78 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 



fifty different European plants, nd these in the district of 

 La Calle alone. One would think that they had noteven 

 given themselves the trouble to observe these facts, essential 

 as they are to geographical knowledge. As if to make up 

 for their remissness, they certainly have, Desfontaines in par- 

 ticular, discovered things that never existed there? for in- 

 stance, the *sp'diu >' Jilix mas, and Quercus Robur, neither of 

 them ratives of Africa, although the forests of La Calle abound 

 in Aspidiurn Jilix fdeminUi and possess an entirely unknown 

 variety of oak. This is one of the finest and grandest trees 

 imaginable — measuring from two to three metres in circum- 

 ference, and sixty feet in height, pyramidal, and with leaves 

 shaped like those of the Chestnut, but larger, dark green at 

 top, and white and downy beneath. The acorns are very 

 small, and have a bitter taste. It is not uncommon to find 

 the Osmunda regalis six feet high, and the common Ivy leaves 

 five inches across. 



"The teraperatu e of the climate here is far more even than 

 in the rest of Africa; for the centigrade thermometer has 

 never stood below 11*^, nor risen above 30", in the shade: 

 so that the inhabitants enjoy a perpetual spring. 



"There are as many as six distinct species of the Feline 

 tribe : the Wild Cat, Lynx, Caracal, Serval, Panther, and 

 Lion. The last two, which issue from the recesses of the 

 forests towards evening, are as common here, particularly 

 at the passage of La Matrie, as the domestic cats upon the 

 pantiles in your part of Paris. 



*' Before going to La Calle, I made a week's voyage to the 

 deserted isle of Golite, about twenty leagues from the coast of 

 Africa, which had never hitherto been visited by any naturalist. 

 We found it of volcanic construction. It has apparently 

 but lately emerged, and is allied to the division Pantellaria 

 and Sicilia, The vegetation is most scanty — since the wild- 

 goats and rabbits, which inhabit it in great flocks, devour 

 every leaf of every plant, as well as every vegetable upon the 

 island. Upon the highest peak, where the clouds rest, and 

 keep up a constant degree o'i humidity, some lichens are to 



