460 HARMONY OF NATURE, Book III. 
north side of Whiting's Peak, and between it and another 
similar mountain in its neighbourhood, the whole system 
of these repeated casts of melted matter has sunk in, and 
a valley has been formed towards the centre, of which the 
sheets of porphyry are inclined from both sides at the same 
angle. 
This simple arrangement is visible, however, only from 
a little distance. When near, it is hidden in a chaos of the 
most astonishing forms of separation, which may be com- 
pared to basaltic columns, but exhibit an extraordinary 
variety of shape. The perpendicular walls are divided 
into an infinity of columns, pinnacles, cones, towers, 
spindles, shafts, oval and rhomboidal portions : a moun- 
tain scenery of the strangest character. In general, the 
Limpia passes are among the most interesting things in 
nature I have ever seen. 
I was struck by the wonderful harmony and unity of 
the physiognomic elements which compose the landscape. 
Nature appears here, more than anywhere else I have 
seen, like a landscape-painter, composing a picture with 
the most simple yet refined taste. For instance, on the 
pinnacles and turrets of the brown rock is found a species 
of juniper, which, in its growth, seems to imitate the 
strange forms of the mineral masses. In other parts of this 
remarkable region, where the Gothic style of the masses 
of rock passes into the antique — their rocky walls resem- 
bling gigantic steps with broad grass-grown mountain- 
terraces — the character of the vegetation likewise changes 
in a corresponding manner. The pointed juniper-tree is 
succeeded by the oak, with its spreading, umbrageous 
crown, decorating the sunny turf in small groups among 
the rocks. 
I shall now return to our entrance into the valley of the 
