118 THE NATURALIST. 



AN EXCURSION TO CAPE SPARTEL, BARBARY. 



By F. Brittain, Esq. 



In conformity with the promise that I made you in my last letter, I 

 write you a short sketch of my excursion to Cape Spartel. I had arranged 

 with Hamet, the guide, to leave Tangiers ahout eight o'clock in the morn- 

 ing, but we were detained about half an hour by a very violent shower ; 

 as soon as it was over and the clouds had passed away, we mounted our 

 horses and left the town. It was market day and we met crowds of people 

 bringing the produce of the country to the market. The procession of 

 camels and mules laden with faggots, bundles of grass, or baskets of 

 poultry, conducted by savage looking men of every complexion between 

 that of a Moor and a black from Soudan, and the women mounted 

 upon horses and^mules, and dressed in their curious witch-like costume 

 with everything but the eyes concealed, rendered the scene highly inter- 

 esting and picturesque. 



For the first four or five miles our path led across pleasant 

 undulating prairies, carpeted with grass and composite flowers, such as 

 Acliillcea, Gnaphalium, Antennaria, Hieracium, HypochcBris. The brilliant 

 ultramarine Eclihim vulgare and Borago officinalis were extremely abundant, 

 and occasionally I noticed specimens of Cichorium intybus. As we had a 

 ride of thirty miles before us, which it was necessary to complete before the 

 closing of the gates of Tangiers, I could not dismount to take specimens 

 of every plant that I saw, but putting my whip in my mouth I took note of 

 many of those that I knew. When we reached the foot of a hill up which the 

 horses could not walk very rapidly I dismounted, and seized the opi)ortunity 

 of taking a number of specimens. Amongst the rocks I found in great 

 abundance Cistus heterophyllus, many species of Epilohium, Campanula, 

 Sedum, Fedia, Galium,, and a great variety of odoriferous plants, such as 

 Thymus, Origanum, Verbena, Eosmarinus, and Lavandula. 



When we reached the summit of the hill we saw the ocean before us, 

 and its deep blue waves were crested with foam. As we descended we 

 passed through a more thickly wooded country, but here few of the trees 

 reach any considerable height ; amongst the more beautiful are the Algar- 

 roba and the fig. The Agave amcricana and Opuntia vulgaris are very 

 plentiful, but the palm is rarely seen near the coast. On the mountain 



