THE RIVAL SEASONS 3 



venture to think, could not write a long book 

 about the Alps, as he has done, without mention- 

 ing the unique and wondrous flora more than to 

 remark : * It is pleasant to lie on one's back in a 

 bed of Rhododendrons and look up to a mountain- 

 top peering at one from above a bank of cloud.' 



It is true, quite true, that ' the Alps in winter 

 belong to dreamland/ It is true, quite true, that 

 * from the moment when the traveller catches sight, 

 from the terraces of the Jura, of the long escarp- 

 ment of peaks from Mont Blanc to the Wetter- 

 horn to the time when he has penetrated to the 

 innermost recesses of the chain, he is passing 

 through a series of dreams within dreams. Each 

 vision is a portal to one beyond and within, still 

 more substantial and solemn. One passes by slow 

 gradations to the more and more shadowy regions, 

 where the stream of life runs lower, and the 

 enchantment binds the senses with a more power- 

 ful opiate.' All this is true, quite true. But 

 ' there are dreams and dreams,' as Sir Leslie him- 

 self elsewhere says ; and I make so bold as to 

 think that the dreams engendered by these self- 

 same Alps in a setting of floral wonders must ever 

 obtain a larger, more real, and even healthier hold 

 upon the imagination and enthusiasm of humanity. 



