130 ALPINE FLOWERS [PART I. 



spread of meadow-land, adorned in every part with a lovely 

 carpet of flowers. Conspicuously beautiful was the St Bruno's 

 Lily, growing just high enough to show its long and snow- 

 white bells above the grass. It should be called the Lady 

 of the Meadows, for assuredly no sweeter or more graceful 

 flower embellishes them. In every part where a slight de- 

 pression occurred, so as to expose a little slope or fall of 

 earth on which the long grass could not well grow, or along 

 by a pathway, Primula integrifolia was found in thousands, 

 long passed out of flower. 



In wandering leisurely over the grass, an exquisite Gentian, 

 of a brilliant deep and iridescent blue, came in sight. At 

 first we thought it was the fine Cfentiana verna, but on taking 

 up some plants, it proved to be an annual kind, quite as 

 beautiful and brilliant as either G-. lavarica or G. verna. Where- 

 ever a boulder or mass of rock showed itself, Primula Auricula 

 was seen, often in the grass and always on the high rocks 

 and cliffs. A showy Epilobium and Dentaria are also seen 

 among the taller vegetation, while the compact little blue Globu- 

 laria creeps from the surrounding earth over every rock. As we 

 mount, the mist of the higher points begins to envelop us, and 

 hide the lovely and ever- varying scenery below and on all sides, 

 except now and then when the breeze clears the vapours away. 



As the upper lawns are reached, the extraordinary nature of 

 the mountain begins to be seen through the increasing mist. 

 Lower down, and indeed in all parts, erect, isolated masses 

 of rock are met with ; but towards the great straight-sided 

 mass that forms the central and higher peak, huge aiguilles 

 are gathered together so thickly that, dimly seen through 

 the mist, they seem like the ghosts of tall old castles and 

 towers creeping one after the other up the mountain-side. 

 Lower down, cliffs of the same nature and great height form 

 one side of the mountain, their giant and weird appearance 

 being much heightened by the mist which completely hid the 

 valley and made them seem as if poised in the air. 



Hereabouts we came upon some little tufts of the most 

 diminutive and pretty Saxifraga ccesia. In little indentations 



