A BOTAXICAL SCRAMBLE. 241 



side but one, which looks down a long, deep, almost pathless valley into 

 Patterdale, and commands just a peep of fair Ullswater. 



Getting over from the Ghyll by which I ascended the path, or rather ^oay, 

 for there is no regular path, passing through a little wilderness of soft brown 

 bog earth, laid bare by the winters' floods, and holes covered with Spliagnum, 

 in which should the foot of the traveller unluckily light, he goes knee-deep 

 in water. Eushes, (Juncus effusus,) are in plenty, as well as a moderate 

 supply of Heather, (Calluna vulgaris,) and Hair Grass, (Aira ccespitosa,) and 

 by planting the foot in one of these tufts, and carefully drawing the other 

 after, we pass over even the worst parts without further inconvenience than 

 a wet shoe. I had got then by the side of the Tarn, and began alternately 

 to admire the scene, and repeat to myself Wordsworth's description of Red 



Tarn : — 



"It was a cave— a huge recess, 



That keeps till June December's snow; 

 A lofty precipice in front, 



A silent Tarn below. 

 Far in the bosom of HelvelljTi, 

 Remote from public road or dwelling, 

 Pathway or cultivated land, 

 From trace of human foot or hand." 



But I called to mind that the only poetry I had a right to think of in 

 that spot, was that of nature — that I had come to seek for plants, not poesy. 

 So without looking to see the ^sometimes' leaping fish, or even listening for 

 the lovely cheer' which they send round the Tarn, I addressed myself to 

 some rocks, which act as portals at a point where the Tarn sends forth a 

 merry stream to gladden the vale of Patterdale, and add its mite to the 

 Lake of Ullswater. Nor were my addresses saucily rejected. Two of the 

 prettiest and rarest of our Alpine plants rewarded my endeavours; the first 

 was the Alpine Meadow Rue, (Thalictrum alpinum,) but unfortunately it 

 was not in flower; I took with me however, a few of its delicate maiden-hair- 

 like leaves as a token of friendship. The Alpine Hawkweed, (Hieraciuvi 

 alpinum,) was the other prize yielded by this point, and by no means a 

 poor one. It has rarely more than one head of flowers, of a golden yellow, 

 surroimded by strap-shaped bracts of a darkish hue, covered over with hairs of 

 a silky whiteness, many of them at least half an inch in length. It is an old 

 belief, probably taking its origin in the usual habitat of the plants, or not 

 unlikely in the bright golden yellow of the eye-like flower, that Hawks fed 

 upon these for the purpose of sharpening their sight, and hence the common 

 name Hawkweed, as well as the generic title Hieracium from Hierax — a 

 Hawk. 



Still the chief object of my ambition was unattained. I had been informed 

 by an intelligent botanist, Mr. Flintoft, that the Silene acaulis grew on some 

 rocks rising to the left as we look down into Patterdale, and to pick, 

 for the first time, this little gem was my desire. To gain even the bottom 

 of those crags was no easy task, but I could have wished the diificulty doubled 



VOI-. II. 2 1 



