oi 5 ‘ \ = i 1 < ) 4 - ts a i | " ie \ i c ‘a x. } 1 Ws , ' a JOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS: < , ) / Z : - - / - ; OR, Aambles and Incidents IN SEARCH OF ALPINE PLANTS. ** Alpenblumen frohlich bluhend, Oh, wie ruhrt mich eure Milde, Dass ihr schmuckt so Shs capt Diese steinern harte Wilde.” STOBER. BY THE REV. HUGH MACMILLAN, LL.D., F.RS.E. AUTHOR OF “BIBLE TEACHINGS IN NATURE,” ** THE TRUE VINE,” ‘“‘ THE MINISTRY OF NATURE,” ETC. SECOND EDITION, REVISED AND ENLARGED. London MACMILLAN AND CO. \1873. : [ All rights reserved ] ° : . , ) GH Ae 3 = ? »* e € 7 dg <9 4 ff - ee ee - * s Ne te Fee ee a Ae ; a Be, | <4, *, \ of te es ‘ D4 Mies IS 3 bas esBwer FA? ase =“? OXFORD: BY E. B. GARDNER, E. PICKARD HALL, AND J. H. STACY, PRINTERS TO THE UNIVERSITY. . -. ey IN MAY 9° rg! EUB IC LIBRAR WASH. Le RECEIVED ACHiNLO 1QHE SI] b G: Sginetin OS THE following chapters may be regarded as popular studies in geographical botany. Although © each is separate and distinct, they have all a common basis and bond of unity. Their aim is to impart a general idea of the origin, character, and distribution of those rare and beautiful Alpine plants which occur on the British hills, and which are found almost everywhere in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, wherever there are mountain chains sufficiently lofty to furnish them with a suitable climate. In the first three chapters, the peculiar vegetation of the Highland mountains is fully described ; while in the remaining chapters this vegetation is traced to its northern cradle in the mountains of Norway, and to its southern European termination in the Alps of Switzerland All the excursions mentioned were made during intervals of relaxation from professional work COND vi PREFACE. extending over several summers. Instead of con- veying the information I have to give regarding the plants gathered on these occasions, in technical language, in a formal treatise, I thought it better that it should appear in a setting of personal adventure, and be associated with descriptions of the natural scenery and the peculiarities of the hunian life in thé midst of which the plants were found. By this method of treatment the subject will perhaps be made more interesting to a larger circle of readers. In this new edition I have completed the journal of my tour in Norway, which broke off abruptly and was left unfinished in the last ; and incor- porated in that chapter, as well as in the first, a large amount of additional information regarding the distribution of British and Norwegian plants, and the geological changes connected with them. Several interesting and important facts borrowed from classic story, and from the records of zoology and geology, throwing light upon these changes, have also been given. In this way no less than seventy-four pages of new matter have been added. The whole work has been thoroughly revised, and it is hoped greatly improved. | H. M. June, 1873. CONTE Nets. CHAPTER: {. THE PLANTS ON THE SUMMITS OF THE HIGHLAND MOUNTAINS ; meet CHAPTER (Et. THE INTERMEDIATE OR HEATHER REGION CHAP TER TE: A GARDEN WALL IN A HIGHLAND GLEN . CHAPTER. IV. A RAMBLE THROUGH NORWAY, THE CRADLE OF THE HIGHLAND FLORA ° CHAPTER: ¥. THE SKJEGGEDAL-FOSS IN NORWAY . ‘ . CHAPTER. Vi. THE PASS AND HOSPICE OF THE GREAT ST. BERNARD PAGE, 37 298 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. CHAPTER 1. THE PLANTS ON THE SUMMITS OF THE HIGHLAND MOUNTAINS. A . THOUGHTFUL man, standing beneath the silent —— of the midnight heavens, is more w i hat is revealed. He cannot gaze upon the soli- 2 splendour of Sirius, or the clustered glories of Orion, without a vague unuttered wish to know wi hether these orbs are inhabited, and what are the n inature and conditions of existence there. A similar ine of curiosity seizes us when we behold afar (the summits of a lofty range of mountains, y ing along the golden west like the shores of another and a brighter world. Elevated far above red iy ‘ar a! | arth. We long for the wings of the eagle, to |surmount in a moment all intervening obstacles, and reach the shores of that upper world, that we may know what strange arrangements of matter, ) what new forms of life, occur in a region so nea | to and so favoured of the skies. To many indi viduals destitute of the strength of limb and sound- _ ness of lung necessary to climb the mountain side, or chained hopelessly. to the mcnotonous employ-_ ments by which the daily bread fs earned, i must ever be an unattainable enjoyment—in sight, | : 2 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. are ton | | and yet unknown. Even of the thousands of | | , tourists who as duly as the autumn comes round swarm over the familiar Highland routes, very | few turn aside to behold this great sight. Only a solitary adventurous pedestrian, smitten with the love of science or of natural scenery, now and then cares to diverge from the beaten paths, from the region of coaches and extortionate hotel-keepers, in order to explore the primeval solitudes of the higher hills. For these and other reasons, a brief. description of the characteristic vegetation of the Highland mountains may prove interesting and instructive to many. The information I have to lay before the reader has been acquired with much _ toil during many summer wanderings; and if it should be the means of opening up to any oned k J the way to a new field of research and a new set of sensations, I shall have much pleasure in the | thought that my holidays have yielded other and” higher than mere selfish benefits. | Mountains exercise a peculiar and powerful fascination over the imagination. They transport | us out of the fictitious atmosphere of civilization, | 4 ] : | ) “and the cramping air of the ead of taskwork, into the region of poetry and freedom. Among “their serene and quiet retreats the fevered con- | ‘ventional life, brought face to face with the purity and the calm of nature, reverts to its primitive "simplicity, the mind recovers its original elasticity, . L and the heart glows with its native warmth. Every individual finds in them something to admire, and L. suit the tendencies of his mind. To the patriot ‘they are the monuments of history, which have attracted to themselves, by kindred sympathy, | some of the most remarkable events in the life ‘of nations—guardians of liberty, whose high, em- | battled ridges form an impenetrable rampart against the invading foe, and nourish within their fastnesses a hardy race, free as their own wild winds. To the poet they are the altars of nature, | on which the golden-robed sun offers his morning | and evening sacrifice —footstools of God, before which his soul kneels, hushed in awe and rever- j ence. To the philosophers they are the theatres in which the mightiest forces of nature are seen in intensest action,—the storehouses in which are ) treasured up all the sources of earth’s beauty and fertility. While to the devotional mind they are types of the stability of the Christian promises, | —emblems of the Infinite, the Eternal, and the ) Unchangeable. | The fascination which mountains exercise ex- ‘tends to all that is connected with them. Their | own sublimity and grandeur are reflected, as ig B2 , : A 4 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. _ [cuar. — were, upon all their productions; and the low- a liest object that hides under their shadow, or is nourished by their soil, acquires from that circum- — stance an importance which does not intrinsically belong to it. Hence the peculiar charm which all © botanists find in the pursuit of Alpine botany. The plants which grow upon the rugged sides and the bleak storm-scalped summits of the mountains, ~ eannot generally be compared, in point of variety — and beauty of colouring, and luxuriance of growth, with the flowers of the plains. They are for the © most part tiny plants that, among their leaves of © light, have no need of flowers—harmonizing in all © their characters with their dreary habitats, and claiming apparently a closer affinity to the grey lichens and the brown mosses among which they ~ nestle, than to their bright sisters of the valleys. But their comparative rarity, the magnificent and almost boundless prospects obtained from their — elevated haunts, and the exhilarating nature of © the mountain breezes and wild scenery, invest them with a halo of interest far exceeding that — connected with woodland flowers; and a glowing enthusiasm is felt in their collection which cannot be experienced in the tamer and less adventurous — pursuit of lowland botany. The Highland mountains occupy but a very subsidiary position among the great mountain e , or — 5 A irs ll 5%} ranges of the earth. The highest peak in which © they culminate does not reach the line of perpetual — snow. No avalanche thunders over their precipices | ‘ i 7 CHARACTER OF HIGHLAND MO UNTAINS. 5 4 i the villages at their base in ruins; no t irone into the midst of green cornfields and cul- tivated valleys, or yawns in dangerous crevasses across the traveller’s path; no volcano reddens “the horizon with its lurid smoke and flame. Ages “innumerable have passed away since the glacier flowed down their sides, and left its polished or “striated marks on the rocks, to be deciphered by the skill of the geologist ; and those hills which “ence passed through a fiery ordeal, and poured “their volcanic floods over the surrounding districts, “now form the firmest foundations of the land, and afford quiet grassy pasturages for the sheep. Our "mountains, indeed, possess few or none of those “sublime attributes which invest the lofty ranges of other lands with gloom and terror. Their very storms are usually subdued, as if in harmony with ‘their humbler forms. Though they tower to the sky, they seem nearer to the familiar earth; and ‘a large share of the beauty and verdure of the plains do they lift up with them in their rugged ‘arms for the blessing of heaven. Every part of ‘their domains is free and open to the active foot of the wanderer. ‘There are few or no inaccessible precipices or profound abysses to form barriers in his way. He can plant his foot on their highest summits with little expenditure of breath and toil ; and a few hours will bring him from the stir and ‘tumult of life in the heart of the populous city to ‘their loneliest and wildest recesses. Well do I — 6 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. — {cHaP: know and love my native hills; for I have spent © some of the happiest days of my life in wandering amid their solitudes, following my fancies fear- — lessly wherever they led me. I have seen them — in all seasons, and in all their varied aspects :— — in the dim dawn, when, swathed in cold dark © clouds, they seemed like awful countenances veiled, — yet speaking in the tongues of a hundred unseen — waterfalls; in the still noon-day, when, illumined with sunshine, every cliff and scar on their sides _ stood out distinctly and prominently against the pure clear sky; at sunset, when, amid the masses © of burnished gold that lay piled up in the west —the glow of fire that burns without consuming — —they seemed like the embers of a universal conflagration; in the holy twilight, when they appeared to melt into the purple beauty of a dream, and the golden summer moon and the soft — bright star of eve rose solemnly over their brows, — lighting them up with a mystical radiance; and ~ in the lone dark waste of midnight, when from lake and river the long trailing mists crept up their sides without hiding their far-off summits, | on which twinkled, like earth-lighted watch-fires, a few uncertain stars. I have gazed upon them — in the beauty of summer, when the heather was > in full bloom, and for miles they glowed in masses — of the loveliest purple; in the changing splendour of autumn, when the deep green of the herbage gave place to the russet hues of the fading flowers, the rich orange of the ferns, and the dark brown as EARLY EXPLORATION. 7 ‘of the mosses; and in the dreary depth of winter, when storms during the whole twilight-day howled around them, or when, robed from foot to crown in a garment of the purest snow, they seemed meet approaches to “the great white Throne.” In all these aspects they were beautiful, and in all they excited thoughts and emotions which no human Bneuase could adequately express. Offering such facilities for search, it is not surprising that the vegetable productions of the British mountains should have been thoroughly investigated. Long before Botany became orga- nized as a distinct science, our Alpine flora attracted ‘a large share of the attention of scientific men. In the days of Linnzus—stimulated by the en- thusiastic impulse communicated by that remark- able man to every department of physical research —a band of devoted botanists undertook the ex- ploration of the Highland mountains; a task by no means so easy then as in this age of steam- ‘boats and railroads. The whole of the northern districts encircled by the mighty ramparts of the Grampian range was a éerra incognita—vittually almost as remote from the civilized regions beyond as the wilds of Labrador. There were no roads, no conveyances, or other means of communication ywith the south. The adventurous men who first opened up this wild territory to the researches of science were peculiarly adapted for the task jof practical scientific pioneers. Endowed with vigorous frames and strong constitutions, they g _ HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. _ {cuar. | could endure a great amount of privation and | fatigue with impunity. The names of Menzies, Lightfoot, Dickson, Stewart, and Don are familiar | to every botanist as those of men who contended | with innumerable: obstacles in the prosecution of | their favourite science, then in its feeblest infancy, and popularly regarded with indifference, if not | with contempt. The memory of the last-men-/| tioned botanist especially is firmly engrafted in) | botanical literature, in connexion with his great } services in this department. Such was his enthu- siastic love of Alpine plants, that he spent whole months at a time collecting them among the gloomy solitudes of the Grampians; his only food 7} a little meal, or a bit of crust moistened in the} mountain burn, and his only couch a bed of heather or moss in the shelter of a rock. Before || the storms of winter were over, and while the snow still lay far down on the sides of the mountains, he began his wanderings in search of . his favourites; and often did he linger on till the ¥} last autumn Ace withered in the red October |} sunlight, and the shortening days and scowling heavens warned him of the universal desolation” fast approaching. The whole of Western Aber- deenshire and Northern Forfarshire and Perthshire —where the loftiest mountains of Britain have }} congregated together, storming the sky in every |} direction with their gigantic peaks, and filling the 7} whole visible scene with themselves and their” shadows—was almost as familiar to him as the |} Yt = tee a ae Rag ay y* oy é Sa al * ‘daly ~ Pere] ALPINE BOTANISTS. 9 - circumscribed landscape around his native place. _ Nothing of any interest or importance on these great ranges escaped his eagle eye; and from his numerous visits, and his lengthened sojourn among _ them, he was enabled to make many interesting discoveries, and to add an unusually large number. _ of species to the flora of Britain. His discoveries were speedily followed up by others, especially by those of Dr. Greville, whose death has been — one of the greatest losses to botanical science. Professors Graham and Hooker year after year conducted their pupils to the summits of the High- land hills; and, not satisfied with a mere cursory visit, they carried tents and provisions with them, and encamped for a week or a fortnight in spots — favourable for their investigations. So frequently _ within the last few years—particularly under the able leadership of Professor Balfour, whose annual — class excursions are well known throughout Scot- land, and highly prized by all who have the - privilege of sharing in them, and by the exertions of 'the “Scottish Botanical Alpine Club” —have _ the vegetable productions of the principal mountain tanges been investigated, that the most lynx-eyed botanist can now scarcely hope to do more than add a new station for some of the rarer plants. Only two organic forms—the common Red Grouse among animals, and the lVeottza gemmz- _ pera, a species of orchid growing in the south of Ireland, among plants—seem to be peculiar to - Great Britain. With these exceptions, all its lise te 2 i = ; | “4 10 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. _ [cuar. fauna and flora consist of forms that have come from the adjacent continent of Europe, at periods more or less remote. A single plant, the jointed Pipe-wort (Zrzocaulon septangulare), occurs in Glen Sligachan in the Isle of Skye, and in Connemara in the west of Ireland, and nowhere else in Europe. — It is a North American plant, and has no doubt been introduced naturally into the British Isles by méans of transport now or anciently in action, very probably by the influence of the Gulf-stream, which frequently casts on the shores of the Hebrides the productions of the Western Hemisphere. Taking a comprehensive view of the plants of Great Britain, the botanist will find that, excluding exotic species derived from other countries along with the seed of our cultivated plants by direct human agency, they may be included in four tolerably distinct groups, which, from their relations to the flora of other parts of Europe, point to a- diversified origin. By far the largest portion of our vegetation is com- posed of forms which are abundant over the whole of Central and Western Europe, and, from their common occurrence on both sides of the German Ocean, have received the name of Germanic plants. In the south-western and southern counties of England we find a numerous assemblage of plants which are seen nowhere else in the British Isles, and which, from their close relation to the flora of the north-west of France and the Channel Islands, have been denominated plants of the French type. A small but very distinct group of a en en ee ea ee ee ee er ee et a iy ae a. oe 4 a _ PECULIARITIES OF HIGHLAND FLORA. 11 hardy and prolific species is confined to the _ mountainous districts in the west and south-west ‘of Ireland. These plants, numbering upwards of t a score, are forms either peculiar to, or abundant in, the peninsula of Spain and Portugal, and es- ' pecially in Asturias. Lastly, we have the High- land type, which comprehends the species limited to the mountains and their immediate vicinity. This class embraces all the Alpine plants, and contains about a fifteenth of the whole flora of _ Britain—the number of distinct species amounting to upwards of a hundred. To the most superficial observer, viewed as a whole, Alpine plants will appear strikingly dif- - ferent: from those which he is accustomed to see beside his path in the low grounds. The Lap- anders and Esquimaux are not more unlike the inhabitants of England and Scotland, than the Alpine flora is unlike that of the plains. The flowers which deck the woods and fields have no ‘representatives in this lofty region. The traveller leaves them one after the other behind when he ascends beyond a certain elevation; and though a few hardy kinds do succeed in climbing to the very summit, they assume strange forms which puzzle the eye, and become dwarfed and stunted | by the severer climate and the ungenial soil. All | the way up, from a line of altitude varying, accord- 'ing to the character of the mountain range, be- tween two and three thousand feet, you are in the ; midst of a new floral world, genera and species as | daa | ar a 12 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuap. — unfamiliar as though you had been suddenly and — unconsciously spirited away to a foreign country. © There are a few isolated islands scattered over the ocean, whose forms of life are unique. St. Helena | and the Galapagos Archipelago are such centres of creation, having nothing in common with the ~ nearest mainland. It is the same with the moun- — tain summits in this country that are higher than — three thousand feet. They may be compared to islands in an aérial ocean, having a climate and animal and vegetable productions quite distinct from those of the low grounds. Their plants grow in thick masses, covering extensive surfaces with — a soft carpet of moss-like foliage, and producing a profusion of blossoms, large in proportion to the size of the leaves, and often of brilliant shades of — red, white, and blue; or they creep along the ground in thickly interwoven woody branches, wholly depressed, sending out at intervals a few hard, wrinkled leaves, and very small, faintly- coloured, and inconspicuous flowers. Their roots are usually very woody, or, like those of bulbous plants, wrapped up in membraneous coverings; and their stems are strongly inclined to form buds. — They are almost all perennial, the number of annuals being exceedingly small. In all these typical peculiarities, which, it may be remarked, are special adaptations to the unfavourable cir-— cumstances in which they are placed, they bear a very close resemblance to the plants of the Polar © Zone; and this similarity in the character of the 1] 2 3 #«©MOUNTAIN PLANTS OF ¥AVA. 18 vegetation may be traced from the Arctic regions to the Equator, if we compare, on the mountains of the different zones, the corresponding higher ‘regions, where the isothermal lines are the same, with each other. It must be understood, however, ‘that, except in cases where the plants were originally derived from one centre of distribution, ‘through migration over continuous or closely con- tinuous land, the relationship of Alpine and Arctic vegetation in the Southern Hemisphere, under ‘similar conditions with that of the Northern, is entirely maintained by representative, and not by identical species—the representation, too, being in ‘great part generic, and not specific. | _ Strange to say, though so near Europe, the lofty peak of Teneriffe contains on its sides and summit ‘no Alpine flora of a European type. The Retamas _of the highest zone are as peculiar to the island as the Euphorbias of the lowest. This absence of northern forms is probably owing to the immense amount of the radiation and the unfavourable hy- -grometrical conditions of the locality. An equal destitution of Alpine vegetation has been observed on the mountains of Bourbon and Mauritius. ' On {the isolated volcanic peaks of Java, however, \though south of the equator, we have plants closely allied to those of the Grampians, while a totally different class’of plants clothes the low- j\fands for thousands of miles around. At a height Jof 8000 feet, on the Pangerango mountain, in \Java, Mr. Wallace found upwards of forty species, 14 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHaP. representing European and Alpine genera, and j four species actually identical with European spe- © cies. The Artemisia or southernwood, and the ~ ribwort plantain—the commonest weeds in every — British field—occur on this peak at a height of 9000 feet. Beside them, in the damp shade of the thickets, is found the royal cowslip (primula imperialis), which has a tall stout stem more than — three feet high, with root-leaves eight inches long, — and having, instead of a single terminal cluster © of cowslip-like flowers, several tiers or whorls, one © above another, like a Chinese pagoda. This gor- — geous cowslip is found nowhere else in the world — but on this solitary mountain-summit. On the © higher slopes of the Himalayas, and on the tops — of the mountains of Central India and Abyssinia, — a great many European genera are found, whose © existence in such spots Mr. Darwin believes to be owing to the depression of temperature that was so general during the glacial epoch, as to allow a few north temperate plants to cross the equator by the most elevated routes of mountain-— chains, and to reach the Antarctic regions where © they are now found. He believes that the plants on the equatorial summits and the Alpine plants of Europe sprang from a common parentage, and — that the modifications which the former have un- dergone are owing entirely to altered conditions operating during a long period of time. In New Zealand, which is the head-quarters of the Com- posite as well as the ferns, a very remarkable NEW ZEALAND COMPOSITE PLANTS. 15 - genus of composite plants, called Aaoula, occurs _ on the sides and summits of the loftier mountains. aE numbers twelve distinct species, all of which _tange from 3000 to 7000 feet on Mounts Cook. and Doban, and the Nelson and Otago moun- tains, and form dense wide-spreading carpets or % cushions. The down on the leaves is developed to such an extent as to completely cover them, and almost to conceal the star-like flower-heads. One species, the R. eximia, forms gigantic white _ woolly masses on the ground, and looks at a dis- tance like a flock of sheep grazing on the moun- tain-side. Indeed the shepherds are so often _ deceived by them when folding their charge, that 4 the plant has come to be known among the settlers 4 as the “vegetable sheep.” This curious genus re- _ presents in New Zealand the common cat’s-paw : or mountain everlasting (Axtennarta dioica), whose i _ dry white or pink flowers and downy leaves cover _ our moorlands in myriads; or rather, perhaps, the closely-allied Guaphalium supinum, a tiny cud- -.weed which grows on the extreme summits of , the highest Highland mountains. There is one Alpine Gzaphalium, found in almost every part of the Alps from 6500 to 8500 feet above the sea, called the G. Leontopodium, or lion’s-paw cud- evcéd_— the Fidelweiss of the natives,—whose dense heads are smothered in white silky down. The _ New Zealand “vegetable sheep” is, therefore, only «i ‘an extraordinary development of this peculiarity of the tribe even on our own mountains. ~— 16 HOLIDAVS ON HIGH LANDS. [ cHap. There are several curious anomalies in the dis- tribution of Alpine plants, for which no perfectly satisfactory explanation has yet been given. For instance, the genus Dvzoscorea is pre-eminently tropical, being peculiar to the hottest regions of — the old and new worlds, the roots of several mem- _ bers being esculent, and used as culinary veget- | ables, like potatoes. Strange to say, one species — _of‘the family, and only one, is found in Europe, the D. Pyrenaica, which is an Alpine plant re-- cently discovered at a considerable altitude on the Pyrenees. In like manner the genus Pelar-_ gonium is peculiarly African and Australian ; and yet a species of it, also an Alpine plant, the P. Endlicherianum, has been found on the chain of the Taurus in several stations extending from Pamphylia to Armenia’. The extraordinary genus Pilostyles, resembling in miniature the gigantic a ae en Le ee 1 On the Spanish plateau, several of the plants common in the Crimea and in the elevated plains of Asia Minor occur. Geum heterocarpum is found in the mountain regions of South Spain, and of Elborus in Persia. Rhododendron Ponticum, which inhabits the mountains of Asia Minor, occurs.on the mountain range of the Sierra de Monchique, in Portugal. The cedar of the Lebanon is > supposed to be only a variety of the cedar of the Atlas mountains opposite to Spain. Every botanist is struck with the resemblance ‘in type between the vegetation of the arid elevated tracts of Spain and that of the southern steppes of Russia; and some species are common to both. The Cyxomorium coccineum, growing in the island of Malta, the Fungus Melitensis of the old writers, and supposed to be the celebrated styptic used by the Crusaders to staunch their wounds, extends to the Levant in the East, and to Northern Africa and the Canary islands in the West; in which latter place it is used as food. re itG as eas elena npr Lilian a ee ee ae aig atic Hi eas a capa os ele tab aca gril on an i aE al taal jr a yeas emer ied © bad . “ .» Some ea er ae ow 4 4 ° sf poy! Sty ~ 4 i; | late tae i aye ib i a> Aa at fos F aS xt mst! As o mt ey 4 ‘ ~ . “_* beeen eee j ‘ : ; 4 S ’ 7 eee sy. ; . : %| PELARGONIUM AND PILOSTYLES. 17 vi, afflesia of the Eastern Archipelago—without ‘root, stem, or leaves, and consisting only of a bell- . shaped flower sessile on the bark of the tree on which it is a parasite—is peculiar to South America. A species, however, has recently been found in the Alpine regions of Asia Minor, called P. Haus- hnechtii ; and though so far out of its proper . region, it preserves the peculiar habit of the genus. All the species grow on the bean family; and, true to its native instinct, this Asiatic rover is con- fined exclusively to a kind of spiny Astragalus. To account for the presence of this South American plant on the mountains of Asia Minor is one of the knottiest: points in geographical botany. We an explain in some measure the occurrence of he African Pelargonium on the mountains of Taurus on the same grounds that we can account or the remarkable similarity—the almost identity —of the cedar of the Atlas range and the cedar of | Lebanon and of the mountains of Taurus. Great 5 changes of surface in very recent geological times have taken place on the African and Asiatic con- _tinents, as is proved by many Mediterranean spe- ‘cies of fishes being found in the Red Sea and yet not in the Indian Ocean; by the fishes of the salt lakes of Sahara being detec with those of ‘the Gulf of Guinea; and, more extraordinary still, = of the Sea of Hecinies with those of the Nile, of the lakes of South-eastern Africa, and the © 18 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuar. — this remarkable resemblance between the inha- — bitants of waters now so remote and isolated, the — Pelargonium may have spread from Africa to Asia — Minor. The occurrence of the genus in Australia may be owing to the same cause which produced the resemblance between the marsupial animals, » and especially the plants, of Europe during the Eocene epoch, and those of Australia at the © present day; a resemblance so striking, that in ~ order to form an idea of the appearance of our country during this geological period we have only — to visit our great colony at the Antipodes. The © ‘Proteacee are the characteristic plants of the Eocene period of Europe. They constituted, in ~ that early epoch, the principal part of the scrub — vegetation of our continent, as they now form — the peculiar clothing of the wastes of Australia. But what is the connexion between the sub-Alpine > * Pilostyles of Asia Minor and the rest of its family — in South America? It has been ascertained that | the sub-tropical flora of Europe during the J/zocene epoch is largely American and Japanese. Of the Swiss JJvzocene plants, for instance, no less than 232 species have their nearest allies living in the United States and tropical America, while 108 occur in Asia. In all probability, therefore, the Miocene flora of Europe came from America during the Eocene epoch, across the Atlantic, over a | sreat island-continent then existing, which bo- | tanists have called ‘Atlantis, after the ancient legend; and since the Miocene period, this Amer- sti, ORIGIN OF HIGHLAND FLORA. 19 fo their birthplace by these routes, after having made > the circuit of the globe. The present flora f America has descended from these progenitors he Beets of the Eocene and Cretaceous periods of that continent. If we accept this hypothetical fains of Asia Minor—like a shell on the shore— ‘* Bolitary survivor of an ancient American flora h e ancient American flora of Europe and Northern \sia # as the one species of myrtle and the one id have retreated in these days to the tropical 1 subtropical countries of the two worlds, where are as numerous as of old. se plants on the British hills? We can ' suppose them to be indigenous; for they ly maintain their existence, in the very BO.” HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuar. extreme difficulty, and are comparatively few in number, and poor and meagre in appearance. For these reasons we are fairly entitled to conclude that — they are members of specific centres beyond their own area; and. these centres must be sought in places where the physical conditions are most favourable for their growth, and where they attain the utmost profusion and luxuriance of which they are constitutionally capable. Now, if we examine — the flora of the Lapland and Norwegian mountains, - we find that it is not only specifically identical with that of the British Isles, but also that the species of the former are more numerous, and exhibit a greater development of individual forms, than those of the latter, constituting in many places the common continuous vegetation of extensive districts. This fact seems to indicate the Scandinavian mountains as the geographical centres from which we have derived our Alpine plants ; and, as might have been expected, allowing this supposition to be true, their” gradual migration southwards may be very dis- tinctly traced, like the descent in after ages of the 1 In a collection of fifty-two plants from Baffin’s Bay, in lat. 67? | and 76° N., made by a friend some years ago, twenty were identi with British species, only somewhat smaller and more stunted They were gathered during June and July, when the flowers were fully expanded, chiefly on the sea-shore, only three being peculiar to a more elevated locality. The prevailing colour was dark or pal yellow; blue or lilac flowers being comparatively rare. Of the} same natural orders seventy-four species occur in great Britain at an | elevation of three thousand feet or upwards. at ae y MIGRA TION OF ALPINE PLANTS. 4. ce “rude Bistsemen, by the species left behind on nu- 7 ‘merous intervening points. On the Faroe Islands, eo instance, we have three plants of the Scandina- vian type which have stopped short there—viz. as tricuspidata, Kenigia islandica, and 3 Ranunculus nivalis. In the Shetland Islands, the Arenaria Norwegica,a common plant on the moun- _ tain plateaux of Norway, reaches its southern limits. On the northern shores of the mainland, the beau- _tiful Norwegian primrose appears and ceases. It is called Primula farinosa, variety alpina, by —s botanists; but it differs in no respect from the P. Scotica =f Sutherland and Caithness- “shire, except in the colour of the flower being paler, the tube a little longer, and the calyx elliptical “rather than ovate. A rich assemblage of northern a, is found on the loftiest Highland mountains, distributed apparently from north-east to south- west, in such a manner as to indicate the line of “migration. Several species were left behind on the Braemar mountains; while an unusually large pro- “portion is confined - the Breadalbane range, and does not occur further south. Upwards of a score of plants found on the Scottish Alps do not reach the English mountains; while several species are to be met with on Skiddaw and other hills in the jnorth of England which do not extend to the +Snowdonian range—Ireland receiving only a few sporadic species. We find the last representa- jtives of this peculiar vegetation on the Alps of | Switzerland, at various elevations from 6000 to a aaa a ~ os 4 ~~ * * Lary ny he he £ * f Te 2 iia nee 2 : : ‘ Prag 0) 7 > ~ e Bt - ty ‘ v= eRe . j 2, *. 7 * 22 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. — [cuar. — 10,000 feet, growing in great luxuriance among a representative flora special in its region——a few — stragglers reaching the Pyrenees in the west, and ; the Carpathian mountains in the east. Avenaria — rubella, Saxifraga rivularis,and Alopecurus Alpinus, are found in Britain, but have failed to reach the continent; while Ranunculus pygmaeus, Carex us- tulata, Astragalus oroboides, Stellaria Friestana, Alsine biflora, Saxifraga cernua, S. nivalis, and — S. hieracifolia are widely distributed throughout — Norway, but on the continent are confined to one > or two localities in Switzerland and the Tyrol. We thus find a gradual diminution of the Scandina-_ vian flora as we advance southwards—a convincing - proof that it has been diffused in that direction from its original centres of distribution on the elevated ranges of Norway. and Lapland. And, regarded from this point of view, Alpine plants may be divided into the doreal type, comprehending those species which are confined to the north of Europe, and do not reach further south than Wales, and the Alpino-boreal, which not only extend over the most elevated land in the British Isles, but also occur in abundance at high altitudes on the Swiss: Alps and the Pyrenees. 3 | Having thus ascertained the region from which our Alpine vegetation was derived, we have next to account for its transmission. Norway and Britain, at the present day, are widely separated from each other by an extensive sea; and no modes of transportation now in operation are sufficient t | vv em: PUR et ee ake. ainat ates. MIGRATION OF ALPINE PLANTS. Be aa os: the aon of the peculiar plants of the one country over the mountain ranges of the other, in such a manner as we find them distributed. The problem was quite inexplicable on the sup- position formerly entertained, that there has been no striking alteration in the condition of the earth’s “surface since the present flora of the globe was created, and that the relations of Britain and Norway to each other have always been the same as they are now. It need not be wondered at, therefore, that botanists took refuge from the dif- ‘ficulty in the hypothesis that species have been created indifferently, wherever the conditions were fitted for their growth. But now that we know, from recently ascertained geological facts, that great changes affecting the arrangement of land and water throughout the north of Europe have taken place during the period of the existence of - “modern vegetation, the key to the mystery has en ascertained 1. _ Attention was first deca to this inquiry by the late lamented Professor E. Forbes, at a peecting of the British Association in 1845; a - BS 1 The fishes of the Gulf of Bothnia are identical with those of the Arctic Ocean and White Sea; and yet these fishes occur nowhere -on the Norwegian coasts, the only route by which, under the present: distribution of land and water, they could have reached | the ‘one locality from the other. This circumstance proves ‘that the Baltic and the Arctic Ocean were once connected. It is. probable that the plains of Lapland were once under water, i" and that the Scandinavian peninsula was a ‘group of mountainous 24° HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cnar. his views on the subject—supported by the most — ample and, I think, conclusive evidence, derived © from botanical, geological, and more especially — zoological facts—are published at considerable j length in the “ Memoirs of the Geological Survey.” © It may seem a superfluous task to direct attention q to these views, considering the length Of time they ; _have been before the scientific public; but 1 am 7 persuaded they are not so well known as they © ought to be; and to many, a brief popular deli- neation of them will come with all the interest of q novelty. 4 Geological researches have furnished us oe two fixed points in time between which this migration — of Scandinavian plants to the British hills took place. It must have occurred after the deposition of the London Clay, or the Eocene tertiary epoch ; for the organic remains found in that formation © belong to a flora very different from, and requiring 7 a far warmer climate than, any now existing on 7 the European continent. And, on the other hand, © our great deposits of peat furnish us with con- 7 clusive evidence that it must have happened before the epoch usually designated “historical.” Between these two periods, geological changes occurred © which greatly altered the surface of our islands, and modified their climate and the distribution of 7) their organic forms. From the relics left behind, 7) we learn that a great part of the existing area of Great Britain, especially the lowland plains and valleys, was covered with the waters of a sea which 4 q : — q . ; F f i b.. , - gy ' + f ; J ol 4 Na ae a Pee, So pee! oe ee” he * '* » ; Pa A ee te a Od v iv : ae Meee GL ACTAL RPUCRR et ea a : "extended | over the north and centre of Europe, and E was. characterised by phenomena nearly identical with those now presenting themselves on the north- east coast of America within the line of summer floating ice. This was the sea of the glacial period—properly so styled—when a condition of climate existed which will account for all the | organic phenomena observed in the boulder clays and Pleistocene drifts. In the midst of this sea, the various mountain ranges and isolated hills, which now tower high above the surrounding country, were islands, whose bases and sides were washed by the cold waves and abraded by the _ passing ice-floes, and whose summits were covered in many places with glaciers, which left their | enduring and unmistakeable records on the rocks, and in the moraines at their foot. It was at this Beene that our now elevated regions received the flora and fauna observed upon them at the _ present day. Owing to their favourable position in the midst of an ice-covered sea, the means of transport existed in abundance; and the Arctic flora thus brought down, and gradually dissemi- nated over all the islands as far as the sea ex- tended, has ever since been able to maintain its footing, even under the altered climate of our times, according to the general law of climatal influence, through the elevation of the tracts which it inhabits. “This flora would probably differ _ slightly in different parts of its area, and hence 4 part of the variations now existing between the ‘ - res * ” ke » ' ‘ cee 2 pu nae” : A A ¥ rte . ( > et na ¥iAe ‘ - rae Ad Ae te 8) : hd 26 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS, — Mee 4 _ Alpine floras of Europe. Differences rietib further result from accidental destruction of the localities of plants scattered sporadically, and from the extinction of forms by various causes during the long period which has elapsed since they first became mountain plants.” | There is one remarkable fact which may be ap Nare te Fae : vA te at * noticed in passing, as affording something like - | circumstantial evidence in favour of this theory. At an elevation of between 3000 and 4000 feet on the principal mountain ranges of Scotland, the botanist is astonished to observe the common sea-pink, called by the Highlanders Tonag-a-chla- daich, growing among the rocks in the utmost profusion. It is precisely identical with that which forms so ornamental a feature in the scenery of our sea-coasts; in chemical composition, and in botanical appearance and structure, little or no difference can be detected between specimens gathered in both localities. Nor is it in the High-. lands of Scotland alone that the plant is found in such an unusual situation. All over the con- tinent of Europe it occurs on the highest moun-— tains, passing from the coast over extensive tracts of country. It has never been found in the intermediate plains and valleys, except when it has been brought down by mountain streams. This singular circumstance, otherwise inexplicable, would seem strongly to indicate that our mountain chains, as well as those of Northern and Central Europe, were once, as Professor Forbes asserts, ee a ae Ps Sy A a. OE & ~ 7g Eee d j gq ba fi 4 , 7 9 EL. + J / Ww 4 < cz Discs eee islands in the midst of an extensive sea. Plants of sub-Arctic and maritime character would then flourish to the water’s edge, some of which would _ afterwards disappear under altered climatal and eee oe a A oe A 2 te THE SCURVY GRASS. — Se physical conditions, leaving the hardiest behind. Another survivor of the ancient maritime flora which once clothed our mountain sides on a level with the glacial waves, is the Cochlearia Green- landica, or scurvy grass, so called from its peculiar medicinal use. Abundant on all our sea-coasts, and never growing inland, it is found on isolated spots at a great elevation on the Highland hills. It may easily be known by its thick tufts, bearing the small white flowers and hot acrid leaves pe- -culiar to the cress tribe. It is so hardy as to defy the severest cold of the Arctic regions, being found by polar navigators in Melville Island, under the snow, at the very farthest limit of vegetation. Farther down, on the sides of our great mountain ranges, we still occasionally observe the Plantago maritima, another plant existing nowhere else but on the sea-shore. During the glacial epoch it would flourish in a lower zone than the others, nearer the water’s edge, and hence its peculiar altitudinal position at the present day. These three examples, for which no other plausible ex- planation can be offered, go far to substantiate the theory of the transmission of the Scandinavian flora to our islands, in consequence of the great changes of surface and climate which took place _ during the glacial epoch. 28 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [onar. | The plants growing at the present day on the 7 Scottish mountains are thus not only different — from those found in the valleys at their base, but — they are also much older. They are the surviving relics of what constituted for many ages the sole — flora of Europe, when Europe consisted only of islands scattered at distant intervals over a’ wide waste of waters bristling with icebergs and ice- floes. How suggestive of marvellous reflection is the thought, that these flowers, so fragile that the least rude breath of wind might break them, and so delicate that they fade with the first scorching heat of August, have existed in their lonely and isolated stations on the Highland hills from a time so remote that, in comparison with it, the antiquity of recorded time is but as yester- day ; have survived all the vast cosmical changes which elevated them, along with the hills upon which they grew, to the clouds—converted the bed of a mighty ocean into a fertile continent, peopled it with new races of plants and animals, and prepared a scene for the habitation of man! Only a few hundred individual plants of each species—in some instances only a few tufts here and there—are to be found on the different moun- tains; and yet these little colonies, prevented by barriers of climate and soil from spreading them- selves beyond their native spots, have gone on- season after season for thousands of ages, renewing their foliage and putting forth their blossoms, though beaten by the storms, scorched by the ALTITUDE AND LATITUDE. 29 - sunshine, and buried by the Alpine snows, scath- less and vigorous while.all else was changing 7 around. It is one of the most striking and con- _ vincing examples within the whole range of natural history, of the permanency of species! _ Our globe may be compared to two enormous snow-capped mountains set base to base at the equator; the Northern Hemisphere representing - one, and the Southern the other. The equator is _ the foot of each; the middle part of both answers _ to the two temperate zones, north and south; and _ the opposite summits correspond with the Arctic and Antarctic regions. Thus in each tropical mountain we have an epitome of half of the great earth itself; and all the climates of the world, and all the zones of vegetation may be felt and seen ‘in passing from its foot to its top in a single day. Altitude is analogous with latitude. To climb a lofty Highland hill is equivalent to undertaking a summer voyage to the Arctic regions; a vertical ascent of 4000 feet in three hours enabling us to reach a north pole which we could only have attained in as many months by a journey through seventy degrees of latitude. The leading phe- nomena of the Polar world are presented to us on a small scale within the circumscribed area of the mountain summit. The same specific rocks along which Parry and Ross coasted in the un- _ known seas of the North, here crop above the surface, and yield by their disintegration the same _kind of vegetation. The Alpine hare is common ei,” ae OS ee gs 2 ON See ha SES TAM NTN SI ee ee _ Ried _ pressure into the consistence of glacier-ice, not 30 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. __ {c to both; and the ptarmigan, which penetrates in large flocks as far as Melville Island, is often seen a 4 flying round the grey rocks of the higher Gram- | pians, and exhibiting its singular changes of plumage from a mottled brown in summer to pure white in winter, so rapidly as to be perceptible from day to day. Although none of the Scotch mountains reach the line of perpetual snow, yet large snowy masses, smoothed and hardened by unfrequently lie in shady hollows all the year round, and remind one of the frozen hills of Greenland and Spitzbergen. Sweltering with midsummer heat in the low confined valleys, we are here revived and invigorated by the chill breezes of the Pole. We have thus in our own country, and within short and easy reach of our. busiest towns, specimens and exact counterparts of those terrible Arctic fastnesses, to explore which every campaign has been made at the cost of endurance beyond belief—often at the sacrifice of the most noble and valuable lives. Our Alpine plants may be distributed in three distinct zones of altitude, characterised by Mr. Watson in his admirable “Cybele Britannica” dif- ferently from the usual mode. We have first the super-Arctic zone, bounded below by the limit of the common heather at an elevation of about 3000 feet, and defined negatively by the absence, rather than the presence, of particular plants, only two species being peculiar to it in this country. This — ZONES OF ALTITUDE. 31 Bone, characterised as that of the herbaceous willow without the heather, occurs only in the — BS Highland provinces, where the highest mountains _have their summits considerably above the limits of the heather. We have next, lower down, the q mid-Arctic zone, lying between the heather line and _ that of the cross-leaved heath, at about 2000 feet, characterised by the heather without the heath. S This comprehends the highest mountains of Eng- land, Wales, and Ireland, and all the great ranges _ of Scotland, and contains by far the largest pro- 4 portion of rare and beautiful Alpine plants, being ' especially rich in Arctic forms. And, lastly, we have the zzfer-Arctic zone, bounded above by the B Erica and below by the bracken, and the limits of cultivation at about 1400 feet. Of course in this _ zone, which may be characterised as that of the _ cross-leaved heath without the brake fern, the _ plants approach more closely to the Lowland type, _ though containing a large number of species of the if true Alpine and Arctic form. These three zones of ‘ altitude are distinguished generally by the affinity of their flora to that of the most northern parts of Europe, Siberia, and America, and in a less degree to that of the higher parts of the Swiss Alps, _ Pyrenees, and Carpathians. We must regard this arrangement, however, though very convenient for general purposes, as somewhat arbitrary and arti- ficial for Nature is never definite in her lines of \ demarcation: on the one hand, many Alpine— plants erowing indiscriminately. in all the three. | ae ed hh, » ; af e) ‘ 4 ot hag Pe 44 ‘ei . . i - i . ; et y Ws } ¥ a ; e 3 PP ie an Vy, 32 HOLIDAVS ON HIGH LANDS. |cHAP. zones, and descending in some places even to the © sea-shore; while, on the other hand, many common Lowland species come up from the cultivated re- gions, and grow on the highest summits, although | suffering a stunting of their habit from the severer - ¢ ™ ‘i 4-40) fe = el a « A - r,t ates at sid lt Sep. ae ets ee Re ee Pe climate. | Accidental or local circumstances produce con- siderable variations in the altitude of various — species. The violent storms which frequently rage in mountain regions sometimes detach fragments of soil, in which several species are rooted, and j plant them far down among the productions of the © valley. Alpine streams not only bring down the — seeds of Alpine plants, but also, to a certain extent, the cold of the summits, so that their banks will support the species of a severer climate than is natural to the latitude and elevation. On the other hand, deep lakes and other large sheets of water— _ as they are less liable to sudden changes than the > atmosphere, and preserve a nearly equal tempera- ture all the year round—sensibly mitigate the climate of the mountains in their immediate vicinity, at considerable heights above their sur- face. Hence we not unfrequently, find, at an elevation of 2000 and even 3000 feet, the plants © pecular to the edge of the water and the lowest © declivities blooming in great abundance and luxu- riance. In Ireland, in consequence of the vaporous — atmosphere and the less amount of sunlight, cer-— tain Alpine plants range to a lower level than in~ England and Scotland. The Alpine hare is found | Se ee end ree re ae ene Te oe ee Satter ade Bey AL TITUDINAL RANGE OF PLANTS. 33. ome places at the sea-shore. The humid and’ equable climate of Ireland resembles that of the rthern Scottish Isles, where the same thing takes place. On the southern slopes of great ranges which are sheltered from the northern blasts, and more exposed to the light and heat of the sun, the Same species are found at a higher altitude than Bech. northern side. The range, as well as the aracter, of the flora is also greatly influenced by the geological construction of the mountains, plu- tor rid rocks bei far fee hag sedimentary—the number of ie rocks aap precipices, or compara ively smédthEd¥E58) slopes Xthe direction and natijre of the! r¢vailigg4winds; the frequency of strea ¢ 44nd wells; and, aboveaY, by the geo- graphical pdsiyd: URiothe ills Mether they form ‘pai rt of an extensiV@are-eottinuous Chain, carrying _the general level of the country to a considerable height above the sea-line, and abounding in ele- ‘vated plateaux and corries, or whether they. form co ical or isolated peaks rising abruptly from the Lit Considerable allowances must also be ade for different latitudes; for although the area the British Isles is somewhat limited, there is a sonsiderable difference between the temperature the northern and southern points; so that the thermal lines of Caithness and Sutherland, at pane of 1300 feet, correspond to those of pi a summit of Snowdon. The mean annual tem- era eure in the south-west of England is 523 reas in the central districts of pees it is . D ae ey hr are * [cHaP. A 3 4 ‘34 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LAN@ee only 47°, and in the north-east counties as low as 46° or even 45°,—one degree being deducted for inland localities under the same latitude, and one degree for each three hundred feet of elevation above the level of the sea. Attributing their due influence to all these disturbing causes, it will be found, with tolerable regularity and definiteness, that the region occupied by the true Alpine flora extends from an elevation of 2000 feet to the summits of our highest mountains. This region, as may be easily imagined, is the dreariest = : most desolate portion of our country. : Etherealized by the changing splendour of the heavens as the mountain. summit appears when surveyed from below, rising up from the huge mound of rock and earth like a radiant flower above its dark foliage, it affords another illustration _ of the poetic adage, Sah “°Tis distance lends” enchantment to the view.” When you actually stand, upon it, you find that the reality is. very different from the ideal. The clouds that float over it, “those mountains of another element,” | which looked from the valley like. fragments of the sun, now appear in their true character as masses of cold dull vapour; and the mountain | peak, deprived of the transforming glow of light, has, become one of the most desolate spots on which the eye can rest. Not a tuft of grass, not a bush of heather, is to be seen anywhere. The earth, beaten hard by the frequent footsteps of the storm, is leafless as the world on the first wa TURE OF Mo UNTAIN SUMMITS. 35 | g = Brito aoe fragments of rocks, | = monuments of elemental wars, rise up here d there, so rugged and distorted that they n like nightmares petrified ; while the eu f the waves, and watch for the beating of the ing surge on the rocks around. The dense ing mists hurrying up from the profound ses on every side imprison you within “the w circle of their ever-shifting walls,’ and trate every fold of your garments, and your itself, becoming a constituent of - your blood, chilling the very marrow of your bones. ind you there is nothing visible save the e vacant sea of mist, with the shadowy form : some neighbouring peak looming through it ike the genius of the storm; while your ears are 1 ned “ead the oan ‘of the wind among the “And eS ee and desolate aren D2 : 36 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. _ [cHaP. the scene usually appears, it has its own periods of beauty, its own days of brightness and cheer- fulness.. Often in the quiet autumn noon the eye is arrested by the mute appeal of some lovely Alpine flower, sparkling like a lone star in a mid- night sky, among the tufted moss and the hoary lichens, and seeming, as it issues from the stony - mould, an emanation of the indwelling life, a visible token of the upholding love which pervades the wide universe. If winter and spring in that elevated region be one continued storm, the short summer of a few weeks’ duration seems one en-| chanting festival of light. The life of earth is then born in‘“ dithyrambic joy,” blooms and bears fruit under the glowing sunshine, the balmy breezes, and the rich dews of a few days. Scenes of life, interest and beauty are crowded together with a seeming rapidity as if there were no time to lose, Flowers the fairest and the most fragile expand their exquisitely pencilled blossoms ‘even amid dissolving wreaths of snow, and produce an im- pression all the more delightful and exhilarating from the consciousness of their short-lived beauty: and the contrast they exhibit to the desolation that immediately preceded. a A large proportion of our Alpines aint are universally diffused, being found in abundance ot all the British mountains of sufficient elevation, The Alpine Alchemilla carpets with its satiny leaves the sides of every mountain at an cleiatidl of about a thousand feet. In Braemar it _ + es | ~—s COMMON ALPINE PLANTS. — 37 common verdure by the wayside, and mingles 1 1 the daisies beside the village houses. The abundant on all the hentia’ hills, boric it does not penetrate farther south. By the roadside on the ascent of the Cairnwall, near Braemar, it is exceedingly common; while the mountain Rue (Thalictrum alpinum), ‘aie white Alpine Cerastium, th Re uirple- -rayed Erigeron or Alpine Fleabane, the owy Dryas, the blue Veronica, the Alpine Saus- surea and Potentilla, are comparatively common on Il the higher ranges of England, Wales, and Scot- Tand. But the most common and abundant of the ants which grow on the Highland mountains are he different species of Saxifrage. They are found n cold bleak situations all over the world, from the ‘ctic Circle to the Equator, and, with the mosses tived. In that isolated region the London Pride associated with a remarkable group of plants which belong to the Pyrenean or Iberian flora, and 4 ong any. HOLIDA vs ON HIGH LANDS. are not ret “mith dsewhere in the British isles or in| Northern Europe. There are six species of Saxi- | frage, S. umbrosa, S. Geum, S. hirsuta, S. hirta, S. Andrewsit, S. affinis ; three species of heather, Evica Mediterranea, E. Mackiana, and St. Dabeocs | Heath (Dabacia polifolia) ; the weH-known straw- berry-tree of Killarney, Avdutus Unedo; the Spanish Butterwort, Pinguicula grandifiora; and | ‘the Pyrenean. Cress, .Arabis ciliata. Two rare ferns are also found in this region very cha- | racteristic of warm climates, and found more» abundantly in Spain, the Azores, and Madeira, viz. : Adiantum Capillus-veneris, the true Maiden Hair Fern, which grows abundantly and luxuriantly on the cliffs of Inishmore, one of the south Isles of | Arran off Galway Bay, and in the clefts of that remarkable formation known as the “ limestone — pavement” in the west of county Clare, Ireland ; and the lovely transparent Bristle Fern, 7vicho- manes radicans, with which visitors to the Lakes of - Killarney are familiar. A large number of lichens : and mosses also occur in this part of Ireland, which are found nowhere else in Britain, and are either identical with, or closely allied to, species in | southern latitudes. Among these may be men-_ tioned the splendid broad-leaved Sticta (S. Ma- =| crophylla), which grows on shady rocks beside th: 4 | Turk cascade, Killarney,and on Cromagloun Moun. tain. It is found nowhere else in Europe; being a tropical species peculiar to the Mauritius, and tc South America, where it grows on the trunk of the PECULIAR TRISH PLANTS. 39 vian bark-tree. On the maritime rocks in the ith-west of Ireland has been found sparingly the x0us Orchil or Canary-weed (Roccella tinctoria), chen once imported extensively from the Canary nds for dyeing purposes, and worth about £200 Of the Hepatice or Scale-mosses, the utiful and very distinct species Fangermannia ichinste, the F. Mackazt, 7. Woodstt, and fF. Rircland. Of true mosses, the Hypuum demissum, ‘distinguished for its glossy slender habit and com- “pact manner of growth, grows in the woods of Cromagloun Mountain, near the Upper Lake of | stage ; while the two remarkable Hookerias— “Hi, lete-virens and H. splachnoides, are found at oO ’Sullivan’s Cascade, and Turk Waterfall, and a moist inclined faces of rocks on the side of Turk fountain, Killarney. All these mosses belong to e flora of the Pyrenees, where they are more bundant and luxuriant than-in Ireland. Along ith this peculiar inland vegetation several species p of sea-weeds are found on the western and south- “western shores of Ireland, which are common in th 1e Souith- west of Europe. The question occurs, ‘How did these Spanish and south European plants find their way from the one region to the other? AN o existing marine currents could have effected the distribution ; and had the atmosphere been the means of diffusing them, we should have expected » find intermingled with the heaths and saxi-— , zes of Ireland, which we do not, the peculiar _ HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. _ {c composite plants with winged seeds which are associated with them on the mountains of Spain. fj We are shut up then to the conclusion that Spain — and Ireland were formerly united, and that the plants | in question migrated before the two countries be- _ came separated from each other. Abundant geo- logical evidence exists of this anterior union of Ire- — land and Spain at the end of the Miocene epoch. A vast continent extended westward from the — Mediterranean beyond the Azores; and the semi- j circular belt of gulf-weed, called the Sargassum Sea, ranging between the 15th and 45th degrees of north. latitude, remaining constant in its position, is sup- | posed to mark the ancient coast-line of this sub- | merged continent. Over this continuous dry land, extending from the province of Munster beyond the Canaries, flourished a rich and peculiar flora of the — true Atlantic type. The intermediate links of the floral chain have been lost by the destruction of the land on which they grew; but on the opposite shores of the Bay of Biscay, separated by hundreds. of miles, the ends of the chain still exist, amid | the wilds of Killarney and the mountain valleys: of Asturias, ; In connection with the floral and geological facts : regarding this continent of Atlantis, a very remark-— able ancient tradition may be mentioned. In the Timzeus, a myth of epic magnificence, Plato relates | an incident which had been told him in his child- hood by his grandfather Critias: “Solon was my ‘master, Now Solon had travelled and resided in ’ a CONTINENT OF ATLANTIS. — 41 a the Delta, where one of the priests whi was - learned in the science of history said:to him, ‘O ~ Solon! Solon! you Greeks are as yet but children, z and know not the history of Egypt. But we pre- a: serve in our sacred books a written history of more than nine thousand years! You know only of one deluge, but it was preceded by many others. 4 Athens, which you believe to be new, is very ancient; and I will tell you how your Greece 4 Beserved to us Egyptians our liberty by resisting the enormous forces which came from the shores iq of the sea of Atlantis. This sea at that time surrounded an island not far from the Pillars of _ Hercules, and larger than Asia and Libya put _ together. Between it and the continent were some ‘smaller islands. This gigantic country was called _ Atlantis. It was densely peopled, and very pros-_ _ perous, governed by powerful kings who seized _ the whole of Libya as far as Egypt, and of Europe as far as the country of the Tyrrhenians; they ~ reduced all the nations on this side of the Pillars _ of Hercules to slavery. The ancient Greeks then rose up, defeated them and delivered Egypt from slavery. But a still greater misfortune awaited the Atlantis; for at that time, when there were - earthquakes and inundations, the island was swal- lowed up. The inhabitants of the island, which f was larger than Europe and Asia together, dis- =n _ -. + - Ai ie = i dl Fe A * we am ti “ fie os Otel tee) s 5 a é. : baa +t s f wer Soli ae 7 , z : - oe TN ee - oe" * ¥ WOE ae : - * a ¢ ml ‘ , : ‘ * r of ah ‘ . aN , 2." 42 _ HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. _ [cuar. appeared in a single night. This is why the sea is not navigable, on account of the shoals formed by the submerged land’” Of this vast Atlantic continent, Madeira, the Azores, and the Canaries | are fragments; and the flora and fauna of these islands would seem to indicate a corftinuous con- nection of dry land between Europe and America, for they partake largely of the characteristics of the old and new worlds. The ichthyology of the © Canaries resembles more that of the east coast of America than that of the Mediterranean and African coasts. Many of the plants of the Canaries are also of an American type; while others are found in the Asturias and the west of Ireland, and others still are identical with the plants of Sicily and Syria. The whole coleopterous fauna of Madeira — and of all the Fortunate Isles is very peculiar. ‘The type of the land-shells is also as remarkable as that of the insects. And both indicate that these. islands are mountain-tops of the submerged At- lantic continent, preserving a few relics of a fauna once very extensive and varied. The Szsyrhinchium anceps, Natas flexilis, and Eriocaulon septangulare, which occur in Ireland, point unmistakeably to a former connection with America. Along with these remains of the flora and fauna of the ancient Atlantic continent, we have in Spain the existence of the Eskuara or Basque language in the valleys” of the Pyrenees, whose nearest affinities are the polysynthetic languages of ancient Peru and Mexico, inasmuch as like them, and them only, it habitually 3 a ieee tla catiatni FA ena sa! Aline Sone + te | oe eee Ge fa fret 2 EP 7) * . c ~* a Z a " ” 7 CMe See ee pr kh ee Dk ts a ye aS . ae as 7 ea ‘ THE BASQUE LANGUAGE. i AS forms its compounds by the elimination of certain - radicals in the simple words. The hypothetical : . continent of Atlantis might probably explain this ; - curious anomaly in the distribution of languages, as well as solve some other puzzling. ethnological _ problems, such as the remarkable resemblance in physical appearance, manners and _ customs, ' sculpture and pottery, and the arts of life, and, - above all, in the mode of embalming and mum- i. mifying the dead, between the ancient Egyptians, the extinct Guanches of the Archipelagos of the Canaries and Azores, and the aboriginal inhabit- ants of Mexico and Peru, pointing irresistibly to a common ‘origin. Indeed obscure traditions im- : plying that America was once united with Europe and Africa are said still to exist among the Ame- rican =Indians. But into these questions, asso- -_ ciated with the pedigree of the London Pride, I - cannot here enter. What has been already said _ ought to redeem this homely plant from its ordinary insignificance, and invest it with deeper interest as _ the oldest plant now growing in the British Isles, and one of the last survivors of the flora of the ancient Atlantic continent. The history of the saxifrages which grow on the Highland hills is scarcely less remarkable— only that they are of Arctic instead of Atlantic a origin, and were introduced into this country during the subsequent glacial period, when the northern hemisphere was greatly refrigerated by : : 4 (49) 3 ° “ae ¥ i : wo. ee ee 2 =e ri Coe es BOR iM nS iE ' rs “ia ra Rae ‘ , - : sh ; scien A we ‘ : 4 t bis 44 HOLIDAVS ON HIGH LANDS. than seven different species are found on the © Scottish mountains, growing indiscriminately at various altitudes, from the base to the highest summits, on the moist banks of Alpine streams, as well as on bleak exposed rocks where there is hardly a particle of soil to nourish their roots, and over which the wind drives with the force .of a hurricane. | The rarest ef thesepsasd— frages is the S. cernua, found nowhere else in Britain than on the extreme top of Ben Lawers, where it seldom flowers, but is kept in existence, propagated from generation to generation by means of viviparous bulbs, in the form of little red grains produced in the axils of the small upper leaves. It resembles the common meadow saxifrage in the shape of its leaves and flower so closely that, although the viviparous bulbs of the one are pro- duced at the junction of the leaves with the stem, and those of the other at the root, Bentham con- siders it to. be merely a starved Alpine variety. — Be this as it may, it preserves its peculiar cha-_ racters unaltered, not only within the very narrow area to which it is confined in *Siitameour throughout the whole Arctic Circle, where it has a wide range of distribution. It is met with in a few places in Switzerland; and it also occurs, although very sparingly, in the Tyrol, in Carinthia, in Styria, and in Transylvania. So frequently within the last sixty years have specimens been cathered from the station on Ben Lawers which, unfortunately, every botanist knows well, that only ‘ +3! eae) mre ee ee ee a renee EWE ey ore ie A Stes altar PURPLE SAXIFRAGE. — 45 4 Peis, and these exceedingly dwarfed and deformed. a On no less than twenty-six different occasions I have examined it there, and been grieved to mark = the ravages of ruthless collectors. I fear much that, at no distant date, the most interesting member of the British flora will disappear from the only locality known for it in this country. After having ‘survived all the storms and vicissitudes of count- less ages, historical and geological, to perish at last _ under the spud of the botanist, were as miserable an anti-climax in its way as the end of the soldier who had gone through all the dangers of the Peninsular ‘war, and was killed by a cab in the streets of London. , The loveliest of the whole tribe is the purple _ saxifrage, which, fortunately, is as common as it is beautiful. It grows in the barest and bleakest spots on the mountains of England and Wales, as well as those of the Highlands, creeping in dense straggling tufts of hard wiry foliage over the arid soil, profusely covered with large purple blossoms, presenting an appearance somewhat similar to, but much finer than, the common thyme. It makes itself so conspicuous by its brilliancy that it cannot fail to be noticed by every one who ascends the _ loftier hills in the appropriate season. It is the avant-courter of the Alpine plants—the primrose, so to speak, of the mountains—blooming in the _ blustering days of early April; often opening its . BerOsy blooms in the midst of large masses of snow. age ae ea ae - ee a + 4 Sagat he bs * a ae F 46 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. And well is it entitled to lead the bright array of Flora’s children, which, following the march of the sun, bloom and fade, one after the other, from April to October, and keep the desolate hills con- tinually garlanded with beauty. It is impossible - to imagine anything fairer than a combination of the soft curving lines of the pure unsullied snow, | with the purple blooms rising from its cold em- brace, and shedding over it the rosy reflected light of their own loveliness. I remember being greatly — struck with its beauty several years ago in a lonely corrie far up the sides of Ben Cruachan. That was a little verdant oasis hid amid the surround- ing barrenness like a violet among its leaves—one of the sweetest spots that ever filled the soul of a weary careworn man with yearning for a long repose; walled round and sheltered from the winds by a wild chaos of mountain ridges, animated by the gurgling of many a white Alpine rill descend- ing from the cliffs, carpeted with the softest and mossiest turf, richly embroidered with rare moun- tain flowers, with a very blaze of purole saxifrage. I saw it on a bright quiet summer afternoon, when the lights and shades of the setting sun brought out each retiring beauty to the best advantage. It was just such a picture as disposes one to think - with wonder of all the petty meannesses and am- bitions of conventional life. We feel the insig- nificance of wealth, and the worthlessness of fame, when brought face to face with the purity and beauty of nature in such a spot. How trifling are + - a 4 = a . 