ON MOUNTAINS AND MANKIND. 351 



wliidi fiv(nuMits llic Aljis. despises (he Caucasus, reappears in masses 

 in tlu> Tliniahiya, and then, leii|)in<r all (he isles of the Tropics, turns 

 up again undei' (he snows of New Zealand. T may men(ion that it is 

 a suporstidon tha( i( grows only in dangerous places. I have of(en 

 found it whei-e cows can crop it; it covers acres in the Ilinialaya, and 

 I belioA'e it has been driven by cows oif the Alpine pastures, as it is 

 being drix'en by (ouris(s ou( of (he Ali)s altogether. 



The Italian bo(anis(s, Monsieurs I^evier and Soinniier, have given a 

 vivid account of what they call the nudvi-otlora of (he Cend-al Cau- 

 casus — (hose wild-flower beds, in wliich a man and a horse may 

 literally be lost to sight, the product of sudden heat on a rich and sod- 

 den soil composed of the vegetable mold of ages. Has any compe- 

 tent hand celebrated the mikroflora of the highest ridges, those tiny, 

 vivid forget-me-nots and gentians and ranunculuses that flourish on 

 rock-island " Jardins " like that of Mont Blanc, among the eternal 

 snows, and enamel the highest rocks of the Basodano and the Lom- 

 bard Alps? A comprehensive work (m a comparison of mountain 

 flora and the distribution of Alpine plants throughout the ranges of 

 the Old ^Vorld would be welcome. We want another John Ball. 

 Allied to botany is forestry, and the influence of trees on rainfall, and 

 consequently on the face of the mountains, a matter of great impor- 

 tance, Avhich in this country has hardly had the attention it deserves. 



From these brief suggestions as to some of the physical features of 

 mountains I would ask you to turn your attention to the points in 

 which mankind come in contact with them, and first of all to History. 



I fancy that the general impression that they have served as efficient 

 barriers is hardly in accordance with facts, at any rate from the mili- 

 tary point of view. Hannibal, Caesar. Charles the Great, and Napo- 

 leon passed the Alps successfully. Hannibal, it is true, had some 

 difficulty, but then he was handicapped with elephants. The Holy 

 Koman Emperors constantly moved forwards and backwards. Bur- 

 gundy, as the late Mr. Freeman was never weary of insisting, lay 

 across the Alps. So till our own day did the dominions of the House 

 of Savoy. North Italy has been in frequent connectit)ii Avith (xer- 

 many ; it is only in my own time that the Alps have become a frontier 

 between France and Italy. But questions of this kind might lead us 

 too far. Let me suggest that some conqjetent hand should compose 

 a history of the Alpine passes and their famous passages, more com- 

 plete than the treatises that have appeared in Germany. Mr. Cool- 

 idge, to whom we OAve so much, has. in his monumental collection and 

 reprint of early Aljune writers just publislied, thrown great light on 

 the extensive use of what I may call the by-passes of the Alps in early 

 times. Will he not follow up his work' by treating of the great passes? 

 I nun' note that the result of the construction of carriage roads over 

 some of them was to concentrate trallic; thus tlie Monte Moro and the 



