THE FINEST SIGHTS IN THE WORLD.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 161, 31 March 1916, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE FINEST SIGHTS IN THE WORLD.

MAN'S v. NATURE'S MASTERPIECES. Probably no two people would be found to agree absolutely as xo what are the finest sights, the most magnificent, or impressive, or beautiful, that the world has to show, since no two people look with the same vision or are affected in the same way by things are visible to the eye. To many observers Nature's greatest and noblest work must ever be the masterpieces to the world's picture gallery, owing nothing to man's handiwork, speaking ever of the incomprehensible Creative Power to which man and Nature alike owe their being. Others are won to greater admiration by the finest fruits of finite genius, perhaps because of the human effort andt imagination that have gone to their making, and the human interest and story that cling about them, even m ruin and decay. And yet again some would award the palm to gems of man's creating in Nature's incomparable setting, as for example, he who first said "See Naples, and die." MOUNTAIN MASSES. But, whatever their ideas or mood, few would deny a place among the world's finest sights to certain scenes among the "everlasting hills."," where earth soars upwards in sweep.ng curves or upspringing peaks into the regions of eternal snow. Visitors to the Alps will recall scenes the majesty or sheer beauty of which thrills the heart and soul of the beholder with an intensity of admiration which is almost painful. Peak rises behind peak m majestic procession against the blue, capped by snow, cloaked with glacier ice, beautified by the whipped foam and crystal spray of waterfalls, the rugged grey granite amid the gleaming whiteness giving proof of the enduring strength at the heart of these mighty pictures of Nature's painting. Marvellous at all times, these scenes are of still greater beauty when touched to tints of rose and gold by an Alpine sunset, of more impressive grandeur when storm winds wrap the mountains a iout with ever-changing cloud and mist, while the snowy summits soar in calm serenity high above the storm. The Bernese Oberland seen from some distant peak, Mont Blanc from the Col de Brevent, Monta Rosa from the Italian side, are among the finest Alpine sights, but many others,' though less famous, are scarcely behind those in beauty. And scenes comparable with thes 3 in varying degrees are to be found in certain other of the world's n '>.i(irai:i districts. nil perhaps yielding place for sublime grandeur to the view of the great Everest from Tibet, "so stupendous in height, so dazzling in whiteness, so overpowering in size," that words fail, says one of the tew who have seen it, to convey any idea of its majesty. But for enchanting loveliness it is said that Everest and the other Himalayan sovereigns must bo.v before the lesser peak of Siniolc-hu in Sikkim, the most beautiful of all the known, peaks in the world, even as the Matterhorn in this respect outrivals higher mountains in the Alps. AMERICA'S NATURAL WONDERS. Of another sort are the great natural scenes which owe their outstanding qualities to the presence, or the pa<t action, of water. Iu Colorado the river of that name and its tributaries have carved out a great bare plateau :?ito a bewildering succession of pinnacks and towers, ridges and turrets, cliffs ana l buttes, of every conceivable form and gigantic size, reaching as far a.- the eye can see, the gorges or " caayoii 1 between seeming to go down into i'tie very heart of the earth. Finest of all, the Grand ( -d.jon is from teii to twelve miles wide at the top, narrowing gradually downwards, in a vicvession of gorges, until hidden in an .rn -s six to eight thousand feet below, the river itself its'reached, c-olc, dark, and forbidding, shut out from the sun. But on the wonderland of towers and pinnacles above, the sun blazes with splendour from a sky of unclouded blue, and its light, falling on the multi-coloured rocks which compose the plateau—showing every shade from soft cream tints to orange and deep chocolate brown, and pink to brilliant red—paints a scene suggesting some gorgeous vision conjured up by the art of an Eastern magician, overpowering in majesty as well as in splendour. Elsewhere also in the Western States it might well be thought that a magician had been at work, notab'y ia the fairyland of the Yellowstone Park, a wonderful region of canyons and cataracts, hot springs and great geysers, and beaiitiful terraces built up by the springs, where they come to the Surface. No finer sights are to be seen anywhere than some of those which meet the eye of the traveller iu this natural wonderland, so picturesquely vivid' in colouring, so infinite in variety, that no words can give an adequate idea of the scenes presented to the eye. Most beautiful of all the wonders of ih.Park are. the crystal "terraces" built up by the mineral springs which, flowing down the mountain slopes, form pools of different colours at different levels, and- border each with a mineral deposit taking infinitely beautiful forms as it accumulates. In process of time the deposits appear ... beautifullysculptured terraces of the loveliest and most varied tints imaginable. WATERFALLS. Very different sights are found where water descends in a great cataract from a higher to a lower level, and probabiy the finest of all such i* that of the descent of the Zambesi River in South Africa forming the Victoria Falls. Niagara, with all its wonders, is outrivalled in depth and 111 a lilicence by the mammoth African fa'i!