62 EETURN TO TANGIER. 



OH. III. 



being separately described in Kelaart's Flora Calpemis, 

 and further illustrated in a work of first-rate authority, 

 Boissier's Voyage Botanique en JEspagne. The only tree 

 that seems to prosper thoroughly on this barren sun-baked 

 headland is the Chinese Phytolacca arborea, which was 

 planted some fifty or sixty years ago in the Alameda and 

 elsewhere, many of which have attained a great thickness. 

 They remind one of the stunted clustered columns of some 

 mediaeval churches, each of the very numerous branches 

 developing a projecting cylinder of woody trunk covered 

 with grey bark. 



The so-called Club House, which ranks as the head inn, 

 being already full, we put up at the Fonda Espanola, and 

 had no cause for complaint, either as to food ' or accom- 

 modation. On the morning of the I7th we had notice 

 that the steamer for Tangier was to start at noon ; and, 

 after laying in additional stores of drying paper, and 

 enjoying a delightful morning stroll along the road to 

 Europa Point, we were ready at the appointed time. 



After more than the usual delay, we at length set our 

 faces towards the African shore with a fresh SW. breeze 

 in our faces. Few places in the world can show a greater 

 variety of fine atmospheric effects than the Strait of Her- 

 cules. To-day the horizon behind us was clear, while the hills 

 that bound the entrance from the Atlantic were veiled in thin 

 haze; and, as the sun sank low, a strange purple hue suffused 

 one-half of the sky. The skipper managed to arrive late 

 in the roads at Tangier, and we found that, although a 

 bribe to the official of the port might obtain admission 

 within the walls, our baggage could not be landed until 

 the following morning. We therefore decided to sleep on 

 board the little steamer, and at length, on the morning of 

 the 18th, we returned to breakfast at the Victoria Hotel. 



Maw had made good use of his time. In a first 

 excursion to the ' Lakes ' he had failed to find a beautiful 

 iris, which we had first admired on Sir J. D. Hay's dinner- 

 table, and which we had taken to be the Iris tingitana of 



