Foreign Notices : — Spahi. S27 



S'carcely yielding, in many parts, to the Alhambra. It is kept up as a royal 

 residence, and will probably survive the palace of Granada." (vol. i. p. 133.) 



" At Valencia the paseos, or public promenades, are magnificent, extending 

 outside the walls to the Grao, or seaport, nearly a league distant." (vol. i. p.l32.) 



" At Bartcelonni a magnificent promenade has been made outside the 

 town." 



" At Madrid every thing is exotic. The strawberries are brought from 

 Aranjuez, thirty miles distant | the apricots from Toledo, fifty miles ; peaches 

 are carried on mules from Aragon, and butter from Asturias. Every part of 

 Spain is put in requisition, not for luxuries, which cannot be said to exist, but 

 to supply the necessaries of life to a spot in the middle of a desert, and which 

 would soon revert to its original state of forest, but for the adventitious aid 

 perpetually forced upon it." (vol. i. p. 162.) 



27?^ Botanic Garden of Madrid. — " Notwithstanding the piercing cold of 

 winter, and that the reservoirs of the Retiro freeze sufficiently to allow skait- 

 iog, many plants resist the climate uninjured, which could scarcely be expected 

 to do so. The Chinese mulberry (Jforus jpapydfera) grows to a large size, and 

 the MeVta. Azedarnck thrives perfectly in the botanic garden. There is an 

 instance of the palm growing in a sheltered situation. These trees owe their 

 preservation to the heat of summer and autumn, which enables the wood to 

 be perfectly hardened before they ai-e assailed by the winter frost. The 

 situation of the public garden, which in the spring is a delicious promenade, 

 will prevent it ever being of much use as a botanical repository. The site is 

 badly chosen for the purpose, and the natural soil indifferent ; but it was made 

 at a vast expense, and is an ornament to the metropolis. It serves far the 

 purpose of giving botanical and agricultural lectures. The plan of Charles III. 

 was magnificent in making this garden, which was intended to be combined 

 with the formation of noble cabinets of natural history, worthy the capital of 

 Spain and the Indies, and were to occupy a range of buildings along the 

 Prado, of which those now used for picture galleries were the commencementk" 

 (vol.i. p. 176, 177.) 



The Appearance of the Country. — " The country, in the route by Villa- 

 viciosa from Bilboa to Gijon, is exceeded in natural beauty and fertility by few 

 in Europe. The character is exactly opposite to that of the other side of the 

 peninsula, where all is aridity, and only the plants are seen which thrive under 

 the burning rays of a cloudless sun, save where nurtured and forced by man. 

 Here all is natural and almost eternal verdure. You travel amid ajbutus, the 

 bay, or JCaurus nobilis, which forms large trees, and grows amongst their dung- 

 hills ; the alaternus, phillyrea, holly, fern, and ulex, which abound, and the 

 ivy, which is rare, in the interior. The common ilex, which is only seen in 

 this part of Spain, occurs in places, and the beautiful Menziesfa Daboeci (Irish 

 heath) is seen in prodigious quantities. The chestnut and the common oaks 

 and hazel are the natural growth of the soil; walnut, apple,^ and pear orchards 

 are attached to every house. The orange, and even the lemon, grow luxu- 

 riantly, but I believe their fruit is not brought to perfection. A hedge of Cactus 

 surrounded the garden of some amateur, who had probably lived in Andalusia 

 or Valencia. The coast is generally bold and rocky, the cliFs supporting 

 elevated table lands ; but the scenery is occasionally varied by descending to 

 flat and sandy beaches. Numerous streams of the clearest water, abounding 

 in trout and other fish, flow from the mountains. This beautiful country^ is 

 one of the poorest in Spain, although the people are far from wanting in in- 

 dustry. Their houses are badly built ; they are the worst clothed, and the 

 most uncleanly in their persons, in the whole kingdom j they are generally 

 ill-favoured and rugged in features. 



" This country differs from most parts of Spain ; the people living in ham- 

 lets and detached houses, which are thickly planted and covered with trees, in 

 the manner of those in Devon. No wine is made in the country, and the 

 common drink of the people is a bad cider. Attached to each house is a 

 magazine, or small building of wood, exactly a miniature of the common Swiss 



Y 4< 



