lis CAP D'ANTIBES. 



man\ re\erses of fortune in past times. Nice has over 

 and o\'er again been plundered and laid waste hv (ioths, 

 Loniliards, Saracens and Provencals ; Prance repeatedh' 

 coni.[uered and lost it, but now retains it. Plague has 

 decimated the town ; se\'ere frosts ha\'e several times 

 destro\-ed its ()li^'e and Orange groves: and African 

 locusts have frcc|nenth" devastated them. All this ma\' 

 perhaps account for the frivolit^' of its population, and 

 ma\' be the reason \vh\' Nice has become a metropolis 

 of festivities. 



I was, however, not bound for Nice but for the Cap 

 d'Antibes, a spot which had man\- ^-cars before won 

 mv heart. An article b\' Georges Sand in the •'Re\'ue 

 des deux mondes" of ISbS first made me accjuainted 

 with the beauties ol this prouiontor\". (reorges Sand 

 visited the garden of the eminent French botanist Thuret. 

 which lies on the ridge of the Cap, and was quite 

 carried awa\- b\' the prospect which she enjo\'ecl there. 

 In spite of this the Cap d'Antibes has remained com- 

 parativeh' unfreijuented, for it stretches far out into the 

 sea and is therefore too exposed t© the winds to be 

 suitable as a resort for invalids suffering from chest 

 complaints. The whole chain of the snow\' Alps can be 

 seen from the Cap which is but little .sheltered from 

 the cold north current from the mountains. On the other 

 liand the t "ap does not snlfer niLich l=rom the mistral, as 

 the .Montagnes des Maures and the Esterel ward it off. 

 The hard limestone rocks crop u]i ever\ where on the 

 shore and there are few places on the Riviera di Ponente 

 where one suffers less from dust than here. I consider 



