ON THE COAST OF AERAN 75 



as we stood and looked at it, listening at the 

 same time to the steady beat of the tide, we felt 

 ourselves overawed by a sense of fulness and 

 greatness, and by the presence of vast and irre- 

 sistible forces far off and near, but surrounding 

 us on every side. 



We did not need the barometer this morning 

 to tell us how changed the air was, how light 

 and effervescent. To breathe was to live : only 

 to live was to enjoy. Out in the boat, about a 

 hundred yards from the shore, I sat and watched 

 what was going on while the boys pulled slowly 

 to and fro. I cannot hope to set down in words 

 the feeling of the hour. It did not, as last 

 night, consist in a consciousness of vast and 

 oppressive force; but in an impression that 

 some mysterious Spirit of Life was moving in 

 ourselves, and in all the swift and lovely transi- 

 tions which were momentarily proceeding around 

 us. Behind Am Binnein we saw a thin white 

 cloud rise in the blue and then draw itself, as a 



