THE HILL SCENERY 67 



purples of the hills to an ethereal brilliancy. In 

 places they coalesced, and laid themselves athwart 

 the tops in rosaries of tiny clouds, strung on in- 

 visible threads ; again some grim old peak would 

 stand above them grey and lonely, emphatic of 

 their symmetry and colour. Far below, blanketing 

 the main valley, white masses gathered, and shut 

 it from our sight. The larches and hill-grasses held 

 a myriad subdued points of light, as though winter 

 had on a sudden come and a chill morning's hoar 

 frost greeted us, not the remnants of a long, wet 

 day. The hills were of an extraordinary steep- 

 ness. Grassy ledges sheltered amid the rocks, and 

 from far, far below came the hollow roar of many 

 waters. A woodpecker tapped industriously. 

 From behind a rock-splintered crag an eagle 

 swung. Rotting stumps and moss-grown boulders 

 lay amid the flowers. Birch, rowan, larch, fir, 

 huge currant bushes, and other shrubs made 

 variety with gigantic rhododendrons. Here and 

 there an entire hill-side would be covered with 

 the latter, at times straggly and overgrown, but 

 more generally of an uniform size, seven or eight 

 feet in height. Azaleas gleamed amid the rocks, 

 the mountains in May and June presenting such 

 a blaze of colour as no country in the world could 

 equal. Intersecting dense thickets wound the 

 narrow, unseen paths of woodmen. On the rocky 

 promontories overlooking each gully and chasm 

 sweet-scented myrtle grew thick ; flowers mingled 

 with banks of wild strawberries in a riot of colour ; 

 about them hovered butterflies by the score. 



To the west lay a large basin, its salient feature 

 a series of enormous slides of rock, grey and 



