68 THE FERN PARADISE. 



rugged moorlands. It is really almost impossible 

 to express in words the keen sense of enjoy- 

 ment which is experienced during so delightful 

 a ramble as this river-side path affords. 



You thread a narrow path along a grassy 

 sward. Beneath, the soft, verdant carpeting is 

 thickly strewn with wild flowers ; above you a 

 delightful canopy formed of the interlaced branches 

 of trees, through which the screened sunlight 

 softly falls. On your right a high embankment, 

 leading up to a higher path on the hill-side, from 

 out of which hang tufts of fern-fronds, mingled 

 in charming variety. Down to your left rolls 

 the river, whose music joins in chorus with the 

 songs of the birds, singing, you know not where, 

 but everywhere around you. As you follow this 

 charming river-side path, you have from time to 

 time to press through the dense masses of 

 shrubs which surround you, now hanging down 

 overhead, now springing out from the left, and 

 now from the right side. The small, but startling, 

 incidents of the route add a sort of piquancy to 

 the enjoyment The sudden flutter and the wild 



