432 Mr. G. Munby on the Botanical Productions 



have used it roasted to imitate coffee. Chestnuts are very rare, 

 as I have not seen a dozen trees in the country. Cherry-trees grow 

 wild in some of the shady ravines of Boujareah near Algiers, but 

 I never saw any fruit on them : the cherries consumed in Algiers 

 are brought from Spain. Piums are more common, but not of a 

 good quality. Apples are very poor, although in certain districts 

 near Algiers a small kind of summer apple is very common. 

 Pears are better, but there existed very few varieties until the 

 French occupation. The loquat, or fruit of Mespilus japonica, 

 ripens perfectly and is much esteemed ; it has rather the taste of 

 an English gooseberry : this last shrub is cultivated in a few 

 gardens as an object of curiosity, but I never saw the red cur- 

 rant, although many French colonists have imported the tree, 

 which seldom survives the first year. The service-tree, Sorbus 

 domestica, is rather common in gardens. Strawberries have 

 been introduced by the French, and produce fruit in gardens 

 which have a good supply of water : in such places they are to 

 be had at all seasons, even in December. The Moors call them 

 tout ensara, Christian mulberries. 



There are very few gardens without a few banana or plantain- 

 trees : the fruit ripens perfectly, but always fetches a high price. 

 In certain parts in the interior, as Tlemcen, the walnut-tree is 

 common, but it is rare near the coast : the bark of the root is very 

 much used by the natives to dye their feet and hands on feast- 

 days. Almond-trees are very common ; they flower in January 

 and ripen their fruit in September. I can scarcely count the 

 myi'tle as a fruit-tree, yet the ripe berries are much eaten, and 

 even brought from Spain ; they have a sweetish but powerfully 

 aromatic taste, resembling juniper berries. Of the same flavour 

 are the berries of the lentisk-tree, which are eaten by both Moors 

 and Spaniards. 



Many opinions have been given as to the fruit called Lotus, 

 described by Herodotus, Pliny, Theophrastus, and other ancient 

 writers, and which gave its name to a whole people, who were 

 called Lotophagi. Some believe it to be the fruit of the Celtis 

 australis common in the Mediterranean region ; this tree however 

 does not answer to the description of the lotus-tree, which was 

 described as being a low prickly shrub, nor docs the fruit possess 

 the quality attributed to it, of making a man forget his country, 

 " tam dulci ibi cibo, ut nomen etiam genti terrseque dederit, ni- 

 mis hospitali advenarum oblivione patriae, &c.'^ (Plin. 1. 13. c. 17.) 

 Shaw and Peyssonel fancied that it was the Ziziphus Lotus or 

 Sidra of the Arabs : the description of the shrub agrees with that 

 of the real lotus ; but its fruit, which resembles very much that of 

 our common hawthorn in flavour, can neither by its taste nor 

 any other property, cause a man to forget his country. The date 



