650 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
determined to spend the night there; and joyfully entered the 
posada, which looked like a palace, when compared with our 
cabin in the felucca. Our delight was somewhat quelled 
when we investigated the walls, and found even the smallest 
chinks crammed with hosts of bugs, quietly waiting till dark- 
ness should favour their attacks. These detestable insects, 
called Chinchas, are, in my opinion, the greatest scourge to 
the traveller who visits Spain, for few houses are free from 
them. I tried all manner of plans to defend myself, and 
found, by experience, that the most efficacious mode is to 
carry the mattrass to the middle of the room, far from the 
walls, and to isolate it also by sprinkling water on the floor 
all round, the wet forming a barrier which these creatures 
rarely pass. 
Almunecar is that part of the coast which is least distant 
from Grenada, thirty miles; and we had nearly forty to go 
before reaching Malaga, which formed two days’ journey, 
because of the great length of the Spanish league. It was 
a good while ere we could procure mules for our conveyance, 
this being the fishing season, when these animals are all in 
requisition to convey the fish to the capital. Quitting the 
fields of Sugar-canes, which fill the bottom of the vallies, we 
began to climb the side of a mountain, bordering the coast, 
and took our way by steep and difficult paths; sometimes 
along a sharp ledge, whence we looked down several hun- 
dred feet on the ocean below or descending to the beach, 
where a ravine intersected the mountains ; and anon scaling the 
opposite counterscarp. These perpetual détours triple the dis- 
tance; but the beauty of the scenery made me ample amends. 
All the slopes were covered with that vegetation, termed monte 
baxo in Andalusia, and quite corresponding with the Macchie 
of Corsica; it consisted of coppices, composed of dwarf 
Palms, several kinds of Cistus, Lentisks, Rosemary, Rhamnus 
lycioides, and Daphne Cnidium. Besides these plants, 
Phlomis purpurea, Ballota hirsuta, and Artemisia Barrelieri 
and glutinosa, both out of flower, were the most characteristic 
species of these hills. The loftiest ground that we passed 
