380 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



as I have sat on the rocks of the Lizard or Land's 

 End, looking out for hours over the Atlantic, and 

 watching the long waves that heaved their ponderous 

 weight along, awe was in my heart, it is true, and a 

 tremendous sense of God's omnipotence ; but there 

 was no feeling of littleness : on the contrary, within 

 me rose an elate consciousness of power, an exulting 

 joy that, vast as was that ocean, my human mind could 

 still encompass it, in thought could traverse it to its 

 very utmost verge : a great rejoicing, deep and un- 

 speakable, that I, even I, was able to take in such 

 immensity. 



And this effect, the grandest appearances of Nature 

 always produce in me. They do not crush the mind 

 into nothingness, but cause it rather to feel 



" An equal among mightiest energies." 



They incite it to action, and call on it to put forth 

 its strength. For then, when thus face to face with 

 sublimity, one mighty sensation, like an instinct, be- 

 comes always suddenly quick within it, a glad, tri- 

 umphant consciousness of inalienable divinity. 



But there are besides many other minor sources of 

 joy, for the mountains form an exclusive world of their 

 own, a world with its own delights, phenomena and 

 wonders; and not only the things themselves, but 

 even their very names have often a strange charm, that 

 awakens the fancy and sets it busily to work. For 

 he who lives constantly with Nature, watching all her 

 moods, nor loving her less, but rather the more, for 

 her changing and waywardness, will not give to familiar 



