410 THE HUNTING GROUNDS 



carpeted with the most exquisitely beautiful flowers, 

 amongst which I noticed bracken {Pteris acquilina) 

 of a deep orange colour, blue, purple, and white 

 monkshood, heath-bells, columbine, anemones, for- 

 get-me-nots, pansies, ranunculi, violets, and a deli- 

 cate-looking creeper with scarlet bloom which grew 

 amid the rocks, most of which were covered with 

 mosses of every hue and shade. After several hours' 

 severe toil, the appearance of the forest became 

 very much changed ; the oak, beech, sycamore, 

 poplar, walnut, chesnut, ash, birch, and other trees 

 of the plains, giving place to lofty pines, covered 

 with many-coloured lichen, larch, and gigantic 

 cedars, some of which, evidently of a great age, had 

 at last succumbed to the violence of the storms, for 

 many were lying prostrate. Day was now drawing 

 to a close, so we began to make the necessary pre- 

 parations for passing the night, which were not 

 difficult to men like mine, the greater part of whose 

 lives had been spent in the open air. Following up 

 a foaming torrent that came tumbling down the 

 side of the mountain, over huge boulders of granite, 

 with a roar like thunder, we came to a cleft in the 

 rocks, which was soon converted into a fortress 

 impregnable to either bears or wolves, the only 

 assailants likely to be found in these wild regions. 

 Our blankets and waterproofs were unrolled, and 

 we were soon all reclining round the blazing logs of 

 an immense camp-fire, on the side of which two 

 brass kettles, containing our evening repast, were 



