278 



PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 



forth at the grassy foot of a grove-crowned hill, the fountains of the earth are inviting 

 objects of contemplation, through their association with the ideas of purity and bene 

 volence, independently of being beautiful parts of natural scenery. Hence we may 

 sympathise with the sentiment that inspired the ancient song of the "Well, and regard as 

 an appropriate homage, when under due restraints, that principle of veneration for the 

 waters which pervaded the mind of all antiquity, and has survived in some rural customs 

 to the present day. Milton, in his Comus, alludes to the honours formerly paid to the 

 Severn : 



" The shepherds at their festivals 

 Carol her good deeds loud in rustic lays, 

 And throw sweet garland wreaths into her stream, 

 Of pansies, pinks, and gaudy daffodils." 



There is an elegant custom still observed by the villagers of Tissington, in Derby 

 shire, of a similar kind that of dressing their wells with flowers on Ascension day. 

 There are five copious springs issuing out of the limestone, which are decorated with 

 boughs of laurel and white thorn, interspersed with the flowers of the season, arranged in 

 various patterns and inscriptions. The effect is singularly beautiful ; and the procession 

 of the peasantry to sing at each well a graceful usage handed down from a remote age 

 forms a very agreeable spectacle. 



CHAPTER VL 



RIVERS. 



JVER3 constitute an important part of the 

 aqueous portion of the globe. With their 

 tributaries, the small streams and rivulets, they 

 form a numerous family, of which lakes, 

 springs, or the meltings of ice and snow, 

 upon the summits of high mountain chains, 

 are the parents. The Shannon has its source 

 in a lake ; the Rhone in a glacier ; and the 

 Abyssinian branch of the Nile in a confluence 

 of fountains. The country where some of 

 the mightiest rivers of the globe have their 

 rise, has not yet been sufficiently explored to 

 render their true source ascertainable. The 

 origin of others is doubtful, owing to a num 

 ber of rills presenting equal claims to be con 

 sidered as the river-head ; but many are clearly referable to a single spring, the current 

 of which is speedily swelled by tributary waters, ultimately flowing in broad and deep 

 channels to the sea. Inglis, who wandered on foot through many lands, had a fancy, 

 which he generally indulged, to visit the sources of fivers, when the chances of his 

 journeys threw him in their vicinity. Such a pilgrimage will often repay the traveller 

 by the scenes of picturesque and secluded beauty into which it leads him ; and even when 

 the primal fount is insignificant in itself, and the surrounding landscape exhibits the 

 tamest features, there is a reward in the associations that are instantly wakened up 



