142 WILD UPLANDS. 



profound are these mountain solitudes, and 

 how dismal they must be in gloomy weather ! 

 Happily, there were gleams of sunshine, patches 

 of blue sky with light clouds over head, and 

 with cattle here and sheep there, even in the 

 wildest and most secluded spots where not the 

 faintest vestige of man was to be seen, I felt 

 only a cheerful influence, reminding me of 

 what I used to feel within the tropics, when in 

 a mountainous region, three or four thousand 

 feet above the level of the sea, where I could 

 almost tell the elevation by the pleasant inward 

 feeling, as if breathing an air at once soothing 

 and exhilarating. 



PISCATOK. I have experienced what you 

 describe ; it is one of the pleasures of mountain 

 travel, especially in a warm climate. I hope 

 you were not disappointed in what you saw. 



AMICUS. No wise. I went up as far as the 

 foot of Bowfell and Scawfell. The wild and 

 dreary grandeur of the scenery there ex- 

 ceeded anything I have seen in the Lake 

 District, and has left an impression I shall 

 not soon forget. I tried the rivulet, but 

 with no success, taking only, in the deeper 

 pools, a few small ill-fed brook trout. See- 

 ing the character of the stream, now so small, 



