Rambles in Alpine Valleys, etc

Preface

In this book I have in the main followed the same lines as in its predecessors — Random Recollections of Woodland, Fen and Hill, and Woodside, Burnside, Hillside and Marsh — which have been received by the public as well as by the press in a manner that is very gratifying to the author. The book deals with the Italian side of the Mont Blanc range, a locality that deserves to be better known, than it appears to be, to visitors to the Alps. No attempt has been made to go deeply into scientific technicalities ; but I have tried to explain as simply and clearly as possible the scientific bearings of some of the many facts which came nnder my notice during a holiday spent in that region last year. That no written words can do justice to the magnificent scenery to be found on the Italian slopes of Mont Blanc and in its lovely valleys no one is more painfully aware than myself, and my book must be looked npon as descriptive only so far as descriptions help the reader more or less thoroughly to understand the conditions under which the phenomena discussed occur.

At the same time, to lovers of Nature in her varying mood, be they tourists, photographers or naturalists, no more charming and de lightful holiday can be imagined, than one spent in ex ploring the valleys which open up between the mountains around Courmayeur. v CONTENTS

Chapter I The Dora Valley

A Sabbath morn— Sabbath bells— Women slaves — A flowery hollow — The Crammont — Mont Chetif — Dollone — Mont Favre — Harvest — Mont Cormet — Swiss meadows and wild flowers — Thewildgeranium — Colour variation in flowers — The autumn crocus — Colchicum alpinum — Structure of the flower — Fertilisation — Common habit of wild and garden crocus — Classification of plants — Irrigation with glacial water — A tunnel through the Crammont — The Little St. Bernard — View from the tunnel down the Val d'Aosta — View from the tunnel up the Val d'Entreves — Mont Blanc — View of Mont Blanc from tunnel — Succession of trees in Alpine valleys — Gorge through the Crammont — Mountain streams — Pr«5 St. Didier — Plume moths — Courmayeur — The bridge over the river Dora — The turgid Dora — Argynnis pandora — Giants of nature — Saxifrage-covered stone walls — Protective resemblance of butterflies and moths to knapweed flowers — The Apollo butterfly — Sexual differences —Strange pouches and how formed— Feigning death— The caterpillar of the Apollo butterfly— Ita defences— The chrysalis of the Apollo butterfly — Clouds on Mont Blanc— The scent glands of butterflies— Juniper and barberry— Alpine berries — Campanulas — The harebell—Beautiful butterflies — Lizards and ants— A beautiful caterpillar —Structure of a caterpillar — How insects breathe— Modifications of breathing organs in aquatic insects— Comparison between breathing in fishes and aquatic insects" — May-flies and dragon-flies— The Diver water-beetle— Ants swarming— Workers, males and queens — Bright colours connected with abundance of food and sunshine— The slopes to the Dora of glacial origin — Burnet moths — What is a species? — The Burnets around Courmayeur— A beautiful miniature— Fertile hybrids — Instability of certain species — Ancient insects— The ants and their cows — Honey-dew — Fecundity of aphides — Domesticated insects — An afternoon siesta i 3-56 pp,

