viii PREFACE 



landscape are sketched out rugged and severe. Then comes 

 the sudden turn round the corner of some cliff, the o'ertop- 

 ping of some steep stone ledge, and behold ! before one lies a 

 garden such as kings might envy. But how describe the ecstasy 

 of standing knee-deep in the fragrance of a thousand flowers ? 

 After the crossing of the bare, bleak rocks it is like a triumphal 

 entry into Paradise. Here are pink Garlics, Harebells sway- 

 ing in wild waywardness, Veronicas looking up with their wide- 

 open blue eyes, Heathers red, rose, and white, amethyst Asters, 

 and sweet-scented Orchids, all mingling their perfume with the 

 shining green leaves and waxen petals of the Rhododendrons 

 and the great snowy chalices of the Globe Flowers. 



Who can adequately describe the luxuriant profusion of these 

 alpine meadows ? Who can tell in mere words the glory and 

 the glamour of such a scene .'' All around one the dazzling peaks 

 in their frozen and pitiless beauty point long slender fingers 

 up to God ; cruel crevasses split the gigantic rocks from tree- 

 less top to pine-clad base, where glaciers cling to the cliffs with 

 sparkling tentacles, and lichened stone-slopes are graciously 

 clothed by the creeping Juniper, and the pale green mantle 

 of Lyall's Larches. 



Far below lies the universe in miniature, lakes, rivers, and 

 forests, a few scattered dwellings nestling in the umbrage of 

 the conifers, — ''a wondrous woof of various greens " cover- 

 ing the mountain sides, sharp scythe-cut by many a winding 

 pathway or brawling torrent along whose margent the willow 

 wands sway lightly in the wind. 



In the foreground is set the splendid sod where prodigal 

 Nature has planted countless flowers, — acre on acre of yellow 

 and scarlet and blue giant Lady's Slippers, delicate Helio- 

 tropes, Geraniums, Forget-me-nots, and Columbines. Such is 

 a picture of the Land of Immortal Loveliness, where, far 

 above the clouds, man meets Nature face to face and finds 

 that it is good. 



