492 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
doubly so, when it breaks suddenly on the view. I had 
come at night and was unprepared for it. South and east 
the horizon is bounded by the mountains and slopes which 
we had passed to enter the town. In that direction, the 
scenery is rough and wild: the absence of trees and of culti- 
vation convey the idea of solitude and space; but on looking 
south-west, you find yourself placed on the very brink of a 
steep rock, 700 feet high. On its abrupt platform the town 
is built; and this shelf is cleft in twain by a narrow and 
deep precipice which divides the town of Ronda into two 
portions; while at the bottom rolls a brawling stream, which 
hurries downward into the valley. A bridge is thrown 
across the gulf, and through its iron balustrades you look 
down into the chasm. The Moors erected this striking and 
useful mode of communication. The edge of the escarp- 
ment, or Tajo, as it is called in the country, is occupied by 
houses, and by the Alameda, a charming promenade planted 
with trees, from which the eye follows the windings of the 
river and finally rests upon the delightful valley. Groves of 
evergreen oak, gardens and mills perched picturesquely 
among the rocks, and among which the water flows in many 
broken streams, and in the distance many ranges of moun- 
tains, overtopped by the Peak of San Christobal, all these — 
combine to form a landscape which is like nothing else, and p 
of which the peculiarities are indelibly graven on the be- 
. holder's memory. ` ART 
All was life and activity at Ronda. "The wide plain, north 
of the town, was dotted with animals of all kinds, resem- — 
. bling the encampment of some nomade population. dus 
remarked several fine Andalusian horses—a breed. which p 
produces noble chargers. The crowd in the streets was 
: immense. All the men, from the Contrabandistas and a 2 
. Serranos to the citizens of Cadiz and Seville, wore the Majo ; qe 
dress : apparently they would have been ashamed to assume 
the French garb on the occasion of such a solemnity as the 
. fair of Ronda, These good Spaniards vied with each other 
in the elegance of their national garments, the brilliancy of à 
