HARMONIES. 



the Alps, but it is spread over the whole central 

 line of Europe and Asia, wherever lofty and rug- 

 ged mountain-chains arise. Mr. Atkinson speaks 

 of having shot one in a scene which for savage 

 grandeur surpasses anything in the Alps. It was 

 among the Alatou mountains in Chinese Tartary, 

 where the river Cora breaks out grandly into the 

 plain, emerging from a rent in the lofty mountain- 

 chain, where the rocks rise several thousand feet. 

 "As I determined," says this intrepid traveller, 

 "to explore this mighty gorge, and sketch the 

 scenery, our horses were left at the mouth of the 

 chasm, it being impossible to ride up the gorge; 

 and track there was none. We had to climb over 

 huge masses of rock; some we were obliged to 

 creep under, they being much too high to climb 

 over: in other places, bushes and plants were 

 growing in tropical luxuriance. A scramble of 

 five hours brought me to a point I could not 

 pass; here the rocks rose quite perpendicularly 

 from the boiling flood, making ascent to the sum- 

 mit impossible. Nor can this be accomplished 

 either in spring or summer; while in winter the 

 chasin is so deep in snow — there being no ;ioul 

 [hamlet] within several hundred versts— that it 

 would be madness to attempt it at that time; 

 thus these grand and wild scenes are closed to 

 man, and the tiger remains undisturbed in his lair, 

 the bear in his den, and the maral and wild deer 

 range the wooded parts unmolested. A very large 

 bearded eagle was found amongst these crags, 

 which I shot. After making several sketches, I 

 returned to the horses, and ascended towards the 

 great plateau between the mountains, where I 

 arrived in the evening, tired and hungry. The 

 dark clouds which had obscured the mountains 

 cleared off, and gave me a most splendid view of 

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