236 
LETTERS FROM 
I found very few that were valuable, but the 
coldness of the weather may account for this 
scarcity. On my return homewards I passed 
through some orchards and low swampy fields, 
surrounded by hedges of prickly-pear bushes 
and American aloes intermixed, which formed 
a most formidable barrier, absolutely impene¬ 
trable, except by a man clad in armour. I 
found several new plants in blossom, among 
which were an orobanche with blue flowers, 
a beautiful scarlet fumitory, a species of 
broom, the common blue lupine of our gar¬ 
dens, and a vetch, with the flower green and 
brown, with several others, the names of 
which I had no means of ascertaining. 
In the afternoon we observed that the 
crater of Etna, for the first time since we had 
been at Catania, was emitting smoke of a 
reddish black colour. 
The morning of the day on which we set 
