THE LAND OF AZURE BLUE 47 



which at present seem at first sight to be characteristic 

 natives of it, but are, in reality, quite distinct from its 

 primitive vegetation. This primitive vegetation is now 

 represented only in what is locally called the " maquis " 

 what we should, perhaps, term the " scrub " or " bush " 

 in English. It comprises some pines, the juniper, the 

 lovely rock roses, balsams, rosemary, the giant heath 

 (bruyere), from which our briar-root pipes are made, the 

 larger thyme, the myrtle, the rose of Provence, two kinds 

 of lavender, and many aromatic plants with grey hairy 

 leaves, and often provided with sharp thorns as additional 

 defences against browsing goats. The delicious perfumes 

 of these hardy inhabitants of the dry, rocky grounds, 

 where little or no grass can flourish, are developed by 

 them as a protection against browsing animals, who cannot 

 tolerate much of these pungent volatile oils, although 

 mankind extracts them and uses them in the manu- 

 facture of such scents as eau-de-Cologne and also in 

 cookery. 



Many a visitor to the Riviera never strays from the 

 cultivated fields and roadways into this scrub-land. The 

 olive tree, which forms so prominent and beautiful a 

 feature in the panorama of gardens which unrolls itself 

 as we steam or drive along the coast from Toulon to 

 Mentone and from Mentone to Genoa and Spezzia, is not 

 a native plant ; it was introduced in prehistoric times, and 

 has been again and again re-established by emigrants from 

 Italy; but it was brought to Italy from the East. It is 

 astonishing how many of the cultivated trees of the Riviera 

 have the same kind of history the vine came from India 

 in prehistoric times, the fig tree more recently from Persia, 

 the lemon from India, the orange and the peach tree from 

 China. All of them were introduced in very ancient times 

 to the eastern parts of the Mediterranean basin, and so 

 gradually were carried to the shores of the Ligurian sea, 



