nd of tributary
rivers, the latter has the blue and limpid element of a deep sea. In these
distinctions, I take no account of ragged and rocky mountains, with the
indescribable play of golden and rosy light upon their broken surfaces,
nor of a coast that teems with the recollections of three thousand years!"

"I fear to question more. But surely our skies may be mentioned, even by
the side of those you vaunt?"

"Of the skies, truly, you have more reason to be confident. I remember
that standing on the Capo di Monte, which overlooks the little,
picturesque, and crowded beach of the Marina Grande, and Sorrento, a spot
that teems with all that is poetic in the fisher man's life, he of whom I
have spoken, once pointed to the transparent vault above, and said, 'There
is the moon of America!' The colors of the rocket were not more vivid than
the stars that night, for a Tramontana had swept every impurity from the
air, far upon the neighboring sea. But nights like that are rare, indeed,
in any clime! The inhabitants of low latitudes enjoy them occasionally;
those of higher never."

"And then our flattering belief, that these western sunsets rival those of
Italy, is delusion?"

"Not so, lady. They rival, without resembling. The color of the etui, on
which so fair a hand is resting, is not softer than the hues one sees in
the heavens of Italy. But if your evening sky wants the pearly light, the
rosy clouds, and the soft tints which, at that hour, melt into each other,
across the entire vault of Napoli, it far excels in the vividness of the
glow, in the depth of the transitions, and in the richness of colors.
Those are only more delicate, while these are more gorgeous! When there
shall be less exhalation from your forests, the same causes may produce
the same effects. Until then, America must be content to pride herself on
an exhibition of nature's beauty, in a new, though scarcely in a less
pleasing, form."

"Then they who come among us from Europe, are but half right, when they
deride the pretensions of our bay and heavens?"

"Which is much nearer the truth than they are wont to be, on the subject
of this continent. Speak of the many rivers, the double outlet, the
numberless basins, and the unequalled facilities of your Manhattan harbor;
for in time, they will come to render all the beauties of the unrivalled
bay of Naples vain: but tempt not the stranger to push the comparison
beyond. Be grateful for your skies, lady, fo