DEVIL'S MUSIC. 289 



lofty range of mountains in Circassia, that I was 

 very much surprised, and my people frightened, 

 at hearing low musical breathings, like the tones 

 of an JEolian harp, evidently issuing from the 

 side of the mountain. My followers called it 

 " devil's music," and said that it prognosticated 

 evil ; but I believe that it was caused by strong 

 currents of air passing swiftly over the numerous 

 caverns and crevasses, although Humboldt attri- 

 butes this natural phenomenon, which he also 

 experienced, to parts of the ground being un- 

 equally heated. 



Such is the forest-ranger's home, and he who 

 has passed any length of time amid similar scenes 

 will ever in his heart long to return to them, for 

 no music is so sweet in his ears as " the voices of 

 the wild woods." 



Rousseau, the eloquent French author, in his 

 " Confessions," says : " Never did a level country, 

 however beautiful it might be, seem beautiful in 

 my eyes. I must have cataracts, rocks, pines, 



