96 



ALPINE FLOWERS. 



Part I. 



native, made apparently of old petticoat stuff, and coming a 

 shade below the knees. Fortified with these and a pair of 

 stockings, I seized the duvet, or bag of down a foot thick, which 

 frequently lies on the beds in continental houses, and, wrap- 

 ping it round my shoulders, sat down to extract as much heat 

 as possible out of the fire — not a good one, despite my passionate 

 entreaties for more wood. I felt horribly lonely, and was, I should 

 say, not very ornamental, crouched over the fire in this attire. 

 The room was big, and the walls damp with a winter's frost in 

 them. Outside the large windows was a little field of corn, sup- 

 ported by a rough terrace-wall ; the ears bent over the wall with 

 the weight of snow ; beyond, ghostly-looking pines, heavily laden, 

 and away in every direction the eye could detect dim outlines of 

 near and high mountains — not imposing or majestic as usual, 



because enveloped^ like every- 

 thing else, in an atmosphere of 

 flakes. Dinner Catne. It was 

 hard, bad bacon, swimming in 

 an inch of oil, accompanied by 

 almost unbearable fried pota- 

 toes, also liberally done in liquid 

 fat — a mess which nothing but 

 fierce hunger could enable one 

 to face. After this I went to 

 bed under the duvet, which 

 had served me so well while the 

 guide was drying my clothes. I had another visit from the kind 

 priest of the parish, who conveyed the unwelcome intelligence 

 that snow had fallen so deeply that I had no chance of seeing 

 the flowers of the P'ee Alp — a most curious spot in the neigh- 

 bourhood, a sort of green islet surrounded by glaciers, and very 

 rich in plants — for three days to come. Such was my first 

 day in search of plants in the Alps. After this march through 

 the Saasthal and previous night in the Simplon dihgence, I 

 slept the sleep of the thoroughly-tired. 



I was a day too late to meet my friend, Mr. A. Wheeler, here, but 

 the curd despatched two men early next morning : they overtook 

 him towards the crest of the pass of Monte Moro, and all returned 

 to Saas. As the country for miles around was covered with a 

 dense bed of snow, my hopes of seeing the plants of the high 

 Alps in this region were over, and rather 'than return by the 



Fig. 64. — In the liotel.' 



