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Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent dtre filmAs A des taux de reduction diffArents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul clichA, il est film* A partir de I'angle supArieur gauche, de gauche A droite, et de haut en bas, an prenant le nombre d'images nAcessaire. Las diagrammes suivants illustrent la m6thoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 I ENTKANCE TO TllK 'OWER UK LAS INKANTAS, IN IIIK AI.IIAMIIUA. ILLUSTRATED TRAVELS: A RliCORD OI'' Discovery^ Geography^ and Adventure. KDrrKD jjv H. W. BATES, ASSISTANT. SECRETARY OF THE RUYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY, WITH ENGRAVINGS FROM ORIGINAL DRAWINGS BY CELEBRATED ARTISTS. LONDON: CASSEI.L, PETTER. AND GALPIN: AND 596, BROADWAY, NEW YORK. '^.1 l.oMioN : PRINTKn nv CASSE1.I, rETTKR, AM) CAM IN, liEI.I.l, SAUVAGE WORKS, LVDGATE lill.I., E.C. CONTENTS AnvssiNiAN Plateau, The Country East of Africa, South, Gold Fields of Alaska (forjcerlv Russian America), A Journey in. i>^ Frederick. Whvmper Amdor River, A Summer Trip up the. By Ronald Dridgett Arizona and Nkw Mexico Arizona, .Southern, Ten Days' Journey in. By \V. A. Bell, B.A., M.B., F.R.G.S Balearic Islands, Seven Months in the. By E. G. Bartholomew, C.E., M.S.E California and its Prospects. By Frederick Whymper California, Lower Camargue, A Few Days IN. By D. T. Ansted, M.A., F.R.S., F.R.G.S Cambodia to the Yang-tsze-Kiang, French Expedition from Easter Island Forest Trees in South America, Height of Gaboon, The. From the French of Dr. Griffon Du Bellay, Surgeon in the French N.ivy Himalayas, Exploration of the Himalaya, Route Across the Hvrcanian Desert, and the Principal Roads Across it. By Professor Arminius Vamb6ry Indo-China, French Exploring Expedition in Japan, A European Sojourn in. From the French of M. Aim6 Humbert Jebel Nakus, the Bell-Sounding Mountain kuriyan muriyan islands Limpopo River, Discovery of the Mouth of Livingstone, Progress of Madagascar, A Bird's-eye View of. From the French of M. D. Charnay Manchuria Mandalay, English Mission to, and Treaty with Burmah. By Henry Woodward Crofton, M. A. .. 192 .. 30 .. 46 .. 245 .. 256 .. 142 266,312, 538, 368 .. 103 .. 64 77 .. 160 .. 128 .. 320 289, 3='- 353 .. 30 .. 117 .. 263 .. 288 136, 184, 216, 233, 277, 305, 344, 371 256 160 96 32 .. 22,49,81 30 178, 212, 234 Mesopota.mia, JouRNEYiNGS l.v. By Licut. C. R. Low (l.ite Indian Navy) Nile Expedition, Sir Samuel Baker's North Polar Discovery. By J. E. Davis, Staff Commander R.N., F.R.G.S Orinoco, A Journey up the. By C. Le Neve Foster, B.A., D.Sc, F.G.S Overland Route to the Pacific through British America Paraguay, A Visit to, during the War. By Thomas J. Hutchinson, F.R.G.S Passage OF the Great Canon of the Colorado. By Major A. R. Calhoun Report of another Great Lake in Equatorial Africa Ri^uNioN, Island of Shir6 River, Captain Faulkner's Expedition up the Siberia, Northern, New Russian Expedition to the Coast of Soudan and Western Abyssinia, A Journey through. By Licut. W. F. Prideaux, F.R.G.S. i, 57. 8 South Polar Lands and the Transit of Venus Spain, Notes on Survey of Sinai Vancouver Island, The First Journey of Exploration Across. By Robert Brown, F.R.G.S. . 161, 205, 239, 268, 316, 341, 366 224 149, 168, 199 ... 257, 297, 335, 376 134 41,71,97 8 95 352 320 192 10, 152,171,193,248,282 128 ■ •• 15,33,65, 120, 129 64 ... 254,274,302,349 'i.'^T.ea- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. AllVSSINIA, A JdURSEV THROUGH— Samuar Tkasam at a Wki.i UKKVISII AM) I'KASANr WoMAN Manukoves nkar Uiikrar VoiMi Ukdaween GlKI. ... Ukni-'a.mir Arab You.Nii UlRLS OF Taka Kassala Takrooree Soldier Wii.MA.N or Kassala carrvi.no Water KlVER ClASU IN THE KaINV SEASON SiMiiNi; THE War So.ng RovAL Palace at Gondar View near Ti.'UELga, Ahyssinian Tlateau Oul'M I'ALM, OF THE SoUDAN Ahyssinian Fisileer View on the Krantee Junction ok the Kiliee with the Brantee Ahyssinian Wild Flowers .. Meihonica Superiia View on the Kiver Aiiai Army of Theodore overtaken iiy a Flood River Berhan, Ahyssinian 1'i.ateau View on the liASiiiLo rVMSHEI) HY ORDER OF THE KiNG AK Ahyssinian Horseman Ahyssinian Warfare Ahyssinian Tailor UoAT OF UULLOCk's-HIPE ON I.AKE TSANA Falls of Davezout, Ahyssinian Plateau Arizona, .Southerm, Tkn Uavs' Journey in— Fort Howie, Arizjna; Scene of the .Vpache Attack... California and its Prospects— The Grand Cascade of Vose.mite The Father of the Forest ... Colorado, Passa(;e of the Great Canon of the— The Exultant Indians .Mutilate Tiit Dead Body The Raft Pkecii'Itated over a Cataract Gauoon, The— Bird's-eye View of the Gauoon Settlement Charcoal Stores at the Gadoon Kino Uenij of the Gaboon, and his Principal Wife ... The Uac -.htkrs of King Louis English Trading Setilement on the Gahoon Mission House of the Catholics at the Gaboon Akkra, a Young Girl of the Gauoon The Chief Kringer, and his Family A Village on the Gahuon Trunk of the Ovounchua, a Species of Ficus Bakalai Wo.man and Children Village on the Gaboon Pahouin Warriors The Sacred Isles of Lake Jonanga The Young Fetichist of Lake Jonanga Pahouin Village Fetiche Bana.na Trees .. Hvrcanian Desert, and TIM. Principal Koads across A Turkoman Well in the Hvrcanian Ulsekt Japan, A European .Sojourn in- A Japanese Governor Japanese Grooms (Beio^) To, M. Humuert's Valkt-de-Chamurk UciNZKs Praying Japanese Wome.n going on a Visit A Japanese School Japanese Citizen in Winter Cosiume Iapanf;se Peasant in Winter Costume KicE Cultivation Japanese in the Rice Field Tori, or Holy Gate ZiNMU ,', Civil and Military Officials returning from Duty... Buddhist Temple at Nagasaki Birds of Japan Entrance into the Harbour of Kanasawa ... ..'. Japanese Pilgrims Actors and Dallet-Girls of the Mikado's Court Mendicant Pkiesp Kanasawa : the Tea. house and the Sacred Isle Webster and Sivosima Islands Temple of Hatchi.man, at Kamakuba I 4 5 7 Co 63 89 91 92 93 112 llj 116 '53 15b '57 "59 172 '73 176 '77 '93 196 '97 248 249 252 253 285 '45 105 109 9 «3 289 292 293 296 321 324 325 328 329 332 333 353 356 357 360 361 365 n— 264 265 '36 '37 140 141 184 "*§ 1 88 189 •91 191 216 217 220 221 223 225 228 229 232 233 277 280 Japan, A EuRorF.AN Sojourn in— C(»«/»««;v/. Japanese Warriors of the Tiiirteenih Century usiYama, the Sacred Mountain of Japan liuDiiiiisT High Priesp and his Suiiordinates Panorama of Bknten Refkctorv of a Buddhist Monastery Funeral Ceremonies Cemeiery of Nagasaki Faxiua, afterwards Fide-Y'osi Laying out the Dead Reception by the Mikado, in former times Visit of the Tycoon to the Mikado, ai Kioto Maids of Court Ladies ap kioio .. Madagascar, I!ird's-eye View of — Travelling in Madagascar— The Tacon Ravknal Trees A Maiiegasse Widow The Vacoa, or Screw-pine of Madagascar Rice Pounding A Madegasse Woman and her Children Madagascar Dwarf Palms Governor OF 'Iamatave Nossi-UE, Madagascar Tree-Fern, Madagascar yuEEN OF MoHII.LA, AND HER AlTENDANIS Spies of the Queen of Madagascar Mandalav, English Mission to— TiiAPiNvu Pagoda, at Pagan Mesopotamia, Journeyings in— Persians of Bussorah Kelek, or Raft of Inflated Skins, on the Tigris Mov.woman and Arabs crossing the Tigris Jew of Bussobah Jewess of Bussorah Arabs bringing Skins to .market Girl of Baghdad Kara Fatima, the Kurdish Princess, and her Suite... Lady of Baghdad Jews of Mesopotamia .. Tauk Kesra View on the Shores of the Tigris The Tigris, near Hamrin View on the 'Iigris, near Djeiiar ORINOCO, a Journey up the, to the Caratai, (Ioi.d Kiel View in the Delta of the Orinoco Jaguar Fishing on the Hanks of the Orinoco Map of Lower Orii:oco Steamboat Travelling on the Orinoco First Steamboat on the Orinoco Paraguay, a Visit during the War- Indian Girl, Paraguay Market People— on the Parana Indians of the Gran Chaco Indian of Paraguay Sergeant Gonzales, Paraguayan Soldier Naval Warfare in Paraguay— Destruction of a Bra- zilian I'lUNUOAT BY A ToRPEDO Details of Jesuit Architecture in Paraguay Paraguayan Sentinel— " No Tengo Ordinfs" Ruins of a Jesuit Mission Church in Paraguay Polar, N.jrth, Uiscoverv- Map of the North Polar Regions Spain, Notes on— A Diligence on the Road to Granada Postillions Interior of Third Class Railway Carriage in Spain... La Ramula— at Barcelona Peasant of Orihuei.a Toilet of Gipsy Girl at Diezma At Alicante Beggars in Cathedral of Barcelona Duel with the Navaja The Navaja How A Spaniard Drinks Company in a Spanish Inn The Espada Boys Playing at Bull Fighting The Banderii.lero in the Chair The Bi'll Leaping the Barrier The (Jate of the Alhambra Alicante ' Palm Groves of Elche, near Alicante 281 3^ io) 3" 344 34? 348 349 372 373 375 22 25 28 29 49 52 53 so 81 84 85 87 iSi 161 104 105 205 208 201J 240 2,6 3'7 US- 257 260 261 300 337 42 44 45 72 73 76 97 100 101 "7 20 21 33 36 37 31 40 67 68 69 120 121 124 '25 12^ '3* '33 ILLUSTRATED TRAVELS. A RIXOKD OK 2S1 30S 309 31" 344 34? 348 349 37a 373 375 22 25 28 29 49 52 53 16 81 84 85 87 iSi 161 104 '"5 205 208 209 240 2..^t., in the shadiest and coolest part of the house, Mr. Rassam and I determined to try what a trip a few miles inland might effect for us. Mr. Rassam had had time to strike up an ac()uaintance with most of the neighbouring chiefs, which was fortunate, as it is always necessary to have their assistance and co-operation on occasions like this. The two principal were the Xaib and the Mudeer. The former was at this time engaged in collecting taxes through his nominal territories, but the latter, who governs the lowland country between Harkeeko and the Straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, was at Massjiwa. The reason of his visit was to convey to the Kaim- Makim, or Turkish governor, a rebel Daakali chief, who had been committing great atrocities in the neighbourhood of Zulla, especially in torturing and mutilating both men and women. This chief, whose arrival at Massiwa was welcomed with a salute, so anxious had the Turks Iwen to get hold of him, was kept in durance in the open air, in the hirge sc|uare before the Kaun-.Makiim's house, and was fastened to the ground by a very heavy chain round his neck, just like a wild beast. It was < onsidered (|uite en r^f^/t for every man, woman, or chiUl who passed that way to spit on the wrttrheil (ajilive. 1 do not know what became of him, as the final orders regarding his disposal had to come from Djidcia, and must have arrived after our departure, but he fully deserved everything he was likely to get. We starteore no seal, that necessary evidence of authenticity in the East ; and after a very brief preamble, directed Mr. Rassam to enter the countr)' by way of Matemma, should he still wish to visit the Royal Court. To supplement • Ayto Saniuel's principal duty consisted in dispensing the bread and Mj, or mend, tu the Kind's iiouschold, and in superintending the pages and personal servants of bis Majesty. 8 ILLUSTRATED I'RAN'ELS. tliis Mohammccl, the Shilio iiifornicil us, witli every appearance of truth, that Consul t'ameron had been released from his fetters, and was a |>risoner at large, but that there was no doubt that when Mr. J^assam saw the king, all the captives, excepting, i)erhai)s, the missionaries, would be freed, and all would go on their \\a,\' rejoicing. ■\Vhile this news was (|uite fresh, the / 'I'lioni! arrived from Aden. She brought intelligence that Mr. ^V. (1. l'algra\e, iht' Arabian traveller, had been ( omniissioned by (iovernment to proceed to Abyssinia, and endeavour to effect the release of the iirisoners. 'J'his news made Rassam eager to proceed to I'igypt at onie, as were the two missions to clash, disagreeable results might ha\e been apprehentled. AVe accordingly left M.issawa on the J5th of Augast, and after having been obliged, t!irough scarcity of coal, to run into that mo.st Oriental of all Oriental cities, Djidda, arrived at Suez on the 5th of the fol- lowing month. 'J'elegraphic instructions were received at Alexandria, to tiie effect that Mr. Ras.sam should proceed at once; and after '"ing in a stock of provisions, and |)urchasing several articles as jjresents on the part of Her Majesty to the King of Abyssinia, «e returned to Aden, to ( oini)lete our preparations and outfit. On arrival there, we found that we had been most egre- giously duped by our doubtless well-meaning friend, Mo- lianiined. It ai)peared from Cameron's letter, which had reached Colonel Merewether during our absence, that so far from Icing released, he was more a ])risoner than before, having been chained by the hands in addition to the feet. He begged us earnestly to come up, as the only chance of saving their li\es. It has never been ascertained who were t'le persons actually at the bottom of this deception, but there is strong presumption that his Abyssinian Majesty, aided by Samuel, the relative of Mohammed, had a hand in it. At all events, it had the effect of bringing us into the country, to add to the list of Theodore's victims. AVe returned to Massawa on the Sth of October, and passed a week in collecting camels, packing up baggage, and the like. In order not to be dependent on the produce of the country, we had taken care to jirovide ourselves with a very large (juanlity — si.v months' su])ply, at the very least — of jireserveil meats and \egetables, and what are usually termed in India " Europe stores."' As a hint to travellers, I may say that good li\ ing, a tolerable amount of brandy and beer, and a daily dose of iiuinine, ought to see any one safely through the mo.st deadly countries. Many a night did we bivouac in spots which were the most f;tvoured haunts of malaria, and, thanks to our precautions, passed onwards unscathed. On the 15th we began our journey, a journey whose limits have been defined by Milton, our starting-place being close to that " utmost ])ort, Krcoco," * and, unforeseen then by us, never entling imtil we had reached the sjjot " Wliere Ab.as.siii kinys their issue'gimrd, Mmiiit .\mara." t And we began it in buoyant sj)irits, and in high ho[)es that ere the lapse of many months we should be retracing our steps in company with our countrymen, before in jmson, now in freedom. ZVs alita- visum. lint, at all events, misgi\ing':- shadow but very slightly obscured our way, as we commenced our wanderings over the rarely-trodden paths of the desert. \To be coHtinuai.) * Ilarkccko. iirar M.i^siiHa. — J'linn/i.v t.osl, \\. 397. t MiltiMi {J\iiaii:se l.iiil, iv. 2S0) iifuis tu Amla Ljcblicn, in the Am- li.vr.T country, when, aflcr the restoration of tile line of Solomon, it vv.is the eustom to inimmc debceiulaiUb of the royal family. It is aUiUt six lioiiis' journey from Mngilala. I* Passnge of the Great Canon of tlic Colorado. IIV MAJOR A. When we consider the country through which flows the river Colorado, to the west of the Rocky Mountains in North America, we are not surjirised that so little is known of its course, its wonderful cai'ions or jirecipitous chasms, and the 300,000 sipiare miles of desert table-land which it drains. Yet when we read the marvellous accounts of the early S|)anish explorers, who \isitcd the Colorado a few years after the conquest of Mexico, we are astonished that the interest thus early excited has not resulted in a thorough exjiloration of this, the most wonderful river of which we lui\e any knowledge. The Rio Colorado of the west rises in Idaho territory, near the centre of the North American continent, and Hows, with an irregular course, towards the .scith, finally iliscliarging itself in the Oulf of California. It drains the great elevated jil.tteau basin lying between the Rocky Motintains and the Sierra Nevada, south of latitude 40". The mountain ranges east and west of the plains interceiit all the moisture ilrifted towards them from the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, so that the peak-covered iilateau is comparatively arid, save where the snow-fed streams cleave their way through it. As they cross this elevated region, tlie beds of the various rivers gra- dually ileepen, and the water flows through cations, or narrow K. (JAl.HOU.V. ravines, till they join that stupendous chasm, the \'alley of the Colorado, where the river, for 600 miles, flows in a bed depressed on an average 3,000 feet below the general surface of the country. The plains stretching on either hanil from the sur- foce of the chasms show decided indications of erosion, leading to the belief that the waters of the Colorado and its tributaries once flowed, as most other rivers do, over the surface of the country, fertilising the now dry expanse, and that they have gr,-ylually worn their way down to the depth at jvliich they ITOVV run. The Great Cai'ion of this river is a narrow winding part of the chasm, where the waters seem to disappear in the bowels of the earth, for a distance of more than 300 miles. After leaving the Oreat Cai'ion, the Colorado flows south for nearly 600 miles, to the gulf, receiving during that distance but two small tributaries, the "Dili Williams "and die ('■''■. Occasionally the gravelly "mesas," or iierpendicular w .- worn walls of rock, devoid of vegetation, infringe on the river, leaving no bottom land ; but for die greater part of the dis- . tance above staled, the alluvial bottom spreads out into viflleys, varying from fotir to twenty miles in width, bordered by these lirecipices. These \alleys are named after the tribes of Indii.ns living in them, as the f.iOJaves(Mohavees),theCheine- PASSAGE OF THE GREAT CANON OF THE COLORADO. TUP, EXI'LTANT INTfANS Ml'TTI.ATE THE nr.AD BODY.