314 A DAT IN THE WOODS OF JAMAICA. 



gent clouds, and shedding a transparent glory, a sort 

 of veil of golden gauze, on every object within reach 

 of his ray. Hundreds of winged songsters tune their 

 throats to welcome his beam ; the glittering lizards 

 peep forth, and bask in the crevices of the rocks ; and 

 bright-winged butterflies leap into activity, and dance 

 over the blushing flowers. 



How gorgeous is sunrise, when viewed from a 

 commanding elevation in the tropics ! And perhaps 

 under no circumstances is it more beautiful than when 

 seen from the verdant mountains of an island, where 

 the emergence of the orb from the glittering ocean can 

 be commanded, while the immediate surroundings 

 are those of the forest and the peak, where the effects 

 of the slanting sunlight on the varied foreground, 

 the green and brown trunks of the columnar trees, 

 the broad masses of foliage, and the gloomy recesses 

 between ; the many-coloured rocks breaking out, with 

 their festoons of verdure ; the gay insects and birds 

 and flowers, give fine contrasts and harmonies ; and 

 where the crowns of the loftier hills, the pointed peaks, 

 lighting up with sudden purple and gold, give an 

 imperial magnificence to the prospect. 



Look at this ancient Silk-cotton tree ! what a fine 

 object is it, illumined in the morning sun ! The 

 enormous perpendicular spurs stand out like radiating 

 walls from the huge trunk, looking almost as white 

 as marble in the bright light, and throwing the re- 

 cesses into dark shadow. Trace up the vast pillar- 

 like trunk ! the eye wanders up a hundred feet before 



