A tour through the Pyrenees . s with a dark shade the uniform plane of thetrees: it is a virgin wilderness in its severe soul fancies that it recognizes unknown friendsof lone aeo ; the forms and colors are in secretharmony with it; when it finds these pure, and thatit enjoys them unmixed with outside thought, itfeels that it is entering into its inmost and calmestdepth—a sensation so simple, after the tumult ofour ordinary thoughts, is like the gentle murmurof an .^olian harp after the hubbub of a ball. IV. Going down the Valentin, on the slope of theAfontagne Verte, I found landsc
A tour through the Pyrenees . s with a dark shade the uniform plane of thetrees: it is a virgin wilderness in its severe soul fancies that it recognizes unknown friendsof lone aeo ; the forms and colors are in secretharmony with it; when it finds these pure, and thatit enjoys them unmixed with outside thought, itfeels that it is entering into its inmost and calmestdepth—a sensation so simple, after the tumult ofour ordinary thoughts, is like the gentle murmurof an .^olian harp after the hubbub of a ball. IV. Going down the Valentin, on the slope of theAfontagne Verte, I found landscapes less aus-tere. You reach the right bank of the GavedOssau. A pretty streamlet slips down themountain, encased between two walls of roundedstones all purple with poppies and wild fall has been turned to account in driving rows 152 THE VALLE V OF OSSA U. Book II. of saws incessantly back and forth over blocks ofmarble. A tall, bare-footed girl, in rags, ladlesup sand and water for wetting the machine ; by the. aid of the sand the iron blade eats away the foot-path follows the river bank, lined withhouses, huge oaks and fields of Indian corn ; onthe other side is an arid reach of pebbly shore,where children are paddling near some hogs Chap. IV. LANDSCAPES. 153 asleep in the sand ; on the transparent wave, flocksof ducks rock with the undulations of the current:it is the country and culture after solitude and thedesert. The pathway winds through a plantationof osiers and willows ; the long, waving stalksthat love the rivers, the pale pendent foliage, areinfinitely graceful to eyes accustomed to the in-tense green of the mountains. On the right maybe seen the narrow rocky ways that lead to thehamlets scattered over the slopes. The housesthere lean their backs against the mountain,shelved one above another, so as to look downupon the valley. At noon the people are allabsent. Every door is closed ; three or four oldwomen, who alone are left in the village, a
Size: 1557px × 1604px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookpublishernewyorkhholtandcom
