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rain cloud onward, enveloping the immense forest 

 between us and the sea in one misty mass, bringing 

 out much more distinctly the varieties of distance 

 of the hill-tops beneath us, which before were undis- 

 tinguishable in the clear and almost equal visibility of 

 all. During the storm the lightning is vivid, zig- 

 zagged, and frequent ; the thunder instant, crashing, 

 and terrifically loud. In an hour or two the rain has 

 ceased, the sky presently resumes its clearness and 

 transparent azure, and the coolness of the evening 

 air is delightful, loaded as it often is with the per- 

 fume of various flowers. 



After the rain has ceased the fog begins to rise, 

 and this is sometimes the grandest part of the whole 

 scene. I have said that the little cottage where I 

 sojourn looks from its eminence, like an eagle from 

 its aerie, over seven miles of almost unbroken forest : 

 it is irregular ground ; but hill and dale looked down 

 upon from a mountain elevation cannot be dis- 

 tinguished from a plain. But on such occasions as 

 this we discern the form of the ground ; for from 

 every dell and bottom arises a dense mist of snowy 

 whiteness, throwing the summit of each little inter- 

 vening hummock into strong outline. As these local 

 mists arise, they unite ; and often the whole range of 

 country becomes overlaid with a mass of white cottony 

 cloud, through the openings in which, here and 

 there, we catch a glimpse of the dark forest below. 

 This has a novel and charming effect. Sometimes the 

 setting sun throws his horizontal rays upon the mass, 

 and the whole becomes suffused with a soft, trans- 