4 i z 7 < - - CORRIE ON BEN CRUACHAN. AT _ the incidents which in such a scene arrest the attention and fix themselves indelibly in the mind, to be recalled long afterwards, perhaps in the _ crowded city and in the press of business, when aa the graver matters of every-day life that have intervened are utterly forgotten! High up among FF the cliffs, round which a line of braided clouds, softer and fairer than snow, clings motionless all Z _a lamb, deepening the universal stillness by con- trast, and carrying with it wherever it moves the if very centre and soul of loneliness. A muir-cock rises suddenly from a grey hillock beside you, _ shows for a: moment his glossy brown plumage | and scarlet crest, and then goes off like the rush of an ascending sky-rocket, with his startling fe kok-kok-kok sounding fainter and fainter in the distance. Or perhaps a red deer wanders un- | _ expectedly near you, gazes awhile at your motion- less figure with large inquiring eyes, and ears erect, and antlers cutting the blue sky like the _ branches of a tree, until at last, wearied by its stillness, and almost fancying it a vision, you raise your arm and give a shout, when away it flies in a series of swift and graceful bounds through the shadow of a cloud resting upon a neighbouring hill, and transforming it for a moment into the _ similitude of a pine-forest, over its rocky shoulder, away to some lonely far-off mountain spring, that wells up perhaps where human foot had never trodden. | 48 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. Speaking of springs, there is no feature in — Alpine scenery more beautiful than the wells and streamlets which make every hill-side bright with — their sunny sparkle and musical with their liquid murmur; and there are no spots so rich in moun- — tain-plants as their banks. Trace them to their >| source, high up above the common things of the _ world, and they will be seen to form a crown of — joy to the bare granite rocks, diffusing around — them beauty and verdure like stars brightening their own rays. A fringe of deeply-green moss clusters round their edges, not creeping and lean- ing on the rock, but growing erect in thick tufts of fragile and slender stems. Clouds of golden ~ conferve, like the most delicate floss-silk, float in the open centre of clear water, the ripple of which gives motion and quick play of light and shade to their graceful filaments. The Alpine Willow- herb bends its tiny head from the brink, to ‘add — its rosy reflection to the exquisite harmony of colouring in the depths; the rock Veronica forms an outer fringe of the deepest blue; while the little Moss Campion enlivens the decomposing rocks in the vicinity with a. continuous velvet carpeting of the brightest rose-red and the most brilliant green. The indescribable loveliness of this glowing little flower strikes every one who sees it for the first time on the mountains speechless with admiration. Imagine cushions of tufted moss, with all the delicate grace of its foliage, miracu- lously blossoming into myriads of flowers, rosier — ee en ree en See ee ant ee ee ter 4 & ‘a “« 4 i ’ seer gta ALPINE STREAM, — hee 40 | the n Pine: vermeil hue on beauty’s cheek, or the a Bioudiet that lies nearest the setting sun, crowding “upon each other so closely that the whole seems “an intense floral blush, and you will have some faint idea of its marvellous beauty. A sheet of it, three summers ago, on one of the Westmoreland “mountains, measured five feet across, and was one solid mass of colour. We have nothing to com- ere with it among Lowland flowers. Following ‘the course of the sparkling stream from this en- Wchanted land, it conducts us down the slope of tl 1e hill to beds of the mountain Avens, decking ‘the dry and stony knolls on either side with its downy procumbent leaves and large white flowers, “more adapted, one would suppose, to the shelter “of the woods than the bleak exposure of the mountain side. Farther down the declivity, where “the stream, now increased in size, has scooped out for itself a deep rocky channel, which it fills from Ride to side in its hours of flood and fury—hours when it is all too terrible to be approached by “mortal footsteps—we find the mountain Sorrel hanging its clusters of kidney-shaped leaves and greenish rose-tipped blossoms—a grateful salad— from the beetling brows of the rocks; while, on the drier parts, we observe immense masses of the -rose-root Stonecrop, whose native name is Lws-nan- lavigh, growing where no other vegetation save the “parti. -coloured nebulz of lichens could exist. This -cactus-like plant is furnished with thick fleshy leaves, with few or no evaporating pores, which : is 50 - HOLIDAVS ON HIGH LANDS. — enable it to retain the moisture collected by its” vi [ CHAP. | a. | large, woody, penetrating root, and thus to endure the long-continued droughts of summer, when the stream below is shrunk down to the green cleet of its slippery stones, and the little Naiad weeps her impoverished urn. It grows on the rocky sea-shores of Islay and Rum; and through- out the Hebrides is used as a kitchen-herb. Fol- lowing the stream lower down, we come to a Yn aerts more sheltered and fertile region of the moun-— tain, where pool succeeds pool, clear and deep, in~ which you can see the fishes lying motionless, or darting away like arrows when your foot shakes the bank or your shadow falls upon the water. There is now a wide level margin of grass on either side, as smooth as a shaven lawn; and meandering 3 through it, little tributary rills trickle into the stream, their marshy channels edged with rare Alpine rushes and carices, and filled with great spongy cushions of red and green mosses, enlivened ~ by the white blossoms of the starry saxifrage. The S. atzoides grows everywhere around in large beds richly covered with yellow flowers, dotted with spots of a deeper orange. This lovely species — descends to a lower altitude than any of its con-— geners, and may be called the golden fringe of the richly-embroidered floral mantle with which Nature covers the nakedness of the higher hills. It blooms luxuriantly among a whole host of moorland plants, sufficient to engage the untir- ing interest of the botanist throughout the long = 4 1] PLANTS OF THE ALPINE STREAM. ~ 51 summer day. Soft plumy tufts of the Spignel or Meu (Meum Athamanticum) an Alpine umbellifer, g row on the sandy margin of the stream. The whole plant exhales a strong peculiar piggish ‘odour , like that broad-leaved species of St. John’s Nort known as the Zwutsan. The long roots, c Blothed with dense grey fibres, have a pungent aromatic taste and excellent carminative proper- ties. Made up into bundles they used to be sold at ‘Highland markets for a half-penny each, under the name of Muichionn. The curious sundew, a vegetable spider, lies in wait among the red elevated moss tufts,.to catch the little black flies in the deadly embrace of its viscid leaves; the Pi bog asphodel stands near, with its sword- Pecise ‘ leaves and golden helmet, like a sentinel guarding the spot; the grass of Parnassus covers the moist _greensward with the bright sparkling of its autumn ‘snow ; while the cotton grass—Chana-nan-sleibh of the Highland bards, a favourite metaphor— Ny yaves on every side its downy plumes in the : intest breeze. Binding the soft mossy sward ‘in myriads, like upholsterers’ knots in a cushion, th he yellow tufts of the butterwort (Pinguicula Beiaris send up each its solitary violet-like flower on a long stalk. Its leaves glisten with a peculiar viscous substance which attracts flies, like the ssundew. Under the name of Brogan-na-cuaig, or Cuckoo’s-shoes, it used to be employed by Highlanders in their mountain chalets to give jm ilk the consistency of cream and to increase | | EK 2 52 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuap. — the deposit of butter. Down from this flowery region the stream flows with augmented volume, — bickering over the shingle with a gay poppling sound, and leaving creamy wreaths of winking foam between the moss-grown stones that pro- trude from its bed. It laves the roots of the crimson heather and the palmy leaves of the lady- fern. The sunbeams gleam upon its open face with “messages from the heavens;” the rainbow — arches its waterfalls; the panting lamb comes to F cool its parched tongue in its limpid waters; the lean blue heron, with head and bill sunk on ita breast, stands motionless in its shallows watching © for minnows all the long dull afternoon; while | the dusky ousel flits from stone to stone in all the fearless play of its happy life. Hurrying | swiftly through the brown heathy wastes that clothe the lower slopes, it lingers awhile where the trembling aspen and the twinkling birch and | the rugged alder weave their leafy canopy over | it, freckling its bustling waves with ever-varying _ scintillations of light and shade; pauses to water . the crofter’s meadow and comfelen and to supplys the wants of a cluster of rude moss-grown huts | on its banks, which look as if they had grown naturally out of the soil; and then, through a beach of snow-white pebbles, it mingles its fretting waters in the blue profound peace of the loch. Such is the bright and varied course of the Alpine stream, with its floral fringe; and from its fountain | to its fall it is one continuous many-linked chain SUMMIT OF BEN NE VIS. HS % of yan epic of Nature, full of the neko ea - ages and the most suggestive poetry. _ Very few of the true Alpine plants grow on the 3 ctual summits of the Highland hills; and this _ circumstance appears to be due not so much to the | cold —for the same plants are most abundant and most luxuriant throughout the whole Polar zone, _ where the mean annual temperature is far below ; the freezing point, whereas that of the Highland — —— . The highest point of Ben Nevis, for in- stance, is so thickly macadamized with large masses of dry red granite, that there is hardly room for the tiniest wild flower to strike root in the soil. It - looks like the battle-ground of the Titans, or a _ gigantic heap of scorize cast out from Vulcan’s fur- nace. It is impossible to imagine, even in the Polar : regions, any spot more barren and leafless. The plants of the super-Arctic and mid-Arctic zones, which should be found there owing to its height, “are therefore obliged to accommodate themselves in the infer-Arctic zone, where the necessary con- i ditions of soil and moisture exist. One of the two _ plants characteristic of the highest zone—viz. the pSexifraga rivularis—occurs on the hill, but con-— _ siderably below its normal limits. It grows at an Biceuae of 3000 feet, in a spot irrigated, while the _ plant is in flower, by water trickling from the melt- _ ing snow above. The summit of Ben-y-gloe, rising * ane em 54 HOLIDAYS ‘ON HIGH LANDS. [crap | to a height of 3900 feet in the north-east corner — of Perthshire, is also covered with enormous piles of snowy gneiss—like the foundation of a ruined city—in some places ground into powder by the disintegrating effects of the weather, and in others occurring in the shape of large blocks thrown loosely above each other, so sharp and angular Some ae ~ that it is one of the most difficult and fatiguing q tasks imaginable to scramble over the ridge to the cairn which crowns the highest point. When sur- veyed from below, the peak has a singularly bald appearance, scarred and riven by numberless land- slips, and the dried-up beds of torrents, and scalped by the fury of frequent storms; and a nearer in- spection proves it to be as desolate and leafless as the sands of Sahara. On the top of Ben-Muich- Dhu, though very broad and massive, as beseems a mountain covering a superficial basis of nearly forty miles in extent, the only flowering plants which occur are, strange to say, those which are — found in profusion even at the lowest limits of Alpine vegetation on the English hills. The last — time I visited it I observed only seven flowering — plants near the cairn on the summit, most of which ~ were sedges and grasses. Among the patches of i dry detritus between the thin slabs of red granite with which the highest ridge is paved, may be — seen a scanty sward composed of Luzula arcuata, Festuca vivipara, Funcus trifidus, Carex rigida and — very stunted specimens of Salix herbacea. The © mossy Campion, however, amply compensated me — f°. MOSSY CVPHEL, . 55 E the Biccnce of the other AN gties by the ae dé nce and brilliancy of its rosy flowers. The finest and most abundant plants are found along * course of a lovely stream that rises on the "brow of the ridge and falls into Loch Etachan, marking its course all the way by dense cushions of moss of the most vivid green, chocolate, and claret colours, contrasting in a very striking manner ‘with the utter barrenness and desolation every- where else. The same remarks ely to nearly all the High- Band hills. There are only five plants which— though sometimes descending to lower altitudes, one or two of them even to the level of the sea- ‘shore on the hills fronting the coast in the north- ! west of Scotland—are invariably found on the “summits of all the ranges that are more than 3000 feet high. These plants are the mossy Campion, ‘the Dwarf willow, the procumbent. Sibbaldia, the little dusky-brown Gnaphalium, and the curious Cherleria or mossy cyphel. This last little plant forms an anomaly in the distribution of our Alpine flora. It is very abundant in the subnival region of the Swiss Alps, growing on the larger groups” ‘of mountains, from an altitude of 8000 to 15000 feet. It forms one of the most conspicuous of the forty plants found on the far-famed “Jardin de Ta Mer de Glace” at Chamouni, described in | Murray’s Handbook as “an oasis in the desert, an is island in the ice, a rock which is covered with a \ b beautiful tes and enamelled in August with — : aN . “he . * re 4 fae! ‘ < pe 4 he 5G. HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS oe flowers. This is the Jardin of this palace of nature; and nothing can exceed the beauty of — such a spot, amidst the overwhelming sublimity of | the surrounding objects—the Aiguille of Charmoz, : Bletier, and the Geant,” &c. This highly-coloured description is, however, a mere euphemism, for in — reality the so-called garden is only a collection of huge boulders protruding out of the glacier, © lying on a sheltered southern slope, and covered 4 principally with lichens and plants, whose dull insignificant appearance would not attract the least notice elsewhere’. Although not very rare on the highest Scottish mountains, the Cherleria does — not extend farther north—thus offering a very striking exception to the usual derivation of our 3 mountain flora. It may either have emigrated northwards from the Alps during the glacial epoch, | or it may be regarded as a sporadic species, de- : pending upon local conditions for its maintenance. — From its peculiar and hardy appearance, I would almost hazard the opinion that it is older than — any of the other Alpine plants, that it existed on — the British hills before the migration of the Scan- : | dinavian flora, and that the Breadalbane mountains — form its original centre, from which it has been 1 Amongst the plants of the Jardin may be mentioned the Linaria alpina, Geum montanum, Potentilla aurea, Eupbrasia officinalis, Gen- tiana acaulis, G. punctata, G. verna, G. purpurea, Ranunculus glacialis, R. alpestris, Potentilla alpestris, Luzula lutea, Erigeron alpinum, E. uniflorum, Veronica officinalis, V. alpina, V. bellidioides, Tussilago alpina, Primula viscosa, Saxifraga bryoides. BEN LAWERS. - eet "distributed southwards over the Pyrenees and the 7 - Swiss Alps. The last inference is warranted by | its extraordinary luxuriance on Ben Lawers. It q has nothing to boast of in the shape of flowers, a the sharpest eyes being hardly able to detect the _ minute greenish petals and stamens among the. tufted moss-like foliage. It is impossible to convey _ the impression of special adaptation which one glance at the plant, in its bare and sterile habitat, cannot fail to produce. Its long, tough, woody root penetrates deeply the stony soil, so that it is with difficulty a specimen can be detached; and so hardy is its nature that it flourishes green and - Juxuriant under the chilling pressure of huge _ masses of snow, and under the unmitigated glare _ of the scorching summer sun. : Of all the British mountains, Ben Lawers is the _ richest in rare and interesting Alpine species. This hill, which may be called the Mecca of the botanist, as every neophyte who aspires to the honours of his science must pay a visit to its rugged cliffs, _ occupies very nearly the centre of Scotland. It rises in a pyramidal form from the north shore of _ Loch Tay, upwards of 4000 feet above the level of the sea, and commands from its summit, on a _ Clear day, an uninterrupted view unparalleled in the. British islands for variety, sublimity and extent. _ Though separated from the surrounding mountains _ by two torrents which flow through deep depres- q sions on its eastern and western sides, it forms with ; them an immense continuous range, upwards of . .' ad 4 ie Ay ed . Lo SIs ae eee ol J (os ey ae 4 , + > — ‘ ae 4 eo 58 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. - [cuar. — forty miles in length, ten in breadth, and of an average altitude of 3000 feet. On this lofty pla- teau, known as the Breadalbane chain, which is the most uniformly and extensively elevated land in Britain, the different peaks of Maelghyrdy, Craig- calleach, Ben Lawers, &c., repose like a conclave of mighty giants, imparting a serrated appearance to the range indescribably wild and savage when wreathed with mist or cloud. The whole of this vast region is composed almost entirely of mica- ceous schist, interspersed here and there with veins of quartz, and containing not unfrequently those dark-brown crystals called garnets, which greatly enhance the sparkling lustre of the mica. This rock, it may be remarked, embraces within its — course the finest and most celebrated scenery in — the Highlands, and rises, besides. the Breadalbane peaks, into such distinguished “summits as Ben Voirlich, Ben Ledi, Ben Venue, Ben Lomond, and all the bold serrated ridges of Argyleshire and Inverness-shire. It is of a very soft and friable nature, and is easily weathered, forming on its surface a deep layer of rich soil, admirably adapted to the wants of an Alpine or Arctic vegetation. Being the prevailing formation in the Norwegian and Lapland mountains, as well as in the Arctic regions, it is obvious that the Scandinavian plants which emigrated southwards would find, wherever this rock cropped out suffi- ciently high above the surrounding surface, pecu- liarly favourable conditions for their growth. Hence a ae Se Pe [| — BREADALBANE MOUNTAINS. 59 « | oa en | all the micaceous rocks.in this country, and ven in the Swiss Alps, we find a greater variety Bi a a richer luxuriance of Scandinavian forms than on any other geological formation. We are particularly ‘struck with this when we compare ‘the rich and varied Alpine vegetation of the | Breadalbane mica schists with the generally meagre ‘and stunted vegetation of the Braemar and Ben | . granites. _ The unusual fertility of the ‘Bieadelhatte range ssi also be ascribed to geographical position, _ highly advantageous in a meteorological point of _ view. The south-west winds, which come loaded with moisture from the Atlantic, meet with this _ great ridge running along the west. of Perthshire, ' high above the other ranges, and, rushing up its ~ cooler sides, condense their vapours, disengage _ their latent heat, and produce that mild climate, _ with almost continual rain or drizzling mist, in ~ which Alpine plants delight during the period of _ growth ; whereas to the Aberdeenshire mountains | _ the same winds come deprived of their moisture, and bring dry, cold weather. The common species of plants which are found on every hill of sufficient altitude in Britain, and which constitute their sole _ Alpine flora, are not only more abundant in. in- dividual forms on the Breadalbane mountains, but also attain more luxuriant proportions, so that _ they give a rich and beautiful appearance to the | B aicher ranges in the glowing summer months; _ while, as previously intimated, an unusually nie 508 PR mL 8 Sat ie SSR 60 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS, + [omar proportion of Annie is exclusively restricted to this chain. Nor is it merely in rare phanerogamous vegetation that these mountains are rich; they also possess a singularly varied and peculiar crypt- ogamic flora, several species of which are found nowhere else. Most of these plants.may be found collected on the single peak of Ben Lawers; and a botanist cannot spend a week more profitably — ‘and pleasantly than in exploring the huge sides and broad double summit of this hill, Every step leads to a botanical surprise, and almost every plant is either altogether new, or so rare and unfamiliar as to excite a thrill of gratification. If he has never before investigated Alpine vege- tation, and if he be at all an- enthusiast in his pursuit, he will experience in the collection of these novelties and rarities some of the happiest mo- ments in his life.—moments worth years of arti- ficial excitement, banishing every sense of weari- ness and fatigue, and rendering, by the elevation of mind they produce, his perceptions of beauty in the scenery around more acute and delightful, These moments soon pass away, but they cease like the bubbling of a fountain, which leaves the waters purer for the momentary influence which had passed through them,— not like too many worldly joys, which ebb like an unnatural tide, and leave behind only loathsomeness and disgust. In the crevices of the highest rocks may be observed a curious lichen, called Verrucarza Flookert, spreading over the blackened and _ har- 4 : fle wat . vj > ‘ ' 1] MOSSES AND LICHENS OF BEN LAWERS. 61- dened turf in white turgid scales, which is quite _ different from any other lichen with which we are acquainted, and seems to be a special creation _ found nowhere else in the world. Curiously enough, _ there is associated with it a moss also peculiar _ to the spot, the Gymunostomum cespititium, which grows in dense brownish-green tufts, with nume- rous glossy capsules nestling among the leaves. The extreme rarity and isolation of these plants would almost warrant the inference, either that they are new creations which have not yet had time to secure possession of a wider extent of sutface, or rather, perhaps, that they are aged _ plants, survivors of the original cryptogamic flora of the soil during the more recent geological epochs, which have lived their appointed cycle of life, and, yielding to the universal law of death, are about to disappear for ever. The fallen rocks in the crater-like hollow are covered with the dis- persed tumid yellowish white warts of the Lecanora Jrustulosa,—a lichen found nowhere else in Britain, and exceedingly rare in Norway. Associated with it is the dark grey Sguamaria leucolepis, which 1 have gathered upon decayed mosses in Norway ; a ¥ al a and the Leczdea fusco lutea, with its white thallus and orange brown shields. On the highest ridge of the mountain occurs, among the débris of rocks, the Draba repestris, a very small, insignificant- looking plant, but important as being one of the most Arctic and Alpine plants in Scotland. It is only found here and in one locality in Sutherland- Pe ae | PAPE * 62 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. shire, and is unknown on the continent of Europe. | Beside it, on the eastern side, the Sagzna nivalis — or snowy pearlwort occurs abundantly. Passing down from the cairn that crowns the highest point of Ben Lawers, along the north-western shoulder — of the hill, we are soon brought to-a stand by several lofty precipices. Descending one -of these, we come to a small corrie; and here, upwards of 3000 feet above the level of the sea, we are fairly bewildered with the beauty, the variety, and the luxuriance of the Alpine plants which bloom on every side. All the ordinary species are here congregated in lavish profusion, protected by im- mense shaggy beds of rare Alpine mosses, and nourished by the incessant dripping from the rocks overhead. We observe among them a few dense tufts of the Alpine sandwort (Adsine rubella), and instantly we are down on our knees in the swamp to gather it, for one brief moment oblivious of the whole universe besides. Our prize has cer- tainly little to recommend it; for beauty it can scarcely be said to possess, the chickweed of our gardens, to which it is closely allied, having fully as pretty a flower; but it is remarkable for that | which gives value to the diamond—its exceeding q rarity—only one other station for it being known in Britain, viz. the exposed cliffs of Ben Hope in Sutherlandshire. It belongs eminently to the boreal or Arctic type of vegetation, penetrating very far north, but reaching its southern limit on Ben Lawers. vitae oN at + at , Fa & %eehodke IE THE SNOWY GENTIAN. eae Scarcely has my enthusiasm had time to cool, _ when it is raised to a higher pitch, by seeing, in a cleft of the rock, the most celebrated of all our mountain flowers—the tiny Gentiana nivalis, or snowy gentian. With immeasurable thank- fulness, and with a reverential and delicate touch, I pluck from the tiny clumps two specimens for myself, and two for favoured friends—no more; for the genuine botanist has too great a regard for these interesting remnants of an almost extinct race—these little Aztecs of the flower world, which cling so tenaciously to Flora’s skirts—to exter- -minate them ruthlessly by taking more than he needs: If, humanly speaking, they are so precious in the eyes of their Creator, that He has taken such wonderful care to perpetuate them in these bleak spots, they ought surely to be invested with some- thing of a sacred character in our sight. What appeals so powerfully to the protection of man in the helpless form of the infant, ought to affect us in similar, though of course lesser degree, in the tenderness and fragility of these rare plants. The snowy gentian is the smallest of the Alpine flowers, usually averaging from half an inch to an inch in height, with a very minute blossom, forming a ‘mere edge of deep blue, tipping the long calyx. Another station besides the Ben Lawers one has been found in a large corrie near the summit of Mael-nan-tarmonach, another peak of the same range, and also in the Caenlochan mountains, at p< head of Glen Isla, where a ig Se Gs cranite, .. 64 rich in felspar, associated with a dark syenite, abounding in hornblende, is the prevailing rock. The Alps of Switzerland, however, seem to be the chosen haunt of this and all the rest of the gentian tribe. There it grows in profusion among a lovely sisterhood of gentians, imparting a blue, deep as — that of the sky above, to the higher pasturages, and often hides its head on the dizzy ledges of tremendous precipices. In ascending the lofty peaks of the Jungfrau and Monte Rosa, the guides not unfrequently resort to the innocent artifice of — endeavouring to interest the traveller in its beauty, to distract his attention from the fearful abyss : which the giddy path overhangs. There is one flower found in Ben Lawers which alone is worth all the fatigue of the ascent. This — is the Alpine forget-me-not (J/yosotis alpestris). It is far lovelier than its sister of the valleys—the — well-known flower of friendship and poetry—its — flowers being larger, more numerous, and closely — set, forming a dense coronet or clustered head, that looks like a carcanet of rich turquoises. It does not grow beside running brooks, or in marshy — spots, like its lowland congener, but high up on the > dizzy ledges of almost inaccessible cliffs, where no — one but the prying naturalist would look for floral: beauty. It occurs along with our Scottish Evigeron — on the summit of the Mysian Olympus. Although — somewhat abundant on the Swiss Alps, in Britain it is confined to the Breadalbane mountains, where it does not occur lower down than 3000 feet. On ALPINE FORGE T-ME-NOT, | 65 Ben Lawers it is especially abundant and luxuri- ant, crowning with a garland of large blue tufts 4 the precipitous crags which jut out from the ‘ ‘western side of the hill. Fortunately for the pre- servation of the plant, it is a hazardous undertak- ing to gather it there, for the rocks are from 300 to 400 feet in perpendicular height, and one escapes from their ledges to a secure standing- place with much the same feelings that a man gets out of reach of a shell just about to explode. In that elevated spot the summer is far advanced before it ventures to put forth its delicate flowers, “so that it escapes the howling winds and the tem- -pestuous mists, and blooms in a calm and serene ‘atmosphere. The perfume which it exhales is very volatile, being sometimes almost imperceptible, and at other times very strong, and suggestive of the honey smell of the clover fields left far below. This is almost the only British Alpine plant pos- sessed of fragrance; whereas, on the Swiss Alps, the majority of species are odoriferous,—a circum- stance which adds largely to the inspiring influence of aramble on those stupendous hills. The absence of scented species on our mountains seems to be ‘owing to the dark cloudy atmosphere which almost always broods over them; while their presence in such profusion on the Alps is, on the other hand, due to the cloudless skies and the bright sunshine peculiar to the south, as well as to the diminished ‘pressure of the atmosphere ; for the most fragrant kinds seldom prosper below a certain elevation, va F : b 3 66 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. — [cHaP. and when cultivated in gardens become nearly — scentless. There is no plant which recalls more | forcibly the beautiful though hackneyed lines of Gray than the Alpine forget-me-not. But is it really true that it blushes unseen, and wastes its fragrance on the desert air? Who-are we, that we should arrogate to ourselves. the right to call any existence vain and wasted that is wholly beyond our use, and removed from our admiration? When shall we learn the humbling truth, con- stantly preached to us, that nature has not yet passed under our dominion, and that the smallest wild flower does not bloom for man, or any other — creature, as its primary object. We have seen how little the admiration of man is regarded by nature, in the boundless prodigality with which she pours out her treasures in the loneliest and most desolate spots, remote from human habitations, and rarely, if ever, visited by human foot. There are many beautiful scenes left far off by themselves among the solitudes of the mountains, where, unseen and unknown to all human beings, living nature fails not, from the glad morn to the silent eve, to call up all those sublime pageants of daily recurrence © which show forth the Creator’s unchangeable glory, in her ever-changing loveliness ; where “the sunrise, unnoticed, clothes the mountains with regal robes of crimson and gold, and the red twilight, unad- mired, paints them in hues soft as those which flowers, ungathered, breathe forth their odours like ‘ pass over the cheek of the dying; where grateful ? ~ 7. am \ ABERDEENSHIRE MOUNTAINS. Gr. the incense of a silent prayer, while answering dews descend, untainted, from the skies; where storms, é infeared, come down in all their terror, and the unheard winds make a ceaseless wailing music A over the lonely heights.” And are we to think that a Il these beauties and wonders of creation are lost, because no mortal is at hand to look on them with his cold eye and thankless heart? No! better to “suppose that purer and holier eyes than ours are ‘for ever keeping watch in grateful admiration over the minutest flower, as over the remotest star, than - believe that the works of the Creator are ever without some one of His created beings to adore : His majesty in their perfection. i The Aberdeenshire mountains, from their great : ation and geographical position, lying in one of the directions taken by the Scandinavian flora in ‘its descent to southern latitudes, exhibit a large » proportion of Alpine forms, which might have been ‘still larger were it not for unfavourable geological and climatal conditions. They possess, in great Tuxuriance, on the sides and summits of their high- est peaks, no less than three species of shrubby lemon- coloured lichens highly peculiar to Iceland and Lapland, and found nowhere else in this country. The restriction of these cryptogams to so narrow a corner of our island—considering the facility with which their light invisible spores may be disseminated by winds and waves, and their capacity of enduring the utmost extremes of temper- jature—can only be explained by the supposition Foz 68 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuar. that the Cairngorm mountains first intercepted ~ and, by a special adaptation of conditions, re- tained them. Of phanerogamous plants, one is — confined to this district; the Mulgedium alpinum —a large coarse plant of the lettuce tribe, with erect stems from two to three feet high, producing deep — blue florets late in summer, which grows in moist — rocky situations in Northern and Arctic Europe — and Asia; but in this country is restricted to the — Loch-na-gar and Clova mountains, where it is_ rapidly disappearing. I gathered it several years ago ina locality where I believe it is now extinct, —the ledge of a sloping and rugged precipice on the north side of Ben-Muich-Dhu, down which, a stream, rising in the upper ranges of the hill, falls in a succession of cascades for nearly 3000 feet into the waters of Loch Avon. On the rocks © _of Loch-na-gar, overhanging a deep ravine, by which there is an ascent—though very laborious — _—to the summit, may be found Saxifraga rivu- laris and Phleum alpinum; while the rare Lycopo- dium annotinum, Cornus suectca, and Drosera anglica may be gathered at their base in moist soil. | On the Braemar mountains another Alpine plant — of deeply interesting character is found. The Astragalus alpinus, a species of vetch, crowns the summit of Craigindal, a hill about 3000 feet high, in the vicinity of Ben Avon, and Ben-na-bourd. It is confined almost exclusively to this neigkboull hood, and is found there in two or three localities at considerable distances from each other, but Se aT « ise ba "2 eee . wr e ose; r at: OXVTROPIS CAMPESTRIS. BD characterised by the same geological formation, viz. a very pure, compact felspar. These moun- tains form the most southern limit of this plant. ‘Tracing the Grampian chain for twenty or thirty miles south-east, until it forms the Clova group of hills, we find collected in that narrow space two other plants, each of which is restricted in its range to rocks of the same specific character, and there- fore comprised within a very limited area. One of these, the Oxytropis campestris—also a species of vetch, with pale yellow flower tinged with purple— is known by reputation, if not by sight, as one of the rarest of British plants, and therefore one of the most desirable acquisitions to the herbarium. Common on the mountain pastures and Alpine rocks in the Arctic regions of Europe, America and Siberia, it is confined in Britain to one cliff on the right-hand side of Glen Fee in Clova, severed from the surrounding precipices by two deep fissures, apparently the result of extensive atmospheric disintegration. This cliff is composed of micaceous schist, peculiarly rich in mica, though of a dark smoky colour; and being of a soft and friable nature, easily decomposed by the weather, forms a loose, deep, and very fertile soil. In a large corrie on the left-hand side of Glen Fee occurs the Carex Grahkami, which has only been met with in one other locality in the world. Carex Vahlzz, another very rare sedge, is found abundantly in the same corrie. This species is widely spread in Scandinavia, but occurs only in the Engadine \e ig 70 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANES. [cHaP. and in South Tyrol on the Continent. The other plant alluded to, viz. the Lychnzs alpina, the Alpen Lichtnelke of the Swiss, is also confined to a few isolated localities on the same range. It grows sparingly on the rocky table-land—about half an acre in extent—which crowns the summit of a hill called Little Gilrannoch, equidistant between Glen Isla and Glen Dole. It is intimately connected © with the lithological character of its habitat, for in several places on this plateau it springs from little crevices where there is hardly a_ particle of — soil to nourish its roots; and its range of distri- bution extends only as far as the rock preserves its mineral character unchanged. This rock, . which differs from the prevailing strata of the district, and from those in its immediate neigh- bourhood, is composed of compound felspar, very hard, and capable of resisting disintegration, In some places it is smooth and bare, like a pave- ment, and in others extremely corrugated and vitrified, as if it had undergone the action of fire. Though not found elsewhere in this country, the Alpine Lychuzs has an extensive geographical range, being an Alpino-boreal plant, occurring both in~ Scandinavia and the Swiss Alps and Pyrenees. Caenlochan stands next, perhaps, to Ben Lawers in the number and interest of its Alpine rarities. On the summit of this range, close beside the bridle-path which winds over the heights from_ Glen Isla to Braemar, an immense quantity of the Highland azalea (Azalea procumbens) grows among a 3 ae “HIGHLAND AZALEA. at the shrubby tufts of the crowberry ; and when in the full beauty of its crimson bloom, about the beginning of August, it is a sight which many besides the botanist would go far to see. It is the only plant on the Highland mountains that reminds us of the rhododendrons which form the floral glory of the Swiss Alps, and especially of the Sikkim Himalayas, one species of which only, the &. laf- ponicum, inhabits the eastern high grounds of Sweden and Norway. The Rhododendron family has long been known to possess poisonous proper- ties. The dreadful sufferings of the Greeks during the celebrated retreat of the Ten Thousand, were _ caused by eating the honey collected by bees from the flowers of the Azalea and the Rhododendron Ponticum in the neighbourhood of Trebizond. Cattle not unfrequently perish by feeding upon the foliage and flowers of Rhododendron Arboreum in the mountains of Kumaon. Dr. Hooker re- marks, on a tour while exploring the mountain- passes leading into Thibet,—‘Here are three -Rhododendrons, two of them resinous and highly odoriferous; and it is to the presence of these plants that the natives attribute the painful sen- Eations expetienced at ereat elevations. . The azalea of the Highland mountains is not free from the deleterious properties of its tribe. Cases of horses, sheep and goats, having been affected with violent vomiting and other painful symptoms of poisoning after feeding upon the young shoots of the plant have not unfrequently been recorded. Fn 4 { Vd 72 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. __ [cHAr. — And certain high hills where the plant occurs abundantly have an evil reputation in this respect ; it being considered dangerous to pasture sheep or — goats upon them, or to allow horses to feed at will upon the herbage at certain elevations. The stu- pendous cliffs at the sources of the Isla, formed of friable micaceous schist, and. irrigated by in- — numerable rills, trickling from the melting snow above, are fringed with exceedingly rich tufts of Saussurea, Lrigeron, Sibbaldia, Saxtfraga nivalis, and whitened everywhere by myriads of Dryas — octopetala and Alpine Cerastium. The scenery of this spot is truly magnificent. Huge mural precipices, between two and three thousand feet high, extend several miles on either side of a glen so oppressively narrow that it is quite possible to throw a stone from one side to the other. Dark clouds, like the shadows of old mountains passed away, continually float hither and thither in the vacant air, or become entangled in the rocks, in- creasing the gloom and mysterious awfulness of the gulf, from which the mingled sounds of many torrents, coursing far below, rise up at intervals like the groans of tortured spirits. A forest of — dwarfed and stunted larches, planted as a cover for the deer, scrambles up the sides of the preci- — pices, for a short distance, their ranks sadly thinned by the numerous landslips and avalanches from the heights above. This region is seldom frequented by tourists, or even by botanists, as it lies far away from the ordinary routes, and requires a special = | Mee Pil} = 3=—sS MENZIESIA STATION 73 ri visit. The late. Professor Graham and the present accomplished Professor of Botany in the Edin- F burgh University once spent, I believe, a fortnight in the shieling of Caenlochan, a lonely shepherd’s _ hut at the foot of the range, built in the most primi- _ tive manner and with the rudest materials. They _ gathered rich spoils of Alpine plants in their daily - wanderings among the hills, and so thoroughly in- _ doctrinated the shepherds and gamekeepers about _ the place in the nature of their pursuits, that they _ have all a knowledge of, and a sympathy with, the vasculum and herbarium, rare even in less secluded _ districts, though the schoolmaster is everywhere 3%. abroad.. Every one of them knows the ‘ Gimtion ’ ' (Gentiana nivalts) and the ‘Lechnis aména ’ (Lych- % _ nts alpima), as they call them, as well as they know a grouse or sheep, and is proud at any time, without _ fee or reward, to conduct ‘botanisses’ to the spots _ where these rarities are found. _ In the northern extremity of Perthshire, between _ Loch Rannoch and Loch Erricht, on the north- eastern brow of the mountain called the Sow of Atholl, is the well-known station for the very rare Menziesia or Phyllodoce cerulea, a species of heath distinguished by its large blue bells. This treeless waste of elevated moorland, charac- _ terised by Maculloch as one of the most desolate regions in Europe, forgotten by nature, without _a trace or a recollection of human life, once formed the site of the great Caledonian forest, which, in a all. probability, sheltered in its moist and shady 74 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. __ [cuar. recesses plants found nowhere else in Britain, and peculiar to the swampy forests of Norway and Lapland. Of this hyperborean vegetation, the beautiful A/enzzesza, the Azalea procumbens, Ly- copodium annotinum, and the Rubus arcticus are now the sole surviving relics. They strikingly © illustrate the influence of man in extirpating or limiting the distribution of plants, by levelling forests, draining marshes, and thus rendering a particular region unsuitable to the vegetation of — an excessive climate, by introducing a more equable temperature, greater warmth in winter and greater cold in summer, than formerly prevailed. To the general naturalist this is one of the most interest- ing districts in Britain. About nine miles from Kinloch Rannoch, on the south side of the loch, there is a thick dark pine-forest, extending for about three miles, known as the Black Wood, which is also a relic of the great Caledonian forest; many of its trees being of great age, and so large as to require the outstretched arms of two men to span them. The timber is celebrated for its’ durability, and is valued at about 430,000. In-the damp air of this forest, where there is an abundant supply of vegetable food in all stages — of decay—favoured by the intense heat of summer and the long period of winter torpor—an astonish- ingly large number of subalpine insects occur, which are unknown in any other part of Britain, and some even yet undetected in any other country. It is, in fact, the paradise of the ento- «il ‘ ¢ . 4“ RANNOCH INSECTS. 79 mologist, for though the species are rare, the number of individuals is unusually large. Many of them are of considerable size, and possess very attractive colouring; while others exhibit curious habits and modes of development. The Formica -congerens builds its huge anthills of pine-needles here as in Norway. One of the most abundant insects in the place is the Longicorn beetle (Aszz- nomus cdilis), which is known in Sweden, and, strange to say, in Rannoch also, as ‘the timber- man, on account of its frequenting the timber- ‘cutting yards, and even the doorposts of the houses. Its horns are prodigiously long, about four times the length of its body, and remind one more of tropical insects than any similar de- velopment that occurs in this country. Tvrichius fasciatus, known to the inhabitants of the neigh- -bouring village of Camachgouran as the ‘bee- beetle, from the resemblance of the velvety black bands on its yellow downy body to those of the common humble-bees, fombus muscorum and B. lapponum, found in its company, is also frequent in the neighbourhood. Evebia Cassiope, a species of rare butterfly, frequents the mountain side above the Black Wood; while the fine moth Petasia nubeculosa, first discovered here as British, is found on the birch trees, when the snow is on the ground. The Polar dragon-flies “schna borea- lis and Cordulta arctica occur of a large size. The delicate, flattened, beautifully reticulated bright red Dictyopterus Aurora, first discovered here, and >. ov & ae Cat a 82 ne © ee ee 2 rye eee ea Be es, 5 ere ee eee a 76 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. a a8 not as yet found elsewhere in Britain, is very plentiful. among rotten pine-chips under logs, and may be seen towards evening flying feebly in the depth of the forest. On the tops of the mountains round about occur under stones the rare Misco- dera arctica, the Alpine Nebria Gyllenhal, and the Patrobus septentrionis. In short, upwards of a score of insects peculiar to the neighbourhood are essentially boreal forms. The parallelism between them and the insects of Norway and Sweden is of the closest character, and is thus a singular confirmation of the evidence afforded by some of the plants of the district that, in this corner of Britain, we have, in the relics of the Caledonian forest, the remains of a Scandinavian flora and fauna that once spread over the whole country. Although neither tree nor shrub is capable of existing on the mountain summits, we find several representatives there of the lowland forests. The Dwarf willow (Salzx herbacea) occurs on all the ridges, creeping along the mossy ground for a few inches, and covering it with its rigid shoots and small round leaves. It is a curious circum- stance, that a regular sequence of diminishing forms of the willow tribe may be traced in an ascending line, from the stately “siller saugh wi’ downie buds,” that so appropriately fringes the banks of the lowland river, up to the diminutive species that scarcely rises above the ground on the tops of the Highland hills. The dwarf birch, also, not unfrequently occurs in sheltered situa- aaoay a : es. at 7 ALPINE FERNS. 77 tions on the Grampians, among fragments of rocks thickly carpeted with the snowy tufts of the rein- deer moss. It is a beautiful miniature of its grace- ful sister, the queen of Scottish woods, the whole tree—roots, trunk, branches, leaves, flowers, and fruit—being easily gummed ona sheet of common note-paper; and yet it stands for all that the Esquimaux and Laplanders know of growing timber. In the Arctic plains the members of the highest botanical families are entirely super- seded by the lowest and least organized plants. Lichens and mosses are there not only more im- portant economically, but have greater influence in affecting the appearance of the scenery, than -even willows and birches. Of ferns there are several very interesting species on the Highland mountains. A peculiar form occurs in sheltered places on most of the higher summits, which for a long time was supposed to be a variety of the common lady-fern. It is now ascertained to be a distinct species, and is called Polypodium alpestre,; its cluster of spores being naked and destitute of a covering in all the stages of growth. It is especially abundant on Loch-na- gar and the Cairngorm range, where it was dis- covered several years ago by Mr. Backhouse of York. On rocky slopes, at a height of about 2000 feet, occurs the Alpine holly-fern (Polyst:- chum Lonchitis), which is peculiarly adapted to its rigorous climate by its slow rigid habit of growth, and the persistency of its old fronds. On 78 ° HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. ~ fenap Ben Lawers it is very abundant. The Woodsza hyperborea grows in small compact tufts on the ledges of almost inaccessible precipices. It is con- fined almost exclusively to the Breadalbane moun- tains, where it is found very sparingly indeed. But the rarest and most interesting’ of all the Alpine ferns is the Cystopterts montana, a large, handsome, much-divided species, bearing a con- siderable resemblance to the Polypodium. calca- veum. It appears at the beginning of June, and fades early in August. It does not grow in crevices of rocks, like its congeners, but on the Alpine turf at a height of about 3000 feet. On Ben Lawers I once observed an extensive patch of it, contain- ing thousands of specimens, above the precipices on the west side of Loch-na-cat, near the station of Saxifraga rivularis; but when I next visited the spot, the turf had been stripped off and the plant extirpated—not a vestige of it to be seen. It is fortunately, however, abundant on the wild, almost unknown, mountain plateaux which stretch from the head of Loch Tay to Loch Lomond— such as Benteskerny, Mael-nan-tarmonach, Mael- shyrdy, Corry Dhuclair, &c. I gathered some fine specimens of it in a ravine while crossing the Wengern Alp, in Switzerland, some years ago; and subsequently in the tremendous defile of the Nae- rodal, at the head of the Sogne Fjord in Norway. It would be improper not to notice very briefly the rich and varied cryptogamic vegetation which clothes the highest summits, and spreads, more ri : { ALPINE MOSSES AND LICHENS. 79 of the soil, over spots where no flowering plant could possibly exist. This vegetation is perma- nent, and is not affected by the changes of the seasons: it may, therefore, be collected at any time, from January to December. It is almost unnecessary to say, that the Alpine mosses and lichens are as peculiar and distinct in their cha- -racter from those of the valleys as the Alpine flowers themselves. They are all eminently Arctic ; and, though they occur very sparingly in scattered patches on the extreme summits of the Highland hills, they are the common familiar vegetation of the Lapland:and Iceland plains, and cover Green- land and Melville Island with the only verdure they possess. Some of them are very lovely: as, for instance, the saffron Solorina, which spreads over the bare earth, on the highest and most exposed ridges, its rich rosettes of vivid green _above and brilliant orange below; the daisy- flowered cup lichen, with its filigreed yellow stems, and large scarlet knobs; and the geographical lichen, which enamels all the stones and rocks with its bright black and primrose-coloured mo- _ Saic. Some are useful in the arts, as the Iceland ' moss, which occurs on all the hills, from an eleva- | tion of 2000 feet, and becomes more luxuriant the higher we ascend. On some mountains it is ‘so abundant that a supply sufficiently large to diet, medicinally, all the consumptive patients in - “Scotland could be gathered in a few hours. A few i eee Al oe ae : in ty = ~ = 4 7 “eee ead 5 s vf 44m . “ be 80 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. lichens and mosses, such as Hooker's Verrucaria. and Haller’s Hypnum, are interesting to the bo- — tanist, on account of their extreme rarity and © isolation. Some are interesting on account of their associations, as the Parmelia Fahlunensis, which was first observed on the dreary rocks and heaps of ore and débris near the copper mines of Fahlun, in Sweden—a district so excessively barren that — even lichens in general refuse to vegetate there, © yet inexpressibly dear to the great Linnzeus, be- — cause there he wooed and won the beautiful — daughter of the learned physician Moreeus. And _the curious tribe of the Gyvophoras or Tripe de Roche lichens, looking like pieces of charred parch- ment, so exceedingly abundant on all the rocks, — will painfully recall the fearful hardships and suf- ferings of Sir John Franklin and his party in the Arctic regions. It is a strange circumstance, by the way, that most of the lichens and mosses of | the Highland summits are dark-coloured, as if scorched by the fierce unmitigated glare of the © sunlight. This gloomy Plutonian vegetation gives a very singular appearance to the scenery, espe- cially to the top of Ben Nevis, where almost every stone and rock is blackened by large masses of Andreas, Gyrophoras, and Parmelias. The most marked and characteristic of all the cryptogamic plants which affect the mountain ~ summits is the woolly-fringe moss, Tréchostomum — lanuginosum. This plant grows in the utmost profusion, frequently acres in extent, rounding the © 4g “CRATER” OF BEN LAWERS. 81 angular shoulders of the hills with a padding of the softest upholstery work of nature; for which 3 considerate service the botanist who has previously _ toiled up painfully amid endless heaps of loose stones, is exceedingly grateful. Growing in such abund- _ ance, far above the line where the higher social _ plants disappear, it seems a wise provision for the . protection of the exposed sides and summits of the hills from the abrading effects of the storm. _Snow-wreaths lie cushioned upon these mossy plateaux in midsummer, and soak them through _ with their everlasting drip, leaving on the surface 4 from which they have retired the moss flattened _ and blackened as if burnt by fire. With this moss I t have rather a curious association, with a description _ of which I shall wind up my desultory remarks, as a specimen of what the botanist may have some- _ times to experience in his pursuit of Alpine plants. _ Some years ago, while botanizing with a friend ~ over the Breadalbane mountains, we found our- _ selves, a little before sunset, on the summit of _ Ben Lawers, so exhausted with our day’s work that we were utterly unable to descend the south side to the inn at the foot. In these circumstances _ we resolved: to bivouac on the hill for the night. On the higher ridge of the hill there is a strange rocky chasm which is popularly known as the _ “Crater,” from its shape, not, of course, from any volcanic associations. It is strewn with rocks broken up into huge rectangular masses, lying q loosely on the top of each other, and leaving large (s G - * wo ye a I ee ee ee if : - PM Rt acs Buk a ny. yy ie "ee ey ce ~F SEP, he ; , . ? ye hb “AS aoe vf. SSS 82 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHAP. cavernous openings between them. In the thin — coating of dark micaceous soil covering the sides and bases of these fallen rocks, the Saxifraga cernua grows sparingly. It is a desolate weird- looking place, where, according to tradition, the © “ Lady of Lawers,’ who several hundred years ago lived at the foot of the hill, and had the reputation of being a witch and a prophetess, folded her cows at night, after feeding on the slopes of the Ben all day. In this crater-like hollow the sappers and miners of the Ordnance Survey, having to reside there for several months, had constructed square — open enclosures, like sheepfolds, to shelter them from the northern blasts. In one of these roofless caravansaries we selected a spot on which to spread our couch. Fortunately, there was fuel con- veniently at hand in the shape of bleached frag-— ments of tent-pins and lumps of good English coal, proving that our military predecessors had supplied themselves in that ungenial spot with a reasonable share of the comforts of Sandhurst and Addiscombe. My companion volunteered to kindle a fire, while I went in search of materials for an extemporaneous bed. As heather, which forms the usual spring-mattress of the belated traveller, does not occur on the summits of the higher hills, we were obliged to do without it—much to our regret ; for a heather-bed (I speak from experience) - in the full beauty of its purple flowers, newly gathered, and skilfully packed close together, in its growing position, is as fragrant and luxurious Sa BIVOUAC ON TOP OF BEN LAWERS. 83 an 4 a couch as any sybarite could desire. I sought a substitute in the woolly-fringe moss, which I found covering the north-west shoulder of the hill in the utmost profusion. It had this disadvantage, however, that, though its upper surface was very dry and soft, it was beneath, owing to its viviparous mode of growth, a mass of wet decomposing peat. My object, therefore, was so to arrange the bed that the dry upper layer would be laid uniformly uppermost; but it was frustrated by the enthu- siasm excited by one of the most magnificent sunsets I had ever witnessed. It caused me com- pletely to forget my errand. The western gleams had entered into my soul, and etherealized me above all creature wants. Never shall I forget that sublime spectacle; it brims with beauty even now my soul. Between me and the west, that glowed with unutterable radiance, rose a perfect chaos of wild, dark mountains, touched here and there into reluctant splendour by the slanting sunbeams. The gloomy defiles were filled with a golden haze, revealing in flashing gleams of light the lonely lakes and streams hidden in their bosom ; while, far over to the north, a fierce cataract that rushed down a rocky hill-side into a sequestered glen, frozen by the distance into the gentlest of all entle things, reflected from its snowy waters a erfect tumult of glory. I watched in awe-struck ilence the going down of the sun amid all this jomp, behind the most distant peaks—saw the few eecty clouds that floated over the ea where | G - co ' . p> . » “4 « Pid eC = Bet ye eerie a 7 2 Pa ie Oe ¥* s es - aS i Pi ae j 84 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHap. he disappeared fade into the cold dead colour of autumn leaves, and finally vanish in the mist of even—saw the purple mountains darkening into the Alpine twilight, and twilight glens and streams tremulously glimmering far below, clothed with the strangest lights and shadows by the newly risen summer moon. Then, and not till then, did I recover from my trance of enthusiasm to begin in earnest my preparations for the night’s rest. I *sathered a sufficient quantity of the moss to pre- vent our ribs suffering from too close contact with the hard ground; but, unfortunately, it was now too dark to distinguish the wet peaty side from the dry, so that the whole was laid down in- discriminately. Over this heap of moss we spread a plaid, and lying down with our feet to the blazing fire, Indian fashion, we covered ourselves with another plaid, and began earnestly to court the approaches of the balmy god. Alas! all our elaborate preparations proved futile; sleep would not be wooed. The heavy mists began to de- scend, and soon penetrated our upper covering, while the moisture of the peaty moss, squeezed out by the pressure of our bodies, exuded from below ; so that between the two we might as well have been in “the pack” at Ben Rhydding. To add to our discomfort, the fire smouldered and soon went out with an angry hiss, incapable of contending with the universal moisture. It was a night in the middle of July, but there were refrigerators in the form of two huge masses of | a : " : tll A. ’ eee wets : > ot , t etd #% ni » . a su, 73) t BS ae - COLD AND SLEEPLESSNESS, 85 hardened snow on either side of us; so the tem- perature of our bedchamber, when our warming- pan grew cold, may be easily conceived. For a long while we tried to amuse ourselves with the romance and novelty of our position, sleeping, as we were, in the highest attic of her Mayjesty’s - dominions, on the very top of the dome of Scot- land. We gazed at the large liquid stars, which seemed unusually near and bright; not glimmer- — ing on the roof of the sky, but suspended far down in the blue concave, like silver lamps. There were the grand old constellations, Cassiopeia, Auriga, Cepheus, each evoking a world of thought, and painting, as it were, in everlasting colours on the heavens the religion and intellectual life of Greece. Our astronomical musings and the monotonous murmurings of the mountain streams at last lulled our senses into a kind of doze, for sleep it could not be called. How long we lay in this un- conscious state we knew not, but we were suddenly startled out of it by the loud whirr and clucking cry of a ptarmigan close at hand, aroused perhaps by a nightmare caused by its last meal of crude whortleberries. All further thoughts of sleep were now out of the question; so, painfully raising our- selves from our recumbent posture, with a cold grueing shiver, rheumatism racking in every joint, we set about rekindling the fire, and preparing our breakfast. In attempting to converse, we found, to our dismay, that our voices were gone. We managed, however, by the help of signs, and = ~ 66% HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. a few hoarse croaks, to do all the talking required in our culinary conjurings; and, after thawing — ourselves at the fire, and imbibing a quantity of hot coffee, boiled, it may be remarked, in a tin vasculum, we felt ourselves in a condition to de- scend the hill. A dense fog blotted out the whole of creation from our view, except the narrow spot on which we,stood; and, just as we were about to set out, we were astonished to hear, far off 7 through the mist, human voices shouting. While | we were trying to account for this startling mystery in such an unlikely spot and hour, we were still more bewildered by suddenly seeing, on the brink of the steep rocks above us, a vague, dark shape, magnified by the fog into portentous dimensions. Here, at last, we thought, is the far-famed Spectre of the Brocken, come on a visit to the Scottish @ mountains. Another, and yet another appeared, © with, if possible, more savage mien and gigantic — proportions. We knew not what to make of it. Fortunately, our courage was saved at the critical — moment by the phantoms vanishing round the rocks to appear before us in a few minutes real botanical flesh and blood, clothed, as usual, with an utter disregard of the esthetics of dress. The enthusiasm of our new friends for Alpine plants had caused them to anticipate the sun, for it was | yet only three o’clock in the morning. : CHARTER: 11. THE INTERMEDIATE OR HEATHER REGION. THE botanist regards the rapid progress of agricul-’ ture in these days with feelings somewhat akin to _ those which once convulsed the placid bosoms of the Lake poets at the prospect of that “insane -substruction,” a railway amid the beautiful solitudes _ of Windermere. He sees, with a sinking of the heart, which no hope of increased gain to the neighbouring gastric region can allay, the wave of cultivation stealthily creeping up the hill-side higher and higher with each yearly tide. The beautiful green knolls around which superstitious _ eyes used to see the fairies dancing in the mid- -. summer moonlight have been levelled and taken _ in as part of the surrounding cornfield. The grey Druidical stones which our ancestors reverently spared, and around which the most grasping farmer used to leave a broad margin of natural sward, have been blasted to macadamize a road or build a dyke, in defiance of the curse pronounced against those who should desecrate these old bones of an extinct faith; and the ground on which they stood has been planted with potatoes or turnips. From 88 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. __ [cuap. - this universal utilization of the soil the poet and painter have suffered, but not to the same extent as the botanist; for, besides the loss of the beautiful and the picturesque, he has to deplore the gradual diminution of the number of his favourite wild flowers in this country. Meres and lochs in which local aquatic plants luxuriated have been drained, woods have been cut down, and railways and high- roads carried through nooks that sheltered the last survivors of an ancient flora. For the extermina- tion of these interesting rarities no quantity of weeds introduced among seed from other countries can compensate. | With these conservative instincts I deeply sym- pathise ; but I rejoice that, while some injury has been done in certain places to special studies, far more land has been left untouched than has been “improved.” As ocular demonstration is more convincing than any amount of logical argument, let me ask the botanist who is groaning amid the wheat and turnip fields of the midland counties to accompany me to the top of a hill, say in the Highlands of Perthshire. From this superior standing-point let him look around, and he will be at once convinced of the utter groundlessness of his botanical fears. How vast the dominion of Nature! How insignificant the portion that has been reclaimed! For all the evidence of man’s occupancy that appears within the boundless hori- zon, he might imagine himself the solitary tenant of an alien world, monarch of all he surveys. A ‘Bead Ee O'S: weve oa a . +, | eae vir. ¢ 4 °< = ‘ . a 2 ie Af xt ‘m.) VASTNESS OF WASTE LANDS. 