10 KA.VENSROCK. ch. >. 



Kebir, overlooking the straits. Near the city gate we 

 passed the cemetery, where turbaned tombstones almost 

 disappear amidst the copious growth of prickly pear 

 (Opuntia vulgaris), and then went some way through 

 dusty lanes between lines of American aloe {Agave ameri- 

 cana), and quickset hedges surrounding gardens where 

 palms, acacias, and a few poplars were the prevailing trees. 

 As we cleared the enclosures, and got into irregular, open 

 ground, where steep slopes of uncultivated land alternate 

 with patches of tillage, our eyes were gladdened by the 

 sight of many a bright southern flower, already blossom- 

 ing abundantly, in spite of the weather which, tiU lately, 

 had been unusually cold. Trefoils, Medicagos, vetches, 

 and other leguminous plants were here the predominant 

 forms, as they are everywhere in the spring flora of the 

 Mediterranean region. As we began to ascend the flanks 

 of the Djebel Kebir, the character of the vegetation 

 changed. Where the ground has not been cleared to 

 make a garden for some of the European residents, whose 

 little villas are scattered over the slope, the ground is 

 covered with masses of luxuriant shrubs, and climbing 

 herbaceous plants, among which some familiar forms of 

 the North are mingled with many exotic species. Thus 

 we saw roses, brambles, bryony, honeysuckle, and white 

 convolvulus holding their ground amidst masses of lentisk, 

 myrtle, Phillyrea, Alaternus, dwarf prickly oak {Quercus 

 coccifera), gum cistus, and the golden profusion of five or 

 six species of the Gytisus tribe that replace our native 

 broom and gorse. After ascending several hundred feet 

 by the roughest of paths, carried along a shaded gully, we 

 entered through a gate the terraced garden whereon stands 

 the house. 



Nothing of its kind can surpass the beauty of the view. 

 The steep slope below is planted with oranges and pome- 

 granates — the first laden with golden fruit, the second with 

 crimson flowers — broken here and there by palms, figs, 

 olives, and carob trees, standing against a background of 



