204 
CONTENT. 
rain cloud onward, enveloping the immense forest 
between us and the sea in one misty mass, bringing 
out much more distinctly the varieties of distance 
of the hill-tops beneath us, which before were undis- 
tinguishable in the clear and almost equal visibility of 
all. During the storm the lightning is vivid, zig- 
zagged, and frequent ; the thunder instant, crashing, 
and terrifically loud. In an hour or two the rain has 
ceased, the sky presently resumes its clearness and 
transparent azure, and the coolness of the evening 
air is delightful, loaded as it often is with the per- 
fume of various flowers. 
After the rain has ceased the fog begins to rise, 
and this is sometimes the grandest part of the whole 
scene. I have said that the little cottage where I 
sojourn looks from its eminence, like an eagle from 
its aerie, over seven miles of almost unbroken forest : 
it is irregular ground; but hill and dale looked down 
upon from a mountain elevation cannot be dis- 
tinguished from a plain. But on such occasions as 
this we discern the form of the ground ; for from 
every dell and bottom arises a dense mist of snowy 
whiteness, throwing the summit of each little inter- 
vening hummock into strong outline. As these local 
mists arise, they unite ; and often the whole range of 
country becomes overlaid with a mass of white cottony 
cloud, through the openings in which, here and 
there, we catch a glimpse of the dark forest below. 
This has a novel and charming effect. Sometimes the 
setting sun throws his horizontal rays upon the mass, 
and the whole becomes suffused with a soft, trans- 
