with the tulip of the Cape of Good Hope (hæmanthus coccinea, Linn.); a variety of different kinds of ſhrubs projected from the cleft between the rocks, and at their baſes grew the beautiful ſtœbe gnaphaloides, amongſt an abundance of other plants.
24th. As the preparation of the plants, which I had collected on the preceding day, occupied a great portion of my time, I had not leiſure to undertake any long excurſion; I therefore confined myſelf to ſhort walks in the neighbourhood of the town.
The falſe aloë, termed by botaniſts agave vivipara, was then in full flower. I admired the lightneſs with which the black titmouſe (parus ater, Linn.) hovered about this plant, whilſt it fed upon the ſaccharine liquor which exudes from the baſes of its corolla. It was with regret that I killed ſome of theſe beautiful little birds, in order to carry off their ſpoils.
Three of us, who were walking together, followed a narrow path till within a ſmall diſtance of the country-houſe of the Fiſcal: his name was Deneſs. This man, habituated to deſpotic authority over his inferiors, wanted to hinder us from walking over ſome uncultivated grounds, which, as he told us with great emphaſis, were his property. We were not a little aſtoniſhed at
this
