THE VULTUUE. 
23 
by the putrid exhalations which arise from it, when 
it has arrived at that state of decomposition which 
renders it fit, and no doubt delicious, food for this 
interesting tribe of birds. While I was standing 
near the negro, I could see here and there a Vultur 
Aura sweeping majestically through the ethereal 
expanse, in alternate rises and falls, as these birds 
are wont to do when in search of carrion : but they 
showed no inclination to come and perch on the 
trees near the prostrate body of this poor unknown 
sable son of Africa. 
The terrible pestilence which visited Malaga at 
the beginning of the present century, swept off thou- 
sands upon thousands in the short space of four 
months. The victims were buried by the convicts. 
So great was the daily havoc of death, that no pri- 
vate burials could be allowed ; and many a corpse 
lay exposed in the open air, till the dead carts made 
their rounds at nightfall to take them away to their 
last resting-place, which was a large pit, prepared for 
them by the convicts in the daytime. During this 
long-continued scene of woe and sorrow, which I 
saw and felt, I could never learn that the vultures 
preyed upon the dead bodies which had not had time 
enough to putrefy. But when the wind blew in 
from the Mediterranean, and washed ashore the 
corrupted bodies of those who had died of the pes- 
tilence, and had been thrown overboard from the 
shipping, then indeed, de montibus adsunt Har- 
pyise," then it was that the vultures came from the 
neighbouring hills to satisfy their hunger ; then, one 
c 4 
