"
Far behind us we
leave this first Alpine gorge, where we had spent the morning. The chestnut
trees disappear, small schrubs succeed to them; the slopes become harder;
high ferns luxuriate; here and there, large blue bellflowers and foxgloves
drape them with their flowers. Soon all that disappears. There is nothing
left but mosses and rolling stones on the sides of the mountains".
Confidences, A. de Lamartine