NEIGHBOURHOOD OF GIBRALTAR. 193 



From the Corkwood the botanist may retrace his 

 steps to the second Venta, from whence he will find it 

 practicable to go to the small town called Los Barrios, 

 famed for still possessing the statue of San Joseph, 

 which had been clandestinely removed from Gibraltar 

 by some pious catholics on leaving that fortress, when 

 it fell into the hands of its present possessors. The 

 country through which the botanist will now chiefly 

 pass is low and marshy, and after leaving Los Barrios 

 and crossing the river Palmones, the littoral plains 

 may be reached by a short cut ; but perhaps it will 

 be preferable to keep more inland, and enter into the 

 woods behind Algesiras, where a great number of 

 plants not hitherto met with may be seen growing 

 luxuriantly. Among these occur frequently Vitex 

 Agnus-castus, Phlomis Herba-venti, Scilla maritima, 

 and Arenaria spathulata. Mr. Willkomm, in his 

 botanical notices of Spain, mentions that in this neigh- 

 bourhood he met with the splendid Drosophyllum 

 lusitanicum, for the first time, and that he found it to 

 cover the whole northern acclivity of the mountain 

 named Cerro Comodore. The town of Algesiras is si- 

 tuated almost opposite to Gibraltar. The history of this 

 place is nearly contemporaneous with that of the Rock ; 

 it was originally a Moorish town, but rebuilt in 1 760 by 

 Charles the Third. The walls of many houses are 

 almost entirely composed of stones recovered from 

 the ruins of Carteia; the antiquarian has cause to 

 regret that the sides with inscriptions on them are 

 generally built inwards, so that he will have some diffi- 

 culty in tracing more of the history of so renowned a 



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