144 MEMORIAL TRIBUTE 



ture ; ere long I reached the base of the rocky 

 ridge, and after passing some hills, traversing a long 

 valley, and ascending a mountain of considerable 

 height, I took out my map, and looking eastward 

 below me, saw, to my great satisfaction, a rivulet 

 running for several miles directly in the course 

 marked. I was assured that this stream, whether the 

 source or not, ran into the Dee, as it proceeded east- 

 ward, and therefore I directed my steps toward it. 

 But here, too, a scene occurred which gave me great 

 pleasure. Some low croaking sounds came from 

 among the stones around me, and presently after a 

 splendid flock of grey ptarmigans, about fifty in 

 number, rose into the air and whirred past me on their 

 way to the opposite eminence. On the brow of the 

 hill I found two large fountains, the sources of the 

 stream below, of each of which I drank a mouthful, 

 and proceeded. My friend, however, was not to be 

 seen ; but it was too early ; and so to pass the time I 

 explored another of the sources of the rivulet that rose 

 farther up in the glen. But at length the scene be- 

 came too dreary to be endured : desolate mountains, on 

 whose rugged sides lay patches of snow that the 

 summer's suns had failed to melt ; wild glens, scantily 

 covered with coarse grass, heath, and lichens ; dark 

 brown streams gushing among crags and blocks, un- 

 enlivened even by a clump of stunted willows : and I 

 followed the rivulet, judging that it would lead to the 

 river, and the river to the sea. For seven long miles 1 

 trudged along, faint enough, as you may suppose, hav- 



