COSMOS 



region of the eartn, gives rise to a different source of enjoy- 

 ment, awakening impressions that are more vivid, better 

 denned, and more congenial to certain phases of the mind, 

 than those of which we have already spoken. At one time 

 the heart is stirred by a sense of the grandeur of the face of 

 nature, by the strife of the elements, or, as in Northern Asia, 

 by the aspect of the dreary barrenness of the far-stretching 

 steppes ; at another time, softer emotions are excited by the 

 contemplation of rich harvests wrested by the hand of man 

 from the wild fertility of nature, or by the sight of human 

 habitations raised beside some wild and foaming torrent. 

 Here I regard less the degree of intensity, than the difference 

 existing in the various sensations that derive their charm and 

 permanence from the peculiar character of the scene. 



If I might be allowed to abandon myself to the recollec- 

 tions of my own distant travels, I would instance, among the 

 most striking scenes of nature, the calm sublimity of a tropical 

 night, when the stars, not sparkling, as in our northern skies, ' 

 shed their soft and planetary light over the gently-heaving 

 ocean ; or I would recall the deep valleys of the Cordilleras, 

 where the tall and slender palms pierce the leafy veil around 

 them, and waving on high their feathery and arrow-like 

 branches, form, as it were, " a forest above a forest ;"* or I 

 would describe the summit of the Peak of Teneriffe, when a 

 horizontal layer of clouds, dazzling in whiteness, has separated 

 the cone of cinders from the plain below, and suddenly the 

 ascending current pierces the cloudy veil, so that the eye of 

 the traveller may range from the brink of the crater, along the 

 vine-clad slopes of Orotava, to the orange-gardens and banana- 

 groves that skirt the shore. In scenes like these, it is not the 

 peaceful charm uniformly spread over the face of nature that 

 moves the heart, but rather the peculiar physiognomy and con-^/ 

 formation of the land, the features of the landscape, the ever- 

 varying outline of the clouds, and their blending with the 

 horizon of the sea, whether it lies spread before us like a 

 smooth and shining mirror, or is dimly seen through the 

 morning mist. All that the senses can but imperfectly com- 

 prehend, all that is most awful in such romantic scenes ol 

 nature, may become a source of enjoyment to man, by open- 



* This expression is taken from a beautiful description of tropical 

 forest scenery in Paul and Virginia, by Bernardin de Saint Pierre. 



