608 Spanish High-ways and By-ways. 



dismounted my horse to count these different, and, to me, rare produc- 

 tions of nature, in a square yard, and found it contained seven distinct 

 classes, each of them of sufficient interest to enrich the green-house. 



It is here the bustard finds safe retreat when driven from the extensive 

 plains of La Mancha by the Cacador ; and red-legged partridges are in 

 such abundance that no season is limited for their safety, of which I 

 found ample proof in the month of May. Orteijas, or a species of 

 grouse, of which there are two or three classes, are common : they are 

 very Beautiful in their plumage, and resemble the grouse in form, parti- 

 cularly the head, and are riot to be found in any other part of the continent. 

 Doves, quails, woodcocks and snipes, are always here in their season. 

 Reptiles, such as lizards and snakes, are numerous. I discovered a 

 snake of considerable size, climbing up a rock in the Sierra, which I de- 

 sired my servant to shoot, and I only regret I did not take its dimensions. 



It is rather singular that I did not meet a single traveller on the road, 

 except a black man walking over the grand pass : I addressed him in 

 Spanish, and asked him what countryman he was, when, to my surprise, 

 he replied, " I am an Englishman, and can't speak Spanish, and I am 

 travelling from Gibraltar to England, by way of Madrid and Paris." 

 Of course I lent him some assistance to continue his route. The little 

 town of Carolina is in itself sufficiently tempting to the traveller, who 

 has passed the desert of La Mancha. It is one of the German colonies, 

 established by Charles III., and was once famous for the production of 

 silk, though now its produce is insignificant. I inspected some of the 

 rooms, and found that great care was required, even in that climate, in 

 the management of the worms. They were fed on the leaves of the 

 white mulberry tree, which reproduces its leaves four times within the 

 year. The inhabitants subsist principally by the chase, for which the 

 adjacent mountains furnish an inexhaustible supply. They abound in 

 deer, wild boars, cobra de monte, or wild goat, besides the wolf, wild 

 cat, the lynx, hare, rabbit, and other animals peculiar to this range of 

 mountains, which continue for nearly two hundred miles in one direc- 

 tion. I was amused by the appearance of a man in the street, carrying 

 the head of a stag, and that of a boar, crying out as he went along, Las 

 Animas, which I found was an invitation to all good Christians to pur- 

 chase the profits arising from the heads of these animals being a per- 

 quisite of the priest, for which he contracted to relieve so many souls 

 from purgatory ! We passed through Andujar and several small towns, 

 through a delightful country, where the pomegranate, fig, and aloe were 

 abundant, when we reached the ancient and celebrated city of Cordova, 

 once the capital of a Moorish kingdom. The mosque is too magnificent 

 a structure to be passed in silence. It is indeed a noble monument of 

 antiquity. The north point is richly adorned with sculpture, and before 

 the entrance are six columns of jasper, celebrated for their rare beauty. 

 The length of the building is five hundred and thirty feet, and its 

 breadth four hundred and twenty ; the walls being from six to eight feet 

 in thickness. A friar pointed out to me an inscription on the wall in 

 Arabic, which is translated " He who enters this mosque must neither 

 laugh, spit, nor look backwards." The roof is supported by 900 marble 

 columns, many of which appear to have been carved before the Christian 

 era, from the date inscribed thereon. This mosque has been for many 

 ages devoted to the Christian religion, and is rich in sacred vessels for its 

 service. My conductor shewed me a magnificent fttitodia of wrought 



