Wanderings of a Naturalist 



selves fighting our way upwards against a full gale of wind 

 and blinding clouds of spindrift. At first the snow melted 

 as it fell, revealing many plants of the purple mountain saxi- 

 frage in full bloom and holding up their flowers bravely to 

 the storm. One cannot but wonder that this beautiful Alpine 

 plant should choose as its flowering period the very moment 

 the winter's snows have disappeared from the hills. Such dis- 

 appearance is almost always a temporary one only, and the 

 hills a fortnight later have too often assumed their winter 

 mantle once more, burying deep the rich flowers of Saxifraga 

 oppositifolia in their icy covering. As we pressed onwards we 

 noted that luxuriant shrubs of boxwood — Buxus sempervirens 

 — ^still held themselves above the snow, but soon we were 

 moving slowly and painfully across an unbroken mantle of 

 white, with the drift so thick that it was impossible to see 

 any distance ahead. We were encrusted with ice from head 

 to foot — even breathing was difficult owing to the violence 

 of the gale. The snow, too, was soft, and this added greatly 

 to the difficulties of the journey. But, at length, thanks to 

 skilful guiding, the frontier was gained — where, so great 

 was the force of the wind, the ground had been swept almost 

 bare of snow — and towards evening the village of Gavarnie 

 was reached and the country of the snows left for a season. 



lO 



