These conditions are satisfied in the three fortified posts which, besides Ceuta, the Spaniards hold on the coast of Marocco. The most considerable of these is Melilla, on a promontory a few miles south of Cape Tres Forcas, said to be a strong fort, but grievously damaged by an earthquake in 1848. It must be little better than a prison for the garrison as well as for the convicts, if it be true, as we were told, that it is considered unsafe to venture beyond musket-shot from the walls, and the Riff mountaineers amuse themselves from time to time by taking pot-shots at the sentries on the ramparts. The other posts are on rocky islets near the shore. El Peñon de Velez, also called Velez de Gomera, is about half-way between Ceuta and Melilla, and only about eight miles from the site of the Carthaginian city of Bedis—Belis of the Arabs—whence some etymologists derive the Spanish Velez. From the rank of an episcopal city in early Christian times, Bedis fell into bad repute as a pirate port, until it was taken and destroyed by the Spaniards. The third Spanish post is on the larger of the Zaffarine Islands, that rise from the Mediterranean nearly opposite the mouth of the Oued Moulouya, not far from the French frontier. To judge from a small packet of plants collected there by Mr. Webb, the only scientific traveller known to have visited them, these are mere barren rocks, affording no shelter to any but the common seaside species. Of late years the Riff people have kept to their mountain fastnesses, and piracy is no longer an habitual occupation; but it would not be safe to suppose that it has been completely extinguished. The coast has many inlets and creeks that shelter fishing boats, which may easily be used for cutting out unarmed merchantmen when becalmed near the coast. As late as 1855 two or three cases of that nature were reported to the home authorities by the Governor of Gibraltar: and as pursuit was out of the question, and the Moorish Government owns no control over the Riff population, no redress was obtainable. The increasing use of steam has probably made the occupation tedious and unprofitable. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 1: From this Moorish word the Spaniards have taken _Fonda_, the common designation for an inn of the better class; while it is more accurately preserved in the Venetian _Fondaco_—e.g. Fondaco dei Turchi, &c.] [Footnote 2: These sandhills were revisited by one of our party in the month of June, and then supplied many interesting plants not seen during our first stay at Tangier.]