SCAWFELL. 207 



on the verge of a chasm, and compelled to "try 

 round " many times before they succeed. If dark- 

 ness comes on, there is nothing to be done but to 

 wait for daylight where they are. Another reason 

 for having a guide is that the mountains around 

 are not recognisable by their forms, — so great is 

 the change caused by their being looked at from 

 above. By map and compass they may be made 

 out j but the summit is usually windy, and much 

 time and trouble are saved by the information 

 needed being ready at one^s elbow. 



The summit is bare of everything that grows, 



except moss. Not a blade of grass is to be seen : 



and it follows that the herdsman and 



.^PZ^^^r shepherd never have to come here after 



SCAWFELL. J: -nil t • i- i 



their charge. Blocks and mclmed 

 planes of slate-rock, cushioned and draped with 

 mosses, compose the peak. As for what is seen 

 from it, — the best service to a stranger is still to 

 copy portions of that " Letter to a Eriend '^ which 

 Mr. Wordsworth published many years ago, and 

 which is the best account we have of the greatest 

 mountain-excursion in England. The weather was, 

 however, unusual. The guide said, when on the 

 summit, " I do not know that in my whole life, I 

 was ever, at any season of the year, so high upon 

 the mountains on so calm a day." It was the 

 seventh of October. 



" On the summit of the Pike," says the letter, 

 " which we gained after much toil, though without 

 difficulty, there was not a breath of air to stir even 

 the papers containing our refreshment, as they lay 

 spread out upon a rock. The stillness seemed to 

 be not of this world. We paused, and kept silence 



