A MAGNIFICENT VIEW. 299 



King Saul, head and shoulders above all his brethren, 

 with his round and naked head resting serenely in 

 the heavens ; Mount Macintyre, with its distorted and 

 savage outline; Mount McMartin, and a fearful assem- 

 blage of other peaks, pushing and shouldering each 

 other, summit - crowding above summit, ridge folding 

 away upon ridge against the clear sky, rise above you 

 and hem you in on one side ; while White Face, with 

 its colossal proportions, and another host of Titanic 

 forms which it seems to have suddenly summoned 

 into its presence, stretch away in long and stately pro- 

 cession on the other. It looks like a fortress built by 

 the gods, some of the bastions of which tower more 

 than a mile high in the heavens, and whose irregular 

 stupendous walls of granite would withstand any shock 

 short of Omnipotent power. I looked upon the soli- 

 tary dweller in the midst of so much savage grandeur, 

 beauty, and sublimity with a good deal of curiosity. 

 It seemed a suitable place for Jupiter to dwell in, 

 grand, gloomy, and alone ; but why should this man 

 thus isolate himself from his race, and pitch his habi- 

 tation amid these savage mountains ? His answer to 

 my inquiry for his reason in so doing was simple and 

 practical enough. He found this piece of table-land 



