noon
Some of the channels bore a dry moss , and some of the rocks a few lichens almost as hard as themselves . The air , once `` filled with pleasant noise of waters , '' was silent as death . It took me the whole day to reach the patch , -- which I found indeed a forest -- but not a rudiment of brook or runnel had I crossed ! Yet through the glowing noon I seemed haunted by an aural mirage , hearing so plainly the voice of many waters that I could hardly believe the opposing testimony of my eyes . The sun was approaching the horizon when I left the river-bed , and entered the forest . Sunk below the tree-tops , and sending his rays between their pillar-like boles , he revealed a world of blessed shadows waiting to receive me . I had expected a pine-wood , but here were trees of many sorts , some with strong resemblances to trees I knew , others with marvellous differences from any I had ever seen .