Elche rises from the midst of a forest of palms, which encircles it and mingles with the buildings, and which occupies altogether nearly a league square. There is scarcely a vacant spot within, or about the city, that is not covered with them; they crowd the gardens, they fringe the banks of the stream, and in every direction are seen overtopping the houses. And beautiful is the palm-tree at this season,--its majestic stem rising to the height of eighty or a hundred feet, surmounted by the clusters of bright golden dates, and its broad canopy of fan-like leaves falling around like a circular plume. From a tower of the very ancient palace of the Dukes of Arcos, I obtained a view over the city and the surrounding country: this view was of so novel a character, that it will bear no comparison with any other; it was simply the view of a palm forest, which, from the great height of the trees, seemed unbounded, with the city embosomed in it. This is all that can be said by way of description; but the mere novelty of a view, embracing thousands, and tens of thousands of these strangely beautiful trees, cannot fail to delight the spectator. I fared well in the posada, and drank delicious wines; and passed the evening in conversation with the host and his family, and a neighbouring grower and exporter of barilla, and other produce of the district. He was an intelligent and communicative man; and from him I learnt some particulars respecting Elche. Elche contains about 20,000 inhabitants, and may be called a flourishing city; for the surrounding country, besides its large produce of dates, abounds in barilla, of which the export is very extensive. Last year, the export of barilla from Alicant, but chiefly grown in the vicinity of Elche, amounted to no less than 200,000 quintals--twenty millions of lbs. The export of dates I could not ascertain; but I afterwards learnt at Alicant, that a great proportion of the dates imported to England as Barbary dates, are from Elche; and in proof of this, I was shewn some boxes in a warehouse, marked “Barbary dates.” The wages of field labour at Elche, are three or four reals; and every thing is proportionably cheap; barley bread, which is much used in this neighbourhood, is sold at two quartos (less than a farthing) per pound. Elche possesses one important advantage over most of the other Spanish cities: it is not overrun with priests and friars. It contains only two churches, and two convents; and the inhabitants are thus spared the expense of feeding the idle and useless incumbrances who are so great a burthen upon the market people of Murcia, Orihuela, Guadix, and other cities of the southern provinces. And besides this advantage, the proportion of the religious bodies in Elche is so small, that their influence acts feebly: self-interest has gained upon the dominion of superstition; for I was informed, that the after part of most of the holidays, enjoined, or recommended, by the Catholic church,