Chapter 111. 



which was here visible in all its splemlour. They liad now 

 come further north-west, and hence the northernmost group 

 of the chain appeared iiearer to the central group, which 

 from this point also appeared to be the liighest of all, and to 

 show the greatest extent of glacier. 



The sky was clear over the mountains to westwaixl, but dark 

 and stormy in the east. Eight and left stretched au imdulating 

 plain with low rounded hills, reddish or earthy yellow, dotted 

 with dark green patches of euphorbia, or of the light and finely 

 cut foliage of the acacia. Farther oft', the landscape melted 

 into the misty distance, and finally vanished from sight near 

 the foot of the mighty spurs of the range. 



Moore was reminded in these regions of the Alps as seen 

 from the Piedmontese or Lombard Plains, but the comparison 

 does not hold good. The dift'erence is profound, although so 

 siibtle as to baffle analysis. It is true that the far-(jft' slopes 

 clad with elephant grass, and the swamps hidden imder tufted 

 papyrus resenible our hills and our cultivated valleys. There is 

 no definite sign to indicate that those far-off" plains, Avhich to 

 all appearance might consist of meadows and cornfields, maize 

 plantations and orchards, are in reality the lair of elephants, 

 buffaloes, antelopes and lions. Yet still the picture is in a 

 different key, with a grim solemnity of its own. The likeness is 

 the fruit rather of a mental comparison than of a real, direct 

 impression from Nature. Signs of the handiwork of man are 

 nearly totally absent. The huts of the natives, tlieir banana 

 groves and their simple crops are only just visible on closer 

 inspection of the landscape, of which they form an insignificant 

 detail, hardly touching its virgin and primitive aspect. 



A little further on the party crossed their last forest, the 

 finest of all that had lain across their path, and swarming with 



9i 



