ted The Rock of Gibraltar. 



£ne K)ck, But al-e carried into its interior by blasting the rocky 

 mass. 



The organised nature which clothes the rock, is no less un- 

 usual than its mineral formation. The vegetation is a rare 

 mixture of productions originally European, as well as African 

 arid Arnerican. And thus th^re is, in its way, as animated 

 a picture of the intimate union which the isolated rock forms 

 betwfeen distant lands, as is afforded to us by the narrow flat 

 space at the foot of thie rock ; where we see men stirring about 

 in the inost lively intercourse, whose various constumes and lan- 

 guages enable us to distinguish the different nations to which 

 they belong. 



The plants growing wild on the rock, are in general the 

 same as those which clothe the flat hills on the coast between 

 Malaga and Gibraltar.* The dwarf palm^ which is predomi- 

 nant, mounts up as high as the crest of the rock, taking root in 

 the clefts of the limestone ; and, upon the western declivity, the 

 situation is so favourable, that it is found with stems of from 

 four to six feet high. Between these palm bushes, and in the 

 wide crevices of the rocks ; a species of ape (Simia Inuus, Lin.) 

 takes up its abode. Gibraltar possesses these animals as well as 

 many amphibia and insects, in common with the opposite coast 

 of Africa. Succulent plants, as the agave or aloe, and various 

 species of cactus, bound the under margin of the above wild 

 vegetation. In the neighbourhood of the gardens, the succulent 

 plants, intermingled with the various plants in cultivation, form 

 a very variegated scene. The efl^ect is greatly heightened by a 

 pleasure plantation •[- which has been fornted of late years upon 

 what was formerly a wild part of the western flat land, near the 

 Alameda, which is shaded with trees. This spot is adorned by 

 red-flowering \\\^\xx\ani Pelargonia, and roses ; and jessamine 

 and orange blossom likewise exhale the most delightful fra- 

 grance. 



The rock, which thus in a small space unites the most re- 



• These are enumerated in Professor Hausmann's View of Spain, in a 

 previous volume of this J.ourtial— Edit. 



•f Gibraltar owes to its present worthy and meritorious Governor, Sir 

 George Don, the above delightful spot, as well as many other ornamental 

 improvements. 



