136 WILD FLOWERS OF SCOTLAND 



and is well-nigh as graceful and delicately-tinted 

 as the wild flower which seemed so charming to 

 Linnaeus. The difference in appearance may be 

 because the one grows under shelter, and the 

 other in such places as stunt the growth. 



The colour was pale the result, no doubt, of 

 exposure to the sea breeze, whichever way the 

 wind blows. Some of the bells were white. The 

 same bleaching process appeared in the purple 

 scabious, the crimson ragged robin, and the violet 

 self-heal. All showed many white flowers. 



The scene was unrelieved. No trees were 

 visible. The crofters' houses, dotted down here 

 and there, only increased the impression of bare- 

 ness they were so rude themselves. 



" I very much long for trees," said one who had 

 never left the island. " If I were not so old " he 

 was beyond the four score " I should go south yet." 



It seems strange how one gets accustomed to 

 anything. After the first few days I was not 

 conscious of the want. 



Immediately round the crofts, were patches 

 reclaimed from the universal moor. The cereals 

 were oats, and bere a six-rowed form of barley. 

 These strips, sparsely covered as they were, 

 frequently came out in vivid contrast to their 



