296 FROM TITHOREA, 
CtiAP. beauties to this indescribable scene. We re- 
VIII. ' r ■ n 1 
^ mained for some time fixed to the spot, gazing 
with fresh wonder, at every instant. It pos- 
sessed more than any effect of transparent 
painting can possibly represent, because the 
hues and the lights and the shadows varied at 
Appear- evcrv momcnt. At last the sea aupeared of a 
ance of the ^ >- '- 
Sinus Ma. rich blue colour, somewhat darker than the 
tiacus. 
sky, which was also blue. The higher moun- 
tains of Thessaly had the most vivid dyes : 
upon some of their tops the parting rays of 
the sun left streaks of an intense colour, and 
of. a dazzling brightness. Presently, all the 
surface of the gulph shone with the reflected 
beams of the moon, as if it had been a flood of 
liquid silver. As soon as this appearance 
ensued, the lateral features of the mountains 
began to fade, and to disappear, as their distance 
from the eye increased ; their outline being 
still preserved, so that the more remote ex- 
hibited only masses like waves in the horizon, 
covered by one uniform pale tint, unvaried by 
any difference of colour or of shadow. Nearer 
to the view, the tints were of a deeper cast ; 
investing the sides and declivities of the chasm 
through which our descent lay, and the towers 
of Bodonitza, with bolder and darker shadows : 
but even here, in the fore-ground, and over all 
