LARGE CAVE. 11 



at the very highest places. The base of all "these" crags or cliffs 

 is approached by a steep talus of small broken rocks, among 

 which grows a very thick jungle of stunted cork- and olive-trees 

 about 15 feet high. 



On the north side of the range next to Beut and at the 

 western end of it, at the base of the cliff, is a wide cave, which, 

 at some distance from the entrance, branches off into two 

 distinct caves, one going up hill, the other down. My com- 

 panion ascended the upper one till he heard in the darkness the 

 growling of some beast, probably a lynx or some wild cat ; so he 

 returned, and we collected together from outside a lot of dead 

 sticks and rubbish, which we dragged up in the darkness as near 

 the animal as we could judge to be well within range : we then 

 set fire to it, and stood ready for a shot ; but it was no use ; the 

 brute, whatever it was, only retired further in, growling away 

 more than ever. 



The light of the fire proved the cave to be some hundred 

 feet high, gradually narrowing to the top from the bottom, 

 which near the entrance is about 12 feet wide, thus showing 

 it to have been formed by two gigantic rocks or cliffs flung 

 against one another at the time these limestone mountains were 

 thrown up from the bottom of the sea, which in remote ages 

 doubtless flowed over them. On both sides of the Straits, . e. 

 at Gibraltar and Abyla, these fissures or caves are common in 

 the limestone ; but this particular one fairly rivals the well- 

 known St. Michael's Cave at Gibraltar, and had, from the marks 

 of fire, been inhabited at some not very distant period. The 

 floor in places was quite a foot deep with the guano of Rock- 

 Doves (Columla lima], numbers of which flew out from the 

 nooks and crannies of the rock. 



As far as we could understand from the Moors, who, living 

 near Ceuta, spoke a few words of broken Spanish, there was 

 a story of a Moor having ascended this cave till he came out 

 somewhere at the top of the mountain ; be this as it may, 



