of the Kingdom of Algiers. 433 
is another fruit which has been thought by its luscious flavour 
to be the lotus, but the sweetness of the date is the only point 
which agrees with the description of the fruit in question. I 
have received from M. Pelissier, Consul of France at Soussa, 
near Tripoli, specimens of a plant called Nitraria tridentata : it is 
a small prickly shrub agreeing in description with the lotus of 
the ancients, and moreover the fruit is pleasant to the taste, and 
has a slightly intoxicating property, quite sufficient to make a 
man forget his country whilst under the influence of it: it is 
called by the Arabs damouch. I think this plant has greater 
claims than any other to be the lotus, both from the description 
of the plant and fruit, and also from its geographical position, 
the region of the Lotophagi, being to the eastward of the king- 
dom of Algiers. 
I shall only just mention the date-palm, as it is cultivated 
rather as an object of curiosity, at least on the littoral, than of 
utility: the date-eating people live many hundred miles in the 
interior. Cotton has been tried with success, but the high price 
of manual labour prevents its extensive cultivation. The sugar- 
cane grows without care, but is not used in the making of 
sugar: some of the colonists are in the habit of planting it to 
serve as green food for the cattle in summer, when the meadows 
and pastures are dried up. Tobacco is cultivated both by natives 
and colonists: the French have lately introduced several varieties 
of tobacco, and have drawn the attention of the settlers to the 
cultivation of this plant. The variety grown by the Arabs is very 
mild, and resembles im a great measure the Latakia or other 
Oriental tobaccos. The French government have established an 
Experimental Garden on a large scale near the town of Algiers ; 
and here may be seen growing, without any artificial covering, 
indigo, tea, coffee, sesamum, and a great number of ornamental 
plants, which, under an English climate, would require the pro- 
tection of a stove. The Bougainvillea spectabilis flowers against 
a wall in February: Erythrina Crista Galli attains a height of 
20 feet. Cassia tomentosa, the Guava plum, Lantana Cammara, 
the bamboo cane, Sparmannia africana, Justicia Adhatoda, and a 
host of other tropical plants, flower perfectly in the open air and 
are left out all winter. Except the two native species of heath, 
I never saw any plants of this tribe in Algeria. 
The kingdom of Algiers has not any particular kind of vege- 
tation to distinguish it from the Mediterranean region in general. 
Its flora is almost identical with that of the South of Spain, and 
of Andalusia in particular: the two species of Phelipea which 
are found near Oran are remarkable by the immense size of their 
fleshy stems. 'The richest harvest for a botanist is on the low dry 
hills in early spring, as the meadows and plains often yield only 
Ann. & Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. iv. 29 
