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ι timber towards the sea. A s the mountains upon this portion of the coast descend in many places actually to the shore, while in no places are they more than half a mile distant, the rivulets are numerous, as there is no time, or area, sufficient for their absorption by the soil. Within a hundred and fifty paces of the timber store beautiful streams of clear water issued from the ground in three different places, which converged into a brook abounding with water-cresses, and this, after passing through a small and thick jungle of tamarisk-bushes, formed a pool above the sea-beach which overflowed upon the shingle, and met the waves. W e ascended the stream for a short distance, until, tempted by two or three large plane-trees, we halted for luncheon beneath their shade. The river, which occasionally flooded sufficiently to bring down heavy J timber when felled among the mountains, flowed I through an extremely rich but narrow valley, which I extended into a glen between their precipitous slopes ( until it became a mere ravine. Th e mass of mountains in this district, which form a succession of wild and impassable steeps, is marked upon Kiepert's map as " unexplored. " They were originally pine-forests, but the destruction of timber has been carried to * such an excess that comparatively few trees remain. With my glass I could distinguish large trunks that lay rotting upon the ground, where they had pitched among the stems, and roots of trees that had been ι already felled ; these had been rolled from the steep heights above, but having been caught in their descent j to the torrent below by the opposing stumps, they had • been abandoned, and other trees had been felled in ' their stead, where the inclination was more favourable > for their transport. Q

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