I occupied another day with an excursion to the _Retiro_, the country-seat of a noble family; but now in a state of dilapidation. The situation of the old castle is, however, beyond conception delightful,--nestling at the foot of the mountains, and almost bathed by the transparent waves of the Mediterranean; and in the adjoining gardens, every fruit-tree congenial to that glorious climate, flourishes in unfading luxuriance. Every where in the neighbourhood of Malaga, the acclivities not occupied by vines, are covered with the prickly pear, which is cultivated chiefly for the sake of the cochineal which breeds upon it: this valuable article of commerce has not, however, been yet produced in so great abundance as to form an article of export. Few of the useful productions of the globe are unsuitable to the climate of some part of Spain. In the northern provinces, all the productions of the temperate climates arrive at perfection; and in the most southern parts, the climate is found sufficiently fine to ripen the produce of the Indies. To the eastward of Malaga, a few leagues along the coast, the sugar-cane is successfully cultivated: though this useful plant is known to have been much more extensively grown in the time of the Moors than now, which is evident, from the remains of their sugar-houses. Still, however, the sugar-cane is a valuable produce, and is said to supply a sugar scarcely inferior to that of the West Indies. Malaga, like most of the other cities of Spain, has had various masters. Built by the Phœnicians, it was successively Carthagenian, Roman, Gothic, and Moorish; and in the reign of Haly Abenhameth, was the seat of empire. Ferdinand and Isabella succeeded in wresting Malaga from the dominion of the Moors, in the year 1487. Malaga was formerly much more populous than it is now, though, within the last fifty years, the population has been again on the increase. Anciently, it contained nearly a hundred thousand persons; in the middle of the last century, the inhabitants were reduced to thirty thousand; and at present, it is said to contain about forty-five thousand. I have nothing more to add of Malaga, excepting the price of provisions. Beef is ten quartos the pound, of sixteen ounces; mutton the same. Pork, fourteen quartos. Eggs, two for six quartos--not much less than a penny each. A fine fowl, seven reals; a chicken, three reals; a duck, fifteen reals; a turkey, from twenty to thirty reals. The best bread, twelve quartos. Excellent wine, two reals per bottle. Potatoes, the measure of six pounds and a quarter, seven quartos, or about twopence. A barrel of anchovies, two reals. A partridge, four reals. A rabbit, ten reals. Fish, remarkably cheap and plentiful. Melons, grapes, pomegranates, figs, and prickly pears, so cheap as scarcely to form an article of expenditure. Let it not be forgotten, that eight quartos are twopence farthing; and that, in one franc French, there are four reals. CHAPTER XVII.