405 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
Starting early on the 4th of April, we pursued our south- 
ward course, and caught a glimpse of Montserrat, a steep and 
cleft peak, through a gulley between the hills, the solitude 
and desolation of which admirably corresponded with the ideas 
of ascetic devotion that this place is considered to inspire. 
The loftiness and general appearance of Montserrat promise 
much botanical interest, yet it has only been visited by Quer, 
and some old authors. By mid-day we reached "Tarragona, 
having passed, half an hour before, among the hills near the 
coast, a wood of evergreen oaks, which encloses a monument 
dedicated to the Scipios, and inscribed in a curious manner ; 
but though the place was accurately pointed out to us, and it 
is not far from the town, the neighbourhood is so infested 
with bandits, that no one can venture thither without a 
strong escort 
Tarragona is large but dilapidated, and built on a rocky 
eminence, which it takes a full quarter of an hour to scale. 
Amid the Roman antiquities which abound here, I particularly 
admired the walls of Cyclopean architecture which formed 
part of the enclosure of the ancient city, and still more to my 
taste was the highly extensive view of the sea, of a rich 
valley sprinkled with villages, and the town of Reuss, two 
leagues distant. The garrison consisted of a few wretched 
looking soldiers, with tattered regimentals, and rusty mus- 
kets, while the repairs of the fortifications were actively pro- 
ceeding, with the help of numerous bands of galley-slaves, 
chained in pairs and dragging along the carts of materials, 
uttering yells and songs which reminded me of the exultations 
of the inmates of Dante's Inferno. 
The farther south we proceeded, the forwarder was vege- 
tation. At Tarragona, the road-sides were decorated with 
Asphodelus proms in full — and the fields with 
Hypecoum g è heann ial nenes hitherts only found 
in - Roussillon, Catalonia, and round Madrid. We “passed 
during night, the shoals of the Ebro, a spot where the low 
shore runs out so far into the sea, as to render naviga- 
tion dangerous unless a very wide circuit is taken. By day- 
break, after a rough night, we found ourselves crossing the 
3 
