FAR AND NEAR 



houses, or for flocks and herds and other signs of 

 human occupancy; but they were not there. One 

 high mountain that cut into the valley at right angles 

 had a long, easy ridge, apparently as sharp as the 

 ridge-board of a building. I marked it for my own 

 and thought to set my feet upon it, but the way was 

 too beguiling, and I did not get there. The moun- 

 tain looked as though it had just had a priming- 

 coat of delicate green paint. 



But the mighty emerald billow that rose from the 

 rear of the village, — we all climbed that, some of us 

 repeatedly. From the ship it looked as smooth as a 

 meadow, but the climber soon found himself knee 

 deep in ferns, grasses, and a score of flowering 

 plants, and now and then was forced to push through 

 a patch of alders as high as his head. He could not 

 go far before his hands would be full of flowers, blue 

 predominating. The wild geranium here is light 

 blue, and tinges the slopes as daisies and buttercups 

 do at home. Near the summit w^ere patches of a most 

 exquisite forget-me-not of a pure, delicate blue with 

 yellow centre. It grew to the height of a foot, and a 

 handful of it looked like something just caught out 

 of the sky above. Here, too, was a small, delicate 

 lady's-slipper, pale yellow striped with maroon ; 

 also a dwarf rhododendron, its large purple flowers 

 sitting upon the moss and lichen. The climber 

 also waded through patches of lupine, and put his 

 feet upon bluebells, Jacob's ladder, iris, saxifrage, 



88 



