BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 491 
neighbouring huts, in their destitution of available soil, had 
sown rye in the vegetable soil which lay at the bottom of the 
depressions. Farther off, were arid plains, decked with 
dense tufts of Pwonia lobata, and presenting hardly any 
plants but Helianthemum rubellum and piliferum, and Hip- 
pocrepis comosa. This country was most thinly peopled, 
except by flocks of sheep, and here and there a shepherd, 
Who, wrapped in his mantle, might be descried in profile 
against the rays of the setting sun, as he lay outstretched on 
an eminence in the distance. Night was approaching when 
we began to descend upon Ronda; and my guide, who was a 
smuggler, like all his brethren of the Serra, and whom every 
rock served but to remind of former exploits, beguiled 
his own fatigue and mine, by long stories of his expeditions 
during the dark winter nights, and details of the risks which 
he had encountered while the country lay buried under its 
mantle of snow. I began to fear that we should surely lose 
our way ; for not a track, nor a building of any kind could be 
descried, which might indicate the road to Ronda. But 
presently I saw the lights of the town and some old walls 
Which encircle it ; and what a contrast was presented between _ 
the rugged and uninhabited district we had quitted, and the — 
illumined streets, thronged with a populace eager for the _ 
morrow's festivities ! I began to ask myself where I should 
lodge, in this town thronged with strangers: the posadas - 
were of course more than full; and I had been unable to | 
| bespeak an apartment, according to the usual custom. By 
a lucky chance, I met with some Malaga acquaintances, who — 
quickly directed me to the house of a worthy scrivener, —— 
who, like all the people of this town, was glad to let any 
Spare rooms in his house during the time of the fair. — — 
Ronda is situated about 2,500 feet above the level of the — 
sea, It consequently enjoys a clear and fresh air: the heat — — 
. Às never extreme; and the plants of the warm regions, as the — 
. Orange, the Indian Fig and the Agave do not succeed there. 
. On the 22nd of May, the Lilacs were still in flower in the 
gardens. The situation of this town, in itself striking, is - 
