176 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



they may indulge in the monotony of golf, lawn tennis, or billiards as at 

 home. But those who like variety in a foreign land will find it in the 

 pretty country, cork woods, and southern flowers and birds. We made a 

 charming expedition one day to some waterfalls in a mountain gorge. 

 Five of us were mounted on donkeys with pack saddles, having cross - 

 horns at both front and back as well as footboards, and seated on ordinary 

 bed-pillows and pillow-cases. The donkeys had no bridles, only a cord 

 round their heads, by which the men who accompanied them might seize 

 them if need should arise. But the donkeys knew their own way and 

 took it, and it would have been of very little use for any foreigner to 

 contend with them. We took three men with us to look after them, and 

 they selected and distributed us among the donkeys as they judged fit. 

 They apportioned me to a little white one, which was evidently accus- 

 tomed to act as leader, and I resigned myself to his care, the others 

 following in single file. Along the rough track we went, up hill, over 

 rocks and stones, through mud and streams, the men shouting "Arri, 

 bourri ! " "Get on, donkeys!" in a mixture of Spanish and Arabic. 

 Heavy rain had lately fallen, and the streams were much swollen and the 

 mud was deep and sticky. Donkeys very much dislike wetting their feet, 

 and always jump a stream whenever they can rather than walk through 

 it, and most beautifully they jump. I have ridden many in many 

 countries, and always found that they jumped much more easily than a 

 horse — so easily and without jerk that one hardly feels it. But wise as 

 my donkey was, he did not know that the rains had converted a part of 

 the track into a deep bog, and here I suddenly found myself stuck fast, 

 unable to move. By dint of much shouting I at last called up one of the 

 men who were attending to the tail of the procession, and by pulling the 

 legs of my steed out one by one, and step by step, I was at last extricated 

 and set on terra firma, but not before more than one of the train had 

 followed me into the bog, and had to be extracted in like manner. 



We then proceeded quietly for about another half-mile, when, soon 

 after crossing a swollen and muddy stream, I heard shrieks behind me, 

 and looking round beheld, to my horror, my maid and her donkey, to 

 whom I had entrusted my cloak and sketch-book, apparently rolling 

 together head over heels in the stream. The maid, however, managed 

 to jump on to a boulder, but the donkey's hindquarters entirely disap- 

 peared. I thought he was, if not dead, permanently disabled ; but the 

 three men managed, by devoting their combined strength to one leg at 

 a time, to pull him out, and having washed him set him on the further 

 bank, where he continued his journey minus his rider, who could not be 

 persuaded to adventure herself on his back again. Happily the cloak 

 and sketch-book, having been tied to the front horns of the saddle, were 

 not submerged, and escaped without damage. 



The Waterfalls, which were our destination, are nothing more than 

 a stream broken by rocks and boulders, but most picturesque is this 

 stream, bordered by Oleanders and Wild Rhododendrons. They were 

 of course not in blossom at this early time of year (February), but 

 being evergreen were even then beautiful. The Cork trees are very fine, 

 and the undergrowth chiefly consisted of white Mediterranean Heath in 

 full bloom, and pink, a much earlier variety, of which only a few 