- ; , in the first leap of which the great river, over a mile wide, shoots over m sheer cliff into a ravine four hundred feet de°p —more than twice the depth of Niagara—sending up great columns of spray visible at a distance of twenty miles. But the Victoria Falls, with all their unique grandeur, can show nothing to equal Niagara in winter, when the foaming waters are in the grip of King Fro--t, and the I'nlls, cliffs rocks trees, twigs, everything gleams white as if carved in the purest marb'e. When the sun shines, and the frost-crested trees wave their branches in the wind, it is as if thi v are set with d : amonds and gems of rainbow tints that linsn their myriad colours about the falls while the ereat icicle* that form on "very hanr.- susrgost the architectural effects of somp realm of dreams nfairyland. ITALIAN MASTEKPIECF?. Parsing from N:itn'-e'« v.-otW* to work* of irs!in'< creating, select ion «>f a few is difficult, so r n iny call forth bisrhest admiration The Cathedral Church of S. Mark in Venice, incom 'arable among European t-liiireh.-u fruits Fasten iewel-bke beauty, with tic famous Campanile (n«w in of restoration 1 ), and the Doge's Pn'ace--"a piece cf fantastic colour, as levelv

a dream as ever filled the imagination'' —together form what has been called the most beautiful architectural group to b e found in any city of Europe, or of the world. Quito different from the Byzantine loveliness of this group is the majestic stateliness of S. Peter's at Koine, the largest and 1 most imposing Christian church in th.o world, which was begun by Mic.iael Angelo. Details introduced into his design by later architects have taken away from the ~cl#ssic grace which would have made S. Peter's the most beautiful building of its kind, but the mighty dome, 44 feet higher than that of our own St. Paul's, is as the great artist designed it, and creates an ineffaceable impression when seen from a distance, dwarfing all else, near and far. The wonder of S. Peter's is enhanced by the Grand Piazza which it dominates —a vast circular open space, bordeied by rows of stone pillars, truly one of I the finest s'ghts -o be seen anywhere. With these, two of the many architectural masterpieces which Italy possesses, must be put Milan Cathedral, which the .Milanese describe as the Eighth Wonder of the World, a building entirely different from the other two, unique in its bewildei/lng Gotnic beauty . From the ground to the topmost of its almost innumerable clustering spires and pinnacles the white marble temple is a mass of beautiful and intricate tracery which fascinates the beholder, seizing and holding his imagination. Critics may describe it as over-ornate in its wealth of detail, but the ordinary observer, gazing ci its marvellous beauty, "jm--1 agination's very self in stone," as :t seems, is content to revel in this miracle of man's conceiving, and to b,c glad ttitlia that it is a shrine to the giory of his Creator. ROYAL PALACES. To come nearer htfme, the view of the grey old castleof Winusor. a massiv sive pile enthroned in solemn grandeur on the crest of an isolated hill, surrounded by the greenest of meadow and forest land, and enhanced in liveliness by the silver waters of the windl- - ing Thames, may well claim a place among the finest of the world's sights. Otner royal castles are splendid in architecture and majestic- in size, as, for example, the Escurial and the Palace of Versailles, but Windsor in its setting is incomparable. IN THE MEDITERRANEAN. Of more comprehensive sights Constantinople and Naples, as viewed from the sea, may certainly claim to rank among the finest, both being exceptionally " beautiful in situation." Constantinople Staniboul, as the Turks call it —has probably the finest approach of any city in the world, and the view of it obtained from a vessel willing up the Sea of Marmora is beautiful beyond description, the less pleasing details of the' interior being, of course, invisible. Built on an amphitheatre of seven hills, and set between the wonderful blues of Mediterranean waters —which flow round it on three sides —and sky, its innumerable cupolas, minarets, and soaring spires gleam whitely amid fexotic foliage and lofty cypresses, while over all broods something of the mystic glamour of the Orient which makes the modern Byzantium unique among European cities. Off its shores lie the nine PrinceV Islands, where the palaces and beautiful country houses of wealthy Greek nicichants set amid myrtles, pines, and cypresses. and these isles, rising "like jewels out of the blue waters," help to frame fitly the "Pearl of the Mediterranean." As beautiful in its way, though quite different, is the scene which meets the eye of the travellers approaching the Bay of Naples from the sea. Against, the intensely blue background of the sky rises the distant Apennines, their peaks capped with snow and gird'ed lower with the deep green of forests, which in turn g've place to pastures an:. l vineyards, orchards, olive gardens, orange groves, with villas and hamlets and towns scattered among them 1:1 picturesque confusion. The beautiful shores of the Bay sweep round in .1 great curve for fifty miles, with cuffs showing every variety of luxuriant southern vegetation, while ships ot many nations ride at anchor in the harbour. Vesuvius, with Pompeii and Herculaneum at its feet, -iomin.iU-s the eastern extremity, and Naples, the largest city of Italy, r'ses gradually inland around the northern curve, tie glorious whole making a scene orldfamous for its beauty.