They all gazed at the river, chatting, but their conversation was now and again interrupted by long pauses.
The day was clear and bright and young, as in spring.

The cold, clear sky stretched itself majestically over the turbid water of the gigantically-wide, overflowing river, which was as calm as the sky and as vast as the sea.

The distant, mountainous shore was tenderly bathed in bluish mist.

Through it, there, on the mountain tops, the crosses of churches were flashing like big stars.

The river was animated at the mountainous shore; steamers were going hither and thither, and their noise came in deep moans toward the rafts and into the meadows, where the calm flow of the waves filled the air with soft and faint sounds.
Gigantic barges stretched themselves one after another against the current, like huge pigs, tearing asunder the smooth expanse of the river.