BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 651 
over was about 1,000 or 1,200 feet above the sea, and 
differed little in vegetation, except that I observed there a 
very few plants of the Cistus ladaniferus and Helianthemum 
` origanifolium, the latter having dull green foliage, and inhabit- 
ing shady spots. There was one very thick bush, of which 
I regretted that time would let me gather but a solitary 
specimen ; for I herborized as we travelled along, and could 
not quit our little party. This shrub proved to be a new 
species of Celastrus, remarkable as the only European indivi- 
dual of this genus, and of which the country people assured me 
that it possessed the remarkable virtue of effectually shelter- 
ing from the wind any person who stood behind it, a quality 
satisfactorily ensured by its very thickly tufted branches, 
without the intervention of any miraculous power. in 
shingly spots grew Linaria villosa and Calendula suffruticosa, 
the foliageof the latter diffusing a powerfully bituminous odour; 
while, close to the shore, and upon the sand, was Aloe per- 
foliata, forming immense close tufts, and often seen in such 
remote and wild places, that I incline to consider it really 
indigenous. 
Our small party here received an increase of three or four 
peasants, coming from Berja, in the Alpujarras, and going, 
they said, to the environs of Algesiras, a destination which 
in this country, implies that they were engaged in the contra- 
band trade at Gibraltar. Indeed, our new friends presently 
told us as much; and I was amazed to learn how widely this 
traffic is diffused, thanks to the unsettled condition of the 
country. Some trusty individuals are employed by the 
smugglers to make their purchases at Gibraltar, and to put 
them on board a small vessel, which they first run over to the 
coast of Africa, so as to give the appearance of coming 
straight from the East. Meanwhile, a party of a hundred, 
and sometimes even two hundred men, comes to a remote 
part of the mountainous coast, bringing the needful number 
of beasts of burthen; and after waiting two or three days, 
at a given signal, the tobacco and other goods are landed 
and speedily dispersed over the interior of the country. 
