504 NATURAL HISTORY OF 



being stuffed with hay, covered with canvas, and provided in 

 front and behind with two upright crossing bars, which serve 

 to hold on by when riding sideways, which we found was by 

 far the most comfortable position. They w^ere also padded by 

 having a loose cushion laid over them, and as there were no 

 stirrups, we found it a work of some difficulty to scramble 

 into our seats. This at length accomplished, we trotted off 

 briskly, accompanied by two attendants, one a boy of about 

 twelve, who carried my large vasculum, and the other a 

 youth of eighteen or nineteen, who ran behind us, armed 

 with a kind of goad, which he freely applied to the rear of 

 our steeds, accompanying his blows with shouts of, " Ha ! 

 shackass ; get on, shackass." After riding for a considerable 

 distance along the roads between the fields, which were in some 

 cases bounded by thick hedges of Hydrangeas from four to 

 six feet high, presenting a splendid appearance from being 

 loaded with great heads of bluish-purple flowers, we at length 

 left the cultivated district behind us, reaching a tract of moory 

 ground where only a few sheep and cattle were feeding. In 

 the course of our route I was greatly interested by the general 

 character of the plants, several of which were identical with 

 British species, and not observed by me since our departure 

 from England. Thus the purple heather of our Scottish 

 moors and mountains (Galluna vulgaris)wsL8 plentiful, together 

 with the common juniper, and other familiar plants. A 

 handsome heath, the Dahcecia polifolia, which occurs in the 

 west of Ireland, was also common ; and a remarkable ivy- 

 leaved fern, the Asplenium Hemionitis, which I had not 

 previously seen, and which also inhabits the south of 

 Europe and north of Africa, as well as Madeira, the Canaries, 



