Page:Lands of the Saracen 1859.djvu/449

CHAPTER XXXVII.

 

THE MOUNTAINS OF RONDA.

 

Orange Valleys — Climbing the Mountains — José's Hospitality — El Burgo — The Gate of the Wind — The Cliff and Cascades of Ronda — The Mountain Region — Traces of the Moors — Haunts of Robbers — A Stormy Ride — The Inn at Gaucin — Bad News — A Boyish Auxiliary — Descent from the Mountains The Ford of the Guadiaro — Our Fears Relieved — The Cork Woods — Ride from San Roque to Gibraltar — Parting with José — Travelling in Spain — Conclusion.

 

Gibraltar, Thursday, November 25, 1852.

I Passed an uncomfortable night at the Venta de Villalon, lying upon a bag stuffed with equal quantities of wool and fleas. Starting before dawn, we followed a path which led into the mountains, where herdsmen and boys were taking out their sheep and goats to pasture; then it descended into the valley of a stream, bordered with rich bottom-lands. I never saw the orange in a more flourishing state. We passed several orchards of trees thirty feet high, and every bough and twig so completely laden with fruit, that the foliage was hardly to be seen.

At the Venta del Vicario, we found a number of soldiers just setting out for Ronda. They appeared to be escorting a convoy of goods, for there were twenty or thirty laden mules gathered at the door. We now ascended a most difficult and stony path, winding through bleak wastes of gray rock, till we