贝壳电子书 > 英文原著电子书 > glaucus >

第3章

glaucus-第3章

小说: glaucus 字数: 每页4000字

按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!




stag's…horn clubmoss ceases to straggle across the turf; and the 

tufted alpine clubmoss takes its place:  for he is now in a new 

world; a region whose climate is eternally influenced by some fresh 

law (after which he vainly guesses with a sigh at his own 

ignorance); which renders life impossible to one species; possible 

to another。  And it is a still more solemn thought to him; that it 

was not always so; that aeons and ages back; that rock which he 

passed a thousand feet below was fringed; not as now with fern and 

blue bugle; and white bramble…flowers; but perhaps with the alp…

rose and the 〃gemsen…kraut〃 of Mont Blanc; at least with Alpine 

Saxifrages which have now retreated a thousand feet up the mountain 

side; and with the blue Snow…Gentian; and the Canadian Sedum; which 

have all but vanished out of the British Isles。  And what is it 

which tells him that strange story?  Yon smooth and rounded surface 

of rock; polished; remark; across the strata and against the grain; 

and furrowed here and there; as if by iron talons; with long 

parallel scratches。  It was the crawling of a glacier which 

polished that rock…face; the stones fallen from Snowdon peak into 

the half…liquid lake of ice above; which ploughed those furrows。  

AEons and aeons ago; before the time when Adam first





〃Embraced his Eve in happy hour;

And every bird in Eden burst

In carol; every bud in flower;〃





those marks were there; the records of the 〃Age of ice;〃 slight; 

truly; to be effaced by the next farmer who needs to build a wall; 

but unmistakeable; boundless in significance; like Crusoe's one 

savage footprint on the sea…shore; and the naturalist acknowledges 

the finger…mark of God; and wonders; and worships。



Happy; especially; is the sportsman who is also a naturalist:  for 

as he roves in pursuit of his game; over hills or up the beds of 

streams where no one but a sportsman ever thinks of going; he will 

be certain to see things noteworthy; which the mere naturalist 

would never find; simply because he could never guess that they 

were there to be found。  I do not speak merely of the rare birds 

which may be shot; the curious facts as to the habits of fish which 

may be observed; great as these pleasures are。  I speak of the 

scenery; the weather; the geological formation of the country; its 

vegetation; and the living habits of its denizens。  A sportsman; 

out in all weathers; and often dependent for success on his 

knowledge of 〃what the sky is going to do;〃 has opportunities for 

becoming a meteorologist which no one beside but a sailor 

possesses; and one has often longed for a scientific gamekeeper or 

huntsman; who; by discovering a law for the mysterious and 

seemingly capricious phenomena of 〃scent;〃 might perhaps throw 

light on a hundred dark passages of hygrometry。  The fisherman; 

too; … what an inexhaustible treasury of wonder lies at his feet; 

in the subaqueous world of the commonest mountain burn!  All the 

laws which mould a world are there busy; if he but knew it; 

fattening his trout for him; and making them rise to the fly; by 

strange electric influences; at one hour rather than at another。  

Many a good geognostic lesson; too; both as to the nature of a 

country's rocks; and as to the laws by which strata are deposited; 

may an observing man learn as he wades up the bed of a trout…

stream; not to mention the strange forms and habits of the tribes 

of water…insects。  Moreover; no good fisherman but knows; to his 

sorrow; that there are plenty of minutes; ay; hours; in each day's 

fishing in which he would be right glad of any employment better 

than trying to





〃Call spirits from the vasty deep;〃





who will not





〃Come when you do call for them。〃





What to do; then?  You are sitting; perhaps; in your coracle; upon 

some mountain tarn; waiting for a wind; and waiting in vain。





〃Keine luft an keine seite;

Todes…stille f乺chterlich;〃





as G攖he has it …





〃Und der schiffer sieht bek乵mert

Glatte fl刢he rings umher。〃





You paddle to the shore on the side whence the wind ought to come; 

if it had any spirit in it; tie the coracle to a stone; light your 

cigar; lie down on your back upon the grass; grumble; and finally 

fall asleep。  In the meanwhile; probably; the breeze has come on; 

and there has been half…an…hour's lively fishing curl; and you wake 

just in time to see the last ripple of it sneaking off at the other 

side of the lake; leaving all as dead…calm as before。



Now how much better; instead of falling asleep; to have walked 

quietly round the lake side; and asked of your own brains and of 

Nature the question; 〃How did this lake come here?  What does it 

mean?〃



It is a hole in the earth。  True; but how was the hole made?  There 

must have been huge forces at work to form such a chasm。  Probably 

the mountain was actually opened from within by an earthquake; and 

when the strata fell together again; the portion at either end of 

the chasm; being perhaps crushed together with greater force; 

remained higher than the centre; and so the water lodged between 

them。  Perhaps it was formed thus。  You will at least agree that 

its formation must have been a grand sight enough; and one during 

which a spectator would have had some difficulty in keeping his 

footing。



And when you learn that this convulsion probably took plus at the 

bottom of an ocean hundreds of thousands of years ago; you have at 

least a few thoughts over which to ruminate; which will make you at 

once too busy to grumble; and ashamed to grumble。



Yet; after all; I hardly think the lake was formed in this way; and 

suspect that it may have been dry for ages after it emerged from 

the primeval waves; and Snowdonia was a palm…fringed island in a 

tropic sea。  Let us look the place over more fully。



You see the lake is nearly circular; on the side where we stand the 

pebbly beach is not six feet above the water; and slopes away 

steeply into the valley behind us; while before us it shelves 

gradually into the lake; forty yards out; as you know; there is not 

ten feet water; and then a steep bank; the edge whereof we and the 

big trout know well; sinks suddenly to unknown depths。  On the 

opposite side; that flat…topped wall of rock towers up shoreless 

into the sky; seven hundred feet perpendicular; the deepest water 

of all we know is at its very foot。  Right and left; two shoulders 

of down slope into the lake。  Now turn round and look down the 

gorge。  Remark that this pebble bank on which we stand reaches some 

fifty yards downward:  you see the loose stones peeping out 

everywhere。  We may fairly suppose that we stand on a dam of loose 

stones; a hundred feet deep。



But why loose stones? … and if so; what matter? and what wonder?  

There are rocks cropping out everywhere down the hill…side。



Because if you will take up one of these stones and crack it 

across; you will see that it is not of the same stuff as those said 

rocks。  Step into the next field and see。  That rock is the common 

Snowdon slate; which we see everywhere。  The two shoulders of down; 

right and left; are slate; too; you can see that at a glance。  But 

the stones of the pebble bank are a close…grained; yellow…spotted 

rock。  They are Syenite; and (you may believe me or not; as you 

will) they were once upon a time in the condition of a hasty 

pudding heated to some 800 degrees of Fahrenheit; and in that 

condition shoved their way up somewhere or other through these 

slates。  But where? whence on earth did these Syenite pebbles come?  

Let us walk round to the cliff on the opposite side and see。  It is 

worth while; for even if my guess be wrong; there is good spinning 

with a brass minnow round the angles of the rocks。



Now see。  Between the cliff…foot and the sloping down is a crack; 

ending in a gully; the nearer sid

返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 0 0

你可能喜欢的