174 THE FOREST AND THE FIELD. 



gazed, strange feelings of fear came over us, lest 

 the Power that had fixed this mighty river in all 

 its fury and turbulence, should as suddenly break 

 the spell, and allow it to overwhelm us. It was a 

 scene which no mortal could contemplate, and still 

 disbelieve in the existence of God ; for the voice 

 of Nature there was irresistibly powerful, and a 

 mysterious influence would have inculcated a 

 natural religion even in the mind of a savage, 

 and impressed upon him a consciousness of the 

 infinite supremacy of an All-ruling Power. On 

 gazing upon the numerous towering peaks, that 

 seemed to pierce the heavens, one felt " that there 

 was speech in their dumbness." My companions 

 were animated with the same feelings as myself; 

 and the Doctor very opportunely recalled to mind, 

 and repeated with great pathos, those glorious lines 

 by Coleridge : 



" Ye ice-falls ! ye that from the mountain's brow 

 Adown enormous ravines slope amain, — 

 Torrents, methinks, that heard a mighty voice, 

 And stopped at once amidst their maddest plunge ! 

 Motionless torrents ! Silent cataracts I 

 Who made you glorious as the gates of heaven 



