54 FEBRUARY 



intense at night, but morning by morning the sun 

 rises in unclouded splendour, and, sailing along his 

 course low in the southern sky, changes the vast 

 expanse of white into all kinds of opaline and pearly 

 hues. 



The magic of sunshine is never more potent than 

 on a great snow-field. All the shaded surface is 

 delicate blue, reflecting the azure of the sky ; the 

 illuminated portions are warm cream colour or rosy. 

 Now and then there comes a change. A huge 

 bastion of cloud, table-headed, with gleaming crest 

 and trailing violet skirts, rears itself in the north 

 and spreads across the firmament. The sun is first 

 veiled with a tawny mist, and then passes out of 

 sight. Immediately the whole landscape seems to 

 shrink and cower. The scene, so smiling and radiant 

 a moment ago, becomes forlorn or grim ; Morven's 

 solitary peak is hidden from view ; the air, so deli- 

 cious in its calm keenness, turns harsh before the 

 chill breath of the storm, and already the flakes are 

 flying fast. But the evil hour passes, the sun blazes 

 out once more, and there is something indescribably 

 exhilarating in the atmosphere. 



In spite of the cold and exposure of this land, 

 chest and lung complaints are very rare. Consump- 



