An Etcher's Voyage of Discovery. 293 



CHAPTER VI. 



THIS etching is intended to represent one of those 

 effects of twilight on the river which are amongst 

 the charms of a lonely voyage. You see the great 

 masses of the magnificent trees, but you hardly see the 

 dark ground they stand upon, and it is not easy to tell 

 where the water ends and the land begins. For the full 

 enjoyment of such an hour as this, the scenery should be 

 previously unknown to you, that the sense of mystery 

 may be felt in its fullest intensity ; but, on the other hand, 

 there ought not to be any apprehension of danger. It is 

 after a day of peril and adventure that you most enjoy 

 the peace of the solemn gloaming, when the reaches of 

 the river sleep in their glassy calm, and the heron lifts 

 himself languidly on the breadth of his great gray 

 win^s. 



The heron is not mentioned by accident or put in for 

 the sake of a poetical effect. He was there. He passed 

 the canoe like a winged shadow, and then rose in the 

 calm, pure air. Just then came a great flock of rooks, 

 and, as they were flying about four hundred feet above 

 me, the heron attained nearly the same altitude. The 

 impertinent rooks attacked the noble bird (fit game for 

 peregrine falcons ! ), and they plagued him and insulted 

 him till he knew not what to make of it. But he pre- 

 sented his sharp, long beak to his assailants, and after 



