158 POPULAR GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



the Amaryllis lutea j they are of the brightest yellow, and 

 very much like a Crocus in general appearance, only much 

 larger and taller; but as they differ in the number of sta- 

 mens, in the character of the anthers, and in some other 

 particulars, they do not exactly belong to the same family. 



The hilly but fruitful country of Samaria (now Nablous) 

 produces quantities of corn, as well as Olives, and the 

 Cotton-plant (Gossypium) . We shall so soon meet with the 

 Cotton-plant in countries where it is a chief article of com- 

 merce, that we will not stop to examine it here. As we 

 approach towards Mount Carmel, we arrive at a chain of 

 hills, on the summit of which we again recognize Oaks and 

 Pines, from which we will keep at a respectful distance, 

 having no wish to encounter the wild boars and lynxes 

 which lurk there. On the flattened cone of Carmel, inter- 

 spersed among Brambles, grow wild Vines and Olive-trees, 

 wild now, though it is thought by some only degenerated 

 from trees which in former times were cultivated there. 

 When we reach the neighbourhood of Bairout, we are struck 

 with the numbers of white Mulberry- trees with which the 

 plains around are so thickly planted, that as we look down 

 into the valley from the mountain heights, the foliage of 

 these useful trees clothes them with a beautiful verdure : 



