44 DURABILITY OF MOUNTAINS. 



AMICUS. Even in our somewhat laborious 

 ascent, I had an eye to them ; and I was struck 

 with the beauty of vegetation, all so fresh and 

 verdant, the bracken in its tender green, 

 ferns of many kinds, dwarfing as we ascended, 

 the delicate pasture accounting well for the ex- 

 cellency of the mutton fed on it, and the many 

 little flowering plants springing out of the turf, 

 as if intended for ornament even in these wilds. 

 Nor did the rocks escape my notice, so many 

 detached in great masses, and in one spot espe- 

 cially, quite a ruin of rocks, a vast shattered 

 heap at the foot of a precipice. Surely, judging 

 from what I saw, these mountains which you call 

 everlasting, are subject to decay and degradation! 



PISCATOR. Yes, like all earthly things; yet 

 I think we may call them everlasting. That 

 they are lower than they once were, I have no 

 doubt. These broken rocks to which you refer, 

 and the vast collection of detritus now forming 

 their sides, are demonstrative proofs. Probably 

 when they were first elevated, their summits 

 might have consisted of softer materials, because 

 less subjected to the hardening influences which 

 may have acted on the deeper parts ; and at one 

 period, I allude to the glacial period, they 



