2o6 A SKETCH OF THE 



angelic figures painted on the ceiling, which the music seemed 

 to animate as the authors of the celestial strains, it only required 

 a pipe to make one feel quite contented, and exclaim with Moore's 

 Peri, 



" Oh, am I not happy ^ I am, I am ! " 



But returning to our walk ; A number of idlers from the neigh- 

 bouring houses came round us as we were enjoying our bird's-e5^e 

 view of Monaco, and among them was a youth pointed out as the 

 genius of the place, who hoped to make his fortune on the stage b)'' 

 singing. We proposed that he should give us a specimen of his 

 powers by singing the " Marsellaise." This was greeted by the 

 bystanders with acclamation, and the youth, who needed no second 

 bidding, began to sing at the top of his voice, the others joining in 

 the chorus. Unfortunately, on coming to the second verse, a 

 donkey, which was grazing unconsciously close by, began to bray, 

 drowning the singer's voice, and our proceedings were terminated 

 by a roar of laughter. 



From Turbia our downward march began towards Mentone, and 

 here the successive views of sea, precipices', and olive foliage became 

 very grand. We shouted to provoke an echo from the rocks, nearly 

 a thousand feet high on our left. " Who are you ? " was repeated 

 so clearly twice, at intervals of some seconds, that we half expected 

 to see some mocking ogre issue from the mountain caves ; but a 

 pair of buzzards circling over the highest peaks were the only signs 

 of life. Here among the rocks, under an olive tree, we found a few 

 purple anemones, which in the spring will form bright carpets 

 beneath the trees ; near them are pistacia bushes, which are not 

 molested even by the sheep and goats that browse among the rocks ; 

 their leaves and bright berries are saturated with a resinous juice, 

 which preserves them from attack. The progenitor of these bushes 

 has sent its offspring far and wide. Under the Indian sun they have 

 developed into mango trees, which by cultivation have been made to 

 yield the finest fruit in the world. The strong turpentine odour of 