89 few spots of pale green hardly seen among the heather; a narrow strip of cultivated valley ob- scured by the shadow of overhanging mountains ; the silver thread of a stream running through a thin fringe of verdure; and, all around, the brown interminable wastes lengthening as he gazes, until their wild billows subside on the blue shore of the distant horizon! This is what he sees, and a more humbling spectacle I cannot imagine. The power- lessness of man’s efforts amid the stern forces of Nature could not be more strikingly exhibited. The most rabid opponent of utilitarianism will own that a few scratches, more or less, of the plough, however important to man, are of very little con- sequence amid these immeasurable deserts. Nature takes ample care of her own rights. In the rigour of her climate and the ruggedness of her soil she imposes barriers upon the onward march of improvement which cannot be overleaped. It will not pay to cultivate the largest portion of our country. The most powerful artificial manures, and the most skilful “high farming,” will not suf- fice to extract a remunerative produce from our more elevated hills and moorlands. Whatever the pressure of population may be, we must leave these solitudes to their primitive wildness, and give them over in fee-simple to the grouse and Alpine hare. They are the last strongholds into which beleaguered Nature, everywhere else subdued, has withdrawn behind her glacis and battlements of mountain ridges in grim defiance of the advancing oe ". ne RS TAR Const fy Oars i ae es Nee eS at aa 3 ove ee ie Pg to pe otra Sipe” «he ~ ‘ + Ca < 90 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS, — [cuar. _ conqueror. Nor is it difficult to find reasons for putting up this trespass-notice and restricting man’s occupancy of the earth. The lofty mountain ranges have been piled up, and the rugged desolation of the moorlands spread out, because the soul requires some great outlets of this kind to escape from the petty cares and conventionalities of civilized life, and to ascend by the great altar-steps of Nature towards the infinity of God. While to those who do not feel this craving for something higher and purer than they find in the every-day pursuits of life, and who, like good Bishop Burnet, consider hills and moors unsightly excrescences and de- formities upon the face of nature—evidences of the ruinous effects of the Fall—it may be sufficient to say, in justification of this reckless waste of land, that there is a physical as well as an esthetic necessity for it. There is vicarious sacrifice in the arrangements of inanimate nature, as well as in the laws of human life. There is a beautiful balance by which barrenness is set over against fertility, and life against death. Some spots must be bleak — and desolate in order. that other spots may be clothed with verdure and beauty. These hills and moors are intended to be not only ornamental, but useful; not only picture-galleries for the poet and painter, but also storehouses of fertility and wealth. for the farmer and merchant. Their towering crests and spongy heaths arrest the vapours which float in the higher regions of the atmosphere, collect and filter them in reservoirs in their bosoms, and 4 - as / ou] USES OF THE MOORLANDS. re OT oe y ar d 3 ’ - A ¢ send them down in copious streams to water the low grounds, and spread over the barren plains the _ rich alluvium which they bear away in solution from their sides ; while the fresh cool breezes, that _ play around the summits, sweep down with health- ful influences into the hot and stagnant air of the confined valleys. In many ways they perform a most important part in the economy of nature, and by their means is preserved the fertility of _ extensive regions which would otherwise have be- come hopelessly sterile. To those who are accustomed to the rich beauty of lowland scenery, the treeless desolate aspect of the moorlands may appear harsh and uninviting. They miss there the objects which they are accus- tomed to see, and around which have gathered the _ associations of years. There is apparently nothing within the circle of vision to arrest the eye or interest the mind. All seems one dead dull -mono- tony, an interminable dark level, an eye-wearying waste, marked only but not relieved by grey rocks and shallow bogs reflecting an ashen sky. This first unfavourable impression, however, is sure to be dispelled by a more intimate acquaintance. Apart from the charm of contrast which most persons find in circumstances differing widely from those in which their life is usually spent, and the interest which contemplative minds find in all bare solitary places, there are countless objects of attraction and beauties of hue and form which fill up the seeming void, and make these apparently - Ye, SNt 5 4 2 ee cries Se oe OR ee ee ae : 1S tyne wes a ix 5 + pia Sk eee Y oor 92. HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHAp. blank pages of nature most suggestive even to the dullest intellect. The seasons, marching with their slow solemn steps over the moorlands, may leave behind them none of those striking changes which mark their progress in the haunts of man. The elements of the scenery are too simple to be very susceptible to the vicissitudes of the year. But, still, there are some tokens of their presence; and these are all the more interesting that they do not reveal themselves at once to a cold casual gaze, but require reverently to be sought out. Nowhere is the grass so vividly green in early spring-time as along the banks of the moorland stream, or on the shady hill-side, on which the cloud reposes its snowy cheek all day long and weeps away its soul in silent tears. How gorgeous is that miracle of blossoming when Summer with her blazing torch has kindled the dull brown heather, and every twig and spray burst into blushing beauty, and spread wave after wave of rosy bloom over the moors, until the very heavens themselves catch the re- flection, and bend enamoured over it with double - loveliness! How rich, under the mild blue skies of Autumn, are the russet hues of the withered ferns and mosses that cluster on the braes or creep over the marshes, imparting a mimic sunshine to the scene in the dullest day! How exquisitely pure is the untrodden snow in the hollows which the winds heap into gracefully swelling wreaths and mark with endless curves of beauty! Wander over one of the Perthshire moors from break of ee ee ee Ae a fF, le J . V4 ; cas ee tg." Sa ieD / ¥ “a * » eae ae ATMOSPHERIC EFFECTS. | 93 3 morn to close of day, and you will no longer stig- matize it as a monotonous uninteresting waste. E From sunrise to sunset the appearance of the land-. scape is never precisely the same for two successive hours. Like a human face, changing its expres- sion with every thought and feeling, it alters its mood as cloud or sunshine passes over it. Now it is bathed in light, under which every cliff and heather-bush shine out with the utmost distinct- ness; anon it lies cold and desolate, unutterably a SE ee 9 eae CNT SARI ie a TOT «5 AES - forlorn and forsaken when the sky is overcast. At one time it iS invested with a transparent atmosphere in which the commonest and meanest objects are idealized as in a picture; at another, © great masses of sharply-defined shadows from the stooping clouds lie like pine-forests on the bright hill-sides ; or a flood of molten gold, welling over the brim of a thunder-cloud, streams down and irradiates with concentrated glory a single spot, which gleams out from the surrounding gloom like a lovely isle in a stormy ocean. And the sun- rises and sunsets—those grand rehearsals of the conflagration of the last day—who can describe them in an amphitheatre so magnificent, a region so peculiarly their own! How inexpressibly sweet is the lingering tremulousness of the gloaming, that quiet ethereal Sabbath-like pause of nature in which the smallest and most distant sounds are heard, not loud and harsh, but with a fairy dis- tinctness exquisitely harmonized with the holiness of the hour! There are no such twilights in 94 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. a England; they belong only to northern tatitudes, where the light, if it be colder and feebler, com- pensates by its longer stay, and its heavenly purity and beauty at the close. And how full of weird, “wild mystery is the scene as the evening grows darker; how vast and vague and awful in the uncertain light are the forms of the hills; how ghostly are the shadows! There Night is a visible form, and her solitude is like the presence of a god. Nor is the moorland altogether dependent for its beauty upon atmospheric effects. It hides within its jealous embrace many a lovely spot on which one comes unexpectedly with all the interest of discovery. There are little dells where a streamlet has lured up from the valley, by the magic of its charms, a cluster of rowan-trees, whose red berries dance like fire in the broken foam of the water- falls, or a group of tiny, white-armed birches that always seem to be combing their fragrant tresses in the clear mirror of its linns. There are moorland tarns, sullen and motionless as lakes of the dead, lying deep in sunless rifts, where the very ravens build no nests, and where no trace of life or vegetation is seen—associated with many a wild tradition, accidents of straying feet, the suicide of love, guilt, despair. And there are lochs beau- tiful in themselves, and gathering around them a world of beauty; their shores fringed with the tasselled larch, their shallows tesselated with the broad green leaves and alabaster chalices of the tL] HARMONIES OF THE MOORLAND. 95 _ water-lily; and their placid depths mirroring the - crimson gleam of the heather-hills and the golden - clouds overhead. I have often been struck, when wandering over _ the moors, with the wonderful harmonies of the _ various objects. The birds and beasts that inhabit the scene are clothed with fur or plumage of a brown russet hue, to harmonize them with the _ colour of the heathy wastes, and thus to facilitate _ their escape from their enemies. Nor is this har- mony confined to the form and hue of the living _ creatures—it is also ‘strikingly displayed in their © _ peculiar cries. All the voices of the moorland are _indescribably plaintive—suggestive of melancholy musings and memories. No one can hear them, _ even on the sunniest day, without a nameless thrill _ of sadness; and, when multiplied by the echoes _ through the mist or the storm, they seem like _ cries of distress or wailings of woe from another _ world. In them the very spirit of the solitude seems to find expression. None of our familiar songbirds ever wander to the moorland. It is tenanted by a different tribe, and the line of de- _ marcation between them is sharply defined. In _ the valley and the plain the thrush and the chaf- finch fill the air with their music; but, as you climb the mountain-barrier of the horizon, you are _ greeted on the frontier by the wild cries of the _ plovers, which hover around you in ceaseless gyra- tions, following your steps far beyond their marshy domains. These are the outposts—the sentinels . 96 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuap. _ of the wild—and jealously do they perform their office. No stranger appears-in sight, or sets a foot within their territories, without eliciting the warn- ing cry. Well might the Covenanters curse them, for many a grey head, laid low in blood by the - persecuting dragoons, would have escaped, securely hidden among the green rushes and peat-bogs, but for their importunate revelation of the secret. Beyond the haunts of this bird stretches a wide illimitable circle of silence, in which only a shrill solitary cry now and then is heard, rippling the stillness like a stone cast into the bosom of a stream, and leaving it, when the wave of sound has subsided, deeper than before. And how absolute is that silence! It seems to breathe—to become tangible. The solitude is like that of mid-ocean— not a human being in sight, not a trace or a re- collection of man visible in all the horizon ; from break of day to eventide no sound in the air but the sigh of the breeze round the lonely heights, the muffled murmur of some stream flashing . through the heather, or the long, lazy lapse of a ripple on the beach of some nameless tarn. Here, if anywhere, you can be lulled. on the lap of a placid antiquity. These grey northern moors are immeasurably old. The gneissic rock that underlies them is one of the oldest in the records of geology—the lowest floor of the most ancient sea, in whose water its particles were first pre- cipitated, to be afterwards indurated by chemical action, or mechanical pressure, into their present shag inte ore "y bduin. y ANTIQUITY OF THE MOORS. ala ~ compact mass. Here was, probably, the first dry land that appeared above the surface of the ocean. ' Long before the Alps upreared their snowy peaks from the deep, and while an unbroken sea tossed ‘its billows over the spots where the Andes and — - Himalayas now tower to heaven, these moors lay stretched out beneath the disconsolate skies, as islands reposing on a shoreless ocean ; not clothed, ‘as at present, with brown heather and spongy moss, but presenting an aspect of still drearier desolation. They were all that in the earliest geologic epochs represented the beauty and power of Great Britain—the first instalment of that mighty empire which Britannia gained from the deep. Here, where Nature is all in all and man is nothing, you expect to find permanence. Time seems to have sailed over these moors with folded ~ wing, leaving no more trace of his flight than the passage of the shadow over the dial-stone. And _ yet, calm and stedfast as the scene may appear, _ it has passed through many a stormy cataclysm, it has witnessed many a startling transition. On rock and mound the careful observer will find those strange hieroglyphics in which Nature’s own hand. has chronicled the eventful history of her youth. Here, where the sheep are quietly nibbling the green sward, the sea once broke in foam on the shore ; there, on that elevated knoll—if the surface were fully exposed—veins of granite thrust up by some violent internal convulsion might be seen _ freticulating the gneiss as with a gigantic network, i a pe ee ee : a © : ei a 2 es -~ Anas ee . ae: A a aA EL ae 98 HOLIDAVS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHap. ‘showing the mighty levers employed by Nature in ~ piling up her Cyclopean masonry. Yonder the rocks are smoothed and polished, or else marked with grooves and scratches, telling of glaciers that passed over them, and suggesting to the imagina- tion the picture of that strange erd in the past history of our country, when from Snowdon and the Yorkshire moors to Ronaldsay and Cape Wrath eternal winter reigned with sternest rigour, and the Arctic bear hunted the narwhal amid the icebergs and icefloes that drifted past the coasts of Sussex and Hampshire. Yonder granite boulders that strew the hill-side, differing in mineral cha- — racter from the prevailing formation of the region, | and which, according to the Ossian mythology, fell from. the leaky creel of a giant Finn striding over the heights one day to take vengeance with this rude but effective ammunition against an offending neighbour, the geologist tells us were transported to this place from a granitic district twenty miles distant on the back of a slow-moving glacier. And the elevated conical mounds, or moraines, which you meet with here and there, are accumulations of mud and gravel, marking in enduring characters the terminations of those vanished ice-streams. Turning from the distant silent ages of the geologist to the early lisping ages of our own race, we find numerous traces of these also chronicled on the moors. The labour of the peasant often discloses, deeply embedded in the moss, large trunks of birch, alder, and fir, masses Cie Vs Hr aio ST" ahh - u.] & of foliage, cones and nuts in a perfect state of "preservation, the fossils of the peat-bog. These, like _ the kindred relics of the coal-fields, tell us a tale : _ of luxuriant forests clothing, like dark thunder- i clouds, desolate tracts where not a single tree is ‘ now to be seen, and scarcely a juniper-bush can 3 grow. Through the underwood of these primeval i forests the wild boar roamed, and the shaggy _ bison bellowed, and the long dismal howl of the © wolf made the silence of midnight hideous, ages before the fanfare of the Roman trumpets startled the echoes of the hills. Nor are the traces of man’s own presence in. those remote times absent from the scene. The sides of some of the hills, which time out of mind have been abandoned irretrievably to the dusky heather, bear evident _ marks of tillage; but the comparative fertility of _ these stony spots only proves the wretched state ' of the agriculture of the Aborigines. Here and there you stumble upon a grey moss-grown obelisk, a ccaitn or a cromlech—dim and undated relics, e lying, like the fragments of an old world, on the twilight shores of the sea of time. Beside or _ under these we find the hatchet of stone, the arrow- head of flint, or the quern, on which no history or tradition sheds light. Who owned these rude implements? We cannot tell. Every recollection _ of the people who used them is swept away. Under | pthe cromlech or the cairn they lay down and took their long last sleep, without a thought of posterity, j or a care as to the conclusions future ages might a ie ace B) PRIMITIVE INHABITANTS. 99 Be 0a Rg REN OE ie ape i 100 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. __ {cuar. arrive at regarding the scanty memorials they left behind. | The vegetation of the moorlands is exceedingly varied and interesting. Its character is interme- diate between the Arctic and Germanic type, reminding one, in the prevalence of evergreen, thick, glossy-leaved plants, of the flora of Italy, — which seems, from the evidence of ancient records, to have undergone a remarkable change in modern times, and now approximates in its general physi- ognomy to the flora of dry mountain regions. The plant which above all others is characteristic of the moor is, of course, the common heather or ling. It is one of the most social of all plants, covering immense tracts with a uniform dusky robe, and claiming, like an absolute autocrat, ex- clusive possession of the soil. And yet, though capable of growing in the bleakest spots, and en- during the utmost extremes of temperature, its - distribution in altitude and latitude is singularly limited. It ascends only to a certain height on the mountains on which it grows: for, although it covers the summits of most-of the hills in Eng- land, many of the loftiest Highland hills rise high above it, green with grass, or grey with moss and lichens. Its upper line runs from two to three thousand feet in the counties of Perth, Aberdeen, and Inverness, varying according as it grows on an elevated mountain range or on isolated peaks. On the west coast of Scotland it is very often found on a level with the sea-shore, almost min- i li a mt] COMMON HEATHER. 101 -_gling with the dulse and the bladder-wrack. In Norway, strange to say, although the general sur- face of the country is composed of high and barren plateaux, it is so scarce and local that one may travel hundreds of miles without finding a single specimen. It is replaced in such localities by the bearberry and crowberry, which form immense continuous patches, and look at a distance, espe- cially when withered, in spring or autumn, some- what like heather. Although abundant on the European side of the Ural mountains, it disappears very suddenly and decidedly on the eastern de- clivity of the range; and it is entirely absent from the whole of Northern Asia to the shores of the Pacific. Its northern limits seem to be in Iceland, = and its southern in the Azores. In Europe it covers large tracts of ground in France, Germany, --and Denmark, particularly in the landes of Bor- deaux and the moors of Bretagne, Anjou, and _ Maine; while in Great Britain it exists in almost “4 every county. The range of the heath tribe is eminently Atlantic, or Western. It is found along a line drawn from the north of Norway along the west coast of Europe and Africa, down to the Cape of Good Hope, in the vicinity of which the family culminates in point of luxuriance of growth, beauty of flowers and foliage, and variety of species, some even attaining the arbo- rescent form. Along this line, which is com- paratively narrow, seldom running far from the coast, about four hundred distinct kinds, excluding 3 i" ’ s ane ae oS a pled + , ao ps Nee S —- ” i pe: ee eee FS a , ye 4 > * ; * Ue ee * ‘vee YI ' ay 104 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHAP. | among the yellow spikes of the asphodel and — the snowy plumes of the cotton-grass. It is more like a hot-house heath, with its rich clustered head of pale rosy blossoms. But growing sparingly, and its colour being more delicate, its effect in the mass, and at a distance, is not equal to its indi- vidual beauty close at hand. These two heaths are badges of Highland clans. ‘That Australia and America have no true heaths is a botanical aphorism. In Australia the tribe is replaced by the Lpacride, which are often as beautiful as any of the Cape heaths. In North America the Scottish Menziesia is more abundant. than it is in Scotland, or even in Norway. That continent possesses many plants that are closely allied to the heath tribe. Mudsonia erzcoides, which covers the white sandy wastes in many parts of New Jersey, is so like the common heath that it is not unfrequently mistaken for it when out of flower. And in the immense forests which clothe every hill and dale of the Laurel, Greenboy, and Alleghany ranges, rhododendrons, kalmias, azaleas, andromedas, and other plants of the heath alliance, form the chief underwood, and are remarkable for their size and age..It is recorded Of thew Highland emigrants to Canada, that they wept because the heather, a few plants of which they had brought with them from their native moors, would not grow in their newly-adopted soil. It is understood, however, that an English surveyor, nearly thirty years ago, found the common ling mu]. CROWBERRY AND BEARBERRY. 105 Fin the interior of Newfoundland; while in one spot in Massachusetts it occurs very sparingly over about half an acre of boggy ground, in the strange company of andromedas, kalmias, and ' azaleas peculiar to the country. It was first ob- ' served ten years ago, by a Scottish farmer re- siding in the vicinity, who was no less surprised by its unexpected appearance than delighted to set his foot once more on his native heath. None of the plants seemed to be older than six years, and may, therefore, have been introduced by some _ one who found relief from home sickness in form- _ ing this simple floral link between the new and the old country. There are many beautiful little shrubs growing on the moorland along with the heather which are found nowhere else. The crowberry, called by the natives /zantaga or Dearcac fithich, spreads over rocky places in large tufted masses, producing early in summer a liberal supply of black juicy berries, which form the principal food of the grouse © and other moorland birds. The dry barren knolls, where the wind blows keenest and the scent of water is never felt, are profusely covered with the trailing stems and glossy leaves of the bearberry, Arctostaphylos Uva-Ursit, well-known to every Highlander by its Gaelic name of Braotleagan- nan-con. ‘The flower is even more beautiful than that of either the cross or fine-leaved heather— a little waxen bell, with the faintest blush on its snowy cheeks; and the fruit is no less lovely, 106 - HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuap. clusters of mealy beads of the richest crimson | gleaming out in beautiful contrast from the dark green leaves. It is also valuable as a medicinal plant: an infusion of its leaves being well-known to have a stimulating or tonic effect. upon the mucous membrane. A species called the black bearberry is found on dry barren grounds on many of the Highland mountains. The flowers are of a pale rose colour, and the berries of a rich lus-— trous black. On Ben Nevis, near the lake, on Hoy Hill, Orkney, and especially on the mountains of Sutherland and Caithness, this rare species occurs, and forms an attractive feature in the Alpine land- scape towards the end of autumn, when its leaves assume a brilliant flame colour. The famous strawberry-tree, or Arbutus, so conspicuous in the beautiful scenery of Killarney, and supposed by some to have been introduced from Spain by the monks of Mucross Abbey, is an arborescent form, © an aristocratic relative of this lowly Highland family. On the moist hill-sides the mountain rasp or cloudberry, the badge of the clan Macfarlane, grows in great abundance; and its rich orange fruit, under the name of ezvacan or noops, furnishes a grateful refreshment to the shepherd on a hot autumn day. One of the most beautiful plants of the moorland is the Marsh Andromeda. It is found but sparingly in a few places in the North of England and in the Lowlands of Scotland, and in Queen’s County and Kerry, Ireland; but where it is found, it is a prize worth going far to get. It . ) lr PERE BIL BERR Y- 107 q is a small evergreen shrub, with oval ruby-coloured flowers concealed among the terminal leaves. In _~ Norway it is very abundant on the moors in com- pany with the Menziesia. I gathered it in great profusion by the roadsides when passing through Romsdal, between Nystuen and Ormen; its rose- coloured flowers fringing the ditches and peeping © out from among the boulders. The beauty of its flowers when contrasted with the dreariness of its habitats, supposed to be haunted by supernatural - beings, led to its receiving the classical name of the beautiful virgin who was chained to the rock and exposed to the attack of the sea-monster. © Another beautiful plant common on the High- land moorlands is the Pyrola or winter-green, which loves to grow in upland pine-woods, or under the lee of some dense heather bush, per- fuming the air, when it occurs in any quantity, with its delicate scent, strongly suggestive of the lily of the valley. In similar situations the bil- berry also luxuriates. Abundant everywhere on the exposed sides of the hills, it flowers and fruits only in the shelter of the woods or on the shady banks of subalpine streams. Its berries are ex- ceedingly agreeable to the taste, and are largely used in the form of preserves in the Highlands. Blaeberry hunting in July is a favourite pastime among the children; and for days afterwards the persistent stains of the spoil crimson cheeks, lips, and dress. The bog whortleberry is more spar- ingly distributed, though it is frequent enough on / 108 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [ CHAP. most of the Highland mountains, ascending almost to their summits. The corolla is of a pale rosy colour, and the berry black and juicy, but inferior in flavour to the bilberry. The cowberry (Vaccz- nium Vitis Idea), known as the Lus-nan-braoleag, ornaments some parts of the Highland mountains, woods, and heaths with its straggling shrubby growth and box-like leaves. It seldom flowers or fruits in this country ; but in Norway it bursts into blossom everywhere, and is loaded with pale flesh- coloured flowers, lighting up the dark pine-woods with its beauty. Next to the bilberry, the cran- berry, whose Gaelic name is A/uzleag, is the most interesting and useful of the Vacciniums. It loves moist situations, and therefore occurs in peat-bogs, with its root immersed in the great spongy cushions of the bog-moss, and its evergreen wiry leaves trailing over them. The flowers are of a lovely rose colour, with a deeply divided corolla and segments bent back in a very singular manner. In this country it is very local and scarce; but in Norway it grows in great profusion on almost every hill; and nothing can equal the luxurious- ness of its growth and fruiting in the marshes and steppes in the north of Russia, from which the vast quantities used by our confectioners for tarts are annually imported. Growing abundantly among the heather is the beautiful heath-pea, Ovodus tuberosus, With its bright blue and pink blossom lighting up with a tinge of colour the brown moor- land. The long knotted black roots of this plant Sm) j¥UNIPER AND SWEET GALE. 109 used to be employed by the Highlanders, under the name of Corrum, when on a journey or a foray, in the absence of food and water, as they have the singular property when chewed of repelling hunger and thirst for a long time. An agreeable fermented liquor was also made with them, tasting somewhat like liquorice; and in a season of scarcity they have been used instead of bread. The juniper forms miniature pine-groves in sheltered places, and yields its berries liberally to give a piquant gin flavour to the old wife’s surreptitious bottle of whisky ; while the sweet gale or Dutch myrtle, called by the Highlanders void, perfumes with its strong resinous fragrance the foot that brushes through its beds in the marshes, and gives a simi- — lar spice of the hills to the Sunday clothes of the Highland belle, as they are carefully folded with _ asprig between each in the “muckle kist.” Beneath the shelter of these tiny fruit-trees of the heath there is a dense underwood of minute existences, curious antique forms of vegetable life, performing silently, and all unknown and unnoticed, their allotted tasks in the great household of Nature. The little cup-lichen reddens by thousands every dry hillock; the rein-deer moss whitens the marshes with its coral-like tufts; the long wreaths of the club-moss creep in and out among the heather roots, like lithe green serpents, sewed to the ground by delicate threads, yet sending up here and there from their hiding-places_ white * two- “pronged spikes to catch the sunbeams ; hard a 2 mE meee ot rs oa ’ 110 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [ CHAP. tufts of another species of club-moss, Lycopodium selago, the Garbhag-nan-sleibh, of the Highlanders, by whom it was often used as a mordant in fixing the colours of their tartans, occurs at frequent intervals ; the sphagnum-moss lines the bogs with its great pads of brilliant crimson or green; and the white fork-moss covers the wet tussocks with its pale cushions, into which the foot sinks up to the ankle ; and thus you wander on, observing and gathering each new and strange production, until you are lost in admiration of the wealth of beauty and interest scattered in the waste without any human eye to behold it. Nor is the moorland altogether destitute of human interest. Far up in some lonely corrie may be seen the ruins of rude sheilings surrounded by soft patches of verdure, on which the heather has not intruded for centuries. To these High- land chalets the wives and daughters of the crofters used to come up from the valley every summer with their cattle and dairy utensils, and spend three or four months in making cheese and butter for the market, or for home consumption during the winter, as is the custom still in some secluded districts of Norway and the Swiss Alps. The Gaelic songs are full of beautiful allusions to the. incidents of this primitive pastoral life; and many fresh and interesting materials for poetry or fiction might be gleaned from this source by those who have exhausted every other field. Farther down the hill, though still among the moorlands, there un. ] HIGHLAND SHEILINGS. 111 are other ruins of cottages and farmsteads, the effects of those extensive ‘clearings’ which took place forty or fifty years ago in the great Highland properties. Scores of such ‘larichken,’ as they are called, with the rank nettle growing round the hearthstone, and surrounded by traces of cultiva- tion, may be seen in places where sheep and deer now feed, undisturbed by the presence of man. The wisdom and justice of depopulating these upland valleys have been often questioned. It was, at the least, a terrible remedy for a terrible disease ; and we ought, perhaps, as a nation, to be thankful that upon the whole it has been pro- ductive of unlooked-for beneficial results. The situation of these ruins is often exceedingly pic- turesque; perched under the lee of a grey crag, with a little streamlet murmuring past through the greensward, like the voice of memory inform- ing the solitude, and a single fir-tree bending its enarled branches over the roofless walls, its scaly trunk gleaming red against the sunset, enhancing, instead of relieving, the desolation of the scene. I have spent many happy days in these simple homes, the abodes of honest worth and rough but genuine hospitality, on which I look back through the haze of years with a pleasing regret. Well do I remember your humble hut, Donald Macrae, afar amid the wild moors of Bohespick, with its thatched roof and unmortared walls, green and golden with Nature’s lavish adorning of moss and lichen. Your little patch of garden was overgrown — - 112 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHap. with weeds which congregated there from all quarters, as if glad of a shelter from the inhos-_ pitable wild, and so rudely fenced in from the- heather that the rabbits found easy admission to your peas, and the red deer often came down hunger-driven from the snow-clad heights, and devoured in a few seconds your scanty stock of winter kail. But in no garden of lord or com- moner were the red hairy gooseberries so sweet, and Mount Hybla itself could not boast of more luscious honey than the liquid amber gathered from the heather-bells by the three beehives in the sunny corner. I can testify to the noisy welcome of your collies when I used to appear in sight, and to the shyness of your four chubby pledges of affection, as. they cautiously peered out at me from behind the safe shelter of the maternal wing, mute and irresponsive to the kindest familiarities, and to the most tempting offers of “sweeties.” The vision of your hospitable board rises up before my mental eye, loaded with a pile of crisp oat-cakes ; a jug of foaming cream, with that rich nutty flavour peculiar to the produce of cows fed on old pastures uncontaminated by villanous arti- ficial manures; cameos of golden butter, with the national symbol in beautiful relief; a great hard cheese of ewe’s-milk ; and last, not least, a bottle of native mountain-dew undesecrated by water or -gauger’s grace. I see dimly, through the peat-reek of your ingle, your own manly face and buirdly figure clad in tartan coat and kilt spun by your ‘A SHEPHERD'S SHEILING. 113 aged mother from the fleece of your own sheep, with a collie at your feet, and your youngest hope dandling on your knee, and your comely wife, with mealy cheeks and arms bare to the ‘shoulders, baking the household cakes, as perfect a picture of a Dutch Venus as ever emanated from the pencil of Rubens or Houdekoetter! ‘May the blessing of Him that dwelt in the bush ‘rest upon you and yours in that distant Aus- tralian valley, which, true to the instinct of home, you have pathetically named after your native spot ! | It is well that there are still many homes of this kind, inhabited by an equally hospitable race, to be found by the stranger when weary and belated in his wanderings amid the Highland moorlands. I know nothing more enjoyable than a week’s sojourn in one of these places. The infatuation which drives sO many people every season to dissipate their time amid the frivolities of some pert fashionable village or watering-place, on pretence of going — ‘to the country, is utterly incomprehensible to me. I would advise every sensible person who wishes a fresh supply of good temper as well as of good health, to avoid carefully, as he would the plague, every one of. those spas and villages “ within easy reach by coach or railway,” and boldly take up his abode in some lonely farmhouse or shepherd’s ‘sheiling on the Highland moors. Here, with an utter change of scene, you breathe an air pure and fresh from Nature’s own goblet. Ozone, that. q I 114 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. {[cuaP, purifying principle in the atmosphere which is — antagonistic to all fevers and miasma, increases with the height ; and here it abounds, filling all the atmosphere with its healthful influences. There is a tonic in every draught of it for every species | of dyspepsia, for every form of enervation and lassitude that results from a pampered stomach or an overwrought brain. There is balm in every breeze, expanding the spirit and lifting it buoyantly up from under the burden of care and anxiety, until it embraces like a rainbow all nature within its radiant arch, and old cares and sorrows become dim as dreams. You feel as if, besides all the gases needful for respiration, there were present some ethereal nectarine element baffling the an- alysis of the chemist, yet revealing its presence in the thrill of conscious exuberant life which it excites in your frame. Here, not far from the centres of civilization, within reach, and yet remote, you may realize the benighted state of our an- cestors; feel what it is to exist without letters, newspapers, visitors, calls of ceremony, or any of the thousand and one appliances of modern life, and yet at any time be able to survey from some | elevated point a region within whose magic ring all these things are enjoyed. Here is the highest | soul of monastic retirement—all its romance, with | none of its restraint. You stand apart from the | off from the ocean, whose rough stormy waves rave and foam without, with no society save that 4 | | a ee = ‘S, ot he 4 ry oa - ’ oP 0) A HIGHLAND HOME. 115 of the taciturn farmer and his family, the black- faced sheep and the dumb mountains. You will have to put up with some inconveniences, no doubt. You may feel, when forcing your body into the - wall-press which stands for your bed in the den- ‘room, as if you were rehearsing, like Charles V— with the disadvantage of being alive, and no mourners—the ceremony of your own coffining. The friction of the native sheets and blankets against your delicate skin may remind you forcibly of the shampooing which nearly flayed you in a Turkish bath. You will, perhaps, have to wash yourself in the neighbouring burn, in absence of all toilette apparatus. Your diet will be largely a milk one, reducing you to the condition of a Cretian ; and your teeth, lately under the care of Messrs. Molar and Co., may have hard work with the granitic cakes and fibrous mutton. But all these disadvantages will enhance, by way of con- trast, your enjoyment of the place. They will be incidents to think of pleasantly afterwards amid _ the luxuries of your club, or during that pleasant half-hour of retrospection before you fall asleep _ amid the downy billows of civilization’s four-poster. And, depend upon it, there will be a great deal of insensible education going on in your converse with your own soul in the solitude of the hills, and a stock of softening influences accumulating, which will make the toilsome dreary days of ae r ( winter brighter, and prepare you the better for that “ bourne from whence no traveller returns.” 2 116 © HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. {cHar. ~ One of the most frequent incidents of the moor- land, about the beginning of June, is peat-making, the most picturesque of Highland outdoor occu- pations. In those basin-shaped hollows which give the scenery an undulating aspect there are large deposits of peat, formed by the decay of number- less generations of those plants which delight in cool climates: and moist soils. The history of this accumulation of carbonaceous matter is exceed- ingly interesting to the geologist. It furnishes a plausible solution of the difficulties involved in the question of the formation of coal; it provides data by which recent geological changes may be determined with some degree of accuracy; and frequently, owing to its antiseptic qualities, it becomes an archzological cabinet, preserving the relics of former generations. In none of these aspects, however, are the peat-bogs of the High- land moors so interesting as in their connexion with the habits and customs of the peasantry. It is no easy task to thread one’s way among the bogs and marshes where the peat is found, the danger being somewhat imminent of falling plump over the yielding edge into some open pool of inky — water, or sinking up to the waist in some treach- erous spot veiled over with a deceitful covering of the greenest moss. In the outskirts of this wilder- ness of bogs the peat-makers are hard at work. One man, with a peculiarly shaped spade, cuts the peats from the wall of turf before him and throws them up to the edge of the bog, where a woman Se PEAT-MAKING. AL? dexterously receives and places them on:a wheel- barrow, another woman rolling away the load and _ spreading it out carefully on some elevated hillock, exposed to the sunshine, in order to dry and_ harden. And thus the process goes on from sunrise to sunset, with an hour’s rest for each meal. Though looked forward to, especially by the younger labourers, with much pleasure, as a delightful contrast to the monotony of their ordinary work about the farm, and as affording peculiar facilities for carrying on the mysteries of rustic courtship, peat-making is most fatiguing work ; and when, as is often the case, they have to walk a distance of five or six miles to and from the spot, and to carry on their labours under the scorching glare of the sun, exposed _ without shelter to torrents of. rain or piercing _ winds, it must be confessed that. they pay dearly for the materials which in the long cheerless winter of the North afford them both fire and light. In remote inaccessible districts, where wood is scarce and coal: almost unknown on account of its enormous price, peat is the sole fuel used by the inhabitants, The whole of a peat-bog, covering in many places an area of several acres, and occupying what was once evi- dently the bed of a lake, is parcelled out into several portions, which are generally annexed by the proprietor to the holdings of the tenants on his estate who are nearest to the spot. These parcels of peat-bog are usually given free of rent ; 1 eee aor BS on te EO a - oe a bt | 118 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. _ [cuae. and the whole expense connected with peats is thus only the labour involved in their manufacture and carriage. So rough are the roads, however, and so long the distances to which they have in most cases to be carried, that peat is not so cheap and economical a fuel as might be supposed. The selling price is usually three shillings a cart, and six carts are understood to last as long as a ton of coal. Peat-making is not nearly so common in the Highlands as it used to be. The facilities of carriage to almost every part of the country by sea and land are now numerous, and coal in con- sequence is so reduced in price, as to be more 4 within reach of the poorer classes; while the use of that fuel saves time and labour which can be more profitably employed. Another spectacle peculiar to the moors is the burning of the heather. This practice is not con- fined to any particular locality, but is followed all over the Highlands. It commences in spring, when the snows have completely disappeared, and the weather is dry and fine, and is carried on at irregular intervals throughout the whole summer, Its object is, by clearing the ground of the heather, under whose shade no other vegetation can grow, to produce pasturage for the sheep. In spots that have been thus cleared the grass grows luxuriantly, and forms a thick close carpet of green verdure, of which the mountain sheep are particularly fond. The stumps of the heather are usually left in the sround, for the fire consumes only the foliage and aj) #4BURNING THE HEATHER. | 119 the smaller twigs; and these skeletons, closely matted together, bleached and sharpened by the elements, frequently crossing one’s path, are very disagreeable to walk on, unless the feet are protected by very thick boots. The contrasts of shape and colour formed by these clearings in the © aboriginal heather are very curious, and strikingly diversify the monotony of the landscape—here a uniform brown sea of heather; there long stripes of grey colouring running in and out and crossing in all directions, like promontories and capes; and yonder bright green isles of verdure smiling amid the surrounding desolation. The shepherds, unless under the immediate surveillance of a gamekeeper, are often reckless in setting fire to a hill-side, not ‘caring how far the flames may extend, allowing them to burn for days and even weeks, until a friendly deluge of rain extinguishes them. Valu- able tracts of grouse moor are thus often ruined beyond repair, and the. destructive effects not unfrequently extend to upland woods and corn- _ fields, presenting, on almost an equal scale, a picture of the famous prairie fires of America. Hares and deer are seen careering before the flames; grouse are whirring past blinded and scorched, and lizards and snakes are running hither and thither in an agony of terror; volumes of dense smoke darken the air, and the dull red embers light up the dark- ness of the night and reflect a volcanic glare upon the surrounding hills. It is one of the grandest a en sights of the kind to be seen in the Highlands. i mt - ~ ee ee ae eee DL GRS ake’ bad , ‘ x { \ + n> Cay Oe Ren ee = - 4 Piety Ne 4 e 7 POMS » LR Gee Paces + ay es DeoRoet ean e "> ee ; : \ 4 i So hae “28 a 0 See : 3 : J ° “2 “ai 120.» HOLIDAYS ON: HIGH LANDS. — [ctar. 4) ‘These rough hasty sketches among the heather 7 would be manifestly incomplete without a notice, | however brief, of grouse-shooting. Being no sports- man, I despair of giving an adequate conception of the sport to the uninitiated. It is only those who have taken part in it who can understand the importance which it has attained in the world of fashion, and the enthusiasm with which the most phlegmatic English millionaires and members of Parliament enter into it. We have all, from the J highest to the lowest, a strong spice of the savage Jj in our nature; and a longing at times comes over us to break loose from the restraints of civilization and revel in the wild freedom of our barbarian ancestors. The grouse-shooting fever may be one of the periodical ebullitions of the original tem- perament. But, after all, there is really very much to enjoy connected with the sport. The very - change from the Babel of noises in the metropolis to the deep hush of Nature’s great solitudes has a soothing charm, while the return to simple hardy life is a gratification which is felt all the more keenly the more that ordinary life is artificial and refined. Then the associations of the sport—the fresh exhilarating air of the hills, laden with the all-pervading perfume of the heather bells; the magnificent prospect of hill and valley stretching around; the blue serenity of the autumnal sky; the carpet of flowering heather glowing for miles on every side, and so elastic to the tread; the vast- ness and profundity of the solitude; as well as the ae ae Se SS GROUSE-SHOOTING, 5) AQT strange and unfamiliar sights and sounds of the - scene—all these appeal to that poetical spiritual faculty which is latent even in the most prosaic _ statistician of St. Stephen’s. Add to these the exciting nature of the sport itself—the feelings of emulation it excites among rival sportsmen; the _ vigilance and wildness of the birds, requiring the utmost caution and skill in approaching them ; the thrill of expectation as the well-trained dogs suddenly stop and point with uplifted paw and anxious look to the spot where a covey is nestled ; the sudden startling whirr of the birds ascending at your approach; the satisfaction of bringing down, with well-aimed double fire, the plumpest of them; the rustic luncheon beside the spring ; and the return, amid the splendour of the setting sun, with well-filled bag, to be greeted half-way from the snug shooting-lodge, with the warm praises of rosy lips and the fond looks of loving eyes. Nay, even the disappointments to be met with—the long wearisome walks over bog and heather, searching in vain for game; the false pointing of dogs, deceived by the scent left behind in places where game were a while before, but are not now; and the most vexatious thing of all, the defying insolence in the kok-kok-kok of the male bird as he flies off unhurt from your fire at the head of his family—all these are so many elements of the romantic, which throw a halo of _ the deepest interest around the sport, and make the 12th of August to be more eagerly anticipated “Ee a a eee Cees ee ee + re ae eee Le Se. SG ‘4 Fag. i er, re! t as Oe Ny 122 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHaP, by the weary Londoner than any other day in the: calendar. ee Grouse-shooting has been of incalculable benefit to the Highlands. Thousands of pounds are thus annually spent in the poorest districts ; communi- cation is opened up with the most isolated spots ; employment is furnished to carriers and gillies, who might otherwise have either to starve or emigrate; and proprietors receive something like a second rent from parts of their estates which were formerly valueless. The preservation of the - game is thus of the utmost importance, not un- worthy of being considered a national question. Even apart from such selfish considerations, it would be a great pity if this interesting bird should become extinct in the only quarter of the globe where it is found. As it is, every one will be sorry to learn that it is becoming scarcer and wilder every year, disappearing rapidly from loca- lities where it used to be abundant. The only sround of complaint any one can have against the sport is, that it has a tendency to foster that spirit of exclusiveness which characterises many of the great landed proprietors, and induces them to shut up some of the wildest scenery in Scotland from the foot of tourist and savant. The depopulation of many Highland districts through this game mania might be overlooked, owing to the many ulterior advantages that have resulted therefrom, both to those who remain and to those who have emigrated. But there is neither advantage nor TRESPASSING ON THE MOORS. (123 courtesy in such a strict and extensive application ‘of the law of trespass. The reason commonly alleged for it is a mere pretence. Not one of the true lovers of nature—and it is only such who would care to penetrate out of the beaten tracks into these spots—but would be as careful of the rights and possessions of the proprietor as though they were his own; and it is difficult to see how the presence at long and rare intervals of a solitary pedestrian in such immeasurable solitudes can have the effect of scaring game. The very worst thing he could do would be merely to send them scudding away from one heather hillock to another; and in all likelihood the human biped would be the more scared of the two by this movement. It requires pretty stout nerves, and somewhat unusual presence of mind, to hear with -unruffled composure the sudden and unexpected whirr of a heathcock ; while the vision of a herd of wild deer with lowered antlers, in autumn, is sufficient to make the boldest turn tail. Let pro- -prietors enjoy their game rights to the full, but it is unworthy of the liberality of the age to debar the “unlanded” from the enjoyment of universal nature, which to many is as much a necessity as their daily bread, and more than counterbalances the want of property. Full liberty, without any hampering restraint whatever, to wander among the heather, and gather the materials of their study where Nature scatters them with so lavish a hand, should be accorded to the artist and the man of 124 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. science, whose pursuits do not interfere with the gains or enjoyments of others, and to whom we | are indebted for some of the most refined and elevated pleasures of life. | Cheri bir A GARDEN WALL IN A HIGHLAND GLEN. _ALPHONSE KARR, in his charming little work entitled “A Tour round my Garden,” shows how much pleasure and instruction may be found by careful eyes and thoughtful minds within the very _ narrow limits of an ordinary garden, to compensate the sedentary for being deprived of the enjoyments of travel. I have often thought that, if the garden wall, which he has strangely overlooked, were _ properly described, with all the objects and asso- ciations connected with it, the Frenchman’s tour _would have been made still more interesting. Though one of the most familiar and common- place objects upon which the eye can rest, it has often suggested to myself many a pleasing and profitable train of thought in dull moods of mind, when least disposed for inquiry or reflection. To those who cannot climb the mountain summit, or wander over the moorland, a few words describing _ the points of attraction which it possesses may not _ be out of place at a time when the worker becomes the observer, and serious pursuits are laid aside for awhile to enjoy the dolce far niente of the country. rat it ase 2 RUN SS SS Pi . ‘ el a ; s <2 y =a f 2 *, ge’ ral 126 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHAP. — Still small voices that: were drowned by the bustle of life have now a chance of being heard amid the universal silence; and humble sights of nature— overlooked amid engrossing scenes of human interest—are now appreciated with all the zest of a holiday. | There is a structure before my eye at .this@ moment which is my eau zdéal of a garden wall. It stands on the brink of a little stream that clothes every mossy stone in its bed with sparkling folds of liquid drapery, and makes its refreshing murmur heard all day long in the garden, animating it as if — with the voice of a friend. ‘The space of grassy sward outside between it and the water—green as an emerald—is jewelled with constellations of primroses, anemones, and globe-flowers, as fair in their own order and season as the cultivated flowers which make the borders within gay as the robe of an Indian prince. Three fairy birch-trees bend over it with their white stems glistening like marble columns in the sunlight, and their small scented leaves whispering some sinless secret to the breeze, or, when the wind is hushed, stealing coy glances at the wavering reflection of their beauty in the stream. It is built of rough stones loosely laid above each other without mortar or cement, and coped on the top with pieces of verdant turf taken from the neighbouring common ; and would perhaps be considered very unsightly in the suburbs of a city when contrasted with the trim elegant walls surrounding villa gardens. In Sedliicgt cuit eto) mi f . ys ae A GARDEN WALL. 127 ’ this situation, however, it is exceedingly appro- _ priate, and harmonizes with the character of the scenery much better than if its stones were chiselled with nicest care, and laid together with all the skill of the architect. The eye of a painter would delight in its picturesqueness, and the accessories by which it is surrounded; for while offering an insuperable obstacle outside to little eager hands, covetous of forbidden fruit, ripe, and especially unripe, it is yet sufficiently low inside to permit an unobstructed view of the scenery in | front, allowing the eye to wander dreamily over the landscape as it billows away in light and shade —from the green cornfields up to the pine-woods that hang like thunder-clouds on the lower heights —and thence to the brown heather moorlands, and on to the blue hills that melt away in sympathy and peace on the distant horizon. ‘That soft dis- tant blue of the hills, painted across the western sky with a hand tender as love’s, completes the picture ; for it is the religion of the landscape, and unites the human with the divine—lifts the thoughts to the Heavenly hills from whence cometh our aid. It is the apocalypse of the garden, the revelation of the truth that the spiritual is the only real and substantial—that the eternal things of the universe are those which afar off seem dim and faint. ‘The garden which the wall surrounds—“ the de- corated border-land between man’s home and Nature’s measureless domains”—is very pleasant. ‘ are y +: WE > oh; 3 aa | : eR Met ARS “ f pes pose ey a 3 lelk SMG Pe, One a « : . > a f° wd? a) Ob dee . Se 7. 128 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuar. 4 Bright with simple old-fashioned flowers, and nestling amid verdure of blossoming tree and ever- green shrub, it looks like a little Eden of peace, sacred to meditation and love, which the noises of the great world reach only in soft and subdued echoes. Alas! the beautifully embroidered robe of nature too frequently reveals the suggestive outlines of some dead joy, though at the same time it mercifully softens over and conceals its ghastly details. There is a sepulchre in this gar- den too; and, though the wall has been high enough to bound the desires and fancies of simple “contented hearts that never sought to mingle in ayer scenes, it has not been sufficiently high to exclude that dark mist of.sorrow in which the light of life goes out, and the warmth of the heart gets chill. That wall is dear to me on account of its strangely sweet memories of mingled joy and sadness—wall-flower scents from the ruins of former hopes and dreams. Eyes have gazed upon it as a part of their daily vision, that are now closed to all earthly beauty ; voices beside it have sounded merrily at the sweetest surprise of the year, when the snowdrop first peered above the sod like the ghost of the perished flowers, or when the yellow yolk of the crocus suddenly lit up the brown soil like a passing smile within her dream that stirred the sleeping spring—voices that sud- denly dropped off into silence when our life-song was loudest and sweetest; tender and true hearts under the caresses of its overshadowing birch-trees hd _ 4 - “HUMAN ASSOCIATIONS. — 129 have known “of earthly bliss the all—the joy of loving and being loved.” Little fingers have often been busy among the flower-beds which it shel- tered, leaving touching traces of their work in _ buds beheaded left lying artlessly beside the parent cluster—joys plucked too soon, and fugitive as ; they were pleasing. Fresh marks of little teeth have often been found deep sunk in a dozen rosy apples growing temptingly within reach on the lowest bough—a trace of “original sin,’ natural _ to every juvenile descendant of Eve, and easy to _ forgive when, as in these instances, linked with so much innocence: it seemed so childlike to take a bite out of several ripening apples instead of © - plucking and finishing one. But, apart from such human associations, I have studied the wall often for its own sake; and to me it has all the interest ‘of avolume. ‘TCovered over with its bright frescoes _ of parti-coloured lichens and mosses, and crowned with its green turf, sprinkled with grass-blossoms and gay autumn flowers, it reminds me of the rich binding of an old book on which the artist has bestowed especial care; or rather, it stands in re- lation to the garden like the quaintly illuminated initial of a monkish chronicle, telling in its gay . pictures and elaborate tracery the various incidents of the chapter. A rough stone wall in any situation is an object of interest to a thoughtful mind. The different shapes of the stones, their varied mineral character, the diversity of tints, flexures, and lines . which 3 K 130 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. e . - : ] occur in them, are all suggestive of inquiry and reflection. Sermons may thus be found in stones — more profitable, perhaps, than many printed or — spoken ones, which he who runs may read. ‘The smallest appearances link themselves with the grandest phenomena; a minute speck supplies a — text around which may cluster many a striking thought: and by means of a hint derived from a:mere hue or line in a little stone—almost inap- — preciable to the general eye—may be reconstructed seas and continents that passed away thousands of | ages ago—visions of landscape scenery to which the present aspect of the globe presents no parallel. This flexure of the stone tells me of violent vol- canic eruptions, by which the soft newly deposited | stratum—the muddy precipitate of ocean waters— _ heaved and undulated like corn in the breeze; that lamination, of which the dark lines regularly alternate with the grey, speaks eloquently of gentle waves rippling musically over sandy shores; and the irregular protuberances, which I see here and there over the stone, are the casts of hollows or cracks produced in ancient tide-beaches by shrink- age—similar appearances being often seen under our feet, as we walk over the pavement of almost any of our towns. Yonder smooth and striated surface of granite is the Runic writing of the northern Frost-king, transporting me back in fancy to that wonderful age of ice when glaciers slid over mountain rocks, and flowed through lowland val- leys where corn now grows and the snow seldom Se gee a = ae GEOLOGICAL HISTORY. — oh he 3 end if there be a Noe of sandstone, it may chance to exhibit not only ripple-marks of ancient seas, but also footprints of unknown birds and strange tortoises that sought their food along the water's edge; and sometimes memorials of former things more accidental and shadowy than even th ese—such as fossil raindrops, little circular and C pal hollows, with their casts—supposed to be impressions produced by rain and hail, and indi- 2 Binc by their varying appearances the character of the shower, and the direction of the wind that prevailed when it was falling. All these signs and remains of contemporaneous history, are the coins and medals which the Great Architect has de- posited for the information of after ages of intel- licent beings, as He laid each course of stone in the foundations of the world. Every one has heard of the crazy Greek who went about exhibit- ing a brick as a specimen of the building which he ~ Wished to sell; but in the structure of each geolo- : sical system every stone is significant of the whole. | Each fragment, however minute, is a record of ‘the terrestrial changes that occurred when it was Bi ened : ingrained in every hue and line is the ‘story of the physical conditions under which it was produced. The Ten Commandments were not lore clearly engraved on the two tables of stone the laws of nature that operated in its forma- ion are impressed upon the smallest pebble by the vayside. Its materials furnish an unmistakeable t clue to its origin, and its shape unfolds its subse- K 2 | ee: bi } tn » “El eae 132 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuap, quent history. God has impressed the marks of the revolutions of the earth not merely upon large tracts of country and enormous strata of rock and mountain range—difficult of access and inconve- nient for study—but even upon the smallest stone, — so that the annals of creation are“multiplied by myriads of copies, and can never be lost. Man cannot urge the excuse that he has no means of knowing the doings of the Lord in the past silent ages of the earth, that His path in the deep and His footsteps in the great waters are hopelessly unknown. Go where he may, look where he pleases, he will see the medals of creation—the signet marks of the Almighty—stamped indelibly and unmistakeably upon the smallest fragments of the dumb dead earth; so that if he should ungratefully hold his peace, and withhold the due tribute of praise to the Piet “the very stones would immediately cry out.” Anatomists of scenery, who look beneath. the surface to the skeleton of the earth, tell us that the features of mountains and valleys are de- pendent upon the geological character of their materials ; and, therefore, those who are skilful in the art can tell from the outlines of the landscape the nature of the underlying rocks, although no part of them crop above ground. A passing glance at the wayside walls will reveal the prominent geology of any district, just as the shape of a single leaf and the arrangement of veins on its surface suggest the appearance of the whole tree FOSSIL REMAINS. | on om which it has fallen, or as a fragment of a tooth or a bone can call up the picture of the whole animal of whom it formed a part. In Aber- deenshire the walls are built principally of granite, grey and red; in Perthshire, of gneiss and schist ; in Mid-Lothian and Lanarkshire, of sandstone ; and in the southern Scottish counties generally, of trap and porphyry. Sometimes they are com-— posed. of transported materials, not native to the district; and the history of these opens up a field of delightful speculation, But there are no walls so interesting as those which occur in the moun-. tain districts of Derbyshire, and in some parts of Lancashire. In almost every stone are embedded fossil shells, and those beautiful jointed corals called encrinites, which look like petrified lilies, and have only a few living representatives in the ‘ocean at the present day. Even the most homo- geneous blocks are found on close inspection to be composed entirely of mineralized skeletons, and to form the graves of whole hecatombs of shells and corallines long ago extinct. Strange to think that our limestone rocks are formed of the calcareous ‘matter secreted by living creatures from the waters — of the sea, and their own shelly coverings when ‘dead, just as our coal-beds are the carbonized remains of former green, luxuriant forests. Thus, while walking along the highway in almost any locality, the most hasty examination of the wall on either side furnishes the student of nature with abundant subjects for reflection; and those lofty - 134 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. 36 ¥ » 4 ay [cHar. dykes, built by the farmer to keep in his cattle, — or by the jealous proprietor to secure the privacy of his domain, while they forbid all views of the surrounding country, amply compensate for the restriction they impose by the truths engraven on | their seemingly blank but really eloguent pages— _ like the tree which in winter permits us to see the glory of the sunset and the purple mountains of the west through its lattice-work of boughs, but in summer confines our vision by the satisfying — beauty of its own full foliage and blossoms. The mist of familiarity obscures, if not altogether hides, the intrinsic wonder that there is about many — of our commonest things. The existence of stones © is an accepted fact, suggestive of no thought or feeling—unless, indeed, we stumble against one; we look upon them as things of course, as natural — in their way as the rocks, streams, and woods around—as a necessary and inevitable part of the order of creation; and yet they are in reality well — calculated to excite curiosity. Sterling, in his © “ Thoughts and Images,” beautifully says: “Life of any kind is a confounding mystery; nay, that which we commonly do not call life—the prin- — ciple of existence in a stone or a drop of water—_ is an inscrutable wonder. That in the infinity of © time and space anything should be, should have — a distinct existence, should be more than nothing! — The thought of an immense abysmal nothing is — awful, only less so than that of All and God; and — thus a grain of sand, being a fact, a reality, rises — - + f ‘ ¢ Lf et FORMATION OF STONES. — 135 before us into something prodigious and immeasur- able—a fact that opposes and counterbalances the immensity of non-existence.” But this wonder and mystery stones share in common with all material things; their own origin is a special source of interest. Many individuals, if they think at all about the subject, dismiss it with the easy reflection that stones were created at first precisely in the form in which they are now found. It may, how- ever, be laid down as a geological axiom, that no stones were originally created. The irregular agere- - gations of hardened matter so called formed part at first of regular strata and beds of rock, and were broken loose from these by volcanic eruptions, by the effects of storms or floods, by frost and ice, or _ by the slow corroding tooth of time. By these natural agencies the hard superficial crust of the earth has been broken up into fragments of various sizes, carried away by streams, glaciers, and land- slips—modified in their shapes by friction against one another, and at last, after many changes and revolutions, deposited in the places where they are found. We owe the largest proportion of the stones d . ; scattered over the surface of the earth to glacial action—one of the most recent and remarkable revolutions in the annals of geology. Man is thus provided with materiais for building purposes con- veniently to his hand, without the necessity of blasting the rock, or digging into the earth; and it is a striking thought, that the very same great laws by which the disposition of land and sea has been | 1 7 4 ~ 136 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. — [cHar. effected, and the great features of the earth modi- | fied, have conduced in their ultimate results to the- homeliest human uses. The materials which the poorest cotter builds into the rudest crowfoot dyke around his kail-yard or potato-field, have been pro- duced by causes that affected whole coatinents and © oceans. The meanest and mightiest things are thus intimately associated and correlated; just as the forces that control the movements of the stars are locked up in the smallest pebble—keeping its - particles together, a miniature world. Stones are sometimes out of place,as when they _ occur in a field or garden; but they form a feature in the zsthetic aspect of scenery which could not well be wanted. What a picturesque appearance do the huge rough boulders strewn over its surface impart to the green hill-side; especially if, as is often the case, their sides are painted and cushioned with that strange cryptogamic vegetation which one sees nowhere else, and a daring rowan-tree plants itself in their crevices and waves its green and crimson flag of victory over soil and circumstances! There are few things more beautiful than the pebbly beach of the mountain lake; and some of the finest subjects for a picture may be found by the artist along the rough rocky course of a mountain stream, where the stones form numerous snowy waterfalls, and the spray nourishes hosts of luxuriant mosses and wild flowers. Although dumb, and destitute of sonorous properties, how large a share of the sweet minstrelsy of nature is contributed by them. | i j A # 4 e g ‘ESTHETIC RELATIONS. 