Bovadilla; he was the pupil of Zubaran, and became a member of the Academy of Seville, where he died in 1680, leaving to that institution his sketches and designs, which are highly valued.

The numerous Roman inscriptions in this city and its vicinity, have kindled a taste for the study of antiquities, which has produced some very eminent men in that branch of learning. To mention them is needless, as their names are scarcely known in England; but their labours have contributed much to the assistance of Muratori, and other antiquaries. This city gave birth to Luis del Carvajal, the historian of Africa, and of the Moors in Spain, and to Pedro de Espinosa, one of the best poets of the sixteenth century, the period in which the Castillian language was in its greatest purity.

There are few places in Europe in which the Antiquary, the Botanist, or the Geologist, would find so much worthy of attention as in Antequera, and its vicinity. I have noticed already that there is a profusion of Roman inscriptions; and the number of antient edifices in ruins is considerable. Coins of various dates are also frequently found.

With the very little pretension to the knowledge of Botany which I possess, I cannot do justice to the various productions which this place affords the rocks are covered with the lichen saxatillis tinctorius, from which, by a very summary process, they make the archil, used in the manufactories as a purple or mulberry dye. The periwinckle (vinca pervinca) is now in flower on the banks of the rivulets, as well as the jessamin and lavender. The anchusa, the root of which is known in England by the name of alkanet, and the liquorice are very abundant; the roots of the latter so annoy the

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ploughmen, that they indignantly call it "Mala Yerba,” and its cultivation and preparation are totally neglected. Annis and cumin are very generally met with, and are valuable to the inhabitants of the mountainous districts, who make great use of them infused in brandy. The cistus, or rock rose, grows in great profusion, and produces a liquid substance, which the sun thickens to a gummy consistence, in which state it is eaten by the country people. The aloes, the pita, the esparto, the opuntia, and the various species of palms, are very abundant, and are applied to the uses which I noticed at Seville. The shrub bearing capers (capparis) grows very generally in this vicinity: it is a thorny bush, producing a small flower, and the pod, containing the seed, grows to the size of a small olive; it is eaten by the natives in the crude state; or, preserved with vinegar, becomes an article of commerce. Numerous species of heaths are to be found, which are very useful, as they are converted into charcoal, and thus supply fuel to the inhabitants. The charcoal made from the heaths is esteemed in Spain to be better adapted for making iron than any other.

The rocks surrounding this city are all of limestone or marble; and about half a league from it is one solid rock of most beautiful flesh-coloured marble, from which various springs form a rivulet that turns several mills, and waters the plains below. But the conformation of the rocks, the different strata, and the veins of different mineral substances they contain, have been so slightly noticed, that the Geologist and Mineralogist would find here a rich and unex-: plored field for the improvement of their respective sciences.

There are two springs near this city, which have been long cele

brated; besides several others, the fame of which has never extended itself beyond the immediate limits of Antequera: one is considered as a specific for the stone, is said to act as a solvent, and is beneficial also in strengthening the stomach; its reputation was formerly much greater than it is at present. A Roman inscription, discovered on an altar, is preserved here, which imports that Lucius Posthumus Satulius, in performance of a vow, dedicated the altar to the divine fountain. Morales, a Spanish writer of much eminence, relates, that so much confidence was placed in the beneficial effects of this spring, that the Romans built almost a town near it for the reception of patients; and that, to guard against imposition, when the water was sent to a distance, a notary attested the day on which it was taken from the spring; the vessels in which it was contained, and a certificate of its purity were sealed by the magistrate and priest of the town. The water is remarkably cold, and has no peculiar taste except that of the saxifrage, which grows in great abundance within the spring. About a mile from the Fuente de Piedra is another copious spring, which fills with salt water a lake of four miles in length and two in breadth. The water of the lake is salter than sea water, and is refined by natural evaporation. The crystals, as may be supposed, are very large, and of a bad colour: yet no other salt is allowed to be sold in this district but that which is produced at the royal refinery, on the side of this lake.

As we had not intended remaining here many hours, we were unprovided with letters of introduction, and therefore, instead of passing our evenings at the lively tertullas of the ladies, we have remained in our solitary posada; and I can, consequently, give no account of

the society, or manners of the inhabitants, beyond doing that justice to which all Spaniards are entitled, by saying, that our characters as Englishmen were sufficient to attract civility and attention from all

whom we met.

The wine produced in this neighbourhood is all of the sweet kind, very muddy, and very nauseous. Olives are in great abundance, and the oil made from them, with all the carelessness I have before noticed, is a considerable article of commerce with the more Northern districts, who send wheat in exchange.

There are a considerable number of manufactories of baize in this city, which supply the surrounding towns with that useful article of female apparel. Some cloths, linens, and hats, are likewise made here but as the manufactories of these articles are conducted on a small scale, and are rather for domestic consumption than subjects of commerce, they scarcely deserve notice.

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To-morrow we shall begin to clamber over the stupendous mountains towards Ronda, where I hope to arrive in two days, if we neither break our necks, nor are buried in the snow.

WE intended to leave Antequera after an early dinner, proposing to reach Alora that evening; and the persuasions of the guide even would not have induced us to defer our design, if the fortunate intervention of a tremendous shower of rain had not determined us to wait till the next morning. At day-break we set out on foot from the posada, and ordering the horses to follow us, we ascended the mountain above the city, and occupied an hour and a half before we reached the summit, where the horses overtook us. We found it excessively cold, as the wind blew from off a snow mountain to the southward of that which we had crossed. After descending for about an hour, we passed a small aqueduct of Moorish construction, in the design of which we could not agree. To me it appeared to have been erected for the purpose of conveying water, by a circuitous route round the mountains, to the city of Antequera, and some small Moorish turrets on the sides of the hills seemed to indicate its course. We saw, on the left hand, a singular spectacle called El Torcal : it is situated on the summit of a high mountain, and has the appear