—/. II. iiiicvi,'!, and Yiimas. In tlic month of May the valleys are inmidated to a depth of two foot or more, after which the Indians pUvU mai/.e, wheat, melons, beans, and onions, all of which grow well in the rich alluvial soil. The bed of the river, where not confined by rocky banks, is continually shifting, thus ' rendering navigation difficult, and frequently washing over, or through, the best portions of the valleys. The water, as the | name "Colorado" indicates, is red, owing to the large quantities | of protoxide of iron which it holds in solution. The immense amount oi debris carried down annually to the Gulf of California, ■ and deposited in the delta of the ri'.er, is having a perceptible cftect in silting tip the head of the gulf; indeed, there can be no I doubt that at no very distant day the gulf extended to Kort Yuma, thirty miles inland. North of Fort Yuma the valley on I either side of the river is botmded by serrated hills and moun- VOL. I. tains, of the most fantastic shapes, devoid of vegetation, save an occasional cactus. The whole landscape has a wild, weird appearance, heightened by the clear, dry atmosphere, through which objects that would not be perceptible at such a -ey a feasible route from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean, along the 3Sth parallel. His connection with this expe- dition afforded him many opportunities for acquiring geo- graphical knowledge of the unexplored regions of the far West, from original sources not accessible to ordinary map-compilers. Twenty years ago the trapper ajid the hunter were the romantic characters of the far West. They still figure in fiction, and there is a fascination about their daring deeds whicii, in America, makes " Boone" a household name, and throws an air of chivalry around the exploits of such men as Carson, Crockett, and Williams. Nor is the admiration for these hardy men undeserved ; they have trapped on every western stream and hunted on every mountain side, despite the opjjosition of the Indian and the barrier of winter snows. They have formed the skirmish line of the great army of occupation which is daily pushing westward, and they have taught the savage to respect the white man's courage and to fear the white man's iwwer. Wliile the field for the trapper and hunter has been gradually growing less, another class of adventurers has come into exist- ence — the "prospectors" in search of precious metals. Within the last nineteen years these men have traversed every mountain slope, from the rugged peaks of British Columbia to the rich plateaus of O'.J Mexico, and have searched the sands of every stream from the Mississippi to the shores of the Pacific, stimu- lated by the same hope of reward that led the early Spaniards to explore inhospitable wilds in their search for an " El Dorau> " Could the varied and advcntr • experience of these searchers for gold be written, we should nave a record of daring and peril that no fiction could approach, and the very sig!it of gold would suggest to our minds some story of hair- breadth escape. Could we but gather and set down in proper form the geographical knowledge possessed by these men, we should know as much of the Western wilds, as we now do of the long-settled portions of the American continent. It has fallen to the lot of one of these " prospectors" to be the hero of an adventure more thrilling than any heretofore recorded, while at the same time he has solved a geographical problem which has long attracted the attention of the learned at home and abroad, who could but theorise, before his journey, as to the length and nature of the stupendous chasms or cafions through which the Colorado cleaves its central course. \Vhile on the survey before referred to, and while stopping for a few days at Fort Mojave, Dr. W, A. Bell, Dr. C. C. Parry, and myself, nu t this man, whose name is James White, and from his lips, the only living man who had actually traversed its formidable depths, we learned the story of the Great Cafton. James White now lives at Callville, Arizona territory, the present head of navigation on the Colorado River. He is thirty-two years of age, and in person is a good type of the Saxon, being of medium height and heavy build, with light hair and blue eyes. He is a man of average intelligence, PASSAGE OF THE GREAT CANON OF THE COLORADO. simple and unassuming in his manner and address, and with- out any of the swagger or bravado peculiar to the majority of frontier men. Like thousands of our young men, well enough off at home, he grew weary of the slow but certain method of earning his bread by regular employment at a stated salary. He had heird of men lea])ing into wealth at a single bound in the Western gold fields, and for years he yearned to go to the land where Fortune was so lavish of her favours. He readily consented then to be one of a party from his neighbourhood who, in the spring of 1867, started for the plains and the gold fields beyond. When they left Fort Dodger, on the Arkansas River, April 13th, 1867, the party consisted of four men, of whom Captain Baker, an old miner and ex-officer in the Con- federate army, was the acknowledged leader. The destination of this little party was the San Juan Valley, west of the Rocky Mountains, about the gold fields of which prospectors spoke in the most extravagant terms, stating that they were deterred from working the rich placers of the San Juan only by fear of the Indians. Baker and his comjianions reached Colorado " city," at the foot of Pike's Peak, in safety. This place was, and is still, the depot for supplying the miners who work the diggings scattered through the South Park, and is the more impottant from being situated at the entrance to the Ute Pass, through which there is a wagon-road crossing the Rocky Mountains, and descending to the plateau beyond. The people of Colorado "city" tried to dissuade Baker from what they considered a rash project, but he was determined to carry out his original plan. These representations, however, affected one of the party so much that he left, and the others, Captain Baker, James White, and iHenry Strole, completed their outfit for the prospecting tour. The journey was undertaken on foot, with two pack mules to carry the provisions, mining tools, and the blankets they considered necessary for the expedition. On the 2Sth of May they left Colorado city, and crossing the Rocky Moun- tains, through the Ute pass, entered South Park, being still on the Atlantic slope of the continent. After travelling ninety miles across the Park they reached the Upper Arkansas, near the Twin Lakes. They then crossed the Snowy Range, or Sierra Madre, and descended towards the west Turn- ing southerly, they passed around the head waters of the Rio Grande del Norte, and after a journey of 400 miles from Colorado " city," they reached the " Animas " branch of the Son Juan River, which flows into the Great Colorado from the east. They were now in the land where their hopes centred, and to reach which they had crossed plains and mountains, and forded rapid streams, leaving the nearest abodes Of the white man hundreds of miles to the east. Their work of prospecting for gold began in the Animas, and though they were partially successful, the result did not by any means answer their expectations. They therefore moved still furthei to the west, crossing the Dolores branch of Grand River to the Mancos branch of the San Juan. Following the Mancos to its mouth, they crossed to the left bank of the San Juan, and began their search in the sands. There was gold there, but not in the quantity they expected; so they gradually moved west, along the beautiful valley for 200 miles, when they found the San Juan disappeared between the lofty walls of a deep and gloomy caflon. To avoid this, they again forded the river to the right bank, and struck across a rough, timbered country, directing their course towards the Great Colorado. Having travelled through this rough country for a distance estimated at fifty miles, they reached Grand River, being still above the junction of Green River, the united waters of which two streams form the Colorado proper. At the point where they struck the river, the banks were masses of perpendicular rock, down which they could gaze at the coveted w.icer, dashing and foaming like an agitated white band, 2,000 feet below. Men and animals were now suffering for water ; so they ])ushed up the stream, along the uneven edge of the chasm, hoping to find a place where they could descend to the river. After a day spent in clambering over and around the huge rocks that impeded their advance, they came upon a side canon, where a tributary joined the main stream, to which they succeeded in descending with their animals, and thus obtained the water of which all stood so much in need. The night of the 23rd of August they encamped at the bottom of the cafion, where they found plenty of fui;I, and grass in abundance for their animals. So they sat around the camp fire, lamenting their failure in the San Juan country, and Strole began to regret that they had undertaken the expedition. But Baker, who was a brave, sanguine fellow, spoke of placers up the river about which he had heard, and promised his companions that all their hopes should be realised, a-id that they would return to their homes to enjoy the gains > nd laugh at the trials of their trip. So glowingly did he picture the future, that his companions even speculated as to how they should spend their princely fortunes when they returned to the " States." Baker Sang songs of home and hope, and the others lent their voices to the chorus, till far in the night, when, unguarded, they sank to sleep, to dream of coming opulence and to rise refreshed for the morrow's journey. Early next morning t^iey breakfasted, and began the ascent of the side caiion, up the bank opposite to that by which they had entered it. Baker was in advance, with his rifle slung at his back, gaily springing up the rocks, towards the table land above. Behind him came White, and Strole with the mules brought up the rear. Nothing disturbed the stillness of the beautiful summer morning, but the tramping of the mules, and the short, heavy breathing of the climbers. They had ascended about half the distance to the top, when stopping for a moment to rest, suddenly the war-whoop of a band of savages rang out, sounding as if every rock had a demon's voice. Simultaneously, with the first whoop, a shower of arrows and bullets was poured into the little party. With the first fire Baker fell against a rock, but, rallying for a moment, he unslung his rifle and fired at the Indians, who now began to show themselves in large numbers, and then, with the blood flowing from his mouth, he fell to the ground. White, firing at the Indians as he advanced, and followed by Strole, hurried to the aid of his wounded leader. Baker, with an effort, turned to his comrades, and in a voice still strong, said, " Back, boys, back ! save yourselves, I am dying." Td the credit of White and Strole, be it said, they faced the savages and fought, till the last tremor of the powerful frame told that the gallant Baker was dead. Then slowly they began to retreat, followed by the exultant Indians, who stopping to strip and mutilate the dead body in their path, gave the white men a chance to secure their animals, and retrace, their steps into the side cafion, beyond the immediate reach of the II.LUSTRATKI) TRAVEI5. IP ' Indians' arrows. Here they held a hurried consultation as to the best covrse they couhl pursue. 'I'o the east lor three I- ndred miles stretihed an uninhabited country, over whii h, I. they attenijited escape in that dip'ction, the Indians, like bloodhounds, would follow their traik. North, south, and west w.is the Colora- M 1 \ M !! h these l.itcr days, ami if porrcived nt all it is proliaMy only dimly pcrccivcil by the nuTC tourist who follows in the wake of other tourists— halting where they halt, rushing where they rash, and in all things ( onforniing to the strii t letter of tourist ladition. I'o su< h a traveller there will naturally appear Init little change in passing from one end of ."spain to the other, I'rotn the railway tume may serve to indicate the direction of a movement of this kind. The disappearance of the mr.ntilla has been of late freciuently de|)lored by writers of travels in Spain, but the mantilla is an article of dress, the preservation of which depends on a portion of the community, in dress matters always the reverse of con- servative, the women— that is to say, the ladies— of the middle .and upper classes. It would ere this have disappeared /// Mi>, to make way for bonnets of the newest Paris mc'ide, but for Church protcc tion, whic h made it an essential part of the "go-to-mcetin's" of decorous Spanish dairies, helped, it may be, in some degree by an instinctive feeling that it was rather becoming. A fairer case is that of the original sombrero, the black velvet hat with the tumcdup brim, of which our once fashionable "pork-iiic" was a feeb'a and cockney imitation — the hat which, with certain variations of crown and brim, was the ordinary hat of central and southern Spain. It is everywhere rapidly giving way to the cosmopolitan felt wide-awake. Even within the last twelve months any one studying the heads of the people might have remarked a decided change in this respect. Not long ago, at a fair in a remote village of .\ndalusia, we noticed the booth of an itinerant sombrerero. For one of the old-fashioned hats he seemed to have at least two of the wide-awake species iii stock. The wide-awake is found to be far cheaper, more A DILIGENCE ON THE ROAD TO GRANADA. VOL. I. 48 Il.LUSTRATKl) TRAVKI..S. \-ense has been spared upon them, in con- struction at least, for they are well engineered and well made, and wherever they fail it is from parsimony in the matter of repairs. But though they go far in one sense, they are so few in number that they go a very little way towards op>ening up so vast a country as Spain. The cross-roads are generally in- famous. Most of them are what may be called self-made roads, whose only merit is that they present no insuperable obstacle to the passage of a stoutly-made country cart. Of late years, in the south especially, a few good cross-roads have been laid down, and some finished in as good style as the Caminos Reales, but many a one that begins fairly ends foully, and, formosa suprme, tails off somewhat in the manner described by the poet These are the roads proper, distinguished by the Spaniards by the general title of carrelcra, a track that may, can, or might be fc'lowed by things on wheels. For the rest, and by a good deal the larger portion of the surface of the Peninsula, mere mule-paths are the connecting links between point and point, and when a Spanish peasant, in answer to a question about the way, says there is a camino, "fero no ccuretira" the traveller of any experience in the ways of Spain knows that, in all proba- bility, it will tax his eyesight to distinguish his road from the bare plain or the rough mountain-side which it crosses. The vehicles, of course, are governed by the roads. In pre-loco- motive Spain, the greater part of the transport of person and property was done on horse or mule-back, as a considerable part still is, particularly in the south, for the arriero has not yet gone the way of the stage-coachman and waggoner, and he, and his long gun, and his string of mules, with towering packs that make them look like camels in the twilight, arc still common objects on the byways of Andalusia. Un the carret^ra there is the cano, a clumsy country cart, with a tilt of reeds, which conveys goo', and make to itself a provisional road at one side, along which it jogs as best it may, trusting to its strength of constitution and materials to escape being sh.tken to pieces. It will be observed that this kind of casualty is not confined to roads and diligences. The Spanish diligence is on the whole a queer, wild, un- couth sort of conveyance, but not without certain elements of the picturesque about it The team consists of from eight to a dozen horses and mules mixed, the latter generally pre- dominating, with, perhaps, in the case of a steep ascent or stiff mountain pass, a yoke or so of oxen added on. The direction is in the hands of a mayoral, who sits on the box and holds the ribbons, which are in fact ropes, and of a postillion, the " adelantero," which title may be translated, and, in one sense, cannot be better translated than by "goer-ahead," for he does indeed go ahead. He is generally a boy, an imp of imps, and he has the faculty of eating, drinking, smoking, sleeping (if, indeed, he ever does sleep) in the saddle, at a hand-gallop, and all the while keeping up a steady flow of bad language. In the best-regulated diligences these two officers are assisted by a third, who is of the diligence rather than on it, and performs nine -tenths of the journey on foot His business is to race alongside of the team and encourage, by oaths and blows, those animals whose middle position protects them from the whip of the adelantero at one end, and of the mayoral at the other. His qualifications are speed, wind, endurance, and agility, the last especially, for all diligence mules make a point of la,shing out at his head the moment they catch sight of him ; and he is called " el Jiagal," an Arabic term meaning "the active youth." When the administration is not able to afford the salary of this supernumerary, the mayoral has nothing for it but at every halt to form a small geological . museum of broken stona, which he keeps on the foot-board, and out of which he deals, with unerring aim, stimulants at the heads and quarters of those animals that seem to requiie them. But these are not the only stimulants he relies on. From the time he takes his seat till he quits it he is never, not even for a second, silent An un- ceasing stream of exhortation flows from his lips, and from those of his subordinates. Every horse or mule has a name, and by that name each is .ippMletl to, from time to time by each of the officials, in tones that range from mild remonstrance upwards, interspersed with eJacuUttioiis mote or less intel- ligible. Thus, f^om morning till night or from night till morning — for much of the Ijpanish (liligcme-travclling is done by night— there goes on a continual n the island, it has finally resumed that of Madagascar. Its first explorers de- scribed its inhabitants as a gay and happy people, delighting in games and dances, and every village resounding with rongs and laughter. The native was Ihm free; he rejoiced in the A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF MADAGASCAR. «3 fact of existence, and in the simple and easy condition of life in which he was placed. Even now, in spite of forty years of oppression, he endeavours to smile — he still sings and dances in his brief intervals of respite from the persecution of the conquering race, the Hovas. We must devote a few lines to an account of these con- querors. Madagascar is peopled by two distinct races, the Madegasses or natives, and the Hovas. The former, whether Sakalave, Betsimsaraka, or Antankara, are black, more or less mn Jified by mixture with Caffres, the natives of the Mozam- bique, and the immigrant Arabs. Tall, strong, and savage, they have been able in the south and south-east to preserve their independence. On the east coast the Betsimsaraka, gentler, more devoted to pleasure, and slighter in form, were the first to lose their liberty. In the north the Antankara, robust, strongly built, and more resembling the natives of Mozambique, still continue the stn'g^ie for liberty, and seek in inaccessible parts of the interior, or in the islands on the coast, a refuge from the tyranny of the Hovas. The latter, who are of Malay origin, arrived on the eastern coast of the island at a very early period, and having been driven into the interior by the natives, established themselves on the central plateau of Emerina. The fate of this colony was re- markable. At first, regarded by the Madegasses as an out- cast race, everything they touched was considered impure, and the cottage which a Hova had slept in was burned. Isolated in their wild retreat, the outcasts transformed the magnificent plain of Emerina into a desert, fired the forests which might otlierwise have afforded concealment to an enemy, and to be secure from surprise, erected their villages on hillocks in the plam. Subsequently, however, as an overture to a peace which they so much required, and as a tribute to the