SPLENDID SCENERY. 279 



the galleries of the Government House on a 

 clear moonlight night, I never saw equalled, nor 

 can I conceive it surpassed. To the north-east, 

 the lofty peak of the Cameroons, rising to the im- 

 mense height of fourteen thousand feet, throws 

 its gigantic shadow half-way across the narrow 

 strait that separates the island from the main 

 land ; while the numerous little promontories and 

 beautiful coves that grace the shores of Goderich 

 Bay, throw light and shadow so exquisitely upon 

 the water, that one almost can imagine it a fairy 

 land. On the west, the spectator looks down 

 almost perpendicularly on the vessels in Clarence 

 Cove, which is a natural basin, surrounded by 

 cliffs of the most romantic shape, and a group of 

 little islands which Nature seems to have thrown 

 in to give a finish to the scene. Looking inland 

 towards the island, the peak is seen covered with 

 wood to the summit, with its sides furrowed with 

 deep ravines, and here and there a patch of 

 cleared land showing like a white spot in the 

 moonlight. 



There is something inexpressibly soothing in a 

 serene moonlight night in the tropical climates : 

 the heat, fever, and agitation of the day are at an 

 end ; all Nature is hushed into quiet repose, and 



