12 INTRODUCTION. 



there was a fine breezy draught of air blowing downwards, 

 which sent the smoke of our fire towards us till we, instead 

 of the beast for whose benefit it was intended, were nearly 

 suffocated. 



Having no means of getting torches to further explore the 

 cave, with heavy hearts we left the unknown animal to growl 

 himself to sleep ; the Moors insisted, by the way, that what 

 we heard was a " djinn," or evil spirit! 



The south-east part of the range of the Sierra Bullones is a 

 different formation, and we could trace signs of lead-ore and 

 antimony in more than one place. Whether any mines will ever 

 be worked in Morocco is doubtful : there is plenty of ground ; 

 but at present it is forbidden to look for minerals by the 

 enlightened and despotic Moorish government. 



The track or road from Ceuta to Tetuan, after quitting the 

 mountainous district, passes through the interminable scrub 

 usual to the Mediterranean coast ; and bad as are mountain 

 tracks in Spain, this one beats them all in roughness ; and, 

 owing to the weary sameness of going up and down hill after 

 hill, the journey seems endless. 



En route, however, by the shore, nearly opposite Tarifa, lies, 

 shrouded in large thick bushes, the ruins of Alcazar Leguer, a 

 large old castellated Portuguese fort, built about the beginning 

 of the fifteenth century. Some parts of the walls are in fair 

 condition ; but the interior is very much dilapidated, and the 

 whole overgrown with wild olive- and fig-trees, brambles and 

 rubbish, desolation beyond description, its only tenants being 

 Owls and (say the Moors) evil spirits. A covered way, formed 

 by two parallel high walls with banquettes on their tops, runs 

 down to the sea-shore, where it is broken down and blocked up 

 with sand ; the ruins show signs of unskilful workmanship, and 

 contrast very unfavourably with those of Roman construction, 

 besides which, from being principally built of soft sandstone, 

 they are much weather-worn where exposed to the rain. 



