Valley of the Black River. 43 



places where they were thickly crowded together, I 

 would stop to take them up and examine them, one 

 by one, only to put them carefully down again ; 

 and sometimes holding one in my hand, I would pour 

 out the yellow sand that filled its cavity ; and 

 watching the shining stream as it fell, only the 

 vainest of vain thoughts and conjectures were 

 mine. 



