92 FROiM MALPAV TO AGAY. 



peeps at us \'i'illi its brigiil e\ es from the undergrowth. 

 Long-stalked Tulips ( Tulipa Clasiaiia, Fig. p. 407) greet 

 us from a distance with their red and white perianth. The 

 violet cor^■mbs of tlie Cand-\-tuft ( Ihrris iDuhclIata), 

 surprise us b\" their beaut\- : we liad hitherto seen this 

 loveh' plant onU' in gardens at home. Presenth' u'e 

 gather Ophrvs araiiifcra, that remarkable Orchid with 

 its spider-shaped ilo\'\'er, and to this we add its bee-shaped 

 sister-flower Ophrvs apifrra. We were particularh- pleased 

 with tiie rare Limitdoi-iim ahortivuiu, a leafless Orchid 

 bright violet in all its parts. We were soon laden with 

 big bunches of Howers. Suddenly we come across a 

 boulder of porph\r\ in the middle of the path. It looks 

 top-lieav\- and leans over the stream as though it were 

 about to fall in. The peasants have named it "Pigeon- 

 nier", the Dovecot. There are otlier fantasticalh' shaped 

 rocks along the road ; sometimes the\' seem to block the 

 valle^', and onh' when we reach the ri\er ol .\ga\' do thev 

 stand back in a wide semicircle. We follo^ved this river 

 to its mouth. Shattered and jagged, and glowing in the 

 red light the "Castell d'Aga^•"" looks down upon the sea. 

 Like the teeth of a gigantic saw these rocks project in a 

 long line against the sk\-. We rested b^' the loveh' ba\- 

 of Aga_y, with its setting of red porph^-r^'. l^his place is 

 ten kilometres distant from St. Kapha-el on the Mediter- 

 ranean Railwa\' which follows the coast to avoid the 

 mountains. 



Blue porph}'ry' is i.[uarried not far from i\ga\', on 

 the road to St Raphael. I^arge blocks are blasted from 

 the mountain side and cut into slabs and cubes, and the 