Madegasses, whom they acknowledged as masters, the Hovas brought rice, maize, and other products of their industry to the boundary of the forests, whither the others came to receive them. These years of oppression hau an injurious effect upon the character of the Hova; he became sullen, suspicious, cunning, cruel, and treacherous, and when, towards the end of the last century, a man named Andrianam- ponine invited them to shake off the yoke, he found it only necessary to collect the various tribes into an army. The desire of power and thirst for revenge had made them already soldiers in heart. It is now thirty years since the Hovas became masters of a portion of Madagascar. During these thirty years they have decimated the unfortunate natives, and exercised without pity the rights of conquest Tamatave is the chief seat of their power on the east coast ; there they exercise unlimited authority over the black population, but are less overbearing towards the whites with whom they come in contact. Immediately on our arrival a canoe paddled by blacks came alongside our vessel, containing the official visitors, namely, Ramar, the chief of police, accompanied by two subor- dinates. This personage presented a most absurd appear- ance ; his costume was composed of an old fireman's coat, surmou'ited by a pair of enormous naval epaulettes, dark- coloured pantaloons with gold stripes, and on his head a general's plumed hat From the fit of the garmenU we easily perceived that they had been purchased at some second-hand dealer's in Tamatave. The Hova chief carried, moreover, in one hgnd an old curved jabre, and in the other flourished a rather dirty checked handkerchief, evi- dently intended rather for ornament than use. His aides- de-camp were distinguished by immense gold epaulettes and caps which had belonged to officers in the English navy. The visit was of short duration. Ramar, left alone on deck, became quite furious at the laughter excited by his extra- ordinary appearance, and hastily re-embarked in his canoe. Rasolo, aide-de-camp of the governor of Tamatave, also paid us a visit dressed in similar grotesque costume. On the afternoon of the same day, August 2nd, 1863, we landed, and went to pay our respects to Juliette Fiche, a Made- gasse by birth, and lately become a Hova princess. She was then about fifty years of age, tall, and proportionally stout, with intelligent and expressive eyes, and a pleasing smile, which disclosed a set of teeth of pearly whiteness. Regarded as the special patroness of the French at Tamatave, her benevolence and charity obtained her the honour of a medal frcm the • French Emperor. She received us in her cottage with much kindness. It is the nearest house to the shore, and is visited by all new comers. Her conversation is even more striking than her appearance, and it is truly surprising to meet, so far from all literary circles, with a coloured lady capable of con- versing with ease and intelligence, in remarkably correct language, on literary as well as political subjects. Tamatave has the appearance of a large village, and con- sisting merely of an agglomeration of huts, is quite unworthy to be called a town. We commenced by exploring the principal street, which is a long and narrow avenue, bordered with slight wooden stakes, forming enclosures round the houses scattered along each side. We were sheltered at intervals from the heat of the sun by the large leaves of the palm tree, or by mjlberry trees laden with ripe fruit On the. right the English flag waves over the Consulate, and a little further, on the same side, we come to a high wooden building, the residence of the Madegasse Rothschild, the agent of the Hovas for the sale of cattle. Passing several eating houses, we arrived at the Madegasse quarter, where the style of the houses is quite difierent from that of the rest of the town. The buildings, which all appear neat and clean, are entirely constructed of the bark and leaves of the Ravenal ( Urania spcciosa). A number of pretty girls were smiling and showing their beautiful teeth, while the men uttered cries of " Marmites, marmites," which means in English, "Do you want a porter?" Now and then p. Hova, passing with uncertain steps, oidelong glance, and sinister smile, wished us a good morning. The heterogeneous contents of the modest shops were displayed upon the thresholds. They consisted of large baskets of dried locusts, empty bottles, a few English printed cottons, some diminutive fish, blue-headed parrots, black, white, and ringtailed lemur monkeys, large black parroquets, immense bundles of leaves used as table-cloths, fruits, sweet potatoes, yams and bananas, mats, and finally the eternal casks of kisabetza, which is a liquor made of the fermented juice of the sugar-cane, mixed with bitter herbs. We thought it detestable, but the Madegasses consider it delicious. The increasing animation of the streets showed us that we were gradually approaching the market or bazaar. A hideous Chinaman, addressing us in barbarous French, enticed us into his shop, which was a perfect chaos, and of which the owner himself was the most remarkable object He was much astonished at our not purchasing any of his ILLUSTRATED TRAVELS. . ' ,f i wares ; we exchanged, however, several piastres for small silver pieces. The only coins of the country are small jiortions of tive-franc pieces, which they weigh with extraordinary accuracy. We then went on to the bazaar, where, under sheds of a very dirty appearance and only a few feet raised from the ground, were collected the aristocratic shoi)s of the conquerors — in fact nearly all the shojjkeepers were Hovas. They sit cross-legged, like Turks, and conduct the sale of the various articles spread out before them, weights and scales, salt, stuff's, old cutlery, meat, &c. The atmosphere is tainted by the carcases of animals slaughtered upon the spot, which, becoming jjutretied by the heat, attract clouds of flies. We continued our way along the street which opened into the country, passing the modest establishment of the Jesuit fathers, which on this side marks the boundary of Tama- tave. Opposite is the battery or fortress, with its flagstaff, from which floats the white pennant of the reigning monarch, bearing the inscription, " Rasuaherina, panjaka ny Mada- gascar" (Rasuaherina, Queen of Madagascar). Below it is the residence of the commandant, his Excellency Andrian- Mandrosso, formerly cowherd, and now a Hova prince. The country around seems a perfect desert, interspersed witli swamps, and even in the centre of the town there are large pools of stagnant- water, which spread a poisonous .liasma through the neighbourhood. We now thought it time to return, and turning to the left, traversed the entire town, passing along a sort of suburb in which the houses were s-.ialler and meaner in appearance than those we had liitherto seen, and so placed as to form a labyrinth, from w-hich we had some difiiculty in extricating ourselves. We were anxious to leave this quarter as quickly as possible, on account of the eiiuivocal appearance of its inhabitants, and at about three o'clock we reached the residence of one of our new friends. The house inhabited by Mr. B. is one of the most elegant in Tamatave. Built in the Madegasse style, of which it is an excellent sjjecimen, it is situated in the middle of a court covered with fine santi, and shaded by evergreen mangoes, and a number of orange trees fill the air with their delightful perfume. Around the enclosure there are some smaller cottages for the use of friends, besities the kitchen and sleeping-rooms for the servants and slaves. The house itself is built on posts, which raise it about twelve inches from the ground; the walls are composed of bamboos lashed together, the floor and roof of planks of ra/a tree, and the latter is covered with a light thatch of ravenal leaves. The interior, like most Madegasse houses, is divided into two compartments, each of which is hung with leaves for tapestry, while the floor is covered with rush mats, always clean and fresh. It is altogether a charming retreat, and we fully enjoyed the rest it afforded us after our long and fatiguing walk. CHAPTER IL TME TACO.N— THE DAY OR VVONDKOl' — THE SEA COAST— A STdHM — THE FORESTS — VISIT TO CLEMENT I.ABOIIDE — A MAIJEOASSE IIREAKFAST— API'EARA.NCE OI" THE COUNTRY— NATIVE DANCES. The following day we were to visit M. Clement Laborde, whose house is situated on a range of hills running along the coast, about eight miles from Tamatave. Rising at an early hour, we found the sky black with clouds ; the rain was falling in torrents, and the hut shook under the gusts of ,vind. In spite of these obstacles, we determined to set out, and dis- tributed our luggage amongst the marmites (porters) who were to convey it. There is only one vehicle, called a /able jiroductions of Madagascar. Its leaves, as we have just observed, are used for table-cloths on which to serve the rice, for spoons to eat it with, and for cups to contain liciuids ; in addition to which they also use them for scoops to bale out their canoes. When split, the leaves make an excellent thatch, the walls of the huts .ire composed of the bark, and the trunk of die tree furnishes the posts which sujipnrt the building. The name of " traveller's tree " is given to it on the .supposition that it is an invaluable resource to the thirsty wayfarer ; but as it generally grows close to the water, where the traveller can find an ample supi)ly to quench his thir.st, this epithet appears to me somewhat misplaced. l!ut to return to the breakfast, the second course was served in European fashion, and we exchanged our primitive cups and plates for Knglish china and cham|)agne gla.sses, which our native cup- bearer filled with the sparkling beverage of Moet. There was a general holiday in honour of our arrival. An allowance of rum was distributed amongst the slaves, domestics, and bearers, v'.io impatiently awaited the signal to commence their dances, strlting the bamboo instruments which they car- ried in their hands. At a sign from their master, they entered the hall where we were seated, and scjuatted do\;n in a circle, leaving a space clear for the dancers. First came a woman, neither fair nor pretty, but her black eyes sparkled with joyous animation, and a broad smile covered her face with dimples and displayed a row of pearly teeth. Her robust but not in- elegant figure was well displayed by her costume, which con- sisted of a blue bodice and a full white skirt with showy yellow flowers ; between the two a strij) of her bron<;e skin was visible. The Madegasses began by singing in chorus ; some accom- |)anied themselves on bamboos, and others beat time with their hands, and the dancer commenced a " bird dance." She first advanced with her body bent forward and her arms extended like an ancient sibyl, and striking the ground with her feet. Then she waved her arms backwards and forwards, u\> and down, and seemed to make an attempt to fly. The accom- l)animent now became louder, the voices rose, and the hands were beaten more vigorously. The dancer recloubled her efibrts, her body remained ([uiet while she waved her arms like wings ; then, a])parently in a fit of im|)atience, she ran |)anting round the circle, stamping violently, and her arms, hands, and fingers seeming to twist convulsively. At last she stopped, overcome, amid our loud apjilause. A male perfonner now rose to exhibit the rice dance, but as this required more space, we enlarged the circle. 'I'he dancer was almost naked ; a long strip of white calico artistically wound round his loins was his only clothing. He was a handsome, vigorous-looking man, with an elegant anil muscular frame, full of natural grace. He was .iccompanied in the same primitive manner by the hands and voices of his companions. We must remind our readers that in Madagascar, as well as in some parts of America, tlie natives burn down the forests in order to plant rice or maize, which they do not scatter, but drop into holes in the ground, and there leave them till harvest. In Madagascar they finish the seed-sowing by an invo- cation, which we will now describe. In the middle of the piec e of groimd which has been sown they [)lace a portion of < ooked meat on a round leaf, also a little money, ami some bamboos filled with betza-betza. The head of the family, sui- roundec' '^.y his relations, then advances and invokes, one by one, tl.e si)irits of their deceased relatives (who have died a natural death), often to the number of five or six hundred, and finishes his prayer in these words: "If I have made any onii.ssion, I pray those whom I have forgotten to pardon me, and I beg them to come and partake of the offering which I have made to the gocKl .-pirits, for I call only on them ; and I trust in the support of Zanahar-be (the great spirit) to assist me and mine, for he only is our master." The danc er commenced his performance by representing the cutting down of the woods — the crash of the hatchet and the falling of the trees— in a |iantomime which we understood ])erfectly. Next came the burning of the fallen forest — the crackling of the wood, the roaring of the flame, while the dancer kept time with the music. He then proceeded to the planting of the rice, running round the circle with regular bfunds, equal to the distance which the .sower leaves between each hole, He afterwards appeared to bury the grain, and (over it up, and, returning to the middle of the circle, addressed his invocation to the sjiirits. The performer was applauded during the progress of the dance, and at its conclusion there was another distribution of rum, and M. Clement Laborde brought the day's entertainment to a close by a fiat seul o( his own, which he had performed at Tananai'ivo before poor Radama II. A BIRDS-EYE VIEW OE MADAGASCAR. a7 CHAPTER III. VVONDROU- FERDINAND HCHE— TIIK BETSIMiARAKAS AND IIKTANI- MENUS — THE LAKES— AM IIAVARANO— THE KAUAR — MAUAUASCAR MOSPITAMTV— THE YOUNG (ilRI.S. Our second expedition was to Yvonc'roii, a vilKige which was | formerly of some importance, situated about ten miles soutli of Tamatave, and on the river of the same name. It was the j ancient residence of a Madagascar prince, and commands the entrance of the lakes, which extend upwards of 200 miles to the south, as well as the road to the capital, Tananarivo, on ■ which it forms the first stage. Our host and guide, Ferdinand \ Fiche, is the son of Prince Fiche and Juliette, of whom we | have already spoken. He was educated at Paris, and is, un- i doubtedly, the best educated man in Madagascar. His manner is rather sombre, and it is necessary to know him in order to j appreciate the amiability of his character. Mme. Ida Pfeifler , has represented him as an ill-bred bear, l)ut she did not under- ' stand the peculiarities of his disposition, nor make allowance for the sufferings endured by a man of education humiliated by the vile tyranny of the Hovas. In fact, the only fault I found in Ferdinand Fiche, was the very rare one of too great modesty, which made him appear to disadvantage before strangers, often much his inferiors. Our tacons had brought us to the edge of the little bay on which the village stands, and having breakfasted there, we embarked in canoes, whicli Ferdinaml had placed at our disposal, intending to explore the lakes, and, if time per- mitted, to push on as far as Andevorande. Our three beautiful canoes had each sixteen paddlers, and were supplied in princely style with every requisite for a voyage of several days. We had all kinds of provisions, champagne, French wines, English beer, &c. We were also provided with guns, and the canoes were covered with awnings, in case of bad weather. Our departure was very gay, and we set out de- lighted with the appearance of the country and the kindness of our host's reception, and hoping at every step to gain information about this strange and interesting country, almost new to the eyes of European travellers. It requires a certain amount of skill to navigate a canoe. It is so light that it is necessary for every one to be careful in maintaining an equili- briuni, and at first we felt a little uneasy as the wind agitated the surface of the water ; but our rowers moved in perfect imison, and wc flew along like the wind. We soon reached the middle of the river, where Ferdinand pointed out to us a tongue of reddish earth, which had been the scene of one of the little dramas of their modern history. " You know," said he, " that the inhabitants of Madagascar bear the general name of S-ikalaves ; as to the appellation of Betsimsaraka, which belongs to us who live on the coast, it is a compound word, signifying a vast union of tribes, ie meaning much, /si, not, msarak, divided. The natives who live in the country and till the ground, we call Ambanvoulas, and we have, besides, the Betanimenes, a revolted tribe, who gained this epithet from a disgraceful defeat upon this tongue of land which we have just passed. The word Betanimene is derived from be, much ; tani, earth ; mine, red. For this tribe having been driven to this promontory, were pelted by their enemies with balls of red earth, and made objects of derision." This little anecdote explained to me why so many call themselves Betsimsarakas, and so few Betanimenes. Wc now left the river Yvondrou, and entered the canal wliich joins it to the lak<;s. The vegetation of these marshy regions consists of the ravenal and rafia palm trees, and a species of gigantic salvia, which forms a line of dark verdure along the shore. On our right rose an elevated plain covered with mag- nificent forests. A number of ducks of all colours rose before our canoes, alarmed by the songs of the rowers ; water-hens glided among the reeds ; and noisy black parrots flew jjust in couples towards the forests. The scenery, however, is niuch less striking than that of the American lakes. There is nothing majestic about it, bi.t the novelty of the peculiar vegetation, almost entirely herbaceous, excites a certain degree of ad- miration. The gay songs of our rowers, the sound of the canoe rustling through masses of nenufar (water-lilies), the large white and yellow flowers which enamelled the surface of the water, the joyful note of the vorontsaranony (a kind of king-fisher al^out the size of a humming bird, and of the same beautiful emerald and sai)phire hues), all united to throw a veil of poetry over the scene. When we were near Ambavarano, a little village built on a hill at the entrance of the lake Nos.si-be (the lake of the islands), we sent onward one of the canoes to make preparations for us. On our arrival we found the place in a state of excitement, and one ot the houses was being hastily cleared out for our re- ception. As soon as we were installed in it the chief men of the village came to welcome us, accompanied by several women, each carrying heaps of snow-white rice on ravenal leaves, and some dozens of fish. As they all seated themselves the little cottage was soon full, and we