Chap. IX. 



MOUNTAIN PARS. 



179 



influence of tides and clear as crystal, my old 

 friends, the fishing cormorants, were employed in 

 catching large fish for their masters and small 

 ones for themselves. 



The valley through which we passed, although 

 in many places very sandy from the effects of the 

 swelling of mountain-streams, was yet generally 

 rich and fertile. On the road, at stated distances 

 apart, were covered resting-places for travellers, 

 where shelter from a storm or shade from the 

 noonday sun might be had by rich or by poor. 

 Little villages and farm - houses were observed 

 clustered about in various directions, and the la- 

 bourers who were at work in the fields seemed 

 happy and unoppressed. Looking upon a quiet 

 scene like this, one could scarcely believe that a 

 civil war was raging in the country, not a greater 

 distance off than 100 miles, where acts of savage 

 cruelty were daily perpetrated which made one's 

 blood run cold. Yet such was the fact. 



After winding up the valley for about six miles 

 we came to the foot of a mountain-pass, and began 

 gradually to ascend. As we reached a higher 

 elevation, the scenery became more varied in ap- 

 pearance than it had been in the plain, and very 

 beautiful. We were surrounded by hills and 

 mountains of every conceivable form, — some were 

 peaked, precipitous, and barren, while others 

 sloped gentlj^ upwards, and were covered densely 

 with pines and brushwood. Far away down in t lie 

 valley below us, the little stream, at whose source 



o 



