The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-06-17

vine Author. He discovers how cuii1e WIS the
fancy u that poet who complained-
What lovely visisas yield their place,
when science has withdrawn from creations face
The veil Of enchantmnt-
for the hand Of science can never withdraw that
veil, but only raises 1t here and there TO open new
fields of beauty for the Imagination to rcvel In,
furnish it with more imposing images Of Omnipo-
The features Of the prairie, after time. become
somewhat wearisome. They are 50 indefinitely
marked and there Is such q constant succession Of
objects bearing general resemblance, that the
mind tires Of the contemplation. The objects be-
come too familiar. There IL not enough Of bold
outline and striking contrast. The forms are too
regular, and the shades blend 80 imperceptiby that
the different portions of the picture are noe sum-
GENTLY distinct The same lights and shadow iuumi-
nate and darken every locality; But nca com
encounter the dangers and prvations Of the route,
when he approaches the mountains. At the dis
lance Of sixty miles their snow clad peaks make
their Appearance above the horizon, DIM White,
seen by moonlight. Day after day their forms seem
to ascend higher and higher, and their outlines be-
come more irregular and ragged, and at their base
long dark stripe stretches throughout their course,
widening and widening until it seems Ike dark
and fathomless gulf separating the world Of reality
from the bright world OF imagination beyond. Then
this dark void slowly dissolves and out Of It's sha-
d0ws long line Of bleak, sterile, ferugnous buttes
and rocks whose sOiless surfaces refuse sustenance
save to few scattered stunted pines and lfeleas
MOSES, emerge to the view. These are the Black
hills the outer skirts Of which are diminutive knobs
and cones, which incresse In magnitude, rising sue
csssyey e the height e ssyess thousand feet nm
1t 10 as II the imprisoned fires generated for ages
had at last moved the superintendent masses, swell
ing them into knobs and buttes at the outer circur
ference, and increasing in power as its activity con-
Clouds and the mountains from their deep founda-
tions torn, shattered and riven, were thrown into
the upper air. and had fallen into enormous piles Of
unfhapen granite. Into the valleys, hollows and
ravines, the det,itus Of ages has accumulated and
the genial and generative powers Of nature have
created scenes OF primeva beauty, reminding us Of
the prophetic new order Of creation which is to
spring out Of the chaotic elements Of ruined
In the winding hollows of the black hills the way
farer excessively sees long valleys Of bleak stony
surfaces, covered with the stiff Jagged and frosty
leaved artemisia, and beautiful little bottoms pro-
fusely overgr0wn with grass and flowers, where the
mountain sheep, the buffalo, and the antelope,
delight to ramble, browsing the rich grapes and
drinking from the lmpid fountains which gush from
the hill Sides These the localities, too, where
the hunter finds his richest reward. Stealing around
the brows Of hills and rocks, whose points shade
him from the view, and whose submits prevent the
wind from giving notice Of his approach or, crawl
ing on the surface through the green curtain Of tall
grass until he gains point from which his shot may
tell, he rarely returns, if game is in the valley,
without store Of provision to make glad the in
mates of his lodge.
But it is beyond and in the midst Of the noun
tains that the mind is filed with admiration In their
valleys he may find lakes and streams and torrents,
and trees, and vines, fruits and flowers whose
broad bright surfaces expand in shining sheets Of
silver, still and calm slumbering infancy" save
when their bosoms are disturbed by the plash Of
OItforInO rom h01n fhouyl lam into
the air and plunge into the wave; streams ami tor
rents whose limpid waters spring in rainbow hues
from the wild rocks, or ripple and wind in gentle
music through the vale; trees whose tall forms
over his head vines whose cratic branches stretch
in festoons from limb to limb bending beneath the
weight OF their berries; fruits whose rich pungent
taste Lucullus would have coveted, and flowers,
whose varied hues fash like the gems and stones
on an Eastern monarchs robe
II stated and cloyed with exhibitions Of beauty
and fragrance, he has but to pass through yonder
assure, opened up. by the volcano, the dark grey
head, and open his eyes upon. the scene beyond.
He will behold long dark valley Of DESC
lation, upon the vital energies of which
the Angel of Death has set his seal. Broad slopes
here and there black spots Of extinct cinder; huge
masses OF granite, tumbled in inextricable confu-
sion, with then ferruginous sides discolored with
sage and plains Of sand, and fragments, under the
uOLOW 6uIIdCeb VI WHICH G0e nO8rSe, TO3rlnQ. and
pentup waters struggle for an outlet.
II scenes OF grandeur and sublimity are desired,
let him ascend the summit of some peak whose
point pierces the clouds far above its rivals In his
progress he will wind through ravines, and around
rocks, and labor up narrow paths which the rains
and melting SHOWS have washed out; sometimes be-
tween jutting cliffs; sometimes on the very outer
edge, where hundreds of feet below the tall trees
seem shruAasen into shrubs; and anon he will land
upon an immense broad terrace, spread thousands
OF yards around, with bright lake cleaning In the
refracted light and brilliant alpine plants waving
their beautiful flowers upon its margin. But he
eyes upward the goal of his ambition is 80 far be-
yond the ken Of his vision that he feels IT, instead
OF ascending, the whole mass under him had been
receding, like the mountains of ice over which Parry
s attempted to toll his way to the pole He wades
into the indentatons; over bright CLASSY surfaces Of
ice and fragments Of rock until wearied and foot
sore he at last falls exhausted on the pinnacle But
not long ne remains exhausted for the objects which
surround him Danish the sensation Of fatigue, and
reinvigorate all his powers. Far away in the dis
lance the tiny waves Of streams whose accumulated
waters are destined to bear upon their bosom the
freighted fleets Of commerce. wind their solitary way
Through mountains, plains
Through empires black with shade
And continents Of sand.
Nearer along the broad successive terraces Of the
opposite mountains, where the ever green pine, the
pitch, with its stiff angular branches and s0mbre
uuec, auu INC spruce, with us varied curves ana
bright green color, crowded in punches or strung
into zigzag lines, interspersed with shrubs and al
pine plants; the drifting snow rests its feathery
fakes upon them, awakening in the memory the
tabled garden in the story Of Aladdin-where trees
and shrubs of gold and silver were leaved and
lowered with precious stones, but without one fra
grant odor to delight the sense. II he turn to the
wet, the bare cones rise in multitudes with their
calm, awful forms shrouded in snow, and their dark
shadows projected far into the Valleys like spectres
from the chaotic world risen from the sleep Of ages
to contemplate the progress of Time in moulding
the dead matter into organized forms Of light and
beauty. And if the Spirit of the Tempest walk
abroad he may see far below the rolling clouds,
like troubled ocean now throwing up bright