took part for the first time in a "kabar" (every kind of assembly is called a kabar, whether for the purposes of conversation or deliberation, or merely a recep- tion, and nothing is done in Madagascar without this preliminary m<:eting). When all were arranged there was a minute's pause, and then the chief, mixing the rice and fish which the women had placed before him, addressed us in the following words : — " O Vasas (white men), you are welcome to our village. The cottage which shelters you is yours, and we are at your disposal. W.. are poor, O Vasas, but our offerings are from the heart ; accept then, willingly, this rice which we have planted, and, these fishes, which come from our lakes, they are all we have to ofier." Ferdinand, who had interpreted this little harangue, translated our answer also. He told them that we were much gratified by their generous hospitality, and presenting them with a dollar, some fish-hooks, and a few other trifles on a ravenal leaf, he added that we did not intend them as a return for their offerings, but begged them to accept these trifles in remembrance of our visit. We also gave them some glasses of arrack, in which they drank our health. Then recovering their gravity, I one of them said — " We thank the noble strangers for their I courtesy and for these presents they have made us. We are not I accustomed to see cither our masters, the Hovas, or the Vasa I travellers treat us with so much kindness. We thank them, i therefore, with all our hearts. When they leave the cottage which they have consecrated by their presence we will show , their munificent gifts to our wives and children. Their kindness will never be forgotten by us, and tradition will hand down the remembrance of it to our descendants." We were really touched by the kindner.s and amiability of these poor people. The Hovas must have had easy work in subduing such a docile population, and the ferocity which they display on the slightest suspicion of rebellion can only be attributed to pure barbarity. r I ■f\ 28 ILLUSTRATED TRAVEI^. While Ferdinanil's slaves wore preparing supper we scpa- hy immense parasitical plants, many of which are exceedingly rated, some of our party going to explore the wockIs, while the beautiful in form and colour. On our way back to the village others beat the reed-brakes on the shores of the lakes in search we joined a party of young girls returning from the foimtain. of ducks. We were not very successful, however. We found They were laden with enormous bamboos which contained a that the pintado, which we had heard was very common, is supply of fresh pure water; but the manner in which they A MADEOASSF. WIIliiw. Only to be found in the more remote forests, and we brought back nothing but some black parrots about the size of a fowl, which make an excellent stew, a few thrushes, and plenty of small paroquets about the size of sparrows. As to the makis (or lemur monkeys), we could not find one. There are Y'm few large trees in these woods, the arboreal vegetation being choked carried them was very ungraceful. All in vain did we try to imagine a resemblance between the charming picture which anticiuity presents to us of Rebecca and her companions with their graceful pitchers, and these Madegasse damsels carrying these reeds on their shoulders like a slave's burden. These women were dressed in coarse cloth, and looked poor and A BIRU'S-KVK VIEW OF MADAGASCAR. 29 miserable. This is to be attributed to the freciiient visits which fertility ; nor does it, on the other h.nmi, merit the terrible the Hovas pay this village, whi( h is on the high road to ' surname of the Kiiropeans' tomb, with whic h timid tnivellers Tananarive. The inhabitants are kept in constant fear of have stigmatised it. The climate is damp and rainy, ami, being |)Umdered by their masters, and are subject to all kinds by turns, cold and burning hot. As to the dreadful fever. of exactions. If they buihl pretty huts they are burned down, ' represented as a pitiless minotaur devouring the enterprising THE V-\COA, OR SCRF.W-nXK, OF MADAGASCAR. and their stores of clothing and provisions taken from them, I colonist or tourist, we must confess that in our frequent so that at last they have given themselves up to a gloomy excursions, alternately exposed to the sun and rain, and despair, and no longer attempt to provide themselves with often wet to the skin, none of us ever experienced the anything beyond the necessaries of life. least s}Tnptom of it. Even at Tamative, where there are The climate of the coast of Madagascar near Tamatave is upwards of three hundred European inhabitants, we were by no means pleasant. The country does not deserve the assured there had not been a single fatal case within the eulogiums which have^ been lavished on its temperature and last two years. i It I t'l L 30 ILI.US'IRATKl) TRAVKLS. i ,» Gold- Fields of South Africa. The discovery, or rather the rediscovery, of gold-diggint's in the interior of Soutiiern Africa is likely to |)ro(luce the effect of adding greatly to our knowledge of a part of the continent hitherto very little known. Already ninnerous parties have left England — adventurous young men, anxious to try their fortune, and ready to battle with the enormous difficulties of a long march, over mountain and desert, to the remote spot where the precious metal has been seen for miles glittering in the quartz rock. 'l"he locality of the gold is the interior region lying between the Z.imbesi, west of Tete, and the middle course of the Limpopo River ; the disi.m c of the nearest point, by road from Natal, being about 700 miles, and from the Portuguese settlement of Sofala about 350 miles. Port I'lli/.abeth, in Cape Colony, is spoken of also as a good starting-i)oint, but the distance from this place is about 900 miles, and the road lies through desert tracts scantily supplied with grass and water. The discovery of gold was made on the 27th July, 1866, by Mr. Hartley, an elephant hunter, and Mr. Carl Mauch, a Oerman scientific traveller, who was journeying in company with Mr. Hartley, and under his protection. These gentlemen, when hunting elephants a little beyond the north-western bend of the Limpopo, accidentally came upon a number of holes artificially excavated in a mass of quartz rock, and containing broken implements of a nide description, used by former un- known miners. Belts of glistening white quartz rock extended over the desolate table-land, and Miuch, with his geological hammer, detached pieces of stone from the mass, impregnated with the precious metal. The sandy margins of rivulets flow- ing through the region were also found to contain particles of gold. The journey was aftenvards extended, in a north- easterly direction, to a point about 160 miles di.stant from the Portuguese settlement of Tete on the Zambesi, gold-bearing quartz being occasionally found cropping up from the surface along their line of march. The travellers then returned to Potchefstrom, in the territory of the Trans- Vaal Republic ; and Mauch subsequently proceeded to Natal and exhibited his specimens. The country in which the gold is found is an elevated table-land, rising in its highest part to the height of 7,000 feet above the sea-level ; and is chiefly occupied by the Matabele section of the Caffres, a warlike tribe, governed by the redoubtable chief Mosilikatse ; but the most southern gold- field lies out of his territory, and very near to the north-western frontier of the Trans- Vaal Republic. The high land of the interior in south-eastern Africa ends for the most part ab- ruptly, at a short distance from the shores of the Indian Ocean, leaving a tract of lower land clothed with rank vegeta- tion, and having a humid climate. On this account it is doubtful if Sofala (the nearest point on the coast) can he made available as a starting-point to the gold-fields, owing to the iin- healthiness of the coast-land and the difficulties of land-travel. Some eminent authorities believe that the Ophir of Solomon has been at length found in the country of these re-discovered gold-mines ; and the opinion is confirmed by accounts given by the natives of the unexplored tract along the lower Lim- popo, of the ruins of an ancient city still existing near the banks of this river, with colossal stone walls, columns, and sphinxes. A tradition of a great city existed on the coast when first visited by the Portuguese at the end of the fifteenth century. It seems probable, however, that the mines discovered by Hartley and Mauch were those known to the Portuguese as long ago as the .seventeenth century, and since abandoned. News has been lately received of the return, from the southern field, of the first party of pioneers, with a waggon-load of gold- bearing ([uartz. Exploration of lite Himalayas, A PROJECT has been set on foot in India for the establi.shment of an association to be called the Himalayan Society, the objects of which are the exploration of the vast mountain chain stretching from Assam on the east, to the frontiers of Persia on the west. The society is to be something more than an Alpine club, for, besides the ascent of peaks, it pro- poses to investigate the geology, zoology, botany, and ethnology of the Himalayan region ; enlisting in its service the hundreds of Indian officers who, with their rifles and sketch-books, visit every summer the upper valleys and passes of Kashmir and Thibet, bringing back their quotas of informa- tion, which, for want of facilities of publication, at present remain unknown to the world. The task before the society is a prodigious one, and the field of investigation its organisers have chosen may be said to be inexhaustible. The range of the Himalaya, with its parallel or branching chains of the Karakorum and the Kuen-lun, is 400 miles broad in its nar- rowest part, and the space includes every conceivable variety of mountain scenery — snowy peaks nearly twice the height of Mont Blanc ; plateaus stretching for several days' journey, at an average elevation of 15, coo feet above the sea-level; and glaciers fifty miles in length, giving birth, from huge ice- caverns at their extremities, to the mountain torrents which flow through precipitous valleys on their course to the Indvj» and the Ganges. The prospectus of the society calls atten- tion to the discoveries that may be expected to be made in ethnology and philology in this region, which contains, perhaps, the key to some of the most absorbing and difficult questions of the day. Here, in the extreme north-west of the Himalayas, the great Aryan race, the common ancestors ol' the nations of Western Europe, Greece, Persia, and India, had probably its origin ; and among these valleys, where the Katoch Rajpoots recount the succession of 470 kings, may yet be found the remains of the primitive tongue from which Sanskrit and its sister languages have alike descended. Manchuria. This remote part of Asia, the original seat of the dynasty which at present rules the Chinese empire, has been recently traversed, for the first time, by an English traveller, an outline only of whose narrative has at present reached England. The traveller is the Rev. Alexander Williamson, who is stated to be an agent of the British and Foreign Bible Society, and to be still occupied in China in prosecution of his mission. His account, which was read at a recent meeting of the Royal Geo- graphical Society, and excited much interest, shows him to be an intelligent observer, intent on gaining information of various kinds, relating to the country he has had the courage and good fortune to explore, for the benefit of the world in general. MANCHURIA. 3« Manchuria is described as situated, with regard to China, in a similar way to Canada with regard to the United Slates of America. Its climate rcscml)les that of Canada in the contrasts of temperature offered in the different seasons : the summer heat being almost tropical, varying from 70° to So" of Fahren- heit, and the winter cold, generally severe, ranging from 45° above, to 10" below, zero. The country lies to the northeast of China Proper, between 39° and 49" of latitude ; its position, therefore, coincides with that of the finest portions of Europe, from Southern Italy, or the centre of Spain, to the north of France ; but being on the eastern side of the continent, and deprived of the moderating influence of wann currents from the south on its coasts, the climate is much more rigorous than its geographical position would indicate — the eastern coasts of Asia being similarly situated in this respect to the eastern coasts of North America, which, as is well known, have a much severer climate than the countries of western Europe, in corresponding latitudes. Grand mountain chains traverse the region from south to north, jwrticularly the Shan- Alin range on its eastern side, whose peaks rise to a height of i»,ooo feet, and are covered with perpetual snow. The hilly country is extremely picturesque — ever-changing views, bounding torrents, fountains bubbling forth from the mountain- sides, and a luxuriant vegetation delight the eyes of the traveller. The slope of the country is towards the west and north ; in this latter direction flow the two great navigable rivers of the region, the Usuri and the Sungari, both tributaries of the Amur, which latter stream forms the northern boundary of the country, separating it from Eastern Siberia. In the southern part there is also a tract of level country, round the head of the Gulf of Liau-tung. Here, at the mouth of the Liau-ho River, is a flourishing seaport where there is a foreign settlement The rivers and ports on the coast of the gulf, which forms the northern arm of the Gulf of Pechili, enjoy a milder climate, and are open to vessels all the year round. The whole country extends about 800 miles in length NE. to S\V., and 500 miles in breadth. Notwithstanding the coldness of the winter, its climate, according to Mr. Williamson, is most enjoyable, especially in spring and autumn ; a glorious, clear blue sky extends overhead ; the valleys are well cul- tivated ; and large villages, with their clusters of trees and busy population, everywhere enliven the scene. Under the genial summer Sun the crops rapidly ripen, and by the end of October every kind of produce is safely housed. The population of the whole country is estimated at about 15,000,000. So desirable a country, extending towards the sunny South from the bleak domain of Siberia, has not escaped the attention of the Russians, ever striving to extend their frontier in the direction of more genial climes. The possession of the Amur river, one of the great streams of the earth, having a course of upwards of 2,000 miles through a varied region, was of little advantage to them so long as they had no outlet to the seas of China and Japan. For the fact of its trending north- ward, after a long southern bend to the confines of Manchuria, and opening to the sea in a latitude so far north that the navigation is closed by ice for five months in the year, was fatal to its utility as a means of communication between the Russian empire and the outer world. The port of Nicolayevsk, at the mouth of the Amur, has made but very little ^rogress since its establishment, chiefly on account of the severity of the climate — all ships having to quit the harbour before the end of October, on pain of being frozen up until the following April. The diiilomacy of the Russians, cxerc ised during many years, was rewarded with success at the conclusion of the last Chinese war, when thi./ obtained a slice of the Manchurian coast to the south of the Amur, and entered in |)ossession of it after tiie treaty of Tien-Tsin, in 1858. The tract of country thus aciiuired extends just so far southward as to include a harbour that is open to vessels all the year round. This lies in latitude 42° 40', within a deep indentation of the coast now called Possiette Bay. A little further uj) tiie coast, in Victoria Bay, a second town has been built, named Vla- divostock. Further north there are very few harbours on the coast, and none that is not frozen up for a longer or shorter period during the winter. The width of the strip of territory thus gained at the expense of Manchuria, is, on the average, a hundred and fifty miles — its western boundary being the river Usuri, which runs from south to north. It is creditable to the enterprise of the Russians that the electric telegra|)h has already been extended from the Siberian settlements to the southernmost point in their Manchurian possessions, and that they have established steamboat navigation on the Usuri, from the Amur to Lake Khinka — a large Iske connected by another river, and a short portage, with the sea-port Vla- divostock. Mr. Williamson does not record that he met with any obstacles either from the government or natives during his many journeys in the country, and he appears to have freely disseminated copies of the Scriptures and other books, trans- lated into Chinese, among the people. His first journey was in 1864, and his last and longest during the early part of the present year. In his first journey he travelled all round the shores of the Liau-tung Gulf, and along the coast as far as the frontier of Korea. In subsequent excursions he visited the city of Moukden, and in the present year set out on his more important and longer journey northward, in which he reached San-Sing, on the Sungari River, the last town of the Chinese towards the north, and on his way passed over the western frontier of Manchuria into Mongolia. He appears to have found no difficulty in getting along, wherever there were practicable roads and modes of conveyance. Most of the large towns he describes as well-built, and wearing an air of comfort and cleanliness which attract the traveller. Moukden, the capital, is a fine city, with streets full of good shops, and thronged with a well-to-do population. Fur shops, full of fine furs, were found in great numbers in " Great East Street " and "West Street." There were also several large booksellers' shops, speaking well for the literary tastes of the people. Kirin, the chief town of Central Manchuria, is most beautifully situated on the banks of the Sungari, here flowing as a majestic stream nearly 600 miles distant from its junction with the Amur. The town lies at the foot of a range of picturesque hills, forming a semicircle roi'nd it, and the river, 300 yards broad, and placid as a lake, with waters blue as the sky above them, sweeps past in its northerly course through the valley. The inhabitants would appear to be not wanting in refinement in this remote place ; Mr. Williamson says that the frontages of the squares occupied by merchants' warehouses were taste- fully ornamented, and in some places flowers from the south, such as roses, geraniums, and camellias, were ranged in tiers one above another on the sides of the houses. 3» ILLUSTRATED TRAVELS. I'; i 'I 4; The Manchus, or native inhabitants of this promising region, dilTcr but httli; from the C'liincsc in I'latiircs, dress, and manners. 