100 POPULAR GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



beautiful tropical plants which grow in the South of Spain 

 with the greatest luxuriance. Even the Banana (with 

 which we shall be more familiar by-and-by) is frequent on 

 the banks of the Guadalquivir" (though not truly wild 

 there), as well as a plant of the Leguminous family with a 

 very showy flower, called *Erythrina corallodendron. 



On the southern coast of Spain too we meet with the 

 Dwarf Palm, as also in Naples, but it does not extend fur- 

 ther to the north than Nice., where we must take leave of 

 it, and bend our steps towards the East. The southern 

 part of the Crimea lies in this zone, and seems to partake of 

 its general character. On our way thither we will steam 

 down the Danube from Orsova, and admire the Poplars 

 and Cypresses which in this picturesque part of the river 

 embower a mosque on a river-island there, on which the 

 lofty cliffs frown down on either side. We will lament 

 as we go over the once fertile provinces on the northern 

 bank : provinces fertile enough, and with a corn-trade pro- 

 sperous enough to excite the jealousy of Russia ; but now 

 the cornfields are changed into Battlefields, and we hasten 

 on past the low swampy banks at the mouth of the river, 

 that we may see the Crimea before that too is trodden under 

 the soldier's foot. 



