Jnae la, IBK. } 



JOUBNAL OP HOBTICULTUBE AND COTTAGE GAEDENBB. 



43y 



obligingly been placed at my disposal. Added to this there 

 will be other material, true and lifelike, as every "note" 

 should be that is struck on the sacred way that leads ns to the 

 Holy Sepulchre. Each flower we gather has an interest be- 

 longing to itself alone. We can cull them with no careless 

 hand ; for although they may be strewn around ns in boun- 

 teous munificence, the thought will come that He who gives 

 them all to us found an earthly grave at onr "wicked hands," 

 and that the only wreath we offered back to Him was the 

 " crown of thorns " that encircled His bleeding brow on Cal- 

 vary. 



Following the route I have intimated, we may yet linger for 

 a little while with the Apostle St. Paul as, sailing for Bome, 

 he landed and remained three days at Syracuse in Sicily. 

 After noting this visit, shall we be astonished to read in the 

 ancient history of the island that " Christianity spread early 

 into Sicily, and that a persecution of the Christians took place 

 under Nero," the very Cicsar to whom St. Paul had appealed, 

 and to whose "judgment seat" he was journeying when he 

 was shipwrecked at Malta ? Thus regarding Sicily it becomes 

 like a faint reflection of the H0I3' Land ; and as we coast its 

 rocky shores and watch for the first glimpse of Mount Etna, 

 which rises upwards of ten thousand feet above the sea level, 

 our thoughts turn once and again to those bygone days, which 

 have left their impress upon the earth as fixed and sure as is 

 that of the "everlasting hills." 



Sometimes at daybreak the old mountain will show itself 

 forth in all its glory, occasionally pufling out a volume of smoke 

 as a sort of credential of what is going on within. The entire 

 group of Etna occupies about ninety miles in circumference, 

 and the sides of the mountains are covered with forests of 

 Oak, Beech, Maple, Birch, Fir, and magnificent Chestnut trees, 

 varied by occasional streams of lava, which have mu down 

 even to the seaport of Catania, carrying devastation and misery 

 along with them. 



The Wheat in the province of Catania is very bad ; and com 

 is brought from Egypt and sold at a cheaper rate than that 

 which is of home growth, owing to the diliiculty of laud car- 

 riage in so mountainous a region, while Indian corn, together 

 with barley and beans, is converted into bread. 



High up, on the mountain near Zafarana, there are extensive 

 vineyards, from which delicious wines are made, Bronte, or, as 

 it is also called, Etna wine, being largely exported. The white 

 wines of Marsala and Catania, with the muscat of Syracuse, 

 have almost a world-wide name. Besides the vineyards on 

 Etna there are orchards of Lemons and Oranges, which are 

 both plentiful and fine, Sicily being famed for its essences of 

 Lemon, Citron, Orange, Aniseed, Lavender, itosemary, and 

 Bergamot. 



From such a land of flowers those collected during one short 

 visit must necessarily form but a very small proportion ; and 

 yet, gathered as they were in spring, they speak as heralds 

 speak of something still greater being at hand. The most 

 noticeable of the spring flowers are the Cyclamens, which grow 

 iii large masses, their darkly veined leaves contrasting so beau- 

 tifully with their delicate bloom. The Cyclamen repandum 

 is found near Messina. There also grows the Mathiola tri- 

 easpidata, and there the Erica vagans, which is found in our 

 own Coniish land. Another famihar friend, but grown con- 

 siderably larger by Sicilian diet, is the Trichonema bulboco- 

 dium. This tiny Crocus-like plant grows plentifully by the 

 Beashore between Dawlish and Starcross in Devonshire, and 

 also in .Jersey ; but the Sicihan specimen is brighter in coloiir- 

 ing, and at least four times the size of the EugUsh plant. I 

 should like to claim acquaintance with yet one other Sicilian 

 flower— the Phlomis fruticosa, with its soft glaucous leaves 

 and yellow whorl of blossoms, which I have found growing 

 wild in Devonshire. But alas ! I am bound to confess that. 

 on mentioning my find to a botanist, I was met with " escaped 

 from a garden," and with this dictum I had to be content. 



Allied to the Phlomis is the Teucrium fruticans, which is 

 eommonly to be met with, as is also the Viola (tricolor ?) which 

 I have so often gathered in country walks both in England and 

 Scotland. Of the wild Geraniums, G. moUe is the only speci- 

 men I have from Sicily, while Dr. Deakin gives four— -ilissec- 

 tum, moUe, llobertianum, and rotundifoUum, as gr07.ing on 

 the Colosseum alone. 



Specimens of Psoralea bituminosa, Lathyrus ochrus, Cen- 

 tranthua calcitrapa, Passerina, Euphorbia dendroides, and 

 Orchis unduIaLifuUa, togetber with a pretty Senecio and 

 Linaria, were sent to me. There was but one solitary Fern 

 — Polypodium vulgare (var. acutum ?) which brought back to 



my memory the plant I found on the Colosseum, where it 

 grows for the most part high np and safe from the mercUeea 

 grasp of Fem-colleotors, who show no pity to bare mina if 

 only they can add to their collection. 



