21(1 SPRING ON THE RIVIERA. 



While in the North it was still snowing and the 

 sky was heavih- laden with dark clouds, here the 

 sun shone brighth' in tlie blue firmament. It was 

 reflected in the sea, and its warm ra)'S, penetrating to 

 our inmost hearts, dispelled the gloom which had 

 gathered there during the dark da^'S. On the Riviera 

 di Ponente too, both plants and people had suffered 

 from the unusual severit\' of the winter. But most 

 plants are hardier than mankind and quickh' recover. 

 On the walls of the houses rusty withered Eougain- 

 villias were beginning here and there to shoot forth, 

 forming tufts of crimson bracts among the dead 

 foliage. Heliotropes were sprouting through the earth, 

 and ■\'er\- soon fresh leaves of a vivid green would re- 

 place the old spotted brown ones on the Fan Palms. 

 The Acacias had braveh' withstood both frost and snow 

 and were now completeh^ co^'ered with blossom — masses 

 of bloom lighting up the landscape which was still rather 

 bare. Indeed the vegetation was ver\' backward for the 

 lime ol ^ear, rose trees showing only closed buds, whereas 

 the}- are generally in their full splendour from the middle 

 of winter onwards. Not a rose was to be seen in an\' 

 of the numerous llo\\'er-shops in Cannes; thei,' would ha\'e 

 to be ordered from the hothouses of the north. Far 

 worse does the suffering patient fare \yho has come hither 

 this winter in search of relief or recover^-. For he is 

 kept a prisoner in rooms which are often insuflicientU' 

 heated. Ho\^- many lives have been shortened by this 

 sojourn! It is doubtful \\hether the worst invalids should 

 be sent here. 



