glaucus-第3章
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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