Amongst the Sicilian plants, and having written npon it the 

 word "introduced," was a lovely spray of Bougainvilla-a spec- 

 tabilis, its purplish rose-coloured bracts answering for flowers, 

 the real flower being very insignificant. I have lately seen a, 

 fine specimen of this beautiful plant in full bloom in a garden 

 in Devonshire ; and shortly afterwards I saw a spray which had 

 arrived in a letter from India, having on it this notice, " The 

 BougainvillaBa grows very commonly here." In Madeira the 

 plant grows profusely trailing up the houses, and its colouring 

 is rich and vivid ; but the same species introduced into the 

 Cape de Verdes is still more vivid in colo«riug, showing plainly 

 the intensifying power of the sun's rays when brought to bear 

 on colours predisposed to receive them. It is not long since 

 it was supposed almost an impossibility to flower the Bou- 

 gainvilbpa in England. It is pleasant to know that this horti-" 

 cultural difficulty has passed away. "' 



But I must return to the mountains and valleys of Sicily, n6' 

 rich in natural productions, where the Olive tree gives its 

 olive oil, the Carob its sustenance for cattle, the Ornus its 

 manna ; while the products of these trees, together with llice, 

 Fistachia nuts, Walnuts, dried Figs, Almonds, honey, wax, 

 gum, soda, and cotton are exported in great quantities. On 

 one of the Trapani Islands — Maretimo— wild Thyme (Thymus 

 fruticulosus ?) grows iu such quantities that it makes the dis- 

 trict like one vast bee-hive, so many bees are attracted to and 

 nourished upon it. The liquorice juice that is used for brewing 

 in England is made at Palermo, while Messina is a great mart 

 for a common kind of silk. 



Sicily abounds in magnificent scenery — mountain, rock, and 

 ocean appearing and disappearing iu mingled grandeur and 

 beauty ; and to natural objects are added ruins of Greek and 

 Roman architecture, amongst the most remarkable of which is 

 the vast theatre erected near the town of Taormina, and said 

 to have been capable of holding forty thousand people. The 

 seats are partly formed by the hillside, and command the most 

 glorious views, on the one side of the Straits of Messina and 

 Italy, and on the other of Etna and the Mediterranean. 



The di-ive from Catania to Taormina, inland by Zafarina, 

 forms a beautiful introduction to the yet grander scenes that 

 await the traveller as he winds up the steep hill to the theatre, 

 and then onwards and upwards to the ancient fortification 

 called La Mola, the ascent to which is precipitous iu the ex- 

 treme, catching first glimpses and then bolder revelations of 

 glory. Beneath his feet is a robe of many-coloured flowers ; 

 hfting up his eyes they rest on mountains glittering with snow, 

 while the vault of heaven is one impenetrable sea of blue. 

 The road from Taormina to Messina is hewn out of the cliffs 

 overhanging the seashore, and commands an ever-varied suw 

 cession of sea views. 



From this land of beauty and plenty we must sail away to a 

 far different scene, to a dreary, monotonous old town of Egypt, 

 where the narrow streets rejoice in alternate changes between 

 mud and dust, where good water is scarce, and vegetation — as 

 Englishmen count vegetation — a thing to dream of, but never 

 to be realised. Yet what varied associations does the very 

 name of Alexandria recall ! What visions of regal splendour 

 when it was the residence of the Ptolemies ! What dreams of 

 learning and scientific research during the collecting together 

 of that vast library, which was said at one time to contain 

 700,000 unprinted volumes. It was great in splendour, for we 

 read of it as being the rival of Home ; great in commerce, for 

 it succeeded Tyre in commercial importance ; great in learning, 

 for its hbrary and schools were renowned all over the world. 

 We are not surprised to find that Christianity took an early and 

 firm hold in Alexandria, for its great hbrary contained many 

 a Copy of the Scriptures, and its schools many an eloquent 

 " ApoUos mighty in the Scriptures," and who, by the very per- 

 suasiveness of inteUect " mightily convinced the Jews, and 

 that publicly, showing by the Scriptures that Josus was Christ." 

 We find Ale.\andrian8 amongst those who disputed with 

 Stephen, so that we may infer that Christianity was not blindly 

 accepted at Alexandria," but rather that it was the deliberate 

 choice of men famed throughout the world for their intellec- 

 tual capacities. That the choice was not made without some 

 resistance from old prejudices we find from the fact of the 

 Alexandrians, when not able to resist St. Stephen's wisdom, 

 having had recourse to the common eastern practice of suborn- 

 ing men to give lying witness against him. ,yjj;jj_ •,- .-iuiiLjt 



