Among the Celestials : vol.1 / Page 49 (Grayscale High Resolution Image)

0049	Among the Celestials : vol.1

CHAP. 1.] A UNIQUE LAIE. 25

The waters were of a deep clear blue, ever

changing in intensity of colour, and situated

here at the very summit of a mountain, and

held in one every side by frowning precipices,

this lake was unique in character as well as

position. We tried to descend to its brim,

but could find no way down the cliffs ; so,

after boiling a thermometer to ascertain the

altitude, I set out to ascend the highest of the

rocky peaks which formed a fringe around it.

The climb was a stiff one, and the risk of

crashing down with one of the rocks into the

deep lake almost directly beneath me not

always remote ; but at length each successive

rocky obstacle had been negotiated, and I

succeeded in reaching the summit the very

top of the Ever-White Mountain and from

there looked out over a billowy expanse of

forest-clad hills stretching away on every side,

as far as the eye could reach ; on the one side

over Manchuria, and on the other over Corea ;

nothing but forest, except where the lake below

me lay like a sapphire in a setting of rock, and

it was only by this and by occasional glints

of the river that the vast expanse of green was

broken.

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