602 THE UNIVERSE. 



launched at the vessels of the companions of Ulysses, when 

 they escaped him. Farther on we see the little port where 

 Homer makes the fleet of the King of Ithaca touch. All 

 here is imprinted with poesy. 



When we look down on the flanks of the giant we behold 

 his frightful progeny, a perfect pleiades of thirty-five to 

 forty little volcanoes. From this point their craters show 

 like so many circular lips, broad and depressed, or pointed 

 and projecting, and crowning sugar-loaf cones. Seen thus in 

 a bird's-eye view, all these volcanoes exactly resemble those 

 of the moon, and it seems as if we had before our eyes a 

 magnified section of our satellite. I don't know whether 

 this comparison has ever been made ; it is, however, strictly 

 correct. The ascent of Etna might be useful in this respect 

 to many astronomers. 



To this splendid picture of vales and mountains unroll- 

 ing themselves before the eye, and melting away in the 

 mists of the horizon, are sometimes joined remarkable phe- 

 nomena. There are some elevated peaks where, if a person 

 places himself on a projecting eminence at sunrise, his out- 

 line is traced on the distant clouds in singular and gigantic 

 proportions. This can often be seen on the summit of the 

 Brocken, one of the loftiest mountains of the Harz, and it is 

 this curious phenomenon that is known by the name of the 

 Spectres of the Brocken. 



But during journeys among mountains the enchanting 

 prospects from their summits are not the only ones that 

 excite moving impressions, and the vales which show in the 

 distance like insignificant, irregular lines, if they do not 

 present such vast horizons, display at any rate unexpected 



