place of pictorial embellishment, that this boat 

 is licensed to carry 200 passengers, except when cattle are 

 part of the cargo, in which case three human beings are 

 counted as one horned beast ! Presently, such is the fury 

 of the tempest that the hatches have to be battened down, 

 when the whole position becomes too ludicrous not to be 

 enjoyable. After we don't know how long, for it is almost 

 too dark to see the face of one's watch, one of the window- 

 holders reports that things are looking better, and at the 

 same time a bump informs us that we have reached our 

 terminus. 



^ Green Dunmallet above us glitters with the storm-drops, 

 as gladly as though they were 2.parure of diamonds bestowed 

 upon her by her lover ; poor little Mell Fell has been taken 

 in with equal facility : and bird and beck seem to vie with 

 each other in mutual congratulations. Thus it is that the 

 smiles of a tyrant are always welcomed. And now comes 

 the promised glory. Before we reach Howtown again, the 

 whole meshwork of the mighty hills, about the head of the 

 lake, comes into view ; the long level height of Helvellyn ; 

 the conical peak of Catstye Cam, immortalized as we poor 

 mortals say) by Walter Scott ; the vast rounded summit of 

 St. Sunday's Crag (so called may be because it is by no 



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