“And lo! the mountains print the distant sky,
And o’er their airy tops faint clouds are driven,
So softly blending that the cheated eye,
Forgets or which is earth, or which is heaven!”—FAY.
“Mountains and all hills—let them praise the name of the Lord, for his
name alone is excellent; his glory is above the earth and
heaven.”—DAVID.
Among the _wonders_, or uncommon phenomena of the world, may be classed
stupendous _mountains_. For though compared with the entire diameter of
the earth, the highest elevations on its surface are no more than the
inequalities on the skin of the orange to the orange itself, yet to our
eyes they often appear immensely lofty and sublime. Descriptions of such
vast and striking objects often fail to excite corresponding ideas; so
that however accurate or poetical may be the accounts of this class of
the prodigies of nature, no just notions of their vastness can be
conveyed, by any written or graphical representation. The magnitude of
an object must be seen to be duly conceived; and the mountain-wonders of
the world will best be understood and felt by those who have visited
Wales, Scotland, Switzerland, or the mountainous regions of America or
Asia.