194 VEGETATION OF THE 



place as Carteia on the walls of modern Algesiras, 

 which has risen from being only a fishing village to a 

 commercial port of considerable importance, and was 

 a source of much annoyance to the British during the 

 wars. The celebrated floating batteries which were 

 destined to destroy the English fortress were made 

 within the harbour of Algesiras. The Spaniards still 

 keep here a large force, where the general command- 

 ing the district resides. This place is also frequented 

 by English residents of Gibraltar, chiefly to see the 

 small waterfall within an hour's ride of the town ; the 

 elegant aqueduct also attracts the stranger's attention. 

 The botanist making Algesiras one of his head-quar- 

 ters, will find miles of surrounding country to supply 

 him with rare and beautiful plants. Circumstances 

 which a medical officer of the garrison of Gibraltar 

 cannot always obviate, prevented the writer taking 

 more than a few hours' walk in this part of Andalusia ; 

 Mr. Willkomm, however, examined this locality, as 

 well as many miles beyond it, and the reader will be 

 able to judge, from the lucid descriptions of this accu- 

 rate observer,* what an interesting field there is here 

 for the botanist. According to Mr. Willkomm, the 

 vegetation of the hills in the neighbourhood of Couil 

 differs little from that observed on the hills near Alge- 

 siras, though the number of species between Couil, 

 Cape Trafalgar, and Veger was not so great. In the 

 neighbourhood of the Cape, large tracts were covered 



* See ' Annals of Natural History,' for a translation of 

 Mr. Willkomm's papers. 



