FAUNA AND FLORA OF SINAI, PETRA, AND WADY 'ARABAH. 63 



alexandrina, Boiss.; Mandragora officinarum, Linn.; Withania somnifera, 

 Linn.; Echium. plantagineum, Linn.; Lamium amplexicaule, Linn.; 

 Euphorbia exigua, Linn.; Paronychia nivea, D.C.; Andropogon hirtus, 

 Ltnn., and Poa annua, Linn. 



CHAPTER XI. 

 GAZA TO JAFFA. 



At Gaza we were kept a few days in quarantine by the Turkish autho- 

 rities. This was not because we were deemed infectious (the idea was 

 absurd), but to levy a tax on our purses. By the prompt interference 

 of Lord Dufferin, British Ambassador at Constantinople, to whom we 

 telegraphed, we were released in four days instead of being confined for 

 a fortnight. 



This delay was to me most valuable, as it enabled me to sort my 

 rapidly-made collections of the last few days. 



On our last day, having liberty to leave quarantine ground, I gathered 

 a good many species south of Gaza which I had not seen before. Many 

 of these belong to well-known Mediterranean types, but there is still 

 an important admixture of desert and Egyptian forms, belonging to a 

 somewhat more southern group. 



Gardens of fruit trees, olive groves, and enclosures hedged by the 

 prickly pear {Opuntra vulgaris, Linn) reached our camp from the inland 

 side. On the leeward we were hemmed in by high sandhills, the van- 

 guard of an ever-advancing column, driven westward by the prevailing 

 winds, which is gradually swallowing up Gaza, old and new, as well as a 

 long belt of coast north and south of it. 



Some laborious journeys across this belt of sand, often three or 

 four miles broad, impress them vividly on my memory. They yielded 

 exceedingly few species, being as a rule completely barren. I may 

 mention Silene succulenta, Forsk.; Scrophularia xanthoglossa, Boiss.; 

 Euphorbia terracina, Linn., which grew well out on the dunes. 



