THE SAXIFRAGES 211 



vantage, rooting themselves wherever they could 

 find a sprinkling of soil or a crack in the rock. 

 Thus snow plants were changed into alpines. 



At length they reached an altitude where 

 they could defy competition. There they have 

 remained from that distant time till now, and 

 there they will remain so long as they are 

 fairly dealt by. Districts where the land was 

 mainly flat, or the heights were only moderate, 

 less, say, than two thousand feet, gave no 

 refuge to the first comers against their pursuers. 

 Those that ventured to climb were caught as in 

 a trap, and killed out. Such places number no 

 alpines in their flora. 



But Forfar, Aberdeen, and Perth, chiefly near 

 where the three counties meet, offered the heights 

 of Monega, Mad Crag, Lochnagar, and, a little 

 farther off, Ben Lawers, together with such stern 

 defiles as Caenlochan, Caenness, and Glen Doile. 

 Therefore it comes to pass that we are so rich 

 in hill plants. 



Certain of the fugitives planted garrisons or 

 contingents on the hills by the way, while the 

 main body followed on the track of the ice, 

 after it had left our land bare from Tweed to 

 Shetland. Chief among such were the saxifrages, 



