verdure than the meadows near Hellekis.
They go up to "the grottos," as they call the projecting masses of red
stone higher up, which, being thoroughly kneaded with petrifactions,
project from the declivity of the earth, and remind one of the
mouldering colossal tombs in the Campagna of Rome. Some are smooth and
rounded off by the streaming of the water, others bear the moss of
ages, grass and flowers, nay, even tall trees.

The travellers go from the forest road up to the top of Kinnakulla,
where a stone is raised as the goal of their wanderings. The traveller
reads in his guide-book about the rocky strata of Kinnakulla: "At the
bottom is found sandstone, then alum-stone, then limestone, and above
this red-stone, higher still slate, and lastly, trap." And, now that
he has seen this, he descends again, and goes on board. He has seen
Kinnakulla:--yes, the stony rock here, amidst the swelling verdure,
showed him one heavy, thick stone finger, and most of the travellers
think that they are like the devil, if they lay hold upon one finger,
they have the body--but it is not always so. The least visited side of
Kinnakulla is just the most characteristic, and thither will we go.

The road still leads us a long way on this side of the mountain, step
by step downwards, in long terraces of rich fields: further down, the
slate-stone peers forth in flat layers, a green moss upon it, and it
looks like threadbare patches in the green velvet carpet. The high
road leads over an extent of ground where the slate-stone lies like a
firm floor. In the Campagna of Rome, one would say it is a piece of
_via appia_, or antique road; but it is Kinnakulla's naked skin and
bones that we pass over. The peasant's house is composed of large
slate-stones, and the roof is covered with them; one sees nothing of
wood except that of the door, and above it, of the large painted
shield, which states to what regiment the soldier belongs who got this
house and plot of ground in lieu of pay.

We cast another glance over Venern, to Lockoe's old palace, to the town
of Lendkjobing, and are again near verdant fields and noble trees,
that cast their shadows over Blomberg, where, in the garden, the poet
Geier's spirit seeks the flower of Kinnakulla in his grand-daughter,
little Anna.

The plain expands here behind Kinnakulla; it extends for miles around,
towards the horizon. A shower stands in the heavens; the wind has
increased: see how the rain falls to the gr