Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 3).djvu/327

 mountains in every direction; between and beyond which were seen the blue tops of others more distant, mellowed down to the softest shades, till all was lost in unison with the clouds.

we descended, we beheld the mists rising from the deep vallies, and the clouds thickening around. It was cold and blustering, and we expected an immediate tempest and rain: but, as we mounted the third ridge, the clouds broke away over {17} our heads; and, as they dispersed, the sun would shine between and give a gliding radiance to the opening scene. We soon got beyond the clouded region, and saw the misty volumes floating down to the vallies and encircling the lower hills; so that, before we reached the summit, we had the pleasure of looking abroad in an unclouded sky.

"Here could we survey The gathered tempests rolling far beneath, And stand above the storm."

whole horizon was fringed with piles of distant mountains. The intermediate vallies were filled with clouds, or obscured with thick mists and shade: but the lofty summits, gilded with the blaze of day, lighted up under an azure heaven, gave a surprising grandeur and brilliancy to the whole scene.

descent is in many places precipitous and rocky. At the bottom we crossed the Juniata in a ferry-boat. Climbing the steep banks of the river, our rout was along a range of hills exhibiting a succession of interesting landscape. In many parts we were immersed in woods; then again we came into open ground, and saw the winding {18} river just below us, and the sides and tops of the mountains soaring above. Sometimes we rode, for a considerable distance, on the banks of the river; then we quitted it to mount a hill, and here again,