The story of Majorca has, in the course of its detailed narration, included attempts to describe the scenery of various localities of the island, the capital in ancient times, the mountains and caves, the towns and country houses. With the conclusion of the story we turn to the island as it is at present. We find areas of forest-covered mountains, which are calculated to contain 25,000 acres of pines, 12,000 acres of ilex, and 2,000 of carob-trees; at least, this was the calculation twenty years ago. The best account of the geology of these mountains will be found in the work of M. Hermite.[28] Turning to the trees grown to support the people in the fertile plains, the same authority gives an area of 50,000 acres as covered by vines and 33,000 by almond-trees, besides apricots. The olives cover 86,000 acres--70,000 in the mountains, and the rest for the most part near their bases. The flora of the island is abundant and beautiful; and there is an excellent book on the subject by Don Francisco Barcelo y Combis.[29] The people are the descendants of men who fought with En Jayme, increased by a certain amount of immigration--Catalans who speak a dialect of the Catalan language among themselves, but who nearly all understand Spanish. Among the upper classes the names of Moncada or Togores, Sureda, Cotoner, Fortuñy, Zaforteza, Despuig, Torrellas, Truyolls, Villalonga, are as prominent now as they were six hundred years ago and have been ever since. After a visitor has seen the cathedral and churches, the Lonja with its slender pillars, and the handsome Casa Consistorial with its frescoes and portraits of Majorcan worthies, nothing can be more interesting than to saunter through the streets and look at the old palaces of the nobility, with their quaint architecture, coats of arms, and picturesque courtyards. In front of the ‘Mercado’ is the great palace of the Burgues Zaforteza family. In a street of the same name is the Montenegro palace. In the narrow Fortuñy Street there is an ancient house with the name of Priamo Villalonga carved over the lintel of the door. Here lived the gallant defender of the royal castle against the rebels in 1522. The Villalongas are no longer there, having moved to a more modern abode in another part of the town. In nearly every street there is a palace or some other building which is interesting either for its architecture or its associations. Among the leading people of Palma the name of Don Bartolomé Bosch y Cerda, His Britannic Majesty’s Vice-Consul, cannot be overlooked, for his courtesy and kindness and his thorough knowledge of the island have largely increased the pleasure derived by many visitors from a sojourn in Majorca.