"The Duke de Frias, Spanish Ambassador 
- at Paris, has nobly redeemed the promise 
he gave you, and I found a Royal Order 
at Gijon, by which my papers and instru- 
ments were permitted to enter, duty free. 
My fears, that I should arrive here too 
late, are, happily, not realized. I confess 
that it surprized me greatly to find such a 
tardy vegetation, of which you may judge, 
when I tell you, that Scilla verna, Stella- 
Y ria Holostea, and Cheiranthus Cheiri, are 
still in flower. I saw many interesting 
plants at the different ports where we 
touched, but was unable to secure them, 
from the impossibility of getting access to 
my paper, and that of the country is ex- 
standing this, at Castro, only three leagues 
- from our frontier, to the West of Bilboa, 
and twenty-five from Bayonne, I was de- 
lighted to find, growing in the shady ra- 
. vines, that splendid Fern, Woodwardia 
: radicans, of which I laid in a large stock, 
- drying the specimens in the best way I 
could, under my mattrass and among my 
linen. The vegetation of Castro appeared 
E (wy extraordinary, but I was reluctantly 
. obliged to leave it untouched. The Ferns, 
Fos least five or six feet high, and fronds of 
| oodwardia measured full seven or eight 
: feet in length. Laurels reach even to the 
: . Sides of the mountains, and the Menziesia 
oe Dabeoci abounds every where. At San- 
tona, the Orange trees are cultivated very 
 Sxtensively in the fields, and I was struck 
°y Seeing that alpine plants grew on the 
. Walls which enclosed these plantations. 
Here there was nothing to be done, as the 
mountains are at a considerable distance 
from the coast, and cultivation spreads 
Over the whole intermediate space; not- 
Withstanding which I found, yesterday, a 
Sey growing on a small turfy eminence, 
and remembering the excellent Mono- 
you are preparing of this genus, I 
ed some of the‘ bulbs, the flowers 
IN THE MOUNTAINS OF ASTURIAS. 
213 
being past, and have laid them by for the 
purpose of presenting them to you. Since 
I left Castro, I have not found any Oro- 
banches; there I saw five or six of them, 
growing on as many different plants, with- 
in a hundred yards of one another, but 
they were still in the Asparagus state; the 
first on Galium Mollugo ; the second on 
Picris hieracioides ? (Iam uncertain of the 
species, as the radical leaves only were 
developed); the third on Vicia Bithynica ; 
the fourth on Ivy; the fifth was a beautiful 
species, of a violet colour, growing on 
Smilax aspera or Silene nutans, I do not 
quite know which. I must now conclude 
this letter, as I am about to proceed to 
viedo. Accept the assurances of my re- 
spectful attachment. 
DuRIEU. 
Bordeaux, Nov. 8, 1835. — 
I have at last returned from my explo- 
ratory journey in the Western Pyrenees, 
and am here awaiting the arrival of my 
packages from Bayonne, soon after which 
I trust to have again the happiness of 5 
meeting my family. You are, doubtless, 
desirous to learn the results of a journey, 
possible ; 
without respite,—without allowing myself 
the slightest recreation ; enjoying however, 
uninterrupted health, and in no wise dis- 
turbed by that political storm which was 
growling around me. 
In the country that I explored with so 
much care, the vegetation, however, is but 
little different from that of Brittany and 
our Aquitanian provinces: few are the 
plants which indicate a new and unvisited 
region, though many of them are curious, 
and the whole may well be deemed inter- 
esting from the fact of their locality. 
PN 
