One thing these discontented folks cannot deny, and that is that it
would be difficult, not to say impossible, to find anywhere in the
mountains more flowery and highly perfumed mossy banks than those of
the Engadine. We do not make this assertion because of the rhododendrons
that abound on the borders of the lakes: we are not fond of this showy,
pretentious shrub, whose flowers look as if they were moulded in wax
for the decoration of some altar; but is it not delightful to walk on a
greensward, almost black with rich satyrion and vanilla? And what
would you think of a wealth of gentians, large and small; great yellow
arnicas; beautiful Martagon lilies; and St.-Bruno lilies; of every
variety of daphne; of androsace, with its rose-coloured clusters; of the
flame-coloured orchis; of saxifrage; of great, velvety campanulas; of
pretty violet asters, wrapped in little, cravat-like tufting, to protect
them from the cold? Besides, near the runnels, following whose borders
the cattle have tracked out graded paths, there grows that species of
immortelle called _Edelweiss_, an object of covetousness to every guest
at the Baths. Higher up, near the glacier approach, may be found the
white heart’s-ease, the anemone, and the glacial ranunculus (spearwort);
higher still, often buried beneath the snow, flourishes that charming
little lilac flower, delicately cut, sensitive, quivering, as it were,
with a cold, known as the soldanella. To scrape away the snow and find
beneath it a flower! Are there often made such delightful discoveries in
life?
Having said thus much, we must admit that the Rue de Saint Moritz does
not resemble the Rue de la Paix of Paris. We must also admit that the
markets of the place are poorly supplied, and that in an atmosphere
well calculated to stimulate the appetite the wherewithal to supply this
cannot always be obtained. We cannot have everything in this world;
but it is by no means our intention to advise any one to take up his
residence for life in the Engadine. There must, however, be some charm
in this valley, since those of its inhabitants who emigrate from it in
their youth are very apt, after they have made some money, to return
to pass their old age in their natal place, where they build some very
pretty houses.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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