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ANDALUSIAN SKETCHES. 

 No. III. THE BATHS OP MANILBA. 



IN the autumn of the year 1828, Gibraltar was visited by a dread- 

 ful scourge. A pestilence carried off 609 of the officers, non-com- 

 missioned officers, and private soldiers in garrison, and 1,400 of the 

 inhabitants. Nearly all the medical men, military as well as civil, 

 waged a fierce war of opinion as to whether the disease was con- 

 tagious or non-contagious, imported or indigenous. Few endeavours 

 appeared to be made to discover some successful mode of treatment ; 

 hence, one of every three persons attacked died. I had the good 

 fortune to survive, but it was long ere I recovered from the effects of 

 the fever. The summer of 1829 found me still an invalid ; and, in 

 August, I availed myself of a readily-granted short leave of absence, 

 to make an excursion for change of air. The baths of Manilba had 

 been suggested to me, and to them I resolved to proceed. Provided 

 k with a guide, and of course travelling on horseback, I passed through 

 Bthe town of San Roque, continued on the Malaga road, and crossing 

 Kthe river Guadiaro at a ford, reached a strong fort called the Castle 

 " of Savanilla, on the shore of the Mediterranean, from which a road 

 v turns up to Manilba. This town I found to be about twenty-one 

 English miles from Gibraltar, lying inland something more than a 

 mile, or as a contrabandista told me in a characteristic mode of com- 

 puting distance, " Lejos, desde aqui, elfumar de un cigaro" (distant 

 from hence the smoking of a cigar). It is miserably poor, but plea- 

 santly situated in the midst of corn-fields and vineyards, crowning the 

 summit of a hill, and commanding a fine panoramic view. In one 

 direction the eye dwells on a wide expanse of sea, studded with the 

 numerous white latine-sail boats, always scudding to and fro. To the 

 westward, the fantastic peaks of the rock of Gibraltar are seen over 

 the less elevated summits of the Sierra Carbonera. Mount Abyla 

 (Apes' Hill), Ceuta, and the chain of the Lower Atlas form the ex- 

 treme distance. To the north-east, ranges of lofty mountains bound 

 the view : the most remarkable is the Sierra Bermeja, so called from 

 its brownish-red hue, and which terminates abruptly in the Mediter- 

 ranean, near Estepona. In the fastnesses of this Sierra, the Moors, 

 under their celebrated leader Feri de Benestepar, made their last 

 stand against the iniquitous decree of expulsion by Philip the Second. 

 The mountain, well known at Gibraltar as " The Bermeja," reaches a 

 height of more than 6,000 feet above the level of the sea, although, 

 when seen from our rock, with the range of mountains in its back 

 ground (the Sierra Marabella, and the snow-capped Pico de Santa 

 Juana), it has not the appearance of that elevation. In the Sierras 

 are many valuable mines of silver and copper, which were known to 

 the Phoenicians and Romans. They are now totally neglected. 

 Want of capital and enterprise prevent the Spaniards availing them- 

 selves of these riches, and the apprehension of insecurity to the per- 

 M.M.No.103. H 



