20 KRALIK’S JOURNEY IN TUNIS. 
place on the 13th, added but little to my collections, though it is higher 
than the Zembla la Duaria; but it gave me new localities for some m- 
teresting species, the Gymnarrhena amongst others. To reach it I had 
three long leagues to go through the plain, the whole of which had 
been ravaged and devoured by the sheep, bnt in the middle a large 
space had been sown with barley not yet cut, and from which the flocks 
had been kept carefully at a distance. On the 14th I made the tour 
of this plot, which doubtless gave me a very fair idea of the vegetation 
of the whole plain. I found in abundance a Reseda nearly allied to 
Phyteuma, if not Phyteuma itself, which I had formerly found, but only 
in single specimens, in the desert about Gabès; and several other cu- 
rious plants, an Zchinospermum, a Delphinium, and in great abundance 
a Euphorbia, of which I had only gathered one or two specimens 1n 
Egypt, and which M. Durieu found, but very sparingly, in Algeria. 
On my return to the tent of our sheikh, I found him playing at 
draughts with the sheikh of a neighbouring douar. The board was a 
square of sand, heaped up from the bottom of the tent; and what do 
you imagine were the draughts?—one played with pieces of camel’s 
dung, and the other with sheep’s dung! This will give you an idea of 
Arab cleanliness. 
But to return to our plants. From the above you will fully agree 
— that I was right in profiting of the patronage of the Consul to obtain 
| . the droit de bourgeoisie in one of the most important tribes of these 
regions. I much regret that the kind solicitude of the Consul-general 
. prevented me from entering the desert before. A splendid exploration 
p that I should have made has been curtailed, for now that I have 
haunted the Arab tents, I have the fullest conviction that I could have 
accomplished it. Certainly quarrels existed between powerful and 
. neighbouring tribes, wars even and razzias; marauders, it is true, have 
taken advantage of this state of affairs to rob and pillage. Notwith- 
standing all this, I am now persuaded, unfortunately too late, that a 
journey into the interior was realizable. I am convinced that my iso- 
lation itself would have been a cause of safety, and my occupation 
would have caused mg to be respected as a physician; and after all, the 
worst that could have happened to me would have been that I might 
perhaps have been robbed. But it is useless now to argue the matter, 
as the time is gone by. After all, to explore properly the whole region 
from Gafsa to Tozzer and Nefzaoua would require an entire season. 
