24 FLOWER-FIELDS OF ALPINE SWITZERLAND 



the azure-blue fields of Myosotis below the Gorges 

 du Durnand. And this regret will probably be- 

 come more keen when we plunge into the forests 

 just below Champex and find them still choked 

 with snow and ice. But we are soon and amply 

 repaid for what at first seems a mad ostracism 

 on our part. One or two brief days, full of intense 

 interest in watching Alpine nature's unfolding, and 

 all regrets have vanished, and we have quite decided 

 that these May fields are a Paradise wherein, in 

 JNleredith's words, " of all the world you might 

 imagine gods to sit." 



The Crocus is not for long alone in making 

 effective display. The Soldanella soon joins it 

 after a few hours of warm sunshine ; in fact, in 

 many favoured corners it is already out when we 

 arrive. And Geuvi montanum is no laggard ; 

 neither are the two Gentians, verna and excisa, nor 

 the yellow-and-white Box-leaved Polygala. By the 

 time the 20th of the month has come the pastures 

 are thickly sown with pristine loveliness, and by 

 the 25th this is at the height of perfection— a 

 height to which nothing in paint or in ink can 

 attain. Plora has touched the fields with her 

 fairy wand and they have responded with amazing 

 alacrity. Turn which way we will, the landscape 



