ii To the Engstlen Alp once more 33 



brighter and sweeter flowers have survived, and these 

 have tended to become ever brighter and sweeter. 

 When I was here in June 1891, there were white 

 and purple crocuses, pansies great and small, great 

 carpets of pink primulas, purple auriculas which love 

 to gather in a cluster under some rock or bridge, 

 oxlips, forget-me-nots, globe-flowers, and gentians 

 light blue and dark blue, studding the ground every- 

 where. High up on the rocks and moraines it is the 

 plants that cluster and form cushions which have come 

 to the front in the competition ; nowhere else do you 

 find such masses of bright colour as in this highest 

 region of life. It looks almost as if the plants co- 

 operated with each other in good-will to do the work 

 of attraction : so lovingly and hopefully do they 

 gather in certain spots. 



The Engstlen Alp, which all these flowers deck in 

 early summer, is, I imagine, the terminal moraine of 

 an ancient glacier once descending from the range 

 of the Titlis, the bed of which is now in part 

 occupied by the beautiful Engstlen lake. The rough 

 and hillocky ground lying between the inn and the 

 lake betrays its origin pretty plainly ; it is now 

 covered with the alpine rhododendron, and on the 

 tops of the hillocks are pine - trees of immense 

 antiquity, each sitting on a stone, as Anderegg is 

 fond of pointing out. In these pines the birds take 

 great delight; Eing-ousels perch on the very top 



D 



