26 STEPPES AND DESERTS. 



men increased toil and danger. The traveller wandering 

 over the wide globe by sea and land, as well as the historic 

 inquirer searching the records of past ages, finds every 

 where the uniform and saddening spectacle of man at 

 variance with man. 



He, therefore, who, amidst the unreconciled discord of 

 nations, seeks for intellectual calm, gladly turns to con- 

 template the silent life of vegetation, and the hidden activi- 

 ties of forces and powers operating in the sanctuaries of 

 nature; or, obedient to the inborn impulse which for 

 thousands of years has glowed in the human breast, gazes 

 upwards in meditative contemplation on those celestial orbs, 

 which are ever pursuing in undisturbed harmony their 

 ancient and unchanging course. 