'I'hey are liiielly devoted to agrimlliire, and are fast losing their jieeuharities, under the inlluenee of the Chinese immigrants, who liave of late years been eniouraged to settle in tiie loinitry, from the northern jirovinces of Cliina, by liberal grants of l.md. 'J'he Mane luis of jiure roduce of temperate countries, yields cotton, tobacco, indigo, and silk. (lame abounds in the hilly districts, and in the meadows familiar luiropean flowers, such as daisies, dandelions, blue- bells, tuliiw, foxgloves, wild geraniums, the pimpernel, and many others, jilease the eye of the wandeii.'r from the West. Mr. \\'illiamson sums up his account of the country in the fallowing words : — " Possessed of a good climate, fertile soil, and mineral resources, and good harbours, with a vast area of land as yet unoccu|)ied, who can doubt that a great tuture is before it? One thing is evident — it is intended to receive anil sup[)ort tht oif-rflow of the popula- tion of the north of China for many Jtars to come; and when it is ])roperly opened up, and ^.ttention is directed to its minerals, it must rise into (..ni: of the most important districts of Asia, and i)lay an ii.i|.jitant jjart in the history of the world." Progress oj Dr. Livingstone. AcLOKlilNtj to a letter communicated to the public a few- weeks ago by Sir Roderick Murchison, our great traveller has been heard of from the Cazembe country, in the interior of Africa, as late as the month of Decemlier, 1867. No letter had arrived from him direct to England, but he had sent desiiatches to Zanzibar by an Arab trader. He was in good health and sjiirits, and intended, on the termination of a native war in that district, to continue his journey northward to the town of I'jiji, which is situated on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, not very far from its northern end. Thus his ( ourse is steadily northward, towards the sources of the Nile, the settlement of which was one of the great objects of his l)resent expedition. Already his journey has been as long and as full of difficulties as the first great enterjirise which rendered him so famous, when he marched from the missionary stations north of Cape Colony to St. Paulo de Loanda, and back again across the continent to the mouth of the Ziunbesi. Entering, in March, 1866, at Mikindany (on the cast coast, a little north of Cape Delgado), he first advanced towards the ca.stern side of I-ake Nyassa ; then, about September in the same year, he doubled the southern end of this lake, and com- meiued the ascent of the great interior table lands, where, in a cool and humid climate, extensive forests cover the face of the country, and the negro tribes, out of the reach of the slave- trader, live in jieace and independence, building substantial mud ilwellings to keej) out the cold. Advan< ing north-west- wardly, and then northerly, he irave scil an entirely new country, and reached a place called Uemba (10° lo' south latitude), whence, at the beginning of February, 1867, he found means to send letters to the coast. Eroin Uemba, he appears to have marched straight to the sc>.:(hern shore of Lake 'J'anganyika, for he arrivc;d 'here in the month of August or September, 1867, and continued exploring the rivers and lakes of this previously unknown region down to the end of the year. He found here the warmest hospitality among a party of Arab traders, who are not slavers, but carry on a legitimate commerce with the ])owerful chiefs of this remote part of Africa. With the help of these peojile, he anticipated no diflicuiiy, v. hen he should be ready, in continuing his journey northward to I'jiji, where a supply of stores, medi- cines, books, and so forth, had been sent to meet him by Dr. Kirk of Zanzibar. According to a telegram from 'I"rinconialec. in Ceylon, dated October 3rd, which appeared in the daily papers on the 5ih of the same month, news had reached that place from East Alrica, to the etTect that Livingstone was within a week's march of Zanzibar, returning from Tanganyika. Allnning for the time occupied by a steamer between Zan- zibar and Ceylon, this would convey the intelligencx that our traveller was approaching the coast early in September. 'I'his would not iiave been at all impossible, if Livingstone had settled the jtroblem of the Nile sources by navigating the great fresh-water sea of Tanganyika to its northern end, and discovering that it had no communication with the more northerly Albert Nyanza and the Nile. The lake is about 300 miles in length, and the Arabs who had i>roved such good friends to our traveller have several trading D/wivs u|)on it. In the nine months from December, 1867, to September, 1868. he would have been able not only to vi.sit its northern extremity, but also to discover in which direction it discharged its suq)Ius waters, if not to the Nile ; and thus, having fultilled his mission, he would return to Zanzibar, a march of about 700 miles, along the arduous trade-route traversed twelve years ago by Captains liurton and Sjieke, in about the time indicated by the telegram. It now ap|)ears, however, that this news, like many others from Africa, was false. Letters have since been received from Dr. Kirk, o( Zanzibar, and read at a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, written so recently as the 14th of Oc:tober, in which no mention whatever is made of the near ajijjroach of Living- stone to the coast. On the contrary, he was still reported to be in the far interior, making his way to the northward along the great lakes. The hope that was at one time expressed of our seeing the greatest of our African explorers at home before Christmas, has thus not been fulfilled. It is satisfactory, however, to know that he was in good hands, travelling with the friendly Arab traders, who are so ijowcrful among the interior tribes, and approaching the very core o( the African mystery, where he cannot fail of making great discoveries. NOTES ON SPAIN. » 'i LA RAMBLA, AT BARCELONA. Nofcs on Spain. — //. SPANISH COSTUMES- -THE CAPA AND MANTILLA— CLEANl.INKSS— HEAD-DRESS— THE SUMIIRERO— niSTlNCT PEOPLES IN SPAIN 1\\> THE IIASIJI'KS, AND THE GITANUS OR OIPSIKS— DEGOARS- THE BLIND WOMAN OF MANZANARES. TO? A COMMON source of disappointment to travellers is their unreasonabli e.Kpectation of finding i; country peopled with jiainters' models. Nowhere a'e they so likely to be disap- l)ointed in this way as in Spain ; for of no country in P-urope are tlie [)reconci'i'tions in the minds of foreigners to so great an e.xtent based upon the labours of the artist. It is not by any means that the legion of painters who have dealt with things Spanish are untrue to the facts of Spain ; it is simply because it is their hap])y privilege to deal with select facts only. The artist's world is one chosen, arranged, and posed by him- self. His people are a picked people, and wear their holiday clothes, or their most picturesque garments ; his buildings show themseb'es from their very best point of view , and even ugliness, poverty, rags, and ruins are so ordered, as to be charming in his pleasant dominions. He is bound by no necessity to admit anything mean, commonplace, uninteresting, or vulgar ; whereas the traveller has to take the world as he finds it, and while he enjoys its beauties and varieties, he has to endure a certain amount of dead levels and monotonies, which the more fortunate painter turns his back upon. Even in central China there is no doubt many a tract of very ordi- nary landscape where there are no perpendicular lakes, hanging islands, steep bridges, curly-tailed birds making love in mid- air, trees with a foliage of Dutch cheeses, or any other features to remind the tourist that he is in the land of the willow- pattern plate. Go where we may there is always a certain proportion of commonplace to dilute the elements of interest ; and in Spain the percentage is by no means inconsiderable. VOL. 1. Next to Switzerland, Spain is the i ii nnHinfainoiis of European countries; but it is also, nej to Ru.ssi.i. ; >:thap!: the country which has the greatest ex, • • of dreary, eye- \Yearylng flats; and as it is with the scenery, -^o it is wiih most other things. The apricot cheek and glossy uiut .an, the pencilled eyebrow and delicately pert nose, the thousand and one chtirms that have made the world hi lOve with Phillips' pictures, are indeed to be seen in Spain, but they are no more the prevailing accompaniments of every mantilla, than the scenery of the Pyrenees or Sierra Nevada is the pre- vaihng scenery of the Peninsula. It is the same v.ith costume. The picturesque, characteristic, and distin'''ive, are not wanting, but a commonplace nondescript cosmopolitanism is the rule. The preservation of costume in a country generally depends on isolation, or on some conservative sentiment in the in- habitants, or on some special adaptation to circumstances, The costumes of the Swiss cantons are illustrations of the second cause ; those of the Tyrol of all three perhaps, but certainly of the last. It would be impossible to invent a better garb for a mountaineer than the loose jacket and belt, and short breeches leaving the knee entirely free a'-d unconfined. In Spain these causes operate bi'* 'eebly. Spain, as we have already said, is no longer the remote, outlying region it used to be, with but little communication internally, and, if possible, still less with the rest of the world. The upper and middle classes, so far from having at'iy conser- vatism in matters of this sort, are remarkable for a positive 5 34 ILLUSTR.\TED TRAVELS. i'l r ' ■ I I • li ': ■ k' ! ( I i ij>' .1 I' i shyness of all things distinctively Spanish ; rud, as a sentiment, the feeling has no existence among the peasantry ; while as to the third cause, but few of the peculiarities of Spanish dress depend upon it The two most peculiar garments of the Peninsula are, indeed, in some degree the creatures of climate. The climate of Spain, except along the seaboard, is not, like ours, variable, but, owing to the elevation of the surface and the dryness of the atmosphere, it is one of great extremes, passing, in the course of twenty-four hours, from a burning heat, almost tropical in its intensity, to a searching cold that pierces in to the very bone. In England conversa- tion is barometrical ; in Spain it is the thermometer that gives the cue. " Que frio / que calor /" are the most frequently uttered exclamations. In such a climate a " wrap" of some sort — something that can be closely folded round the body, or quickly thrown aside, as the occasion demands — is an absolute necessity ; and of this there are two forms in vogue, in Spain, the capa and the -nanta. The capa is essentially Castilian. It is the envelope of the Castiles, Leon, Estrema- dura — all that region, in fact, which is, and always has been the very core of Spain ; and there is a certain special adapta- tion in the garment to the locality where it is the mode. It is simply an ample cloak with a cape, made of some dark cloth, brov.-.-. being the most common colour, and its peculiarity as a piece of costume lies in the way in which it is worn. The right side is brought forward and thrown over the left shoulder, while the corresponding flap of the cape is drawn across the moufh and lower p.'i.i of the face. It thus forms a mas.s of drapery wiiich gives a peculiarly grave, reserved, hidalgoish air to the figure. It is the very thing for a people who hate to be hurried. A man so wrapped up cannot possibly commit him- self by any undignified briskness or alertness of motion, but must be in all things slow and deliberate. When new, and handsomely trimmed with black velvet, as it ought to be, it is full of sober dignity ; and be it ever so threadbare and shabby, there is still a certain severe respectability about it. To a gentleman in ditficulties with his tailor, and desirous of keeping up appearances, it is an invaluable friend. It masks all shortcomings. The highest praise Sancho could give to sleep was to call it " the capa which covtis all human thoughts." It is, moreover, an admirable protection against the cutting blasts that sweep over the bleak plains of Castile ; and, for an embodiment and personification of mystery and chilliness combined, it would be difficult to find anything so perfect as the caballero, muffled to the eyes in his capa, that one encounters on a sharp autumn morning in the streets of one of the genuine old-fashioned towns f)f central Spain, such as Avila, Segovia, Valladolid, or Salamanca. The manta is altogether a different kind of garment. It is plebeian rather than aristocratic, and free and easy rather than dignified or stately. In form and use it is something like the Scotch plaid, the chief difference being that it is folded lengthwise and sewn together at one end, so as to make a sort of half- pocket, which serves on the roaa for stowing away odds and ends, or for a hood in case of rain. The manta is the wrapper of Celtiberian Spain, all that portion which lies to the east of the backbone of the Pc~'nsula, comprising Arragon and the Mediterranean provinces, C talonia, Valencia, and Murcia. In Andalusia, which is a kind of neutral ground, both manta and capa may be seen, but neither can be said to be in any way a part of the costume of the country. In mountainous stormy Arragon, the manta is a sober, substantial article, in tint and texture closely resembling the I'laud of the Scottish shepherd ; but towards the coast and the south, under the influence of sunny sky and laughing sea, it grows a lighter and brighter affair, breaking out in stripes of brilliant colour, and tags, tassels, and fringes of all sorts, until, at Valencia, it becomes as gay as the Huerta -tself in its summer dress. No piece of Spanish costume shows the influence of Moorish taste so distinctly as the manta of Valencia. The colours are the favourite Moorish ones — red, white, and blue — and are arranged in simple transverse bands of various breadths, relieved here and there by narrow lines of black, and if any extra ornament is indulged in, it is in the form of bars of some zig-zag or diamond pattern. Nothing can be simpler, nothing more grateful to the eye, or effective as a piece of colour, and nothing, it need scarcely be said, in stronger contrast to an article turned out by an English manufacturer. The texture is generally coaree and rough, but the taste is always irreproachable. There re none of those signs of skill and mechanism so evident in an English piece of goods; but on the other hand, there is none of that sort of vul- garity which displays itself in tawdry sprawling roses an^* dahlias, and those misplaced attempts at imitating or improving upon nature, which Gothic taste seems to consider the highest efforts in decorative art The contrast is one that may be observed on t , spot, for the irrepressible cotton prints of England have to a considerable extent found favour with the peasant women in Spain, and may be frequently seen com- peting with the manta in giving colour to a Valencian market- place. On'> use of the manta and capa there is which must not \y, assed over here, though it is one of which the ordinary traveller is by no means likely to see an illustration. In the case of a difference of opinion requiring to be settled by the knife, each disputant wraps his manta or capa round his left arm to serve as a shield .tgainst the thrusts or slashes of his adversary. It is to the credit of the Spaniards, however, that such encounters — if they ever were in truth at all common — are now at least very rare ; and the tourist who finds hintself assisting at such a debate as that depicted by M. Dor^, must consider himself to be travelling under the guidance of some peculiarly quarrelsome star. There is not much variety or singularity about the rest of the male costume. The short jacket— the national garb of Spain — i= still the most nsual wear, though the sensible and comfortable, but not remarkably picturesque, Ejiglish shooting- coat, seems to be acquiring a ( ertain degree of popularity with the middle classes ; and the jppcr have long since taken to themselves tails, afttr the (ashion of their kind all over Europe. Now and theo, it is true, at Madrid or some of the fashionable watering-places on the Biscay coast, a member of the " upper ten thousand " may be seen got up in the true national style — black velvet jacket ; dar;c trousers, accurately cut, and fitting tight \ waistcoat buttoning low, so a^ to show as much as possible of the embniidered shirt front ; black velvet sombrero, very much turned up at the brim ; neatly-trimmed whiskers, of that order which used to be known as the " mutton-chop," and iiair cropped short, except at the occijiut, where it is plaited into a most charming little pigtail, the end of which is tucked in behind the collar of the jacket, so that it looks rather like the handle of a small bbck teapot But NOTES ON SPAIN. 