Page:The Burton Holmes lectures; (IA burtonholmeslect04holm).pdf/139

 mountains. The road in some places runs four hundred feet above the river; but this is nothing, the heights on either side rise thousands of feet above us. Although the summits of the mountains are invisible, we are conscious of their towering presence. Swift clouds above are tossed from peak to peak as in some pillow-battle of the giants. A sense of the littleness of man is forced upon us. Then comes a consoling conviction of the genius of man, for has he not opened a pathway here, conquered Nature, imposed his will upon the scowling rocks, and forced them to sustain in their rough grasp this dainty ribbon of a road along which troops have marched to conquer tribes as savage as the land itself?

AN ALPINE ROAD IN AFRICA