68 BOTANISING AT CASA BLANOA. ch. hi. 



We accepted a courteous invitation from Mr. and 

 Madame Dupuis, and, landing early on the morning of the 

 22nd, went to breakfast at their house. A less attractive 

 spot than Casa Blanca it is difficult to imagine. A fea- 

 tureless coast of low shelves of red sandstone rock overlaid 

 by stiff clay, stretches on either side in slight undulations, 

 nowhere rising more than a couple of hundred feet above 

 the sea. Not a tree gives variety to the outline or shelter 

 from the blazing sun. The attempts made by the few 

 residents to cultivate the orange and other useful trees 

 have met with little success ; and the eye seeks in vain 

 the gay shrubs that adorn the southern shores of the 

 Mediterranean. The Cistuses, Genistas, heaths, Arbutus, 

 and myrtle, as well as the more sober prickly oak and 

 laurel, are all absent, and the arborescent vegetation is 

 almost limited to stunted bushes of lentisk some three or 

 iowT feet high. 



As we strolled for several hours over the surrounding 

 country, we at once perceived the influence of new cli- 

 matal conditions. It was not that many new species 

 marked the passage from one botanical province to another, 

 for to our disappointment we found very few that we had 

 not already gathered in North Marocco, and, excepting one 

 rare Celsia, none that were not already well known. As 

 elsewhere, Leguminosce were predominant, and especially 

 trefoils and medicks ; grasses were both numerous and 

 varied in species ; and UmbeUifercB were represented by 

 many conspicuous plants, of which Ferula communis, 

 growing to a height of ten or more feet, is especially 

 notable. In the absence of more substantial materials, 

 the thick stems are used for fences. The contrast offered 

 by the vegetation of this coast with that of the Mediter- 

 ranean shores is caused altogether by climatal conditions, 

 which allow one set of species to flourish while the rest 

 are more or less rigidly excluded. 



The information received from our obliging hosts 

 respecting the country and the native population agreed 