3S such an exhibition of severely conservative darayism is not very common, and excites observation even among Spaniards themselves. Sombre tints are the rule in Spanish costume. The peasants' jacket and trousers, all tl^irough the central and western provinces, are made of the pafio pardo, the " vellort " with which Don Quixote adorned himself on week-days — a dark, rusty-grey stuff, something like the Irish frieze. In Andalusia a black cloth with a long curly nap is much affected, perhaps as a cheap imitation of the dyed lambskin, which used to be a favourite material for the zamarra or jacket. Where trans-Pyrenean fashions have not asserted themselves, black is the prevailing hue in genteel life. Almost the only bits of bright colour about the ordinary costume of Spain are the manta above mentioned and the faja — the sash which nearly everyone wears in this land of sudden heats and chills. Like the manta, the faja is essen- tially Moorish. The usual colour is scarlet, with bars of blue, yellow, and white, and it is worn swathed loosely round the waist, so as to serve, besides its primary purpose, as a receptacle for purse, knife, or tobacco-pouch. The prevailing sobriety of tone of the Spaniard's dress is also somewhat relieved by his weakness for fine linen. Even in a third-class railway carriage the majority of the shirt-fronts are elaborately wrought and liberally displayed. Nor is the display so ob- jectionable as the Englishman, with his preconceived notions about the unwashing habits of all who are not English, may imagine. Uncleanliness, either in dress or in person, is cer- tainly not one of the sins of the Spaniard even of the lowest class. He does not perform his ablutions, perhaps, with altogether the zeal of an Oriental, but he has a dec .it and healthy appreciation of the virtues of water— when he can get it In the interior it is far too scarce and valuable an article to be frittered away in mere personal purification ; but where it is abundant it is always taken advantage of, and along the sea coast and the banks of the larger rivers bathing goes on pretty nearly from morning till night. Fur- ihermore, it seems to be rlways washing-day in Spain ; a large proportion of the female population appear to be constantly employed in getting up linen, and the first sight that meets the eye on approaching a town or village is that which the page in " Don Qoixote " observed at the entrance to Argama- silla, " a bevy of women washing in a brook." This, perhaps, may account for the very distinguished place which soap holds among the manufactures of Spain. Even in the very poorest posada. too, the sheets, if there are any, are snowy white, how- ever coarse they may be. But — " nimium ne crede colori " — ict not the traveller build his hopes of an untroubled night too confidently upon their spotless purity. The palters of embroidered yellow leather, made familiar to us by painters of Spanish scenes, are peculiar to lower Andalusia, and are almost the only relics of the handicraft of the foiiner corUwaiiiors of Cordova. The white kilt-like garment and the short loose iinen drawers are also purely local, belonging to the peasants and fishermen of Murcia and Va- lencia. The national chaussure of Spain is the alpargata, a stout canvas shoe with a hempen sole — for a hot and dry climate the coolest, lightest, and pleasantest covering for the foot ever invented. It varies, however, in form ; for, while in the south it preserves the ordinary shoe s)iape more or less, in Catalonia and Arragon it becomes a simple sandal, a mere sole with a toe-cap, secured by broad blue tapes across the instep and round the ancle in classical fashion. Of the head-dresses worn in Spain we have already alluded to that which is the most common, the "sombrero" — pir excel- knee, the regular Spanish hat — the general appearance of which every exhibition-goer must know well It also varies some- what according to circumstances. No doubt the parent form was the hat in which Vandyke's cavaliers sat to him — a form which, like the bars in the tail of the domestic pigeon, breaks out occasionally in the hats of Andalusia, where shade is the chief consideration. But on the windy plains of the Castile,; the struggle for existence would naturally be severe to a broad spreading brim, and frequently, we may imagine, it was found necessary to turn it up, the better to encounter the blasts sweeping down from the Guadarrama mountains. This is probably the origin of the peculiar shape which the sombrero of Spain has taken — a shape full of a kind of picturesque sauciness, but not easy to account for on any utilitarian theory ; unless, indeed, it be that the deep groove between brim and crown was meant to serve, as in fact it does sometimes, for a supplemental pocket in which light articles, such as cigarettes, or books of cigarette paper, might be carried. It is c 'ious that a hat of this construction could only flourish in a dry climate. In a wet country a man might as well carry a small tank on his head as an article so admirably adapted for collecting rain water as the sombrero. It is therefore confined almost exclusively to Andalusia, the high and dry plateaus of central Spain, the Castiles, Leon, and Estremadura. In the moist regions bordering on the Atlantic— the Asturias and Galicia — the most common head covering is that ugliest of caps, the montera, a clumsy, conical affair, of dark cloth, with ear flaps, which give it a certain resemblance to the cap worn by the Fool of the midd'e ages. The simplest but most singular head-dress of Spain is that of the Arragonese peasant, consisting merely of a small silk handkerchief bound round the head like a fillet, which makes the wearer look as if he had slipped through his neckerchief as far as the ears. In Catalonia the lower orders wear the gorro, a long scarlet or purple jelly bag, which, folded on tlie top of the head, gives the Catalan a peculiarly rakish air. In Valencia the coloured handkerchief appears again, but it is worn in. a more rational way than in Arragon, and makes some pretence of being a covering for the head. Of the female costume in Spain there is not much to be said. The only really distinctive article of dress is the mantilla, with the appearance of which most of our readers are probably fami- liar. In its simplest form, it is merely a black silk scarf edged with velvet, worn hitched on to the top of the head, and falling down over the shoulders, the ends being brought forward and crossed over the bosom. The high tortoise-shell comb, from which the mantilla used to depend, is now almost obsolete, and consequently a good ileal of that peculiarly piquant air, which was one of its charms, is now lost to the costume of the Spanish lady. The more showy variety has a deep black- lace border. The white mantilla is now scarcely ever seen ; in- deed, the mantilla altogether would no doubt have been extinct by this time — belonging, as it does, exclusively to the upper and middle classes, who are much more given to introducing French than to preserving Spanish fashions — were it not that it is part of the regulation dress for church, and that church-going is one of the principal occupations of the ladies of Spain. 'T I ■» I \'> 1 IfP jii' ■fi. 11 'V llh iN' m: " , I liL h '. I 36 ILLUSTRATED TRAVELS. Owing to tlic spread of rottons and calicoes, and cheap shawls and handkerchiefs, a commonplace sameness has in- fected the dress of the Spanish pea.sant women nearly every- where. It is only in the remoter regions, such as Eslremadura, that the native stuft's hold their own, and the peasant girls still wear the national saya— the bright red, green, or yellow petti- coat—which is their projier and becoming costume. For head- dress, when any is worn, the most common is simply a gay handkerchief, or panuelo, artfully and coqucttishly tied round the head or twined with the hair. lionnets, of course, are to be seen wherever French fashions have taken root ; but it is a a mistake to suppose this article wholly un-Spanish and exotic ; strange varieties of it may sometimes be ob- served in out-of-the-way ])arts of the country. A very curious thing in bon- nets, for instance, prevails about Placencia — a sruttle- shajied structure in straw, with a small looking-glass attached to the front of the crown the most naively feminine article of apparel it is possible to conceive. But the true head-dress of the women of Spain is of Nature's providing. To tlie Spanish woman, above all others, her hair is a cover- ing and a glory ; plaited, rolled, or twisted in thick coils, and secured by all manner of pins and skewers, and bodkins of barbaric mould, it forms in most cases her sole head-gear, and the dressing of it is a [lart of the business of her life, and occupies ap])a- rently a large portion (jf her time. No one, pro- bably, ever passed \\\) a street in a Spanish ])ro- vincial town without seeing at least one instance of what M. Dor^s pencil has here sketched for us. AVe ought, perhaps, to include the fan as an cssen'nl part, 1 if not of the dress, at least of the paraphernalia of the Spani: !: woman. But, in truth, the wliolc virtue of the fan lies in t'.c handling of it. Per se, it has nothing characteristic about it, lieing for the most i)art a Brummagem, tawdry, gingerbread article, ornamented in the lowest and most debased style of art. No traveller who wishes to convey a favourable idea of the taste of the Spanish ladies ought to bring home one of their fans as a specimen. Spain, more than any European country jierhaps, is remark- able for the number of distinct ])coplcs to be foimd within its limits, living ajiart, neither marrying nor mixing to any extent with their neighbours, and preserving, in many cases, a peculiar dialect and peculiar customs. Such are the Maragatos, the Vaqueros of the Asturian Pyrenees, the Basques, the Gitanos, and the Patoncs. Here one might expect to find a source of distinctive costume. But in general it is not so. In most cases there is little or nothing in the way of dress to distinguish these people from their immediate neighbours. The Gitanos, com- mon enough i>i Andalusia and in the Sierra Morena, arc only to be recognised as such by the peculiar gipsy features and ex- prcoion, which are fufficiently unmistakable to any one who has seen them, or, what uniounts to the same thing, who has read Borrow. Nor do the Basques differ much to the "ye from the other inhabi- tants of the northern sea- board of the peninsula. The exception is that of tlie Maragatos. Wlio or what the Maragatos are, is perhaps the greatest puzzle in Spanish ethnology, an ethnology rich in puzzles. Whether they are the de- scendants of " Mauri capti," Moors taken in battle, according to one explana- tion : or of Gothic Moors, i.e., '"oths who became na- tur jli^ ,d, or rather adopted, Mcv'i'-'' jbiects, according tf anolht r r— this much at PEASANT OF ORIHUF.I.A. li.i'!* s ^itiin that as far as ..-y 'a-- be traced back- i.va. ! ''' .:y <,eem to have b'":... th- are now, a jieople i.a.i 'ously keeping themselves distinct from tiie surrounding population, by every contrivance of ex- clusive marriage, custom, and ceremonial. If they have among them any tra- dition as to their origin, they keep it, like everything C',';, strictly to themselves. VLe;, nro localised in the • '■• of As.orga in Leon, and in its immediate neigh- bourhood ; but, as a large prr'ion oi" ti.e carrying business of that part of Spain is in their I .^;:.'!;, they are to be met with almost ever)where through {.\e north-western provinces, and even in Madrid they may be occasionally seen about those busy, old- fashioned streets in the neighbourhood of the Plaza Mayor. They are obviously, on the whole, a well-to-♦ 1;' I ■: ! f MARKlil I'EOl'LE— U.N rnii I'AK.VN.t. is continued amongst low marshy islands, on some of which, however, lofty trees abound. Hut the silence and desolation of these i)laces are appalling. N'o noise of bird, or beast, or living thing ; so that the war scream of a wild Indian, or the howl of a tiger, would be almost a relief to the oppressive listlessness of the long day. Bright yellow and scarlet flowers are frequently seen, glittering, ns it were, on the vivid green network of climbing convolvuli that clothe the tree trunks. Now and then a lazy caqiincha,* a sort of colossal amphi- bious guinea-pig, with coarse bristly hair, casts a sleepy glance • The rarpincha or caliiai, is the llydioclurrus (apybaia of I.inn;vus. while houses; but as we approach and recognise what they are, we have in the disajipointment a culmination of the dis- tressing influences which the whole scenery is calculated to produce. On the night of the 27th of March our steamer anchored opposite the lower mouth of the San CJeronimo branch of the Parand, and close to the Yaguarate district of the Gran Chaco. A few years ago I had occasion to travel some hundred miles through the solitudes of this vast unreclaimed tract of i I • The vullure hawk, or Falco Ilrazilknsis, . t This is some kind of carrion crow, or tiukcy buzzard. A VISIT TO PARACiUAY DURING THE WAR. 45 Argentine territory. The Gran Chaco lies to the west of tlie Parand and Paraguay riveii, and is nearly twice the size of France. Its surface consists of woods, alternating with jilains and dry riverbeds, with occasional salt lakes. The Indian in his wild state is as yet its only human inhabitant, but so little able is he to profit by iiis splendid domain that his numbers have gradually decreased under the influence of wars and the bravest cannot divest himself, that at any time in the day or night he may licar the Indian war-whoop, and be scalped by those merciless savages before he has time to defend himself. Everything speaks of the savagery of the place, and tends to scare one. The relics of toldas— Indian huts— seen here, there, and everywhere ; the troojis of wild horses ; the frequent flittinjj by of flocks of American ostriches {Ji/tea Americana) ; liNDIANS OF THE GRAN CHACO, famine, and several tribes have disappeared since the country has been known. I was told by General Don Antonio T^boada, that the fighting Indians of the Gran Chaco do not now exceed 300 in number, and that these are gradually sinking under misery and disease. Although no striking scenes of picturesque beauty are to be met with in the Gran Chaco, still there are associations con- nected with my visit thereto that will make it live in my memory. First, is the feeling of being an intruder on the territory of wild Indians, and with it a consciousness, whereof the screams of the parrot and the carancha ; the nocturnal chirping of millions of insects ; the glaring appearance of its large white plains of salt or saltpetre, deposited by water that has evaporated under long-continued drought, or the diversion of the river-beds ; and the absence of anything like a purling stream — these are its chief noticeable characteristics. One of the old Spanish writers, describing the Indians of the Gran Chaco, gives a very curious account of the marriage ceremonies and marriage laws observed by the Mocovi tribe, whose head-quarters are not far from Yaguarate. !;i Y *f ^1 til 46 ILLUSTRATED TRAVKLS. The preliminary business in the important event of a wed- ding is very simple. The young Indian being smitten, pro- jioses to tlie father of his tharnier- for she has no voice or will m the matter. If he be accepted, the suitor is invited to stop during the night succeeiling the asking at the house of his intended bride. Next morning he is sent off to kill or ratch alive a deer, ostrich, or wild pig, which he is to bring to his lady love, as a jjroof that he i." expert in the chase, and as an assurance that he is capable of providing for the l material wants of his future household. On his return with the game, the mother of his charmer takes the bridle and recado (saddle) from his horse, and deposits them on the spot where he is expected to construct his rancho (dwelling), and the marriage settlement is concluded. On the first night the newly-wedded pair sleep on a horse's or mare's skin, with their heads towards the west ; and the marriage is not considered as perfectly ratified until the sun shines on their feet the following morning. Cases, however, will present themselves, even in unsophisti- cated Indian life, where the marriage tie becomes irksome. After regrets, incompatibility of temper, and other causes, lead to coolness and inconstancy, and the faithless husband goes wooing elsewhere. Hence arises the necessity of a divorce court and laws to meet the contingency. The problem is solved by the Indian with originality and extreme simplicity. The restoration of nuptial harmony with the original wife being difficult, the peccant swain is admitted as a member of his new father-in-law's family, and security is required that he abandons his first wife altogether, to obviate the continuance of the double bond. This proposal is looked ui)on as a declaration of war between the families of the two ladies. A cojncil of Caciques is summoned, but only to legalise the form of giving , their august sanction to a single combat between the two women. The truant who is the cause of all stands by as a spectator, with folded arms, and is obliged, according to the established law, to take for his wife ever after whomso- ever becomes the victor. All the women amongst the Chaco Indians ride hordes straddle-leg fashion .-xs men do, and carry behind them a large plume of ostrich feathers, fa.stened round the loins. This presents a curious appearance when their horses are at full gallop over the breezy plains. Some of the islands past which we steam on the fifth day of our voyage (March 28th) are perfect masses of arborescence. As we are now rapidly approaching the tropic of Capricorn vegetation becomes more luxuriant, and palm trees are noticeable amongst the rounded outlines of the forest. The mosquitoes have been entirely absent for the last two nights, but in their stead we have in abundance a species of fly with dark green body and small black head, which settles upon any exposed part of 's body, and if undisturbed, drives its sucking apparatus He flesh and imbibes its fill. Their heads are bent do^ ■ task, whilst their tails are elevated, and they are thoroughly absorbed in their work. They have no further resemblance to mosquitoes, and belong to the species classed by naturalists under the genus Simiitium. On one of the islands in this passage the trees are filled with the nests of a species of troupial, a gregarious bird, which resembles in its habits our familiar rooks at home. As we sailed past I fancied myself back again amongst boy- hood's scenes, with crows cawing and caracolling over some old rookery. Thus, reminiscences and associations connected with the distant northern land are unexpectedly stined up in one's mind in the remote streams of South America ! yl yoiirney in Alaska, formerly Russian America. BV FREDERICK WHVMPER. T:'E rapid progress of the Pacific coasts of America is one of the events of our time. Only the other day the United States Government purchased from the Russians a semi-arctic country, for which it would have been nearly impossible to obtain a bid ten years ago. Yet " Alaska " — as Russian America is in future to be entitled — will, in the hands of its new and more energetic owners, add one more resource of importance to the many which are fast building up San Francisco as the " metropolis cf the Pacific." Less than a hundred years ago, so little was known of the coast of Alaska that the long peninsula (Aliaska) from which it derives its name was laid down on published maps as an island. Yet its history goes back earlier in some respects than does that of the neighbouring British and American territories. There was a Russian setdement on Kodiak four years before there were any whites on Van- couver Island; and Sitka, the present capital, was founded nearly a dozen years before Astoria. Immediately after the voyages of the unfortunate Behring and his companions — who, by-the-by, showed no great desire to remain in Russian America — many Russian merchants of Siberia fitted out trading expeditions, and, in "ten years," says Coxe, their historian, " more important discoveries were made by these individuals, at their own private cost, than had been hitherto effected by all the expensive efforts of the Crown." Our naval explorers^from Cook and Vancouver to Moore, Kellet, CoUinson, and McClure— have all done more or less towards the exploration of its coasts ; while Zagoskin, of the Russian Imperial navy, Lisiansky, Kotzebue, and Liitke, have all assisted in clearing away the mists which encompassed the country. Russia, in fact, cared litde for her colony, and virtually gave it into the hands of the Russian American Fur Company, who held it precisely as our Hudson's Bay Com- pany held thtir vast territories. The announcement of the recent transfer of Alaska to the United States Government gave rise to almost as much surprise among the American people as it did in Europe, and it met with much opposition and ridicule. Still, there is a large and growing belief in the United States that, sooner or later, the northern continent must become one vast republic, and the purchase eventually acquired some favour as seen fi-om that point of view. The comic journals. A JOURNEY IN ALASKA, FORMERLY RUSSIAN AMERICA. 