A SWISS INTERLUDE ,6; 



4000 feet in an hour and a quarter, to Saxon in the 

 Rhone valley, a truly alarming experience. The " luge " 

 or sledge is supported in front by a strong mountaineer 

 who prevents it from " hurtling " down at breakneck speed, 

 topsy-turvy. As the avoidance of such a catastrophe 

 depends on the strength and the sureness of foot of 

 this individual, travelling by " luges " is not to be 

 recommended in summer, however agreeable it may be 

 when the mountain side is covered with snow. In 

 the woods near Pierre-a-voir we found another member 

 of the Heath family, looking like a lily rather than a 

 heath, the sweet-scented winter-green with its large 

 single white flower (Pirola uniflora), and on the rocks 

 on open ground masses of the pink flowers of the little 

 rock soap-wort (Saponaria ocymoides). The curious 

 tall, big-leaved composite with only three purple florets 

 to a head, the Adenostyles albifrons, was here much 

 in evidence. We were too early for the flowers of the 

 pretty little creeping plant allied to the honeysuckle 

 which the great Linnaeus asked his friend Gronovius to 

 name after him, the Linnaea borealis, though we had 

 been told that it grows in this neighbourhood. 



Then we spent five days at Glion and on the in- 

 comparable Lake of Geneva, never wearied of gazing at 

 the changing mysterious lights and colours (sapphire, 

 emerald, and silver) of its vast and restful expanse. 



The question often is asked, " Why is it that the 

 same species of flower is brighter and stronger in colour 

 when growing high up in the Alps than when growing 

 in the lowlands and in our own country ? " The fact is 

 admitted ; the blues of the blue-bells (Campanula), the 

 bugloss, the forget-me-nots, the crimsons and purples of 

 the geraniums and the pinks and the campions, and many 



