CH. IX. SAINT'S TOMB. 219 



due to the practice of setting fire to the brushwood to 

 gain pasture for animals ; while the young plants, of which 

 not a single one was seen, would be cut off while yet seed- 

 lings by the tooth of the goat, the great enemy of tree 

 vegetation — an animal whose disastrous influence, acting 

 indirectly on the climate of wide regions, entitles it to 

 rank as one of the worst enemies of the human race. 



Although the ground was to a great extent occupied 

 by the two dwarf bushes seen on our first visit, Alysswm 

 apinosum and Bv.plenruTn sjjiwosvm, there was no lack 

 of new forms of plants to maintain our enthusiasm ; and, in 

 spite of the desire to push on, many a halt occurred as one 

 or other lighted on an object of fresh interest. As a 

 natural consequence of our having chosen to make our 

 way along the side of the glen, instead of following its 

 bed, we had to cross several projecting spurs, the last 

 rather steep, before descending to a spot where, at the 

 extreme head of the valley, our guides pointed out a Saint's 

 tomb, consisting of a rude stone hut with a space five or 

 six feet square in the centre. When we reached this, the 

 guides made it clear to us that we had arrived at the end 

 of our excursion. The hut stands at the junction of the 

 streams issuing from two rocky ravines. That on the 

 west side was apparently very steep and pathless ; the 

 other, mounting about due S., was nearly equally steep, 

 but we could see that a beaten track ascended along the 

 opposite bank of the slender torrent that tumbled over the 

 rocks at its entrance. The native guides confirmed the 

 statement before made to Hooker, that by that tract lay 

 the way to Sous ; but, by expressive pantomime, they ex- 

 plained that danger lay in that direction, and that the 

 people of the other side were addicted to the practice of 

 shooting at strangers. We were careful to avoid contro- 

 versy, and set ourselves to collect plants in a patch of 

 boggy ground near the hut, where familiar northern spe- 

 cies, such as Stellaria uliginosa, Sagina Linncei, Montia 

 fontanel and Veronica Beccabunga, grew in company 