187 They are the strings in the harp of the stream, from which the snowy fingers of the water-nymph draw out ever-varying melody—a ceaseless melody, heard when all other sounds are still. By their opposition to the current they create life and music ~ amid stillness and monotony, change the river from a dull flat canal into a thing of wild grandeur and - animation, and redeem the barren waste from utter silence and death. Commonest of all common things, it is strange to think that there are parts of this rocky material earth of ours where stones are as rare as diamonds, and the smallest pebble is a geological curiosity. The natives of some of the -coral islands of the Pacific procure stones for their tools—this being the only purpose for which they use them—solely from the roots of trees that have been carried away, with their load of earth and stones adhering to them, by the waves from the nearest mainland, and grounded upon their shores. So highly are these stray waifs of the ocean valued that a tax is laid upon them, which adds consider- ably to the revenue of the chiefs. This reminds us of the preciousness of stones during what is called the stone age of our own country—whose date is so apocryphal—when flint and granite were the sole materials employed for making the various imple- ments of war and of household use, and these rude implements were buried with the dead in the stone _ cist under the huge cromlech or grey cairn. Those relics dug up in the times of our forefathers, before the attention of antiquaries or geologists was 138 _ HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. __ [cuar. directed to the subject, were accounted as holy stones, supposed to have formed part of the caba- listic appendages of the necromancer of bygone ~ ages; and were in some instances enveloped in ~ leather or encased in gold, and worn as amulets round the neck. . Many of the stones of the candle wall before me are covered over with a thin coating of vegetation of various hues and forms. The tints from Nature’s palette have been applied with wonderful skill ; the warmer and more vivid hues gradually blending with the grey and neutral ones. By this means, the harsh, artificial aspect of the wall has dis- appeared, and an air of natural beauty has been © imparted to it, exquisitely harmonizing with the white trunks of the birch-trees, the green flower- sprinkled bank of the streamlet, and the blue cloud-flecked softness of the over-arching sky. In- stead of disfiguring, it now adorns the landscape, and the eye rests upon its mottled, softly-rounded sides and top with unwearied pleasure. It affords an illustration of the common truth, that there are no distinct lines of demarcation, no harsh, abrupt objects allowed in nature. Even man’s work must come under this law; and wherever Nature has the power, she brings back the human structure to her own bosom, and, while dismantling and disin- tegrating it, clothes it with a living garniture of beauty, such as no art of man can imitate. The farmer may keep the meadow or cornfield distinct from the surrounding scene, heavy with uniform + go del SUR eC ow eile Min. ht Tee es eS Aa tier ial a PATI awyy. o Pet ee Soe es ; =e - HARMONY OF COLOURS. —«*‘19 _ greenness, or ugly with the discordant glare of yellow weeds; but as soon as Nature obtains the control of it, when out of cultivation, she brings it into harmony with the landscape by carefully _ spreading her wild flowers over it in such a way as to restore the proper balance of colour. As the earth is rounded into one great whole, so all its objects are connected with each other, not merely by laws of structure and dependence, but also by ‘close zsthetic relations. The rock, decked with moss, lichen, and fern, shades in sympathy of hue and outline with the verdure of wood and meadow around it; the mountain and the ocean melt on their farthest limits into the blue of the sky; the | river and the lake do not preserve the distinctness of a separate element, but blend with the solid land, by mirroring its scenery on their tranquil bosom ; and the very atmosphere itself, by its purple clouds on the horizon, raising the eye gradually and insen- _sibly from the dull tangible earth to the transparent heavens, becomes a part of the landscape instead of the mere empty space that surrounds it. While this picturesque effect of the wall 1s admired, the objects which produce it are very generally overlooked. If carefully examined, how- ever, they will be found very interesting, both on account of their peculiarities of structure and the associations connected with them. Almost every stone is made venerable, as also the adjoining fruit- trees and espaliers, with the grey rosettes of that commonest of all lichens, the stone Parmelia. This Php. 140 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. plant used to be extensively employed by the 3 Highlanders under the name of Crotal in dyeing woollen stuffs of a dirty purple, or rather reddish- brown, colour. By the Arabian physicians it was | administered under the name of dchnen, for purify- ing the blood ; and it was also an ingredient in the celebrated unuguentum armarium, or sympathetic ointment, which was supposed to cure wounds if the ‘weapon that inflicted them were smeared with it, without any application to the wounds them- selves. Besides this lichen, the ointment consisted of human fat, human blood, linseed oil, turpentine, and Armenian bole, mixed together in various proportions. A present of the prescription for this precious mess was made by Paracelsus, about the year 1530, to the Emperor Maximilian, by whom it was greatly valued. Much was written, in the medical treatises of the time, both for and against the efficacy of such applications; and, in an age when that strange principle of nomenclature known as the “Doctrine of Signatures” prevailed, and prescriptions as a rule were founded upon some real or fancied resemblance between the remedy and the disease, the stone Parmelia was an object of great importance. It is now sold by the London — herbalists solely for the use of bird-stuffers, who line the inside of their cases and decorate the branches of the miniature trees upon which the birds perch with it. There are also numerous — specimens on the wall of the yellow Parmelia, no less renowned than its congener in the annals of i [cuae. 7 : . edibenbisepty Ae vee le ae — oe. | . #2 Fe - oo ee =~ Ae | —— ar + A ~ i - prea ae ee ii deal — “~ 4 Y $ ? - ; a a7 YELLOW WALL PARMELIA. 141 ‘medicine as an astringent and febrifuge. By _ Dr. Sander, in 1815, it was successfully adminis- tered as a substitute for Peruvian bark in inter- mittent fevers; the great Haller recommended its use aS a Bait in diarrhoea and dysentery; and Willemet gave it with success in cases of haemor- rhages and autumnal contagious fluxes. In the arts it is employed at the present day as a dye- stuff, yielding a beautiful golden yellow crystalliz- able colouring matter, called chrysophanic acid, which is nearly identical with the yellow colouring © matter of rhubarb; and, like litmus, it may be used as a test for alkalies, as they invariably com- municate’to its yellow colouring matter a beautiful red tint. It is the most ornamental of all our lichens. Its bright, golden thallus, spreading in circles two or three inches in diameter, and covered with numerous small orange shields, decks with lavish profusion the rough unmortared walls of the _ poor man’s cottage; and many a rich patch of it may be seen covering the crumbling stones of some hoary castle or long-ruined abbey as with a sunset glory. Growing in a concentric form, when it attains a certain size the central parts begin to decay and disappear, leaving only a narrow circular rim of living vegetable matter. In*this manner it covers a whole wall or tree with spreading ripples of growth and decay—analogous to the fairy rings formed by the growth and decay of mushrooms in a grassy field. This yellow wafer of vegetation is attached to the stone by slender white hairs on — 7 Sa 142 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. — [cuar. the under surface, looking like roots, although they | do not possess the power of selecting and appro-— priating the materials of growth peculiar to such © organs. We know not by what means lichens derive nourishment. Some species certainly do disintegrate the stones on which they occur, and absorb the chemical and mineral substances which they contain, as is clearly proved when they are analysed. But a far more numerous class are found only on the hardest stones, so closely appressed and level with their surface that they seem to form — an integral part of them. In this way they con- tinue for years, ay centuries and ages, unchanged —their matrix as well as their own intense vitality — resisting all decay. There are instances of en- caustic lichens covering the glaciated surfaces of quartz on the summits of our highest hills, which may probably be reckoned among the oldest of living organisms. Such species can obviously derive no benefit save mere mechanical support from their growing-place, and must procure their nourishment entirely from the atmosphere, and their colouring matter from solar reflection. We have in the form and substance of these lichens evidences of their low vitality. They are invariably flat and circular ; and this spherical form indicates a state of rest, or of suspended or com- pleted energy. We find this shape in plants only — in those parts that have accomplished their pur- pose and. returned to repose,—such as in fruits, seeds, buds, leaves,—each leaf being a thing limited al -~. -—/~ | —— Cee Se ae ee, Se aw Pe eee ee es ee ees, BNI Ba ee hey eee BO He 2 i Me Ses ee S , : Pe tae the wag) Fa vecia te, ; Hagel Baer ROUND SHAPE OF LICHENS. 148 and unalterably fixed at a determinate stage of _metamorphosis—and in the mature shape of the tree, clothed with its full foliage. The active parts of plants have axial and linear forms, such as the stem, the root, the branch, the leaf-stalk ; and these forms are expressions of the greatest amount of _ change and activity of substance. The simple force of growth pushes forward in one direction, and changes the point into a line which is a flowing point. When the round cell begins to grow it elongates into a tube; when the round seed ger- minates it pushes forth a straight plumule and radicle ; when the lichen becomes more organized and active in higher species, it changes from the orbicular thallus to the shrubby linear tuft; and when. again the plant retires to a state of repose it reverts from the linear to the circular forrn from which it started. The plant grows from linear stem to round leaves, and from round leaves to _ linear stem,—until at last the organism reaches its final stage of rest in the round flower and fruit and seed. The circular form in the animal world is also expressive of repose and completion. We see it in the egg, in the coiling of the sleeping cat or _ dog, in the rotundity of aged and indolent persons compared with the slimness of youthful and active individuals, in the spherical, almost inanimate- - looking jelly of the Medusa compared with the straight lines of the active body of the antelope. _ The serpent coiled in sleep or hybernation, and straightened into a living lance ready to dart - a i ¥ = ; , } 4, F a: ; ; 74 : 5 ; i oo *f- a 144 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. |CHAP. — upon its prey, represents in an expressive way the ~ significance of the circular form as compared with the linear. We have in these facts then an ex-. planation of the round shape of foliaceous lichens, — We see in them a freer attainment of the spherical form than in other plants, because of their lower vitality, their greater amount of stability and re- pose, their slower growth and longer life. What is — the ultimate form of other plants is with them the ~ primary, from the very necessity: of their nature. They are usually placed in such unfavourable circumstances that each portion of their struc- ture must have the closest relation to the central: point and to all the other portions; each part must be balanced into perfect symmetry; and the whole plant must exhibit at every stage of growth the form of greatest security, which gives the maximum of contents with a mini- mum of exposure. Then, too, the evidence of the substance of the lichen corroborates that of its form. The two are co-ordinated for the attain- ment of the same end, viz. stability and repose. The grey colour of most lichens approximates to that of the corn of wheat when ripest, and is pro- duced by the same cause. The wheat as it ripens loses its nitrogenous substances, which are the © media of its vital activity, and becomes rich in carbon, which plays a more passive part in the — organism. The cells of the wheat seed are filled © with starch, like the cells of the lichen; and this — starch is haa the ashes deposited by the fire of 4 : RE VIVAL OF LICHENS. Rite, which Peadanlty: limit and keep it in a smoul- dering dormant state for any length of time, until ‘the seed is sown and quickened, when the starch in germination is changed into more active che- mical products, and the grey round starchy seed elongates into the green chlorophyll-filled linear- ‘shaped stem of the young wheat. Thus the life of the lichen becomes fettered like the wheat by the vegetative process itself; and the continuous secre- tion of highly carbonized products thickens the walls of its cells, and obstructs intercourse with the outside, as well as forms accumulations in the con- tents of the cells, which prevent internal movement. In this way.all vital activity comes at last to a pause. But when rain comes, and the lichen is ‘moistened, a kind of germination takes place over its whole surface, the starch is converted into chlorophyll, the lichen exhibits a bright green ‘colour, and proceeds to grow and exercise all the functions of life, until the process of suffocation and ‘entombment again takes place, and the lichen ‘subsides into the grey starchy immobility of its normal state. _ The eye of the naturalist, educated by practice to almost microscopic keenness, can discern scat- tered over the wall numerous other specimens of this singular vegetation, appearing like mere dis- colorations or weather-stains on the stones. Some are scaly fragments so minute as to require very lose inspection to detect them. Others are inde- iz finite films of nebule or greyish matter, sprinkled - L 146 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [ouar. with black dots about the size of a pin’s Bead 2 Others are granular crusts of a circular form, with a zoned border; and when two or three of them meet together, they do not coalesce and become absorbed into one huge overgrown individual. The frontier of each is strictly preserved by a narrow black border, however it may grow and extend itself, as zealously as that of France or Austria. The law against removing a neighbour's — landmark is as strictly enforced in lichen as in human economy. When a stone is covered with a series of these independent lichens, it looks like a miniature map of America; the zoned patches resembling the states, the black dots the towns, and the lines and cracks in the crust the rivers. There is one species growing on pure quartz, an exquisite piece of natural mosaic of glossy black ~ and primrose yellow, called the geographical lichen from this resemblance. These lichens on the garden wall are, so to speak, the domesticated species of the Crypto- gamia. They are to man, in their own order, what the sparrow and robin that frequent the garden are in theirs. They come out of the wilds of S nature and share in the companionship of man; © are made humane by the occasional resting of his eye and the dwelling of his thought upon them. By giving his own life to them, as they thus enter — into the sphere of his interests, he raises them into fit associates for his mind, and invests them with his moral associations. And as the domesticated | DOMESTICA TED LICHENS. - 147 Faccfal his in the garden occupy the first place in this human classification of the vegetable king- dom, so, constituting the beginning of the series, they summon all the rest down to the lowest _members about them, and group their whole realm | around man. But the lichens venture farther than the wall. They intrude into the very centre of _the garden, and invest the choicest fruit-trees with their scaly armour. They are to these useful apple and pear trees what the poppies are to the corn, _cumberers of the ground, but giving us beauty instead of utility, and thought for the mind instead F of food for the palate; turning to us the religious instead of the material side of nature. Who would ‘willingly miss that hoary and picturesque gar- _niture which they give to the orchard, making the youngest trees look as venerable as if centuries had passed over them! Nowhere do the lichens appear so beautiful or shapely as on the smooth > bark of the apple and the pear trees. They put on their fairest robes in the presence of these princesses of the vegetable kingdom, and reflect the beauty which they receive. The yellow Par- ; _melia has there a richer yellow, and the olive - Parmelia a glossier tinge ; while two of the loveliest ‘ species of lichens are found almost exclusively “upon these trees—the Borrera tenella and the _Parmelia stellaris—with their symmetrical grey thallus and black apothecia. _ Several of the stones are sprinkled with a ‘orey, ered, or yellow powder, as dry and finely = Lad ; SAS ee Os r, eu i” i 148 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuHar. — pulverized as quicklime or sulphur. ~ These grains 4 are either the germs of lichens awaiting develop- © ment, or they are individual vital cells, capable of growing into new plants, in the absence of proper fruit. The pulverulent lichens are always barren, because a strict individualization of each cell is at variance with the regular formation of organic fructification, which checks and circumscribes the individuality of the separate cells. It is difficult to distinguish these pulverulent masses from the powder of chalk, verdigris, or sulphur; and yet : they are endowed with the most persistent vitality, which almost no adverse circumstances can ex- tinguish. The principle of life resides in each of these grains as truly as in the most complicated - organism; and, though reduced here to the very simplest expression of which it is capable, it is not divested of its mystery, but on the contrary — rendered more wonderful and incomprehensible. A wide and impassable barrier separates these life-particles from the grains of the stone on which they occur, and yet it is very difficult in some cases to distinguish the one from the other. The extreme simplicity of structure displayed by these protophytes is more puzzling to the botanist than © any amount of complexity would have been. The rudimentary stages of all the flowerless plants appear in this singular form. The germs of a moss ° are similar to those of a lichen, and the germs of © a lichen to those of a fern or sea-weed. These powdery grains represent the basis from which 7 Fe a 5 - Yr ‘e > — =. i i oe a we , | yo Asn 7. nr rb. 5 * ae - pa < f i . DEVELOPMENT THEORY. 149 3 each separate system of life starts, to recede so ’ widely in the highest forms of each order. The - advocates of the development theory have en- _deavoured to derive from this circumstance a _ plausible argument in support of their views. They assert that the germs of all cryptogamic plants . are not only apparently, but essentially, the same ; and that the differences of their after development are owing to accidental circumstances of soil, situation, and other physical conditions. If they happen to fall upon decaying substances, they 4 become fungi; if they are scattered in soil, they become ferns or mosses; if water is the medium _in which they are produced, they grow into alge ; and on dry stones and living trees they spread into the flat. crusts of lichens. Plausible as this idea looks, it is not borne out by experiment, for the same germs sown in the same soil, exposed to precisely similar conditions, develop one into a moss, another into a lichen, a third into a fungus, and a fourth into a fern; showing clearly that though we cannot discover the difference between their rudimentary germs, a real distinction does nevertheless exist—that the seeds of these minute insignificant plants are in reality as different from each other as the seed of an apple-tree is dif- _ ferent from that of a pine or palm. The develop- ments of nature are not regulated by accidents K and caprices; they are the results of fixed pre- determined laws, operating in every part of every living organism, from the commencement of its 150 | HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuar. growth to the end of its life-history. And the — similarity which we find between them is not the ~ consequence of a lineal descent of one from — another, but only a feature of the same grand plan ~ of construction. The resemblance is not the result of anything in these forms themselves; it is a purely intellectual relation of plan. With this’ small piece of granite before me, then, what solemn and far-reaching questions are connected! Geo- logists of the Plutonian and Neptunian schools have keenly contested the mode of its formation ; while arguments drawn from the living particles of vegetation on its surface have been advanced in support of the “development” and “origin of species” theories. Could we explain the mysteries locked up in this little stone, we should be furnished with a key to the mysteries of the universe. In one of the shady corners of the wall, covering a soft stone of chlorite schist, is a large patch of leprous powder of the most brilliant yellow colour, usually occurring only on trees, and there only yield- ing its fructification. Superficially it resembles the other mealy lichens that spread over the garden wall; but if closely examined on the bark of a fir-tree by a pocket lens, its surface is seen to be sprinkled with a perfect forest of little jet-black stems as thick as a horse-hair and about a line in height, crowned with minute round cup-like heads, also of a deep black colour. This tiny capi- tulum is of the same substance as the peduncle upon which it rests; and in its earliest state is closed CALICIUM. 151 & in its upper part with a very thin membrane like the volva or veil which covers a young mushroom. As the fruit ripens the membrane bursts and entirely disappears, leaving exposed the exces- sively minute granules which, mixed with slender fibres, had previously lain concealed in the cup. The slightest breath of wind or touch of insect’s wing carries off the powdery seeds to be sown in ‘some suitable situation. When no external agency “operates, the little hair-like stalk which formerly Co the tiny urn above its head, is endowed with a peculiar sensitiveness when the seed is ripe, and Phending downwards turns over the goblet and empties its contents upon the air. In appearance the fructification seems closely allied to that of the fungi, especially to the genus 77ihia,; but the powdery crust effectually separates it from E them, and places it among the lichens. The ‘capsules do not spring however from the granu- lations of the crust, but from the naked spots between them, and are scattered without order over the surface. This lichen is known as the —Calicium hyperellum, and is a plant of singular _ beauty ; the whole genus being among ‘the love- _liest of nature's Lilliputian vegetation. One could gaze for hours unweariedly, lost in admiration of the richness of its colouring and the gracefulness } of its tiny acorn-like cups, mounted on hairs, whose ’ glossy sooty blackness contrasts in a most striking _ manner with the rich golden yellow crust. Not far from this species is another curious lichen, growing . ee ae ee Ly we Pe ee ee Rees =... “152 + =HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuar. — on a rough block of gneiss, called the Ssidinm hs corallimum, trom the resemblance which it bears © to the corals, not only in its singularly calcareous texture, but also because its crust is composed of — slender erect cylindrical stems or papillule packed closely together, and increasing in height from the circumference to the centre, where they are about ~ a line or two high. These papillulea support the round black fructification about the size of a pin’s — head, and in this respect agree with the peduncles 3 of the Calicium. The thin tartareous crust which lies at their base is only seen round the border of the lichen, and even there only in young speci- — mens. The plant before me forms a wide patch of nearly circular outline, and about a foot in diameter. It is of a dead opaque white colour, tinged with grey, and is cracked all over into small tumid warts. From its enormous size it must be very much older than the garden wall ¥ and must have been growing no one knows how many years or even generations, for the lichens are a very slow-growing and long-lived race, on the stone when it was transported from the moorland to its present site. It looks like a microscopic cousin of the Spherophoron coralloides, and the Stercocaulon paschale, among the handsomest of the British lichens, often found growing on the turfy top of dry stone dykes in subalpine regions. All these plants represent in the blue depths of the atmosphere, the corals in the green depths of the — sea. The idea of the animal is repeated by the Salons fies _——— oe a : . ee a ee oo “aed” A- e Seee a.) e Fan eb wad Oy & 7 , eM set as al eee RL YS ~ “3 io aS ¢ . re : 7 5 ¥, ~ . : «= aw ’ , has POWDERY LICHENS. | 153, : ' _ vegetable. The same thought of God has a dual expression, and is testified to by two witnesses in two different elements. The ocean of air has its corals as well as the ocean of water. This is merely one of the innumerable analogies between the cryptogamia of the vegetable and the crypto- gamia of the animal world, between the crusta- _ ceous lichens and the radiating polyps, which show to us the profound unity and harmony of all creation. When the powdery lichens occur in large quan- tities, they give a very picturesque effect to rocks, trees, and buildings. ‘The trunks and branches of trees in the outskirts of large towns are covered with a green powder, fostered by the impurity of the air; a similar substance is also produced in damp low-lying woods, where the trees are so densely crowded as to prevent proper ventilation | and free admission of light. In Roslin Chapel, near Edinburgh, the curious effect of the rich carvings of the walls and pillars is greatly enhanced _ bya species of Lepraria, of a deep verdigris colour, ‘ S ; : il covering them with the utmost profusion. It gives an appearance of hoary antiquity to the structure, and is the genuine hue of poetry and romance. On boarded buildings, old palings, and walls, may be sometimes seen a greyish film sprinkled with very red particles, turning yellow if rubbed, and _ exhaling when moistened a very perceptible odour of violets; from which circumstance it has obtained the name of Leprarta Folithus. Linnzus met with (154 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. — [cuap. it frequently in his tour through Ce land and East Gothland, covering the stones by the roadside with a blood-red pigment. It also spreads over the wet stones of St, Winifred’s Well in North Wales, and is supposed to be the blood of the martyred saint—a superstition which, like the dark stain on the floor of Holyrood Palace, one has not the heart to dis- turb. I know not if others have realized the senti- ment, but I have often felt as if I could willingly have given up all the knowledge I possess of the ~ structure and history of these obscure productions, in exchange for the power of being able to look upon them with the childish wonder which in early unscientific days they inspired. There is an air of mystery and obscurity about them peculiarly fas- cinating, which it is not desirable to dispel by the garish light of technical. knowledge. Each one of them seemed a self-discovered treasure of child- hood, as much my own as if God had made it on purpose and presented it to me; and it was ever a part of my joy to think that I had found some- thing which no one else knew or had seen before, | and that I could bestow upon it pet names of my own. ‘They were links connecting me with an unseen unexplored world, where the marvellous was quite natural—parts of the scenery amid which elves and fairies, and all the denizens of the heaven that lies about us in our infancy, lived. Fauns might at any moment peer out at me from behind the old moss-grown trees on which they grew; or white-limbed shapes might glide away from the = =a? eT ee oe, .¢ 7 ve. 6 Se ey ee ove Vee ) in Le) #£%, ; we z nel Pos ae | * ORS ete atc dt ie: ae 2" Ps RRS oko eNEI Berroa iteAL BEAUTIES. ?~ 155 . embowered fountain to whose rocky sides they - gave their wealth of beauty and plenitude of life. So many strange things, the existence of which we never suspected, then presented themselves to our notice every day, that nothing seemed impossible or supernatural, Precise limits have now fixed for us the extent of our domain, and we know everything within it. “First a slight line, then -a-fence, then a wall; then the wall will rise, will _ shut in the man, will form a prison, and to get out of it he must have wings. But around the child neither walls nor fences—a boundless extent, all irridescent with brilliant colours.” The glow of miracle vanishes out of the cold clear grey of history; but faith and wonder and the primeval glory of the earth are born afresh into the world - with every child. Only at the sunrise and sunset of life do the heavens come down to the earth;-in the noon of manhood they mount up to the zenith and seem far away overhead. How full to the brim with beauty were the flower-cups that were — on a level with the eyes of the little botanist! We men have outgrown the flower and all its mystical loveliness. It is among the mosses of the wall, however, that the richest harvest of beauty and interest may be gathered. Long have my mingled wonder and admiration been given to these -tiny forms of vegetable life—beautiful in every situation— — spreading on the floor of ancient forests, yielding 4 carpets that “steal all noises from the foot,” and 156 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. — [cHAP. over which the golden sunbeams chase each other in waves of light and shade throughout the long summer day—throwing over the decaying tree and the mouldering ruin a veil of delicate beauty honoured everywhere of God to perform a most important though unnoticed part in this great creation. Well do I remember the bright July afternoon when their wonderful structure and peculiarities were first unveiled to me by one | long since dead, whose cultivated eye saw strange loveliness in things which others idly passed, who could read Bethel on a pile of stones, and, seeing where God had been, trust in Him, and whose simple warm heart was ever alive to the mute appeals of humblest wild flower or tiniest moss. There was opened up to me that day a new world of hitherto undreamt-of beauty and intellectual delight. In the structural details of the mass which illustrated the lesson I got a glimpse of some deeper aspect of the Divine character than mere intelligence. Methought I saw Him not as the mere contriver or designer, but in His own loving nature, having His tender mercies over all His works—displaying care for helplessness and minute- ness—care for beauty in the works of nature, irrespective of final ends or utilitarian purposes. Small as the object before me was, I was impressed —in the wonder of its structure, at once a means — and an end, beautiful in itself and performing its beautiful uses in nature—not with the limited in- genuity of a finite, but with the wisdom and love ee eed THEOLOGY OF MOSSES. | 157 of an Infinite Spirit. To that one unforgotten a lesson, improved by much study of these little 9 objects alike in the closet and in the field, I owe _ many moments of pure happiness, the memory of _ which I would not part with for all the costly _ painted pleasures, to gather which, as they ripen high on the wall, the world impatiently tramples _ down things that are far sweeter and more lasting. aa A careful search will reveal upwards of a score _ of mosses on our garden wall, in almost every stage of growth, from a dim film of greenness to radiating plumes spreading over the stones, and _ cushion-like tufts projecting out of the crevices, and crowned with a forest of pink fruit-covered stems. One is amazed at the exuberance of life displayed on so small and unpromising a surface. _ It gives us a more graphic idea than we commonly _ possess of the vast and varied resources of creation. _ Though so much alike in their general appearance as to be often confounded by a superficial eye, all _ these species are truly distinct ; and when closely | examined exhibit very marked and striking dif- 4 ferences. They are not slightly varying expres- _ sions and modifications of the same Divine idea ; - but rather different ideas of creative thought. Each of them stands for a separate revelation of the Infinite Mind; and the fact that the same q plan of construction, the same type of character, runs through them all, only indicates that there is everywhere, in the minutest as well as most 158 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. — [cuar. conspicuous parts of creation, an undeviating re- gard to unity and harmony. | | Prominent among these mosses are the curious little Tortulas, found abundantly on every old wall —when there is sufficient moisture and shade—but | loving especially the rude stone gable and thatched | roof of the Highland cottage, covering them with deep cushions of verdure till the whole structure | appears more like a work of nature than man’s handiwork. I have always great pleasure in look- ing at this tribe of mosses through a lens. The leaves are beautifully transparent and reticulated, and readily revive, when scorched and shrivelled by the sunshine, under the first shower of rain. The most noticeable thing about the Tortulas is the curious fringe which covers the mouth of the seed- vessel. In all the species, of which there are about fourteen in this country, the fringe is twisted in different ways like the wick of a candle. This peculiarity may be easily seen by the naked eye, as it projects considerably beyond the fruit-vessel, and is of a lighter colour; but the microscope reveals it in all its beauty. It is a wide departure from the ordinary type, according to which the teeth of the fruit-vessel are made to lock into each other, and thus form a wheel-like lid, composed of © separate spokes, which fill up the aperture. The great length of the teeth in the Tortulas prevents this arrangement of them ; their tops are therefore twisted, as the farmer twists the sheaves at the top of his wheat-stack, so as to keep out the rain ; and a J, » + e 4 ff - - AB. = aye SCREW MOSSES. 159 _ this plan seems to answer the purpose as effectually asthe normal one. Some of the Tortula tufts are _ of a pale reddish colour, as if withered by old age, or scorched by the sun. This peculiar blight ex- tends in a circular form from the centre to the _ circumference of a tuft, where filmy grey textures, like fragments of a spider's web interweaving among the leaves, proclaim the presence of an ob- scure fungus, in whose deadly embrace the moss has perished. Thus even the humblest kinds of life are preyed upon by others still humbler in the scale; and perhaps there is no self-existent organic structure in nature. Besides this parasite, there are other species of life nourished by these tufts. If one of them be saturated with moisture, and a drop squeezed out upon a glass, and placed under a good microscope, the muddy liquid will be found swarming with animalcule, little animated cells, wandering with electric activity amid the endless mazes of the strange forest-vegetation ; and among them there is sure to be one or more lordly Roti- feras, lengthening and contracting their transparent bodies as they glide rapidly out of view, or halting a moment to protrude and whirl their wheel-like cilize in the process of feeding—the most interesting of microscopic spectacles. One of the commonest of the mosses on the wall. is the little grey Grimmia ; looking, with its brown capsules nestling among the leaves, like tiny round cushions stuck full of pins. The nerves of the leaves project beyond the point, and give an appearance : : 4 . : . +e _ sar ce: s , nie : . Ae et ater <4 4 Xe . Perey! 43> 4 i : , . ae re + Seat ar ate 160 -- HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS: ~ ie be | of hoariness to the plant, in fine keeping with — the antique character of the wall. This moss grows on the barest and hardest surfaces—on granite and trap rocks, where not a particle-of soil can lodge ; and yet every cushion of it rests comfortably : upon a considerable quantity of earth carefully gathered within its leaves, which must have been blown there as dust by the wind, or disintegrated by its own roots from the substance of the rock. ae [cHap . +3 * Our garden wall displays two or three tiny tufts of — : a curious moss occurring not very frequently on moist shady walls built with lime. It is called the Extinguisher moss, because the cover of the fruit- vessel is exactly like the extinguisher of a candle, or the calyx of the yellow garden Escholtzza. We have also a few specimens, in the more retired cre- vices, of the Bartramia, or apple-moss—one of the loveliest of all the species—with its bright green hairy cushions and round capsules, like fairy apples. It fruits most abundantly in spring, appearing in its full beauty when the primrose makes mimic sun- shine on the bank, and the cuckoo’s voice gives an air of enchantment to the hazel copse. A subalpine species, it is somewhat uncommon in lowland dis- tricts; but it would be well worth while to grow it in a fernery. Its Latin name appropriately per- petuates the memory of John Bartram—one of the most devoted of American naturalists—a simple farmer and self-taught, yet a man of. great and varied attainments, concealed by a too modest and retiring disposition. Linnaeus pronounced him “the NAMES OF PLANTS. 161 “greatest natural botanist in the world.” It is a touching thing to think of the names of scientific _men, great in their own generation, being linked with such obscure and fragile memorials. They _ have passed away, and with them the memory of all they achieved ; and nothing now speaks of them _ save a little plant, of which not one in a thousand ' has ever heard, and which only a few naturalists see at rare intervals. There are hundreds of such names in the nomenclature of botany, worthy of a prominent and enduring remembrance, of which _ almost nothing more is known than this simple q association. It is the plant alone that perpetuates . them —history and epitaph all in one—like the chronology of the antediluvian patriarchs; and we are apt to smile when we read of the gratification _ which the illustrious Linnzus felt when the little _ bell-flowered Lzunaa, pride of the Swedish woods, was baptized with his name—regarding it as a _ pledge of immortality; for if there had been no- thing but this floral link to connect his memory with future ages, very few would have known that there ever was such a man. _ The line of turf along the top of the wall is a perfect Lilliputian garden. It bears a bright and _ interesting succession of plants from January to December. The little lichens and mosses claim ~ exclusive possession of it during the winter months; for these simple hardy forms of life are most ce -riant when the weather is most severe; they are , the first to come to any spot, and the iat to leave eS ae — “7 |» @ . een 162 HOLIDAVS ON HIGH LANDS. it—growing through sunshine and gloom with meek ; and unruffled serenity. There are whole colonies of that most social of all cryptogams, the hair- moss, looking, with their stiff and rigid leaves, like a forest of miniature aloes; preserving during summer and autumn a uniform dull green ap- pearance, but breaking out in spring into a mul- titude of little cups of a brilliant crimson colour, — nestling among the uppermost leaves, and rivalling in beauty the gayest blossoms of flowers. Hardly less interesting are the scores of cup-lichens— holding up in their mealy sulphur-coloured goblets dewy offerings to the sun, like vegetable Gany- medes. And the lover of the curious will be sure to notice the livid leathery leaves of the dog-lichen, tipped with brown shields like finger-nails, that grow redder in the piercing Christmas cold— bringing us back in fancy to the days of Dr. Mead, the famous physician and friend of Pope, Bentham, and Newton, by whom it was first brought into — notice as a remedy for hydrophobia. These and numerous other minute forms, too obscure to be mentioned, may be seen all the year round; and dim though the sunbeams of winter may be, they — search them out in their hidden nooks, and stimu- late them to life and energy, and the glow of sun- rise or sunset, that sets a mountain range on fire, rests lovingly on the smallest moss or lichen, inti- mating that it too has its place and its relations in this wide universe. When the first mild days of early spring come, the Drada, or whitlow-grass, Bi] _ FLOWERS ON TOP OF GARDEN WALL. 163 ESSE AE ee nn ia cae "puts forth its tiny white flowers, and greets the 4 returning warmth, when there is not a daisy in ; the meadow, or a single golden blossom on the whinny hill-side. Then follows a bright array of chance wild flowers, wayward adventurers, whose - seeds the winds have wafted or the birds have ' dropped upon this elevated site, their colours deepening as the season advances—old thyme, ever new, hanging down in fragrant festoons of purple; yellow bedstraw—the Chrysohoé of flowers like masses of golden foam, scenting the breeze with honey sweetness, and ever murmurous with bees; chimes of blue-bells hanging from the wall as ion a belfry, and tolling with their rich peal pot bells—which the soul alone can hear—the knell of the departing flowers. A fringe of soft meadow- * i grass covers the turf, whose silken greenness forms 7 the ground colour on which these bright patterns are embroidered; while its silvery panicles hang in all their airy grace over the flowers, like gos- _ samer veils, greatly enhancing their beauty. That ¢ patch of grass softens no human footfall of care, _ but it is refreshing to the eye, and the robin rests upon it, as it pours out its low sweet chant, ac- cording well with the sere leaves and the dim stillness of autumn, the calm decay of earth, and the peace divine of heaven. I love, in the silent 4 eve, when there is scarcely a breath in the garden, and the sunset is flushing the flowers and purpling - the hills, to sit near that richly-decorated wall, in ‘s view of its autumn flowers, smiling on the lap M 2 5 dob iaaihes. eee pena as wratcilnd — eo a italiiti 164 HOLIDAVS ON HIGH LANDS. of death, for ever perishing, but immortal—joys that have come down to us pure and unstained from Eden, and amid a world of progress will be transmitted without a single leaf being changed to the latest generation. Looking at them, and feeling to the full the beauty and wonder of the world, I enjoy all that the coming centuries can bestow upon the wisest and the happiest of our race. Voiceless though they are, they have a secret power to thrill my heart to its very core. They speak of hope and love, bright as their own hue, and vague as their perfume; they speak of — the mystery of human life, its beautiful blossoming and its sudden fading; and, more than all, they speak of Him, who, holy, harmless, undefiled, and © ’ separate from sinners, found on earth most con- genial fellowship with these emblems of purity and innocence; whose favourite resort was the garden of Gethsemane; whose lesson of faith and trust in Providence was illustrated by the growth of the lilies; and who at last—as the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the valley—was laid in a sepulchre in a garden, leaving behind there a — rich and lasting perfume, which makes the grave _to all who fall asleep in Him a bed of sweet and refreshing rest. | CHAPTER IV. 4 A RAMBLE THROUGH NORWAY, THE CRADLE OF a THE HIGHLAND FLORA. q HAVING exhausted the botany of the British hills, _I was anxious to study our Alpine plants in their _ original centre of distribution, to compare the forms which they. present under different conditions of soil, climate, exposure, &c.; and thus ascertain the _ value of the distinctions, not merely among the species reputed to be doubtful, but also among those commonly considered to be well-established. _ For this purpose I undertook, several summers ago, _ along with some friends, a short tour in Norway. _ I went first to Denmark, a country which holds out many inducements to the botanist, and presents _ peculiar facilities for exploring, the expense of q travelling being extremely moderate, the language interposing but few difficulties to one who knows broad Scotch and low German, and the plants of _ the woods and marshes being singularly attractive _ and interesting. The “Flora Danica,’ a splendid - work of some twenty volumes, exquisitely illus- _ trated, contains a great many species that are common in this country; while it gives an admirable 7" . a) ae - Pee Pe ¥ 4 z ‘ ~p- * (166 = HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. idea of the character of the Scandinavian vegetation as a whole. _ It was a most lovely day in June when our party sailed down the Cattegat, with the coast of Sweden on the left, and the coast of Den- mark on the right. The sea reflected the deep blue sky in all its transparency, and threw back, wherever the light fitful breeze raised a passing : ripple, flashes of brilliant sunshine like a shower of diamonds. A large number of vessels, which had come from the Baltic, were becalmed, and — stood motionless upon the mirror-like deep; each ship reflecting its image clearly in the water. The sea at this place looked more like a broad river than a part of the ocean, showing almost every feature of the scenery on both shores with the utmost distinctness ; the air being so pure and 4 bright that it acted like a telescope. The Swedish coast was bold and rocky, but relieved at fre- quent intervals by soft patches of cultivation, and clusters of red-roofed houses, embosomed among dense masses of umbrageous foliage. The Danish coast, on the other hand, presented a complete contrast. Nothing could be softer and richer than the green fields of Zealand which dipped down to the sea, with hardly a margin of barren sand or . rock, shaded by the most luxuriant woods of beech and elm, and crowned here and there on the rising grounds with picturesque windmills, whose huge brown sails lay motionless against the serene back-_ ground of the sky. In front of us, filling up the 2. a". o y ei) Pao ELSINORE. ER ~ southern horizon, and looking as if reposing upon - the sea, was the huge castle of Kronborg, at Elsi- nore, emerging from the water, and displaying _ more of its architectural details as we drew nearer. _ This spot is classic ground to the Englishman as q well as to the Dane. It is one of the Meccas of the _ mind, hallowed for ever by the creations of genius. _ No other spot in Denmark is so interesting from _ its many associations with mythology, literature, and the national history of England and Denmark. With the dark and mysterious vaults of the castle j is associated the romantic tradition of Holger ~Danske—the Arthurian legend of Denmark; while near at hand there used to be shown a green spot, marked by a heap of stones with Runic inscrip- _ tions upon them, called Hamlet’s Garden, because tradition had here laid the deed to which we are indebted for the noblest of Shakespeare’s works. With Elsinore is imperishably connected Camp- bell’s spirited description of the siege of Copen- hagen, which is one of the finest of his poetical efforts. But, like Gertrude of Wyoming, and some > others of his productions, it is singularly incorrect in several of its topographical allusions. He speaks of the “wild and stormy steep” of Elsinore, giving one the impression that Kronborg Castle stood on a lofty precipice overhanging the sea: whereas the coast here is as flat and green and richly wooded as the promontory of Roseneath on the _ Clyde, which it closely resembles. Our sail down the Sound from Elsinore was one 168 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. |cuar. of the most enjoyable things possible. The green richly-wooded shore, broken at frequent intervals 905 1a “e ¢ ‘ ‘ by some charmingly situated villa, with its bright | lawn in front and its red flag hanging idly down from its flagstaff, flitted past us like the scenery of a fairy dream. As we approached the capital the spaces between the trees became wider and — the country-houses of the merchants more nu- merous; while the increasing number of ships and the greater bustle on the water, and the throng of carts and carriages on the roads leading to the city, almost challenged comparison with the vicinity of London itself. Our steamer slowly pushed its way in among the shipping and was at last moored to the quay; and after a very cursory and formal inspection of our luggage at the custom-house we were allowed to land. We drove straight to the Phoenix Hotel in the Bred Gade, where we secured capital accommodation and seemed to be the only guests. After refreshing ourselves we sallied forth to view the city. Copenhagen is one of the most interesting capitals of Europe, and yet it is difficult to point out exactly in what the interest connected with it lies. Its situation is not picturesque, and its buildings are not distinguished for architectural beauty, consisting chiefly of lofty brick structures covered with stucco, and presenting a very bald and monotonous appearance. The people are very quiet and primitive in their ways; and, with. the exception of the /@fes in the Tivoli | , te Oe «ee ee ee ey in %s j oad hy oe Var . s ort fg ’ % ny AX Pa Sue | COPENHAGEN. ©” ~~ 169 Gardens and the Alhambra, there are none of _ those fashionable gaieties and amusements which are to be found in such abundance in Paris, Berlin, or Vienna. Perhaps the serenity and repose of the place, and the simplicity of the manners and customs, may contribute much to the inde- finable charm, as well as the feeling that one is beyond the usual tourist ground, and in a region > comparatively fresh and unknown. In summer the sky overhead is peculiarly bright, and the sunshine warmer than it is in Britain. Every- where in the city there is the gleam of water, for it is intersected and islanded in all directions by canals. and harbours, and the placid Sound reflects the overhanging buildings on its bosom, and brings the fresh breath of ocean into the | most crowded market-places. So common is this element of beauty, that Copenhagen has been called “the Venice of the North.” The magni- ficence of the avenues of lime and chestnut trees that lead from the heart of the city to its suburbs, especially when in full blossom, loading the air with fragrance, and lighting up the green gloom with their white flowery candelabra, requires to be seen in order to be appreciated. All ranks meet and mingle in the various places of public resort on familiar terms, and with mutual con- sideration and respect. The society of the better classes is fully as cultivated and refined as it is anywhere in Europe. We in Britain know very little of the literature of Denmark, Hans Christian 170 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. — |cuar. Andersen being almost the only Danish author with whose writings we are acquainted. And yet in history they have had the two Niebuhrs, father and son; in poetry and general literature, Evald, Baggesen, Wessel, Holberg, Grundtvig, Rabbell, Heiberg, Molbech, Ingemann, and, greatest of all, Oehlenschlager, whose statue, in bronze, is con- ‘spicuous in one of the squares. Worsaae, the successor of Thomsen, the founder of the unique Museum of Northern Antiquities, is one of the most accomplished antiquaries in Europe; Steen- strup has a world-wide reputation as a scientific discoverer; and Carsten Hauch, the poet, has in- herited the mantle of Oechlenschlager, and continues to enrich the poetic stores of his country by his dramas and lyrics. But by far the most illustrious of the great names of Denmark is that of Thor- valdsen. Copenhagen is in fact the city of Thor- valdsen—the Mecca of sculpture. His museum is the “sight” of the place. His memory is the glory of the people. The booksellers’ shops are full of photographs of his person and works; and copies of his busts and statues, in all sizes and materials, may be seen exposed for sale in almost every second window. Of course we visited the shrine of this remark- able hero-worship, and ceased to wonder at the popular enthusiasm. Thorvaldsen’s museum—and also his mausoleum, for he is buried within its walls—is situated on an island formed by an en- circling canal towards the west end of the city. i aw! * ~ he Ble THORVALDSEN’S MUSEUM. 171 it is so close as almost to form part of the huge pile called the Christiansborg Palace, and is a square yellowish-looking building in the Egyptian Style, singularly ugly. The outside is covered with _ pictures, produced by the inlaying of differently- _ coloured cements in the walls, representing on one side the hero’s triumphant return home, after an absence of eighteen years, in the same ship which conveyed his works from Rome; and, on the other side, the transport of these works by an enthusi- -astic crowd to the museum. The facade represents Fame in her fiery car drawn by four horses, in bronze. Passing in by a side door, we examined with interest the colossal plaster busts, statues, and friezes in the entrance hall—models for monuments which Thorvaldsen executed for different cities— prominent among which was the statue of Pius VII seated in the Papal chair, supported by ailegorical figures. Before inspecting the contents of the corridor—Christ’s Hall—and the different rooms on the ground-floor, the keeper led us to a wide | court in the centre of the building, paved with - stones and roofed by the sky, at that moment one brilliant flawless sapphire. The surrounding walls were painted with palms and other decora- tions of antique tombs. “There is his grave,” said our guide, pointing to a small plot of ivy growing almost on a level with the pavement in the midst of which it was set. The sun shining in through the open roof lingered on the green spot, and bur- nished the ivy leaves, while the shadows projected a72 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuaP. by the walls elsewhere were cool and dark. It was touchingly simple. No marble monument, no elegiac inscription—not even his name carved on the pavement—nothing but the small-leaved ivy, clustering closely together, that wreathes alike the ruins of human art and the remains of man himself with its unfading green. It might be said of him, as it was said of Sir Christopher Wren, the architect of St. Paul’s, “If you wish to see his — monument, look around.” There he reposes amid ~ the creations of his genius—no less than six hundred and fifty in number, most of which have achieved a world-wide reputation. There is no other mausoleum like it in the world. No monarch ever had such a resting-place as this son of a poor ship-carpenter.. I longed to pluck a leaf™as a memorial, but I felt that it would have been a species of sacrilege. Gazing with uncovered head _ upon the ivy, I remembered that Thorvaldsen him- self had stood on the same spot, and looked down for a long time in silence into the open grave, which, according to his instructions, the architect had made when the building was completed. I thought of that wonderful funeral procession of which the King of Denmark and his son formed the head, and in which almost the whole nation were mourners, and of the garland of flowers woven by the hand of the queen, placed beside Thor- valdsen’s chisel on the coffin. Surely, never was artist so honoured in life and death. And this little plot of ivy was the end of it all! -— OO EN SSS Sree, SP a Sea ae leg ie a ee ane a en ea , a °* — 4 ? i - ee 5 , p a ee of hell ? ." ~ ye ee ae a ee ‘ ’ ‘ a eit ; ¥ é * , } : E yan. . : : THE FRUE KIRKE. | 173 - Around the courtyard runs a series of small apartments, each opening into the other, and each of a different colour and design. The walls are _neutral-tinted, and the ceilings painted in the -Pompeian style with brilliant colours and with _ much artistic skill—the work of the pupils of the Copenhagen Academy of Arts. Each apartment contains a single marble statue or group, while the walls are decorated with appropriate bas-reliefs, whose playful fancy and endless variety are ex- -ceedingly charming. The light in each room is so arranged as to be as much as possible that of the studio, that each statue and bas-relief may be seen in the light in which it was executed; while the neutral tint of the walls brings out the exquisite whiteness of the marble and the beautiful outlines of the forms with the utmost distinctness. The arrangement of each apartment is such as to show its precious contents to the utmost advantage, and to impress them most vividly upon the mind and memory. | | That portion of the museum called Christ’s Hall is one in which the spectator is disposed to linger long. It contains casts of the statues of Christ and the Apostles; but, as these can be seen in marble’ in the Frue Kirke or metropolitan church of Copenhagen, they should be inspected there _ also, in order to form a correct idea of their match- less beauty. This church is one of the most interesting in Europe. Its interior is severely simple in its architecture, but very grand and 174. HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuap. ~ imposing in its proportions. It has no other orna- ments save the works of Thorvaldsen. These are so arranged as to form one harmonious whole— an epic in marble from the portico to the altar. The pediment is ornamented by an alto-relievo of John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness ; while the frieze over the entrance represents the triumphant entry of Christ into Jerusalem. On both sides of the great central aisle are ranged — colossal marble statues of the Apostles—six on each | side; St. Paul being substituted for Judas. It was originally intended that these statues should fill niches in the walls‘of the church, which the architect had made for the purpose; but when they came home, and were unpacked, they were found much too large for the niches, which had consequently to be filled up, and the statues were erected where they now stand. Thorvaldsen, it was well known, greatly disliked the common fashion of exhibiting works of art in niches, which he regarded as an ingenious method of lessening the labour of the sculptor and concealing defects behind. He wished that his statues should be seen on all sides, and found complete in every part ; and therefore, instead of remonstrating with the authorities, which he knew to be useless, he adopted the above simple expedient of compelling — the architect to accede to his wishes. The wisdom of this plan is obvious to every one who visits the Frue Kirke; for nothing can exceed the grandeur of these twelve colossal figures —admirably lighted, wae) itor ieee iY Se J 7 hear * ri - es a Dw] © STATUES OF APOSTLES. 175 j standing out bold and well-defined in all their _ exquisite symmetry, in the centre of the building. _ Each of the Apostles exhibits the individuality of character indicated in the Gospels, and the tra- - ditional style of dress and habit ; but all are noble in their simplicity. St. James, with his palmer’s hat slung behind him, was the sculptor’s favourite statue; but were I to give an opinion of their respective merits, I should prefer St. John, which, _ to my mind, admirably expresses the manly fire _ and womanly gentleness of Boanerges, the beloved _ disciple. St. Peter and St. Paul were the only : statues entirely modelled by Thorvaldsen himself. ; ‘The others were modelled from his sketches and - under his own inspection by a few select pupils ; he himself giving the finishing touches before they were cast in plaster. It seems that the exe- cution of these statues was the darling project of his life. No testimonial could have proved half so flattering to him as the order to prepare them -in imperishable marble for the principal church - of Denmark. “Thus,” he was often heard to say, “should an artist be honoured.” We walked between these magnificent figures. with a feeling of solemnity and awe—an avenue ; of genius leading up-to the principal object of attraction, the statue of Christ behind the altar. _ In front of it, in the centre of the chancel, is an exquisitely lovely statue of a kneeling angel bear- _ ing a large concha on its outstretched arms. This bg forms the font; and the first child christened from 1 ty | 176 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. ~ [ouap. | it was that of Professor Bissen—the favourite pupil of Thorvaldsen, who acted as sponsor—in the presence of the king, queen, and royal family. None of the works of Thorvaldsen have attained — half the celebrity of the statue of Christ; with none of them are we in this country so familiar. The first view of it is somewhat disappointing— for, contrary to the sculptor’s canon of art already noticed, it is placed in a niche surmounted by a heavy canopy of marble, supported by pillars. The projections of this background cast shadows which creatly interfere with the proper expression of the different parts of the figure. Were they removed altogether, and the statue seen in clear outline and relief in empty space, like the Apostles, its effect would be greatly enhanced. For an adequate idea of the Christ one should see the plaster cast in the Christ’s Hall of the museum, which has no canopy or niche to shadow it. There one is lost in ad- miration of its matchless beauty and expressive- ness. It is the most perfect representation I have ever seen of my ideal of our Lord. In my musing moments it often haunts me. It is certainly that “thing of beauty” which is a “joy. for ever.” Previous to these efforts of Thorvaldsen, sculptors had sought their subjects entirely from profane history and poetry, and it was feared by his ad- mirers that, from his inexperience in this new field, and want of religious susceptibility, he would not be able to do justice to sacred subjects. But the result agreeably disappointed all; and though the ar YP , ‘ PCO STATUE OF CHRIST 177 artist, in common with many other men of genius, it is more than probable, regarded only the poetical aspect and not the saving in- fluence of Christianity, and treated the Founder of it and His Apostles as he would have done the beautiful and noble creations of Homer's genius, still no one can gaze upon his statue of Christ unmoved. It was indeed a labour of love to him. No other hands touched it save his own. The preliminary sketches occupied him a long time, and so many were destroyed before he was _ satisfied, that he almost despaired of succeeding. At first he represented our Saviour with His arms raised to heaven as if in prayer, but afterwards he altered the model to its present attitude, as if in the act of blessing the assembled throng of worshippers, and uttering the invitation from St. -Matthew’s Gospel, engraved. on the pedestal, Kommer til mig, “Come unto Me.” The drapery and attitude are singularly graceful, while the ex- pression of the countenance is exquisitely lovely. A holy superhuman calm broods over every fea- ture, speaks through that eye of sorrow, and reigns on that august brow. It is as perfect a representa- tion in material form as man can make of the face of Him who endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself, who pursued, amidst ills past finding out, the even tenor of His way, as placidly as the earth turns upon its axis, while winds and waves are raging around it, and who at the close _ of life said to His disciples, “My peace I give unto N 178 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuae. you: not as the world giveth give I unto you.” And yet, wonderfully perfect as the statue seems, it is recorded of Thorvaldsen that, when he had ~ finished it, he was overwhelmed with melancholy, — and when asked the reason, he touchingly replied, — “ My genius is decaying.” “What do you mean?” said the visitor. “Why, here is my statue of Christ; it is the first of my works that I have ever felt satisfied with. Till now my idea has always been far beyond what I could execute. But 3 itis no longer so. I shall never have a great idea again.” This, it may be remarked, has been the case with all men of true genius, whether express- ing themselves in form, or word, or colour. It is only God Himself, as it has been finely said, who could look down upon His creation and behold that it was all very good. Having examined the principal objects of in- terest on the ground-floor of the museum, and the casts of the statues and _ bassi-relievi in Christ’s Hall, which are executed in marble in the Frue Kirke, we went upstairs to the second story. The rooms of this floor are filled with minor works of art, and with an immense number of busts, some of which are admirably done, while others are utterly unworthy of the genius of the sculptor. We were © specially interested in a plaster cast of the bust of Sir Walter Scott, and in a model of the famous statue of Lord Byron, which was refused admission into St. Paul’s and Westminster Abbey, and was ultimately placed in the Library of Trinity College, w.] BYRON AND SIR WALTER SCOTT. 179 Cambridge. Hans Christian Andersen graphically describes the interview between Byron and Thor- valdsen in Rome in his Mahrchen meines Lebens. He says that, when the artist was modelling the bust, “Lord Byron sat so uneasily in his chair, and kept changing the expression of his features to such a degree, that he was at length obliged to request him to keep his face still, and not to look so unhappy.” On Byron’s making answer that such was the usual expression of his coun- tenance, Thorvaldsen merely replied, ‘“ Indeed,” and went on with his work, producing an excellent likeness. Byron was dissatisfied with the ex- pression; but Thorvaldsen retorted that it was his own fault, he would look so miserable. A far ‘more favourable impression was produced by the 1 visit of the great Scottish novelist in 1831. Though Sir Walter Scott strangely neglected, during his ‘stay in Rome, to visit the Vatican, where so many of the greatest statues and paintings in the world are to be seen, he was nevertheless very anxious to make the acquaintance of Thorvaldsen in his Be adio. Owing to ignorance of each other’s lan- B age, the interview between the two great men was very short and awkward. But it made up in 1 warmth for what it lacked in elegance and in- i% clligibility By signs and gestures, and much pressure of hands, they strove to convey their c utual regard ; and when they parted they affec- tly embraced, and followed each other with heir eyes as long as possible. _ . N 2 \) 7 f ~ ¥ 4 ya. oe er ! ee Ree, lal . - v . . ~ oie ai Bere: 3 «. . : | 7% ® eee oo a L 7 r ‘ a s ~ ae ol ee on Ve 4 ay : ‘ zh ee) ie Sa ¥ ~ cs a tee ee ye \ + 180 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. ‘[cuap. What strikes one chiefly in passing through the rooms of the museum is the enormous amount of work which Thorvaldsen accomplished. He was - constitutionally lazy, and took a great deal of pleasuring in life, but he has notwithstanding left behind him upwards of seven hundred works of art, many of which required great labour and delicate handling. His life was indeed exception-— ally long, for he died in 1844 in the seventy-fourth year of his age, and he began his art-career when very young. The explanation usually given of the circumstance is, that he constantly kept a large number of pupils, and economized his own labour by availing himself of their aid in preparing models and carving statues up to a certain point, when he gave the finishing touches himself. But, notwith- standing this help, he must have been very in- dustrious to have sketched and finished such a creat variety of subjects, and executed so many statues single-handed. ‘Though lounging often in idleness, and mixing freely in all the gaieties of the highest society, yet, when the glow of creative energy seized him, he worked like one of those trolls or brownies in Scandinavian folk-lore, who were able to build a city in a single night. He himself has told us, regarding his noble statue of Mercury, what was true of most of his productions. “T immediately began modelling ; I worked all the evening, till at my usual hour I went to bed. But my idea would not let me rest. I was forced to get up again. I struck a light and worked at my model Bry}. RELICS OF THORVALDSEN. 181 _ for three or four hours, after which I again went to bed. Butagain I could not rest ; again I was forced to get up, and have been working ever since.” _. A suite of rooms in the upper story of the museum is devoted to a valuable and instructive collection of paintings, Etruscan and Roman relics, antique coins, bronzes, vases, and other curiosities which Thorvaldsen had amassed during his long residence in Rome. One small apartment contains the furniture of his sitting-room, arranged exactly as it was when he last occupied it. A Dutch clock ona table still marks the hour of his death, when, in accordance with a superstitious feeling common to all Northern nations, it was stopped for ever. The cast of a bust of Luther, which he commenced on the morning of that day when his lifeless body was carried home from the Royal Theatre, stands beside it, and near at hand the black slate easel on which a day or two before he had drawn in white chalk a sketch for a new bas-relief called “The Genius of Sculpture.” These affecting relics showed how death by apoplexy overtook him in the full plenitude of his powers, and when his fruitful mind was still meditating future works. Of the several portraits of himself in the gallery _of paintings, we were particularly interested in the one by his faithful friend Horace Vernet. It is said to be an admirable likeness, representing the old man with a broad, open, fresh-coloured face, keen light-blue eyes, and long white hair, standing 7 out like a halo all round his head. _—_— —_-. = ame 182 HOLIDAVS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHAP. The other creat sight of Copenhagen is the Museum of Northern Antiquities. This institu- tion is quite unique, and has been a powerful — agency in the education of the people of Denmark. It is worth one’s while to come all the way from America for the express purpose-of seeing it. I was fortunate in having a letter of introduction to Mr. Worsaae. He very kindly opened the Mu- — seum to our party, although it.was a closed day, — and accompanied us through all the rooms, ex- plaining to us the various objects in the most interesting manner, and in the most fluent and idiomatic English. Several foreigners took ad- vantage of the opening of the Museum, and joined us in our tour of inspection. Among them was a French gentleman, a Norwegian lady, a German professor, and a Russian count. Our host addressed each in turn in his or her own language with the ease and correctness of a native. The objects in — the Museum are arranged in different suites of apartments, according as they belong to the stone, the bronze, the iron, and the medizval periods. In the rooms devoted to the illustration of the stone period, there is an immense variety of arrow- heads, spear-heads, hatchets, sacrificial knives, and - stone implements of all kinds. Many of them are most beautifully polished, and have their edges ornamented with zigzag fretwork, which must have been exceedingly difficult to execute, when we consider that some are composed of the hardest granite, and that the only tools which those who — ae OVERLAPPING PERIODS. 