412 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 



It was nearly five o'clock in the afternoon when I reached 

 the summit. Nothing was in bloom but Ulex australis, Li- 

 thospermum prostratum, Thymus diffusus, Valeriana tuberosa, 

 and Alyssum serpyllifolium ; other plants, as Serratula Boe- 

 tica, Centaurea acaulis, Tencrium aureum, were hardly in bud. 

 Two barometrical observations, which I took on this day and 

 again a fortnight later, gave the elevation of the highest point 

 at 4741 feet, and enabled me to acquire a general idea of the 

 Sierra Bermeja ; I saw it extending and ramifying towards 

 Marbella, sloping always lower and lower from the spot where 

 I stood, clad in all directions with pine forests, and contrast- 

 ing in hue with the bare and calcareous rocks which surround 

 the latter town. South-easterly it terminates, in steep de- 

 scents, and thence, towards San Roque, an undulated country 

 intervenes, traversed by the river Guadiaro, and also crossed 

 by the road leading to Gibraltar, which my eye could follow 

 up to that city. To the north, the view was bounded by a 

 labyrinth of arid mountains, called the Serrania de Ronda, 

 and by the Sierras de la Nieve and Saint Christobal, which 

 rose above the rest. Neither Ronda nor its platform was dis- 

 cernible, on account of a lofty ridge south of the town. As for 

 the coast of Africa, it was seen for a much greater extent and 

 far more distinctly than from the Sierra de Mijas. The wind 

 blew so cold, that it would not allow me to remain long on the 

 peak, and night also came on, suggesting the fear that I might be 

 unable to rejoin my companions ; but following the direction 01 

 a bright fire which I descried among the trees, I succeeded m 

 finding them ; the blaze proceeding from a fir which they had 

 kindled, and round which they had encamped, full of uneasi- 

 ness on my behalf, and proposing to start with the earliest 

 daylight, and search for me all over the mountain. The night 

 was splendid, and I felt strongly tempted to remain where I 

 was, that I might have a long day's botanizing. But our 

 provisions were consumed, and cold and hunger combined to 

 drive us to the town. As we descended, we heard distinctly 

 the signal-gun from Gibraltar, a distance of full t\venty-on e 

 miles in a straight line from the place where we stood. 



