FROM MALPAY TO AGAY. 191 



she said, "our gendarms would have an opportunit)' of 

 showing that thc}- arc worth their keep". Since the 

 railwa'\' has connected Frejus and Cannes this road has 

 fallen into disuse, and highwaymen would no longer be 

 able to get a living on it. But it is obvious that the 

 Inn was originally built with a view to defence. The 

 walls are unusually thick, and the windows of the 

 lower store)- are provided with iron bars. The traveller 

 used to be first well scrutinised through an opening in 

 the oak door, before he was admitted ; oblique loop- 

 holes in the inner walls are directed towards the door. 

 The house is, in fact, like a fortress and could only be 

 captured b^- a regular siege. But now the door stands 

 \\ ide open and little children play about in front. 



We turned back to Malpa)- and there chose a road 

 which led south-eastwards to Aga}'. We soon reached 

 the Vallon de la Cabre. Here, on everj' slope, the 

 Laurustinus {\'iburintiu Tinus, Fig. p. 411) displays its 

 cor\'mbs of white flowers. Like the Tree Heath, this 

 shrub has a smell of Almond, or rather both these 

 plants, as a cheTuist learned in the subject ol volatile oils 

 informed me, possess the same aroma of anisaldehyd. 

 Next \^'e find the tangled Honeysuckle {JLoiiicera iinplexa. 

 Fig. p. 277)1 an evergreen climber which is one of the charac- 

 teristic plants of the Maquis. Its elongate, reddish-yellow 

 perfumed flowers form terminal whorls. In appearance 

 the plant is so like our garden Honeysuckle that we 

 \\'elcome this more southern species here as an old friend. 

 The blue Iris (Iris geniiauica) grows right out onto the 

 trodden pathway'. The Poet's Narcissus (JS'. poeticus) 