183 executed them possessed were flint knives and stone axes. In the rooms devoted to the bronze period there are numerous examples of swords, daggers, drinking-cups, and articles of household use and of personal ornament. The arrangement of these relics into distinct periods has, however, no true foundation in history. It is purely arti- ficial and arbitrary. The different periods overlap each other. We find traces of the stone period far on into the bronze period; and articles of bronze have been found coeval with stone celts. In the time of Joshua, when iron was in common use, and the civilization of the world was far advanced, the _ rite of circumcision was performed, on one occasion at least, with flint knives; and these knives were buried in the tomb of Joshua. And at the present day we find stone implements used by savage tribes inhabiting regions outside the pale of civilization. If we take the whole world into consideration, we - find existing contemporaneously, the rudest im- plements of stone and flint, and the most perfect _ products of the highest skill and luxury. In the ee remote Hebrides we find at the present day, exist- ing amid all the perfection of the mechanical arts in our country, specimens of pottery and of agri- cultural and household implements, as primitive as any that we dig up from the so-called bronze or stone period, or find in the most savage islands of the Pacific. No arguments for the antiquity of the human race can therefore be founded upon the mere arrangement of these stone and bronze 0 Ne et eee a peasants have every inducement, pecuniary and patriotic, to forward their discoveries to Copen- hagen, where they are deposited in the Museum of Northern Antiquities, for the inspection of all. And thus a noble collection has been accumulated, © which admirably illustrates the ancient history of e ; hae i BEECH-WOODS OF DENMARK. 185 - Europe, which is invaluable for the purposes of - science, and of which even the humblest inhabi- tants of the country feel proud. The environs of Copenhagen are eminently beau- _ tiful and attractive. A short distance by rail from the outskirts commence the magnificent beech- forests of Klampenborg. These beech-woods are the most remarkable feature of Denmark. They clothe the whole face of the country, except the cultivated parts, giving it a soft, rich, languid look, exceedingly pleasing to the eye of one accustomed to the bleak hills and pine-woods of the Scottish Highlands. Hardly any other tree besides the beech is seen in these forests now; but it was not — always so. Denmark is a palimpsest of three dis- tinct layers of arboreal vegetation. In the lowest stratum of the bogs trunks and other portions of Scotch fir trees are found: above this layer is a distinctly marked stratum in which nothing but remains of oak occur; while the surface of the country is covered with flourishing beech-forests. These changes in the character of the woods indi- cate corresponding changes in the character of the climate; for the oak:is now a rare tree in the country, and the Scotch fir is hardly ever seen, being unsuited to the altered circumstances. The age of these extinct forests is a much-disputed question. Mr. Worsaae showed me several very interesting human relics dug from these deposits, which must have belonged to the Bronze period, and probably dated no further back than the time ot Se ' . $. 7 1a ad < ; ‘ Le “is ee 186 HOLIDAVS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHapP of Abraham. The skulls found in the pine stratum are round and short, having a very prominent ridge over the eyes. These brachycephalic skulls point to the Celtic migration from Asia to Northern Europe, and are accompanied by celts and stone im- plements. The skulls found in the oak stratum are dolichocephalic, or long-headed, and are identical with those of the Teutonic race now in possession — of most of Europe. It is probable that all the changes implied by these remains may have taken place within a much shorter period than is supposed, and that the antiquity of the Danish Kjokken- modings, like that of the Swiss Pfahlbauten, has been unduly stretched. | But apart from archzological speculations, which in such spots are irresistibly suggested, nothing — can be more delightful than a ramble among the beech-woods in the neighbourhood of Copenhagen on a hot summer day. The shadows are so cool and deep; the belts of golden light that lie across the greensward at every opening among the trees are so bright and sunny; the far-stretching vistas so mysterious and seductive to the imagination ; and the trunks and branches of the beeches so smooth, round, and well filled, and so covered with heavy masses of beautiful transparent foliage, that you feel as if in an enchanted place. You think longingly of the long-ago times when an English county merited its beautiful poetical name of “Buckinghamshire,” “the home of the beech- trees; beech being the modern form of the old ' ~ RANGE OF THE BEECH-TREE. 187 Teutonic duck or buch. From a rising ground, through a break in the forest, you catch a glimpse of the blue waters of the Sound flashing in the sunlight, with white, spirit-like sails flitting to and fro over its placid bosom: you thus feel that the place is haunted for ever by harmonies of winds and waves—visited by delicate influences from 1 ‘There are some interesting peculiarities in the geographical dis- tribution of the beech. It is the tree which ascends highest on the Apennines, forming large forests immediately below the zone of the Alpine plants. On Gran Sasso d'Italia, the loftiest peak of the range, it flourishes luxuriantly at a height of 6000 feet above the Adriatic, not far from the line of perpetual snow. On other moun- tain chains it is the birch or the pine which ascends the highest, and adjoins the zone of the Alpine flora. In Norway the beech _ is unknown, save in the extreme south and in the plains; while in the Alps it occurs only in the lower valleys. On the Apennines it ascends several thousand feet above the region in which corn can be cultivated, and where man lives permanently; and yet corn is grown as far north as Lapland, and a few patches of it ripen even at Hammerfest. The reason of this is that the beech is affected by the heat of the whole year, while the corn depends upon the summer heat. The heat of summer in the Arctic circle is much greater than at a height of 6coo feet in Italy, while the cold of winter is much more severe. Altitude and latitude, which corre- spond so far as herbaceous plants depending upon summer heat are concerned, do not correspond so far as trees which depend upon a certain degree of heat all the year round are concerned. It is because of the somewhat uniform annual temperature of the Ant- arctic regions—less warm in summer and less cold in winter— that the Evergreen beech (Fagus Forsteri) forms the characteristic woods of Terra del Fuego, and the Antarctic beech grows even farther south in’ the Antarctic regions, while no species of. beech can flourish in the extreme climate of the Arctic regions. The _ abundance and beauty of the beech in Denmark is doubtless owing to the same cause. 7 a - . 4 Ses Me te Ph.” 2 Pome ee ws « 4 ' . * ‘. 5 Be ‘7% ++ Py 188 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuar™ sea and land. Occasionally, at the end of a vista among the trees, a solitary deer may be seen feeding, or pausing to gaze at the stranger, and gliding silent as a shadow into the remoter re- cesses. The ground is everywhere enamelled with the wild flowers which we see in our own wood- lands; and every sight and sound are so homelike that it is difficult to realize the idea that one is in a foreign land. I saw large patches of the yellow wood-anemone (A. Ranunculoides) and of the guul fugls melk (yellow bird’s milk), Orvuzthogalum lu- teum, but they were both past flowering. When in full bloom, in spring, they make the woods quite a California. In this primitive country almost every plant is known to the peasant, and asso- ciated with some quaint incident. I was greatly struck with the beauty of the lichens, mosses, and fungi, which grew upon the - trunks of the trees, and especially upon the fallen ones, in moist and shady spots. Many of the beeches were sprinkled with the rich yellow pow- der of the lichen Caliczum, others were covered with the chocolate patches of the tamarisk scale- moss; while on several prostrate trunks I found the curious fungus Dedalea growing to an enormous size, and exhibiting on the under side its intricate sinuosities, like a Chinese carving in ivory. I gathered some foreign plants which afford an illustration of the curious way in which the flora of one country finds its way to another. When the statues which Thorvaldsen sent from Rome (ee YO ee ee tae & sige ww.) © PLANTS OF THE BEECH-WOODS. 189 U were unpacked in Copenhagen, several flowers sprang up very soon after in the neighbourhood formerly unknown. It seems that the sculptures were carefully wrapped round with bands of hay from the Campagna, containing the seeds of plants ‘peculiar to Italy. Might not the incident be regarded as typical of Thorvaldsen’s own genius, which had grown and been developed in the Eternal City, and at last blossomed in old age in his native place? I observed in moist rocky dells, among the moss, great quantities of the Primula farinosa. The leaves and stalks were powdered with the characteristic lemon-dust, but the beau- tiful lilac flowers were overpassed, and fruit formed. In early May the market-women come into town, bearing basket-loads of this lovely flower tied in little nosegays. The glens of Lyngby and Ramlésa are covered with it in spring. Many spots in the neighbourhood of Copenhagen in this delicious Season are like-the Vale of Tempe. Indeed, at any time, nothing can be more soothing to ruffled nerves than the serenity and loveliness of Danish scenery. Doctors should send their patients, jaded and excited by the hurry and over-work of our large towns, to these peaceful drowsy retreats; where the very spirit of repose has made its home pom, the mere fact of existence’, is .a delight. Denmark is indeed a land where it seems always afternoon; and the lotus-eater can wander day after day among its beech-woods, and never Mak of the monotony. 190 HOLIDAVS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHap. But we tore ourselves away ere the beech-woods ~ had completely bewitched us with their sorceries. More bracing and stimulating work awaited us among the dark fjords, snowy fjelds, and pine- forests of Norway. This country possesses pe- culiar interest to a Scotchman, not only because it is the original home of the Highland flora, but chiefly on account of its former intimate connexion with the northern and eastern parts of Scotland. Colonies of Norsemen occupied these parts suffi- ciently long to effect a radical change in the appearance and manners of the primitive inhab- itants —transforming the undersized Celt, afraid of the sea, into the bold, adventurous, finely- developed seaman. From this source were derived the fair hair, blue eyes, and straight limbs which characterise a large proportion of our seafaring population, as well as the names so common among them, ending in soz, Anderson, Henderson, Johnston, Paterson—which are the most frequent at the present day in Norway —and the peculiar terms applied to the Scottish firths, bays, and promontories. With pleasant hopes kindled by these associations, we embarked on Wednesday, 25th June, on board the Vzken, a Government steamer regularly plying in the postal service between Copenhagen and Christiania. Our pas- sage waS a somewhat stormy one among the white waves of the Cattegat. But after we had passed Gottenburg, on the Swedish coast, at which we had called about two o’clock next morning, Ps ARRIVAL AT CHRISTIANIA. 191 when the town was buried in profound repose, all the rest of the voyage was calm and beautiful, and there was nothing to mar our high enjoyment of the wonderful intricacy and picturesque shores and islands of the Christiania Fjord. Retiring to rest after leaving Moss glowing with the indescribable hues of a northern sunset, we awoke from a very ‘unrefreshing sleep about six o’clock on Friday morning, and found the steamer actly moored to the quay of Christiania. The morning was very bright and sunny. Hastily dressing ourselves and collecting our traps, we stepped ashore, glad enough to exchange the heaving deep for solid earth, and the coffin-like airless berths of the steamer for a limitless sup- ply of fresh air, blowing from the hills of Gamle Norge. A few leisurely porters and drowsy - government officials, blinking in the sun, were lounging about; and neither bustle nor business reminded us that we were standing on the quay of a metropolis. After waiting awhile, a custom- house officer condescended to examine our lug- gage, with his hands in his pockets and a cigar in his mouth; and as we carried no contraband goods, not even a flask of Glenlivet or a canister of “bird’s-eye,” we were let off very easily, and our crumpled toggery was speedily repacked. We tried two of the hotels which the English are in the habit of frequenting, but fortunately for our TT -_..<« purses we found them quite full, and were at last obliged to take refuge in the Hétel Scandinavie, 192 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. ae ; where we were charged something like native prices, and had no reason to complain either of the fare or the attention. We were told that it was a great gala day in Christiania, a market being held there called St. Hans’ Fair, at which timber- merchants from every part, of Norway meet to buy and sell wood. We should certainly not have found out this fact ourselves, for the | streets appeared to us exceedingly quiet and _ deserted, only two or three people at long intervals walking very slowly along the rough pavement, smoking the eternal cigar, and wearing an air of leisureliness and repose, as if they were the heirs expectant of time, most provoking to a fidgety and active Englishman. Most of the population seemed to have congregated in our hotel, over- flowing bedrooms, stairs, and lobbies, treading on each other’s toes, distracting the hapless waiters by their multifarious commands, and filling all the air with a confused clattering of unknown tongues. Christiania does not awaken much interest in a stranger's mind. It is a very small city to bea capital, and none of the buildings are either ancient or imposing ;. most of the picturesque log-houses that used to exist having been destroyed by fire and replaced by plain brick buildings without any architectural features. There are few shops, and these generally small and shabby, dealing in mis- cellaneous ware, like a druggist’s emporium in an English country village. The best places of busi- ; + oe os, Ww.) POLITENESS OF THE PEOPLE. 193 —, ness are in the Kirke-gaden; but the Norwegians have so little skill and taste in displaying their soods in the windows, that even the finest shops present but a poor appearance outside. Some beautiful pieces of filigree silver, of native metal ‘and manufacture, may be purchased in this quarter, as well as very ingenious specimens of Norwegian carving, an art in which the inhabitants, especially of Telemarken, rival the Swiss and Germans; but ‘the prices to English visitors are generally very high. The people in their intercourse with one another and in their business transactions outdo the Parisians themselves in politeness. Their hats are more frequently in their hands than on their heads ; and the magnificent sweep of the bow with which one tradesman acknowledges the presence of another in the street always elicited my admira- tion. The free and independent British tourist, who persists in wearing his hat alike under the dome of St. Peter’s at Rome and in a Christiania curi- osity shop, suffers immensely in comparison; and a blush of guilt rose to my own cheek on more than one occasion, when, in momentary forgetful- ness that I was not at home, I entered a shop with my, hat on, and was recalled to painful conscious- ness by the significant pantomime of the shop- keeper. If slaves cannot breathe in England, Quakers certainly could not exist in Norway! The only buildings that are at all handsome are the Storthing or House of Commons, where the Parliament of Norway meets once every three O airs ben ee , hy SR eer ee Rip ST PF ok , : gs es t. E ao ee 194 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. ___ [cmap. years to transact during three months a very large amount of gossip and a very small amount of busi- ness ; the university, with its library and museums ; and the palace of the king, situated on a command- . ing eminence above the town, and surrounded by gardens kept in a very slovenly style,the walks of © which are a favourite promenade of the citizens in the cool of the evening. We visited this palace. It was guarded by a solitary shabbily-dressed sentinel, who paced slowly backwards and forwards with a slouching gait, stopping every ten minutes to rub a lucifer match against the wall of the building and light a penny cigar. We asked him if we could get admittance, and he pointed out to us a small side door, at which we knocked. A tall, fat, good-— natured woman appeared, and, conducting us through a series of underground passages, brought us up to the principal entrance-hall, from whence - we followed her over the whole building. We found the palace of Charles XV, since dead, very similar to other palaces. There were great rooms of state with much dzzarre gilding and little comfort ; and there were small rooms with little gilding and great. snugness. The private apartments of the king, queen, and heir to the throne were very plainly furnished; and the bedrooms in which royalty takes the sleep that, according to the Turkish pro- verb, makes pashas of us all, had small curtainless beds like sofas, and couches draped with a very threadbare-looking tartan of the clan M®¢Tavish. I suppose the descendant of Bernadotte, on the sae tv.) ENVIRONS OF CHRISTIANIA. 195 same etymological principle that Donizetti was proved to be the Italianized form of the Celtic Donald Izzet, was a ninety-second cousin of some Highland family, and therefore took the tartan. The view of the fjord and surrounding country which we obtained from the leaden roof was truly magnificent, and decidedly the most regal thing about the palace. A wide expanse of sea stretched out before us, calm and blue as an inland lake, studded with innumerable islands, covered with ships and boats sailing in every direction, each floating double, ship and shadow, in the trans- parent water, and bounded in the distance by an irregular grouping of picturesque hills, which gave the fjord a varied outline like the Lake of the Four Cantons in Switzerland. Immediately below was the old romantic castle of Aggershuus, situated on a bold promontory of the sea, and adorned with fine avenues of linden-trees along the ramparts.. This castle was besieged and taken by the redoubtable Charles XII of Sweden, and now contains the regalia and the state records of Nor- way. Close to the oid town rose up the hill of Egeberg, richly cultivated and wooded to the top, and commanding an extensive prospect on every side. Westwards, the white tower of Oscar’s Hall —a summer residence of the King of Norway, and containing a fine series of Tidemand’s paintings— ‘peeped out with picturesque effect from the midst of a perfect nest of foliage, while the landscape in | that direction was perfected by the snow-capped i 02 ae oo GG g ee yas irae ie > Tae ee. woe Be ols ee NT ile : ve ee i . ‘ 4 ; 196 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHAP. — mountains of Valders and Telemarken visible in the far background. Everywhere there were rich woods, not only of pine and fir, but of deciduous trees, elm, plane, ash, lilacs, and laburnums, grow- ing in the utmost luxuriance. On every side there were cultivated fields, picturesque groups of rocks, gleaming waters, rugged hills, and elegant villas embosomed among fruit-trees and flowering shrubs. I know of no town that has so many country- houses scattered around it; and it would be dif- - ficult to say which of them is most beautifully situated. Each has its own separate view, its own woody knoll, and cultivated field, and rocky islet, and vista of the fjord. And this wondrous com- bination of art and nature makes the environs of Christiania quite a fairy scene. The sky, too, was so mellow and blue, the air so clear and sunny, and the colouring of the landscape so intense and glowing, that I almost fancied myself in Italy instead of on the 60th degree of north latitude— in the parallel of the Shetland Islands. The only scenery which the view from the palace suggested to me was the southern extremity of the Lake of Geneva, looking across the outskirts of the town to the Jura mountains; but the comparison is greatly in favour of Christiania. We paid a visit, as in duty bound, to Mr, Bennett, who is the great authority on matters Norwegian to all Englishmen—reverenced by them almost as - much as Murray or Bradshaw. He lives amid a curious collection of novels, “ Leisure Hours,” old meer e ria) ions ‘, - ‘ 4 “ s+ ‘ \ M * ~ hy . CON: gee . 5 e iT. b f ‘’ 2 ao ] V As “MR. BENNETT. 197 _ broken-down carrioles, silver drinking-cups, and a lot of mixed pickles and Worcester sauce ; the last supposed to be absolutely essential to the existence of the British tourist in Norway. He acts in so many capacities that he must be a kind of universal genius, being antiquary, librarian, purveyor, cus- tom-house agent, Deus ex machina of the Chris- tiania Carriole Company, and last, not least, churchwarden and collector of subscriptions for Sie English chapel in town. He has done, I have heard, many kind and disinterested acts to strangers introducing themselves to him; and he- has been repaid in too many instances by dis-— honesty and ingratitude. We did not need the aid of his topographical knowledge, however, as we had previously sketched out our. tour with remarkable fulness, and were determined to adhere _to the programme in every particular. We there- fore contented ourselves with buying from him the last edition of the “ Lomme reiseroute,”’ or Govern- ment road-book, and a translation or commentary upon it in English, called “ Bennett’s Handbook,” both of which we found exceedingly useful, indeed indispensable, on the journey ; for an appeal to the prices of posting marked in the “Lomme reise- route” was never disputed by the station-house keepers, and it saved much loss of temper and waste of time in haggling about payment. Having seen all that was to be seen in the way _ of curiosities about Christiania—which certainly was not much—we took out tickets on the following ee ee 198 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuar. Saturday for a short ride of forty-five miles on one of the only two railways in all Norway, as far as Eidsvold, the Norwegian Runnymede. The railway was constructed by British navvies, and the railway carriages were made in Birmingham. Proud of our country’s services to humanity, we rolled along at the rate of eight miles an hour, over a broken country of pine-woods, lakes, and rocky foregrounds, till we came at last to the scene of the Convention which framed the pre- sent admirable constitution of Norway. Here we embarked on the Miosen Lake in a steamer, boast- ing the funny name of Sfzbladner, so called from — Odin’s magical pocket-ship. This lake is the largest in Norway, being 63 miles long and about 7 broad. It is very highly .praised by the Nor- wegians, and the scenery on its banks is considered the finest they have. This is owing, however, to the same law of contrast which made the Swiss peasant say to the Dutchman, when told that Holland had not a single mountain, “Ah! yours must be a fine country.” The Norwegians have so little arable land, and such an overwhelming preponderance of huge barren mountains and rocky plateaux, that the scarcer article as usual is most valued, and the profitable is preferred to the picturesque. The proportion of soil under culture, or capable of being cultivated, to the entire extent of the country is not more than one to one hundred ; while upwards of forty per cent. of the surface of the southern half exceeds 30009 feet Piel 4. (ts THE MIOSEN. LAKE, 199 above the level of the sea. We were a good deal disappointed in the scenery, having heard it com- pared to Lake Como, with which it has nota single feature in common. It isa fine sheet of water for boating purposes and for the transport of timber, through many rafts of which the steamer in some places fought its way; but the shores at the lower extremity are banks of bare clay, crowned on the top with a few miserable birches, and farther up the land around it lies low, and is thickly dotted with red wooden farmhouses and variegated by potato and corn fields ; while the hills beyond are of no great elevation, and are covered with inter- minable forests of sombre pines, which produce a melancholy impression by their extreme monotony —especially when, as is usually the case, the sky overhead is grey and cloudy. A species of fresh- water herring, somewhat like the Powan of Loch- lomond, or the Gwyniad of the English and Welsh lakes, is caught in great quantities in its waters. We landed at about haif-past nine at night at a pretty large village at the head of the lake, called Lillehammer, amid the silver splendours of a very singular sunset. This village is built upon an elevated terrace, a considerable distance above the shore of the lake, and commands a most extensive © view. Bare brown mountains sprinkled with patches of snow gird the horizon, and give an air of Alpine loneliness and wildness to a landscape that would otherwise have been too rich and luxuriant. The houses, which are all built of wood, 200 are very clean-looking, and neatly painted in pale ~ colours of pink, yellow, and green, which are fre- quently renewed. Many of them are surrounded by gardens and orchards, or embosomed among clumps of white-stemmed birches and purple lilacs. In every window of every house, even, the poorest, — are pots of the most brilliant flowers, roses, calceo- — larias, verbenas, geraniums, petunias, and many other plants, which one would not expect to see in such a latitude. They are most carefully and skilfully tended ; and even in a duke’s conservatory such perfectly-formed-and gorgeous blossoms are rare. The love of flowers is quite a passion with the Norwegians.’ Go where you will—in the large towns and in the loneliest parts of the country— you will find’ the windows of the houses filled with the choicest plants, even the humblest making an effort to grow something green and _brightly- coloured, that may remind them of a world of beauty beyond their own bleak hills. A_ philo- sopher like him who made out murder to be one of the fine arts, who is fond of tracing the final causes of human phenomena, might find the reason of this universal floral mania an interesting subject of speculation. It may be caused by the love of - contrast; the eye seeking relief in the bright colours of roses, geraniums, and calceolarias, from the extreme monotony of the green pine-forests and dark brown fjelds. At dny rate, the red and other gay colours of the dwelling-houses, and the J} Oriental brilliancy of the costumes of the people, — De PIELER AMMER. 201 may iaifly, I think, be attributed to this cause. Another custom common in Norway is strewing the floors of houses and churches with the aromatic foliage-laden branches of fir, birch, Dutch myrtle, and lime, whose fragrance renders the _ atmosphere of Norwegian interiors on a hot sum- j J = mer day peculiarly pleasant and refreshing. The custom is not only beautiful in itself, bringing into. man’s home the brightness and infinite sugges- tiveness of the forest, the free pure life of nature; but it is also healthful, for the odours of the fresh foliage must go far to neutralize the noxious ex- halations of human economy. A similar custom used to exist in our own country, but it has now disappeared even in the remotest districts ; and artificial carpets have everywhere superseded the beautiful natural products of the woodland. - We spent the Sunday in the village, and had the privilege of worshipping in a little Lutheran church not far from Hamar’s inn, where we stayed: It was a welcome rest to body and soul. The day was very beautiful, calm and soft, with wandering gleams of sunshine breaking through the grey clouds, and illuminating here and there the shadowy pine-woods and the cornfields with a more vivid greenness. The lake lay still as a mirror below, with belts of light and shade crossing — its bosom, and yellow timber rafts lying motionless along its shores. At intervals the mellow mono- tone of the cuckoo, whose Norwegian name gowsk is the same as the Scotch, came from the far-off tv. : A ER es eee tae aoe. « Cane ? -— J evs rh it 202 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. {cuar. pine-woods; nearer at hand, in the green fields, the corn-craik uttered its harsh cry; while the roar of the numerous waterfalls of the Mesna, a powerful stream that flows through the village down into the lake, sounded very loud in the universal Sabbath stillness. After dinner I walked up the heights into the shadows of the pine-woods. I sat down with my Bible in a very peaceful and beau- tiful sanctuary of nature. Before me, a fine cascade gleamed white through the trees, and filled the wood with its psalm of praise. Around me, the red trunks of the pines stretched away into endless vistas of green loneliness and odorous gloom. The ground everywhere was carpeted with rich and rare mosses—cushions of that loveliest species, the ostrich-plume feather moss, and tufts of the Zyco- podium annotinum. There was one splendid lichen peculiar to Norway and the Arctic regions, called Nephroma arctica, which I saw in this wood for the first time. It formed an immense rosette, upwards of a foot in diameter, of primrose-yellow lobes, their under side tipped like finger-nails with the rich chocolate-coloured fructification. It was really a most beautiful plant, spreading over the ground everywhere, and would have been more in keeping with the luxuriance of a tropical forest than with the monotony of a Norwegian pine- wood. The mossy carpet was starred with fragile wood-sorrels and white coral-like bilberry blossoms. I read the first chapter of Revelation, and mused upon it, until I too had a revelation of Jesus Christ Paap: Cite: BHPARFURE. § 208 in my Patmos; saw the hairs of His head in the white flowers around me, and His eyes and feet. in the flaming sunset that burned through the trees; and heard His voice in the cataract, like the sound of many waters, and felt, like “ Aurora Leigh 1 a ; “* No lily-muffled hum of a summer bee, » But finds some coupling with the spinning stars; No pebble at your feet, but proves a sphere ; _ No chaffinch, but implies the cherubim. .... Earth’s crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God ; But only he who sees takes off his shoes.” We started from Lillehammer early on Monday morning, intending to go through the valley of _ Gudbrandsdal, to Molde, a distance of nearly 200 miles, in a north-westerly direction. Fortunately there was at the village a four-wheeled English car- riage, that had brought a party from Molde to the Miosen Lake, and now waited to be brought back to its owner. We got the carriage free on the condition of paying for the horses; and this arrangement materially lessened the expense of the journey, as well as added greatly to the comfort of the ladies of the party. We formed a somewhat imposing procession as we passed through the village, and attracted a considerable share of attention from the inhabitants. The vehicle which contained my > friend and myself was what is called a stolkjerre, or double carriole. It was simply a square un- painted box, mounted on two wheels, without - it rather grand than otherwise ; at least the boys did > ll ~ be , "", aa iad i 2 , : : . 4 +. Sale . ‘ 0 ~ 204 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. — [cuaP. _ springs, and furnished with long shafts and a hard board laid across for a seat. It held us both tightly jammed; free to turn our heads round, but not our bodies. The animal did not reflect much credit upon his species, and his accoutrements consisted of a most complicated and ragged system of grey cord and old leather. Altogether it was a sorry turn-out, and it would require a cofsiderable amount of moral courage to drive through London in it. But the villagers thought not run after us, and a few peasants actually doffed their caps. On we sped, seeing the rich hilly scenery in glimpses through the dust of our chariot wheels, with frequent and loud exclamations of “Oh!” as the machine made a rougher jolt than usual. After about an hour and a half’s drive, the carriage suddenly disappeared up a by-road. ' But we, absorbed in conversation, or in looking at the scenery, had not noticed this movement ; and thinking the carriage was ahead, though out of sight, drove confidently onwards at full speed. We were alarmed when we had gone a few hundred yards by hearing shouts in very energetic Nor- wegian—meaning probably “Stop thief!”—and seeing half-a-dozen fellows bounding rapidly to- wards us through the brushwood above the road. One of them came forward, and, mounting on our vehicle, without a word of explanation seized hold of our reins, and drove us back prisoners up a side-path till we came to a cluster of wooden — aa AS MODE OF TRAVELLING. 205 houses, where we halted. It seems that we had arrived at the first of the series of stations placed for the convenience of travellers at distances of about one Norwegian, or seven English miles, through the whole length of the Gudbrandsdal © _yalley. The horse and machine we had brought with us from Lillehammer must here be changed for a fresh horse and machine, and the boy who had accompanied the horses of the carriage had to take them back along with our equipage. Hence the alarm of the natives at our ignorant escapade. They thought that we were going to run off with our magnificent dog-cart, and sell the whole affair for a large sum at Molde. Of course, had they known that we were clergymen, they would not have insulted us and excited themselves by che- rishing such fears; but there was nothing in our appearance to indicate our profession, and I sup- pose our faces, apart from our professional habili- ments, were not accepted as conclusive evidence of our honesty. | , I must here pause a little to give an idea of the mode of travelling in Norway, as this is a con- venient halting-place for the purpose. There are no stage coaches or diligences, for the people very seldom travel, and then only on pressing business. The most common and characteristic vehicle of the country is called a carriole, shaped somewhat like an old-fashioned gig. It has no springs, but the shafts are very long and slender, and the _ wheels very large, so that its motion is far from OES 206 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuar. being uncomfortable. It carries only one person, who has to drive with his feet nearly on a level with his nose, and a boy sitting behind on the portmanteau, amalgamating its contents, whose duty it is for an exceedingly small drzkkepenge or gratuity to take back the horse and machine. Owing to this arrangement, a large party must go in.a long file of carriages like a funeral proces- sion. The Norwegian horses are all smail, cream- coloured, and remarkably docile and sure-footed, so that the most timid lady or the youngest child might safely drive them down the steepest gradients at full speed. The roads are made by Government : but each proprietor along the highway has to keep a certain portion of it in good working order, this portion being regulated according to the size and value of the property through which it passes. Painted wooden poles are placed at certain in- tervals along the road, inscribed with the name of the person who has to keep that part of it in order, and the number of yards or alen entrusted to his supervision. You can, therefore, form a pretty good idea of the wealth or poverty of any neigh- | bourhood through which you travel by the greater or less distances of road thus distributed to the owners of land. At regular intervals of seven or eight English miles—as already observed—there are placed station-houses, where fresh horses and conveyances may be had, as well as lodging and entertainment for man and beast. These stations are either fast or slow stations. At. LE KOAD-BOOK, , -« + 207 _ the fast stations a number of horses and carrioles are kept regularly, ready for the convenience of travellers; so that you ought not to be detained on your journey more than half an hour. A printed Government-book is kept at each of these stations, where the traveller writes down his name, the number of horses and carriages he requires, the place he has come from, and his destination, as well as any complaint he may have to make on the score of carelessness or detention. Such com- plaints are inquired into regularly by a Govern- ment inspector, and redressed as far as possible. Some of the remarks made in the column of complaints -by Englishmen are very amusing. There was one English name which we found in the road-book of every station, coupled with some depreciating remark upon the scenery, the manners of the people, the nature and price of food, &c. &c. Nothing seemed to please his jaundiced eye and bilious stomach. Doing the journey post-haste, a detention of ten minutes in changing his horse and _ carriage at a new station was a most exaggerated offence. Desirous of making a profit of his tour, _ by spending less for travelling and keep together than his ordinary personal expenses would have cost at home, the charge of fivepence for a cup of - coffee with solid accompaniments was considered most exorbitant. Here the people were exces- sively disobliging, and he was half-starved upon | ee ling gamle ost (old cheese), parchment- _ like fiadbrod, of which nearly an acre is required 208 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cur to satisfy an ordinary appetite, and butter that looked like railway grease; there the eggs were all rotten, there were no toothpicks, and the landlord _ was an extortionate Jew. With a slight variation upon the same lively tune he went from place to place. Fortunately, as English was not the lan- guage of the country, his Parthian shafts did not wound so severely as he intended. On the con- trary, it was amusing to see the conscious pride with which his ill-natured remarks were pointed out to us by more than one innkeeper, who imagined in the innocence of his heart that they could not be anything else than highly laudatory. We were glad to see that others of our country- men, following in the wake of Mr. Smith, had reversed his decision, and by their genial and hearty commendation of many things that were really excellent saved Englishmen from the impu- tation—which they too often justify abroad—of being a nation of grumblers. And while I am on this subject I may as well mention that very great harm is done to the peasantry by the thoughtless and indiscriminate lavishness on the one hand, and the excessive meanness and stinginess on the other, of our countrymen. The simple-hearted people cannot understand the inconsistency ; and Norway promises, if the same demoralizing system con- tinues to be pursued as at present, to be a second edition of Switzerland and the Rhine—a result — which every one who knows and can appreciate the primitive straightforwardness, the genuine — oe ; PROVISIONS AT STATIONS. 209 kindness and honest independence of the Nor- -wegians, must deplore. At the slow stations the peasants of the neigh- Redshbod are obliged by turns to supply the traveller with a horse and conveyance; and, un- less he sends a forbud or messenger before him to apprise the people of the exact time of his coming, _he may have to wait several hours while the horse is being caught on the hills. Of course, should the traveller disappoint the station-keeper, either by delay or by failing to appear altogether, compen- sation must be given. We had no experience of these slow stations, for all the stations on the route we took were fast, so that we got on very swiftly and pleasantly. We met no English travellers all the time; and our claims for horses and con- veyances were never brought into competition with those of others. Some of the stations are poorly furnished, and very scantily supplied with pro- visions. You may riot in Goshen-like plenty to- day, and to-morrow be reduced to fladbrod and porridge. The traveller who passes in the morn- 7 ing may fare sumptuously upon reindeer-vension, _ptarmigan, and salmon; while he who comes late in the day may have to content himself with polish- ing the bones and gathering up the fragments which his more fortunate predecessor has left. In some quarters the innkeepers shift so frequently that no dependence for two successive years can be placed upon the guide-book’s certificate of character; and y we ourselves found the best. entertainment, the 48 — —- a RN ~ P 210 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuap. ~ greatest attention, and the most moderate charges, — in places marked dangerous on account of the very © opposite qualities. Many of the stations are filthy, and uninhabitable by any one more refined than a Laplander, swarming with F sharps and B flats. Indeed, the king of the fleas keeps his court—not at Tiberias, as travellers say—but at a Norwegian station-house of the worst class. We, however, were either more fortunate than the great bulk of tourists, or our bodies were unusually pachyder- matous, for in no case were we tormented during the night watches, and generally the larder was well supplied with salmon, trout, beefsteaks, and eggs. The price of accommodation was ridicu- lously low—at least when compared with the bill of a Highland hotel. We had a magnificent supper, a capital bed, and a breakfast consisting of more than six dishes of a very solid character, at the first station we halted at, and the cost of the whole was only Is. 104d. for each. The price of accommoda- tion, as well as the charge for horses and con- veyances, is fixed by Government tariff, but the innkeepers invariably ask. more from Englishmen, as they imagine that every native of these islands who travels in their country must be an embryo Rothschild. The usual rate of keep per day is a specie-dollar,—that is, 4s. 6d. of our money; and the day’s travelling expenses, along with keep, unless you go enormous distances at a stretch, should very rarely exceed an average of Ios. The station-house keepers are a very respectable class ; Ps 4 a > F) eee a ~ a Ss oo ee ‘> eae ee) ae ae fat ww.) §-——«s and there into chains of lakes—some of which, like | the Lake of Losna, are navigable for large vessels. Indeed, for upwards of twenty miles, between Moshuus and Listad, the journey used to be ac- complished by a steamer, which has now been withdrawn. Some very fine cataracts occur in the course of the river; and the roar of the immense body of water, broken up into snow-white masses contrasting beautifully with its uniformly rich green colour elsewhere, combined with the picturesque- ness of its lofty banks adorned with hanging woods of pine and birch, produce a profound impression. At the Pass of Rusten especially the river is truly sublime, forcing its way through a narrow gateway in the mountains, which approach each other so closely that the road has been cut out of the living rock. It is a fearful place, of which the Pass of Killiecrankie can give one no idea; and we drove shudderingly through it on the brink of precipices overhanging the deep foaming linns of the river. On the gneissic rocks through which the road was cut I observed an immense quantity of a very rare lichen called Gyrophora murina, which is included in the list of British lichens on the authority of specimens found on St. Vincent’s Rock by a Mr. Dare, but which has not since been seen there, or 8 BO ott eee att ees OL a ee ee o* ? hn As <4 . » * > me : | ain ; al ae Sy oa aw.) Ss LICHENS IN PASS OF RUSTEN. 215 indeed anywhere else in this country. It consists of a single roundish, crumpled, concave leaf, from an inch to an inch and a half in diameter, attached by a central disk to its growing-place. Its upper side is of a dark ash colour, passing into dark brown on the edges; the under side being of a deep black, covered with minute shagreen-like roughness, interspersed with scattered fibres. The rocks in this locality were completely blackened with it; and were thus harmonized with the pro- found gloom of the spot. Norway is the head- quarters of this tribe of lichens; which are also common on our highest Highland mountains. On the bare arid rocks behind Christiansand occurs that: most singular member of the family, the Umbilicaria pustulata, like large ragged patches of dark brown parchment, covered with warts or pus- tular elevations of the whole surface of the thallus. Below the fortress of Bergenhuus, that guards the harbour of Bergen, I noticed it growing in immense profusion, giving a very shaggy look to the rocks. Common on the granite of Devonshire, and espe- cially on Dartmoor, in Scotland I have only seen it on the smooth glacier-planed rocks of hyper- sthene that rise around Loch Corruisk in the Island of Skye. On the dark shores of that weird Stygian lake, lying at the base of an awful amphitheatre of leafless peaks that look as if made of cast-iron— this strange lichen grows to a monstrous size, and with its charred and blistered masses harmonizes thoroughly with the character of a scene unex- 216 HOLIDAVS ON HIGH LANDS. ampled in Europe for wild sterility and grandeur. Beside it, growing in dense silken tufts on the footpath that winds along the western shore of the lake, I gathered on the same occasion that rare moss the Leucodon Hebridarum, one of the loveliest of the British mosses, and unlike all others in appearance, reminding one of New Zealand species. But to resume, on the route through the Gudbrandsdal we saw no villages cosily grouped round a church, whose spire is conspicuous from afar. The churches are lonely buildings, few and far between, and the names crowded so thickly on Munch’s admirable map indicate mere farmhouses with their steadings, called a gaard, equivalent ta — the Scottish zouz. This isolation and dispersion of the houses over a wide area is a singular feature in Norwegian landscapes, and arises from the fact that almost every head of a family is the proprietor of the land on which he dwells. It gives, as Pro- fessor Forbes has remarked, a dreary interminable aspect to a journey, like that of a book unrelieved by subdivision into chapters, where we are at least invited to halt, though at liberty to proceed. Next day, before coming to the gorge of Rusten, we passed the cleft of Kringelen, where Colonel Sinclair, nephew of the Earl of Caithness, and his regiment of Scotch mercenaries, were massacred by an ambush of the peasants in 1612. Sinclair offered his services to Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, who was then at war with Norway and Denmark. Landing from Scotland at Molde, he 7 ’ ee a F a. wee eos, ee ad Pa DB =? > we ae woe vt ey Se te : dS Aa t om at eta | “ 5 v.} MASSACRE OF KRINGELEN. 217 ~ marched through Romsdal, intending to cross the uplands of Norway to the frontiers of Sweden, laying waste the country.as he passed with fire and sword, and committing many acts of remorse- less cruelty. Exasperated to the utmost fury, and unable to contend with Sinclair in open fight, a band of s00 peasants adopted the same expe- dient as that recorded in the Tyrolese war of inde- pendence. Having collected an enormous quantity _of rocks and stones on the brow of the hill imme- diately above the pathway leading through the narrow defile of Kringelen, they awaited the signal of a young man who had undertaken to guide Sinclair to this spot. No sooner were the devoted _ troops fairly underneath, and the signal given, than the fatal avalanche descended, burying them under: the huge pile, so that only a few escaped. An affecting incident in connexion with this tragic event is commonly told to the traveller. A Nor- -wegian lady in the neighbourhood, hearing that Mrs. Sinclair was with her husband, sent her own lover, to whom she was to be married next day, to protect her from insult; but Mrs. Sinclair, mis- taking his intentions, drew a pistol from her bosom, and shot him dead on the spot. It is said that Mrs. Sinclair, a young and beautiful woman, was most devotedly attached to her husband, whom she followed across the sea disguised in male attire, and did not reveal herself until the arrival of the troops in Norway, when she could not be sent home. The dalesmen are never tired of reciting ) a q LF 218 = HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuar. the praises of their valorous countrymen on this occasion. An inscription ona pillar by the road- side marks the scene of the massacre, and tells how “the peasants, among whom dwell honour, virtue, and all that earns praise, brake the Scotch to pieces like a potter’s vessel.” In the peasants’ huts, matchlocks, broadswords, powder-flasks, and other relics of the regiment are shown to tourists with much patriotic enthusiasm. There is a Nor- wegian ballad entitled “Herr Sinclair's Vise af Storm,” sung by almost every native, of the end of which the following is a free translation :— “Strike home, ye valiant Northmen all! Was the dalesmen’s answering cry ; And fast the Scottish warriors fall, And in their gore they lie. The raven flapped his jet black wing As he mangled the face of the slain ; And Scottish maids a dirge may sing For the lovers they'll ne’er see again. No one of the fourteen hundred men E’er returned to his home to tell What peril awaits the foe in each glen Where the stalwart Northmen dwell. A. pillar stands where our foemen lie, In deadly fight o’erthrown ; And foul fall the Northman whose heart beats not hiph When he looks on that old grey stone.” The natives, as in this ballad, try to prove that the slaughter of the Scotch was not a treacherous massacre, but the result of a brave hand-to-hand > i 2 Bes 4° at ee A gE Pei ’ ae ey te ae Xd wr +e J u : . Boal xj Te eas et tat Bt s a * " . - 7 - ” Eve} HEIGHTS OF LESSOE. 219 - encounter. And they will not believe that Scotch- men care very little for the fate of Sinclair and his mercenaries, of whom not one in a thousand has ever heard. We certainly did not blush for our country when we surveyed the wild scene. : After passing through the dark gorge of Rusten- berg the road gradually ascends, until at last an elevation of 1800 feet above the level of the sea has been attained. The scenery in consequence _ becomes bleaker and less wooded; the spruce and - pine gradually giving place to the birch, which _ here forms the principal tree—and, as usual, has a whiter and cleaner trunk and brighter foliage in proportion to the altitude’. The cultivation of corn and potatoes is merged in that of grass and hay ; and the fields, which look dry and parched, ‘ It is interesting to notice that in all probability the name of the birch comes from the Sanscrit word bhoorja, applied to the laminated bark of an Indian birch (Betula Bhojpatra) used for writing and ornamental purposes, like the paper-birch of North America. If this be so, it affords a striking proof of the theory that the ancestors — of the present races of Europe migrated westwards from Central Asia. The bestowal of the name of an Indian birch upon a similar tree peculiar to the northern latitudes of Europe is as curious in its © way as the bestowal of Saracen names, such as Mischebel, Al-al- _ *Ain, derived from the natural objects of the Arabian desert, upon the mountains and glaciers of Switzerland during the Moorish invasion. On Mount Etna the beech, the birch, and the Scotch fir, occupy the same zone; on the Pyrenees the Scotch fir ascends higher _ than the beech; on the Alps the birch fails before the Scotch fir; 7q but in Norway, Sweden, and Russia, the birch extends far above _ the Scotch fir, and is the last tree that disappears in altitude and latitude. | cae? Sy ils 220 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. — are irrigated by means of wooden troughs, in which water is led down, often for long distances, from the mountains. The air feels keener and more bracing; patches of snow appear in the shady hollows far down the mountain sides on our left ; and the landscape assumes a wilder- and more Alpine character. At Braendhaugen the road is very sandy; this part of the valley, called Lessoe, which is purely pastoral, having evidently been once the bottom of an extensive glacier lake. Great banks of clay, scantily covered with grass, and presenting a peculiarly bleak grey appearance, rise up on the right-hand side of the river. This feature continues uninterruptedly to Dombaas, and the soil is so loose and sandy that the steep sides of the road are covered with withered patches of artificial turf fastened by wooden nails to prevent them slipping. It is very disagreeable travelling along this part of the route in dry weather, owing to the clouds of dust raised by the vehicles. Fol- lowing immediately behind the carriage—for our spirited horse could not be kept back—we were nearly suffocated. Our clothes were as white as a miller’s, and the scenery appeared to us all the harsher on account of the scanty glimpses we ob- tained of it, and the irritation of the gritty particles in our eyes. At Braendhaugen the good old lady who keeps the station showed us the silver cup presented to her by the Queen of Norway and Sweden; but my recollection of this stage hangs chiefly upon a pair of magnificent reindeer antlers So ee soe nw . rs ree * : : ’ Pe Cit 4 8 es ae ce his Se ‘ . [cuar. 4 ¢ “Ws —— ee ee he | ee ee ee eee nailed above the “door, indicating that reindeer - TOFTEMOEN. 291 venison is occasionally found here. We were very tired after the long day’s journey ; _ the heat and dust had been very oppressive ; and, for my own part, the jolting on a cushionless seat ‘ thhad made me so sore and tender that I could scarcely walk or sit. At eight o'clock at night we arrived at the mountain station of Toftemoen. Here we expected to stay all night; but a party from Throndhjem had sent on a forbud and se- cured all the available accommodation, and we had therefore to go on to the next station, where we could get quarters. We were glad, however, to rest a little and get some refreshment at Tofte- moen. This is a very ancient place, and famous in the sagas. It is one of the mountain stations which have the privilege of immunity from taxes, and appears to be one of the most comfortable resting-places in Norway. The proprietor is Mr. Tofte, well known throughout the whole country. He is the lineal descendant of Harold Haarfager, the first King of all Norway, and, in consequence, of Odin, the mythological Hercules of the North. The family are exceedingly proud of their birth, and take precedence of all the other proprietors at church and market. They have never been . known for many generations to marry out of their own family—the result being that the present owner of the name is a simpleton, and his eldest son nearly a dwarf. This descendant of kings and representative of the oldest family in Europe | 222. - HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. — [cuar. _ unharnessed our horses for us’ like any common stable-boy. I treated him with considerable defer- ence—though whether he was more impressed by my manner or my attempts at Norwegian I cannot — say. But, in return, he showed me the principal rooms in his house, which contain many curious old cabinets, and a broad slate table on which the late King of Norway and Sweden dined on his way to be crowned at Throndhjem. I saw the king’s autograph, which he had scratched with a knife at one corner of the table. Tofte told me, with an air of considerable self-importance, of the dignified reception which he had given to the king ; and related that, when the king wished to bring out his silver for dinner, he replied that he had as much silver in his house as would suffice to dine a much larger party than the king’s. This was no idle boast, for I never saw in a private person’s dwelling such a vast quantity of massive silver articles, evidently heirlooms, dating, some of them, many centuries back. Besides being possessed of the bluest of blue blood, Tofte is a wealthy landed proprietor, a member of the Storthing or House of Commons, and a justice of the peace. This did not prevent him, however, from charging us a higher price than we had paid anywhere else for the entertainment we had at his house. He pre- sented me with his photograph taken at Christiania, dressed very stiffly and uncomfortably in Sunday clothes. The face is intensely Scotch, with a pecu- liar look of combined simplicity and shrewdness. TWILIGHT AT DOMBAAS. — 223 The rest of our journey that night was not very _ pleasant, and it was past eleven o'clock when we arrived at the telegraphic station of Dombaas. All was quiet and still; the people apparently having _ gone to bed, and sunk into the first deep sleep. _ Though so late at night, there was no darkness. _ You could read the smallest print with the utmost _ distinctness ; and but for the stillness of nature, -and an indefinable feeling of mellowness and ten- _derness in the air, you might imagine it to be noon instead of midnight. The long bright Nor- _wegian twilight is inexpressibly beautiful. The earth sleeps, but her heart waketh; the golden _ tints of the departing day still linger on the dis- — tant hills; and a light, soft and sweet as the smile of an infant in its first slumber, fills all the sky, and you would think that the dawn had returned, _ only that the glory is in the west instead of in the east. Nothing reminds you of darkness and sleep but the rich liquid lustre of Venus hanging near _ the pale blue horizon, like a silver lamp let down _ out of heaven by an unseen hand, and flecking a little shadowy pathway of light upon every ex- posed sheet of water. The long daylight is very favourable to the growth of vegetation, plants growing in the night as well as in the day in the short but’ ardent summer. But the stimulus of perpetual solar light is peculiarly trying to the nervous system of those who are not accustomed to it. It prevents proper repose, and banishes sleep. I never felt before how needful darkness al ee i: APA aes ~~ 22 Se See a! 5 - af: Neg 2 7 A Ye a i > . j os . < 224 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuaP. is for the welfare of our bodies and minds, I. longed for night; but the farther north we went, the farther we were fleeing from it, until at last, when we reached the most northern point of our — tour, the sun set for only one hour and a half. ‘Consequently, the heat of the day-never cooled down, and accumulated until it became almost unendurable at last. Truly for a most wise and beneficent purpose did God make light and create darkness. “Light is sweet, and it is a pleasant thing to the eyes to behold the sun.” But dark- ness is also sweet; it is the nurse of nature’s kind restorer, balmy sleep; and without the tender drawing round us of its curtains, the weary eyelid will not close, and the jaded nerves will not be soothed to refreshing rest. Not till the everlasting day break, and the shadows flee away, and the Lord Himself shall be our light, and our God our slory, can we do without the cloud in the sunshine, the shade of sorrow in the bright light of joy, and the curtain of night for the deepening of the sleep which God gives His beloved. We had considerable difficulty in arousing the people from their slumbers, but at last we suc- ceeded in obtaining the services of a blithesome lass, who speedily extemporised beds for us, and made us as comfortable as possible on such short notice. The beds in Norway, I may mention, are all procrustean; a kind of domestic guillotine invented for the purpose of amputating the super- fluous length of Englishmen’s legs. The Nor- were CLIATA TE. 225 wegians are a tall race, but I suppose they lie doubled up in bed like the letter V, the os coccygis touching the footboard, and the feet and head keeping loving company on the same pillow. Though not above the average height, my own unfortunate limbs were hanging exposed over the footboard ; the down quilt lay in all its rotundity in my arms like a nightmare of some monster baby ; and, while sleeping uneasily in this awk- ward posture, I dreamt that I had been meta- ‘morphosed somehow into a waterfall, and was flowing in white masses of foam, and with a ‘considerable murmur, over very hard and slippery rocks. Next.morning we felt the air a good deal colder, for we were now at an elevation of upwards of 2000 feet above the level of the sea. The scenery of the place was bare treeless upland, very spar- ingly cultivated. The road to Throndhjem passed in a series of ups and downs over monotonous brown hills to our right; while the highway to Molde lay far down in an equally featureless valley — ‘to our left. A few hillocks here and there broke ‘the level surface, covered with grey boulders, and clothed, instead of heather, which is somewhat rare in Norway, with crowberry and arbutus bushes. The lovely large blue-bells of the Menziesia peeped up everywhere among the familiar moorland vege- tation; the Andromeda displayed its rich crimson blossoms on every dry knoll; while the clayey banks were brightened and beautified exceedingly with multitudes of the fairy Scottish primrose, ni Q . i ; ¥) ie a rh is . a SIRE eo 8 a8) Ee Se , ; ‘ i Yer ye 2 bade C0) Rae ae " mf ¢ 5 ag Aye I ‘ . ce Sy bt 3 e-* 226 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuar. whose sulphury leaves and tiny purple flowers are the ornament of the Caithness cliffs, but proceed no farther south in this country. There was an air of inexpressible loneliness about the place; the stillness being broken only by the feeble bleat of a few sheep and goats—as diminutive, though full- srown, as lambs and kids—and the tinkle of the bells suspended round the necks of the no less Lilliputian cattle. A few pigs ran about, as thin as greyhounds ; and the Alpine vegetation, as well as the small size of animal life, testified to the ungenial character of the climate. The coolness of the air was very pleasant to us, roasted as we had been so long in the confined valley; but it must be a very trying thing to live at this elevated station in winter. Storms must blow over its shelterless fields with unexampled fury, and the snow drift in huge masses around it. The short black December day will be like the frown of Odin, and every wild night lit up by the magical radiance of the Aurora Borealis will be a Walpurgis-Nacht. Woe to the traveller who is then obliged to cross the Dovrefjeld! After leaving Dombaas, the scenery became exceedingly tame and uninteresting. Huge fea- tureless mountains of gneiss, scantily clothed with brown moorish vegetation, enclosed a dreary valley covered with straggling pines. The road at first passed over a desolate height among stunted firs and junipers—where immense cairns of stones blackened with tripe-de-roche lichens and Alpine POVERTY-STRICKEN DISTRICT. 227 mosses everywhere encumbered the ground. The pastures here were very bare and stony. Large tufts of the aconite or monkshood, peculiar to _Alpine pastures, spread over them as thickly as the yellow rag-weed spreads over a fallow field in England. The sheep and cows were miserably thin and ill-fed. It was a poverty-stricken region, sadly contrasting with the rich Gudbrandsdal and the fertile Romsdal, between which it lay. Most of the houses were rude hovels of the most primi-- tive construction. We noticed that a considerable number of the birches by the roadside had a broad ring of black round their white stems. The bark had been stripped off to cover the roofs of the houses; shingles or turf being laid above. This “birch bark has a very pleasant smell, and is besides very durable and quite impervious to moisture. The walls were made of squared trunks of trees, in- geniously dovetailed at the corners, with layers of sphagnum or bog moss inserted between each log, in order to keep out the cold. From these squalid -abodes crowds of bareheaded, barefooted children in fluttering picturesque rags rushed out as we passed by, clamorous for alms, following us for long distances with their importunities. As the road in this locality was crossed at frequent in- tervals by gates, separating the numerous small farms from each other, this circumstance was taken advantage of in earning an honest penny. No “sooner did our carrioles appear in sight than a boy | would rush out from a house, with three pieces of . QO 2 228 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHAP. rag floating behind him, and run with headlong speed along the road to open the nearest gate for us. Frequently, however, his hopes of a skilling or two were disappointed by the forethought of a longer-headed comrade, who had stationed himself at the gate in readiness to open it at once to the expected travellers. In such cases, we always re- warded the honest labour of the legs, and not the slothful cunning of the brain. The Lougen at this part of the route passes through several lakes, the largest called Lesje Vand, and the smallest Lesje Vaerks Vand, which is 2078 feet above the level of the sea. Here a rare and curious phenomenon in physical geography may be seen. The river Lougen, whose course we had been following for upwards of 200 miles from Lillehammer, issues from the last-mentioned lake on the south-east, and flows through the Miosen Lake to the Christiania Fjord; while the Rauma issues from the other extremity and, flowing to the north-west through the valley of Romsdal, falls into the Molde Fjord. The whole of Southern Norway is thus surrounded by water, and converted into an island. Passing Holager, we arrived very early in the day at Holseth, a very clean and comfortable station. As we had resolved to remain here over the night, I embraced the opportunity of ascending one of the Dovrefjeld mountains, upwards of 4000 feet high, immediately in front of the inn. The | first part of the ascent was exceedingly arduous, leading through a tangled maze of junipers and ) ae, a ‘ ie eae i a ‘ 7) bs Wn : Pat © y... 3 que ‘ . ¥ ~ 230° HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuar. the birch; and for an equal length of time through the belt of the Alpine plants, before the snow-— covered ridge is attained. The botany of Norway, therefore, over very wide spaces of mountainous territory, is somewhat monotonous, presenting none of those quick transitions which form the charm of Alpine exploration, and rendering botanizing a work of time and great fatigue. The season of my visit happened to be a late one—the previous winter having been unprecedentedly severe and protracted. The side of the hill was therefore covered with brown and matted grass, smoothly pressed by the snow that had very recently lain upon it; and on the top there were great snow-wreaths, over which I walked with considerable difficulty. Few of the Alpine plants had yet begun to flower; but in many places exposed to the sun I observed enormous patches in full bloom of the Alpine Azalea. The foliage could not be seen for the multitude of rosy flowers. In this country we see it only in little tufts or fragments, which, however beautiful, give no idea of its exquisite loveliness when growing, as on the Norwegian mountains, in solid masses of colour almost acres in extent. Its beauty was greatly enhanced by a setting of rein- deer-lichen, which whitened the ground everywhere with its snow-white coral-like tufts. It is with lichens as with Alpine plants; they increase in beauty and luxuriance the higher the altitude or latitude. Every one is familiar with the reindeer- moss of our own moorlands; but the variety that 1] BEAUTY AND VARIETY OF PLANTS. 231 2 grows on the mountains of Norway and the plains of Lapland is far lovelier, forming dense and much- divided tufts of snowy purity and exquisite shape. The rosy flowers of the Azalea gleaming among these lichens looked like rubies or garnets set 4 round with filigree work of frosted silver or carved ‘ivory. : Every dry stony knoll on the hill was covered “with the compact cushion-like masses of the Green- land Saxifrage, with dense tufts of the Alpine ‘Lychnis (which in this country, as already men- tioned, is only found in one locality), or with carpets ‘of Moss Campion. Here and there, in marshy places, the rare Andromeda hypnoides formed bright green mossy tufts, from whence arose a profusion of slender hair-like crimson stalks, each bearing a single white bell-shaped blossom. Side by side with it grew the Pedicularts lapponica, whose soft yellow blossoms formed a pleasing contrast; and the globular snow-white heads of the rare cotton- grass (Eriophorum Scheuchzert). Owing to the lateness of the season, the Azemone vernalis was still in flower on the sunny slopes, distinguished by its shaggy calyx clothed with brownish silky hairs, and its large white blossoms tinged with purple. But it was among the cryptogamic plants that I gathered the richest harvest of species. — The droppings of horses immediately above the fir-forest were covered with no less than four species of Splachnum—that rarest and loveliest genus of ‘mosses, viz. S. rubrum, luteum, ampulaceum, and : Pay . \ ‘ ‘ -~ At. Fee 3 - 2932 HOLIDAVS ON HIGH LANDS. — ae. vasculosum. The first two are peculiar to Norway and the Arctic circle; and the last two are found on the highest Scottish hills, forming dense cushions of large transparent foliage around springs. It is the peculiarity of this singular tribe of Alpine mosses that they almost all grow on organic sub- stances, such as skulls of sheep and deer; one species having been found on the decayed hat of traveller who had perished amid the snows of a St. Bernard. Onthe summit of the hill, the ground was covered everywhere with dense erect tufts of Cornicularia ochroleuca, and the snowy scolloped Cetrarta nivalzs—lichens which in this country are found very sparingly distributed only on the highest summits of the Cairngorm range. The stems of the former are sulphur-coloured, about half a foot long, repeatedly branched, the ultimate branches tinged with a dark greenish hue, as if a faint foreshadow- ing of grass. Nething could exceed its luxuriance in this spot, forming carpets into which the foot sank up to the ankle. The rocks were whitened with the large granulated branchy excrescences of the Stereocaulon paschale, a lichen common on our own hills; which is remarkable as being the first trace of vegetation that appears on naked lava, and is therefore very general on Vesuvius, Etna, and Ischia. On this Norwegian plateau we have the exact counterparts of the ¢uudra or plains that border the Polar sea, covered almost exclusively with dense masses of the same cryptogamic vegeta- tion, and forming the pastures of innumerable herds LAS | REINDEER. 