452 WILD FLOWERS OF 



more interesting route from Capel Cerig. Hain had 

 fallen in the early morning, and water was in many 

 places weeping over the slippery precipices. Llyn 

 Llwdaw, on which I looked down, curiously tinted, 

 seemed a sable abyss girdled with dull green, and 

 beyond it towered the bare precipitous rocks of Crib 

 Coch, while another little lake still higher was frowned 

 into darkness by the cliffs about it. The peak of 

 Snowdon was clear in front, and our party hurried on 

 over the slippery ground ; but ere we could reach its 

 base, an enormous cloud descended, and the mist crept 

 down enveloping every thing. A few openings into 

 the scene below like snatches of happiness midst 

 clouds of sorrow a few breaks through the spiteful 

 fogs of destiny, pourtraying glittering lakes, bright 

 vales, and cliffs and heights of noble sublimity when 

 the curtain of cloud was for a moment lifted up was 

 all we could boast of that day as our prospect from 

 Snowdon.* " Such is life' it may be truly said, nor 

 have I been exempted from cloudy passages in my 

 numerous mountain excursions in fact, vaporous out- 

 pourings have scurvily treated me, and too often 

 pitylessly overwhelmed me. The very last time I was 

 beneath the brows of Snowdon, rain remorselessly 

 poured upon my head, and pursued me from Llanberis 



* Enveloping; fog and dreary mist, is too often the experience of the 

 disappointed wanderer on our British mountains. Mr. J. BACKHOUSE, 

 jun., has described an excursion on Helvellyn in the P/iytologist, where he 

 says " when we reached the summit of the mountain we were completely 

 enveloped with fog and cloud, so that we could see nothing but the upper 

 part of the deep gorges and chasms in the precipitous cliffs with which 

 the top of the mountain is faced. We therefore made our way against 

 wind and rain down to Grisedale Tarn." I refer to this excursion as re- 

 cording the occurrence of some fine tufts of the rare Cerastium alpinum 

 upon Striding Edge, found there by Mr. TATH AM. Striding Edge is said to 

 be the best locality for plants upon Helvellyn. 



