BY THE INDIANS. 57 



indeed, ancient Irish Fingalian songs belonging to the times 

 of Christianity, and perhaps not even reaching as far back 

 as the eighth century; but these popular songs contain 

 little of the sentimental description of nature which gives a 

 particular charm to Macpherson's poems ( 57 ) . 



We have already remarked, that if sentimental and 

 romantic turns of thought and feeling in reference to nature 

 belong in a high degree to the Indo-Germanic races of 

 Northern Europe, it should not be regarded only as a con- 

 sequence of climate ; that is, as arising from a longing desire 

 enhanced by protracted privation. I have noticed, that the 

 literatures of India and of Persia, which have unfolded 

 untler the glowing brightness of southern skies, offer 

 descriptions full of charm, not only of organic, but also of 

 inorganic nature ; of the transition from parching drought 

 to tropical rain ; of the appearance of the first cloud \m the 

 deep azure of the pure sky, and the first rustling sound of 

 the long desired etesian winds in the feathered foliage of the 

 summits of the palms. 



It is now time to enter somewhat more deeply into the 

 subject of the Indian descriptions of nature. "Let us 

 imagine," says Lassen, in his excellent work on Indian 

 antiquity ( 58 ), "a portion of the Arianic race migrating from 

 their primitive seats, in the north-west, to India: they 

 would there find themselves surrounded by scenery alto- 

 gether new, and by vegetation of a striking and luxuriant 

 character. The mildness of the climate, the fertility of the 

 soil, the profusion of rich gifts which it lavishes almost 

 spontaneously, would all tend to impart to the new life of 

 the immigrants a bright and cheerful colouring. The origi- 

 nally fine organisation of this race, and their high endow- 



