HUGH MILLER 135 



sea, and enters on his course rejoicing. It is a brilliant 

 day ; the waves, of a deeper and softer blue than before, 

 dance and sparkle in the light ; the earth, with little else to 

 attract the gaze, has assumed a garb of richer green ; and 

 as the sun declines amid ever richer glories than those 

 which had encircled his rising, the moon appears full-orbed 

 in the east, to the human eye the second great luminary 

 of the heavens, and climbs slowly to the zenith as night 

 advances, shedding its mild radiance on land and sea. 



' Again the day breaks ; the prospect consists, as before, 

 of land and ocean. There are great pine woods, reed- 

 covered swamps, wide plains, winding rivers, and broad 

 lakes ; and a bright sun shines over all. But the landscape 

 derives its interest and novelty from a feature unmarked 

 before. Gigantic birds stalk along the sands, or wade far 

 into the water in quest of their ichthyic food ; while birds of 

 lesser size float upon the lakes, or scream discordant in 

 hovering flocks, thick as insects in the calm of a summer 

 evening, over the narrower seas, or brighten with the sunlit 

 gleam of their wings the thick woods. 



* And ocean has its monsters : great tanninim tempest 

 the deep, as they heave their huge bulk over the surface to 

 inhale the life-sustaining air ; and out of their nostrils goeth 

 smoke, as out of " a seething pot or caldron." Monstrous 

 creatures, armed in massive scales, haunt the rivers, or 

 scour the flat rank meadows ; earth, air, and water are 

 charged with animal life ; and the sun sets on a busy scene, 

 in which unerring instinct pursues unremittingly its few 

 simple ends the support and preservation of the individual, 

 the propagation of the species, and the protection and 

 maintenance of the young. 



* Again the night descends, for the fifth day has closed ; 