47 and, indeed, the daily newspapers, would not for a long time let it alone. Such illustrations as Mr. " Excelsior," with the national banner " .Still clinuing to his hand of ice," and mounting the North I'ole, a white bear waiting at the bottom of it for that enthusiastic explorer; allusions to the possibility of deriving some benefit from the purchase, by towing ice-bergs to San Francisco ! mock advertisements, purporting to come from the Secretary of State, oftering the highest price for "waste lands and worn-out colonies," "sub- merged and undiscovered islands," " polar bears, volcanoes, and earthquakes— provided they shoulil not shake the con- fidence of the State Department "—were common enough for some time. The country was often styled " Walrus-sia— the Fur Nor'-West" But much of this has passed away; and the Ann - ans have already commenced to develope the resources of me country. The fur trade, of course, falls into their hands; and, as the purchase includes all the Aleutian Islands, and particularly the Island of St. Paul'-s, in Behring Sea, which, latterly, was more profitable to the Fur Company than any other part of their possessions, they have at once something definite for their money. Kodiak, to the south- east of the Peninsula of Aliaska, which yields the ice used in California and adjacent coasts, is a part of the acquisition. The cod fishery banks off the Aleutian Isles, the salmon of all its rivers, and the coal known to exist, arc all thrown into the bargain. Sitka, or New Archangel — formerly the head-quarters of the Russian American Fur Company— is the present capital, and in truth is the only town in the country. It is situated on the thickly-wooded, mountainous Baranoff Island, and has a fairly sheltered harbour. The (late) governor's house is on a rocky height overlooking the town, and the antiquated wooden buildings, the oriental style of the Greek church, and the old hulks, used as magazines, propped up by the rocks on the bay, combine to give it an original and picturesque appearance. On an island facing Sitka is a large extinct volcano— ^Mount Edgcumbe — a prominent landmark for the port Sitka has a terrible climate. " Rain ceases only when there is a good prospect of snow." But the thermometer rarely falls below 20" Fahrenheit at this southern part of the coast. The larger part of the territory boasts a truly arctic climate. The grand natural highway — the main artery for the whole of Alaska — is the Yukon River, a stream upwards of 2,000 miles in length. If the reader will glance at any good recent map of North America, he will observe in its north-west comer a large river, indicated and known as the Kwichpak, which, by means of many straggling, wide-spread mouths, falls into Behnng Se?u Further in the interior he will find a stream marked as the Felly, or Yukon, one which, not so very long ago, was believed to fall into the Arctic Ocean ; and again, between ti.e former and the latter, he will probably discover, laid down in dotted lines, "Supposed course of the Yukon." The Russo- American Telegraph Expedition, on which the writer recently served, made some important explorations in that district, and he was enabled to travel over 1,200 miles of its course, besides visiting a part of the neighbouring territory. It is necessary to be thus particular in indicating its locality, as some have supposed tlie Yukon was, from its name, a Chinese river. We were landed from our vessels on the 30th of September, 1866, at the Russian post of St. Michael's (situated on an island of volcanic origin in Norton Sound, Bchring Sea), and imme- diately proceeded by sea to a ^c(ond post in th<, same loialily, and about sixty miles north i>r the former. From the latter there is a land route direct to the Yukon. Over this we travelled with dog-sledgcs, walking ourselves on sncw-shots, and having much trouble with the sledges on the recently- fallen snow. Although the temjieraturc was frequently below zero, we managed to make ourselves fairly comfortable in our evening camps, where, after clearing a space in the snow, we spread a layer of fragrant fir-brush, and raised an immense log fire. The whole of this portion of Alaska, excepting only the coasts, is more or less wooded with spruce, birch, or willow. On many occasions we camped in the natives' underground houses, and were several times glad of their shelter, in spite of their dirt, smoke, and unpleasant odours. We reached the Yukon on the 9th of November. About noon on that day we could see, from a slight eminence — where we had halted to give our dogs and selves breathing- time — a streak of blue over the forest, in advance of us. We travelled hard to reach it, and, just as the sun was sinking below the horizon — bathing even that frigid scene in a flood of glory — we emerged from the woods, shot down a bank, and found ourselves standing on an immense snow-clad field of ice — the mighty Yukon I Hardly a patch of clear ice was to be seen ; all was covered by a spotless wintry mantle, and only an occasional short space of water still open showed us that it was a river at all. Here and there fields of hummocks, forced on the surface before the stream had become so fixedly frozen, were strewed wildly and irregularly around. So large a river is the Yukon that we instinctively compared it with the Mississippi. At that moment it was a great, unbroken high- way of ice and snow for 2,000 miles. At the point where we first saw it it was not less than a mile wide from bank to bank; while, as we afterwards discovered, it opens out into lagoons four or five miles in width. Its tributaries would be large rivers in Europe ; and there is some excuse for the proud boast of a native of its banks, speaking of his people — " We are not savages, we are Yukon Indians." At Nulato, the most northern and interior of all the Russian posts, we spent the remainder of the winter. During our stay there the thermometer registered as low as minus 58° Fahr., or ninety degrees below freezing. Yet at that time nature was in perfect repose ; no wind blew nor snow fell. We did not feel the cold so much as on other occasions. The wind, when accompanied by great cold, is man's worst enemy in all arctic climates. The Russians at SL Michael's, once, during the prevalence of a terrible wind storm, were horrified at the arrival of a dead Indian sitting erect on his sledge. Unable to stop his dogs, the poor fellow had evidently jumped on, and had probably become frozen to death in a few minutes. Such incidents are rare, though we met many Indians with faces badly seared, and minus parts of their ears and noses. An ingenious mode of fishing is adopted on the Yukon. Fish-traps are let down under the ice, through holes in the frozen surface of the river, kept open by frequent breaking. It is also a common thing to see the Indians, early in the season, seated by a sm?.!! hole on the ice, pulling up the fish by dozens with a line and hook. The duration of winter in Northern Alaska is about two- thirds of the year, if one counts the period during which the rivers are frozen up and the ground is snow-covered. Yet, 1 ^ i 48 ILLUSTRATED TRAVELS. V in m early in April, the th-.-rmometer rose above freezing-point, and, of course, the t.;- i\v commenced to thaw. Later, it again got colder. The Yukon did not break up till late in May. Its smaller tributaries were the first to move, and some of them ran out on the icy surface of the greater river. On the i«)th of May the first real break-up of the Yukon commenced, and for days aftcnvards we could see and hear from our staHon the ice grinding and crashing on its way ; now piling up into moimtains as it met with some obstacle ; now breaking all bounds, carn-ing trees and banks before it, on its passage to the sea. 'Ihe river rose some fourteen feet above its winter level. On the 20th of Mav, Mr. Dall — my companion for this journey — and myself started, with some Indians, to ascend the stream. We were accompanied, for part of the trip, by the Russian traders of Xulato. Our crafts were two "bai- darres," or skin canoes. The river was still full of floating ice and logs, and we soon found that we had embarked on a dangerous enterprise. It was specially difficult to get round the bends and angles of the river ; great natural rafts, o." trees, branches, ice. and debris, came whirling and sweep- ing along at si.x or seven knots an hour, nor could we ever reckon on their covirse. One man of our number always stood in the bows of the canoe, armed with a pole, to push off these floating masses. We saw large trees pass under the Russians' canoe, and lift it momentarilj- out of the water ; we felt the same under our own. It was not " a plank " l)et\'een us and destruction, but simply a piece of seal-skin. The Russians once gave in, completely beaten. We, how- . ;r, steered through the nimbersome masses of ice and logs, now having to piaddle for dear life, now stopping and drilL;r<5 down, to let some floating tangle of trees, with their long roots stickii.g up in the air, pass on their way. But, though we had many a close shave, we were enabled to cross the stream, where it was at least a mile wide, and get into quieter water. Our Muscovite friends would not attempt it that day at all. 'I'he Yukon might fairly be called the " River of a thou- sand islands." Some of the smaller ones were at this early season entirely submerged ; we floated over some of the lesser tree-tops. The lower part of the river abounds in low islands, sand-banks, and long stretches of flat countr)' ; the upper Yukon passes through gorges with castellated crags and rocky bluffs. There the stream is much more narrow, is deeper, and more rapid. As soon as the water had fallen sufficiently, we " tracked " from the banks, or even from the shallow water, making our Indians act as tow-hhade, on the Yukon, and mosquitoes — a greater curse than the cold of winter — were out in full force ; even the natives have to keep small fires burning in all directions round their camps, and commonly take bowls fiill of smouldering ashes or smol'.ing sticks in their canoes to keep them off. There is, however, one compensating advantage. The moose-deer, an animal abundant on the river, unable to stand the mosquitoes' inflictions, flies from the woods, plunges into tl.^ rivers, where it can keep little but its nose out of water — and not always that — and becomes consequently a prey to the first hunter who appears upon the scene. The natives often manage to stab mfose in the water from their birch bark canoes. We shot several. The nose of a moose, when cleaned and gently stewed, is most delicious. The limits of this article will not permit of any allusion to the Russian and Hudson'.! Bay Company's posts, the fiir trade, and many kindred stibjects. But this is of small con- setiuence ; any account of such would only appear a repetition of an oft-told tale. I live in hopes that the Yukon, and many other large rivers of Russian America, may receive a complete investigation at the hands of the United States Government. The interior cf Russian America is a new and a fresh field for the geographer, naturalist, and ethnologist, and on thorough exploration it will very likely be found that the country is not inferior to the neighbouring territory of British Columbia in mineral wealth. A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF MADAGASCAR. 4? ■3 ■m RICE-rOUNDING. »& t4 Bird's-eye View of Madagascar. FROM THE FRENCH OF M. D. CHARNAY. CHAPTER IV. tAKK NOSSI-BF -WOSSI-MAI.AZA— THE VIIXAGE CHIEF AND HIS FAMILY — A MA' i,A'-SE INTERIOR — MANNERS OF THE INHAIIITANTS. Lake Nossi-Be, which we had now to cross, is from six to eight miles in length, but somewhat less in breadth, so that both sides arc in sight when traYeUing along it. The fresh south-east wind raises a heavy sea on its surface, and the passage in canoes is not without risk. The native often sees his light skiff, with its cargo of rice, sink to the bottom, while he is fortunate if he can escape the jaws of the crocodile, and swim safely to land. The size of our boats prevented our feeling any danger, but our journey across was most disagree- able, and we were drenched with rain, and in a miserable plight, when we reached the island of Nossi-Malaza (the Island of Delight). This island is near the southern extremity of the lake, and at about equal distance from either bank. It is not far from twelve hundred yards in length, and several hundred feet in width. The village stands in the centre. To the north of it there is a large tract of meadow land, at the end ot which lies the burial-place of the inhabitants. The south-east part of the island is beautifully wooded. Our reception here was similar to that at Ambavarano, the same simple ceremohies, the kabar, the interchange of presents, and the speeches. But VOL. I. the huts are larger and better, the women much handsomer and more graceful, and the general appearance of conifort and ease formed an agreeable contrast to the wretched picture we had seen on the previous evening. We will now give our readers some idea of the manners and mode of life of the natives. The Madegasse of the coast is of a gentle and timid disposition, faitiiful and devoted. As a matter of course, he acknowledges the superiority of the white man — the Vasa appears to him as a master who is entitled to obedience. Full of admiration as they are of our knowledge and power, we cannot but feel surprised that we have made so little progress amongst a people so well disposed to receive u . '"'■' Madegasse willingly accepts the yoke of servitude. 'i"he varied and light tasks of domestic life suit his tastes, and he is very grateful for the little favours which he receives from his Tiaster in their daily intercourse. Delighting in active life, and indefatigable in any employment that suits him, he will paddle a canoe the whole day, in sunshine or rain, with- out apparent fatigue ; he particularly enjoys the motion of the tacon, and will carry you from daybreak till evening, and then, forgetting his fatigue, will join his companions in choruses, when the wild music of their bamboo instruments seems to invigorate his bronzed frame. But he cannot endure regular labour, accustomed as he is to supply his simple wants without forethought or difficulty. The Madegasse is gracefully and 7 TTT so ILLUSTRATED TRAVELS. ', ■ } '1 i t ; If : li I ; f almost femininely formed, his face is beardless, and he wears his long hair in braids, like the women, and when seated basking in the sun, clad in his lamba, it is difficult to distin- guish him from a woman. The women, without possessing absohite beauty, which is rare everywhere, have a pleasing physiognomy, and are generally well-made. We give an illus- tration on page 52 of a woman of Tamatave with her children which may be considered a fair representation of the ladies of the place. The Madegasse women all dress in much the same way. The hair is divided into regular squares, and care- fully plaited, which gives a very neat appearance to the head, very unlike its natural condition of a great tuft of frizzled hair. The petticoat or skirt worn by the rich is of muslin — amongst the poorer class it is of common cloth ; the body, which is of ditferent material, is called a caiiezou^a. native term — and the loose drapery wrapped round the shoulders is called the simbou, which is of cotton or silk, according to the social position of the wearer. The older children wear trousers, in imitation of the European custom ; the younger wear only the lamba, a kind of cotton shawl, with a coloured fringe, wl..ch is the usual dress of the men. When travelling, the native takes oft' this garment, which he carries in a bundle, and wears only the laiigoiiti, which is merely a small piece of stuff fastened round the loins. Tlie manufactures of Madagascar are of a very simple character. The natives weave various kinds of stuffs from ])alm leaves ; the coirsest is used for making bags, p.ickages, &c. ; the finest, which is really a superior material, is worn by the women, and makes excellent hats, but it is only to be seen in small qu.nntities. They plait mats of rushes, with which they carpet their rooms. A few of these, ornamented with elegant patterns, are exported as curiosities. With regard to agriculture, the Madegasse understands nothing but the cultivation of rice; and in spite of his laziness and the little encouragement which he meets with, the east coast, within a distaiiis of a hundred leagues, from Mananzari in the south to Maranzet in the north, annually exports 4,300 tons of rice. When we come to the subject of the Hovas, we shall describe the native produce of Madagascar adapted to commerce. As regards morals, the Madegasscs have really none. Being under no civil regulations, and their religion being confined to a few peculiar sujierstitions, we can scarcely apjily the name of marriage to their unions, which are unauthorised by either Church or State, and are formed and broken at pleasure. In the north there are some traces of Arab customs, and a more developed religious system. Amongst diese islanders plurality of wives is a rule. Each chief has at least three — first, the vade-be, the legitimate wife, whose children are his heirs ■ second, the vade-massaye, whom the husband repudiates when she is past the [jrinie of her youth and beauty ; and the vade-sindrangnon, a slave, who receives her freedom when she becomes a mother. The younger sisters of these tiiree wives also belong to the husband until they are themselves married. When a woman passes to another home, she leaves her chil- dren, who are treated by her successor with the same affection as her own. This seems natural in a country where adojition often takes the place of paternity. Jealousy is unknown, and though they have not the same degree of paternal affec- tion usual amongst u.s, still family ties are strongly felt by them. I have scr.i a woman in violent paroxysms of grief because her adopted daughter liad been poisoned by tan^hin fruit, and attempt to seize some of it herself, exclaiming that she wishec' to die with her child. If one of the members of a family fall ill, all work for the time is suspended. Every one busies himself— some in seeking for herbs, others in looking into the nature and cause of the malady, and endeavouring to eftect a cure ; and, in the meantime, the friends occupy themselves in attending to the household affairs. If the invalid becomes worse, the relatives nnd friends come to condole with the family. This display of affectionate grief extends even to the slaves, who consider themselves as children of the house. They eat at the same table, and are treated in every respect as members of the family ; it is even difficult