'Off Bona; June 4.
'I read your letter carefully, leaning back in a Maltese boat to
present the smallest surface of my body to a grilling sun, and
sailing from the ELBA to Cape Hamrah about three miles distant.
How we fried and sighed! At last, we reached land under Fort
Genova, and I was carried ashore pick-a-back, and plucked the first
flower I saw for Annie. It was a strange scene, far more novel
than I had imagined: the high, steep banks covered with rich,
spicy vegetation of which I hardly knew one plant. The dwarf palm
with fan-like leaves, growing about two feet high, formed the
staple of the verdure. As we brushed through them, the gummy
leaves of a cistus stuck to the clothes; and with its small white
flower and yellow heart, stood for our English dog-rose. In place
of heather, we had myrtle and lentisque with leaves somewhat
similar. That large bulb with long flat leaves? Do not touch it
if your hands are cut; the Arabs use it as blisters for their
horses.
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