Chapter II Mont De La Saxe

Morning in the Val d'Entreves — Byways— The Glacier de Brenva— Alpine fields — Vili aire— Women at work— The Val de Chapy— The northern slope of Mont Cormet — The southern slope of Mont de la Saxe— Glacial remains — An Alpine flower garden — Homes in the thistles— The Dew moth and its variation — Protective resemblance — Birch-trees — A luscious feast— The true " alps" ofthe mountainside— Butterflies of the alps — A rocky gully— A steep climb — The Annuletmoths— Resemblance to rocks — Dark Alpine moths — Natural selection — Sexual dimorphism — Evolution of flower colours — Evolution of insect colours — Contemporaneous evolution of colours of flowers and insects — Old types- Heredity— Humidity greater and temperature higher in past ages — v Contents VII 59-93 Blackness of rocks due in part to excessive moisture— Meteorological and geological conditions aid natural selection in producing dark Alpine species — Colour not truly an acquired character — Colour dependent on modification of scale contents or scale structure — A mountain morass— The Clouded Yellow butterflies— Evolution of the genus Colias — C. phicomone the oldest type — Differences of habit and differences in appearance — Dark coloured substances the best absorbents — Advantages of dark coloration in mountainous districts — Origin of insect colours — Influence of environment and natural selection — Pigments as waBte products — Food as a determinant of colour — Inherent variability — Final development of pigment takes place in pupa — HiBtolysis — Suitable environment necessary for successful rehabilitation — Failure of pigment due to constitutional injury brought about by unsuitable environment — Metabolism in pupa rapid— Different requirements of male and female insects — Fecundity of some moths — Reproduction the first necessity of insect life— Female insects utilise material for eggs, extra wing-surface, etc. — Explanation of sexual differences in scaling and colour— Attempt on the part of some species to meet their different necessities— Alpine conditions forbid longer time for feeding — Colour as a secondary sexual character — Cause of sexual dimorphism in Alpine Clouded Yellow butterfly — Comparison of environment and colour of the Alpine and Pale Clouded Yellow butterflies — The differences explained— Progressive colour development in the genus Colias — Ata vie traces— Similarity of undersides of the species of Colias points to one ancestral form — Subtropical climate in Arctic regions before the Glacial Epoch — The Glacial Epoch drove fauna and flora southward and changed environment — Variation in species — Retreat of the ice followed by that of fauna and flora — Protective resemblance of butterflies seen on undersides owing to mode of rest — Colias a northern genus — The Alert and Discovery expedition — Romance or truth — A stiff clinib — The ridge above the summit of Mont de la Saxe — Mountain fairyland— View from the summit of Mont de la Saxe — The nearer mountains— The

bright hue of Alpine flowers— Cloudland— The distant peaks — View of the Mont Blanc range— Snow pictures— Effect of mountain haze — The Dents du G^ant — The Aiguille Noire de P^teret — Extent of the Mont Blanc range— Idea of mountain structure as seen from summit — The summits possibly at one time part of a large table-land— Evening sun-glow pp.

Chapter III The Val Ferrex

Wayside chapels— The river Dora— The meeting of the waters— Power of mountain torrents — Mont Fr6ty separates the drainage of the Val Veni from that of the Val Ferrex— A thicket of sea-buckthorn — The western face of Mont de la Saxe— View of the Val V£ni from the entrance to the Val Ferrex— The Ferrex stream— The Mont Blanc range a series of peaks — The Mont Blanc glaciers on the Piedmont side— The inhabitants of a bank — The evolution of the spotted undersides of Fritillary butterflies — An epitome of natural beauty— A living flower — Thirsty butterflies — A depraved taste— A mountain morass — Bog plants —Parnassia palustris, its structure and method of fertilisation— Byways and highways— Water-smoke— A glacial torrent (the Ferrex stream}-— A tough struggle—" Doing " a mountain — Wild strawberries and wild raspberries — The probable origin of our cultivated strawberries— Hair-like growths around the corollas of Alpine flowers— Which is the oldest form of Ellopia fasciaria?— Deception— A grassy clearing— Androconia or scent scales— Colours produced by diffraction and iridescence— Structure of a butterfly's wing — Scales of butterflies contain pigmentary matter— The Erebia butterflies of Mont de la Saxe — Protective resemblance — How Erebia tyndarus is protected— Isolation of localities of Mountain Ringlet butterfly and its explanation— A new Contents 145-188 fauna and flora — Stinging nettles skeletonised — Mountain chalets — A mountain spring — How rivers are formed — Comparison of spring and glacial water — A struggle — The source of fertility of the valleys of Piedmont — Strata prove previous connection of Mont de la Saxe with the Chetif— The Alpine rhododendron— On the limit of the pines— The upland "alps"— Mountain dreams— How we victimise ourselves — A quick descent — Above Entreves— The history of the Val d'Entrdves— Irrigation — Glacial debris— Then and now pp. 97-142

