GEOLOGY AND CLIMATE OF SPAIN. 19 



scientific men attached to the French army in Egypt, 

 Accompanied by his friend Bonpland, he therefore 

 betook himself to Marseilles, where he waited for 

 two months the arrival of the frigate which was to 

 convey the consul to his destination. At length, 

 learning that this vessel had been injured by a 

 storm, he resolved to pass the winter in Spain, in 

 hopes of finding another the following spring. 



On his way to Madrid, he determined the geo- 

 graphical position of several important parts, and 

 ascertained the height of the central plain of Castile. 

 In March, 1799, he was presented at the court of 

 Aranjuez, and graciously received by the king, to 

 whom he explained the motives which induced him 

 to undertake a voyage to the New Continent. Be- 

 ing .seconded in his application by the representa- 

 tions of an enlightened minister, Don Mariano Luis 

 de Urquijo, he to his great joy obtained leave to visit 

 and explore, without impediment or restriction, all 

 the Spanish territories in America. The impatience 

 of the travellers to take advantage of the permission 

 thus granted did not allow them to bestow much 

 time upon preparations; and about the middle of 

 May they left Madrid, crossed part of Old Castile, 

 Leon, and Galicia, and betook themselves to Co- 

 runna, whence they were to sail for the island of 

 Cuba. 



According to the observations made by our travel- 

 lers, the interior of Spain consists of an elevated 

 table-land, formed of secondary deposites, sand- 

 stone, gypsum, rock-salt, and Jura limestone. The 

 climate of the Castiles is much colder than that of 

 Toulon and Genoa, its mean temperature scarcely 

 rising to 59 of Fahrenheit's thermometer. The 

 central plain is surrounded by a low and narrow belt, 

 in several parts of which the fan-palm, the date, the 

 sugar-cane, the banana, and many plants common to 

 Spain and the north of Africa vegetate, without suf- 

 fering from the severity of the winter. In the space 



