“But for one who enjoys the gun and the rod, there are such tempting opportunities for the diversion of the attention, that the imagination finds ready relaxation, and thus the body and mind gain vigor as the scenes and the days pass by.
“Then, Zelania’s wonders may be visited with ease, comfort, and perfect safety. Her furies are on their good behaviour, and save on the borders of her terrors, her aspects are as serene as heaven’s azure sky. Her mountains are rarely disturbed by the ravings of Pluto, her great geysers are forcible, but not dangerously erratic, and her boiling springs are so amiable that they may be studied and safely observed at short range.
“Zelania, thou art by far the most beauteous land,
E’er dreamed of fate, or reared by Nature’s cunning hand.
You’ve heaven-piercing peaks, crowned with eternal snow,
A thousand boiling caldrons—heated from below.
You’ve glaciers dwarfing Alpine scenes, and fiords more wild
Than Norway boasts. When fashioned, God beheld and smiled.
“That Nature rather recklessly managed this country in early geological times is abundantly evident, but save the activity of the geysers and boiling lakes—which play for the amusement of visitors—and the occasional listing when some great personage steps too close to the edge, terra has been satisfactorily firma ever since the present managers were commissioned in the early ’90’s.
“In every natural feature, this is a country of boundless variety. In climate, it varies from Finland to Italy; and in production, by intelligent transplanting, most of the necessities of civilised life are here.”
Here the notes say the poetess Vauline inquired whether Mr. Oseba had not minutely described some of these marvellous scenes in his report. With reverential mien, the sage replied:—
“No, my children, to attempt this, were to profane the gift and the giver of speech. Only one who beholds these wonders can appreciate them. When confronted, the grandeur of the infinite may be felt by a sensitive soul, but through an interpreter all attempts fail. Beholding one scene, I uncovered and bowed my head in silence.[A] Words! they were meaningless.”
Yes, and I will help Mr. Oseba out, for I have observed these things, and I have read somewhere how some sort “rush in” where even the angels incline to hesitate.
The Painter came!
Folding his arms, he raised his drooping head, and gazed in awful thought.
He stood in rapturous dream; “Oh God, if I could grasp that scene, the noblest fame e’er bought
By toil were mine!” With eager hand he clutched the brush. With anxious eye
He gazed. Lo! the eye dimmed, the brain reeled, the hand fell, and with a sigh
He dropped the brush. In deep despair he turned and said, “Alas, good-bye!
’Tis an unpainted picture. Ye gods of solitude, good-bye!”