70 



KAMSGHATKA. 



[chap. 



Before us lay the peaks of dazzling snow, and it seemed as though 

 all Nature were hushed and worshipping at that throne of spotless 

 purity. 



Eest and purity then — the unattainable, in other words — in 

 these lie the charm. The fairest tropic scene holds no deeper 

 meanings such as these. Beauty of form there doubtless is, a far 

 greater beauty perhaps than that of northern climes, but, after all, 

 it is but soulless. The teeming life of a tropic forest, the marvellous 

 wealth of vegetation, the reckless sacrifice of the weakest, produce 



WHISKERED PUFFIN. (Luiicla drrhatci. ) 



upon the mind the same effect as do the streets of a crowded city. 

 No grandeur of " calm decay," no pathos of the changing seasons is 

 here. It is a fierce struggle for existence, fatal to any except the 

 most purely material thought. 



The shores of Avatcha Bay extend to the traveller a more 

 smiling welcome than the iron-bound coast outside. Here, the 

 lower hills slope gently down to beaches dotted with driftwood, or, 

 covered with birch and heather, steeply overhang the sea. Behind 

 they are backed by higher ranges clothed with undergrowth, and 

 rising to the height of fifteen hundred feet or more. To the north- 

 west only is this basin-like appearance broken, where the small 



