" Oh, how canst thou renounce the boundless store, 



Of charms, which Nature to her votary yields ? 



The warbling woodland, the resounding shore, 



The pomp of groves, and garniture of fields ; 



All that the genial ray of morning gilds, 



And all that echoes to the song of even, 



All that the mountain's sheltering bosom shields ! 



And all the dread magnifience of Heaven, 



Oh, how canst thou renounce, and hope to be forgiven ?" 



Here, all around, were beautiful mosses and masses of 

 fern beech, oak, blechnums growing in great luxuriance 

 and apparently undisturbed for a generation : but these are 

 seldom found at this altitude. Vaccinium vitis idcza (the 

 whortleberry) a rare alpine shrub, but almost invisibly nest- 

 ling amongst the grass, grows over this range of mountains. 

 This and other rare plants including salix herbacea, the 

 smallest tree in the world are found growing on the summit 

 of Scawfell ; also, in some of the deep ravines and ghylls 

 of this mountain, are found some of our rarest alpine plants, 

 especially saxifragaceae (or stone break), sax. oppositifolia, 

 sax. azoides, nival is, hypnoides, stellaris, thalictrum minus, 

 and alpinum (rue), oxyria reniformis ; also, Saussurea 

 alpina (named after Saussure, who made the first ascent of 

 Mont Blanc in 1777), and arbutus uva-ursi (bears whortle- 

 berry bearing white flowers). Rare ferns are found among 

 these silurian rocks, especially asplenium germanicum, 

 asp. septentrionale, asp. viride, cystopteris regia, cys. montana, 

 and the holly fern {polystichum lonchUis). 



Upon reaching the lowlands, in the swamps, are the 

 carnivorous and insectivorous plants drosera rotundifolia 

 (native sundew), pinguicula vulgaris (butterwort). These 

 we find growing to perfection on the western side of 

 Denventwater, and this is not only attributable to more 

 moisture but also to a more abundant supply of insects, 

 which are trapped by the hair-like glands, and devoured 

 thus sustaining the plant. The hair-like glands of drosera 

 contain spiral vessels, and cause the irritability of these 



