them vanish, but they remain, wrought 

 upon by sunlight and atmosphere, until the 

 twilight touches them with purple and night 

 turns them into mighty shadows. On 

 either hand, in the middle ground of the 

 picture, long lines of hills shut the river 

 within a world of its own, and shelter the 

 green meadows, the fallow fields, and the 

 stretches of woodland that cover the broad 

 sweep from the river's edge to their own 

 bases. Below me the quiet current enters 

 the heart of another group of mountains, 

 flowing silently between the precipitous and 

 rocky heights that lift themselves on either 

 hand, indifferent alike to the frowning 

 summits when the sun warms them with 

 smiles, and to the black and portentous 

 shadows which they often cast across the 

 channel at their feet. The solitude and awe 

 which belong to mountain passes through 

 which great rivers flow clothe this place 

 with solemnity and majesty as with a visible 

 garment, and fill one with a sense of inde- 

 scribable awe. 



The river which lies before me moves 

 102 