Chapter IV The Glacier De Miage

The Chetif and Montde a Saxe— The Wood White butterfly— A fierce fight — A crystal morning — Schist rocks — The Val V£ni — The western portion of the Mont Blanc range — A near view of the Glacier de Brenva — Vast moraines— Retreat of the glacier— Absence of terminal moraine accounted for — A steep precipice — Pines grow on most sterile ground — The forest of St. Nicolas — Antiquity of pine forests — A weird scene — The primeval forest — Influence of a pine forest on the mind — Meanings or tree life — Similarity of oldest fossil plants all over the world — Identical fossil plants occurring in widely separate regions — Separate centres of development of same species improbable — Atmospheric conditions more uniform in ancient time — Seeds of earliest plants distributed by wind — Frequent changes due to subsidence and upheaval — Atmosphere more humid — Climate around the Poles once probably sub-tropical — Changes in vegetation largely due to development of existing land areas — Specialisation of flora accompanied changed environment — Uniform conditions produce uniform results — Borderland — Struggle for existence — A complex fight — The forests of Palæozoic and Mesozoic times — Change in distribution of forest trees — The effect of formation of climatic zones on distribution in Mesozoic times — A tremendous struggle — Separation of trees into zones corresponding roughly with those of climate — Palms and cycads restricted to tropics — Great age of the pines — The lessons of living trees as important as those of fossils— Perfection of structures — The Mont Favre range — A magnificent gorge— Beneath the Aiguille Noire— A silted lake — Lycaena argus at home — Sexual dimorphism — Nature's carpets — Absence of aquatic life in glacier streams — A Cantine — The Alpine Colchicum— The All£e Blanche— The immense lateral moraine of the Glacier de Miage— The Lac de Combal— Avalanches— Old fortifications — The level tract at the base of the Pyramides Calcaires— The western end of the Mont Blanc range — The Col de la Seigne— The formation of loess — Nature's cathedrals — Mountain architecture — Silvery colour of glacial Btreams— Glacial diluvium— Glacial water in the sunlight — Inanimate beauty— The colour of Alpine lakes — Old theories as to the formation of loess— The condition of middle Europe in the glacial age —Inter-glacial periods — The ground moraines of glaciers— The evidence that proves Alpine glaciers to have been more extensive in former ages — Loess often the deposit from glacial streams — Loess deposits in the Alle"e Blanche— Fossils found in the loess of Central Asia— The history of the Glacier de Miage as told by four small ridges — The marmot — Hybernation and æstivation— The influence of food and cold in the development of these phenomena— A rock-covered glacier — Crevasses —The melting of glaciers— Rate of movement— Size of glaciers depends on snowfall— Ominous sounds— A direct view through the Alle'e Blanche, Val V£ni and Val Ferrex— The

background and details of nature's pictures— The return— Startled— Ice-smoke— Nature's hidden energy — Courmayeur pp. Zhc 2>ora Dalles H

Chapter I

Œbe Bora Dalle\> The clouds chase each other rapidly across the blue sky ; the peak of the Black Aiguille yonder stands out, cone-like and pointed, from the necklet of cloud which surrounds it ; the snowy summit of Mont Blanc rears its mighty head in startling brilliance and clearness above the fleecy mists which hang over the Glacier de Brenva. 'Tis the Sabbath morn. Gently and soothingly the sound of bells with varied tones falls upon the ear, bringing rest and repose and bidding weariness and trouble begone. The tinkling bells of early morning tell of goats and cows off at daybreak to the mountain pastures ; the music of the mule-bells suggests " baths " and " waters," renewed health and vigour ; the church bells, which jingle musically almost the whole morning through, should speak (but alas, they do not) of rest from toil and cessation from labour for the busy slaves who dwell here.

As we start for a quiet walk from Courmayeur down the Dora Valley, our faces towards Pre St. Didier, we observe the Swiss women at their work. Real slaves, indeed, are these women. From daybreak to sunset — eighteen weary hours — do they labour in the hot parching sun, almost without break, Sunday and weekday alike. We go a short distance down the road, and then turn to the left up a narrow lane, which soon brings us to the foot of the mountains, upon whose slopes are larches and pine trees, opening up mysterious vistas and mysterious glooms and enticing the wandering footsteps to enjoy the calm, the silence, the peace of their delightful solitudes. We select a flowery hollow in which to rest, under the shadow of the pines and larches. Throngh their branches the rays of the sun penetrate in tiny golden drops playing on the verdant grass beneath ; the shimmering rays now form fanciful shadows, and anon light up with gleams of radiant beauty the bright yellow trefoils, the blue-tinted gentians, the delicate soapwort with its phlox-like flowers and the brightly tinted capitula of the knapweeds.