233 of reindeer. As if to increase the resemblance, I found many of the lichen tufts and patches of Ranunculus glacialis growing beside the snow, cropped as if reindeer had been feeding there very recently; and fortunately lifting up my eyes, I saw over the shoulder of the hill, about a quarter of a mile off, a herd of about sixty reindeer quietly grazing—one buck with large branching antlers standing as sentinel, and the light-coloured does and fawns collected in the centre of the group. It was a romantic sight, and would have delighted a sportsman’s heart. In a little while they were apparently alarmed by something, and rushed away, till they were mere specks on the snow of the opposite hill, The reindeer are fast disap- pearing from the Southern mountains of Norway, where they used to be exceedingly numerous, and retreating to the northern parts; and this is owing, not only to the disturbance of their haunts by an increasing number of sportsmen, but also to the gradual amelioration of the climate. It is rare now to see herds of any size farther south than the sixty-third degree. The Dovrefjeld Mountains are to Norway what the Breadalbane Mountains are to Britain—the finest botanical field in the country. They have been successfully investigated by the late Professor Blytt and his son, the present accomplished curator of the Christiania botanical gardens, with whom I had a pleasant meeting on the Sogne Fjord; but a very large portion remains still to be explored. 234. —- HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. ~ “\euap: The greatest variety of rare plants is found about ‘Fogstuen, Jerkin, and Kongsvold. A great number of species peculiar to the Polar circle, and unknown. elsewhere in Norway, may be gathered in these places. A large succulent species of moonwort (Botrychium virginicum) occurs on the-Dovrefjeld, which has a.very remarkable geographical range. In Europe it is found only in Norway; but it abounds in many parts of the Southern United States, grows on the Andes of Mexico and on the Raklang Pass of the Himalayas, and is frequent on the mountains of Australia and New Zealand, where it is boiled and eaten by the natives. Like the Erigéron alpinus and Phleum alpinum, a species of Alpine grass—both growing on the Dovrefjeld, on the British mountains, at a great height on the Himalayas, and in the Straits of Magellan and the Falkland Islands—the distribution of this plant over such widely-separated areas is a very puzzling problem. ) 3 I do not know whether I was the first who ascended this nameless mountain of the Dovrefjeld, but I gathered a cairn of loose stones which I piled above one another on the highest point, and writing my name, address, and date of visit on a card, enclosed it in the centre for the benefit of future explorers. The view from that elevated spot was truly grand: behind me Snzhattan — long considered the highest hill in Norway—towered up 7700 feet above a bleak desert plateau; its upper half covered with snow, and forming an am- 7 | “age VIEW FROM SUMMIT OF HILL. 235. _phitheatre broken down on one side by great black -precipices enclosing true glaciers. Over against’ me stretched the peaks, pinnacles, and horns of the Langfjeld; while a lofty snow-cone rose stern and solitary on the distant horizon, which I iden- tified as Galdhoppigen, now ascertained to be the highest Norwegian mountain, being nearly 1000 feet higher than Snezhattan. Westward I saw the fantastic summits of Romsdal, with the sphinx- "like form of Storhattan, reposing amid the splen- dour of golden clouds, and facing the setting sun as if looking over the verge of the earth and peering into another and a brighter world. The colouring of the loftier mountains on the ho- rizon, unmodified by any such filtering of the reflected light through lenses of verdure as tones down and cools to a neutral tint the hues of our British mountains, was as positive and intense as that of the ruby, the amethyst, and the topaz. It was altogether a view peculiar to Norway, with an air of utter desolation and gloomy grandeur. | Such vast masses of inorganic matter filled the horizon, that the presence of a little plant beside. my feet was cheering—reminding me of the organic chain of sympathy that bound us together. No creature appeared in sight, either on the earth or in the sky. No tinkling of cow-bells or shrill goat- song—sounds elsewhere common—broke the op- pressive lifelessness and loneliness of the place. For upwards of an hour J sat on my cairn drinking in _ the sublime influences of the scene ; but the waning 236 - HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. =a a light warned me that the day was far spent. In descending I had to traverse a long snow-field as smooth and hard as ice, and lying at a pretty steep angle on the hill-side. [had no sooner stepped upon | it than my feet went from under me, and [| glis- saded with great rapidity down the slope, striking very hard against some birch stumps that protruded out of the snow at the bottom. I was soaked to the skin, and a good deal stunned; but I forgot every bodily discomfort in astonishment at the strange sight which my fall had disclosed. I had noticed before stepping on the snow that the sur- face was of a curious salmon colour in some places, and covered with fine particles like brick-dust ; and now I found that wherever my body had pressed ~ the snow together there was a long crimson streak, as if a creature’s blood had been shed there. This was the famous red snow, which is so frequently found in the Arctic regions and on the Alps, pro- duced by an immense multitude of microscopic plants, consisting only of gelatinous cells. Captain Ross on one occasion noticed a snowy ridge ex- tending eight miles in length, tinged with this singular hue to a depth of several feet. Vast masses of it spread over the Apennines in 1818; and it is recorded that in the beginning of this century the vicinity of Belluno and Feltre was covered with rose-coloured snow to the depth of twenty centimetres. The snow is not its natural situation, for it is found, like the zostec and other gelatinous alge, on moist rocks in this country ; but e Sie: gaia eg rm) b tv.}° RED SNOW. 237 its great tenacity of life enables it not only to pre- serve its vitality when its germs fall on this ungenial _ surface, but to grow and propagate itself with the astonishing rapidity of its family, favoured by the heat of the sun and the melting of the snow. It srows and reproduces only upon thawing snow ; for although it may be found beneath virgin snow and in a temperature far below zero, in such cir- cumstances it has ceased all activity, and may temain in this condition for a long period. Its colour in this country, when growing on rocks, is green; but it has been observed that there is a curious coincidence between a white ground and a red flower; so that its brilliant carmine hue on the snow may be produced by the excess of light reflected by its chilly habitat. Had I not been familiar with this curious phenomenon — having seen it on the Alps—I should have been alarmed, naturally supposing that the crimson streaks had been shed from my own veins by the accident. At the next station beyond Holseth, called Stueflaaten, the valley of Romsdal fairly begins. From this point the view of grey Alpine peaks, seamed with watercourses, closing in and shutting up the vista to the westward, is very striking, and stimulates the imagination by the thought of grander scenes beyond. The road, recently recon- structed in the most admirable way, winds along by the side of the Rauma. No amount of praise bestowed upon this river can be exaggerated. It is the finest stream in Norway, combining features | 238. «HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHaP. | which are not united in any other river. Its course, though short, is exceedingly varied and turbulent. For twenty miles it has worn its way by the sheer force of its waters through schistose rocks, and formed deep circular basins, narrow channels, and projecting ledges, over and through which it thunders and foams in the wildest manner. The contrasts of colour exhibited by the pale malachite green of its linns, shading into black in the deeper parts, and the snowy whiteness of its cataracts, were very beautiful, and afforded a perpetual feast of delight. Wishing to enjoy the scenery in a calmer and more leisurely way, we walked between Stueflaaten and Ormen, a distance of nine miles. Although the heat was great and rendered exertion of any kind very fatiguing, I never enjoyed any walk so much ; my only regret being that it was so’ short. Every turn of the road opened up a new and grander scene than before—loftier precipices and wilder reaches of the river. Among the in- numerable waterfalls of the Rauma—many of which, deeply hidden between perpendicular walls of rock, can only be seen by lying down on the verge of the precipices and gazing over—the finest is the S6ndre Slettefoss, a short distance from the road. An enormous body of water is here hurled about forty feet into a long deep cave worn in the rocks, from whence it issues through a rugged gorge fringed with hanging birches. The noise was deafening ; and the mists rising up from the abyss clung in wreaths to the black sides PSS Bae te oe m ime 1” Iv. ] fe ee ne ORMEN. 239 of the rocks and tossed the dripping birches in their swirling eddies. It required a considerable amount of courage to stand on the brink and look _ over into this wild torment of waters. In a little sunny birch-wood beside this waterfall grew in i greater profusion than elsewhere a little flower, called Smlacina bifolia, peculiar to Norway. It is closely allied to the lily of the valley, having, like it, two broad leaves; but its cream-coloured _ blossom is smaller, exceedingly delicate and foam- like. It completely hid the grass with its snowy sheen, and looked as though the foam of the waterfall borne by the wind to the spot had blos- somed into .fiowers. A beautiful species of Svzz- lacina, which grows from two to five feet high, and has plaited leaves and crowded panicles of white bell-shaped flowers, is found on the Himalayas. Its young flower-heads, sheathed in tender green __ leaves, are used as a pot-herb by the natives, under the name of chok/z Oz. Ormen, the next station, is most picturesquely situated on a rock overhanging the river, which here flows through a very narrow part of the defile. In front is a dense pine-wood ; and on the opposite _ side of the river a large stream flows obliquely down the face of the hill in one long line of white, dividing at last into two parts, and forming a series of waterfalls into the Rauma. A wooden bridge crosses at this point, and gives access to several comfortable saefers and rich green pastures. Stor- a ne ¥ ~ wate”. hattan rises above the brow of the hill, but :s not 240 _ HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHaP. | visible from the station-house, as an extensive table-land of snow intervenes. This isolated mountain, whose sphinx-like form, wherever it is seen, is one of the most striking features in the landscapes of Romsdal, is of great height, and commands from its sharp semicircular summit a vast range of snowy peaks. The ascent, which takes three hours, is very laborious and in some places highly dangerous. The whole of this region presents peculiar attractions to the sportsman, being famous for its game of all kinds. On the mountains reindeer are not unfrequently met; the copses which run up the sides of the valley are the coverts of the /yerfe, or hazel-hen, and the skov- ryper, or wood-grouse ; while, in the pine-woods, the capercailzie (called by the natives stor-fugle or big bird) is sometimes seen, or at least heard, as -it makes a startling noise, when it is disturbed, in crashing through the branches. The Norwegian squirrel, which differs from our species, is very numérous hereabouts. Like the Alpine hare and ptarmigan, it changes its colour in winter from brown to grey. The winter skin is greatly ad- mired, forming the efit gris of commerce, and is much worn by cardinals in Italy. Tracks of bears have occasionally been found at the foot of Storhattan. The day before we passed, broken branches, fresh droppings, and footprints were seen in the copse opposite the station-house, indicating that Bruin had been very recently there’ The only place in Norway where one now has a chance 4 * : na 3 ue: ‘THE ROMSDALHORN: * 241 of coming in contact with a bear or an elk is in - Seterdal. | e At Fladmark the river flows smoothly between _ richly wooded banks of alders and aspens, and here and there a green meadow sprinkled with golden globe flowers and white Alpine bistort. The water was of the loveliest green colour, and so clear and “transparent that the mica stones could be seen _ glittering in the sunlight at the bottom. It wasa perpetual baptism of refreshment ; while its plea- sant murmur marched along with us like the refrain of a song. From this point for fourteen miles we had an endless succession of the most magnificent views of precipices, peaks, and water- falls. The only place that can be compared to this part of Romsdal is Loch Corruisk in Skye. On one side is a series‘of vertical walls of rock between two and three thousand feet high, with innumer- able waterfalls streaming down their sides or leaping sheer down from the top to the bottom, and filling all the air with the confused echoes of their shoutings. At the extremity of this chain of precipices towers up the famous Romsdalhorn, -an inaccessible obelisk of granite between 2000 and 3000 feet high, seeming quite close wherever one goes, and, like the Matterhorn, changing its shape according to the point of view. It is said that a blacksmith succeeded from behind in reaching the summit, where he erected a cairn of stones; but this adventure, I am afraid, is mythical. At the foot _of the horn there is a cleft called St. Olaf’s Sword, | a ae Ta FP Sea OT te a. SS . Weare ee we tie to ee, aoe Oh - . ’ a * - 1 et Fs eo Shs . 3% ha ate fie) # Qala Sas ae ee. Weg gee 4 : Cre ys -)" st eee ee Fs Pee ‘ ‘ 2 , , ¥ : ~~. “a «”- See, ie a ‘eo @ : 5 NSS at a eas S. “e oe nd ny tc as 7 ne HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. |cHAP. — where the hero, like another Moses, by smiting the rock with his sword, is said to have produced a stream of water when he and his soldiers were perishing of thirst. On the other side of the gorge are lofty — mountains weathered into the most fantastic and — mimetic shapes. One curious point, bearing some resemblance to a monk, is called Martin Luther; — and the whole range receives the name of the Troldtinderne or Goblin Peaks. They afford one © of the most remarkable examples of the sculptur- ing effects of the air in its mechanical as well as chemical operations; a force which has not re-— ceived the attention it deserves in geological dynamics. It not only decomposes when laden with moisture, but in the form of dry winds armed — with the incisive thread of the sand or dust which they carry up with them, it acts like a gigantic lathe, driven with a power and speed greater than man’s most cunning machinery, and capable of | turning the most eccentric surfaces and carving into new forms whatever friable structure lies in its way. The breadth of the gorge from cliff to cliff may be about two miles, but it does not look a quarter of a mile, owing to the height of the precipices on either side. The Rauma, here a deep wide river, flows through it, reflecting on its placid bosom the grandeur around. Every- where the ground is strewn with huge boulders and fragments of rocks; while green verdure and ~ birch-woods struggle up the talus heaps which ~ have crumbled from the weathered peaks above. ee a eee? et ee ee me eee) , ae a Lae \: Ge Tae Beh Seid Ais " Ae Bie a | saa 243 All the woods by the roadside were covered as thick as they could grow with wild lilies of the valley, bearing a profusion of snowy blossoms, larger and more fragrant even than our garden ones. In the potato and corn fields, growing in great abundance as a common weed, was the beautiful Cornel (Cornus suecica) with its white bracts and curious corolla of black velvet—an Alpine plant which is only found in a few places on our highest Highland hills. The sun was setting when we arrived at the inn of Aak, and a rich crimson glow shone on the snowy pinnacles around, making them look like pyramids of solid fire; while a sky of inexpressible softness and _ beauty linked the glorified summits together, and gave the whole scene an ethereal look like fairy land. It was a place where the most callous- hearted might worship as in a temple; and when from every birch and lily of the valley rose up on the still evening air a perfume most deliciously | subtle and sweet, my senses were fairly intoxicated, and I will not now repeat the extravagant ana- . - logies that ran through my brain. ‘ Aak is the most comfortable and delightful place of residence in all Norway. The inn, which is a “plain wooden building by the roadside, is kept by Andreas Landmark, a /ensmand, or justice of the peace, who also owns a large portion of the valley, and the fishing of the Rauma for a mile or two. His wife is said to be a sister of the Bishop of. ‘2 ee, and his daughters can speak English very 7, R 2 244 | HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHAP. correctly and fluently, especially Laura, who is a most admirable housekeeper, and attends per- sonally to the wants of the guests. Nowhere does ~ the tourist feel so much at home or fare so well as here; the visitors’ book being full of the most glowing praises of the landlord and his daughters. Elsewhere semi-starved on fladbrod and that horrible cheese made of sugar and curd, which looks like a Bath- brick or a lump of diachylon, or half-poisoned by the cooking heresies of ignorant peasants, he here ~ revels in all the luxuries of the country properly prepared and served. The table is lavishly sup- plied with fish and game of various kinds, and wild fruits in the appropriate seasons. As for salmon, — for which the Rauma is celebrated, thanks to the successful fishing of two Englishmen who lived at the inn, we got it so often, and in so many forms, that we were in the end perfectly sick of it. We understood, in a way that we never did before, the stipulation of Scotch servants in former times, when about to engage with a new master, that they were not to get salmon oftener than three times a week. There is certainly something in the air of Norway that acts in an extraordinary manner as a stimulant to appetite, for we our- selves found that two hours after a breakfast of the most solid and varied character, which if partaken of in this country would infallibly lead to a bilious attack, and a course of water-gruel for a fortnight, we were quite ready for another meal as sub- stantial. My bedroom, in a separate wing of the ae MOSQUITOES. 245 house, was a small pigeon-hole of the most primi- tive kind, approached by a staircase so steep that I had to perform a series of severe gymnastic feats in getting up, and in going down to go _ backwards, cruelly scarifying my shins. How the chambermaid managed to bring up a tub full of water for ablutionary purposes, without breaking her neck or drowning herself, was a puzzle which I could not solve. But once in, the room was scrupulously neat and clean, and fragrant with freshly-gathered bouquets of lilies of the valley. The garden close by was a delightful retreat in _ the evening. It was well stocked with culinary vegetables, which were merely in a germinating condition, and the cherry and apple trees were still loaded with blossoms, although it was the beginning of July. The ardent sunshine working night and day, however, would ripen the garden crop in this high latitude quite as soon as in our country. Saturday after our arrival was an exceedingly sultry day; the thermometer ninety degrees in the shade, and not a breath of wind moving even on the bank of the river. The mosquitoes were very troublesome, adhering so pertinaciously to our clothes that we could not drive them off; one member of our party suffering severely from their bites. This fondness of the mosquito for blood is an inexplicable fact in its history. It is not its natural food, for the insect abounds in places which = ju ae! \ ry ‘ ’ no warm-blooded animal frequents, and where man 246 — HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. is never or rarely seen; and when permitted to — suck its fill it turns on its back and remains thus till it dies. This curious point deserves the study of the physiologist. The Norwegian name for this suicidal phlebotomizer is mouga or mouge, from whence is derived the Scotch word midge, the pest of our summer woods and river-sides. Lying . gasping, perspiring, and tormented with heat and masquitoes, under the shade of the trees, I looked up with longing eyes to the pure white snow-fields of the Goblin Peaks, so suggestive of coolness and vigour. In vain, however, for none of them could be climbed, and the exertion on such a day would be fearful. Across the river, right in front of the inn, is a hill of moderate height, clothed on the lower part with dense scrub, which promised to be easily accessible. It is called “ Mid-dag Hill,” be- cause the sun appears above its summit at noon, and it is thus a kind of public clock to the neigh- bourhood. A pathway leads up to the top, and ladies occasionally ascend. This circumstance caused my friend and myself to undervalue the difficulties of the ascent, and refuse the services of a guide. We were not long, however, in finding that we had been too rash and confident in going alone, for we lost the track, which was frequently concealed under huge wreaths of snow, the relics of the past winter, lingering there on account of the lateness of the season, and were surrounded by precipices in every direction. We managed with great difficulty to reach the highest point = 7° 3 MID-DAG HILL. — 247° —s aes to which we could venture with safety, which was “not more than thirty feet below the real summit. Here the ground, composed of comminuted schist and moistened by the melting of the snow, was carpeted with dense tufts of the beautiful Dza- pensia lapponica, growing side by side with cushions equally dense of the moss campion. The former plant is peculiar to the Alps of Norway and the Arctic circle, and is distinguished by its large white strawberry-like blossom, which is produced so abundantly as almost to hide the foliage. The rosy flowers of the campion were equally abundant, so that together they made a lovely garden in the wilderness. .The lily of the valley, though much dwarfed, ascended here to within a hundred feet of the top, wherever there was soil in the crevices of the rocks. On the pure white quartz veins which protruded from the schist grew in immense quantity a black tufted lichen, of extremely rigid habit, called Cornicularia tristis, which is one of the most Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine lichens in the world, being found at the extreme limit of vegetation on the Alps, Himalayas, and Andes, and in north and south latitudes. Over the shoulder of the hill we caught a glimpse of the Romsdal- horn, lifting its giant finger’ to heaven, as if up- braiding us for our foolhardiness in venturing so near it. It had a peculiar, weird, awful look, like one of the gods of Scandinavian mythology changed into stone, especially when a small wisp of mist— mysteriously formed, for there was not a cloud in 248 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuaP. — the sky—rose up and partially veiled its summit. The view was wonderful, not only in its extent, — but also in the peculiarity of its character. Green fjelds sloping down into the green Romsdal Fjord, — and hiding in their recesses greener lakes, con-_ trasted in a curious way with snowy mountains, standing out boldly against a deep blue sky. As © we descended it was interesting to watch the — gradual closing of the boundary line, and the dis-_ appearance first of the snowy peaks, and then of the upland lakes, until at last the precipices of Aak confined our horizon. This descent gave us a considerable amount of anxiety, for, unlike the Scottish mountains, which slope down gradually to the valley and reveal their whole outline from — the top to the bottom, this hill was exceedingly precipitous, and we could only see at a time about a dozen yards of steep rock below us, terminating abruptly in blank space, terribly suggestive to the imagination. We capped with stones the more prominent rocks by the side of the path as we ascended; but these beacons were of no more use to us in our descent than the crumbs of bread which the boy in the fairy tale dropped on his track, for we got confused with the sameness and gigantic scale of the features of the hill. Our feel- ings of thankfulness and relief, therefore, in reaching the base in safety may be more easily imagined than described. Our gratitude was still further deepened, when, surveying the hill during our evening walk, we noticed how frequently we had come uncon- - ee ‘ , 4 : he } 4 oa ‘. ‘ -. i | VIEW FROM MOLDE. | 249 _ sciously to the verge of precipices over which ¥ another step forward would have hurled us, to be dashed in pieces more than a thousand feet below. Sunday was a rainy day, and all the hills were covered to their bases with thick curtains of mist. It was a wild Sinai-like scene. When portions ‘of the mist occasionally thinned away, revealing glimpses of the snow-flecked rocks, so pure and far up, it seemed like vistas opened in heaven— like the vision of Jacob’s ladder, with angels as- _cending and descending. The grand spire of this natural temple, the Romsdalhorn, was completely blotted out of the landscape; but we heard now and then the muffled roar of its avalanches, its awful bell tolling in the darkness. On Monday we left the Romsdal valley with great regret, and embarking on board a steamer calling at Veblungs- -neeset, we sailed down the fjord amid pine-clad rocks of the most fantastic forms, and islands white with eider ducks, terns, auks, and puffins. At Molde we landed for two hours. From an eminence behind the town, which is of considerable size, and carries on a large trade in fish and timber, we beheld the wonderfully grand and extensive view for which this place is celebrated, rank rising behind rank of lofty snow-peaks, until the last mingled with the white clouds in the distance. Conspicuous in the front row was the Romsdal-— horn, the Matterhorn of Norway; beyond was Snehattan with its silver helmet; and to the 7 me : " = * 250 - HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuar. south-east the huge fantastic horn of Perpuatind or Skjorten, curved round and covered all over with snow, even on. the under curve. In this di- rection, farther away, were the shattered Aiguilles | of the Langfjeld, and the lofty but unknown moun- tains at the head of the Stor Fjord.. No more bewildering array of Alpine peaks crowds upon the eye from the Righi Kulm. It far surpasses, in my estimation, the famous view of the giants of the Oberland from the platform of the Federal Hall at Berne. The Swiss picture lacks the sea, without which no mountain scenery, however grand, can be complete. But the waters of the Molde Fjord, spreading out into a wide island-studded basin, gave an idealistic charm to the vast amphi- theatre of mountains rising beyond; and the lights and shades of a sunny day imparted to sea and mountain a witchery of hue and form which made them perfect. We gazed upon the. glorious sight with sense and soul stretched to the utmost tension of admiration. The proverb runs, “See the Bay of Naples and die ;” but I would say, “ See the view from Molde, and have a joy for ever!” It was eight o'clock at night when we reached Aalesund, a pretty large town, carrying on a con- siderable trade in codfish with Spain and Italy. It is situated amid a perfect fastness of rocks and water, quite inaccessible except to a Norwegian sailor; while the views from it of the distant serrated snow-flecked peaks of the Langfjeld are very magnificent. The whole region around is Lo ; aie a4 « Cage re as " 2 oer AAHFEM. me 251 full of the most interesting historical associations. It was the country of the Sea Kings; and from this wild robber’s nest they swept down upon the defenceless coasts of .England, Scotland, and France. Here are the ruins of the Jorg or castle of the famous Ganger Rolf, the founder of the Duchy of Normandy, and the ancestor of William the Conqueror. We landed in a boat at the quay, and went successively to the two inns in search of beds, but they were both full, owing to a court of justice then sitting. We had therefore to return -and sleep on board the steamer. Next day we sailed, amid the same kind of scenery, down the _ Stor Fjord, calling at the different hamlets on the _ shores, and at the head of the intricate creeks; - and arrived at six o’clock in the evening at. the extremity of a long arm of the fjord, where there | was a little village called Aahjem. It was a most solitary place—“the world forgetting, by the _ world forgot.” The daughter of the innkeeper had _ never seen an English lady before. The son, how-_ _ ever, a fine smart young man, who spoke a little _ English, had been to the Paris Exhibition ; and we found in the sitting-room the usual souvenirs of French travel. He was looked upon as a great man by the primitive inhabitants ; and certainly a more startling contrast could not be found than _ between the metropolis of fashion and this lonely, far-off Norwegian village. When we landed, the sky from end to end was of molten gold without a : single cloud, while the sun trembled in a furnace of , : ’ a : * gue ; f 4 ~ . “ J oh a Z ¢ Lae lin. Pare ; : ae t 4 4 252 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuar. — dazzling brilliancy above the waters of the fjord, which seemed like a brazen sea. The surrounding — mountains were purple with light, and looked as ethereal as clouds; while the universal stillness — seemed like the awe and reverence of nature at the great sight. Among moist friable cliffs at a considerable height above the village, decked with — starry saxifrages and Alpine alchemilla, I gathered a great many rare cryptogamic plants; and a birch- wood copse at the foot is especially memorable as the spot where I first noticed in Norway the © Linnea borealis, afterwards so common and familiar. Here, also, in a pool by the roadside, I noticed a large number of the familiar Gordius or Hair-worm. I had not seen it since I was a schoolboy, when I used, with my companions, to amuse myself by putting horse-hairs into brooks about the end of summer, with the expectation of finding them endowed with life in a few days. The super- stition is very wide-spread, both in this country and in America, that the Gordius is a transformed horse-hair, which. indeed it resembles very closely in colour, shape, and size. It i8 °a @egeeree aan entozoa, living in the interior of grasshoppers and other insects, and passing from their dead bodies _into the earth or into water. _ On the following morning we took carrioles and drove up a very steep Alpine road, over a moun- tain plateau, studded with numerous tarns. On the top of the mountain, beside a lake, we saw a s@ier or mountain farm, to which the cattle are sent to a M4 > uw a ; ig = af — - 2, SETER-LIFE. 253 pasture in spring and summer, under the care of the daughters and female servants of the farmer. Upon these szters there are houses of very rude construction, and very poorly furnished, in which the tenants live and carry on all their dairy-work. This szter-life, alone on the mountains for four months in the year, must be very dreary and mo- notonous. The servants say that they could not endure it, were it not that their lovers come up to see them on the Saturday evenings, when they put on their best dresses and faces, and have a feast of dairy produce and a merry dance. This custom, however, has been formally prohibited by Government, on account of the injury done on such occasions to the game, for the lovers try to kill two birds with one stone. The seter which we passed was certainly a very lonely place; the pasturage was scanty, and the house a mere hovel of rough unmortared stones, with a hole in the turf | 3 roof for a chimney, and another in the wall for a window. The cattle were very small, and wandered about with bells round their necks, making a sweet musical tinkle that increased the loneliness and sadness of the place. It is not wonderful that in such a region should have arisen the strange super- stition of the Hw/dre, a mountain spirit who goes forth in the morning with her spectral herd of voice- less and milkless cows, following at a distance the cattle from the ¢vo, or fold, when they are driven out to the pastures, and returning with them in the - evening. The szter-girls collect during the summer ‘ = a ie ory. x . af ow eS he bl © —. a. Le 4 te Pel ~ peg Se See “4 € £? 24.73 sR Ie 9 Ee a SS MRS SMS Panag 0S a q ‘ d - a2 2 Ba , IP ld a . v1 ae hg ci *- . MO ge ; Pk, oF o$) MSS a eee 1, “Hehe NS aa: oe “to - : BTN ead Seiad! an rk aah amet ‘ . am * a oe oe - a Pe . id “ any ~. “ : 2 i . LP * rs ‘ immense quantities of the reindeer-moss from the fjelds; and when the autumn storms sweep the snow down the sides of the mountains, and cover up with its smooth uniform surface the steep and almost impassable roads, the farmer brings the moss, frozen into hard compact massés, on sledges down into the valley, where it forms an essential part of the winter fodder of the cattle in this : - district. After a fatiguing drive of about three hours, exposed to the scorching sunshine on bare treeless moorland, we came down to a station hidden in a nook of the Nord fjord, called Bryggen. The whole of this region is beyond the ordinary tourist's ground, and is quite fresh and unexplored. Mr. Murray’s guide has not penetrated into the scenery of the Nord fjord, some parts of which are truly grand and Alpine in character. Here we were admitted for the first and only time into the bosom. of a Norwegian family. On all other occa- sions, travelling on frequented ground, we were treated as tourists, and got our meals in our own rooms. But here we were treated as guests and dined with the members of the household. If it was “pot-luck” we got, the proprietor must have been uncommonly well off to keep such a table, loaded with fish, flesh, and fowl. Our hostess did not sit with her husband and children. She brought in the dishes, and attended to the comfort of the guests. This created an unpleasant feeling in our minds ; but apologies or entreaties to sit down with | 3 254 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuar. | ~ is 4), 7 =. ~ ia . ee “a = 4 A ws om 4 va a “4 Be BRYGGEN. : 255 us would have been’ misplaced, as in Norway the | lady of the house considers it her especial duty to superintend the operations of her servants, and make her guests perfectly comfortable. In this part of the Nord fjord there were little - creeks, where the shore sloped gradually down into the profounder depths. In this shallow water grew large quantities of wrack, dulse, tangle, and other common sea-weeds. Owing to the great depth of the water, into which the rocky shores descend abruptly, these sea-weeds are rare in Norway. Only in one other place did I notice anything like the sight which our weedy sea- shores present when the tide has ebbed. Usually there is but the slightest fringe of sea-vegetation , » - Oe marking the water-line along the rocky shore; and in many of the fjords even this is absent. At the head of the Sogne fjord, upwards of 120 miles _ from the open sea, there are no sea-weeds lining Wi - " ’ the precipitous shores. The water at the surface is almost fresh; indeed, I saw a sailor putting down a bucket into this stratum and drinking the _ contents. The influence of the tide is little felt ; 4. “ hy : ‘ =. and the river that empties itself into it overlies the heavier salt water, and prevents by its intense coldness and freshness the growth even of the ereen ulvas and enteromorphas which in this country mark the junction between fresh and salt water. Owing to the absence of vegetation, fish and other fauna of the sea are rare; so that the _ inhabitants have not this source of supply to eke 256 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuar. out the scanty produce of their miserable corn and — potato fields. In the creeks of the Nord fjord, | however, there was an unusual abundance of shell- _ fish and other forms of sea-life lurking among the dark tufts of fuci and tangle. I gathered a few specimens of Watica Grenlandica, an_ Arctic and circumpolar mollusc, which becomes rarer and — smaller towards the south; and of Pecten islandt- cus, which does not reach Britain. | While gathering these northern shells, I thought of the remarkable parallelism between the dis- tribution of the Arctic fauna and flora in Britain. Just as we have the remains of an Arctic flora, once overspreading the whole country, on the summits of our highest mountains, so we have the remains of an Arctic fauna which peopled all our — seas during the Glacial epoch in the profoundest depths of our western sea-lochs, such as Loch Fyne and the Kyles of Skye. A little south of Tarbert, Loch Fyne deepens into a basin 624 feet below the surface of the water, a far greater depth than that of the sea outside, and clearly indicating that this narrow inlet is a submerged land valley, ~ whose bed, if sufficiently upheaved, would be marked by a fresh-water loch, like Loch Lomond. From this profound abyss Professor E. Forbes and Mr. McAndrew, in 1845, brought up with the dredge an extraordinary assemblage of molluscan animals, eminently Arctic in their character, once common in all our seas, ranging from the shore- line downwards. When the beds of these glacial es — _ i. i ee d Tin Sh eae a rs =e else Le iL TOLL,S. . 257 - “seas were Breen ved: several af the more delicate 3 molluscs perished under the change of conditions, while others more accommodating survived. As the climate became more genial, the northern and Arctic shells that lived in the littoral zones retreated northwards, driven out by the migration of more temperate forms. Those that had greater Capacities for vertical range, however, remained behind in the deepest parts of our sea-lochs, where the conditions of temperature were still suitable; and to this narrow range they are now restricted. _ The extreme scarcity of these Arctic shells in a living state, and the comparative abundance of _ dead valves, seem to indicate, as Professor Forbes ' suggested, that the species thus isolated are now slowly dying out: so that the time may not be far distant when the last of the Arctic forms of ‘the mountain-top and sea-bottom: will disappear before the inroads of plants and animals of a _ milder climate, that will spread uniformly over all parts of land and sea. In connexion with the © _ marine animals of Norway the singular fact may be mentioned, that some of its characteristic Arctic Species occurring in a living state in the deepest abysses are found as fossils in Italy and Sicily ; and that other perfectly identical species are found living at the present day in the Mediterranean _and Adriatic and in the North Sea, which are absent in the intervening waters of the Atlantic, the only route by which, according to the present _arrangement of Europe, they could have reached ge 258 the one locality from the other. - Among the living — species common to Italy and Norway are Wephrops Norvegicus, the Norway lobster, sometimes seen in our fish-markets, Lota abyssorum, Sebastes tmperia-— lis; Macrourus celorhynchus, Cetochilus septentrio- nalis which forms the chief food ef the Arctic — whales but also occurs at Nice, and two shells » found by Professor Sars of Christiania, in the sea at Bergen, Cerithium vulgatum, and Monodonta limbata. ‘The presence of these mollusca in the Mediterranean and in Norway, while they are absent from the intermediate coast, is supposed to be owing to a connexion that existed during the Post-Pliocene period to the east of Europe, between the Mediterranean and the North Sea, which was interrupted at a later period by the elevation of the Alps.) It was very much owing to the discovery of a race of animals in the Nor- wegian waters by Professor Sars, supposed to be extinct for several geological epochs, that the recent exploration of our own seas at great depths was undertaken, which has produced such wonderful results—among others the discovery of the living 1 This theory is still further confirmed by the flora of Sweden. Several of the most characteristic plants of Gothland, an island in the ~ Gulf of Bothnia—such as Helianthemum fumana, Inula ensifolia, and Serapias rubra—are identical with those of the limestone mountains of Austria; while the vegetation of the neighbouring island of Oland is of a decidedly Mediterranean, or even African, type. Among its rarer plants may be mentioned Helianthemum Cilandicum, _ Carex obtusata, Artemisia laciniata, Anemone sylvestris, Ulmus effusa, and Viola persicifolia. HORNELEN ROCK. erinoid or “stone-lily” (Rhzzocrinus Lofotensis), in f ‘many parts of the Atlantic from the Loffoden Isles ’ to the Gulf of Mexico. At nine o'clock at night a Government steamer ‘employed in the postal service, and carrying on ‘the traffic with all the stations on the Bergen route, appeared in sight. .We rowed out to it in ‘a small boat, and then steamed down the fjord, ‘through the most intricate labyrinths of hills and islands. There is one rock rising 1200 feet per- ‘pendicularly from the water, shaped like a huge ‘cathedral with a gigantic tower at either end. It is called Hornelen, and our steamboat was named after it. It is the loftiest and most massive sea- cliff in Norway south of the Loffoden Isles. A great slice of it had fallen down two years pre- ‘viously, about two hours after a steamer had passed. The scar was still fresh on its side, and ‘the débris formed a talus bank at the foot pro- jecting into the sea. The depth of the water in this narrow channel is said to be very great, there being no soundings for two thousand feet. After ‘spending some hours on deck, admiring the wild and ever-changing scenery, and watching the giving out empty and taking in full herring-barrels at the different stations at which we called, we retired to our berths and slept till about seven o'clock in the morning, when we found ourselves ‘among the skerries on the coast, within forty miles of Bergen. These rocky islets are very remarkable, They occur in countless numbers all S 2 260 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. __ |cHAP. along the coast from Christiania to the North Cape, and though composed of gneiss afford a striking proof of the tremendous abrading action — ‘of one of the stormiest seas in the world, They are of various sizes, from a huge boulder barely rising above the level of the water, to lofty cas- tellated crags many acres in extent, and are either ‘bare or covered with shrubs or fir-trees. Between them the sea winds in and out in the most intricate fashion, and they are so like each other that it is astonishing how the pilot can thread his way among them. There is never any of that sloping which distinguishes the shores of other countries, Quite close to the rocks the depth is in some places unfathomable. In many instances the narrow creeks and channels run far inland, so that it is frequently necessary to journey a hundred miles by land between two places not more than two or three miles apart in a straight line. Many of the skerries are shaped like the Devonshire tors ; they are what are called in geological language roches moutonnées, rounded, smoothed, and polished hummocks, moulded by the passage of a thick body of ice over them during the Glacial epoch, and marked, many of them very distinctly, by close parallel flutings, indicating the direction of the moving ice. From these glacial markings, where no ice is now to be seen, we can trace by the characteristic evidence of striae, moraines and boulders, the course of ancient glaciers up to the great ice-fields of Justedal and the Folgefond, | a Ww.) ~ RISING OF NORWEGIAN COAST. 261 still existing in the interior. We must regard ‘the present glaciers of Norway as the shrunken remains and silent witnesses, in a milder climate, | of immense glaciers which at one time stretched down and filled each valley, and went out to “sea like the glaciers of Greenland at the present day. BThe glaciated skerries, judging from the pro- found depths of water around them, are the tops of submerged mountains, and the fjords that wind _among them deep glens that have not yet fairly risen out of the sea. Such fjords are for this reason almost, if not quite, confined to northern latitudes. This is especially observable on the west coast of America, which is uniform and mono- tonous from Valparaiso to Vancouver’s Island, but is remarkably broken into intricate fjords from -~Vancouver’s Island northward. These fjords were originally valleys hollowed out by the action of glaciers, and afterwards sufficiently depressed’ for the sea to enter them. That Norway has been slowly rising from the sea within comparatively “recent times is proved by many indisputable signs. On the shoal or bank which lies out in the Christiania fjord to the west of Drobak, and which is from sixty to ninety feet deep, there are im- -mense masses of a peculiar coral called Oculina prolifera, firmly attached to the solid rock, though dead and stripped bare of its formative polyps. This coral is found on the western and northern coast of Norway in a living state, only at the great ’ { i 262. HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. Tewar depth of from 1000 to 2000 feet, where it formas large, bush-shaped clusters about two feet in diameter. The fact of its occurrence in a dead — state on the Drobak bank proves beyond doubt © that that bank was elevated to the extent of at least 800 feet, when the polyps, incapable of bearing the increaséd temperature of the shallower water, died zz sztu. On the same bank, also in a dead state, is found the Lima excavata, a species — of shell-fish which lives only in the region of the deep-sea corals, at from 150 to 300 fathoms. Pro- — fessor Forbes and Mr. Robert Chambers speak of © “the great freshness of the raised terraces which » stretch at various heights along the coast, as if — to show where the surf had beaten during prolonged intervals in the course of upheaval.” On these terraces vast quantities of shells are frequently found identical with those living in the neighbour- ing seas, and looking as fresh as if they had been cast ashore only yesterday. Brogniart found balanus shells on the solid rock at Udevalla, on — the Swedish coast of the Cattegat, 200 feet above the present level of the sea, and Keilhau near Hellesda, in Aremark,'450 feet above the sea. The last accomplished geologist pointed out to Mr. Robert Chambers serpulz still adhering to — the face of a rock about a mile from Christiania, — 186 feet above the surface of the fjord. To show still further that the land was elevated ~ during the existence of its present fauna, I may mention that in the great Swedish fresh-water lakes — MARINE CRUSTACEA. 263 ~ Wenner and Wetter certain crustacea have recently been discovered by Professor Lovén at profound _ depths, which were previously known only as marine _ species inhabiting the Arctic and Baltic seas. The ; younger Sars, when dredging in the deepest parts of a fresh-water lake in the neighbourhood of - Christiansund, close to the west coast, found to his astonishment the mud full of a small red Copepode, in which he at once recognised the salt-water species Hlarpacticus chelifer of Lilljeborg. The _ presence of this crustacean was so unexpected, that in spite of the fresh-water forms which he had also _ found, he was obliged to satisfy himself by tasting that the water was not brackish. In the Miosen _ Lake he subsequently discovered two species of _Cythere, I7ysis relicta and Gammarus cancelloides ; while in ponds in the environs of Christiania he q discovered the curious Amphipode, Pontoporeia | affinis, whose males are numerous, having their antenne, except in a few individuals, imperfectly _ developed and presenting a very peculiar appear- - ance until towards the end of autumn, when they { assume their ultimate form—the animal in both _ stages being perfectly fertile. The presence of these _ marine crustaceans in the Scandinavian lakes, living _ only in the deepest parts of the water, and quite se- parate from the true fresh-water forms of crustacea, proves that during the Glacial epoch the basin of the Baltic was in communication with either the eastern or the western Arctic ocean; and that in the gradual elevation of the Scandinavian pen- 264 « «= HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. Es e 2 ; ; insula these marine creatures were cut off from their natural habitats, but were able to accommo- date themselves successfully to altered conditions of life, when their isolated basins changed from salt .to fresh water. But perhaps, after all, the cir- cumstances are not so changed for them as we should suppose; for it has been found by a series of experiments recently made by Sir Robert Christison in the fresh-water lakes of Scotland, that on every occasion the water was more saline in its deepest parts than at the surface, and de- cidedly more coloured, which is contrary to the popular notion that the deepest water is the pur- est. At the bottom of our very deep Highland lakes there is a vast body of still water which undergoes little or no change or movement, and which therefore will become impregnated with whatever is soluble in the bed on which it rests, while a good deal of the old saltness of the sea is retained. This fact should lead to the dredging of our deeper lakes, for they have passed through similar geological changes to those of Scandinavia. That the field is not unlikely to prove productive has been more than indicated by the discovery of truly marine microscopic crustacea in fresh- water lakes in the west of Ireland. Lochlomond, from the occurrence in it of a well-known fresh- water herring, is likely in its deepest part, which is upwards of 600 feet, to yield abnormal forms, which will add another to its already numerous evidences of having been originally an arm of the sea. | : | | Meee ce a - 4 ve ex seek” Ne te 9 . -. > y ea hh ey ee 4 -w.] ~—-—« EUROPE ONCE AN ISLAND. 265 The elevation of the Scandinavian peninsula . throws some light upon the ideas of the ancients regarding Hyperborean geography, which seem to us mythical. There is a tradition, for instance, as old as the times of the Argonauts, that there was at one period a water communication between _ the Euxine and the Hyperborean seas. The voyage of Ulysses must evidently have taken this course, if we are to accept the geographical details of Homer. Between the Black Sea and the Baltic the connecting strip of land nowhere rises to a height of 300 feet above the level of the sea, and is overlaid with recent alluvial deposits. If the waters of the Black Sea ever stood at a higher level than they do now—and there are many local circumstances which prove this to have been the case—then this tract must have been submerged, and Central and Southern Europe converted into a _vast island, separated from another island of Scan- dinavia by a continuous strait. The Caspian Sea Was once connected with the Black Sea, and through it with the Baltic, in the manner described, - as is proved by the fact that the fauna now inhabit- ing its waters have considerable affinities with North Sea types. Two species of seal are now living, one in the Caspian Sea, and the other in the fresh-water lake Baikal, in the centre of the great Asiatic con- tinent, which are similar to those of Norway and the North Atlantic. By the elevation of the Sar- matian plain, the level of the Caspian Sea has been reduced 83 feet below the present surface of ete tik Soc) ie Sete je” e} ~~ ee Fe 4 bed , 1 er ae i eye F ie. oa EP det ? ea . RGSS 266 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [enar. the Black Sea; and at this point the level of this creat inland basin is as permanent as that of the ocean,—the precipitation and evaporation being exactly equal. A depression of 500 feet would bring once more the Arctic Sea over the areas both | of the Caspian and Lake Baikal. While on this subject I may mention another interesting fact connected with Scandinavia and our own country. In the Fen counties of England there is a very remarkable fauna peculiar to that region and the opposite shores of the German Ocean. Among these may be mentioned various white fishes of the family Cyprinidz, such as roach, dace, chub, and bream, which have now been distributed either by natural or artificial agencies to various parts of England, and even to Ireland, but were originally confined to East Anglia, and attain their highest development in the rivers and lakes of Sweden. These fresh-water fishes, which are utterly incapable of living in salt water, indicate that the rivers in the East of - England, as well as those of North-western Europe, flowed through the dry bed of the present German Ocean into a great estuary situated between Britain and Norway. From some common source at this time they spread into the rivers and lakes where they are now found. An additional proof of this theory, first stated by Edward Forbes, is found in the presence in the River Cam, of the curious ¢e/-pout or burbot (Molva lota), which is utterly unlike any other fresh-water fish of Europe. It belongs to r) Mo: Yay ae +h ': af “PECULIAR FAUNA OF THE FENS. 267 .. . same genus as the oe (Molva np MeN and twas originally a deep-sea fish. It must have ' migrated from the Baltic or the Northern Ocean to the Fen rivers, when there was a free river connexion between our country and the continent ; _ and, owing to the changes on sea and land that a subsequently ensued, as well as the modification of its own form and habits produced by its new home, never found its way back to its native salt _ water. At Foulmine, on the edge of the Cam- ' bridge fens, is also found the edible frog of the _ Continent; and in the Ouse and Little Ouse the _ remains of the fresh-water tortoise, Emys Lutaria, now an inhabitant only of Bavaria, Austria, Poland, j and East Prussia. Steenstrup and Nillson have also discovered its shells in peat-bogs in Sweden and Denmark. The Entomostraca of the Dutch river Scheldt are remarkably similar to those of the Norfolk Ouse and the Oulton Broad in Suffolk. They are the last surviving represen- __tatives of a group of species which inhabited a large lagoon-covered district between England and Holland, the water of which was but slightly brackish. In company with this peculiar fauna of the fens is found an exquisite little bird, with long tail, orange-tawny plumage, and black mou- stache, now all but extinct—the bearded tit (Calamophilus biarmicus). Connected with no other English bird, its central home is in the marshes of Eastern Europe, from whence it spread to England, attracted by the mollusks upon which. j SOE Sa 5 areas | 268 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS, < - [onar, 2 it fed abounding in the lagoons on the present y ‘: site of the German Ocean; from which countries it was subsequently cut off by the submergence of the intermediate land. All these creatures, peculiar in their character, restricted in their dis- tribution, and now separated by a wide expanse of sea, must have sprang in recent geological times from onecommon centre. The sunken pine-forests of Brancaster, and the raised beach of Hunstanton on the north-east corner of the Wash, indicate, as Mr. Kingsley observes, the slow upheavals and depressions by which the changes referred to, on the - surface of North-western Europe, were produced. Every traveller is greatly struck with the re- semblance, only on a larger scale, between the coast of Norway and the coast-scenery of the West Highlands of Scotland. The same causes, acting in similar circumstances, produced this re- semblance. In Scotland these causes have long been quiescent, and we can only speculate and theorize regarding their mode of action in the remote past. But in Norway they are still in operation, and their modifying effects may be seen fresh and recent in many places. Norway may be regarded as a con- necting link between the present state of Green- land and the state of Scotland during the Glacial epoch. When Scotland had its glaciers and snow- fields, Norway was completely enveloped in ice; and -now that the line of perpetual snow has gone beyond the summits of our highest hills, we recall in the perpetual snow regions of Norway the ap-~ i a w.] NORWEGIAN FAUNA IN SCOTLAND. 269 * pearance of our own country at the close of the a Glacial epoch, when the glaciers were retreating | from the coast into the high grounds of the in- | terior, Not only in geological development, but _ ~— also so far as progress during the Historical epoch is concerned, Norway may be regarded as “a ) larger Scotland post-dated,” a country still in its green youth, while Scotland is in its old age. The forests that overspread its surface at the present day are like the extensive forests of Scotland ' during the Roman invasion, whose remains are __ féund in our numerous peat-mosses. The existing _ Norwegian fauna once roamed in our woods and hills. In Caithness the reindeer lingered until | about the beginning of the thirteenth century. The Orkneyinga Saga relates that the Jarls of Orkney crossed over to the mainland to hunt it in the twelfth century. According to tradition, the last wolf in Scotland was slain in 1680 by the famous Sir Ewan Cameron of Lochiel. So nu- merous were wolves before that period that large tracts of the Highland forests were set on fire in order to expel them ; and to avoid their ravages in rifling graves, the inhabitants were obliged to bury their dead in islands off the coast or in inland lochs at some distance from land. Indeed it is exceed- ingly probable that the huge cromlechs and cairns of ponderous stones raised over the dead in primi- tive times may have originated in the desire to protect the bodies of the dead from wolves. The dread of this ravenous animal may have driven the 270 § HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. {cHaP. primitive inhabitants of the north of Scotland from the valleys overgrown with woods to the ridges of our most elevated mountains, where we now view with surprise their wretched remains, and the traces" of obsolete modes of agriculture. There is ample evidence to prove that the brown bear tived in this country less than a thousand years ago. Up to the middle of last century the capercailzie, or great cock of the woods, the largest member of the grouse family, abounded in our woods. It disappeared with the destruction of the Caledonian forest, the cones of which formed its prineipal food ; and though it has been reintroduced from Norway, it is confined to one or two districts, where it is almost as tame as a barn-door fowl. In the highest solitudes of the Grampians still linger the Alpine. hare and ptarmigan, the last survivors of the ancient Norwegian fauna of our country, which owe their preservation to their power of adapting themselves to their circumstances, changing the colour of their fur and plumage—a provision which not only regulates the temperature of their bodies according to the changes of the seasons, but by assimilating them to the prevailing colours of the scenes amid which they live, enables them to elude the keen eyes of their numerous enemies. Thus the wild animals of Norway are those which for- merly lived in Scotland, but are now nearly all extinct. The manners and customs of the Nor- wegians in the remoter districts are also those of our ancestors several hundred years a8°, and their 8 a BERGEN O71 ~" udal system of land proprietorship is that which existed in Scotland prior to the introduction of clanship and feudalism, and the remains of which q may still be seen in the existence among us of 4 “bonnet lairds,” similar to the Norwegian “bonder,” who cultivate the small properties which they inherit. Thus a visit to Norway gives the Scotch- man an admirable idea of the appearance of his country and the condition of his ancestors in the _ Middle Ages. | No incident of any moment occurred while we _ threaded our way in and out among the endless _ skerries, which were so like one another that we were often. puzzled by seeing in front of us a peculiar rock which we fancied we had left miles behind, and were lost in admiration of the skill © of the pilot. We arrived at Bergen at two o'clock, and were delighted with its picturesque appearance: and romantic situation. It is built upon two bays of the fjord, with a narrow point of elevated land | between them, on which stands the fortress of Bergenhuus, where formerly stood the palace of King Olaf, the founder of the town. It is sur- rounded by steep and rugged mountains, between two and three thousand feet high, so that you have all the bustle of a commercial town quite close to the loneliness and grandeur of an Alpine solitude. _ The narrow harbour is always crowded with ship- _ ping, and the suburbs at the base of the mountains _ are occupied with gardens, and country villas _ embosomed among woods, with green lawns sloping aS * ee PUA Sa, EO ee mee, Shr, Se hol or eae Ser ” aya rg i hated... a =, ae : ery: - ne tl 7, es A - das Pas ey ag 3 —— = s- 7 ? ’ , A 7 ia , ore —— men? 4 cs Alea to TEN SY aS a - . i o ss r : - * a 272 ‘. “HOLIDA VS: ON HIGH LARS down to the fjord. Outside the town there is a magnificent avenue of old linden trees about a mile long, from whence beautiful glimpses of the sur- — rounding scenery may be obtained. This is the most northern limit of this tree, and yet it is.as full grown and majestic here as in the avenues of © England or Germany. We heard a sermon in the fine old cathedral, and inspected the antiquities and objects of natural history in the museum. ~ The antiquities are principally sepulchral urns, arms, Runic inscriptions, Norwegian coins dating from the time of Haco the Good in the tenth century, and a curious old Byzantine picture pre- sented to one of the churches in the Sogne fjord in the eleventh century by a sea-king who had procured it from Constantinople. I observed that there were no contributions to this depart- ment from the Arctic provinces. Worsaae, the director of the Museum of Northern Antiquities at Copenhagen, informed me, while conducting me over the rooms devoted to relics of the Stone period, that all these stone implements came from Denmark and the southern parts of Sweden and Norway—none having been found in the northern ~ parts. The inference is therefore clear that these northern provinces were unoccupied by man during the earliest ages of British and continental history. This theory coincides with the evidences of phy- sical geography, and points to the gradual amelio- ration of the climate in these regions. ; We were greatly amused by the extraordinary MISE ert 4 “wo - ~FISH-MARKET OF BERGEN. ——-278 character and variety of the costumes of the pea-. _ sants from the surrounding districts, who came in _to Bergen to do their marketing. Some of these peasants are said to be of Scotch extraction—a large colony of Scotchmen having settled about the twelfth century in the neighbourhood of Bergen. Some of the women had white shirt- sleeves, scarlet jackets, gorgeous breastplates of coloured beads, and white caps of the most ex- traordinary shapes and dimensions. Others had green jackets and dark caps. It is a great pity that both in Switzerland and Norway the pic- turesque costumes of the peasants should to so large an extent be abandoned for the uniform - and unmeaning dress: of all classes throughout 4 Europe. We paid a visit to the fish-market, which _ is one of the most interesting sights of the place. _ All the fish—of which there is an immense variety —are brought in alive, and kept swimming about in tubs of salt water until purchased ; for a Nor- wegian would never think of buying a dead fish; he likes to be assured by more senses than one that it is quite fresh. Among the fish we noticed srey gurnards, torskwrasse, of many colours, and coalfish (Gadus carbonarius) in shape and size like a salmon, with a black back and a silvery belly. There were also a few specimens of the bergelt, or Norwegian haddock (Sebastes Norvegicus), some- what like a perch, which exhibits. all the hues of the gold fish. It is caught in very deep water with long sea-lines, and is considered a great z es Ti ss oa ta - x ‘me A ¢ “eh ve ee ." t : st * 274 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS, — [cuar. — delicacy. Bergen has the reputation of being one of the rainiest places in the world. The average number of rainy days in the year is said to be 200. This extreme humidity is shown not only in the actual amount of the rainfall, but in the almost constant presence of large quantities of aqueous vapour in the atmosphere, even on days that are considered clear and bright. This constant wet blanket spread over the town, if it does damp the joys of the inhabitants and engender melan- ie 4 o® choly “vapours,” gives compensation by greatly — modifying the severity of the winter. Probably the range of temperature throughout the year is smaller and the mean annual temperature higher in Bergen than in any other place so far from the equator. During our residence, however, there was not a cloud in the sky, which was as deep-blue and transparent as that of France or Italy. The heat was tropical, and we had to dodge the sun con- tinually in our walks through the dusty and glow- ing streets. The mere’ effort of witli aiercees in a room where all the windows were thrown wide open threw me into a profuse perspiration. I love to look back upon the wonderful beauty of the nights we spent at Bergen. From my bed- room window I looked out for hours with intense enjoyment of the scene. Below, the gaily-painted houses looked ghostly in the tender twilight that brooded over them; above, the moon shone large and golden in the blue languid sky, casting down a path of light along the surface of the placid fjord. | aa BERGEN F¥ORD. 275 The mountains, mellowed down and empurpled by ‘the sunset, reposed with a dream-like beauty on ‘the near horizon; while the stillness was broken by sounds that harmonized with it—the ripple of a passing oar, or a simple song heard clear and distinct from afar. The whole air and appearance _ of the place at such a time reminded me more of Oriental cities described in the Arabian Tales, than a matter-of-fact Norwegian town, crammed with odoriferous stock-fish and casks of cod- _ We left Bergen: at six o’clock on Saturday "morning for a trip to the Hardanger Fjord. Our “route was somewhat circuitous; but we adopted it in preference to the more direct course south of Bergen, as it embraced some of the finest and most characteristic scenery in that part of Norway. The steamer in which we embarked was about the “sie of a small steam ferry-boat, with a high pres- sure engine, which produced a loud snorting noise and a disagreeable vibration in every part of the vessel. Passing through the Bergen Fjord, we entered the Bolstadoren branch of it, and had “a most delightful run over a placid sea, which ‘reflected pine-clad precipices on its shores, and "bright blue skies, with such exquisite distinctness, that we seemed to be sailing over a submerged world. All went well till about one o'clock in ‘the afternoon, when we came to a place where 1 the calm bosom of the.Fjord broke into foaming — rapids. The boat put on full steam, and gallantly es se 276 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [CHAP. essayed to make Eadnay against ee current. But there was not sufficient depth of water to carry her over the bar; consequently she grounded, and was carried helplessly down by the stream, her bottom rasping on the rough stones in the channel. Finding it impossible to overcome the barrier, the captain moored the boat to a huge granite boulder .close to the shore, and resolved to wait till the tide should return and give him sufficient depth of water to get up to his destination. We were hemmed in on both sides by lofty walls of rock, and the sun streamed down upon us with scorching power ; the precipices reflecting and concentrating the heat until we felt as if in an oven. To add to our discomfort we had set. out in the morning upon a single cup of coffee.and a rusk each, ex- pecting to get our breakfast on board the steamer. In this we were disappointed, and were obliged to appease the cravings of hunger by a few bis- cuits, and a bottle of stale luke-warm ale, which was all the captain could give us. Helplessly im-_ prisoned, every minute seemed as long as an hour; the slightest incident was made the most of to divert our attention from the heat and hunger that were consuming us. We joked with some peasants who were busy hay-making on the bank beside us, and watched with interest several beau- tiful young horses as they swam after their master’s boat across the turbulent waters to the other side. But at last even the patience of the ladies. was exhausted, and rather than wait five hours longer nue c E re ree “ly ee } | Biv) 8 . BOLSTADOREN FYORD. ~~ 277 - for the chance of getting on by the steamer, we agreed to hire a boat with two men, and row up to our destination. We walked along the narrow strip of shore below the rocks till we came to _ calm deep water, and there embarked in a prim- _ itive-looking boat which proved very frail and _ unsteady. This was my first experience of boating _ on a Norwegian Fjord, and I am free to confess that I felt more the danger than the romance of it. Huge precipices rose perpendicularly from - the fathomless water on both sides, so that there was no shore, and no possibility of escape if any- _ thing happened to the boat. For four miles the naked rocks, which assumed _ the most fantastic shapes, in one place looking _ like an enormous organ, and in another like a ~~ SP - *, os F yea ae section of the Coliseum on a vast scale, literally _ overhung the water, with torrents falling over them in all directions in sheets of foam. Repeatedly the cliffs came close together and imprisoned us within their grim walls, from which there was apparently no outlet; but as we advanced they _ opened up as if purposely to make way for us. _ Above on the sky-line the sun glowed with dazzling _ brilliancy; but far down, when we were close in 4 beside the precipices, there was a peculiar green _ atmosphere, caused by the reflection of the light _ from the water, and the lights and shadows that flickered on the rocks as we passed were ex- _ceedingly strange and beautiful. In several _ places the rocks had fallen into the water, forming 278 HOLIDAVS ON HIGH LANDS. _ [cuar. slopes of débris, on which there was a scanty | covering of grass; and high up on these steep ‘slippery spots where it seemed difficult even fora goat to stand, we saw and hailed groups of hay- makers who had come there by boat to gather a scanty harvest of grass for the-long winter. Along the sides of the precipices, the telegraph wires were nailed to the rocks; there being no ~ space for poles. It was altogether a scene of wonderful grandeur and desolation utterly re- mote from the ordinary world of human associa- tions and interests. It abounds in legends of the © wildest character. It is the haunt of the mon- strous Kraken, of which good Bishop Pontoppidan — of Bergen has given such a quaint description, and of the MWVzsse and other water-spirits which have the power of raising storms and causing shipwrecks, and invest the whole region with a nameless superstitious terror. After two hours of hard rowing, we came to the village of Bolstadoren, a favourite watering- place to which the Bergen merchants and their families come early in the summer and make the fjord gay with picnics and boating parties. Shut in by romantic precipitous rocks on every side, it is well-sheltered and richly-wooded, and enjoys an exceptionally fine climate; while its rich green fields and clumps of soft deciduous trees, make it quite an oasis of beauty in the frightful wilderness of rocks and waters around. Here we rested for an hour and got scanty refreshment at the miser- EVANGER. 