PRESIDENT'S A.DDEESS, 185 



were stunted in size or dried up. The Helianthemum canum 

 was in flower, but much stunted; but Arenaria verna and Tofielclia 

 palustris had not suffered from the drought. It was difficult to 

 find the few leaves that were the sole representative of the little 

 Gentiana verna; only one was seen that had been in flower. 

 Higher up the fell we came upon large patches of Lycopodium 

 alpinum, bristling with its interesting fertile spikes; and among 

 the tall heather the beautiful leaves of the Cloudberry retained 

 their brilliant greenness. The Golden Plover standing on a 

 hillock shewed his black breast to advantage, and uttered his 

 mournful pipe, rendering the lonely moor more lonely with its 

 melancholy note. No breath of air, no balmy west wind, stirred 

 over the heather, and the intense heat reflected from the parched 

 ground, made the unsheltered hillside almost as oppressive as an 

 oven. With this feeling we descended to the water side, glad 

 to be in the cooler bed of the stream, and among its greener 

 foliage. Our friends arrived in time for our evening meal, with 

 red, sunburnt visages, after having wandered over "moors and 

 mosses many, 0," in search of the Mck, having done what many 

 have done before, left the bed of the stream and found them- 

 selves lost on a moor whose landmarks were unknown to them. 

 It was decided on Tuesday morning, as most of those present 

 had repeatedly been to Cauldron Snout and Falcon Clints, to try 

 a walk through the fields on the Yorkshire side, along the bank 

 of the river, to Winch Bridge. Crossing by the wooden bridge 

 below the High Force a pleasant road was found, leading through 

 meadows richly decked with gay flowers of every hue, and tall 

 grasses ripening and ready for the scythe. The bed of the 

 stream was comparatively dry; the clear pools and small runners 

 of water occupied a very small part of the water channel, gravel 

 and basalt predominated, and the little islets in mid-channel 

 were luxuriant flower gardens or willow beds. On some of 

 these islets the splendid bloom of the shrubby Potentilla was 

 superb, covered with gay golden blossoms in dense tufts, on the 

 old twisted gnarled stems, which have rooted themselves deep, 

 as was necessary, into the fissures of the basalt or among the 

 accumulated gravel, where they have borne the brunt for many 



