SOME EARLY FLOWERS 287 



beautifying effect on these castled promontories, blos- 

 soming at the feet of and among the rugged masses of 

 granite overgrown with coarse grey lichen. 



By and by I was delighted to find that these few 

 scattered blooms were but the first comers of an in- 

 numerable multitude, for day by day and week by 

 week the number of them increased, first keeping to 

 the sunniest and most sheltered places, then spreading 

 until they were everywhere along the coast. But 

 always within its own curiously narrow limit, bloom- 

 ing close to the cliff, in some places right to the very 

 brink, but usually some yards back from it, distributed 

 over the ground to a breadth of a dozen or fifteen 

 yards, thus forming a band. Where the soil is favour- 

 able and the flowers abundant the band is very 

 conspicuous, and in places where the land slopes to 

 the cliff it broadens and occupies the ground to a 

 breadth of fifty to a hundred yards or even more, 

 then narrows again and pursues its way, following the 

 numberless indentations of the coastline, climbing up 

 and down the steep slopes and sides of gullies and 

 fading and almost vanishing on the barren heath on 

 the highest cliffs. 



Now when I first saw the vernal squill, when it had 

 been nothing in my mind but a little blue flower with 

 a pretty book name, it captivated me with its delicate 

 loveliness its little drop of cerulean colour in a 

 stony desolate place and with its delightful perfume, 

 but it certainly did not affect me greatly as I have 

 been affected time and again by other flowers, first 

 seen in the greatest profusion and in their best aspect. 



