delightful contemplation of the wonderful works of the Almighty Hand.
The Jungfrau stood in all its magnificence before me. Beside and beyond it rose the Mittaghorn, the Tchingelhorn, the Ebenflue, and other gigantic mountains; but the Jungfrau towered high above all these colossal neighbours, and reared its silver head aloft into the azure firmament.
At the time when this globe yet floated in the midst of the great deep, these stupendous masses of granite probably peered in the form of small verdant islands above the surface of that immeasurable expanse. Thousands of years have since elapsed. Seas, oceans, have since dried up; but these mountains still stand firm. Their venerable heads are covered with everlasting ice, and their topmost peaks no human foot has ever yet trodden. They silently, but effectually, perform the important and beneficial object for which they were destined: they feed the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, the North Sea and the Adriatic; and from their inexhaustible reservoirs they send forth a thousand streams to fertilize the countries of Europe.
The summit of the Alp on which I lay engaged in these meditations was yet covered with snow. All around was as still as if everlasting Peace had here erected her altars. Far below me appeared the lovely valley of Lauter-
