138 In Touch with Nature. 



to believe that such a spot could fail to arouse 

 interest in the spectator, and yet the fame of these 

 rocks is not far-travelled. Until I saw them to- 

 day I never knew of them, and yet have lived 

 within almost a day's walk of them all my life. 

 In a little woods we found them resting in absolute 

 silence, but not one but responded in deep or 

 gayer tones to the touch of our timid feet. It 

 was wretched walking, but we little thought of 

 danger, as peal after peal rang out, when chosen 

 masses were sharply struck with bits of stone. It 

 was a most strange spot. A veritable crater, from 

 which had bubbled up a molten mass, now cracked 

 into huge angular masses, heaped in the most hap- 

 hazard way, — 



" Crags, knolls, and mounds, confusedly hurled. 

 The fragments of an earlier world." 



This rugged, rocky music will not bear trans- 

 planting, and rejects a home in any mere frag- 

 ment such as one might carry away. I am glad 

 of this, for else these massive stones would be 

 stolen by lovers of Wagner. The sound given 

 out, when these masses of crystalline rock are 



