In This He Laid Me Gently
Down, And Taking Off His Enormous Hat, Commenced Farming Me With
Great Assiduity.
By degrees I revived, and after having rested for
a considerable time, I again attempted the ascent, which, with the
assistance of my guide, I at length accomplished.
We were now standing at a great altitude between two bays: the
wilderness of waters before us. Of all the ten thousand barks
which annually plough those seas in sight of that old cape, not one
was to be descried. It was a blue shiny waste, broken by no object
save the black head of a spermaceti whale, which would occasionally
show itself at the top, casting up thin jets of brine. The
principal bay, that of Finisterra, as far as the entrance, was
beautifully variegated by an immense shoal of sardinhas, on whose
extreme skirts the monster was probably feasting. From the
northern side of the cape we looked down upon a smaller bay, the
shore of which was overhung by rocks of various and grotesque
shapes; this is called the outer bay, or, in the language of the
country, Praia do mar de fora: a fearful place in seasons of wind
and tempest, when the long swell of the Atlantic pouring in, is
broken into surf and foam by the sunken rocks with which it
abounds. Even in the calmest day there is a rumbling and a hollow
roar in that bay which fill the heart with uneasy sensations.
On all sides there was grandeur and sublimity. After gazing from
the summit of the Cape for nearly an hour we descended.
On reaching the house where we had taken up our temporary
habitation, we perceived that the portal was occupied by several
men, some of whom were reclining on the floor drinking wine out of
small earthen pans, which are much used in this part of Galicia.
With a civil salutation I passed on, and ascended the staircase to
the room in which we had taken our repast. Here there was a rude
and dirty bed, on which I flung myself, exhausted with fatigue. I
determined to take a little repose, and in the evening to call the
people of the place together, to read a few chapters of the
Scripture, and then to address them with a little Christian
exhortation. I was soon asleep, but my slumbers were by no means
tranquil. I thought I was surrounded with difficulties of various
kinds amongst rocks and ravines, vainly endeavouring to extricate
myself; uncouth visages showed themselves amidst the trees and in
the hollows, thrusting out cloven tongues and uttering angry cries.
I looked around for my guide, but could not find him; methought,
however, that I heard his voice down a deep dingle. He appeared to
be talking of me. How long I might have continued in these wild
dreams I know not. I was suddenly, however, seized roughly by the
shoulder and nearly dragged from the bed. I looked up in
amazement, and by the light of the descending sun I beheld hanging
over me a wild and uncouth figure; it was that of an elderly man,
built as strong as a giant, with much beard and whiskers, and huge
bushy eyebrows, dressed in the habiliments of a fisherman; in his
hand was a rusty musket.
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