THE EOMANCE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 



against the black clouds of midnight with an 

 awfully sublime distinctness; and crash after 

 crash, and peal after peal of thunder are blending 

 into one uninterrupted roll. 



But amidst the deep roar rises from the gaunt 

 heaps of stone an unearthly sound, like the laugh 

 of a demon. Again, the cackling mirth echoes 

 along the ruined halls, as if exulting in the wild 

 war of the elements, and in the desolation around. 

 Lo ! from out of yon low arch, in the Place of 

 Tombs, gleam two fiery eyes, and forth stalks 

 into the lightning the fell hyena. With bristling 

 mane and grinning teeth, the obscene monster 

 glares at you, and warns you to secure a timely 

 retreat. Another appears, bearing in its jaws a 

 loathsome human skull, which it has found in the 

 caravan track. You shudder as you hear the 

 bones crack and grind between the powerful teeth, 

 and gladly shrink away from the repulsive vi- 

 cinity. 



The home of the great Siberian stag is among 

 the most magnificent scenery in the world. Search 

 for him amidst the bold precipices of the Altaian 

 chain, where enormous mountains of primeval 

 formation are split and cleft into the wildest 

 ravines, and where cascades fall in snowy foam 

 down the terrible gorges bounded by sheer cliffs 

 that almost meet far overhead, and shut out the 

 light of heaven. Here is a little dell, embosomed 

 in the mountains, as full of flowers as an English 

 garden, — irises and columbines, primroses and 

 peonies, of many rich hues and of kinds unfamiliar 

 to us, and of a luxuriant growth which reaches 

 up to a man's shoulders ;— then a tiny basin of 

 clear water, intensely black from its unruffled 

 stillness and its fathomless depth. Now the trav- 

 eller crosses a sharp ridge, crowned with colossal 

 48 



