276 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



be in presence of a new tract of country, and take it 

 in at once with one long wondering gaze ? As I had 

 never been on these mountains before, there was always 

 this excitement on nearing the summit a pleasurable 

 uncertainty about what was to come. And as I crept 

 along towards the ridge, about which, until my foot 

 had touched it, I always felt there hung a mystery, 

 how busily did imagination ply its work ! The cau- 

 tion, and the watchful eye, and the breathlessness, 

 arose as much from the awe of the moment as from 

 the heed that is natural to the chamois-hunter. And 

 with straining eye, and a tremulous longing, and a 

 sense that a spell was upon me which in a second 

 would be broken, did I creep on my knees to the very 

 ridge, and stare over into what was beyond. But it 

 was not until, with still gradually advancing body, I 

 had cast my eyes over the whole expanse before me, 

 not until with a glance all had been passed over, 

 that the charm was dissolved, and that, drawing a 

 deep breath, I felt the sweetly-oppressive mystery was 

 dispelled. 



It is a different thing altogether thus to behold a 

 new country from the mountain- tops, or to see it as he 

 does who advances upon it step by step along the high 

 road. It does not come upon you gradually, object 

 after object giving way to others as you approach, but 

 the whole land bursts upon your vision at once, and 

 your senses make you feel, by the sudden weight that 

 presses on them, how great the vastness that the mind 

 is labouring to take in. You have a consciousness of 



