TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



67 



prospect opens into the valley. A lofty aqueduct 

 brings water from the mountains, across the plains, 

 to the town. The bay of Gibraltar, covered with 

 innumerable vessels, extends here before the eye of 

 the traveller, and the lofty Calpe, with its steep 

 cliffs, bounds the prospect in the horizon. The 

 hills round Algesiras are composed of the same red 

 sandstone as that of which the Queen's Chair con- 

 sists. They are sparingly shaded by the Spanish 

 oak and the cork tree {Qaercus esculus and suber), 

 and diversified by the finest flowering shrubs, 

 among which is the Rhododendron ponticum, 

 probably a remnant of Moorish horticulture ; but 

 they are inhabited by the European scorpion and 

 the American scolopendra.* 



Near Algesiras, between the town and the 

 Cabrita to the south of it, some antiquarians fix the 

 place where Karteia, afterwards called Heraclea 

 by the Romans, stood, a flourishing trading colony 

 of the Phoenicians. Carter t says that he saw the 

 ruins of this city on the banks of the little river 

 Guadaranque. 



Southwest of Algesiras lies Tarifa, the most 

 southerly point of Andalusia, and of the whole 

 European continent. The way to it, through 

 meadows and over scantily w^ooded sandstone hills, 

 is very diversified. This little town is, for the most 

 part, of ancient construction, and still possesses for- 

 tifications erected in the times of the Moors, which, 



* See Note, page 77. 



f Journey from Gibraltar to Malaga. 



F % 



