428 The Hunting Grounds 



the greatest profusion on every side. The ground 

 was carpeted with the most exquisitely beautiful 

 flowers, amongst which I noticed bracken (Pteris 

 aquilind) of a deep orange colour, blue, purple, and 

 white monkshood, heath-bells, columbine, anemones, 

 forget-me-nots, pansies, ranunculi, violets, and a 

 delicate-looking creeper with scarlet bloom, which 

 grew amid the rocks, most of which were covered 

 with mosses of every hue and shade. After several 

 hours' severe toil, the appearance of the forest became 

 very much changed ; the oak, beech, sycamore, 

 poplar, walnut, chesnut, ash, birch, and other trees of 

 the plains, giving place to lofty pines, covered with 

 many-coloured lichen, larch, and gigantic cedars, 

 some of which, evidently of a great age, had at last 

 succumbed to the violence of the storms, for many 

 were lying prostrate. Day was now drawing to a close, 

 so we began to make the necessary preparations for 

 passing the night, which were not difficult to men like 

 mine, the greater part of whose lives had been spent 

 in the open air. Following up a foaming torrent that 

 came tumbling down the side of the mountain, over 

 huge boulders of granite, with a roar like thunder, 

 we came to a cleft in the rocks, which was soon con- 

 verted into a fortress impregnable to either bears or 

 wolves, the only assailants likely to be found in these 

 wild regions. Our blankets and waterproofs were 

 unrolled, and we were soon all reclining round the 