Here we sit and enjoy the lovely scene and the peaceful quietness around us. Our resting-place is on the edge of a steep hollow, which was probably scooped out at no very distant date by a rushing avalanche, for the larches, which are thick on the ridges, are absent in the hollow, although they shut in at the top the veritable flower-Eden which the hollow now forms. The rugged Crammont rises before us, deeply scored with rocky gullies near its snmmit ; these sometimes end in deep water-courses, that run down the mountain side or are lost in the larch and spruce woods which cover the lower levels. A white fleecy cloud floats above the Crammont. The ridges of the mountain slope off, on the left towards the Little St. Bernard, on the right, by a gentle dip which rises and falls again, towards the sugar-loaf cone of Mont Chetif.

The monarch, snow-capped peak of the Mont Blanc ridge rises up beyond the hollow formed by the dip, and gives an im pression of distance to the view. The higher pastures are dotted with chalets which look small and inconspicuous at this distance, whilst the valley, which slowly disappears between the bases of these two mountain brothers, has its lower slopes covered with corn and cultivated plots, the village of Dollone lying at its lower end where it enters the Dora Valley. Deep down into the valley, at least four or five hundred feet below where we now sit, the Crammont goes, the rushing Dora at its feet, whilst, lower down the valley, rises Mont Favre with its snow-covered top. From the Dora upwards, grassy uplands and flowery meadows, with rocky paths intersecting them, rise one above the other to the larch and pine woods where we are.

The ripened corn — rye, barley, wheat — now in process of being cut, potato patches, and large fields of natural pasture cover the ground and form a picture of rural wealth and beauty. Here and there we notice large heaps of stones, which have been picked from the fields by the industrious peasants and piled thus, or built into massive walls which keep the soil of the steep slopes from being washed away by storm or sudden torrent. Far above, and to the back of us, the mountains rise up to the mighty Mont Cormet which guards this side of the valley. The meadows here are marvellous pictures of floral beauty. They are, indeed, veritable flower gardens. Clover, umbellifers, campanulas, geraniums, gentians, hawk-weeds, rest-harrow, bedstraw, eyebright, campions, ox-eyes and col chicums are in greater or less profusion, whilst on the drier edges of the meadows, harebells, poppies and bugloss con tribute to the wealth of brilliant colour.

Far above, among the pines, the short grassy pastures roll wild and free, but here, mingled with the grass of the meadows, the wildflowers grow luxuriantly, adding beauty and sweetness to the lovely fields. Undulating in glorious perfection of colours, giving to the air the faint sweetness and delicate odours of the newly-mown heaps, these flower meadow-gardens roll downward from pine forest to valley in green banks and mounds, in waves of verdant beauty, here making long inlets into the pines, there rising towards some rocky crag where a water-course has been carried along some higher level. The colchicums and wild geraniums are peculiarly characteristic of these beautiful Swiss meadows. The delicate purple of the one, the red, white or blue of the other, alike delight the eye. This latter kind of colour variation in flowers is not at all common.

The variation of flowers, as regards colour, appears to run along two distinct lines — (1) The yellow or xanthic type, in which the varia tion passes usually through well-marked shades of white, pink, orange and red ; (2) The blue or cyanic type, which is much less liable to change, but which occasionally pro duces varieties of white, pink and red. Such variations — blue, pink (or red) and white — occur in geraniums, campanulas, wild milkwort, hyacinth, and a few other plants ; but variation of the " blue " type is much less frequent than that of the " yellow " type. The base colours of the xanthic and cyanic types — yellow and blue — are rarely found developed in the same flower, the best known example of this rare form of colour-combination being the violet in its various forms in which blue and yellow are often inter mixed.

Colchicum autumnale, the lovely autumn crocus, with its delicate purple dress, is everywhere, both in the meadows and on the pastures, giving way in the higher Alps to a smaller variety — Colchicum alpinum — although in some cases it appears to be really difficult to determine to which species the flowers belong, for many seem intermediate in size between the largest and smallest flowers. Its delicate purple or lilac, crocus-shaped, leafless blossoms rise directly from the corm (or underground stem) which is deep in the earth, and just above this (but still in the earth) is the ovary of the flower. In the centre of the flower the stigmas are conspicuous, but if you trace the style (the stalk bearing the stigmas) downwards, you will find that in plucking the flower you have broken it from the ovary, which is left deep down in the ground.

