430 ALPINE AND ARCTIC PLANTS * 



ing cliffs have been thrown toward the centre of the valley, in 

 large piles of angular blocks of gneiss and mica slate, in the 

 spaces between which grow gnarled birches and spruces that 

 must be used as ladders and bridges whereby to scramble from 

 block to block, by every one who would cross or ascend one of 

 these rivers of stones. These " gulfs " of the White Mountains 

 are similar to the " cirques " of the Alps, and various explana- 

 tions have been given of their origin. To me they have always 

 appeared to be of the same nature with the " chines " or bays 

 with precipitous ends seen on rocky coasts, and which are pro- 

 duced by the action of the surf on the softer beds or veins of 

 rock. They testify to the raging of the waves for long ages 

 against the sides of what are now lofty mountains. This, we 

 know, must have occurred in the great Pleistocene submergence; 

 but in mountains so old as those now in question, it may have 

 in part been effected in previous periods. 



At the head of the ravine we paused to rest, to admire the 

 wild prospect presented by the ravine and its precipitous sides, 

 and to collect the numerous plants that flower on the surround- 

 ing slopes and precipices. Here, on the 19th of August, were 

 several large patches of snow, one of them about a hundred 

 yards in length. From the precipice at the head of the ravine 

 poured hundreds of litde rills, and several of them collecting 

 into a brook, had excavated in the largest mass of snow a long 

 tunnel or cavern with an arched and groined roof. Under the 

 front of this we took our mid-day meal, with the hot August 

 sun pouring its rays in front of us, and icy water gurgling among 

 the stones at our feet. Around the margin of the snow the 

 vegetation presented precisely the same appearances which 

 are seen in the low country in March and April, when the 

 snow banks have just disappeared — the old grass bleached 

 and whitened, and many perennial plants sending up blanched 

 shoots which had not yet experienced the influence of the 

 sunlight. 



