20 THE MOUNTAINS 



akin to De Saussure), in The White 

 Hills, says, "It is not so much the forms, 

 in their dimensions, proportions, and ar- 

 rangements, which produce the effect of 

 beauty and sublimity, as the quality, va- 

 riety, and harmony of the color which 

 overlay and imbue them." 



And, if I may dare to rely upon my 

 own mountain-experience, I must add 

 that, in mountain-scenery, the most effec- 

 tive thing, beauty alone being considered, 

 is the ever-shifting pattern of the color- 

 scheme. 



From one point, in the Bernese Ober- 

 land, often I have seen four ranges of 

 inountains and foothills, and every range 

 with a dominant color — green, brown, 

 blue, white. And still, in every case, not 

 excepting even the last, the dominating 

 color was subject to color-invasions, sud- 

 den or gradual; or to delicate color-shad- 

 ings; or to minute color-lineations ; or to 

 splendid color-illuminations. Thus there 

 was in action a sort of huge mountain- 