How wonderful then is the fertilisation of this flower ! for the microscopic pollen-grain, which is left on the stigma, has to develop a cellular growth which must extend for several inches down through the style before it can enter the ovary and dischai-ge its protoplasmic contents into the ovule ; for, no matter how long the style may be, the fertilising matter must be conveyed from the stigma at the apex of the pistil throughout the full length of the style into the ovary in order to fertilise the ovule. Look at the flower once more. The six stamens are placed on the perianth, whose pretty leaves run tube-like deep into the ground to the corm, forming an outer covering and protection to the long style and deep-seated ovary. Late -blooming as it is, for it rarely blossoms until the autumn months are here, one almost wonders how its seeds can be ripened, but the depth underground at which the ovary is placed, carries it well out of any ordinary injury likely to be caused by frosts.

Our spring-blooming crocus, it will be remembered, has the same peculiarity, although there is not the same necessity for protection in its ca9e, because its seeds ripen in the summer. It is probable that the crocus originated, in the first place, from a plant which had a necessity for such protection ; but although the necessity no longer exists, the plant has not lost the habit engendered thus early in the history of its development. In the spring, Colchicum autumnale sends up shoots of green pointed leaves, in the centre of which the ovary appears. This is quickly ripened, and the heat of the summer sun soon causes the capsule which forms to burst and to scatter the ripened seeds around. When this has been accom plished, the leaves die down, æstivation sets in for a short time, and then the corm sends up its autumnal flowers again.

To the scientific botanist this position of the ovary is most important. One large group of flowering plants (the Dicotyledons) is characterised by the leaves being covered with a network of veins, the veinlets being seen to have a closely reticulated appearance if the leaf be held up against the light. The members of another large group (the Mono cotyledons) have parallel veins, and it is to this group that the crocus belongs. Most of the flowers belonging to the first group have the stamens and pistil protected by both a calyx and corolla; in the second group there is only one pro tective whorl, and this is usually termed a perianth. Lilies, tulips, crocuses and many other garden flowers belong to this group, and in it there are, among others, two very closely allied natural orders. To one of these (Liliaceae) the beautiful tulips and hyacinths, as well as the true lilies, belong ; whilst to the other (Amaryllidaceae) belong onr crocuses, snowdrops and daffodils.

Yet at a glance one can distinguish between these two orders; for the lilies have the ovary (in which the seeds are placed) above the perianth, the crocuses have the ovary below it. The marvellous fertility of these meadows, which permits crop after crop of grass and flowers to be mown each year by the Swiss peasants, is due to careful irrigation. Cast your eye to the higher slopes opposite, and note the burnt np pastures and the brown or bare surfaces : there is no irrigation there. But halfway down the mountain you see a green line creeping along ; that line marks the course of the irrigating stream and there irrigation commences. The water used for irrigation here comes from the glaciers ; it is no clear, pellucid stream but might almost be called solid water, so charged is it with fine particles of earth ground off the mountain side by the glacier.

High up, a channel is cut from the main stream ; this channel is carried along the side of the mountain, and from it branches innumerable are con structed which run through the fields and are furnished with sluices by means of which the water can be applied to or withheld from the fields as occasion requires. Other channels at lower levels are also led off from the main stream, and almost every field has a water-course running along its higher edge. The water which has run over the fields is, in part, collected again at a lower level, either to be used afresh or to be poured back into the main stream. During the time of growth the water is allowed to run almost con tinuously over the fields, and as it does so, the mud which it brings down from the glacier is deposited over the sur face, and thus the soil is enriched with fertile material for future use.

As the crops ripen, the flow of water is cut off, to be again turned over the field when the crop has been gathered. Ages upon ages have undoubtedly passed since these irrigating channels were first formed. Many of them consist of miles upon miles of great wooden pipes made out of simply hollowed pine trunks ; others are trenches cut through the rocks ; but all alike bear on them the stamp of age : not improbably they are older than their Roman counterparts of two thousand years ago. Here, then, are water and warmth (the two great agents in perfecting plant life) in abundance, and, as a result, we see Nature bringing forth in her bounteous fulness all foison and plenty " without sweat or endeavour." Follow with your eye the ridge of the Crammont yonder, and where it disappears behind the pine-trees in the farthest corner of the valley to the left, you will observe a small arch peeping out between the dark-coated pines and brighter larches.

