654 BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 
Velez, which I devoted the next day to examining, is a neat 
town, with a population of six to eight thousand souls; the 
streets are wide, and the houses more than one story high. 
Sheltered at the back by lofty and close placed hills, and 
perfectly protected from northerly winds, it is considered one 
of the hottest places on the coast, which is further attested 
by its gigantic hedges of Indian Fig, on which, as near the 
Bay of Cadiz, are seen abundance of Chameleons. Popular 
opinion goes that these animals live on air, and thus they are 
often ruthlessly kept in the Andalusian houses on little 
wooden rings hung from the ceiling, where they certainly 
exist several months without food, but in a languishing and 
almost motionless state. 
The largest fields of Sugar-cane that I had seen anywhere, 
extend round Velez. Parties of labourers were engaged 
cutting the stems, and conveying them to the “ Ingenio,” or 
manufactory, in carts, upon four solid wheels, and provided 
with a trellis, formed of thick sticks, set upright on the body 
of the cart. This clumsy machine reminded me of that in 
which Don Quixote was conveyed home to his own village, 
bewitched, and in captivity. A wood of white poplars grew 
here, near a stream, as they do occasionally on the warm 
parts of the coast, and are almost the only trees to be seen 
wild in similar spots. In this damp situation, I found several 
delicate plants, that require shelter from the sun’s rays, as 
Cinanthe apiifolia, and several species of Vicia and Lathyrus. 
After spending a day quickly and pleasantly at Velez, 
where my friend and his family gave me the most courteous 
entertainment, I started again for Malaga, promising myself that 
I would soon return to this delightful spot. The road be- 
came wider and better, only quitting the shore to cross some 
rocky promontories, and occasionally passing over the shift- 
ing sands of the beach. To the right is a line of the moun- 
tains and hills, called the Chapas of Malaga, planted with 
vines, of which the fruit is chiefly used to make pasas, of 
dried raisins, which are prepared either on bricked floors, or 
in the vineyard itself. Nothing can ever be more cheerful 
