LA MORTOLA. 15 



but charmingly -situated promontory. Pergola is the technical 

 term for those covered walks so justly popular in Italy : the natives 

 have a patois name for it, Topia, which is equally charming and 

 antique. 1 The pillars, rebuilt in their original simplicity, sustain 

 a rustic lattice-work of wood overhead, wreathed and festooned 

 with the most exquisite blossoms and foliage ; between the pillars 

 the visitor catches the most charming glimpses of the sea, of the 

 gardens, and of the Palazzo Orengo, which is especially pleasing 

 seen from this side. Stone steps lead us either upwards or down- 

 wards out of the Topia to the stately old cypress walk, or among 

 the newly-laid-out Acacia and Eucalyptus plantations, which are 

 separated from the coast-line by the ancient Via Julia Augusta. 

 In the Topia itself bloom roses of all the largest, most beautiful, 

 and fragrant species ; together with a numerous company of gay 

 creepers, climbing plants, and bushes. The white fallen blossoms 

 of the Spircza Reevesii form a snowy covering, lighted up by the 

 fiery or yellow reds of the Bignonia venusta, B. grandiflora, B. 

 rosea, Tacsonia mollissima (seen and already described by Hum- 

 boldt in Bogota), Tacsonia ignea, T. splendens, and T. tubulosa. 

 Every known land has sent her offering of flowers or creepers 

 to beautify the Topia. The charming Akebi of the Japanese, 

 Akebia quinata, found by the late diligent explorer, Mr. Fortune, 

 growing wild in the island of Chusan, attracts us by the delicious 

 fragrance of its scent, and by the curious structure of its monoecious 

 flowers. It belongs to the order Lardizabalaceae, out of the group 

 Polycarpieae. In respect of fragrance it is perhaps excelled by 

 another plant of the same natural order, namely, the Stauntonia 

 latifolia y but it is a critical matter to decide about scents ; at all 

 events the Stauntonia smells like the finest Neroli oil. 



Billardiera cirrhosa (Pittosporaceae)^from Australia, Clematis 

 cirrhosa, and other species of the same genus, the Australian Har- 

 denbergia rosea (Leguminosae), and Milhlenbeckia mtmmularifolia 

 (Polygonacese), form the blossoming foundation to the Topia, 

 covered by its different creepers. It is not always advisable to 

 venture too far among the undergrowth ; the curious nearly leafless 

 but extremely thorny Rubus Australis sometimes bars the way, and 

 the pretty blossoming Loasa Wallichii, of the family of the Loa- 

 sacese, nearly allied to the Passiflorse, hides worse dangers than 



1 Topta, in Vitrumu? book on architecture, shortly B.C., means landscape painting ; 

 and the topiarius of Cicero and Pliny was a professed gardener. 



