INTRODUCTION n 



It thus appears that in a land like this the pur- 

 suit of the rarer wild flowers need not be lacking 

 in manliness. If they do not run away, it is 

 because they are safe from all but the boldest, 

 who will blench at nothing, in some giddy place 

 which no blue hare could reach, and where no 

 mountain bird could perch. 



Where wild animals thin out towards the tops 

 of mountains until, it may be, only two are left, 

 wild plants climb on ahead, scaling everything by 

 the way, so that one who would follow them must 

 be at least as hardy as a ptarmigan shooter. No 

 scene so rude as to deter them, or so lofty as to keep 

 them back. If they are not higher, it is because 

 there is no greater height to reach. 



They are in all sorts of cunning places, where a 

 false step or too long a reach might be awkward. 

 They hide in the shadow of the boulder, or peep 

 from the crevice of the rock to see who may be the 

 strange visitor, in solitudes so seldom disturbed by 

 human footstep. 



And the results at the close of a long day, when 

 one has dropped down the mountain-side and per- 

 haps got into his slippers, are certainly not less a 



