DESERT SKY AND CLOUDS 



107 



known? Or have immensity, space, magnitude 

 a peculiar beauty of their own ? Is it not true 

 that bulk and breadth are primary and essen- 

 tial qualities of the sublime in landscape ? And 

 is it not the sublime that we feel in immensity 

 and mystery ? If so, perhaps we have a partial 

 explanation of our love for sky and sea and 

 desert waste. They are the great elements. 

 We do not see, we hardly know if their boun- 

 daries are limited ; we only feel their immen- 

 3ity, their mystery, and their beauty. 



And quite as impressive as the mysteries are 

 the silences. Was there ever such a stillness as 

 that which rests upon the desert at night ! Was 

 there ever such a hush as that which steals 

 from star to star across the firmament ! You 

 perhaps think to break the spell by raising your 

 voice in a cry ; but you will not do so again. 

 The sound goes but a little way and then seems 

 to come back to your ear with a suggestion of 

 insanity about it. 



A cry in the night ! Overhead the planets 

 in their courses make no sound, the earth is 

 ^till, the very animals are mute. Why then the 

 cry of the human ? How it jars the harmo- 

 nies ! How it breaks in discord upon the uni- 

 ties of earth and air and sky ! Century after 



Space and 

 vmmensity. 



The silences, 



The cry of 

 the humwi,. 



