CH. VI. MOORISH .GARDENS. 143 



shade and coolness. Trees, and running water, without 

 which in this climate few trees will grow, are therefore 

 the essential requisites. Beyond this the Moor, if he he 

 rich and luxurious, may plant a few sweet-scented flowers, 

 of which the rose, violet, jessamine, and Acacia Far- 

 nesiana are most prized ; but beyond this, no mere plea- 

 sure of the eye is ever dreamt of, and here, as elsewhere, 

 there seems to be among the natives a complete want of 

 the sense of beauty. 



To the Moor the chief object of a garden is not plea- 

 sure but profit. In this admirable climate nearly all the 

 vegetable products of the temperate and subtropical zones 

 may be had in profusion wherever water is attainable, and 

 of this the Great Atlas provides an unfailing supply to 

 the city and its neighbourhood. Even at the low prices 

 of the country, fruits are the most profitable of all crops ; 

 and it is asserted that the Aguidel Garden — the largest 

 of those within the palace enclosure — containing about 

 forty English acres, produces on an average 20,000L a 

 year. 



The fruit-bearing trees planted in our garden were 

 the date-palm, orange, olive, fig, pomegranate, apricot, 

 almond, pear, apple, and mulberry, along with a few vines. 

 Besides these were cypresses, willows [Salix babylonica), 

 aspens, Robinia, Melia, and Ueltis. 



There were several tall bushes of Acacia Farnesiana, 

 just coming into fruit, and of white jessamine. The only 

 cultivated flowers were the rose, Mirabilis, and hollyhock, 

 and a. large-leaved variety of sweet violet, which has also 

 been found in Madeira. Of wild arborescent plants we 

 noted only Zizyphus Lotus and Lonicera biflora ; the 

 latter species (peculiar to North Africa) we observed here 

 and there throughout our journey. Although the list of 

 wild herbaceous plants includes few that are not common 

 throughout the Mediterranean region, it may interest some 

 readers to give it in full. Specimens of nearly all the 

 species enumerated were preserved by us. 



