BUTTERFLIES OF MAJORCA 17 1 
At the H6tel de la Marina we were made most comfortable 
by the active little host and his daughters, and the cuisine 
left little to be desired. The oranges, though small, were the 
most delicious I ever tasted. It was a refreshing change from 
the oppressive splendour and high charges of the Grand 
Hotel at Palma, and the cost was only 6 pesetas (3s. gd.) 
a day. One striking feature of the town, which we did not 
notice to the same extent elsewhere, was that, as you walk 
along the streets, you look through the wide open doors of 
every ground-floor into a large hall, scrupulously clean, set 
round with low wicker chairs and tables for the reception of 
guests; and at the other end of this cool grey vestibule you 
see, framed, as it were, in the open doorway, a picture of quite 
dazzling radiance — geraniums and pink roses, Opuntias just 
bursting into bloom, and perhaps a scarlet pomegranate, or an 
Ipomaea, or a rich purple Bougainvillea falling carelessly over 
the garden wall, and you think there may be some connection 
between these aesthetic surroundings and the innate courtesy 
and good nature of the inhabitants. 
After two pleasant days here we drove back by the shorter 
route to Palma to get our letters and replenish our scanty 
wardrobes. 
The Olive zone on this road extended to nearly 2,000 feet, 
and then we zigzagged on for about another 700 feet to the top 
of the pass — a region where, although jagged limestone cliffs 
dominated the scene, Pinus halepensis, Quercits Ilex and Ceratonia 
Siliqua (the Carob tree) still maintained a sturdy footing. A 
little lower down a striking object was the giant grass Ampdo- 
desmos tenax (of the Elymus type), with its grand plumose panicle 
towering up to a height of 7 or 8 feet, and the long bare stalks 
of Asphodehts albtis, now gaunt and withered ; while the spaces 
between the rocks were filled with Pistacia lentiscus, Juniperiis 
Oxycedrus, Myrtus communis, Cistus albidus, monspeliensis, and, more 
rarely, salvifolius, the exceedingly beautiful and widely spread 
Hypericum baleariciim, many species of Euphorbia, and countless 
small flowering plants and shrubs — a veritable paradise for the 
botanist. 
Here and there the crannies of the rocks were covered with 
a dense mantle of the tiny Arenaria balearica and Sibthorpea 
africana, accompanied — wherever there was any moisture — by 
the graceful foliage of AJ^antum Capillus-Veneris. 
The next morning, ^ne 6, we went by train and carriage 
through Inca to the College and Oratory of Nuestra Seuora de 
Cluch, where for two days we occupied the pilgrims’ cool 
quarters in the monastery, and served our apprenticeship as 
housemaids. 
We walked out to the Gorch Blau — a steep, narrow, rocky 
gorge four miles away — collecting as we went. And here, we 
thought, where the bramble and various aromatic shrubs and 
plants had established a good foothold on the dry, rocky banks. 
