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Show 216 TEAVELS AND ADVENTUEES IN THE FAE WEST tains would afford sustenance to thousands of cattle and sheep. 23d.-The weather last night was cool and delightful. This morning we left camp at half past seven o'clock, and followed the road in the centre of the valley meadow, to the base of a picturesque mountain, studded with large cedars and umbrageous foliage. The meadow formed a perfect carpet of various colored flowers, among which were larkspurs, lupines, and many varieties of wild flowers which I have never before seen. I have gathered and preserved specimens of those I considered most valuable. The contrast of the colors of prairie flowers, as they are thrown carelessly on nature's carpet, is truly wonderful ; the greatest harmony prevails-you see the yellow and purple, green and red, orange and blue, arranged always in j nxtaposition, producing the primitive colors of a ray of light, through which medium only we are able to distinguish them. The ancient masters always produced harmony in their pictures because they closely studied nature; at the same time, they could not have known the science of colors, as there is no work extant on the theory of colors, when Raphael or Titian lived. Modern researches have discovered the reasons why nature is thus harmoniously beautiful in all her varied dresses. The works of modern artists, therefore, should he always correctly delineated, as they not only have the same nature to study from as the ancients had, but science has assisted them with theoretical problems, founded on scientific investigations, in the different branches of Natural Philosophy. |