50 



THE VIEW. 



arms shrank, and the scenery brightened till 

 we felt that any picture of this gorgeous and 

 powerful nature must be comparatively grey 

 and colourless. A broken blue line of well- 

 wooded hills, the K/abai Range, first offsets of 

 the Coast Ghats, formed the background. On 

 the nearer slopes, westward, were the rude 

 beginnings of plantations, knots of peasants' 

 huts hove successively in sight, and pale smoke- 

 wreaths, showing that the land is being prepared 

 for the approaching showers, curled high from 

 field and fell. Above was the normal mottled, 

 vapoury sky of the rainy zone, fleecy mists, 

 opal-tinted, and with blurred edges, floating 

 on milk-blue depths, whilst in the western 

 horizon a purple nimbus moved up majestically 

 against the wind. Below, the water caught 

 various and varying reflections of the firmament : 

 here it was smooth as glass, there it was 

 dimpled by the pattering feet of the zephyrs, 

 that found a way through the hill-gaps, and 

 merrily danced over the glistening floor. Now 

 little fish, pursued by some tyrant of the waters, 

 played duck and drake upon the surface : then 

 larger kinds, scate-shaped, sprang five or six 

 feet into the air, catching the sun like silver 

 plates. On both sides the wave was bounded 



