of peaks which look as fledglings to their mother towards the
mighty Dom. Then come the repellent crags of Mont Cervin; the ideal of
moral savagery, of wild untameable ferocity, mingling involuntarily with
our contemplation of the gloomy pile. Next comes an object, scarcely
less grand, conveying, it may be, even a deeper impression of majesty
and might than the Matterhorn itself--the Weisshorn, perhaps the most
splendid object in the Alps. But beauty is associated with its force,
and we think of it, not as cruel, but as grand and strong. Further to
the right the great Combin lifts up his bare head; other peaks crowd
around him; while at the extremity of the curve round which our gaze has
swept rises the sovran crown of Mont Blanc. And now, as day sinks,
scrolls of pearly clouds draw themselves around the mountain crests,
being wafted from them into the distant air. They are without colour of
any kind; still, by grace of form, and as the embodiment of lustrous
light and most tender shade, their beauty is not to be described."[47]

VOLCANOES

Volcanoes belong to a totally different series of mountains.

It is practically impossible to number the Volcanoes on our earth.
Humboldt enumerated 223, which Keith Johnston raised to nearly 300.
Some, no doubt, are always active, but in the majority the eruptions are
occasional, and though some are undoubtedly now extinct, it is
impossible in all cases to distinguish those which are only in repose
from those whose day of activity is over. Then, again, the question
would arise, which should be regarded as mere subsidiary cones and which
are separate volcanoes. The slopes of Etna present more than 700 small
cones, and on Hawaii there are several thousands. In fact, most of the
very lofty volcanoes present more or less lateral cones.

The molten matter, welling up through some fissure, gradually builds
itself up into a cone, often of the most beautiful regularity, such as
the gigantic peaks of Chimporazo, Cotopaxi (Fig. 21), and Fusiyama, and
hence it is that the crater is so often at, or very near, the summit.

[Illustration: Fig. 21.--Cotopaxi.]

Perhaps no spectacle in Nature is more magnificent than a Volcano in
activity. It has been my good fortune to have stood more than once at
the edge of the crater of Vesuvius during an eruption, to have watched
the lava seething below, while enormous stones were shot up high into
the air. Such a spectacle can never be forgotten.

Th