120 ALPINE FLOWERS [PART I. 



inhabitants of which were as much surprised as ourselves at 

 the sudden fall of snow early in June, and we reached Saas just 

 as night was falling. By this time nearly a foot of snow had 

 fallen on the corn, already far advanced in the ear. 



As the country for miles around was covered with a dense 

 bed of snow, my hopes of seeing the plants of the high Alps in 

 this region were over ; and rather than return by the same long 

 and dreary valley, I determined to cross the Alps and descend 

 into the sunny valleys of Piedmont, where we should, at all 

 events, probably see some traces of vegetable life. 



An Alpine Stream 



Next day we set out for Mattmark, nearly 9 miles from 

 Saas, more than 7,000 feet higher than the sea-level, and above 

 the level of the Pine or any exalted vegetation. Only a few 

 spots under ledges, etc., were bare, but we found many well- 

 known plants, as well as the rare Ranunculus glacialis in full 

 beauty, some of the flowers measuring nearly an inch and a half 

 across. Near where we found this, a great sea-green arch 

 shows the end of a large glacier, apparently a wide and deep 

 river of ice beneath a field of snow, except where in places 

 it is riven into glass-green crevasses. We have to skirt this 

 field of ice to reach Mattmark, where there is a lake, the over- 

 flow from which passes right under the glacier. 



Lloydia serotina we met with in great abundance in the 



