78 ALPINE FLOWERS AND GARDENS 



that Man has no monopoly of the tourist spirit, 

 precursor of settlement. A not altogether pleasing 

 prospect this, contemplating it through present-day 

 glasses. Beauty as we now understand it must 

 suffer if Brotherhood is to gain, for variety must, 

 obviously, be suppressed to a large extent. And, 

 with us of to-day, ' variety is charming,' and is, 

 indeed, of the very salt of life. 



But we are out for a little mild botany, not for 

 cloudy philosophy ! Our excuse must be that our 

 surroundings provoke such reflections. There is so 

 little here of the hustle and bustle of the world, or, 

 at any rate, of civilization. All around us Nature 

 seems so placid. Speaking vaguely, 'the things 

 that matter in life ' are, for the nonce, far-distant, 

 and the temptation is to lapse into abstractions. 

 Our wayward speculations have, in any case, carried 

 us over the ground, for here we are on the Col ! 

 Orthodoxy would have us expatiate upon the view, 

 which is superb, truly superb, vibrating as it is with 

 those actinic rays so belauded of photographers, so 

 beloved of Alpine flowers; but we are bent more 

 upon the vegetable details of the immediate fore- 

 ground and (oh, exceptional incident !) we have 

 with us no Kodak ! What is that field of silvery, 

 shimmering white just below us, where the sparkling 



