hills and rocks and mountains, piled upon one another, and fringed
with fir to their topmost acclivities. Perhaps the Norwegian forests
alone equal these in grandeur and extent. Those which cover the
Swiss highlands rarely convey such vast ideas. There, the woods
climb only half way up their ascents, and then are circumscribed by
snows: here, no boundaries are set to their progress, and the
mountains, from their bases to their summits, display rich unbroken
masses of vegetation.

As we were surveying this prospect, a thick cloud, fraught with
thunder, obscured the transparence of the horizon, whilst flashes
startled our horses, whose snorts and stampings resounded through the
woods. What from the shade of the firs and the impending tempests,
we travelled several miles almost in total darkness. One moment the
clouds began to fleet, and a faint gleam promised serener hours, but
the next all was gloom and terror; presently a deluge of rain poured
down upon the valley, and in a short time the torrents, beginning to
swell, raged with such fury as to be with difficulty forded.
Twilight drew on, just as we had passed the most terrible; then
ascending a steep hill under a mountain, whose pines and birches
rustled with the storm, we saw a little lake below. A deep azure
haze veiled its eastern shore, and lowering vapours concealed the
cliffs to the south; but over its western extremities a few
transparent clouds, the remains of the rays of a struggling sunset,
were suspended, which streamed on the surface of the waters, and
tinged with tender pink the brow of a verdant promontory.

I could not help fixing myself on the banks of the lake for several
minutes, till this apparition was lost, and confounded with the
shades of night. Looking round, I shuddered at a craggy mountain,