Part I. A LITTLE TOUR IN THE ALPS. 97 



same long and dreary valley, I determined to cross the Alps and 

 descend into the sunny valleys of Piedmont, where we should, 

 at all events, probably see some traces of vegetable life. 



Next day we set out for Mattmark, nearly nine miles from 

 Saas, more than 7000 feet higher than the sea-level, and above 

 the level of the pine or any exalted vegetation. Only a few spots 

 under ledges, &c. were bare, but we found many ordinary and 

 well-known plants, as well as the rare Ranunculus glacialis, in 

 full beauty, some of the flowers measuring nearly an inch and a 

 half across. Near where we found this, a great sea-green arch 

 shows the end of a large glacier, apparently, a wide and deep 

 river of ice beneath a field of snow, except where in places it is 

 riven into glass-green crevasses. We have to skirt this field of 

 ice to reach Mattmark, where there is a lake, the overflow from 

 which passes right under the glacier. Although all surfaces were 

 rendered pretty much alike by the snow, the scene was a striking 

 one. Within a few steps of the lonely hotel there stand several 

 enormous boulders, so large that, but for the frequent evidence of 

 the great masses borne onwards by glaciers, it would be difficult 

 to believe that any such agency had brought them there. 



Lloydia serotina we met with in great abundance in the region 

 of the glacial Ranunculus, and also Androsace Chamcejasme, 

 the still rarer A. imbricata, and the mountain form of Myosotis 

 sylvatica. By scraping off the snow here and there, we could 

 see the very pretty Pyrethrum alpinum, reminding one of a Daisy 

 with its petals down in bad weather. Several not common 

 Saxifrages, and a few Sempervivums, Geum montanum, Linaria 

 alpina, very dwarf, but with the flowers much larger than usual ; 

 ' Gentiana verna, abundant ; a pink Linum, Polygala Chamce- 

 buxus, Loiseleuria procutnbens, Androsace carnea, Senecio uni- 

 florus, with deep orapge flowers, and the most silvery of leaves 

 an inch or so high ; and the beautiful Eritrichiujn nanum, from 

 half an inch to an inch high, and with cushions of sky-blue flowers 

 — were among those not hidden from us by the snow. 



Next morning we were up early to cross the pass of Monte 

 Moro into Italy ; the snow, was very deep, and we were the 

 first tourists who had crossed during the year. The snow was 

 eighteen inches thick even in the lower parts of our three hours' 

 walk, so that it was impossible to gather any specimens ; and this 

 was unfortunate, as the neighbourhood of the little lake of Matt- 

 mark, between two glaciers, is said to be very rich in plants. 



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