332 WILD FLOWERS. 



comes. For this we must turn to the South Ameri- 

 can Pampas, where it springs up in one brief 

 summer's growth to a height of nine or ten feet j 

 and stretches out far, far beyond the limits that the 

 searching eye can reach, forming a level "sea of 

 thistles/' beneath whose giant stems the traveller, 

 on losing his way, is more completely at fault than 

 in the densest labyrinths of a tropical forest ; since 

 in them he could, at least, climb into the branches 

 to ascertain in what direction his route should lie ; 

 whilst in the thistle-thickets that chance of escape 

 is denied him, though the surrounding vegetation 

 rises far above both horse and rider.* In the once 

 fertile and smiling valleys of the Holy Land, too, the 

 thistles shoot up tall and strong, where of old the 

 fig-tree and the vine fruited amid the golden corn ;) 

 and on the great Russian steppes the peasant's hut 

 is reared beneath the shelter of the thistle : the 

 Perikatipole of the Russian, the "wind witch/' or 

 " leap-in-the-field," of the German colonist ; which, 

 after taking possession of every spot which the 

 plough or the spade leaves free by the most momen- 

 tary relaxation of toil, forms, in its stately sum- 

 mer splendour, the burian, so bitterly complained 

 of by native and settler. Shrivelled and dried up 

 in autumn, in such a manner that its stems con- 

 tract into a ball, while the roots loose their hold of 

 the earth, it suddenly becomes free, and rolls away 

 before the autumn blasts ; now bounding onwards 

 in fantastic and gigantic strides, now springing in 



* See Sir F. Head's " Pampas." 

 t See Dr. Clarke's "Travels," &c., &c. 



