160 POPULAR GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS. 



cochineal insect feeds (Opuntia cochmilli/era) also grows 

 throughout the coast in as high perfection as in Mexico and 

 St. Domingo, having been long since introduced here.' 34 ' 



After the experience we have had of desert travelling, we 

 are not at all inclined to repeat the experiment, though for 

 curiosity's sake we should have liked to see some of those 

 "many little plants of the Mint tribe (Labiate)" which, 

 Professor Lindley tells us, we should find " even enduring 

 the scorching sun of the Syrian desert;" so as the next 

 portion of this zone about which we have much information 

 is the Himalaya Mountains, we will begin our journey 

 afresh, on the western part of those mountains, in the 

 country round Delhi. 



Here the double character which was before mentioned as 

 characteristic of some portions of this zone, is most clearly 

 developed. The heat of the summer is sufficient to ripen 

 even almost any of the tropical fruits ; these however are not 

 common there, owing most probably to the cold of the 

 winter, when the temperature is so low that often old trees 

 of those tropical plants which do grow there are killed. 

 There is a summer harvest of Eice and Maize, during which 



* Most of the facts relating to Syria and Egypt are given on the authority 

 of Volney. 