279 able station-house. Walking along the lofty banks of the deep and rapid Rundals Elv, we passed several Englishmen carrying the heavy spoils of their salmon-fishing, for which the river is re- nowned, and came to another lake which we had to cross in a boat, as its sides, like those of the Bolstadoren fjord, were perfect precipices, leaving no room for a path along the shore. In many places the rocks were clothed with magnificent forests ; in others they opened and revealed interior slopes of the richest green and charming woodland nooks among glistening birch trees ; while on the cultivated slopes of débris here and there red farm-houses hung at a-.perilously steep angle, as if a ruder winter storm than ordinary might sweep them down into the lake. We landed at Evanger, where we were told that we could not get horses or -carrioles as the last had just gone on with a party to Vossevangen. We saw that this was a cunning device of the landlord to detain us at his inn over the Sunday; so we insisted upon our right to be sent on our journey. After a good deal of stormy discussion and delay, we were allowed to depart ; but the landlord in revenge gave us the sorriest vehicles and horses he had. My conveyance was a rough cart used for carrying stones, with a still rougher board put across for a seat, which con- stantly slipped from its place and gave me no end of annoyance. I put an air cushion upon - it to soften its asperities, but in vain. Such “a _ shattering of the joints and churning of the viscera” 280 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHAP. I had never felt before. I greatly enjoyed notwith- | standing the wonderfully lovely country through | which we passed, with its splendid woods of pine and fir, its green meadows and cultivated corn- fields, its passing gleams of waterfalls, its chains of bright blue lakes below, and its high snow- flecked mountains above, all rendered still lovelier by the tender mellowing of the warm evening licsht. The fields on either side of the road were covered with myriads of wild flowers of the richest bloom and loveliest colouring. I never saw before such an amazing luxuriance of bluebells, yellow bed-straws, wild pansies, and lychnis, of the largest size and most vivid hues; chequering the rich green of the fields with delicious contrasts, and — gsleaming out from the blades of grass like tangled embroideries of sunshine woven through the her- bage by the shuttle of summer. The rocks were whitened with a rich variety of saxifrages ; wood- sias peeped out in tufts from every crevice and old wall; and the ground in the fir woods was starred with countless hosts of Linnza in full bloom. It was the richest floral feast I ever enjoyed ; the sight and the scent afforded a source of endless happiness all the way. The slanting rays of the setting sun brought out the colouring of the flowers with wonderful intensity ; the red and golden hues absolutely burned and glowed and became trans- parent in the transfiguring light like living jewels; while the moist stillness of the evening air favoured the effusion of the exquisitely subtle fragrance of — P avab th -VOSSEVANCEN. 2° 281 the fields and woods. The twilight deepened into darkness, and at last the black spire of Vossevangen church stood out in dark relief against the moon- light, and we reached the door of Fleischer’s Hotel at 12 oclock very tired and glad to go bed. We spent a very quiet and refreshing Sunday in _ this beautifully situated village. The scenery around has been compared to that of Windermere; but the lake is lovelier and the entourage of mountains erander. A pastoral beauty and peace brooded over the landscape, which was exceedingly refresh- _ing to mind and heart, wearied of the cold stony terror and the dark abysmal glooms of the Bol- stadoren Fjord and the Rundal’s Elv,—suitable haunts for kelpies and rock-spirits and demons of the woods, but where human love could find no home in which to warm and shelter itself. Among the awful precipices and fathomless depths of the Fjord, Nature was everything and man nothing; her works filled the horizon, and his were a far off memory. But here man’s work filled all the fore- ground, and Nature’s was the background and setting of the picture. The wild grandeur of the rocks and mountains was confined to the snow- fields that formed a ring around the horizon, and enhanced by contrast the restfulness and loveliness of the scene which they framed. The repose of the place entered into our being; and our souls felt in harmony with the blessed day and the _Edenic landscape. We attended the Lutheran service in the quaint. old church—built in the 1 Mw x ~ > -~ ‘sy 7 * —_ Bet — = 5% ¢ re aa ff “ . y og See ae : - : ™~ - , » 2 = oe” - . = ie ve a 282 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHar. twelfth century—which was crowded by the pea- sants from the surrounding districts. On the book- board of the pew before us was carved two rude initials and the date 1620; a more solemn and suggestive subject of reflection to us than the preacher's sermon, which we only partially under- stood. The effect of the groups of people, dressed in their brilliant and varied holiday costume wind- ing down the hillsides in the morning to the shore of the lake where the church was situated, and of the processions of boats rowing to the same desti- nation, crowded to the edge of the water, and making the surface of the lake opalescent with the reflection of their white and scarlet and yellow dresses, was exceedingly picturesque. Such an outbreak’ of motion and colour amid the dreamy stillness and green monotony of the landscape, brought a reminiscence of some Oriental /é¢e into this semi-arctic valley. In the afternoon, when seated at dinner, in a room which commanded a magnificent view, a sudden tempest sprang up almost without any warning; the sky was covered in a few minutes from end to end with lurid clouds; the rain fell in torrents; the waters of the lake were lashed by the furious wind into sheets of foam and wild spindrift; and the reverberation of the crashing thunder was very grand as it died away among the hills. The tempest ceased as suddenly as it arose; and the bosom of the lake brought down as if by magic the blue heavens to the earth and made them fairer than above; while : ¥ 2 —— 2 ery] THE SHORE OF THE LAKE. 283 the wet hillsides entangled among their moss-tufts and blades of herbage the bright threads of sun- shine, and covered themselves as with a sparkling robe of cloth of gold, and the fuller torrents filled the air with a confused murmur, having a silence in their tone, deepening the universal stillness. The elixir of the air after the storm was most exhilarating. Dissolved with the purest sunlight, it — was perfectly transparent, made the most distant objects seem near and distinct, and gave to every sound a musical cadence. I spent the afternoon in a fine fir-wood on the shores of the lake, filled with the twin leaves and foamy flowers of the Smilacina like the ghost of the lily of the valley, and fragrant with the Linnza. The lake imaging the blue- green foliage and the warm red trunks of the firs, was the poetry of the landscape, reflecting and idealizing its features; and the snow-clad moun- tains on the horizon were the religion of the land- scape, lifting it up to heaven and clothing it with its transforming hues. Before Nature’s Shechinah, I felt in that beautiful shrine the chastening power of loneliness, the awe of nature’s mysteries, and drank refreshing draughts from living wells of thought springing up in every lifeless thing. That Sunday at Vossevangen, laid up in memory’s cells, seems like some rare old wine to grow mellower and more satisfying by the keeping. Perhaps bright hope has made remembrance brighter, as the sun that shines before our path makes the clouds behind more lovely. 284 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. — {cuar. — On Monday we proceeded by carriole to Eide through a richly wooded country, varied by rocky | glens, numerous high waterfalls, and several lovely lakes. The road in one place descends a great height into a deep valley by a series of admirably constructed zig-zags, blasted here and there in the face of the rock. We drove down this steep incline at full speed, the occupants of the last carrioles looking down upon those of the first, careering past immediately below them. The frequent rapid turnings were very exciting. At one part the road was carried over a substantial bridge which separated between two very picturesque birch-shaded waterfalls; the one streaming down the rocks above the road, and the other falling in a series of steep rapids below. Skirting the beauti- ful Vasenderi lake by a path cut out of its preci- pitous shores and overhanging the deep water, we passed through very fine scenery to Eide, where we got our first glimpse of the Hardanger Fjord. Hiring a large boat at the station-house, we rowed across the fjord, here about six miles broad, to Utne, where we lodged all night. The station — here is one of the best-known and most frequented on the Hardanger, on account of the excellence of its accommodation and the reasonableness of its charges. We were greatly charmed by the kind- ness of the station-keeper’s wife, a very comely and motherly looking old lady, dressed with scrupulous neatness and cleanliness, in the picturesque cos- tume of the district. Utne is a convenient centre - a eh ee +o enone = 2 a a VIEW FROM EIDE. 285 for many most interesting excursions; being situ- ated at the foot of the promontory of the Folge- fond range, which divides the branch of the Sor Fjord from the main stem of the Hardanger. From _ the heights above the station-house, to which we climbed up in the evening, we had a most mag- nificent view of the broad fjord, surrounded by an extensive amphitheatre of dark mountains ascend- ing straight up from the water’s edge to the clouds, and cloven by waterfalls, that reached from their summits to the sea in one long continuous line of snowy whiteness. Here and there remoter moun- tains opened up behind these; and in the recesses between them we caught glimpses of other lofty waterfalls that fell in graceful masses of foam from projecting rocks into the depths of unknown defiles. All round the horizon there were scores of such waterfalls. Subdued into silence and rest by the distance, they nevertheless lent a wild animation to the scene, and excited a tumultuous flow of emotions in our minds. Next day we embarked on board the Vzkingen, a steamer employed in the postal service on the Hardanger. After penetrating to the extremities of three narrow branches of the fjord, we steamed down the Sor Fjord in the evening. The Alpine - scenery of this arm of the sea is grand in the ex- treme. The snow and ice of the Folgefond on our right looked indescribably wild, breaking through dark mists and clouds, and gleaming ghostly white — in the darkening twilight. At Odde, a small village 286 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [ CHAP. at the head of the fjord, we remained for three days on short commons, in the house of a man whom we found afterwards was bankrupt. We visited during our stay the Skjeggedal-Foss, of which an account is given in the next chapter, and the Buerbrae lis, a small outfall of-ice on the east side, which descends from the enormous glacier-bearing fjeld of the Folgefond to within 1000 feet of the sea, and is easily accessible by a land and water route of about seven miles from Odde. The ladies accompanied us on this last ex- cursion, which we most thoroughly enjoyed. The glacier was the loveliest I ever saw. It poured down in a tumultuous cascade of ice from the horizon into a deep valley, and was consequently very much broken up into crevasses, whose colour was of the most brilliant and transparent blue. There were no moraines at its side or foot; and therefore the ice was not discoloured with mud like the glaciers of Switzerland. We stood at its extremity before a great wall of ice about fifty or sixty feet high, hollowed out into caves and fissures of the most intricate shape, and all shining with that lambent cerulean hue of which one never wearies. While gazing at it, I saw the vast solid mass distinctly moving, stones falling from its edge, and the ground wrinkling up before it, looking as if it had been newly ploughed. For hundreds of years the Folgefond glacier is said to have remained stationary, but it is most certainly advancing in one direction; and the motion of the Buerbrae outfall Riv. BUERBRAE GLACIER. 287 is a conclusive proof of this. A dense tangled thicket of birches and alders grew amid vast masses of rocky débrzs on the right side; while blooming in contact with it I found the most brilliant and delicate flowers. Pansies, Alpine Ranunculuses, rich clusters of the lovely blue Alpine Veronica, cushions of glowing Silenes and white Saxifrages bloomed among the scanty herb- age, under the very drip of the glacier water; summer and winter thus meeting together in a strange association. Among the crumbling ledges of the precipices overhead I gathered some stray specimens of Sarifraga rivularis, Ranunculus nivalis, Cerastium trigynum, Kenigia islandica, Braya alpina, and Phaca frigida, most of which are altogether unknown in the mountain flora of this country. A large stream issued from below the glacier, and ran down the valley from side to side, clay-coloured with the sediment ground by the motion of the ice over its rocky bed, which it deposited on the fields along its course. On our return we called at a saeter or farm-house about a mile below the glacier, where we were regaled with some clotted milk with cream, fladbrod and very fine fresh butter, served . in a lordly dish. - On the day we left Odde there were two couples married in the little church. The people were in a state of much excitement, a rare thing with these quiet Norwegians. Two processions of men and _ women dressed in their holiday attire, each carrying 288 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [crap. a tine painted red, containing provisions or presents for the young couples, marched into the village. Shortly afterwards. we were invited by the Ajogermester, or master of the ceremonies, to pay our respects to one of the brides. We found her standing in state, dressed in scarlet gown and green jacket, with a gorgeous breastplate of particoloured beads and numerous silver ornaments. The famous bridal coronet of silver gilt, which none © but the virtuous may wear, and which is handed down from generation to generation as one of the most precious heirlooms, was on her head; while her hands were concealed under a folded white handkerchief which fell in front of her like an apron. She looked very shy and self-conscious, as the village maidens crowded round her to offer their congratulations. The bridegroom was a tall sunburnt farmer, dressed awkwardly in a blue jacket, black knee breeches and blue stockings ornamented with bright coloured ribbons, with large silver buckles in his shoes. Having given the bride a few small presents of useful toilet articles, a glass of currant wine was presented to us; and immediately afterwards a large bowl of home-brewed beer was passed round, and all partook of it. A procession was then formed ; the bridegrooms accompanied by their friends marched hand in hand to the church; while our party brought up the rear. The little church was crowded to suffocation during the ceremony which was somewhat long and tedious. When the ring ” q ‘i’ “ x f S74 MER VGVANG. © %q" 289 "was put on, the priest clasped the joined hands of _the bride and bridegroom in his own, and invoked upon them a solemn and touching benediction. At the close the young couple and their friends marched round the altar, each depositing upon it two small packets of money, one for the priest and the other for the clerk. The sum, which varies with the rank and wealth of the parties, was evidently a considerable one on this occasion; and the priest pocketed his share with a quiet smile of satisfaction. We had the pleasure of the priest’s company with us in the steamer, as we sailed in the after- noon up the Sor Fjord. He landed in a boat, along with.two of his daughters who had ac- companied him, at Ullensvang, where the principal _ church of the parish and the parsonage are situated. From the respect paid to him by all on board, and the hearty greeting which he received from the people on shore when he landed, he must be very _ popular in the district. Tall and stately, with an intellectual cast of countenance, and a venerable appearance, full of dignity and urbanity, he was a most favourable specimen of a Norwegian pastor. I cannot imagine a more delightful position than that of pastor of this lovely spot, which looked under the soft glow of the setting sun like another Eden. Its musical name is in harmony with the beauty of its scenery. To my mind it is the. most charming of the many charming spots on 3 S the Hardanger. Situated on a flat verdant plot scooped out of dark brown mountains rising . U 290 | HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHar. precipitously behind, by the action of two torrents, the village had a setting of all the elements and colours that one could wish in a landscape. The rich umbrage of deciduous trees shaded its picturesque red houses; and a tender shrubbery of lilac and laburnum embowered the parsonage in a perfect nest of flowers and foliage, to which the reflection of the fjord, as they drooped over its waters, gave an ideal charm. A line of white pebbles fringed the shore which the shallow green water laved with rich colorific effects; and this was a feature so uncommon in Norwegian fjord-scenery, that, like _ the scent of May blossom, it placed us at once in the midst of familiar home-scenes with all their indescribable associations. Two splendid water- falls appeared in full view at opposite corners of the mountain recess behind the village, and im- parted the harmony of their ceaseless motion and music to the play of human life beneath. And to complete the scene, the eternal snows of the Folgefond range compacted by their own accumu- lating weight into a crystalline structure, shone on the horizon in front with an opaline lustre, like an emanation from an interior source of light, rather than the reflection of the sunset rays ; the highest earthly of the landscape thus purified into and mingling with the heavenly. The spot completely retired from the great world, seemed made for meditation ; there the spirit of the universe mani- fested itself in fairest forms and colours and sounds to the eye and soul of man. aa iianttel Ta THE NH#RODAL, 291 Going back on our former course to Vosse- vangen, we started from thence next day at two oclock in the afternoon for Gudvangen, at the head of the Sogne Fjord, a distance of about. fifty miles, over a wild upland country not unlike the lake district of England in some parts. The day was far advanced when we began to descend ‘the wonderful series of zig-zags—twenty-six in number—down which, by an admirable feat of engineering, the steep road of the Stalheim-cleft is carried for 1500 feet. On one side the stream, which we had been following for some time, fell in a single leap 750 feet; while on the other side, a second stream, issuing from an unseen defile, flung its masses of foam from nearly an equal height. As we rounded the corners of the road, we had an alternate glimpse of these mag- nificent waterfalls. When we reached the bottom, we found ourselves in a tremendous gorge; and an enormous cone of grey felspar, without a particle ‘of vegetation on its inaccessible sides— called _Jordalsnyt—towered up for 4000 feet, and like a giant turned to stone, seemed to shut up the pass behind us. Lofty waterfalls streamed down the bare precipices at frequent intervals; while a river of the most exquisite BeGalntent azure flowed rapidly by our side, lined with alder and ‘birch trees. The bed of the gorge was heaped with fragments of rock, which had fallen from the “cliffs, giving to us an unpleasant feeling of inse- serity, as we drove rapidly along under the awful . | U 2 292 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. — {CHAP. © walls, whose summit far up on the sky-line we craned our necks often in vain to see. In the vague uncertain light of evening, and with imagi- nations excited by the gigantic scenery, the faces and outlines of the cliffs seemed like sphinxes and monstrous primeval reptiles. Great eyes glared at us from the rocks. All the gods of the Scandina- vian mythology seemed to be embodied in the | ‘shapes which the precipices assumed. I shall never forget that twilight drive through the Ne- rodal as long as I live. No scenery ever pro- duced such a profound and lasting impression upon my mind. There is, I believe, only one valley in the Old World, which for depth and sublimity can equal it, viz. the Pass of the Taurus in Asia Minor, leading from Cappadocia into Cilicia; and only one valley in the New World—the amazing defile of the Yo-Semite, in California. It was late at night, and quite dark, when. we arrived at Gudvangen; and there we remained over the Sunday. When lying in bed, I could see from my pillow the long vapoury scarf — of the Keel-foss, a waterfall upwards of 1000 feet high, on the precipice opposite the station-house, swaying in the breeze,and burnished with the ghostly moonshine, I climbed up the precipices in front J} of the inn, until my further progress was arrested J] at a height of 2000 feet by a huge wreath of snow, — out of whose arched extremity a muddy stream — issued with arrowy swiftness. Above this spot the | rocks rose for another 3000 feet, tier above tier, — * PLANTS OF THE NA4RODAL. 293 g Peach - ae as the plummet without a visible break, until the last seemed the very battlement of ; . 3 ; : heaven. The flowers growing on the grey naked _ slopes, watered by the melting of the snows, were brilliant beyond human gardening — in shades of rose, blue, yellow, or the compromised tints. “In the afternoon I walked up the gorge, and gathered abundance of Woodsia ilvensis and Cys- topteris montana by the wayside. On the large ' boulders beside the river, I found dense, soft, wide- spreading cushions of the Fungermannia setzformis | _ var a. Lapponica, whose golden green colour was exceedingly rich and beautiful. Only the variety q B. Britannica has been found very rarely in this - country, on the elevated mountains of Cairngorm and Clova. It was exceedingly abundant in the Nerodal, and clothed nearly all the fallen rocks. In company with it, and often spreading over its _ tufts in broken segments or orbicular patches, was the exceedingly rare lichen the Parmelia diatrypa, whose singularly neat thallus is divided into linear inflated segments. It is very like the common P. physodes, so abundant on pine trees in subalpine woods; but it is distinguished by its rich cream _ colour, its polished or waxy appearance, and, above all, by its curious black dots or punctures on: the segments. In this country it has been found by ‘i 5 7 q Turner at the foot of Snowdon, and by Dr. Greville and Hooker at Ballacheulish. Various other rare and interesting mosses rewarded my search on the banks of the river, such as Hypuum rugulosum, 3 a: ae a a a 294 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS, [omar | lying upon the eng in iene uae of a yellow- brown colour, and the Hypuum sarmentosum, grow- ing in rich chocolate coloured masses in the boggy places; both of which I had previously gathered at great elevations on the Breadalbane mountains. The ostrich-plume feather-moss, H. Cytsta-castren- sis, grew in profusion on the knolls along with its graceful associate the Lzzue@a, to whose rosy bells it-lent an additional attraction. The walls of the gorge were so high that the direct rays of the sun were excluded, except for a short time in the middle of the day, so that a kind of twilight re- flection reigned around, giving to everything a cold grey cheerless look. The potato crops, and even the grassy meadows, looked pale and sickly; while the complexion of the people had a peculiar tallowy or etiolated appearance. With something of the feeling of an Arctic explorer after the long night of winter, I welcomed on the second day a glorious" burst of sunshine that flashed into the gorge when the sun was overhead, and illumined it from end to end with a wonderful play of colour and chiaroscuro, The river turned into sapphire, and the meadows into chrysoprase, beautiful enough to have formed the foundations of the Apocalyptic heaven. In such a spot sun-worship seemed almost natural. On Monday afternoon we rowed to the steamer Framnes, out in the offing, in a small boat which was nearly filled and upset by a sudden squall, rushing down the gorge like a funnel, and tossing the surface of the fjord into spray. In a perfect ee SOGNE FYORD. — 295 deluge of rain we steamed down the Gudvangen _ Fjord, beneath a continuation of the awful precipices _ of the Nerodal. The scenery utterly defies de- mt scription. The wildest part of the Lake of Lucerne cannot even be compared with it. In a kind of _ bewilderment and ecstasy such as I never before _ experienced, I saw precipice after precipice, snow- _ peak after snow-peak, emerging from the clouds, _ each higher than the other—the last vanishing a _ mile in sheer perpendicular height behind the sky line. The stillness here is as of death, and the gloom ~asof Acheron. Even the waterfalls tumbled down =~ from the vast heights in silence, as if spell-bound _by the enchantment of the place. Out of this _ stupendous propyleum of nature we emerged into _ the wide channel of the Sogne Fjord, with a feeling as if coming out of a vault into open daylight. The awe and gloom on our spirits melted away under the smile of the broad blue sky, and the g calm blessing of the unfettered sunshine. The =. shores diminishing in grandeur became homelier _ in character, and gave way here and there, and _ revealed glimpses of villages famous as the scenes of Frithiof’s Sagas, and tall Bawta stones marking the sites of graves and battlefields celebrated in _ Norwegian history and mythology. Man with his passions, struggles and perplex- ities, plays but a small part in the scenery of _ Norway. He is dwarfed and subdued in the _ presence of the vast and impressive masses of - mountain and rock by which he is surrounded. — 7 - 5, 1 ere > Se 296 - HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. — [cuar. The centre of human interests is altogether lost in the wildness of the natural objects amid which it moves. Other mountainous countries such as Greece, and Palestine and Scotland, are full of historic memories; and the grandeur of nature is hallowed by the higher fame of what -man has done and suffered. But the greater part of the scenery of Norway is destitute of all interest | from human story; it has no memories save those Paleozoic runes which the changes of nature have written upon its rocks. But in this part of the Sogne Fjord, nature is humanized so to speak © by ancient associations. This is the classic-ground of Norway. The shores speak of the heroic times of Baldur and Frithiof, and the romantic age of Sigurd Jorsalafare, who led the ancestors of the present inhabitants of the district to fight with the Moors in Portugal, and to swell the ranks of the Crusaders under Baldwin in Palestine; returning ~ home by Constantinople and Germany, laden with the booty of Sidon, and many an eastern battle—the relics of which may still be seen in some of their houses and churches. In the evening we passed the mouth of the northern arm of the Fjord, which strikes into the heart of the wildest and loneliest region in Norway. We had a glimpse in sailing past of the magnificent Justedal glaciers hanging ghostly in the hollows of the snow-peaks of the horizon, “the awful white teeth of the Horungerne mountains fiercely set against the Polar blasts.” We then went to bed; and for eighty miles the ,- es . : <7 ! rhe ; 4 ¢ * aa’ | ah « ™ § 4 =, ¥ Sy (Oye sr rs xy} lee I v.] Oat eee P| " , he Bee VOYAGE: HOME. 297 boat steamed down the Fjord while we slept, until in the morning we found ourselves when we awoke out of the Sogne and among the skerries on the coast. We arrived at Bergen at 12 o'clock; and from thence sailed next day in the Finmarken for 300 miles down the coast, anchoring for the night _ off the town of Stavanger, and arriving on the second night at Christiansand. At this port we - waited a day and a half for the arrival of the “Gnome” from Copenhagen; and after a stormy and miserable voyage, which seemed so protracted _ that I several times imagined I had got by mistake on board a vessel bound for America, we landed at Leith in the afternoon of Monday the 20th of July. In every respect, save only that my botanical ha hopes were somewhat disappointed owing to the lateness of the summer vegetation and the hurry of travelling, our tour had been most successful and enjoyable. And now looking back upon it across an interval of several busy and eventful years, the memory of one of our party who since then has taken a longer journey into the land of the unsetting sun, and whose many gentle and noble qualities had endeared her to us, gives a touching interest to all its incidents and pictures, and em- balms them in our hearts with the tenderness and sacredness of sorrow. CHAPTER! suEeD SKJEGGEDAL-FOSS IN NORWAY. SOME one has remarked that mountains present peculiar attractions to men, while women find in waterfalls something more congenial to their nature. This, like a great many other general statements, is probably too large an induction from. the facts of the case. It is true that the membership of the “Alpine Club” has been confined exclusively to the male sex; but, in districts favoured with a famous waterfall, it has not been found that the fair sex have monopolized the services of the local guide. Ever since the discovery in the present century of the picturesque in nature, both sexes seem to have shared indiscriminately the admir- ation which mountains and waterfalls call forth. If there be any preference shown by women, it is perhaps due to the fact that waterfalls are more accessible than mountains, and do not require for their cultivation specialties of dress and muscular development. Notwithstanding this, however, it seems to me that there is a measure of truth in the aphorism, I believe that the mountain does WATERFALLS IN GENERAL. Ls el harmonize more with the masculine than with the feminine character. Its ruggedness, solidity, height, and changelessness symbolize peculiarly manly qualities; while the toil, patience, and endurance needed in its ascent are exercises in _ which man delights. It appeals in its form and associations to his sense of power and self-reliance. The waterfall, on the other hand, speaks more to the gentleness and softness of the feminine nature. __ It is moulded by the form of the rocks and by the bl _ play of the winds, and it yields itself gracefully to the influences of its circumstances. “The continuous murmur and fall of the snow-white water; the unity and variety of the forms which it presents; the quick play of light and shade on its surface; the rainbow that opens its blossom of light amid its spray; the tender and graceful vegetation which its perpetual moisture nourishes around it, from the aspen that trembles to its shout, and the birch that hangs its tresses in its foam, to the moss that cushions the ledges of its rocks, and the lichen _ that makes its cliffs hoary: all these features of See Te ‘gh gl wy - the waterfall appeal to qualities that are more often found in woman than in man. Waterfalls, however, are very varied. Some are quite as masculine in their character as mountains. They have no soft and graceful surroundings. _ They do not hide themselves in the loneliest recesses of glens, protected by cliffs and shaded by foliage; but leap in the open light of day, in straight lines, from the brink of naked precipices. a 300 | HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. — Grandeur and sublimity are their sole charac- teristics. In proportion to their height and volume, they lose their picturesqueness and beauty; and appeal to another order of feelings in the human breast. This is especially true of the Norwegian waterfalls. They possess grandeur, but not beauty. Owing to the peculiar formation of the country, it is rare to find that gradual sloping of the stfeam, and that succession of leaps, fringed with trees and shrubs, which contribute so much to the picturesqueness of a waterfall. The mountains are immense tablelands or plateaus, terminating ~ abruptly on both sides in lofty mural precipices. Consequently the streams that are formed on them from the melting of the snows in summer, after running a short course, fall sheer down into the elen or the fjord; whereas in this country or in Switzerland the mountains are constructed, not in the embattled style, but on the ridge and furrow principle, and slope gently into the valleys, so that the streams that gather in their bosom flow cradually down, increase as they flow, and form a succession of waterfalls, according as they meet with rocks in their. course. The. waterfalls of Norway are thus necessarily higher than those of any other part of Europe; but they want the fringing of woods and the concealment of pic- turesque rocks peculiar to more gradual falls. Waterfalls are also more numerous in Norway than they are anywhere else. “The mountains,” to use the expressive language of a Belgian / NORWEGIAN WATERFALLS. Pee 8! Fourist PB Gerh I met at Utne, “are peopled with them.” They lend animation to every scene, and - hang from every cliff their scarf of liquid drapery. Hundreds of cascades unknown to fame, though far higher and grander than the Marboré fall at Gavarnie, in the Pyrenees, or the too celebrated Staubbach in Switzerland, may be seen in the course of a single day’s journey in the interior. The Riukan-foss, or Reeking Fall, in Upper Telemarken, drops almost perpendicularly about 800 feet into a gulf so filled with vapour that its bottom cannot be seen. The body of water is very considerable, being the overflowing of the - Midswasser, a lake thirty miles long and more than two miles broad. The Sarpen-foss is grander than the falls of Schaffhausen on the Rhine, being formed by the united waters of the Lougen and the Glommen, the two largest rivers in Norway, which drain the whole of the east side of the country for more than 300 miles. The height of the fall is eighty feet, and almost equals in volume of water the famous Trollhattan Fall, by which Lake Wenner in Sweden empties itself through the _ Gotha-Elv into the Cattegat. The most numerous as well as the finest waterfalls in Norway, however, are to be seen in the Hardanger district. In this region are the Rembiedals-foss and the Skyttie- _foss—both very magnificent falls, though situated in remote out-of-the-way glens, and _ therefore visited by few travellers. Here, too, is the better- _ known Ostud-foss, which falls into the depths of 302 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuar. the Steindal valley, not far from the station- house of Vikor. It pours over its rock certainly more water than “a gill in a minute;” but, like Southey’s “Force of Lodore,” it is very dis- appointing to the eager visitor, except in very wet weather, or immediately after the melting of the snows on the hills. But by far the most celebrated of the waterfalls of the Hardanger is _the Vo6ring-foss, said indeed to be the grandest — cataract in Europe, and the lion of Norway. Its height is upwards of 900 feet, and its volume of water fully larger than that of the Handek in Switzerland. A Frenchman on one occasion was so excited at the thought of visiting it, that even when his steamer entered the Hardanger Fjord, nearly a hundred miles distant, he broke out in a transport of enthusiasm, “I am coming near it; I am coming near; for thirty year I dream of Voring-foss.” The spectacle is indeed grand be- yond description; but it labours under the great disadvantage that it cannot be seen from below. I believe that one or two daring cragsmen suc- ceeded in getting pretty near the featwas toe but their view of the waterfall was greatly ob- structed by a projecting rock. The ordinary tourist sees it from the edge of a great precipice at a considerable height above the top of the fall. Keeping a firm hold of the guide’s hand— if you have sufficient nerve and are not oppressed with giddiness—you can bend your body half over, and look down into the awful abyss filled with ee ¥ 7 ~=_ ee 7 TF ce VORING FOSS, — 303 seething waters and blinding mists. A vision of a great white mass of foam falling, minute after ‘minute, pausing as it were at intervals in mid-air, but still falling down, down, far out of sight into _the bowels of the earth, with a roar that seems to shake the rocks to their foundations, is caught during the frenzied gaze and photographed upon the memory for ever. Woe betide the unhappy tourist who is seized with nightmare the first time he goes to sleep after having stood on this giddy height ! Within the last few years a waterfall has been known to the tourist-world which promises to rival the Voring-foss. The Skjeggedal-foss—for such is its jaw-breaking name—is not nearly so high; but the body of water is larger, the scenery is more savage, and it can be approached quite close and seen in all its grandeur from the foot. | : Opinions are very much divided regarding the claim of each to pre-eminence. Very few have visited the Skjeggedal-foss; and therefore the maotices of it are exceedingly scantys In. the _“Dag-boks” at Vossevangen and Odde I found it praised by one in the most extravagant terms as decidedly the finest waterfall in Norway, while - another entry was to this effect: “The Skjeggedal- _foss should be seen before and not after the Voring- gedal-foss—I determined to judge for myself ; foss.”. _ When at Odde, as mentioned in the preceding chapter—the nearest starting-point for the Skjeg- be r ie TATE of bOI N ees ts a re 2 ? 304 HOLIDAYS. ON HIGH LANDS. — |cHaP. ~ regarding the merit of this cascade. Accordingly, accompanied by a friend, I set out on Wednesday the 17th July, at seven o’clock in the morning. We secured the services of Lars Olsen, a native of Odde, who discharged the duties of guide — throughout the day in the most admirable manner, and whom we have therefore much pleasure in recommending to future travellers. There was all the interest and excitement of discovery about our adventure. The morning was all that could be desired. A few clouds threatened at first to discharge their watery burdens, but they soon passed off, and the sun shone brightly in a blue and unclouded sky. We laid in a comfortable stock of provisions, as-the excursion, we were told, would occupy the whole day. Two smart tourists from Scotland recorded the fact that they had done it in eight hours, but sensible men who were not walking for a wager, and who preferred enjoying scenery to doing it under steam-pressure, gave their evidence that it could not be managed in less than twelve or fourteen. The latter verdict we found from our own experience to be the true one. We brought with us waterproofs on account of the lowering appearance of the sky at starting, but we found them very serviceable afterwards, — enabling us to approach nearer the waterfall than we could otherwise have done, without being drenched by the spray. Lars had his provender carefully rolled up in a coloured pocket-handker- chief. It consisted of about six square feet of ’ a is 3 % ue FOLGEFOND GLACIER. | 305 Daetod—_ Find. of very thin barley-scone—and a small piece of raw mutton dried into the hardness 3 and colour of a mahogany slab, and needing no further cooking. Stepping at the quay into one of those rickety Norwegian boats, sharp at both ends, which are so _ alarming at first to timid sailors, we rowed up the fjord for about four miles. The sea here is very ‘narrow, and the banks on: both sides are very steep and lofty. At the foot of the left bank are green patches of cultivated land here and there, and clusters of picturesque red wooden houses ; in the higher region pines and birches fringe the { ledges of the rocks; while on the sky-line the } great glacier of the Folgefond shows its white _ teeth in every hollow between the cliffs. In some places the glacier was suspended over the edge of a precipitous rock far up in the air, and one felt afraid in passing underneath lest the huge mass should be loosened and fall down with a mighty plunge into the fjord. Many of the houses F look as if they lay directly in the path of the avalanches; great talus-heaps of débrzs lying perilously close to them. The overhanging tongues of ice were very beautiful, being much crevassed, and showing in every wrinkle and hollow that -marvellously vivid sapphire colour with which every glacier-student is familiar. Nothing could exceed the purity of the ice, or the stainless white- ness of the snow—in this respect presenting a striking contrast to the discoloured glaciers of . ew eo ho Sat ; ec chacti A oad wali AGE Fre oa oe Sie Dae ray s ee rt S. fA Mont v9 ; ie, | vAS A. “— 7 ~ ee ee ET 4 hy a. 4: “y Eg i 306 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. _ [cuar. Switzerland, whose dirty faces no amount of Alpine | rain can wash clean. Some years ago, when the supply of ice in London was nearly exhausted, a ship was chartered to the Hardanger, and - brought home a cargo of magnificent fragments of the Folgefond glacier. Though the experiment answered admirably in every way, | am not aware that it has been repeated. ’ Calm and still as the morning was, we did not hear the tinkle of the bells of the lost seven - parishes of Folgedalen, said to be buried on ac- count of their great wickedness under the ever- lasting snows of the Folgefond; and which many superstitious ears have heard on certain propitious days. This tradition is very similar to that of the Bliimlis Alp in Switzerland, and, like it, is evidently not altogether a myth. It tells of a change of climate, and of a gradual advancement of glaciers, overwhelming districts once fertile and inhabited, of which many traces may be seen in the physical appearances around. The right bank of the Sor Fjord is more precipitous than the left, though not so wild and Alpine-looking. Huge masses of broken rocks are piled above each other, like a Titanic battle-field, at the edge of the water. Bright green birches, with uncommonly white stems, are interspersed among them, and soften their harshness; while high overhead the preci- pices form a gigantic wall, with a fringe of pine- trees gleaming along their ledges in the sunlight, like the spears of a celestial army. Little stream-. a a A Se a = a pee ear GORGE. 307 q pecs on both sides flow down the rocky gullies in one long continuous line of foam from the clouds 3 to the sea, and make a pleasant all-pervading % “murmur in the air. The water of the Hardanger z: Fjord in this place is of a deep green tint, and in the chart is marked as upwards of a thousand - feet deep. There is no shelving shore, but the q rocks go straight down into the profound depths. _ After two hours’ rowing through this magnificent _ scenery, we came, on the right bank of the fjord, - to the entrance of a wild gorge, through which flowed the foaming waters of the Skjeggedal _ torrent. An enormous wall of rock rose up on - the left side without ledge or break, destitute of the slightest tinge of verdure. On the other side _ the precipice was more sloping, and admitted here _ and there of a few clumps of birches and pines ' growing on its shelving sides. The mouth of the - gorge was filled with great banks of débris brought % down by the stream in the course of ages; and $ on these, which were carefully cultivated, stood a _ small but very neat-looking hamlet, called Tys- _ sedal. The people were busy hay-making—gather- ing the natural grass, and piling it, to dry in the ; sun, on the upright framework of wood which is _ bodices, white sleeves, and unusually large pic- ~ turesque-looking caps, were singing a wild Nor- _ wegian jodel, while tossing about the hay. The "position of this hamlet struck us as exceedingly — | xX 2 308 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. precarious. It seemed to fill up all the available | space in the gorge, and it looked as if a storm — of more than ordinary severity might have washed both houses and fields down into the sea. ) ‘ Crossing the foaming torrent, which for half a mile agitated the placid waters of the fjord, we | moored our boat in a sheltered creek, and stepped | on shore. As we entered the frowning portals of the gorge, leading to the great inner mystery of | the waterfall, we had a feeling of strange awe, such | as the Assyrians of old must have experienced when passing between the monstrous human- - headed bulls that guarded the > gates er sthem temples. Our course at first lay up) iitemetces bank of the river on the right hand, through a fine wood of Scotch firs, whose great red trunks . and rich green foliage would have done credit to any nobleman’s park. The sun shone through the openings between the trees in bright belts of gold on the mossy sward, crowded with myriads of whortleberries, whose glossy leaves and clusters of white bells excited our admiration. I never saw such a quantity of the beautiful Lzxx@a borealis— called by the Norwegians wizdgrds—growing any- where as in this wood. Its modest pink blossoms © covered every available space, and its rich fragrance } pervaded all the air, producing, along with the ] resinous scent of the firs, a peculiarly delightful and exhilarating impression. Fine specimens of the Melampyrum sylvaticum, with flowers larger ] and yellower than those of the same species in |] ph, th hy - ” 3 p ‘, - Pas « ao a Gi? 3 -—s : yi mY ! ce oe country, bloomed on every side; and as it subsisting upon those of other plants, it would here find rich nourishment from the luxuriant vegeta- tion. Ferns abounded ; clusters of the tall Sztru- | thiopteris germanica, lovely patches of the fragile _ Oak Fern, and, above all, large tufts of the Woodsia _ growing everywhere among the stones. This last en: which in this country is only found in two or : three remote localities. among the loftiest moun- | q tains, is very common and abundant by the way- _ sidesin many parts of Norway—indeed, as common 4 ahaa as the Polypodium vulgare with us. Both - forms—zlvensis and hyperborea—are distributed 4 - over the country, and occur with equal frequency, ] | \ Me Backhouse of York discovered, in 1861, the - a W. glabella, an exceedingly lovely and delicate little species, at Tromsoe, in latitude 693°, at an 4 elevation of 1000 feet, below a patch of perpetual ~ snow, in company with Cystopfteris alpina and Asplenium viride. ‘This fern seems to be an bow! iad aid a a, @ a. | Ss i a Ae XV» Ar .' "=> SS £2 4 , Te ee a PLANTS AT. THE ere ee ae acre 4 pis. believed to be parasitical in its nature, its roots sg American species. -I have it from clefts of a cliff © _ at Montmorency Falls, near Quebec. It was dis- covered in 1861 also, in the Tyrol, growing on _ dolomite, by Hausmann; and in 1863, by Mr. . Churchill, one of the authors of that charming book, “The Dolomite Mountains,” in the Carnic Alps, from whom I received a specimen. There were also numerous anthills, formed of the dry a needles of the fir, like those with which the tourist _ is familiar in the pine-woods of Braemar. Some rie et J “? nee ‘a " na \ i ; i ‘yey ry oe +4 f % i A Fg f Ty's. i a Fs ? x 310 | HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. — four, of these were of enormous dimensions, and their tenants were swarming in myriads on the outside, running up and down to warm themselves in the sunshine. A. stick thrust into one of the hills smelt overpoweringly of formic acid. Gradually, as we passed through this enchanting wood, where everything was left to fall or grow in the wild yet graceful disorder of nature, the path became steeper and less defined. In some places it consisted only of a tree-trunk fixed along the sloping side of a granite rock by an iron bolt. Over this precarious footway we practised successfully a series of tight-rope performances. We were struck with the curious appearance of some of the nearer rocks, forming bands of thin, regular strata, lying over each other, exactly like the huge, unshapely slates on the roofs of Norwegian houses, or the | armour-plate of a man-of-war, and covered with the black stains of a species of Leczdea. I forgot to jot down the fact at the time, but the rocks, I should suppose, belonged to the Laurentian for- mation, in which the Lozoon Canadense, the oldest known fossil, has been found. In colour and struc- ture they resembled the dark hypersthene rocks of Loch Corruisk in Skye, which peel away when weathered in the same laminar fashion. On emerg- ing from the wood, we found ourselves on a kind of plateau of bare rock, without a particle of vegetation—not even a lichen or a moss to tint its surface. It was perfectly smooth, having evi- dently been subjected to glacier action, and sloped GLACIATED ROOKRS 28 Of PPG - rapidly down at a perilous inclination for a few yards, terminating abruptly in a precipice. Across g this - steep slope the guide walked without a -moment’s hesitation, his flat shoes catching firm hold of any roughness in the rock. I followed mechanically, though not without considerable § trepidation, for the soles of my boots were very thick and slippery, and I knew that if I lost my _ footing I could not recover it, but would be hurled j with fearful momentum down the slope into the 4 abyss. One shuddering glimpse I caught of a wild whirlpool of waters far below made my blood run cold; and as in this case discretion was the better q part of valour, I am not ashamed to own that I | willingly submitted to “a spirit of infirmity,’ and crawled on all fours. To make matters still worse, _ we had to ascend, about the middle of the passage, 3 to a higher stratum of sloping rock by means of a fir-trunk, with notches cut in the side of it for steps. I need hardly say that I breathed more freely and saw more grandeur in the scenery when we reached the other side of this dangerous roof. The pathway after this was along the edge of a _ precipice, but its terrors were concealed by a pro- fusion of trees and bushes. In a wider space, we Came upon a man and his wife busy erecting a wooden hut from the materials on the spot. An axe was their only tool, and it was wonderful what a shapely framework they had constructed by its’ means, without any nails. We asked them what induced them to build a house in such a spot. It a ee a RE ee, eae Ey time A acim ies i> aeee ee ee ae r a ‘ ee ae a, as 2 we oe . . , . : ee \ ‘ges 7 pats 312 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuar. * could not be a saeter or hill-farm, for there was no © grass around, and no possibility of housing or feed- ing cattle on such a precipitous slope. The man replied that it was intended to be an inn—I sup- © pose the “ Hétel du Skjeggedal-foss.” It seemed a _ very hopeless'speculation in present eircumstances, but it was an idea worthy of the genius that first thought of an inn on the top of Snowdon, on ~ the Riffelhorn, or the St. Theodule Pass, and de- — served from its very boldness and ong to succeed. : We had now reached the highest point of the : ascent, and were congratulating ourselves that all danger and cause of fear to weak nerves were past, when we came to a staircase that beat all structures of the kind I have ever seen. It descended for about twelve yards at an angle of some fifty-five degrees, and consisted of rough irregular steps pro- jecting an inch or two beyond each other. On the one side was a lofty wall of rock dripping wet, and covered with bright green mosses and gelatinous masses of vegetable growth, so that there was very _ little hold for the hands, while on the other there — was a sheer precipice, and far belowa raging torrent — falling into a hideously black linn; and from this danger there was nothing, not even the slightest handrail, to give one a feeling of security. It was a place to try the nerves even of a member of the | Alpine Club. When we got safely to the bottom, | : | we thought that we had accomplished a feat to be proud of all our days, but our vanity received SR ante fg ee ee Ae Pe CR AS. Ne ee es $ Lap . a , a a. 4 : , 74 < : DESCENT OF STAIR. — 313 i ——— = ie ee a severe shock when the guide, looking back upon _ the staircase, said in the most matter-of-fact voice, “Det er ond plads for hesten” (That is a bad place for horses). After all, we had only done what a ~ quadruped was in the habit of doing; though how 4 i a great long creature like a horse could manage to a come down this break-neck place, with nothing to 4 cling to, was a puzzle which I cannot yet under- _ stand. I can only say that I should like to see him at it. Astley might get a new idea from it. - There is a kind of saeter, or hill-farm, farther up _ the gorge; and its dairy produce, it seems, is 3 strapped on a horse, and thus carried down to _ Odde, where it is sold for groceries and other need- _ ful articles, which are brought back in the same picturesque fashion. Of course, no one could ride on horseback along the path by which we had come, although we found an entry in the “dag- bok” at Odde, complaining bitterly that the inn- keeper had refused to give horses for the excursion to a lady and her husband! We had previously seen in our carriole-travelling some of the remarkable feats of the Norwegian pony, but we had no idea he was capable of such an Alpine Club exploit as _ the descent of this staircase, and we vowed a vow on the spot that nothing would ever induce us to venture upon a path which a Norwegian pony could not traverse. We had now got over two very bad places, but of course we had to go back, - and the thought of returning in the same way did not add much to our peace of mind or enjoyment ee ee a The eee —— i a ie € j ? ? . P be a ve ) 7 = a _ Ret oS eg ape. pee oT Pere! Se ah re 314. | HOLIDAVS ON’HIGH LANDS. of the scenery. It was the sword of Damocles suspended over our head. The descent from this staircase was very rapid, but it was over very rugged ground. We picked our way in and out among chaotic masses of large — loose stones, evidently glacier ruins, placed at every possible angle, but generally the sharpest side uppermost. At last we came unexpectedly upon a little oasis in the wilderness—a quiet nook ~ of cultivated ground. ‘The space here was wider, _ the rocks having retired to a greater distance, and allowed more of the blue sky to be seen, and the sun to shine down unobstructedly in all his warmth and golden splendour. This miracle of refreshing greenness and beauty was evidently the slowly-— accumulated deposit of the denuding power of the stream. The soil, though light and shallow, yielded a fair crop of potatoes, and the grassy pastures were golden with buttercups, and sprinkled with white honey-sweet clover blossoms. A cluster of rude wooden houses stood on the spot amid clumps of graceful birches. A little tarn stretched out in front, into the head of which tumbled down an enormous body of foaming water from a consider- able height, while the other end of it, a little way down, discharged a powerful torrent that had to force its way through a very narrow passage in the rocks. In the struggle, the water presented a most lovely appearance, broken up and churned into snow-white billows tinged with the brightest ceru- lean hues, like the interior of glacier crevasses. aa NS a ae ei ace a a , ) Soe “BLUE COLOUR OF WATER. 315 ‘Tt was a sight that had a terrible fascination about it, and from which it was most difficult to withdraw the eye. The bright blue colour of many of the rivers and streams of Norway is owing to the % scattering of light by excessively minute foreign - particles, ground from micaceous rocks by the action of glaciers and waterfalls, and kept sus- pended in the water by its turbulent motion. A quantity of this cerulean water in a stoppered _ bottle, placed in the convergent beams of an electric _ lamp, shows a cone of light traversing the liquid of an especially rich and pure blue colour; whereas ordinary colourless water, optically homogeneous, would have transmitted the electric beam without disclosing its track. The colour of the Skjegge- dal torrent is owing to the same cause as the blue of the sky. Faraday mentions that a precipitate of _gold may be so fine as to require a month to sink _ to the bottom of a bottle five inches high. In like _ manner the particles in the water of the Skjeggedal torrent must be so minute as to take a period of time correspondingly long to subside even in the _calmest pools. As we were gazing, spell-bound, on the beautiful torrent, a strange specimen of humanity came up to us with a peculiar duck-like _ waddle. He was a young man apparently about _ eighteen years of age, blind and apparently idiotic. _ He had no chin, and his face had the strange bird- _ like look which we see in the hieroglyphic paint- ings of the Aztecs, or in South American an- a tiquities. He was conscious of the presence of a So mS ee ee ee ee) Ge — a0, — vee x. 6) ~ 6hS = i a # Py ot ee a one 7 Ne i AST 6 A ee -= . aa “ L “ - * be 2 - Pa Yt 7 * Si 316 = HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHAP. strangers, but as he gave no reply to some ques- tions that we put to him, we concluded that he was dumb also, and therefore we pitied his wretched condition in silence. I have, however, been told by a friend who visited the spot subsequently that the young man spoke very garrulously to him, was exceedingly inquisitive, and displayed no lack of intelligence. He seemed to me the strangest and most forlorn object I had ever seen. | The house into which we entered was that of the donder, or peasant proprietor, and was far superior to the others. The whole gorge of the Skjeggedal, eight miles in length, and I know not how many in breadth, belongs to this man as “udal-land,” paying no acknowledgment, real or nominal, as a feu duty or reddendo, possessed con- sequently without charter, and subject to none of the burdens and casualties affecting land held by feudal tenure. But as this property consists prin- cipally of rock and water, it is not very productive. There is a great supply of timber, however, and the quantity annually cut down and floated on the river to the Hardanger ought to yield him a com- fortable income. He informed us that he had nine milch cows, three horses, and twenty sheep, all finding a precarious subsistence on the grassy patches laid like green carpets’ on the sloping débris of the rocks. He had under him three or four married farm servants, holding cottages beside his own with a smali portion of land, rent free, but under the obligation of working for him during 7 a ey Eng a Tia? oy. oe — <= eo. 7 ry . - ‘ \ HOUSE OF BONDER. 317 - acertain number of days in the year. Our “bonnet laird,’ whose name was Jacob, had a wife and _ family of four small children, as shy as the ryper or ptarmigan of the fjelds. They were very unlike _ the inhabitants of a civilized world in look: and dress, and so unaccustomed to visitors that on our appearance they fled and hid themselves behind the maternal wing. The gudewife—a very slatternly _ woman, with a patient, depressed face—offered us acup full of rich milk. The room was large, but very bare and cold. Its only furniture consisted of a curious cooking-stove, with Pompeian figures moulded in its iron sides, two rough bedsteads covered with reindeer skins, and a dairy press well filled with cheeses, butter, and bowls of milk. On the bed was a strange wooden dish, grotesquely carved, and painted in red, blue, and yellow, filled with a dark, muddy-looking liquor. This was a species of ale, prepared, instead of hops, with the ~ leaves of a kind of ranunculus called feast, growing in miry spots. It is said to possess very peculiar intoxicating qualities, inspiring those who drink it with extraordinary activity and contempt of danger, but leaving a reaction of profound lassitude and debility. Tradition points to this beverage as that used by the famous Berserkir to inspire them with fury when going on their marauding expeditions. Our friend the farmer took a hearty draught of it, — and offered it to Lars, who very modestly touched it with his lips, after having first shaken hands with his host and hostess, as the manner of the fey & i, ee a SY 318 § HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuar. © Norwegians is when receiving any favour. It was offered to us hesitatingly, but we shook our heads. It looked such a disgusting mess, that nothing would induce us to try it; and Lars assured us afterwards that it was as abominable to the taste as to the sight. We pitied the lot of these poor people, shut up in this wild dungeon among the rocks, far from their fellow-creatures, and isolated from all the refining and ennobling influences of civilization. The contrast between their winter and summer life must be very trying. In summer their occupations are exceedingly varied, owing to the absence of all division of labour; and these are not shortened in this latitude by any interval of darkness; conse- quently they have that recreation in change of labour, which is perhaps the greatest enjoyment of a working man. But to this excessively active period succeeds a long winter of nearly nine months, during most of which there are only a few hours of daylight, while the frequent storms, and paths made impassable by snow and ice, pre- vent all communication with their nearest neigh- bours for weeks together. At such times their sufferings from enforced idleness and exmuz must be very great. Indeed it is astonishing, consider- ing the wild and gloomy character of the scenery, and the loneliness and monotony of their lives, that cases such as those of the wretched young man we met are not even more frequent. Scotch- men or Englishmen compelled to live in like cir- cumstances would infallibly go mad; but the Nor- be 4 bs a VAR GUIDE. . : 319 wegians are very patient and much- enduring, their _ tastes are simple, their wants few, and they have © never known any other mode of life, so that custom reconciles them to what to us would be unendurable. At this stage Lars had to resign his office ; for the duty of conducting us. to the waterfall now devolved upon the bonder. Going before us, there- fore, we followed him past the hamlet, through fields purple with bluebells and the largest and loveliest pansies, over a rough wooden bridge, under _ which thundered a foaming torrent, forming a fine _ waterfall among the rocks high on the left. Dressed in knee-breeches of well-worn reindeer-skin, we _ greatly admired the symmetry of his legs, and the _ firmness and precision of his tread. His were the very legs of a mountaineer, accustomed to footing it in the most precarious places. A row of large silver buttons—made out of old coins, with the _ image and superscription of Frederick of Denmark still upon them—adorned his blue woollen coat, so that he was change for two or three specie dollars at any time. He brought us to the boulder-strewn edge of the tarn, and, launching his boat, speedily ferried us across the troubled waters. We landed on a plot of peaty ground, covered with tufts of beautiful cross-leaved heather in full rosy bloom, and white with the large flowers of the J/oltibéer, or cloud-berry, which would afford many a deli- cious feast when the: rich orange fruit was ripe. Clambering up by the side of a craggy knoll, over ns i iis a gk emis Utena eS ae a orl eres HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. — [oar which the aforesaid waterfall coe itself ‘ so smooth and transparent at the top, before it was — churned into foam, that the rock underneath could be plainly seen,—we came to the edge of another lake, four miles in length, and about half a mile. wide, called the Ringedal’s Vand. It-is upwards of a thousand feet above the level of the Hardanger Fjord, and is surrounded on .every side, except where it discharges itself in the cataract, by lofty rocks which rise perpendicularly from the water’s edge to a height of between two and three thou- sand feet. In a few places only is there any sloping sround formed of the débris brought down by — waterfalls on either side; and such ground, covered ~ with dwarf birches and bright green grass, formed a refreshing contrast to the dark frown of the barren rocks. I always looked out for such places, and had a feeling of relief when nearing them, for there at least I knew that I could scramble out and find a footing if anything happened to the rickety boat. Wherever there are any ledges or crevices in the precipices, there the hardy spruce and Scotch fir flourish. Hundreds of trees, with astonishing _ pertinacity, cling to the most fearful places, where there is hardly a particle of soil to nourish them ; and their gnarled roots, fully exposed, crawling — over the bare rock, look like the talons of a bird of prey. When passing by, close to the shore, we saw the farmer's servants perched above us on a precipitous rock, cutting down a huge fir, or lopping off its branches, and squaring its trunk for the ct, RINGEDAL'’S VAND. 321 ; market—their boat lying moored close by ; while, on "a projecting crag over the cataract, others of them _ were pushing with a long pole into the current the - logs that had got jammed together in the back water. Both occupations looked very perilous, but ' the men seemed cool, smoking their pipes, and hailing us with a very cheery “gud-dag.” Lars a and the farmer took an oar each, and rowed us — across the current to the other side of the lake in ' alarming proximity to the edge of the waterfall. _ None but strong and practised boatmen could hold _ their own here, and keep the boat in the right ' place. The breaking of an oar would be fatal. _ The water was cold as ice, and very deep, between _ one and two hundred fathoms, the bonder assured us. Its colour was dark indigo blue, the colour of the ocean when deepest; but in one or two places, where the depth decreased near a projecting pro- montory of boulders, it was of a rich green. Nothing could be more soft and tender than the gradations of this tint made by the water shoaling to the edge; gleams of malachite and emerald vanishing in transparent aqua-marine, and strangely inter- spetsed with cobalt hues from the darker depths. It was a miracle of colour such as would have astonished and delighted a painter’s heart. Several waterfalls poured down the cliffs on either side, the finest of which was the Tysses- _trengene. It was very peculiar, consisting of two - distinct falls, formed by two torrents—separate, } and yet blending strangely ppestior. The. ong: Y : : i ‘ i ) 3 xy 4 * x: 5 ara a “ - * % ty 3 eae __ s ee 322 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. _ [cuav. leapt down straight as a rod for three or four hundred feet, preserving its integrity to the bot- tom; the other formed a curious curve ; and both disappeared in a dark chasm, from which issued a rainbow-wreathed cloud of spray. A great curtain _ of the purest snow hung over the brew of the rock where they both came in sight, and the blue of the sky above it was wonderfully quiet and intense from the contrast. Altogether there was some- thing so spirit-like and ethereal in the source and destiny of these twin waterfalls, issuing apparently from the same snow-wreath far up, and vanishing in the same rainbow-tinted cloud of spray, that we were quite lost in admiration of the sight, and thought this of itself a sufficient recompense of our excursion. On the banks of one of the twin- streams, a long way beyond the precipice, there is a mountain-farm, called Floren, whose’ loneliness and dreariness must be uncommon even in Norway. Another farther down is called Lia. How the inhabitants get out of the place and into com- munication with their nearest neighbours is to me incomprehensible. The path must be as dreadful as that of the “Dead Man’s Ride” in Vettie-gial. Looking back, when we had advanced about a mile on the lake, the scene was truly extraordinary. The rocks had come together and closed up the entrance, so that we were surrounded on every side by vertical precipices, and there seemed no outlet. It required little exercise of imagination to picture ourselves the ghostly crew of Charon ie DANTESQUE SCENERY. 