48 AFOOT THROUGH THE 



by tiny green frogs, which added a pleasantly moist 

 cool impression, the distance promised to be fulfilled 

 in the twinkling of an eye, rather than in the shaking 

 of a leg. Later on in the day when, after a noonday 

 rest, a steep descent had taken us into a sun-baked, 

 scorching valley, with no leaf of shade to protect from 

 the almost blinding reflection on smooth, hot boulders, 

 things wore a different aspect, and the way lengthened 

 itself interminably. The rushing streams, on whose 

 banks a delightful coolness had been found, soon 

 dwindled to mere threads lost in a vast bed of great 

 grey stones that reflected every glowing, burning ray. 

 Not a tree was to be seen, save an occasional stunted 

 willow, whose appearance I hailed with renewed energy 

 from a distance, approached slowly, lingered under, and 

 separated myself from sadly. The country of roses, 

 jessamine, and berberis had been left far behind, and 

 not a green thing relieved the weary eyes. The track 

 gave the impression of having been marked out by cattle 

 in wet weather and then left to its own resources, with 

 result that progress was a perpetual emotion. One 

 foot slid into a hole, much to the detriment of a fine 

 blister forming on the heel; the other in its efforts to 

 escape a stone fell in a rut. Stopping to give both time 

 to recover, the sun threatened to fire them, and, in 

 making a step forward, a hole hidden in the ground 

 revealed itself in the twisting of an ankle. It was 

 hardly with the alert, brisk step a pedestrian's pride- 

 that I entered the village of Vernag, but the mere 

 promise of its shady glades seen from afar off had put 

 fresh vigour into my movements, and coming to the 

 first of the pure ice-cold streams that make this place 

 so famous, I was quite prepared to forget all discom- 



