“But I am no botanist!”
“Very good, you are modest. However, since you are in the Pyrenees, you must study the flora of the country; you will not find another such opportunity. There are rare-plants here which you should absolutely carry away. I gathered near Oleth, the Menziesra Daboeci, an inestimable godsend. I will show you at the house the Ramondia Pyrenaica, solanaceous with the aspect of the primrose. I scaled Mont Perdu to find the Ranunculus parnassifolius mentioned by Ramond, and which grows at a height of 2,700 mètres. Hah! what is that! the Aquilcgia Pyrenaica!”
And my little man started off like an isard, clambered up a slope, carefully dug the soil about the flower, took it up, without cutting a single root, and returned with sparkling eyes, triumphant air, and holding it aloft like a banner.
“Plant peculiar to the Pyrenees. I have long wanted it; the specimen is excellent. Come, my young friend, a slight examination: you don’t know the species, but you recognize the family?”
“Alas! I don’t know a word of botany.”
He looked at me stupefied. “And why do you gather plants?”
“To see them, because they are pretty.”
He put his flower into his case, adjusted his cap, and went off without adding another word.
SIXTH.
Sixth variety; very numerous: sedentary tourists. They gaze on the mountains from their windows; their excursions consist in going from their room to the English garden, from the English garden to the promenade. They take a siesta upon the heath, and read the journal stretched on a chair; after which they have seen the Pyrenees.