200 The Htmting PVasps 



the Nestor of the Ventoux guides. My botanical 

 colleagues inspect the vegetation on either side 

 of the road by the cold light of the dawn ; the 

 others talk. I follow the party with a baro- 

 meter slung from my shoulder and a note-book 

 and pencil in my hand. 



My barometer, intended for taking the alti- 

 tude of the principal botanical halts, soon 

 becomes a pretext for attacks on the gourd 

 with the rum. No sooner is a noteworthy plant 

 observed than somebody cries : 



' Quick, let 's look at the barometer ! ' 



And we all crowd around the gourd, the 

 scientific instrument coming later. The "cool- 

 ness of the morning and our walk make us 

 appreciate these references to the barometer 

 so thoroughly that the level of the stimulant 

 falls even more swiftly than that of the mercury. 

 In the interests of the immediate future, I must 

 consult Torricelli's tube a little less often. 



As the temperature grows too cold for them, 

 first the oak and the ilex disappear by degrees ; 

 then the vine and the almond-tree ; and next 

 the mulberry, the walnut-tree and the white 

 oak. Box becomes plentiful. We enter upon 

 a monotonous region extending from the end 

 of the cultivated fields to the lower boundary 

 of the beech-woods, where the predominant 

 plant is Saiureia montana, the winter savory, 



