244 Biographical Account of [April 



protection, he was in constant uneasiness lest the slightest 

 insult offered by a Moor should be resented by his guard, 

 whose brutality inspired him with horror. Very different 

 was the character of the ignorant and barbarous princes of 

 these kingdoms, who administered justice to their subjects 

 in an equitable though rude manner. 



During the two years of his residence in Barbary, Des- 

 fontaines laboured without ceasing. Strong and vigorous 

 in his constitution, sober in his habits, active in investigat- 

 ing every subject which came under his notice, he studied 

 ardently the botany of this country, and although half a 

 century has elapsed since he left it, scarce a single plant 

 has been discovered which had escaped his searching eye. 



He turned his attention also to the study of animals. 

 His fine collection of insects, deposited in the Museum of 

 Natural History, furnished Fabricius and Latreille with 

 several new species; and in 1787, he published a memoir 

 describing several new species of birds which he found on 

 the coast of Barbary. He studied also antiquities, and 

 wrote several papers on ancient geography and ancient 

 monuments. His Memoirs on the Lotos of Lybia, which 

 supported the Lotophagi ; that upon the acorns of Atlas, 

 and one on the economical uses of dates, are proofs of his 

 classical knowledge, and of the critical acumen with which 

 he exercised it. 



During his residence in Barbary, he formed a friendship 

 with two botanists who visited that country with similar 

 views to his own, which death alone terminated. These 

 were M. M. Martin Vahl, professor of botany at Copenhagen, 

 who has acquired great celebrity as an accurate botanist, 

 and M. Poiret, who has published on Barbary, and reserved 

 the account of some of his labours for the Encyclopedic Me- 

 thodique. Connexions thus formed amid toil and danger, 

 are much more indelible than friendships contracted amid 

 the haunts of civilization. De Candolle makes this remark, 

 from having often heard these old men relate with energy 

 and pleasure the recollections of this active period of 

 their lives. 



On his return to Paris in 1785, Desfontaines found 

 Lemonnier as friendly as ever, who at this time had almost 

 engaged him in the unfortunate expedition of La Perouse ; 

 when illness prevented the intended project from being 



