Foreign Notices : — Spain. 325 



rooms in Regent Street. When in Cordova, Captain Cook, with the assist- 

 ance of a workman, ascended the roof of an old Moorish church, and " found 

 a jjart of the original woodwork, most of which has heen rej)laced by pine, in 

 consequence of decay from the penetrating of the water through the tiles, 

 which are laid too horizontally. The under part, which was seen from the 

 mosque, and formed the ceiling, was unpaintecl, the side of each plank being 

 slight!}' carved on the edges ; and it has now the colour of old oak or chestnut. 

 This is the alerce of the old writers, which has hitherto baffled enquiry as to 

 the tree wiiich produced it. It is resinous and fine-grained, quite unlike the 

 various pines which I subsequently found formed the woodwork of the 

 Alhambra, the Alcazar of Seville, and other Moorish works, or that of any 

 pine 1 am acquainted with. There are traditions of its growing in the neigh- 

 bourhood, but no tree answering the description is to be heard of; nor have I 

 found it in any botanical work. The decisive proof of its not being an indi- 

 genous tree, is its not lieing mentioned in tiie curious book of Arab agricidture, 

 written by a Moor of Seville, in the J 2th century, and translated by Banqueri. 

 He detlicates a large portion of his book to the eniuneration of trees and 

 shrubs, describing their qualities, modes of culture, even to transplanting large 

 trees, and knew as well as the professors of the present day the mode of effect- 

 ing it ; the consequences of moving trees from bad to good soil, or the reverse; 

 that some sorts bore the meddling with their roots better than others ; and 

 most other arcana of the art, which are believed to be modern discoveries. 

 He names various sorts of pines, but never mentions or alludes to the alerce, 

 which it is certain he must have known had it been indigenous, or even culti- 

 vated. The subject is well worth enquiry, as few woods are known ca[)able 

 of resisting, as this has done, the effects of a period of nine centuries ; the 

 specimen I speak of being perfectly uninjured. Since my return to England, 

 1 have been shown a communication made to the Horticultural Society by 

 Mr. Drummond, consul at Tangier, who had been engaged in investigating the 

 species which has received the name of alerce in Spain. It appears quite 

 clear, from his account, that this tree is the T^huja articulata, which grows in 

 the mountains of Barbary, and of which a large plank had been sent from 

 Tangier, and may be seen in the Society's rooms in Regent Street. It is well 

 worth the attention of those engaged in procui"ing timber for the navy, and 

 for other purposes requiring durabilit}". I have subsequently made every 

 enquiry, and consulted every authority, vvithout finding a trace of the exist- 

 ence of this tree in Spain. It is extremely probable that in a work of such 

 sanctity as a mosque, intended to be second only to that of Mecca, wood 

 known by that ingenious people to be so durable should be transported from 

 Africa for the purpose." (vol.i. p. 4, 5.) 



Gardens of Spain. — The following notices are selected from different parts 

 of the Sketches. On the outskirts of Granada, both within and without the 

 walls, are gardens, and vast quantities of cactus, the fruit of which in summer 

 affords salutary food for the poorer classes. At Malaga there is a beautiful 

 alameda (public walk), and the eastern beach serves for promenades of 

 greater length. " In an angle beyond the river, backed by the chain which 

 bounds the Vega to the west, is Churriana, a village resorted to in summer 

 and autumn : a kind of Frescati to the Malaguenians. An individual has made 

 a garden and grounds, of which the progress of a few years shows what 

 might be effected with industry in this delicious climate." (vol. i. p. 19.) In 

 the defile of Xixona, near Alicante, tiiere is a fine Moorish castle, and gardens 

 producing great quantities of fruit. The village of Campo de Orgiva, on the 

 Sierra Nevada, is well built, with beautiful grounds and gardens. The village 

 of Lanjaron near it, and from which the eternal snow of the sunmiits of the 

 mountains is seen in the distance, is surrounded with the richest vegetation. 

 " It is embosomed amid the nmlberry, chestnut, ilex, and the olive, with the 

 lemon, orange and palm. The vines are trained on trees, as in Itah'. The 

 slope terminates abruptly below in a deep barranco, or ravine, of which the 

 opposite side rises like a colossal wall : a detached peak is crowned by s 



Y 3 



