OSTENB. 21 



The endive (Cichorium Endivia *) was generally good, 

 being long in the leaf, and pretty well blanched. Green 

 purslane! (Portulaca sativa) was common on the stalls. 

 Carrots (Daucus carota var.) of the horn variety, were ex- 

 cellent, being large, and quite clean, or free from disease or 

 the attacks of grubs. The excellence of the carrots pro- 

 bably depends on the nature of the soil, which is sharp 

 and sandy, and of considerable depth. Common centaury 

 (Chironia centaurium) must be very abundant on the 

 downs ; for we remarked that quantities of it, now in full 

 flower, had been used in place of grass or hay, for pack- 

 ing various articles brought to market. 



Fort Wellington. 

 In the famous siege of Ostend in the beginning of the 

 J 7th century, no fewer than 100,000 of the best troops 

 of Spain met their death. Strong, however, as the place 

 must formerly have been, two new bomb-proof forts have 

 of late years been added. By the kindness of M. De- 

 lamotte, the Mayor of the town, we procured admission to 

 one of these, now called Fort Wellington. At a short dis- 

 tance, this fort appears buried among the sandhills, but it 

 completely commands the entrance to the harbour. The 

 sea, we were told, frequently inundates the low grounds, and 



* The reader will observe, that when any culinary plant, &c. is men- 

 tioned for the first time, the Linnean or scientific name is added. Whoever 

 has been in the practice of looking into French. German, or Italian horticul- 

 tural works, where this is not attended to, will be convinced of the propriety 

 of adopting such a rule. Our own vernacular names are frequently dubious 

 in their application ; and if a foreigner were to consult Johnson's Dictionary, 

 he certainly would have no chance of being extricated from his difficulties, 

 the Doctor seldom giving any other kind of explanation than this: " Endive, 

 a plant," — " Purslane, a plant." In the case of foreign plants, the nomen- 

 clature of Willdenow's edition of the Species Plantarum is generally adopted ; 

 for plants indigenous to Britain, that of Sir J. E. Smith's Flora is preferred 



