THE -DATES OF FEZZAN. 333 
broad-leaved variety of the same species; Ledwm latifolium? a small 
shrub with oblong rugose leaves, their margins strongly revolute, 
woolly underneath, with rusty tomentum. Nemopanthes Canadensis 
formed little thickets two to four feet high, and was now loaded with 
its dull crimson berries, the size of peas, on long, slender, drooping 
peduncles; Epigea repens, Gaultheria procumbens, and Vaccinium 
macrocarpum, with one or two shrubs I was unable to determine, from 
want of flowers or fruits. The season was too far advanced for most 
of the herbaceous plants, of which very few remained in a condition 
to be recognized with certainty. Cornus Canadensis and Pedicularis 
Canadensis were common under the trees, and a species of Trillium 
was gathered, out of flower and fruit. Sarracenia purpurea occurred 
here and there in boggy spots, and in moist places Lycopodium 
dendroides, even now bearing spikes, which probably survive the winter 
and fructify the following year. The constantly cold and broken — 
weather giving warning of the near approach of winter, made a retreat 
from the inhospitable climate of Lower Canada both expedient and 
agreeable ; so, stepping on board the steamer Lord Sydenham, on the 
night of the 3rd, I arrived early the next morning once more at 
Montreal. 
(To be continued.) 
Note, by Dr. James RICHARDSON, on the Dates OF FEZZAN: in 
a letter from Mourzuk, addressed to, and communicated to the Editor 
by Lonp Viscount PALMERSTON, Secretary for Foreign Affairs. 
Mourzuk, 14th May, 1850. 
My Lorp,—The great resource of the inhabitants of the Oases of _ 
the Sahara is the Date-Palm. When every other species of food fails, 
the Date-Palm yields, with the returning year, its nourishing and 
powerful fruit, and saves the population of the Desert from perishing 
of hunger. 
Nineteen-twentieths of the population of Fezzan live on dates during 
nine months of the year. Many of the animals, likewise, feed on 
dates the greater part of the year, the Oases being bare of herbage. 
It is, therefore, My Lord, very useful, as well as interesting, to write 
some account of the various species of this fruit. I have collected 
