114 Idle Days in Patagonia. 



natural to the mind. There is no " super- 

 naturalism in the hue," no " spectralness over the 

 fancy," in the thought of the whiteness of white 

 clouds ; of the white horses of the sea ; of white 

 sea-birds, and white water-fowl, such as swans, 

 storks, egrets, ibises, and many others ; nor in white 

 beasts, not dangerous to us, wild or domestic, nor 

 in white flowers. These may bloom in such profu- 

 sion as to whiten whole fields, as with snow, and 

 their whiteness yet be no more to the fancy than the 

 yellows, purples, and reds of other kinds. In the 

 same way the whiteness of the largest masses of 

 white clouds has no more of supernaturalness to the 

 mind than the blueness of the sky and the greenness 

 of vegetation. Again, on still hot days on the 

 pampas the level earth is often seen glittering with 

 the silver whiteness of the mirage ; and this is also 

 a common natural appearance to the mind, like the 

 whiteness of summer clouds, of sea foam, and of 

 flowers. 



From all these examples, and many others might 

 be added, it seems evident that the " illusive some- 

 thing," which Melville found in the innermost idea 

 of this hue — a something that strikes more of panic 

 to the soul than the redness which aflrights in 

 blood — does not reside in the quality of whiteness 

 itself. 



After making this initial mistake, he proceeds to 

 name all those natural objects which, being white, 

 produce in us the various sensations he mentions, 

 mysterious and ghostly, and in various ways un- 



