" RAMBLES WITH A TROWEL." 



113 



Half-a-dozen large hotels, and as many smaller, now dominate 

 the place, and in the season you may, if you please, secure a 

 dance at one of them two nights out of three. It is a place 

 overcrowded from the end of July until the middle of September, 

 and much more to be recommended at other seasons. In the 

 season itself smaller places like Sils Maria (at the entrance to 

 the Fex Thai) or Silvaplana may be recommended to the 

 plant-hunter, as combining very passable accommodation with 

 proximity to his, shall I say — work ? 



The best route to the Engadine happens to traverse one of 

 the very best plant-hunting grounds — as owner of a calcareous 

 garden, to me the very best, because there (practically alone) 

 is a chalk soil found side by side with the granitic ; I refer to 

 the beautiful Albula Pass, by which you best pass into the 

 Engadine from Coire. At Coire, some six or seven hours only 

 from Basle, your railway journey from England ends. The summit 

 of the Albula Pass I have seen (even by the roadside) carpeted with 

 Ranunculus, Saxifragas, Primulas, and Gentians, although in 

 the season the road is traversed by scores of vehicles daily. 



At a spot just on the west side of this pass, and a little 

 below the summit, is a small inn said to be habitable even at 

 night ; and if so, it would be an admirable base from which to 

 work. We have never yet, however, been able to get free from 

 the idea, judging from the exterior of the building, that the 

 entomology of this place might prove almost as rich as its 

 botany, and, though I speak not from knowledge, I should 

 suggest, therefore, that our example be imitated, and that the 

 district (although otherwise at a great comparative disadvantage) 

 be worked either from the Engadine or from Bergiin lower down 

 on the home side of the pass. 



I have botanised in other parts of Switzerland proper only 

 casually and unsystematically, and my impression is very 

 strong that, although such w T ell-known places as the Miirren 

 (above Lauterbrunnen in the Oberland), as the Bel Alp and 

 iEggischhorn, Zermatt and the Eiffel Alp, the Evolena and 

 Zinal Valleys, Val d'Anniviers and Val de Saas (all approached 

 from the Rhone Valley), are rich and good hunting-grounds — and 

 they are all probably twelve hours nearer to London than is the 

 Engadine, and two days nearer to London than is the higher 

 ground of the Dolomites— yet, so far as I can judge, they 



