The distant firing continued some time longer; and I afterwards learnt that the effigies of no less than seven _Judases_ had that morning been severally hanged, shot, and burnt, to satisfy the holy rage of the devout inhabitants of San Roque. CHAPTER III. COUNTRY IN THE VICINITY OF SAN ROQUE--RUINS OF THE ANCIENT CITY OF CARTEIA--FIELD OF BATTLE OF ALPHONSO THE ELEVENTH--JOURNEY TO RONDA--FOREST OF ALMORAIMA--MOUTH OF THE LIONS--FINE SCENERY--TOWN OF GAUCIN--A SPANISH INN--OLD CASTLE AT GAUCIN--INTERIOR OF AN ANDALUSIAN POSADA--SPANISH HUMOUR--MOUNTAIN WINE. The country in the immediate vicinity of San Roque is tame and uninteresting; but, within the distance of an hour's ride, in whatever direction you may turn your horse's head, it becomes agreeably varied,--presenting wide, cultivated valleys, shady forests of cork, oak, and pine, and wild and cragged mountains. In the neighbourhood are many objects well deserving the attention of the antiquary; amongst others, the ruins of the ancient city of Carteia, situated on the sea-shore, within the bay of Gibraltar, and near the mouth of the River Guadaranque. The walls may be traced very distinctly; they enclose an amphitheatre, in a tolerable state of preservation, reliques of baths and other edifices, and the remains of a small temple of Corinthian architecture and most exquisite and elaborate workmanship. This last has only recently been discovered. It was built of beautiful white marble, and its columns, though lying prostrate, appeared to have suffered little by their fall; but such is the want of antiquarian taste in the Spaniards of the present day, that it is to be feared this fine specimen of the arts has already disappeared, and is now only to be met with in detached blocks, scattered throughout the neighbouring farm-houses and walls. The learned Mr. Francis Carter, whose interesting "Journey from Gibraltar to Malaga" has, it is much to be regretted, been long out of print, states, that Carteia was built on the ruins of a "most antique" city called Tartessus, or Tarsis, from whence, "once in three years," the fleets of King Solomon "brought gold and silver, ivory and _apes_ and peacocks."[38] The Greeks afterwards called this city Heraclea,[39] and in yet more recent times it received the name of Carteia.