404 NOTES OF A BOTANICAL TOUR 
deep enough to be screened from the wind which swept over 
its summit edge, the climate was changed into a pleasant 
hothouse warmth, by the heat of the ground and the steam 
which rose from it. Here I felt quite comfortably warm 
while sitting on the rock without a coat, my own having 
been transferred as an outside coat to Captain Vidal, whose 
observations with the theodolite obliged him to stand on 
the exposed summit. He had made the ascent in a thin and 
light jacket, which had been exchanged for a coat of woollen 
cloth, before taking his exposed position ; but after the heat 
and exertion of the ascent, the breeze of the summit would 
have made a thick cloak welcome, although the sun shone 
clear and the ground was warm. 
On arriving at the summit, we had divided and drunk 
the bottle of cyder, and found it little enough for six parched 
tongues, and for lips painful from excessive thirst. But 
after remaining so long about the summit, the small flask of 
whisky had become at least equally valuable as another bottle 
of cyder might have been deemed, could it have been offered 
tous. The painful thirst, and intense longing for cool or 
bland drinks, such as cyder or milk, again returned in full 
intensity as we descended towards the spot at which we had 
rested for lunch, and near to which our sleeping ground was 
to be chosen for the night. The dark and steep sides of 
the hill, where there was so much bare rock, caught the rays 
of the declining sun, like a wall, as we descended the north- 
western declivity, and thus kept up the heat till sun-set. 
While descending from the summit I felt too much wear- 
ied and worn out for botanical observations: indeed, I had 
scarcely an eye for any thing except spots which appeared in 
the distanee likely to produce water, and for which I was 
vainly looking around at every downward step. Small chan- 
nels were occasionally crossed, through which water had 
been flowing earlier in the season, but now all was dry and 
parched. Six weeks before, M. Dabney had sent a party of 
men to the summit, to obtain snow for a sick friend, and 
they had then procured some; but all trace of snow was 
