92 NOTES OF A NATURALIST. 



the valley, a wild glen opened up a vista of snow- 

 covered summits, of which the more distant appeared 

 to reach a height of about eighteen thousand feet. 



It was now about one o'clock, and, our light early 

 breakfast being long since forgotten, we hastily 

 swallowed our provision of sandwiches formed of the 

 contents of a sardine-box, which, flavoured with the 

 pure cold water of the stream, seemed delicious. 

 Although the sun which had shone upon us during 

 the morning was now covered with clouds, and we 

 were very lightly dressed, no sensation of cold was 

 felt at this height, and ' I do not believe that the 

 thermometer at any time during the day fell below 

 SO°. Doubtless the feverish excitement of those 

 unique two hours of botanizing in a new world left 

 no space for sensitiveness to other influences. The 

 mountain-sickness of the previous night was utterly 

 forgotten, and no sensation of inconvenience was felt 

 during the day. - 



Reserving some remarks on the botany of this 

 excursion, there is yet to be mentioned here one 

 plant of the upper region so singular that it must 

 attract the notice of every traveller. As we ascended 

 from Casapalta we noticed patches of white which 

 from a distance looked like snow. Seen nearer at 

 hand, they had the appearance of large, rounded, 

 flattened cushions, some five or six feet in diameter, 

 and a foot high, covered with dense masses of floss 

 silk that glistened with a silvery lustre. The unwary 

 stranger who should be tempted to use one of these 

 for a seat would suffer from the experiment. The 

 plant is of the cactus family, and the silky covering 



