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 Arab^ is very 

 mild, and resembles in 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, cofi'ee, sesamum, and a great number of ornamental 

 plants, which, under an English climate, would require the pro- 

 tection of a stove. The Bougainvillea spectahilis flowers against 

 a wall in February : Erijthrina 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 Phelipaa 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 



