320 
like ivy, and may be stripped off in large woody 
portions. By the rivulet, which issued in several 
streams from these caves, was a profusion of 4n- 
thericum calyculatum* and Leontodon aureum, with 
many other things equally uncommon, and in full 
bloom. 
“ dug. 14. Weall sallied forth on foot about five 
in the morning to ascend little Mount Cenis, one 
of the most considerable hills that front the hospi- 
tal on the other side of the lake. Pursuing a wind- 
ing path through the thickets, we came to a few 
cottages, in surely one of the most retired habitable 
spots in Europe, and which probably are seldom 
four months in the year uncovered with snow. Yet 
at this season who would not have envied their si- 
tuation? No lowland scenes can give an idea of 
the rich entangled foliage, the truly enamelled turf 
of the Alps. Here we were charmed with the pur- 
ple glow of Scutellaria alpina ; there the grass was 
studded with the vivid blue of innumerable Gentians, 
mixed with glowing Crowfoots, and the less osten- 
tatious Astrantia major and Savifraga rotundifolia, 
whose blossoms require a microscope to discover 
all their beauties; while the alpine rose, Rosa al- 
pina, bloomed on the bushes, and, as a choice gra- 
tification for the more curious botanist, under its 
shadow, by the pebbly margin of the lake, Carew 
capillaris presented itself. The riches of nature, 
both as to colour and form, which expand so lux- 
uriantly in tropical climates, seem here not dimi- 
nished but condensed. The further we ascended, 
* Tofiedia pallustris Fl. Brit., and Engl. Bot. vol. viii. t. 536. 
