132 THE MOUNTAIN. 



which, at this season, it so much needed. What 

 a commentary have we here on the passage, 

 " There went up a mist from the earth, and 

 watered the whole face of the ground ! " 



In a kind of ravine, or rather hollow, among 

 the rocks, not very far from the mountain's top, 

 we fell in with a large mass of snow, the appear- 

 ance of which was most strange under such a 

 scorching sun as that to which we were then ex- 

 posed. It was not soft and opaque snow, such 

 as we generally find lying on the ground in the 

 winter ; but was composed of large, hard, and 

 clear crystals, resembling hail. Its surface ex- 

 tended over many square yards, and it seemed 

 in some places to be from ten to twenty feet deep. 

 The foliage of the small plants in the immediate 

 neighbourhood, which, to all appearance, had but 

 recently been uncovered, had, as might be ex- 

 pected, suffered much from their protracted ex- 

 posure to wet and cold, and from the absence of 

 light; but their vital powers were evidently not 

 in the least impaired. This was remarkably ex- 

 emplified in a species of Moss * which grew abun- 

 dantly on the very verge of the snow, and, to all 

 appearance, had only been a few days uncovered. 

 The leaves investing the lower portion of the stem 

 were nipped, and of a dingy, blackish-green hue ; 

 but every stem was surmounted by a vigorous 

 bright shoot, which seemed to make up for the time 

 lost under its cold envelope by the rapidity of its 



frowth now that it was restored to heat and light, 

 could readily believe the statements made by 

 travellers of the amazingly short time w T hich 

 elapses in Northern regions between the thawing 



* Bartramiajbntana. 



