8 RAMBLES OF A NATURALIST. 



wieldy plants. Woods of Olive trees, and groves 

 of Orange, Citron, and Carob trees, gave variety to 

 the landscape. Sometimes we caught a glimpse to 

 our right of some small valley, lying within the 

 recesses of the mountains whose sides were clothed 

 with verdure enlivened here and there by patches of 

 thickly clustering rose bushes, which were covered 

 with a thousand small red or white blossoms, whilst 

 to our left the sea stretched its bright blue horizon 

 as far as the eye could reach, bounded by its pictu- 

 resque and deeply indented shores, and by the lofty 

 promontories, whose summits were often crowned 

 with the rich tufts and expanded leaves of the tall 

 date tree. 



On approaching Cephalu, the experienced eye of 

 Carmel had recognised the Santa Rosalia with her 

 sails spread, hastening towards our place of rendez- 

 vous. Our bark and our mules arrived at the same 

 time, and in a few moments we were steering to- 

 wards the peninsula of Milazzo. For the first hour 

 the shore along which we were sailing was as rich 

 and beautiful as the one we had just left ; but after 

 a time the mountains increased in height as they 

 approached the shore, and seemed, with their sharp 

 and clear outlines, as if they had just emerged from 

 the sea ; but still they were green and richly varied. 

 The scene was very different from that desolate 

 region, and those arid and rugged rocks which had 

 oppressed our sight westward of Palermo ; here, 

 everything betrayed the presence of man, and of a 

 more active state of civilisation. Numerous vil- 

 lages appeared in the distance, their white houses 



