98 ALPINE FLOWERS. Part!. 



However, there was quite enough to do to ascend Monte Moro, 

 with its deep coating of snow ; in fact, it was hard work, and con- 

 sequently took a good deal more time than usual. Arrived at 

 the cross which marks the top, a new and magnificent prospect 

 bursts upon us — the white clouds lie in three thin layers along 

 the sides of Monte Rosa, but permit us to see its crest, while 

 the great mountains which tower up their snowy heads around it 

 are here seen in all their majesty. On the Swiss side nothing but 

 snow is seen on peak or in hollow ; on the Italian, a deep valley 

 has wormed its way among the magnificent mountain peaks, 

 crested with sun-lit snow and dark crags, and guarded by vast ice 

 rivers and unscalable heights. We can gaze into this .valley as 

 easily as one does from a high building into the street below ; 

 and, crouched on the sunny side of a vertical cliff, to gain a little 

 shelter from the icy breeze that flowed over the pass, view its 

 quiet signs of life and green meadows, and above their highest 

 fringes the vast funereal groves of pines on every side, 

 guarding, as it were, the green valley from the vast and death- 

 like wastes of snow above it. A grander scene it would be diffi- 

 cult to find, even in the most remarkable alpine regions of the 

 world, and probably it was much enhanced by the quantity of 

 snow that had just fallen and covered up thousands of acres 

 of the higher ground. The contrast between the valley flushed 

 with verdant life and the great uplands of snow was most imposing. 

 We had several miles to descend through the snow before a 

 trace of vegetation could be seen, when fairy specimens of the 

 nearly universal Primula viscosa began to show their rosy 

 flowers here and there on ledges, where they were pressed down 

 by the snow ; and by clearing little spaces with the alpenstock, 

 we found the ground nearly covered with them. Then the 

 glaoial Ranunculus began to make its appearance in abundance. 

 Another rare and minute gem was here in quantity — the silvery 

 Androsace imbricata, growing on the under side of rocks — the 

 tufts, not more than half an inch high, sending roots far into the 

 narrow chinks. These having a downward direction, the water 

 could reach the roots from above. One plant was gathered 

 under the recess of a deep cliff, with at least one hundred little 

 rosettes and flowers, forming a tuft three inches in diameter, all 

 nourished by one little stem as thick as a small rush, and which 

 was bare for a distance of two or three inches from the margin 

 of the chink from which it issued. The tuft, bloom, and minute 