It is two or three miles away, so that it must be of considerable size to be seen so distinctly from here. Green as is this valley, trees are not numerous in it in comparison with what obtains in the lower valleys, where chestnuts and walnuts form a clothing of vegetation such as is rarely to be witnessed. Here, in the upper valleys, the villages are surrounded with green fields instead of massive trees, although one sees, scattered here and there, ash and willow, cherry and walnut, poplar and apple. Towards the foot of the mountains, just below the pines, the ground is fashioned by Nature into flowery dells, or deeply cut glens, whose sides are thickly clad with prickly juniper and lovely barberry. Let us transfer ourselves in imagination to the farther side of the short tunnel into which yonder arch leads.

The Little St. Bernard Pass lies far ahead of us ; a steep pine covered gorge is at our feet which falls with precipitous sides to the boisterous stream far below ; the stream has cut its way through the slope of the mountain that attempts to bar our progress ; through this mountain has been con structed the small tunnel which leads us out on the slope of the Crammont, overlooking the lovely Val dAosta. Upon the larch and pine-covered slope, as we have seen, the archway rests ; and as we pass through the tunnel and stand in the archway, the glorious morning sun, filtering through the pines and larches in drops of liquid light, shows up golden spots of lichen on the old weathered rocks ; we glance over verdant flower-bestrewn meadows, which give place yonder to vine-clad slopes and walnut groves, through which the lovely Dora winds in silver radiance and boisterous glee, dashing under bridges and through pre cipitous gorges.

Far beyond, the purple mountain shadows fade into the brilliant blue Italian sky ; a rosy haze casts a halo about barren crag and rock-strewn ledge, the whole making a picture of beauty beyond that which mind has conjured or fairy tale pictured to the imagination. But if the scene to the right looking down the Val d'Aosta is lovely from our point of vantage at the arch way, what is to be said of that to our right, i.e. looking up the valley ? The sparkling waters of the Dora rush in mad glee along the foot of the Crammont, now between banks clad with willow and alder, then between craggy precipices ; whilst ridge upon ridge of ripened grain or verdant meadow rise one above the other, from the river to the mountains on the opposite side of the valley whose upper end is closed in by the majestic grandeur, the massive beauty, the glistening splendour of the snow-clad peaks of the sovereign mountain range, Mont Blanc.

This part of the Dora Valley, known as the Val d'En treves, extending from Pre St. Didier to the foot of Mont Blanc, runs north and south, forming a somewhat flat upland plain on the Cormet side of the valley, and extending across until it meets the rocky gorge which the Dora has cut at the foot of the Crammont and which, as we still stand at the archway, runs between us and Pre St. Didier. The river leaves the foot of the Crammont just above our station and trends with the valley towards Aosta. As we look up the valley, Mont Blanc breaks upon the view. Not the one high peak of our school-day imagination, but twenty miles or more of rugged rock, upland pasture or larch forest with numberless peaks varying from ten to fifteen thousand feet in altitude : that is what Mont Blanc really is. The deep blue sky is flecked with fleecj* clouds.

Black looking masses rise from the topmost peak of Mont Blanc visible to ns. Brilliantly white with dazzling sheen are the glacier neves that fill up the topmost valleys ; glittering are the glaciers which roll down the mighty breasts ; dark is the highest summit of the mighty mountain range buried in the mysterious cloudland collected around its massive crest ; bathed in resplendent robes of sunlight are the lower peaks which as yet are free from cloud. The white silver streaks yonder show where the ever-flowing water is set free from the glaciers, which, rolling down the valley, deep, deep into abysses below, forms here a foaming cataract, there a mighty waterfall. Its onward career is checked for a time by granite block or mass of schist, but this it surrounds, laps its base, wears it away and finally precipitates it headlong down the mountain side — where, none can say ; whither, none can tell.

Broad acres of dark pinetrees, sombre in their almost black greenery, clothe the slopes below the gleaming ice. Here, they hang on the -edge of pi-ecipitous cliff, there, form on the mountain side a deep-tinted wood within which is many a trickling stream that runs on and on to meet the rolling, roaring, struggling, seething mass of water which tears madly down the moun tain side. Glorious hues succeed these pines ; stately aspens with quivering leaves, and then mighty walnuts — millions, millions of walnut-trees — are to be seen stretching down the Val d'Aosta yonder, mixed with patches of ripening grain, blossoming clover and wide, wide fields of greenest grass a,nd beautiful flowers, the outcome of the careful irrigation practised by the patient slaves who toil here. There are whole gardens of wild flowers, whilst acres of the tender purple colchicum or purple crocus stud the upland pastures everywhere.