ed for
about an hour and a half, he conducted me to a small cave on the
Spanish side between the Breche and the glacier, where smugglers pass
the night, waiting for the early morning hours to descend into France.
Desperate work! and desperate must be the men engaged in it. Being
considerably recruited in strength, I found the passage of the glacier
much less arduous than it was in ascending; and having passed it in
safety, we flew down the snow inclines with delightful rapidity, in
five minutes clearing ground which cost us an hour to surmount. We
reached Gavarnie at seven o'clock, and pausing for half an hour, rode
on to Luz, where we arrived as the night closed.

OUR WILD-FRUITS.

Why is it that the wild _flowers_ of England have attracted so much
attention of late years, whilst the wild _fruits_ have been passed
over in silence, and allowed to bud and bloom, to ripen their fruit,
and to perish, inglorious and unnoticed? It would be difficult to give
a reply to this question; I will therefore not attempt it, but rather
invite you, my friends, to assist me in removing this reproach from
the wild-fruits of our land, and give me a little of your attention
whilst we inquire what these are, and where they grow, and examine a
little into their structure and uses, as well as into their
classification. In doing so, I think we shall find that, though
England does not indigenously afford so many or such rich fruits as
those which are the products of some other lands, yet that she
possesses several kinds which, even in their uncultivated state, are
edible, and pleasant to the taste, and some of which form the stocks
on which, by budding or grafting, many of the most valuable
productions of our gardens and orchards are established. I think that
many will be surprised to find, that the list I shall give them of
fruits indigenous in England is so long and so respectable. The plum,
the cherry, the apple and pear tribes--the raspberry, with its
allies--the gooseberry, and currant, red and black--the service-tree,
with its pleasant subacid fruit, and the abounding whortleberry and
cranberry tribes, which cover immense tracts of our hills with their
myrtle-like foliage and pretty heath-like bloom, and produce such
harvests of useful fruit freely to whoever will take the trouble of
gathering it--are surely treasures not to be despised!

It is true that in the present day, when the constantly increasing
importation both of fr