AND LOWER EGYPT. 25 



After having to no purpose endeavoured to ply 

 to windward by tacking;, we were under the neees* 

 sity of looking out for shelter, and came to an an* 

 chor, at two o'clock in the afternoon of the very 

 next day after our departure, in the road of 

 Vignettes, in the bay of Toulon. The coast near 

 which the frigate was moored is bold ; its cultiva- 

 tion extremely varied, the bastides* meeting the 

 eye from distance to distance, the smiling aspect 

 which it presents, form an agreeable contrast with 

 the arid and greyish mountains which rise behind, 

 and form the back ground of the picture. On the 

 declivity of some of those mountains, nevertheless, 

 feed the excellent sheep of the vicinity of Toulon, 

 on nutrimental and odoriferous plants. The straw- 

 berries which we found there, in great abundance, 

 were the finest flavoured I ever tasted. 



The chase, which we could not pursue too far 

 from the vessel, procured us only a few quails al- 

 ready on their return from emigration. We like- 

 wise saw the lapwing there, and I shot a yellow 

 wagtail -J* and a small bird of a species never de- 

 scribed before Bu ffon, and winch he calls gavoue 



* This is the name given, in the southern departments, to the 

 small country -seats built by wealthy individuals, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of cities. f 



f BulFon, Hist. Nat. des Ois. & pi. enlum. No. 28, fig. r. 

 Motacilla Saarula, Lin. 



from 



