642 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
and our little harbour soon presented a highly animated ap- 
pearance. 
Lovely was the landscape. On the side of the rock, at the 
foot of the escarpment, I observed old ramparts and a ruined 
village; the whole circuit of the town is formed by hills 
planted with Olives, and to the back a little valley opened 
among rough and jagged mountains. Impatient to behold 
nearer this fine vegetation, and to commence herborizing on 
the first spot of Spanish soil where I had seen a natural growth 
of plants, I caused myself to be rowed ashore, and the first 
object that greeted my eyes on the sandy beach, was a pretty 
Cistineous plant in full flower, which I have since discovered to 
be undescribed, and have called Helianthemum caput felis. 
I walked on, finding one new thing after another ; and without 
proceeding more than a hundred yards, I made a most suc- 
cessful quest and enjoyed such delight as only a Botanist, first 
investigating a novelcountry,can experience. Fallow fields pre- 
sented me with Vella annua, Mauricandia arvensis, and Sisym- 
brium Columne ; while on the banks and waste spots, I found 
Arum aes Ophrys ciliata and O. lutea, Polygala saxatilis, 
Viola arborescens, Astragalus Glaux, and a host of other 
charming plants. Cistus Clusii, with its foliage like rosemary, 
and several other species of the same genus, formed thick 
copses near the beach. I scarcely knew which to gather, the 
choice was so great, and night only came too early to inter- 
rupt this delightful occupation. 
The next day the “ Poniente? blew as strong as ever; but 
I was by no means sorry, for I was thus enabled to visit the 
rock itself, where I doubted not to find new botanical riches. 
On the northern slope grew Lavandula dentata, first found at 
the same place by Clusius; Helichrysum decumbens and An- 
thyllis cytisoides. About half-way up, the ruggedness of the 
rock prevented my rising higher; looking above me, I per- 
ceived three orfour thick cordsof Spartina, by the aid of which,a 
person perhaps may contrive, with great difficulty, to clamber 
to the summit, availing himself of the projecting points of the 
