33G

DOMESTIC MANNEltS OF THE PKUSSIANS.

equal tliose of either tlie lochs of Scotland or the Cumberlandlakes in beauty.

After a time, however, tlie distant Alps begin to maketheir appearance; and on a brigbt clear day, towards tlie endof the autumn, the summits of the higher mountains maybe seen with their cap of snow, white and billowy as cumulus-clouds; while the fertility of the Swiss and German shoresserves, with the fresh colours of the Vegetation, to com-pensate for their level character.

Then the Lake itself is always a more or less pleasing ob-ject—with the busy steamers traversing its surface, andthe sound of the paddle-wheels for ever pulsing like a heartacross the broad expanse of water, and the little pleasure-boats dancing in the distant light like summer insects; whilethe mirror-like surface of the immense pool seems as ifscratched here and there with the long trail of the passingboats, and the grey-brown plume of smoke from some far-offsteamer hangs over the water like an enormous wraith ofcobweb in the air.

Then there are the lovely nights, when the moon convertsthe entire lake into one large plate of burnished silver; and thevillages on the opposite shore are like so many knote of fire-flies,with their many lights; and the distant hüls seem like monsterspectres in the sky. Occasionally, at such times, when thenight-breeze is chilled with its sweep across the Alpine snow,as well as the broad expanse of water over which it has totravel, the sirocco pours its warm and pleasant breath—sud-den as a burst of sunlight — upon the cheek, touching it withexquisite softness, and feeling as beautifully tepid as if theframe had been steeped, all of an instant, in a bath of newmilk. At the upper part of the Lake, where the expianse isnarrowed, the sirocco has considerable force, and bursts soabruptly over the water that it becomes dangerous to small