323 ‘sailing over the Stygian pool. There was some- thing truly infernal in the look of the place, from “which a warm human heart recoiled. Dante and Dore might have felt at home in it, but our tamer spirits craved for something less terrific and more earthly. The sun was shut out by the overhanging ‘rocks, and the light was therefore dim and feeble. We were chilled to the marrow by the cold air of ‘the water; and when the clouds gathered, and a heavy shower fell, increasing the sublimity of the | scene, the climax of our discomfort was reached. ‘I would advise future visitors to take with them, for this part of the way, a plentiful supply of rugs, ‘for the temperature, even on the hottest day, is like that of the Arctic regions. I know not if there be any superstitious legends connected with fis tearful lake. If not, there should be; for I cannot picture a more appropriate haunt for those ‘strange beings, half human and half spiritual, which, according to the Northern mythology, infest ‘the dark fathomless fjords, and require to be ap- “peased every year by the drowning of one or more human victims. It seemed easy, in such a place, to understand how the wildest tales of spirits and “monsters of the deep originated. It would be almost impossible to live in Norway and not be ‘superstitious. The powers of nature are so terrible, and on so grand a scale, that they could not fail ‘to be personified and invested with a dread control over human life. | | _ Turning the corner of a great dripping promon- _ YZ 324 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuap. tory that rose straight from the water into the clouds, like a castle of Thor, a sight burst upon | us which for a minute or two nearly took away our breath. It was the Skjeggedal-foss at last! ‘This first glimpse of it was one of those climaxes of life which contrast strangely with its usual tame- ness and monotony, and cause us to wonder at the ‘suddenly revealed greatness of our being. There before us was the jealously-guarded secret of the gorge, of which every object all the way had been conscious—the fierce yet beautiful Pythoness of this inmost shrine of nature. As if by one consent the men paused upon their oars, and. we gazed in silence. To utter our admiration while that mighty tongue was pouring out its mystic secrets to the trembling rocks we felt would be sacrilege. All waterfalls have a strong family likeness, and should therefore be left to the imagination to sketch. This one, however, had some peculiar features. The body of water was enormous, and the height | upwards of 600 feet. It fell sheer down from the edge of the precipice without touching the rock; | and though a great quantity of vapour was dis- | engaged, the vast mass of its waters reached the | bottom entire with a solid sound like the fall of a great avalanche. We were upwards of a mile from it, but even at this distance the noise was so penetrating, so transfixing, that the roll of thunder, or the firing of artillery, can give no idea of its fulness and solemnity. As we drew | nearer the cataract increased in size and sublimity ; THE WATERFALL, 325 while the rocks literally overhung the water. The Ps summits of those on the left were broken up into the most fantastic outlines—rude resemblances of n nonks, sphinxes, and castles, some of which were walf-detached and seemed ready to. topple down. Great patches of snow lay wedged in the shady recesses, and increased the peculiarly grey weather- beaten look of the precipices. No more venerable ‘rocks than these bold gigantic masses of gneiss and “mica-schist can be found in the world. They are - like exposed portions of the skeleton of the earth ; ; and one feels, in looking at them, the appropriate. _ ness of the title, “4Aldgamle Rige,? “primeval Bkingdon,” given to their native Sanery by the y aN orwegian poets. We landed on an extensive sloping bank lying “song the foot of the rocks beside the waterfall. This bank was covered with straggling dwarf Birches, and yielded a rich crop of grass wherever pitere was a clear space of soil among the great - lichen-covered boulders. It was evidently a saeter, _ for there were two or three ruinous wooden sheds ‘ erected on it for storing hay until carried down _ by boat to the farm; and several of those curious _ wooden frames for donate it were scattered about. f In the shallow inlet where we moored our boat, : _ the bottom was composed entirely of thin round _ pieces of mica-schist, all of the same size, and so like coins that we offered a handful of them play- La B fatty to Lars as sma penge for ein mark. They had evidently been coined in the mint of the -* > 2 , s 6 ee ie ee Bate ok Pee FY Pied ite os eke le VU gh =r z "aii te! El iene ‘ he es . \ > “3296. ~HOLIDAVS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuat. waterfall. I gathered several very rare lichens and mosses among the stones. Nothing could exceed the variety and richness of the flowers growing in the more sheltered places. It was a | curious combination of plants which in this country. are never seen together. Lowland and Alpine species bloomed side by side without any incon- gruity. Bluebells, pansies, marsh-marigolds, lilies of the valley, ragged robins, displayed their familiar charms in loving sisterhood with the shiest beauties which in Britain are found only in one or two isolated spots among the loftiest Highland moun- tains. Ajuga alpina, Bartsia alpina, Salix reticu- lata and herbacea, Pedicularis lapponica, Cornus suecica, Rubus arcticus, Smilacina bifolia, Saxifraga cernua and rivularis, Thalictrum alpinum, Pingut- cula villosa, Sonchus alpinus, Cerastium alpinum, Ranunculus glacialis, Hterochloe borealis, Phleum alpinum, these and many more Alpine plants, exceedingly rare in Britain, were gathered on this little plot of ground. Here, as on the summits of the Highland mountains, the Szlene acaulis formed great soft carpets on the mossy ground, with its tufted foliage hardly seen for the multitude of rosy ~ blossoms. The wondrous loveliness of the large blue eyes of the Alpine Vevonica—looking out upon me from behind the shelter of every stone —haunts me still. And high on the tops of the largest boulders the magnificent Sarzfraga cotyledon © waved its long rich spike of snowy blossoms in every gust of wind. It is well named Berg-kongen, aaa LINN BENEATH WATERFALL. 327 ’ “king of the rocks,” for it is a truly royal plant. - It recalled many a delightful memory of the Alps, where I gathered it among the grandest scenes. I could have spent a whole day botanizing in this rich habitat; but as our time was limited, I was obliged to content myself with the species that came most readily to hand, leaving many a rare and beautiful plant “to blush unseen, and waste its sweetness on the desert air.” _ Wrapped in our waterproofs, we climbed among the wet rocks, past the limits of vegetation, as near as we could venture to the edge of the abyss; and there through a dense writhing mist of spray, which poured in streams from our garments, we caught a glimpse of a huge wreath of snow lining the sides of the caldron all round, which seems to be per- petual. Into the heart of this cloven wreath the cataract fell ‘with an appalling sound, and from thence plunged down in a series of smaller falls ‘into the lake. We could not see the nature of the linn beneath the cataract, for it was filled with _ blinding vapour, which rushed half-way up the sides of the black rocks and fell down again in -numberless cascades—which of themselves would have attracted admiration in any other place. ie High overhead on the sky-line the vast volume of water burst over the ledge of rock. We watched | _ it descending, churned and ground by the con- : cussion into the smallest atoms, and yet forming _ in their aggregate mass a snowy pillar of gigantic dimensions and irresistible strength. We lingered 49g. HOLIDAVS ON HIGH LANDS. on the spot, loth to leave, fascinated by the inde- scribable wildness and terror of the sight; and when we did go, we looked behind again and again, for the eye was not satisfied with seeing. We rowed safely back to the farm, where we had | the rare luxury of paying a landed proprietor a sum equivalent to two shillings and sixpence of English money, and receiving in acknowledgment of our munificence a hearty shake of the hand and “mange tak” (many thanks). The steep staircase was ascended with less trepidation than it was descended ; and over the bare house-roof of rock ~ we walked with greater boldness, in the erect attitude that becomes a man; having, at the guide’s suggestion, taken the precaution of putting off our shoes, and going across in our stockings. All the way as we descended we obtained through the trees magnificent views of the snowy plateau of the Folgefond, reddened on its highest part by the exquisite abend-glihen, or afterglow of sunset. — We reached Odde at eight o’clock, moderately fatigued and immensely gratified with our ex- _ cursion, but leaving the comparative merits of the Voring-foss and the Skjeggedal-foss an open ques- tion, to be settled for himself by each tourist who _ follows in our footsteps. e ne One ee "aa rca’ » ” CHAPTER Vi. me PASS AND HOSPICE.OF THE GREAT ST. BERNARD. + THERE is no episode in continental travel more _ interesting at the time, and more suggestive of pleasing memories afterwards, than a visit to the _. Great St. Bernard Hospice. It does one moral as well as physical good. The imagination is stimu- . lated by the associations of the place, and the Sa a a eae a) < ‘ w 4 heart filled with the feverish unrest and love of excitement so characteristic of the present age is _ rebuked and calmed by the loneliness and mono- tony of the life. Every one has heard of its dogs and monks, and its travellers rescued from the snow-storms. Pictures of it used to. excite our wonder in the days of childhood; descriptions of it in almost every Swiss tourist's book have inte- rested us in maturer years; while not a few of us have made a pilgrimage to the spot, and thus given ‘to the romantic dreams and fancies of early life a local habitation and a name. Still, trite and worn- out as the subject may appear, it is impossible by any amount of familiarity to divest it of its undying 330 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHaP. charm; and those who have visited the scene, so far from their interest in it being exhausted, have only been made more enthusiastic in its favour, and more anxious to compare or contrast their own experience with that of every new traveller who writes upon it. To the botanist especially the region is exceedingly interesting. In ascending the pass he has an opportunity of noticing the various types of vegetation that occur in the dif- ferent zones of altitude, from the plants of Southern Europe in the valleys to the Arctic flora below the line of perpetual snow. There are few places where so great a variety of Scandinavian forms may be > gathered as on this crest of the Pennine Alps, growing among forms that are peculiar to the locality. Even the unscientific traveller is struck with their extreme luxuriance and beauty. They form an essential feature in the landscape, which the most careless will notice and remember with pleasure long afterwards, associating the beds of - lovely Alpine plants with the fresh, bracing air, the bright rejoicing waters, and the noble pros- pects of the mountain heights. About the beginning of August, sevens years ago, I had the pleasure of visiting this celebrated spot in company with two friends. We set out early in the morning in a char-a-banc, or native droskey, drawn by a mule from the “ Hétel Grande-Maison- Porte,’ at Martigny, the Roman Octodurus, and the seat of the ancient bishops of Valais. This is a low, damp, uninteresting place, much infested — Maa a He tqun gee rept ats pre 4, ay a ae Fay etal Cerne Se eS i nid 5 al ie 1 ) “ ui & C by —" be : a eee vee me MARTIGNY. 331 ' by a small, black gnat, whose sting is very _ painful, bred in the marshes of the Rhone. Being ' a capital centre of excursions to Lago Maggiore - over the Simplon, to Aosta and Turin over the St. Bernard pass, and to Chamouni by the Téte- _ Noire, or the Col de Balme, it is exceedingly gay and animated every evening during the summer, owing to the arrival of tourists, and desolate and deserted every morning, owing to their departure. The sun was shining with almost tropical heat, rapidly ripening the walnuts along the avenues of the town, and the grapes hanging in rich profusion on the trellises of the houses; the sky was without a cloud, and everything promised a delightful trip. ‘Passing through a small unsavoury village called Martigny le Bourg, our route crossed the Dranse by a substantial bridge; and at a little distance beyond a guide-post indicated to the right the way to Chamouni, and to the left to St. Bernard. The entrance by the pass of the Dranse is magnificent, -- reminding us, though on a grander scale, of the. mouth of Glenlyon in Perthshire. Lofty slopes, and precipices richly wooded, approached from both sides so closely that there was hardly room left for the passage of the powerful stream, which, turbid with glacier mud, roared and foamed over enormous blocks of stone. The road, without para- pet or railing, overhung the river, and in one place was carried through a tunnel called the Gallerie Monaye, upwards of two hundred feet long, cut out of the solid rock. We passed through scattered 932: HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHar. villages sweetly embosomed among walnut and chesnut trees, but presenting many saddening signs. of the poverty and wretchedness of the inhabitants. An unusually large proportion of the people were afflicted with goitres, and here and there we saw sitting on the thresholds of their dirty chalets loathsome cretins, basking in the sun, whose short, shambling figures and unnaturally large round heads and leering faces afflicted us amid the beauty of nature around like a nightmare. The ground was everywhere most carefully culti- vated. Every particle of soil among the rocks, however scanty or steep, was terraced up with walls, and made to yield grass, corn, or potatoes. High up on the brink of precipices that seemed almost inaccessible, bright green spots indicated the laborious care of the peasantry ; and to these, as soon as the winter snows diappeared, sheep were carried up every year, one by one on men’s backs, and left there till the end of summer, when they were carried down, considerably fattened, in the same picturesque fashion. The lower meadows by the roadside were exceedingly beautiful, of the most vivid green, covered with myriads of purple crocuses and scarlet vetches, and murmurous with the hum of innumerable grasshoppers. Gay butter- flies, and insects of golden and crimson hues, never seen in this country, flitted past in the warm sun- shine; and the fragrance of the Arolla pines filled all the air with a highly stimulating aromatic balm. As it was the festal day of the “Assumption of the “YO ) Se Bw oes 5 . ae v1] DEBACLE OF DRANSE. 333 Virgin,” one of the grandest fetes of the Roman Catholic Church, groups of peasants,—the men dressed in the brown cotton blouses peculiar to the district, and the women wearing a curious head- _. dress consisting of a broad tinselled ribbon plaited and set on edge round a cap, each carrying her prayer-book in her hand, wrapped in a white pocket-handkerchief,—passed us on their way to the chapel at Martigny. On all sides we noticed exceedingly distinct traces of two great natural phenomena which had overwhelmed the district, separated from each other by thousands of years. _ Almost every exposed rock was polished and striated by ancient glaciers; and the granite boulders, which they had brought down with them, were seen perched upon the schist and limestone precipices hundreds of feet above the river. The whole valley from St. Bernard to Mar- tigny, with its tributary glens, must have been the channel of a vast system of glaciers descending from the crest of the Pennine Alps during the glacial epoch, when all the glaciers of Europe and Asia were far more extensive than they are now. The other phenomenon to which allusion has been made was also caused by glacier action, but of a different kind. In one of the narrow side gorges of the valley, called the Val de Bagne, there is a glacier known as the Glacier de Getroz, which hangs suspended over a cliff five hundred feet high. The end of this glacier is continually breaking off, and falling over the precipice into the bottom of a 334 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. — [cnar. the gorge, where the fragments of ice accumulate and form enormous heaps. In the year 1818 these fallen masses had been piled up to an unparalleled extent, and choked up the narrow, vault-like outlet of the gorge. Behind this icy dam the water of the east branch of the Dranse increased, until at length a lake was formed, nearly a mile long, a quarter of a mile wide, and about two hundred feet deep. The inhabitants of the valley watched anxiously the gradual rise of the waters, knowing that when the warm season should come the icy bank would melt, and the reservoir be at once dis- charged. Many of them fled in the spring, with their goods and cattle, to the higher pasturages. A tunnel, seven hundred feet long, was cut into the ice, which gradually let off a considerable part of the water without any damage. Buta hot June sun and the warmth of the water so gnawed into the ice that on the afternoon of the 16th of the month the barrier burst all at once, and a pro- digious mass of water, upwards of five hundred . and thirty millions of cubic feet, rushed down the valley with fearful fury, carrying everything before it, and marking its course all the way to the Lake of Geneva, fifty miles distant, with gigantic ruins. Many lives were lost, and property to nearly the value of a million sterling was destroyed. To pre- vent a repetition of this awful calamity, for a simi- lar event occurred in 1595, and the same cause is | still in operation, spring water is led by means of a long wooden trough to the dam of ice formed Pr]: ~ LIDDES. ee 335 - by the falling fragments of the glacier; and the warmth of this water cuts like a saw the ice as soon as deposited, and thus cleaves a passage for the river and prevents its waters from accumu- lating. The autograph of this tremendous inun-— dation was written, like the mystic “ Mene, mene,” of Belshazzar’s palace, in the huge stones in the bed of the river, and in the gravelly and stony spots far up the sides of the valley, mingling with the relics of ancient glacier action, but easily dis- tinguishable from them. Passing through Sembranchier, a Hictlncsaiie village, with the ruins of an enormous castle of the Emperor Sigismund on a hill in its vicinity, and Orsiéres, situated at the junction of the valleys of Ferret and Entremont, distinguished by a very ancient tower rising high above its curious houses —the road ascended by a series of well-executed zig-zags through a rich and highly-cultivated country to Liddes. Deep down among wild rocks the Dranse pursued its turbulent course unseen, revealing its presence only by an all-pervading murmur in the air. The view extended over an undulating upland landscape of green fields, di- versified by wooden frames for drying the corn, somewhat like the curious structures for drying hay to be seen on Norwegian mountain farms. The huge summit of Mont Velan, 12,000 feet high, formed the most conspicuous object on the horizon before us, its dark rocks contrasting finely with its dazzling snows and the rich fields of deep blue Rie Ce nh = ere re r ; 4 3 : . : a ai phases ee | 336 = HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. — \ewap. \) sky above it. A cool breeze blew down upon us_ from the snowy heights, and was inexpressibly refreshing ‘after the stifling heat of the valley. In fields by the roadside we saw quantities of a dwarf Delphinium or Lark’s-spur, whose blossoms were of the loveliest and most brilliant blue colour. About four o’clock in the afternoon we came to a strange old village, called. St. Pierre——the last on the route,—situated on a kind of plateau, about 5000 feet above the level of the sea. It was a very dirty, miserable place; and we were victimized by the innkeeper of the Hétel au Dejeuner Napoléon, having been charged fifteen francs for a blue scraggy chicken, not much larger than a sparrow, a plate of potatoes fried in rancid grease, and a bottle of Beaujolais wine as sour as vinegar. A remarkably quaint old church, built in the tenth century, still exists in the village. A tablet with — a Latin inscription by Bishop Hugo of Geneva, the founder of the church, commemorates a victory obtained by the inhabitants over the Saracens, who had ravaged the district with fire and sword. A Roman milestone is also built into the wall of the enclosure near the tower. In modern times the place is chiefly interesting as being one of the resting-places of Napoleon in his passage over the Alps, and the birthplace of his famous guide. A little beyond it there is a deep gorge with a splendid, full-bodied waterfall, which we visited. The sides of the pools and the sloping banks were | fringed with clusters of tall monkshood, whose ‘vt] ~—- FOREST OF ST. PIERRE. 337 blue flowers mingled with the snowy foam of the water; while the large yellow flowers of the Swiss foxglove (Digitalis grandiflora) peeped out with a very brilliant effect among the bushes. Across the gorge, a frail bridge, with an arched gateway, © constructed by Charlemagne, gave access to the -main road, which led through the forest of St. » Pierre in the Defilé de Charreire, and was cut in many places out of the solid rock. Below us, at _ the foot of perpendicular precipices several hundred . feet in depth, the Dranse, still a powerful stream, 3 formed innumerable foaming cascades. There was no wall or abutment to protect us. The off-hand wheel of the conveyance was always within a foot of the edge. I was sitting on the side nearest the precipice, and often could have easily let fall a stone from my hand right down into the river. The least false movement on the part of the driver would inevitably have hurled us over to destruc- tion. And yet we went safely and pleasantly along at full speed, our hearts now and then, when we came to a more trying place than usual, per- haps a little higher than their normal position. It was in this defile of Charreire that Napoleon encountered his most formidable difficulties. The old road was declared by Marescat, chief of the engineers, as “barely passable for artillery.” “It is possible! let us start then!” was the heroic reply of his master. It was a favourite maxim with him that wherever two men could set foot an army had the means of passing; and he acted : Z 7 a! 338 = HOLIDAYS ON. HIGH LANDS. [CHAP. upon that maxim on this occasion. As it was about the end of May, the snows were melting fast, and thus greatly increased the dangers and difficulties of the route. “The artillery carriages: were taken to pieces and packed on mules; the ammunition was also thus transported ; whilst the | guns themselves, placed on the trunks of trees hollowed out, were dragged up by main strength, ——a hundred soldiers being attached to each can- non, for which laborious undertaking they received the sum of 1200 francs. At the Hospice each soldier partook of the hospitality of the brethren.” In about an hour and a half we came to a solitary inn, called the Cantine de Proz, kept by a man of the name of Dorset, who is very civil | to travellers. No other dwelling was in sight. A number of diminutive cows wandered about on the short smooth turf, bright with the lovely Alpine clover ; the sweet tinkling of their bells, combined with the monotonous sighing of the infant Dranse, giving us a lonely and far-away feeling, as if we had reached the end of the world. A corner of the Glacier de Menouve, of dazzling whiteness, appeared in sight, far up among stern precipitous rocks, of a peculiarly bald and weather-worn ap- pearance. Above the cantine, a little plain, called the Plan de Proz, about 5500 feet above the sea, sloped up, seamed in every direction with grey watercourses, but gemmed with innumerable bril- | liant clusters of the snowy gentian. Leaving our conveyance at the inn, and taking with us the , : ; - DEFILE DE MARENGO. ~~ 339 mule and the driver as a guide, we set off on foot across the plain, to the entrance of a kind of gorge, called the Defilé de Marengo, which is exceedingly steep and difficult of ascent. A considerable ‘stream, confined within narrow bounds, roars and foams within a few feet of the pathway, so that in wet weather its swollen waters must render the defile impassable. Among the rocks, wherever any particles of soil lodged, rich cushions of moss ‘spread themselves, wild auriculas nestled in the vices, and large patches of crowberry and black- berry bushes crept over the boulders. These ‘blackberry bushes fringed the pathway up to within a short distarice of the Hospice; and nowhere in ‘Scotland have we seen the fruit so plentiful or so large and luxurious. Basketfuls could be gathered in a few minutes without diverging more than a yard or two from our course; and yet it seems never to be touched. The sides of the stream were decked with the large woolly leaves and ‘brown flowers of the Alpine Zussdlago, which takes ‘the place at this elevation of the common butter- bur, whose enormous umbrella-like leaves form such a picturesque adornment of lowland rivulets. “After an hour’s stiff ascent, we came to two ‘ruinous-looking chalets, built of loose stones, one of which served as a place of refuge for cattle, while the other was the old morgue, now used as a shelter-place for travellers, where they wait, if overtaken by storms, till the servants of the come down with a dog to their rescue, - 7, 2 : Ve ‘eieet je Oe mats us al 2 ce ‘ 340 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. ‘[crap. which they do every morning when the weather is unusually severe. They bring with them on such occasions wine and provisions to restore the exhausted and half-frozen traveller; and guided by the faithful dogs, who alone know the way,— thirty feet of snow being not unfréquently accu- mulated in the worst parts of the pass,—they are all brought safely to the hospitable shelter of the ; convent. From this point the defile receives the ominous name of the Valley of Death; and the track is marked by tall black poles, and here and there by a cross, marking the scene of some tragic event. Within a short distance of the Hospice, an iron cross commemorates the death of one of the monks who perished on that spot by an ava- lanche in November 1845. Between these grim | memorials of those to whom the place had been indeed the valley of the shadow of death we toiled up the rough and arduous path, panting and per- spiring, greatly aided by our alpenstocks. For my own part, I thought the way would never end. I turned corner after corner of the defile, but still | no trace of human habitation. My knees were about to give way with fatigue, the rarity of the air was making itself known to me in thirst and headache, my pulse had advanced from 60 beats — at Martigny to 83 at this elevation, and I would gladly have rested awhile. But the shades of | night were falling fast, so the banner with the strange device had still to be unfurled. I had in | my own experience during this ascent a more on a i a a IE a cA i I i can THE VALLEY OF DEATH. 341 ‘vivid conception than I could otherwise have ‘realized of the feverish longing -which the lost wanderer in the snow has for a place of refuge and rest. If I, a mere summer tourist, bent upon ‘reaching the Hospice only to gratify a love of adventure, and to realize a romantic sensation, had ‘such a desire, how much more ardent must be the longing of the poor traveller, overtaken by the dreadful tourmente, blinded and benumbed by the furious drift, to whom reaching the Hospice _is a matter of life and death! At last, at the very summit of the pass, I saw the Hospice looming above me, its windows glittering in the setting ‘sun. Fatigue and weariness all forgotten, I eagerly _clambered up the remaining part of the ascent, _along a paved road overhanging a precipice, and in a few minutes stood beside the open door. At first I could hardly realize the fact that the convent, about which I had read so much, which I had so often seen in pictures and pictured in dreams, was actually before me. It had a very familiar look, appearing exactly as I had imagined. _I did not approach it in the orthodox fashion,— _ exhausted and half-frozen amid the blinding drifts _of a snow-storm, and dragged in on a dog’s back! On the contrary, the evening was calm and summer-like ; the surrounding peaks retained the last crimson blush of the exquisitely beautiful _abend-glihen, or after-glow of sunset; the little lake beside the convent mirrored the building on its tranquil bosom ; the snow had retreated from > Pye Pert —— I de a we nh Beted fe eed ere 842 9’ HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuar. the low grounds, and only lingered on the lesser — heights in the form of hardened patches wedged — in the shady recesses of the rocks. I could not have seen the place under more favourable au- spices; and yet, nevertheless, the scene was in- expressibly forlorn and melancholy: There was an air of utter solitude and dreariness about it which I have never seen equalled, and which oppressed me with a nameless sadness. There was no colour in the landscape,—no cheerful green, or warm brown, or shining gold, such as relieves even the most sterile moorland scenery in this country. Everything was grey and cold—the _ building was grey, the rocks were grey, the lake was grey, the vegetation was grey, the sky was _ grey; and when the evening glow vanished, the lofty peaks around assumed a livid ghastly hue, which even the sparkling of their snowy drapery in the first beams of the moon could not enliven. Not a tree, not a shrub, not even a heather bush, was in sight. It seemed as if Nature, in this re- mote and elevated region, were dead, and that Ea was gazing upon its shrouded corpse in a chamber: draperied with the garments of woe. The Monastery itself is a remarkably plain build- ing, destitute of all architectural pretensions. It is in fact a huge barn, built entirely for use and not for elegance. It consists of two parts—one fitted up as a chapel, and the other containing the cells of the monks, and rooms for the accommodation of. travellers, divided from each other by whitewashed ee Le - HOTEL DE ST. LOUIS. 343 wooden partitions. It is built in the strongest Manner,—the walls being very thick, and the win- ‘dows numerous, small, and doubly-glazed, so as ‘most effectually to withstand the fearful storms of winter. There is a small separate building on the other side of the path, called the Hotel de St. Louis, which is used as a granary, and as a sleeping- place for beggars and tramps. It also provides a refuge in case of fire, from which the Hospice has frequently suffered severely, being on two occasions nearly burnt to the ground. Ladies were formerly entertained in this building, as it -was deemed out of place to bring them into the Monastery. But these scruples have now been overcome, and ladies are freely admitted to all parts of the place, and allowed to sleep in the ordinary rooms. The monks of the present day have not the same dread of the fair sex which their patron saint is said to have cherished. Indeed, the good fathers are particularly delicate and profuse in their attentions to ladies, giving to them the best places at table, and serving them with the choicest viands. In fact, the company of ladies is one of the best letters of introduction that a party can bring with them; for though the monks are proverbially kind and attentive to all persons without distinction, and especially considerate, from a sympathetic feeling, towards bachelors, yet if they have a warmer place than another in their hearts, it is reserved for lady travellers ; and who would blame them for it? ~ 344 § HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cuap. The St. Bernard Hospice is the highest per- manent habitation in Europe, being 8200 feet | above the level of the sea, or nearly twice the height of Ben Nevis. There are, indeed, several chalets in the Alps that are still higher, but they are tenanted only during the three summer — months, when the people employ themselves in | tending goats and manufacturing cheeses from — their milk. About the end of September they are deserted, and the shepherds descend to the valleys. The severity of the climate at the Hos- pice is so great, that the snow never leaves the level ground for nine months in the year. Snow showers are almost always falling, even in the mildest weather; and there are scarcely three successive days in the whole twelve months free from blinding mists and biting sleet. The mean temperature is 30° Fahr., exactly that of the South Cape of Spitzbergen. In summer it never exceeds 48°, even on the hottest day; and in winter, particularly in February, the thermometer not .| unfrequently falls 40° below zero,—a degree of cold of which we in this country can form no conception. What greatly increases the severity of the climate is the fact that the Hospice is situated in a gorge pierced nearly from north- 4 east to south-west, in the general direction of | the Alps, and consequently in the course of the prevailing winds; so that, even in the height of | July, the least breath of the dzse, or north wind, ~ sweeping over the lofty snow region, always brings _ et kane TL OH a EES, : em x oa Sad 4 aa SEVERITY OF CLIMATE. 345 with it a degree of cold extremely uncomfortable. _ The effect of this bitter Arctic climate upon the monks, as might be expected, is extremely disas- trous. The strongest constitution soon gives way “under it. Headaches, pains in the chest and liver, are sadly common. Even the dogs themselves, hardy though they are, soon become rheumatic and die. Seven years is the longest span of their life, and the breed is with the utmost difficulty kept up. All the monks are young men, none of them having the grey hair, and long venerable beard, and feeble stooping gait, which are usually associated with the monastic fraternity. In fact, the intensity of the climate prevents any one from reaching old age. The prior, M. Joseph de PEglise, has been longer in the convent than any _ other monk, having spent there considerably more than the half of his life. But though only forty- six years of age, he looked a withered, pinched old man, suffering constantly and acutely from the disorders of the place, yet bearing his illnesses in patient uncomplaining silence, and going about his work as though nothing were the matter with him. The monks begin their noviciate, which usually lasts about fourteen years, at the age of eighteen; but few of them live to complete it. The first year of residence is the least trying, as the stock of health and energy they have brought with them enables them successfully to resist the devitalizing influence of the monotonous life and _ the severe climate ; but every succeeding year they 346 _ HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHap. become less and less able to bear the cold and privations, and they go about the convent the ghosts of their former selves, blue and thin and shivering. Before they have succumbed, they go down to the sick establishments in the milder climate of Martigny or Aosta, or they serve as parish priests in the different valleys around. But, in many cases, this remedy comes too late. They perish at their posts, literally starved to death. The annals of the convent contain many sad records of such devotion; and they thrill the heart with sympathy and admiration. We mounted the stair in front of the door of the Hospice, and entered, preceded by our guide. In the wall of the Vestibule we noticed a large black marble tablet, bearing the: following inscription in gilt letters : “ Napoleoni I. Francorum Imperatori, semper augusto Reipublicze Valesianze restauratori, semper optimo A‘gyptiaco, bis Italico, semper invicto, in monte Jovis et Sempronii semper memorando respublica Valesiz grata, 2 Dec. 1804.” At the top of a short flight of steps, our guide rang a large bell twice, and immediately a door opened and a polite and gentlemanly monk appeared, dressed in a long black coat with white facings, and with a high dark cap, similarly decorated, upon his head. He welcomed us with much polite- ness, and beckoning us to follow him, conducted us through a long vaulted corridor, dimly lighted by a solitary lamp, where the clang of an iron gate ~ shutting behind us, and the sound of our own evi - - RECEPTION-ROOM. OM aA? . footsteps on the stone floor, produced a hollow reverberation. He brought us into a narrow room, with one deeply-recessed window at the end, con- taining three beds simply draped with dark crimson curtains, and all the materials for a comfortable toilet. There are about eighty beds for travellers of better condition in the monastery, and accom- modation for between two and three hundred persons of all classes at one time. Speedily re- moving our travel-stains, we rejoined our host in the corridor, who showed us into the general reception room, where we found lights and: a smouldering wood fire upon the hearth. The walls of the room, lined with pine wainscot, were . hung with engravings and paintings, the gifts of grateful travellers; while in one corner was a piano, presented by the Prince of Wales shortly after his visit to the Hospice. Two long tables occupied the sides, covered with French newspapers and periodicals, among which we noticed several recent numbers of Galiguanzt and the J/llustrated London News. We went instinctively at once to the fire, bat found it monopolized by a party of Italians and Germans, who showed no disposition to admit us within the magic circle. We elbowed our way in, however, and had the satisfaction of crouching over the smouldering logs with the rest, and admir- ing the beautifully-carved marble mantel-piece: One of the monks very considerately came in with an armful of wood and a pair of bellows, 348 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHap. and, replenishing the fire, speedily produced a cheerful blaze, which thawed us all into good- humour and genial chattiness. We felt the cold exceedingly; the thermometer in one of the windows of the room registering six degrees below the freezing point. At Martigny, in the morning, the thermometer indicated about eighty degrees in the shade; so that in less than twelve hours we had passed from a tropical heat sufficient to blister the skin exposed to it to an Arctic cold capable of benumbing it with frost-bites. The rooms of the convent are heated all the year round; and at what an expense and trouble it may be judged, when the fact is mentioned, that every particle of the fuel consumed is brought on the backs of mules over the Col de Fenetre, a continuous ascent of nine thousand feet, from the convent forest in the valley of Ferret, twelve miles distant. Water, too, boils at this elevation at about 187° Fahr., or twenty-five degrees sooner than the normal point; and in consequence of this it takes five hours to cook a piece of meat, which would have taken only three hours to get ready down in the valleys, and a most inordinate quantity of fuel is consumed in the kitchen during the process. The most essential element of life in this terrible climate is yet, sad to say, too rare and precious to be used in sufficient quantity. What would not the poor monks give for a roaring blazing coal fire, such as cheers in almost limitless measure our homes on the winter nights, when $ ? : : 9 , vid oe SUPPER. 349 ‘they sit shivering over the dim glimmer of a wood fire carefully doled out in ounces! Having arrived too late for supper, which is usually served at six, the dinner hour being at -. noon, an impromptu meal was provided for us and the other travellers who were in the same position. Though hastily got up, the cooking of it would have done credit to the best hotel in Maitigny. It consisted of excellent soup, roast chamois, and boiled rice and milk, with prunes. _ A bottle of very superior red wine, which was said to be a present from the King of Sardinia, was put beside each person; and a small dessert of nuts and dried fruits wound up the entertainment. The Clavandier presided, and by his courteous man- ners made every one feel perfectly at home. The conversation was carried on exclusively in French, which is the only language spoken by the fathers. Coming in contact during the summer months with travellers from all parts of the world, and devoting the long winter to hard study, in which they are helped by the superior, who is a man of great learning, the monks are exceedingly intelligent, and well acquainted with the leading events of the day, in which they take a deep interest. Some of them are proficients in music; others display a taste for natural history; and they all combine various accomplishments with their special study _ of theology and the patristic literature. They are also very liberal in their views, having none of the bigotry and intolerance which we usually associate 350 - HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [cHaP. with the monastic order, and which is so con- spicuous in the curés of the Papal Swiss cantons. A striking example of this was related to us at the time. A week before our arrival, an Episcopalian clergyman, happening to be staying with a party of Englishmen in the Hospice on a Sunday, asked permission of the superior to conduct a religious service with his countrymen in the refectory. This was not only granted with the utmost cordiality, but the chapel itself was offered to him for the purpose, which offer, however, he declined in the same spirit in which it was made, unwilling to trespass to that extent upon their catholicity. | Conversing pleasantly on various subjects with © our host and the guests around, we did ample justice to the good cheer. Fridays and Saturdays, we understood, were fast days; but though the brethren fasted, no restriction was put during those days upon the diet of travellers—the table being always simply but amply furnished. The task of purveying for the Hospice, which falls to the Clavandier, is by no means an easy one, when it is considered that upwards of sixteen thousand travellers, with appetites greatly sharpened by the keen air, are entertained every year; and not a single scrap of anything that can be eaten grows on the St. Bernard itself. All the provisions, which must consist of articles that will keep, are brought from Aosta, and stored in the magazines of the convent. During the months of June, July, and August, when the paths are open, about twenty ee OT ry FP eee _ vt] PROVISIONS OF HOSPICE. 351 horses and mules are employed every day in carry- ing in food and fuel for the long winter. The country people also bring up gifts of cheese, butter, and potatoes, in gratitude for the kind services of the monks. Several cows are kept in the convent pastures on the Italian side, and their milk affords a grateful addition to the food of the monks. During winter they have no fresh meat .-at all, being obliged to subsist upon salt beef and mutton, | usually killed and preserved in September; and what is still worse, they have no vegetables, all attempts at gardening in the place having proved abortive ; so that not unfrequently scurvy is added to their sufferings. After an hour or two’s chat around the fire, 4 and a very cursory but most interesting inspec- tion of the pile of visitors’ books, which contain many celebrated names, and a great deal that is curious and admirable in the way of comment upon the place, our host bade us all good-night, and I too was very glad to retire. A bright moon shone in through the curtainless window of my bedroom, and lay in bars on the bare floor. Out- side the view was most romantic, the moonshine investing everything, snowy peaks, jagged rocks, and the bare terraces around, with lights and shadows of the strangest kind. A pale blue sky, spiritual almost in its purity and transparency, in which the stars glimmered with a cold clear splendour, bent over the wild spot; and the lone- liness and silence that reigned in the “ unsyllabled gt SQ Ee ie ee at AY ot . Lhe + ae ee eae -_ pee , 352 - HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. — \eHAP: © air” were unlike in their depth and utterness any- thing I had ever before experienced. Snatching, like Gray’s schoolboy, a few minutes of fearful joy from the contemplation of the weird scene, worn-out nature summoned me to bed. There was a perfect pile of blankets and a heavy down quilt above me, under which I lay squeezed like a cheese in a cheese-press, but I utterly failed to get warm. Sleep would not be wooed. I lay and watched the shadows on the floor, and thought of many. unutterable things, and wondered at the strange vicissitudes of life, which so often place us unex- pectedly in situations that were the ideals of our youth. About five o’clock in the morning, just as the grey dawn was stealing in, I was thoroughly roused from a dozing, semi-torpid state, into which I had sunk, by the ringing of the convent bell for matins; and shortly afterwards the rich tones of an organ, mellowed by the distance, pealed from the chapel with an indescribably romantic effect. I arose and dressed with chattering teeth, and then went out into the raw air. I walked beside the small, desolate-looking lake beside the Hospice, where never fish leaped up, and on which no boat has ever ‘sailed. Being the highest sheet of water in Europe, fed by the melting of the snows, it is frequently frozen all the summer ; and when thawed, it lies “like a spot of ink amid the snow.” Passing a pillar at the end of the lake, and a curious heraldic stone beside a spring, I had crossed the boundary between Switzerland and Piedmont, and °° wT e * -_' * at > re y $ -* ta - " i ) oe oe on CONE ee rip ee ae WALK BESIDE LAKE. 309 was now in Italy. Climbing up the bare rocks to a kind of esplanade, near a tall cross inserted in a _ massive pedestal of chlorite-schist, and bearing the _ inscription “ Deo Optimo Maximo,” which guides the traveller from the Italian side of the pass to the convent, I sat down and surveyed the scene. The snowy dome of Mont Velan filled up the western horizon. On my left the gorge was shut in by the rugged range of Mont Mort, Mont Che- naletta, and the Pic de Dronaz. Below me I could see, through the writhing mist, glimpses of the _ green corrie, called “ La Vacherie,” where the cattle _ of the Hospice grazed under the care of a few _ peasants, whose wretched chalets were the only habitations: while beyond, to the southward, rose up a strange Sinai-like group of reddish serrated rocks, entirely destitute of vegetation, with wreaths of dark cloud floating across their faces, or clinging to their ledges, and greatly increasing their savage © gloom. An air of utter desolation and loneliness _ pervaded the whole scene. No sounds broke the stillness, save such as were wonderfully congenial with the spirit of the place, the sighing of the wind as it ruffled the surface of the lake, the occasional tinkle of the cow-bells far below, the deep baying of the St. Bernard dogs, or the murmur of a tor- rent far off, that came faint and continuous as music heard in ocean shells. I had ample evidence around—if my dripping nose and icy hands did not convince me — of the extreme severity of the climate. The vege- Aad 7’ 0) we > -~ 4 * = ee Py ee “a (OS Beer ee oa ky¢ hoe ’ Re re 2 ah alae. | fal as OT ia Piet " i ‘ , a y* ~ . . i a 2% ak | Ee a en B® ara ie ¢'4 354 - HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. _ {cuap. tation was exclusively hyperborean, exactly simi- | lar in type to that which flourishes around the grim shores of Baffin’s Bay. I had gathered the same species on the summits of the highest Scot- tish mountains, and afterwards on the Dovre- fjeld in Norway. The reindeer moss of Lap- land whitened the ground here and there, in- terspersed with a sulphur-coloured lichen which grows sparingly on the tops of the Cairngorm range. Large patches of black 7rzpe de Roche— the lichen which Sir John Franklin and his party, in the polar regions, were once, in the absence of all other food, compelled to eat, along with the © remains of their old shoes and leather belts—clung to the stones, looking like fragments of charred parchment; while an immense quantity of other well-known Arctic lichens and mosses covered the level surface of each exposed rock, as with a crisp shaggy mantle, that crunched under the foot. There were no tufts of grass, no green thing whatever. Tiny grey saxifrages, covered with white flowers, grew in thick clumps, as if crowd- ing together for warmth, along with brilliant little patches of gentian, whose depth and tenderness of blue were indescribable, and tufts of Aretias and Silenes, starred with a profusion of the most exquisite rosy flowers, as though the crimson glow of sunset had settled permanently upon them. The Alpine Forget-me-not, only found in this country on the summits of the Breadalbane moun- tains, cheered me with its bright blue eyes every- Map) 20sté“‘é«éLORA:*OF HIE PASS. 355 _ where ; while the “ Alpine lady’s mantle” spread _ its grey satiny leaves, along with the Arctic willow, _ the favourite food of the chamois, over the stony knolls, as if in pity for their nakedness. I found _ a few specimens of the beautiful lilac Soldanella 4 alpina, and also several tufts of the glacier Ranun- ft eaius, on a kind of moraine at the foot of a _ hardened snow-wreath. The Ranunculus was higher up, and grew on the loose aébris, without a par- m@ ticle of verdure around it. It seemed like the - last effort of expiring nature to fringe the limit of eternal snow with life. Its foliage and flowers had a peculiarly wan and woe-begone look. Its appeal was so sorrowful, as it looked up at me, with its bleached colourless petals, faintly tinged with a hectic flush, that I could not help sym- pathizing with it, as though it were a sensitive creature. But the flower that touched me most was our own beloved “ Scottish blue-bell.” I was surprised and delighted beyond measure to see it hanging its rich peal of bells in myriads from the crevices of the rocks around, swaying with every breeze. It tolled in fairy tones the music of “Home, sweet home.” It was like meeting a friend in a far country. It was the old familiar blue-bell, but it was changed in some respects. Its blossom was far larger, and of a deep purple tinge, instead of the clear pale blue colour which it has in this country". It afforded a striking EE RAEN ALE AE NIN RG A ATS TT PONE NEAR aOR ees UT ATA a wet Gat os: a i ie x puta ote ag ad ad RR A RE AE = 1 I may remark that the plant growing on the St. Bernard is _ known among continental botanists as Campanula Scheuchzeri, and Aa 2 | 7 ee 7s i = ee a7.) i+ oe ae a ee Ae eae See eee ve ae Be Se Sa Hig) 1 Mae fa re: igs Nae en: Bet ta ela a, | at “ ie : ,é * “ ais SC eeu an ee Mat es Ay ge * Ear & J's Ke ' ae oe ‘ - \ d lr seed = : ; it ‘ 356 | HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. ~ [cuap. example of the changes which the same plant | undergoes when placed in different circumstances. — I could see in its altered features modifications to suit a higher altitude and a severer climate. In the Alps all the plants have blossoms remarkably large in proportion to their foliage, and their . colours are unusually intensified, in order that they may get all the advantage of the brief but ardent sunshine, so as to ripen their seed as rapidly © as possible. And this unprincipled little blue-bell in the vicinity of the Monastery had exchanged ~ the clear blue of the Scottish Covenanter for the purple and fine linen of the Romish hierarchy, and was just like many others, animals as well as plants, doing in Rome as they do in Rome! In this desolate, nature-forsaken spot, where an — eternal winter reigns, the presence of these beau- tiful Alpine flowers, doing their best to make the place cheery, brought a peculiar indescribable feel- ing of spring to my heart, reminded me irresistibly of the season which is so sad amid all its beauty and promise—the first trembling out of the dark —the first thrill of life that comes to the waiting earth—and then the first timid peering forth of is regarded as a different species from our common blue-bell C. ro- tundifolia. But lam inclined to look upon it as a mere modified variety. The C. rotundifolia occurs in great abundance at Liddes, at a height of 5000 feet, and even there is somewhat different from the Scotch variety. In Norway I have traced it up the mountain sides, gradually changing its form and colour, until at the highest elevations it presented an appearance not unlike that of the St. Ber- nard plant. = . MP bb dade pias — eo a aon) , “ > 1 — 7 a“ . aa eo —, ~~) aioe ae Pa mie < Sr th ae a RRS ; ete a 7 Pn SATA a Pa : ” : ee es, ! oaths me é _—_—~—_—ooorx\ - ~e—e te a Sr AE . « . HISTORY OF THE PASS. 1857 green on hedge and bank; and, like Coleridge’s “Ancient Mariner,’ I said: “Oh, happy living things! no tongue Their beauty might declare; A spring of love gushed from my heart, And I blessed them unaware.” — It is impossible to gaze on the St. Bernard pass without feelings of the deepest interest. It stands as a link in the chain that connects ancient and modern history—departed dynasties and systems of religions with modern governments and fresh creeds; and in this part the continuity has never been broken: Bare and bleak as is the spot, it is a palimpsest crowded with relics of different epochs and civilizations, the one covering but not oblite- — rating the other. Every step you take you set your foot upon “some reverend history.” Thought, _ like the electric spark, rapidly traverses the thou- sand historical links of the chain of memory. You feel as if in the crowded valley in the vision of Mirza. All the nations of the earth—Druids, _ Celts, Romans, Saracens, French, Italians—seem to pass in solemn file, a dim and ghostly band, _ before your fancy’s eye. Names that have left an imperishable wake behind them—Cesar, Char- _lemagne, Canute, Francis I., Napoleon Buonaparte —have traversed that pass. Europe, Africa, and Asia have poured their wild hordes through that narrow defile. The spot on which the convent - is erected was held sacred and oracular from time - se TA Ney ye See es ; Ge iS Me eee % 358 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. Bedae | immemorial. Like the Tarpeian reek and the site — of ancient Rome like the stern solitudes of Sinai and Horeb, it had a veligzo loct and a consecrated shrine from the remotest antiquity. The weird, wild aspect of the place gave it an air of terror, | and naturally associated it with the presence of __ some mysterious supernatural being. On a little piece of level ground near the lake, called the Place de Jupiter, on which the ruinous founda- tions of an ancient Roman temple may still be seen, a rude altar, built of rough blocks of stone, | was erected three thousand years ago, and sacri- fices offered on it to Pen, the god of the moun- : tains, from whom the whole great central chain of Switzerland received the name of Pennine Alps. The custom of building cairns on the highest points of our own hills is supposed to have been derived from the worship of this divinity, which seems at one time to have spread over the whole of Europe. The names of many of the Highland mountains bear significant traces of it. Ben Nevis means “Hill of Heaven,’ and Ben Ledi signifies “ Hill of God,” having near the summit some large upright stones, which in all probability formed — a shrine of the god Pen, whose Gaelic equivalent, Beinn or Ben, has been bestowed on every ~ conspicuous summit. Who the primitive people were that first erected the rude altars on the St. Bernard pass to their tutelary deity, we know not. They may have been allied to those strange Lacustrines who studded the lakes of Switzerland jain 5 gyn at * ‘ AL ¢ Phy " o via™ : - ’ ‘ 366 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [CHAP. could not resist the tender impulse, which moved me to gather a small nosegay of gentians and blue- bells, and throw it in, as an offering of pity, to the poor deserted and forgotten dead. It is impossible to dig a grave in this spot, for the hard rock comes everywhere to the surface, and but the thinnest sprinkling of mould rests upon it, hardly sufficient to. maintain the scanty vegetation. This sterile , region refuses even a grave to those who die there! © So cold and dry is the air, that the corpses in the Morgue do not decompose in the same way that they do at lower elevations. They wither and collapse into mummies, embalmed in the air, like the dried bodies preserved in the catacombs of Palermo,—and for years they undergo no change, —at last falling to pieces, and strewing the ground with their fragments. Within the last twelve years -no less than sixteen persons have perished in the snow. Some seven or eight years ago, two of the monks went out with a couple of servants to search for a man who was supposed to have lost himself in the mountains. They were scarcely fifty paces away from the Hospice, when an immense ava- lanche fell from the side of Mont Chenaletta, and buried the whole party under eighteen feet of snow. The dreadful catastrophe was seen from the convent door, but the monks were utterly powerless to render help. When rescued, the party were all dead. The number of accidents on the St. Bernard pass has greatly diminished of late years; and now the services of the, monks in winter are principally Se Ty ee ee ee) 14 ae ae ne it , av wv ‘a “a e, ¥ Rereees ST. BERNARD DOGS. Be ste ia required to nurse poor travellers exhausted by the difficulties of the ascent, or who have been frost- bitten. Returning from my morning walk, I saw the famous marons, or St. Bernard dogs, playing about the convent door. There were five of them, massively built creatures, of a brown colour,—very like Newfoundland dogs, only larger and more powerful. The stock is supposed to have come originally from the Pyrenees. The services they have rendered in rescuing travellers are incalculable. A whole book might easily be filled with interest- _ ing adventures of which they were the heroes. In _ the Museum at Berne I saw-the stuffed body of _ the well-known dog “ Barry,” which is said to have saved the lives of no less than forty persons. The huge creatures were fond ‘of being caressed; and one of them ran after my companion, as he was 4 going up the hill- side by a wrong path, and Pa him back by the coat-tail! After a substantial breakfast, we paid a visit to the chapel to deposit our alms in the alms-box, _ for though the monks make no charge for their hospitality, or even give the least hint of a dona- - tion, there is a box placed in the chapel for the _ benefit of the poor, and to this fund every traveller should contribute, at the very least, what the same accommodation would have cost him at an i} hotel. It is to be feared, however, that the great i} majority contribute nothing at all. Not one of . the company who supped and breakfasted with us approached the chapel, having skulked away 368 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. — [cHAP. | as soon as they could decently take leave ; and ] yet they were bedizened with gold chains and | jewellery of a costly description. There was one Scotchman present who carried out his sound Protestant principles at the expense of the poor monks. He was a very thin, wiry man, but he > | ate an enormous supper and breakfast. He drank a-bottle of wine at each meal, and helped himself . most largely to everything on the table. He took what would have sufficed for four ordinary men, and, to our intense disgust, he rubbed down his stomach complacently in the morning ere depart-_ ‘ ing, and said, in the hearing of all, that he had made up his mind to put nothing into the alms- box, lest he should countenance Popery! The expenses of the establishment are very heavy, while the funds to meet them have been decreas- ing. Formerly the convent was the richest in — Europe, possessing no less than eighty benefices. But Charles Emmanuel III. of Sardinia, falling into a dispute with the Cantons of Switzerland about the nomination of a provost, sequestrated the possessions of the monks, leaving them only a small estate in the Valais and in the Canton de Vaud. The French and Italian governments — give an annual subsidy of a thousand pounds, — while another thousand is raised by the gifts of — travellers, and by collections made in Switzerland, — —Protestants contributing as freely as Roman Catholics. Notwithstanding their comparative — poverty, however, the monks are still as lavish Age _ ‘ le ts IS pe gel ete eta g" 1 Rahs _*\ Sey, Ae ae ees tn) Qo Ee eee bic me mia SY ~ , hy , ¥ _ 7 of - . ° ° \ * as : y Lard - ‘HOSPICE CHAPEL. 369. and hospitable as ever, up to their utmost means. | As it was the feast of the Assumption of the Virgin, crowds of beggars and tramps from the neighbouring valleys,—masses of human degrada- i tion and deformity of the most disgusting cha- _ tacter,—were congregated about the kitchen door, clamorous for alms, while the monks were busy serving them with bread, cold meat, and wine. What they could not eat they carried away in _ baskets which they had brought for the purpose. Entering the chapel with our little offering, we were greatly struck with its magnificence, as con- trasted with the excessive plainness of the outside, : and the sterility of the spot. It is considered a very sacred place, for it contains the relics of no ba less than three famous saints, viz. St. Bernard, St. _. Hyrenzus, and St. Maurice, of the celebrated _ Theban legion of Christians. Five massive gilt altars stood in various parts of the chapel, while the walls were adorned with frescoes and several fine paintings and statues. The marble tomb of Desaix, representing him in relief, wounded and sinking from his horse into the arms of his aide, Le Brun, was a conspicuous object. “I will give you the Alps for your monument,” said Napoleon, - with tears in his eyes to his dying friend: “ you shall rest on their loftiest inhabited point.” The body of the general was carefully embalmed at Milan, and afterwards conveyed to the chapel where it now reposes. A crowd of peasants, men _and women, were kneeling, during our visit, in the Bb . on ~ 2 ct. . Pe y : id Se D8 ae es “le me? ed Ore ee 7 of | Shs rs Fee ee Rata oho v4 = t t ~# Royt ioe ae ae ee itr) eee : é ‘ Sigg rae p+ ‘Ch , - i + - x . vf f +s Pre os, - ve tna Lf "> Sean body of the church, performing their devotions ; while three or four monks, dressed in splendid habiliments of crimson and gold, were chanting “the solemn melodies of a Gregorian mass,” ac- companied by the rich tones of a magnificent organ ; and clouds of fragrant incensé rose slowly to the roof. Anxious to see the geographical bearings of the convent, we climbed. up, with immense expenditure of breath and perspiration, a lofty precipitous peak close at hand. We hada most glorious view from the top, for the atmosphere was perfectly clear, and the remotest distances plainly visible. In front was “le Mont Blanc,” as the inhabitants proudly call it, and at this distance of fifteen miles in a straight line it looked infinitely higher and grander than when seen from the nearer and more commonly visited points of view at Chamouni. Far up, miles seemingly, in the deep blue sky, rose the dazzling whiteness of its summit, com- pletely dwarfing all the other peaks around it. On our left was the enormously vast group of Monte Rosa, its everlasting snows tinged with the most delicate crimson hues of the rising sun ; while between them the stupendous obelisk of the Matterhorn, by far the sharpest and sublimest of | the peaks of Europe, stormed the sky, with a — long grey cloud flying at its summit like a flag of defiance. Around these three giant mountains crowded a bewildering host of other summits, most of them above 13000 feet high, with enormous 370 HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. —— {cuav. | aa glaciers streaming down their sides, and forming _ the sources of nearly all the great rivers of the MONT CHENALETTA. 371 Continent. My eye and soul turned away from this awful white realm of death, with relief, _ to the brown and green mountains of Italy, which _ just peered timidly, as it were, above that fearful horizon in the far south, with an indescribably soft, warm sky brooding over them, as if in sympathy. That little strip of mellow sky and _ naturally- coloured earth was the only bond in all the wide view that united me to the cosy, lowly world of my fellow-creatures. On this hill, composed of very friable schistose rock, I gathered a considerable number of very interesting plants peculiar to the Alps. The Ar- nica montana displayed its large yellow composite flowers in the shady recesses of the rocks; and, as if to illustrate the proverb that the antidote is ever beside the evil, I found its juicy stems very serviceable in healing a bruise on the leg which J got from a falling stone when gathering speci- mens. Another composite plant, the Chrysan- themum alpinum, whitened in thousands the slopes of débris. It has been observed, with Phyteuma paucifiora, beside the Lys glacier on Monte Rosa, at 11352 feet. Nothing could exceed the beauty and luxuriance of the patches of Lixaria alpina, covered with a profusion of orange and purple labiate blossoms, which spread everywhere over the loose soil. No less striking were the sheets of | forget-me-not-like flowers, blue as the sky itself, Bb 2 / ; oy) ae ene i . AA at ie Y Bis : aa 4q eae Wb HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. [CHAP: produced by the Zritrichium nanum, growing in — the moist sunny fissures. At the base of the hill on the Italian side, where there was a slight tinge of grassy verdure, the yellow Star of Bethlehem — (Ornithogalum fistulosum) and the Alpine Orchis — (Nigritella angustifolia), the M dinnertreu or Kamm- 4 blume of the natives, struggled into existence. The former rises an inch or two above the soil, and produces two or three brilliantly-yellow flowers on each stem; while the compact showy heads of deep blackish crimson flowers of the latter, — springing from very short and very narrow leaves, — diffuse a fine vanilla-like fragrance. At lower — elevations they grow in great profusion, and form the finest ornaments of the Alpine— pastures. Among the saxifrages which I observed growing more or less plentifully were the S. androsacea (of which I could get no specimen perfect, for the marmot is so fond of it that it nibbles its stems, leaves, and flowers all round), the S. d7yozdes, % Aizoon, biflora, cesia, and muscoides. -A_ short distance below the summit there were several large snow-wreaths. Their perpetual drip nourished a> glowing little colony of the unrivalled Gentzana Bavarica, and the compact sheets of the Androsace glacialis, sprinkled over with bright pink solitary — flowers. In one place there was a curious natural — conservatory. The under surface of the snow having been melted by the warmth of the soil— which in Alpine regions is always markedly higher than that of the air—was not in contact with it. — v x - wl $ALPINE FLORA AND FAUNA. 373 EA: snowy vault was thus formed, glazed on the _ top with thin plates of transparent ice; and here - grew a most lovely cushion of the Avretza Hel- vetica, covered with hundreds of its delicate rosy flowers, like a miniature Hydrangea blossom. The dark colour of the soil favoured the absorption of heat; and, prisoned in its crystal cave, this little fairy grew and blossomed securely from the very heart of winter,—the unfavourable circumstances -around all seeming so many ministers of good, increasing its strength and enhancing its loveliness. Owing to the high temperature of the soil in the Alps, plants are enabled to thrive at great alti- tudes; and even animal life is not unfrequent at a height of 10000 feet. I observed at the foot of ’ the snow-wreaths on this hill numerous burrows of a kind of mouse called Arvicola nivalis, which is also found on the top of the Faulhorn, Rothhorn, - and on the Grands Mulets. Under the stones on the surface of the snow were lively masses of the small, black glacier flea (Desoria glacialis) ; while several specimens of that magnificent butterfly, the Parnassius Apollo, distinguished by its white _ almost transparent wings, marked with scarlet and ) black-ringed cell, sailed past with astonishing swiftness in the bright sunshine. These were very _ satisfactory representatives of the rich animal | world we had left behind in the valleys. After a reasonable time spent in the enjoyment of all | these treasures, we turned to depart. Hurriedly - | descending, with many a picturesque tumble and 2 of eS - 374 - HOLIDAYS ON HIGH LANDS. - clissade, which did not improve the continuity of our clothing, we reached the foot of the hill in safety. Shortly afterwards we bade adieu to our hospitable entertainers with mingled feelings of gratification and regret: gratification, because we had seen so much that was new and interesting to us, and had been so kindly treated, though strangers in a strange land; and regret, because the palmiest days of the Hospice are over, for the great majority of tourists will now take advantage of the Mont Cenis Tunnel and proceed to Italy by the most direct route, and only a few will care to turn aside, on a long and somewhat difficult _ journey, to visit the spot. THE END. The ag iy - 5 ) / A 4 1 ara ‘\ At Ge iii” 0 020 678 821 5