DISCREPANCIES. 



cepting the Vultur aura, which preys on the 

 carcases, I saw neither bird, quadruped, reptile, 

 nor insect. On the coast-mountains, at the height 

 of about 2000 feet, where during this season the 

 clouds generally hang, a very few Cacti were 

 growing in the clefts of rock, and the loose sand 

 was strewed over with a lichen, which lies on the 

 surface quite unattached. This plant belongs to 

 the genus Chuhmia, and somewhat resembles the 

 reindeer lichen. In some parts it was in sufficient 

 quantity to tinge the sand, as seen from a dis- 

 tance, of a pale yellowish colour. Further inland, 

 during the whole ride of fourteen leagues, I saw 

 only one other vegetable production; and that 

 was a most minute yellow lichen, growing on the 

 bones of the dead mules.''* 



The rugged desolation which characterises the 

 interior of the crater of a volcano, even though 

 the fiery torrent which formed it be at the time 

 dormant, seems ill-suited for the smiling beauty of 

 flowers; yet such occasionally exist there. 



Sir Thomas Acland, who ascended to the sum- 

 mit of Schneeh/itten, the lofty volcano of Norway, 

 describes the crater to be broken down on the 

 northern side, surrounded on the others by per- 

 pendicular masses of black rock, rising out of, and 

 high above, beds of snow that enveloped their 

 bases. The interior sides of the crater descended 

 in one vast sheet of snow to the bottom, where 

 an icy lake closed the view, at the depth of 1500 

 feet from the highest ridge. "Almost at the top," 

 he says, "and close to the snow, which had prob- 

 ably but a few days before covered them, were 

 some very delicate and beautiful flowers, in their 

 highest bloom, of the Ranunculus glacialis, grow- 

 ing most profusely; nor were they the only in- 

 * "Nat. Voyage," chap. xvi. 



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