204 PTARMIGAN. 
that are met with in some lonely glen, but never cease to 
be birds of the snow. ‘There the scanty vegetation, diminished 
from even the stunted growth of the lower parts, and barely 
nourished by the sterile soil that has gathered among the 
crumbling masses of fallen rocks, seem shrunk into itself, 
shunning the cold of the upper regions, and the withered 
and blighted remains of the pine forest or the birch wood 
tell a like tale of the curdling blasts that have frozen out. 
their life in years that are gone. 
As you wander on, you suddenly come upon some small 
lake, of unfathomable depth, whose blue waters reflect the 
dark forms of the surrounding craggy rocks and giddy precipices 
which tower about the lonesome valley far below. Peak 
upon peak and range upon range arise in the far distance, 
and here and there a silver stream trickles down their hoary. 
sides, threading its devious way in its time-worn gully among 
the wrecks of the mountain top that have fallen or been 
hurled from their primeval place. It is indeed a ‘solemn 
silence’ that prevails, and mysterious, strange, and melancholy, 
but yet thrilling with pleasure is the feeling that swells the 
heart. Above, the clouds of heaven roll along, going you 
know not whither, nor ean your fancy guide you, their edges 
gilded with crimson and purple by the rays of the setting 
sun, who yet shines below and through them on the hills 
in a thousand different shades and lights ‘passing away.’ 
Again, on the side of the brow hangs a heavy mass of 
vapour, faintly painted too on its western border with the 
red of the alpine rose; this next is spread into wreaths of 
grey mist, which seem to cling to the humid earth; and in 
the far distance rises up a dark and lurid mass of cloud, 
the murky form of which seems pregnant with the lightning, 
whose flash you seem instinctively aware of, the foreboding 
of nature warning you to retreat to.shelter. Now the sun 
sets in glory and gorgeous splendour behind the farthest peak, 
and now the black cloud lowers nearer and nearer, silently 
moving up the vault; now the whispers of the rising gale come 
on and on to the ear, and darkness unexpectedly begins to fall 
and gather on all ‘around, ‘Away, away to the ‘mountain’s 
brow,’ if you doubt the ‘Omnipresence of the Deity;’ there 
‘on such a night’ you must, like Moses, veil your face, and 
be ‘afraid to look upon God. There is that in such a scene 
to awe the heart, and he is not worthy the name of man 
who does not fear before the presence of the Almighty. 
