RAMBLE IN THE T^, OF SPAIT^, 125 



height of 10,000 feet, and in many other places to seven or eight 

 thousand, they must offer great varieties of soil and situation. An 

 accomplished Italian botanist is said to be about to publish a flora 

 of the whole range, from E-osas on the Mediterranean to Cape 

 Pinisterra ; but one man cannot exhaust so extensive a subject, 

 and the book when published would be a useful guide for future 

 explorers. If an English botanist should then be disposed to visit 

 the North of Spain in 1859, he Avill probably find the steamers 

 either from Liverpool or from Southampton on a better footing than 

 they are at present, and there would doubtless be some improve- 

 ment in those from Bayonne. At Santander such a traveller 

 would stay two or perhaps three days, visiting the Peiia di Cas- 

 tillo, the sands at the mouth of the harbour, those towards the 

 lighthouse, and the shore of the Bay of Biscay for two or three 

 miles west of the lighthouse. The railway would then take him 

 to Las Caldas : I doubt if he would find it worth while to stop 

 before reaching that place, as he is likely to find little which would 

 not be obtained either at Santander or at Las Caldas. At Las 

 Caldas he would have employment for three days at least on the 

 sandstone of the gorge, on the limestone to the east, and on the 

 loamy wooded hills to the west of the station. An interesting 

 walk from Las Caldas would be across the plain of Las Corales to 

 Somhoz, where crossing the river and turning to the left he will have 

 another pleasant walk over some eminences partially covered with 

 wood. Thence he may descend into a rocky valley nearly parallel 

 to the Bisaya, and again keeping to the left return by the right side 

 of the river, and explore the singular bank which divides the basin 

 of Las Corales into two parts, one 20 or 30 feet higher than the 

 other. A third and most magnificent gorge leads to Eeinosa, and 

 this gorge would be worth a day's examination. Above this, I be- 

 lieve I can add nothing to what I have already said as to localities. 

 Reinosa might be the head-quarters for visiting three mountain 

 masses : the Sierras Albas, the Sierra Sejo, and a third range to 

 the east of the road, whose name I forget, but which, though 

 perhaps not so high as the others, is yet sufficiently elevated to 

 preserve some snow in its hollows throughout the year. 



