Dec. 1903.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OV EDINBURGH 445 



labellum. As we were discussing by the roadside a 

 peculiar Chlora that seemed new to us, some Menorquius 

 passed, and their remarks were translated by our companion 

 as follows : — " Oh yes, they are Americans. Most of the 

 medicine that people take nowadays comes from America. 

 They travel here and gather our weeds, and compound the 

 remedies on their return." 



Time will not permit me to do more than mention 

 many things that could not escape observation — the 

 dazzling cleanliness of the towns, the courtesy of the 

 people, and their kindly feeling for everything English, 

 and beyond that the manifest traces of a still existing 

 influence of the old British occupation. 



We left Minorca feeling that we would fain have 

 stayed forty days instead of four, both on account of the 

 intrinsic charm of the place and the extreme kindness that 

 we received from our Spanish confrhxs. 



After a starlight passage on the night of the 27th, the 

 sun rose as we entered Palma Bay, and its rays fell on the 

 capital of Majorica, its great Gothic cathedral, its wind- 

 mills, and its pcilms. A more enchanting scene cannot be 

 imagined. 



Majorca is the largest and most fertile of the islands. 

 The soil is so rich, the climate so soft, and the natural 

 scenery so beautiful that many endearing names have 

 been bestowed upon it throughout the ages. Approached 

 from the sea the aspect is more Oriental than European. 

 And the more prominent vegetation — the abundant Agaves, 

 prickly pears, caroubs, and fine date-palms, as also the 

 dwarf native palmetto {Chainceroi)s humilis) which covers 

 many wild rocky slopes by the sea — all give an Eastern 

 colouring that harmonises well with the old Moorish 

 buildings, and with the fine mountains that glow in blues 

 and purples beyond the Palma plain. Tiiis great plain, 

 protected on ■ the north and east by high ranges, of which 

 the most elevated peaks reach 5000 feet, is closely culti- 

 vated, and produces a long list of vegetables, cereals, and 

 fruits. The attention of a stranger is arrested by the 

 number of wind-sail pumps used for irrigation, and by the 

 universal practice of planting almond and fig trees in the 

 cornfields. The pruning of these fruit trees leaves them 



