WILD LIFE IN A SOUTHERN COUNTY. 49 



lar that the great elevation of this down should never 

 previously have been so apparent. In short, growing 

 curious in the matter, I returned to the gap and looked 

 again. 



There was no mistake : there was the down rising 

 up against the sky a huge dusky mountainous hill, 

 exactly the same in outline as I remembered it, quite 

 familiar, and yet entirely strange. There was the old 

 barn near the foot of the slope ; above it the black 

 line of a low hedge and mound ; on the summit the 

 same old clump of trees ; and lastly, a tall column of 

 black smoke rising upwards, as if from a steam plough 

 at work. It was all just the same, but lifted up into 

 the air the hill grown into a mountain. A second and 

 longer gaze failed to discover the explanation of the 

 apparition : the eye was completely deceived, and yet 

 the mind was not satisfied. But upon getting up 

 into the gap of the hedge, so as to obtain a better 

 view from the mound, the cause of the illusion was at 

 once visible. 



Looking through the gap was like looking through a 

 narrow window, only a short section of the hill being 

 within sight ; from the elevation of the mound the 

 whole range of hills could be seen at the same time. 

 Then it became immediately apparent that on either 

 side of this great mountain the continuation of the 

 down right and left remained still at its former level. 

 Upon the central hill a cloud was resting, and had for 

 the time taken its exact shape. The ridge itself was 

 dark, and the dark-gray vapour harmonized precisely 