for a stranger to distinguish between them, as in their language they call the master and mistress of the house "father" and "mother." Here, as in all other parts of the world, sterility in a woman is looked upon as a reproach to her, and it apjjears to me to be very common amongst the Madegasses, no doubt on account of the prevalence of polygamy. If a woman wishes for children, and is afraid of not having any, she consults sorcerers, invokes spirits, or has recourse to the following superstition ; — She chooses a stone of a peculiar shape, which can be easily dis- tinguished from others, and places it on the road to the village, in some spot favoured by the spirits. If this stone, after a fixed time, is found in the same spot and position in which it was placed by the inquirer, it is considered a sign that her wishes have been favourably answered. This innocent practice is constantly followed in Madagascar, and oue sometimes meets with great piles of these stones. The occasional cruel treatment of their offspring forms a frightful contrast to the quiet and gentle manners of the Madegasses, and, above all, to this craving after maternity. When children are bom under a bad influence, they are aban- doned ; or, in order to redeem their lives, as it is thought, they must submit to such frightful ordeals as in nearly all cases prove fatal. Circumcision is practised at Madagascar, but was originally borrowed from the Arabs. The date of this impor- tant ceremony is perpetuated by the Madegasses by means of a wooden stake, surmounted by a number of ox-skulls, furnished vith horns. Nearly every village possesses one of these monu- ments. I^iich skull commemorates a fete. It is the custom to kill an ox on the circumcision-• . .1 month or more, according to the gri< f of the family, it consists in letting the hair grow. Durinj; the time of mourning, ui.ni. leither dress nor comb their hair, while men abstain alike Irom shaving and w;> hing themselves, lioth sexes present in this b..ite anything it an attractive appearance. In the north, in the district of Vohemaro. • Antin- kir.is add to a great respect for tin' dead a lulnf in metempsychosis. According to this ' rtnl, the souls of the (hiefs pass into the bodies of croi mliles, while those of ordinary mortals are transferred to bats. This superstition e;tplains the incredible number of crocoiliU's, which certainly multiply in the places where this belief is pre\ t. In these localities the rivers swarm with them, iiri'i ^ ilangerous to frequent the banks towards evening. At .,iit the inhabitants are freipiently obliged to barricade their huts to guard against the attacks of these monsters. Like the Betsimsarakas, they have a mixture of revelling and lamentation at their funerals, but they do not at once inter the corjwe. Placing it upon a woollen bench, they preserve it by means of aromatics and charcoal, frequently renewed. After several days of this treat- ment, the decomposition of the flesh produces a putrescent liquid, which they carefully gather into vases placed beneath the bench ; and each person present, in memory of the dead, rubs himself over with this liquid. When the body is dried up, the relatives wnq) it round with bandages, and then carry it to the place of sepulture. This disgusting custom engenders terrible skin diseases, such as the itch, leprosy, and other filthy disorders. It is with difficulty, however, that the inter- vention of Europeans has in some measure induced them to give up this horrible practice. The Madegasse is clever by nature, and has very re- markable literary instincts, or rather, I should say he had formerly, for the Hova coniiuest, like all tyrannies, has left nothing but debasement and desolation. The Betsimsarakas are passionately fond of talking, dancing, and singing. Their dances are wild, without fixed rule, and apparently guided by the inspiration of the moment; ti. rice dance, of which I have already spoken, being the only one of definite character. Their music is poor, and their instruments primitive. There is first the bamboo, which they strike with small sticks, and accom- pany with clapi)ing of the hands. The lize-iize is an instniment which has but a single chord, and yields a monotonous sound, but the vaJia, in skilful hands, produces a pretty effect. The valia is made of bamboo, the outer fibres of the hard tube being separated from the wood, and stretched over bridges of bark ; it is, in fact, a sort of circular guitar, ascending from the lowest to the highest notes. As for their songs, the first subject which enters their minds answers the purpose. Thv.y take a word or phrase, "nd repeat it to a wearisome extent, with an improvised chorus. Their chief delight is in chatting together. They will talk for ever so long on the most fri- volous subject, and at a pinch utter the purest nonsense. An orator of any talent, however, is sure to find a delighted audience. When tired of this, 1 ;ey ungraciously start an enigma, or a charade. An example of one such will explain the nature of the performance better than any description. " Three men, one carrying white rice, another some tire-wood, and the third a porridge-pot, all coming from diffcrLiu ilirections, meet near a fountain in a barren spot, remote from any habitation. It is noon, and none of them having yet eaten anything, each is desirous of preparing ' meal, but they know not now to accomplish it, sini e the o\m. ' of the rice is not owner of the wood, nor could he claim tlie use of the porridge-pot. However, they each contributed tlieir share, and the rice was soon boiled. But, the moment tlie repast was ready, each claimed the entire breakfast for himself Which of them had the best right to the boiled rice ? " The Madegasse auditors .ire undecided, each of the three appearing to have an equal claim to the breakfast Here then is a fine theme for talk. They c^ll these discussions or disputes faka-faka, and each speaker has on such occasions a fair opportunity for disjilaying his oratorical talents. The native traditions abound with fables, tales ((///.cv"), proverbs {fihabolani), charades and enigmas {fa mantatrd), sonnets and love-songs {rahainiUihaIra). Their tales are generally intermingled with songs, and each successive narrator adds a little of his own. Children invariably commence with the following iirologue : — " Tsikotoneniiieny, tsy zaho nametzy fa olomhe t aloha nametzy, tanny ma' ■ ' mba filsiako kosa anao " (" I do not wish to tell lies, but sui grown persons have told lies to me, allow me also to tell lies to you.") Some of these fables are connected with their religious beliefs. The following may serve as fair examjjles of the different kinds. The First Man and the First Woman. " God formed a man and a woman, and let them fall from heaven all complete. The woman tempted the man and brought forth a child. " God then ai)peared to them, and said, ' Hitherto you have been fed only upon herbs and fruits, like the wild beasts ; but, if you will let me kill your child, I will create with his blood a plant from which you will gain more strength.' " The man and woman spent the night weeping and con- sulting. The woman said to her husband, ' I would rather l! I 111 in \ 1 1 I I . ! I n < ! i > ! 1^: I ''» s» ILLUSTRATED TRAVELS. A MAUEIIASSK WOMAN ANIi IIKR CIIILIIRKN. God took my life tliaii that of my chikl. gloomy ami absorbed, and said nothing. " When morning came, (Jod appeared with a very sharp knife, and asked what was tiieir decision. The man was I heart, returned it to the mother, and, kneeling with liis breast imcovered, said to God, ' Kill me, but let my child live.' " riien God, to prove him, brandished the knife which he held in his hand, and said to the man, ' You are gomg to die. "The woman, seeing this formidable weapon, sharp as a Retlect, then, before I strike.' 'Strike,' replied the man; and new sai^ak, and brilliant as a flash of lightning, exclaimed, I he neither murmured nor trembled while God flashed the 'Oh, God, take my child.' poniard in his eyes; but he only gave him a slight wound on " But the man, on the contrary, pressed his child to his the neck, which drew a few drops of blood. ^ MADAGASCAR DWARF PALMS. , f: -?' I' t ,fl» i S4 ILLUSTRATED TRAVELS. " God took this blood, and scattered it on the ground, which caused rice to grow. He then told the man to weed it three times before it arrived at maturity, to gather only the ears, and to dry them in the sun and preserve them in granaries ; to thresh them, in onler to shake out the grains ; to peel them, in order to get rid of the husks ; and to eat only the grain, and give the husks to the domestic animals. He then further taught him how to cook and eat it. "Then God said to the woman, 'The man shall be the master of the child, because he preferred the life of the child 10 his own, and thou must submit to him.' " This is the way that the father became the head of the family, and men learned to eat rice." We may probably recognise in this the Arab influence, and a remembrance of the sacrifice of Abraham. The name of Nossi-Ibrahim, or isle of Abraham, given to the little island of Sainte-Marie, aflbrds some foundation for this hypothesis. Here is another fable : The Wild Boar and the Cayman. " A wild boar was exploring the steep banks of a river, where an enormous alligator amused himself searching for prey. Warned by the grunting of the boar, the alligator moved quickly towards him. " ' Good morning,' said he to him. " ' Finaritria ! Finaritria ! ' answered the boar. "'Is it you of whom they speak so much on the land?' asked the alligator. " ' I am he,' replied the boar. 'And is it you who devastate these peaceful shores?' " ' It is I,' said the alligator. " ' I should like to try your strength.' " ' At your pleasure. Immediately, if you wish.' " ' You will not stand long against my tusks.' " ' Beware of my long teeth.' " ' But, tell me,' said the alligator, ' what is it they call you?' " ' I call myself the father of those who strike without a hatchet and dig without spades ; the prince of destruction. And you, can you tell me what is your name ? ' " ' I am one who swells not in the water, eat if I am given anything, and, if not, eat all the same.' " ' Verj' well. But w liich of us is the elder ? ' '"I am,' sai , ^ C8 IT.l.USTRATF.n TRAVELS. we were so yl.ul to get away from, and took a north-westerly course, we following at our leisure. The road as far as Dissyet, where we arrived after three hours' inarch, led us through a country exactly siiiiil.ir to that in the vicinity of Monkiilhi, almost a stream, it was found to be of an in- different description, we entered the desert of Sha'ab, which extends as hx as 'Ain. Until it became dark, nothing but a sea of sand w.as visible around us, without a sign of vegetation ; and we travelled on till nightfall, when we bivouacked beneath Mount Cihehenab, which stands like a monument to solitude in the midst of the waste. There is nought of human interest here. Even the roving liedaween fear this thirsty wilderness ; and beyontl the cry of the leopard, as he prowls amidst the brushwood at the foot of the hill, not a sound breaks the stillness of the night. We started refreshed, at half-jiast four the following morning, and came to a ]>lace called Noor Habebai, where the sand gives place to volcanic ilcliris. The country was so flat, that we had a prospect for miles around us, and, turning round, we could see flashing, where two rocks parted like half-o|)ened lips, the avi'unOixov yika(Ty.a (to use the words of old ^Kschylus, for I know none better) of the far-away Erythra;an. Shortly after passing a large cemetery called Zara, near which was encamped a kraal of Uedaween shepherds, we arrived at the green and lovely valley of 'Ain, through which the Lebka runs. It was necessary to go a short way up the stream before a suitable halting-place could be found, as the banks are so thickly wooded that it is hard to find an oijen space. This is one of those oases that remain gTeen as them- selves in the mind of the traveller long accustomed, as we had been, to sand and sea alone. The Lebka, which waters this beautiful vale, debouches into the Red Sea, a little above the sixteenth degree of north latitude, and rises among the hills of Ad-Temariam, although it appears to be connected by affluents with the much larger river Anseba. Up to this time we had been [)ur.suiiig a north-westerly course, but on starting the following afternoon, we took the stream, which flows nearly due west and east, as our road, and travelled for three liours to tlie westward, having found the jiredictions of our guides, with regard to the shifting nature of the sand so soon after the rainy season, perfectly fallacious. The Le'>ka, when flooded, is a most pictures(|ue stream. For a considerable jjart of its course it flows between tall rocks of columnar basalt, fringed with various shrubs, with here and there an acacia or tamarind- tree lending a richer green to the scene. At one ])art I went over a low hill by its side, where I found an ancient cemetery called Moniba Arad, where two sheikhs of distinguished jiiety repose within large stone-built tombs. At a quarter to nine in the evening, we arrived at a si)ot called Gadarait, where the main roatl to the Hibab country branches ofT from the Lebka. It m.ay not be out of place here to give some notes of a very short trip made in the previous summer to this countr)', which is undoubtedly the seat of a most ancient Christian community, now utterly perverted through the apathy and indifTerence of their own proper teachers, and the proselytising zeal of their Muslim neighbours. Leaving the Lebka, a north-westerly route was followed until, after crossing a low but i)reci|)itous hill, which severely taxed the strength and sure - footedness of our camels, we reached a valley called Maga Maiatat (Jietioeat the Waters) — a most palpable misnomer, as water, and th,atof a bad ([uality, is only found at one spring. We arrived here at noon on the 29th of July, and found already encamped a large clan of Bedaween, whose sheikh soon paid us a visit, and complained most bitterly of his Christian neighbours, who last year had appropriated three hundred out of his herd of cattle, which altogether only numbered five hundred head. The houses these people were living in were wonderfiil to behold. A cabin scarcely larger than a moderate -sized beehive, and averaging three feet in height and ten or twelve in circum- ference, sufliced for a wuole family. Maga MaiatAt is situated within a gorge of portentous darkness, and has a renown for lions. 'I'he very night we were there the whole camp was thrown into confusion by one of these animals, who made an onslaught, anil almost walked off with our Portuguese cook, who had incautiously slept at too great a distance from the fires. The next morning (30th) we started at half-|)ast fi\e, and after crossing another hill, came to a beautiful valley abounding in guinea-fowl and bustard. We then passed another village called .Wde', and three hours after beginning our march, arrived at a shady spot called Raroo, where we halted and breakfasted, jiic-nic fashion, under a tree. Re- suming our progress at a ([uarter-past nine, half an hour brought us to the large village of Af- .Abad, which we had decided on as the limit of our journey. According, however, to the incomprehensible custom of these peo])le, no water was to be obtained near the village, and we had to go on three miles farther, to a watercourse called Hduzat, which we found nearly dry. It was near eleven o'clock when wt arrived, and we had scarcely selected a suitable place for encamping, and begun to i)itch our tents, when down came the rain, the first that had fallen for many days. We remained at Af-Abad, the capital of the Ad - Teinariam district, for three days ; and though the weather was certainly nice and cool, rain fell every day, and made the ground surrounding our tents marshy and malarious, and I believe it was only our daily dose of quinine and sherry that preserved us from bad fevers. Game is far from numerous in the neighbourhood, and consists of guinea- fowl, another sort of fowl (very gamcy) called by the Arabs A JOURNKY THROUGH THE SOUDAN. 59 "the rock of the valley," gazelles (Beiii Ar.rail), antcldpes {/io/iiir), and wild pig, but none in large numbers. Elephants are numerous here in the cold season, but h.id at this time of the year gone to the higher ranges of hills. 'J"he larger /f/rr of course abound. I think only one night passed that we had not a visit from a lion, and we lost one of our camels in this way. Leopards and liy iias are found, of course, everj-wliere, and the latter are especially very annoying. I forgot to nieniion hares and bustards, which are found in small numbers. The latter bird is a.s good as turkey, and very similar to it. Af-Ab.i(l was found, by barometric measurement, to be 2,529 feet above the sea-level; so, in December or January, it would doubtless be a delightful retreat, but in the summer we found the mercury rise even higher than at MonkuUii. The country above 'Ain is called by the natives Sihe ; it is bounded on the south by the Lebka, and on the east by the Red Sea : the other boundaries vary much, .as the population are chiefly nomads. Tradition tells lis that it was first colonised by a refugee Tigre chief, nameil Asgaddee, and that he pitched his tent on a hill further to the northward, which is called Asgaddee-Bakla, or "The Mule of Asgaddee," to this day. To this patriarch were born three sons, the /wrois eponyiiii of the Hibal) tribes. The Ad-Temariam,* within whose confines Af-Abad is situated, inhabit the southern distri( t ; the Ad- Tekles, the western ; and the Ad-Hibdes, the northern. In outward appearance the three tribes are indistinguishable one from another ; the same dress (or rather, want of it), the same heavy turls, and the same, generally s])eaking, handsome Kuropean features characterise them all. Like all the tribes to the north and west of .\byssinia, they are armed with a straight two-edged cross-handled sword — a singular contia>t to the curved reaping-hooks of their Christian neighbours. Their language is the Lower Tigre, a kind of mixture of Arabic and Cleez, with a sprinkling of Amharic. I have heard that, with the exception of the dialect of CJuaragutf, in the south of Abyssinia, it is more like the ancient Ethiopic than any other tongue spoken in those regions. The chief of the Ad- Temariam, Sheikh Shookr, was at Af-Abad at the time of our visit. I cannot give him a good character. From his very limited knowledge of Eurojieans, he e\idently placed us in the same category with the Turkish soldiers whom he is accustomed to see collecting revenue, and he was extremely averse to letting us have any sheep or provisions, exidently distrusting either our inclination or power to pay him. The only wealth of these people consists in their flocks and herds, and they are pillaged on one side by the Massdwa, or Har- keeko, authorities, under the name of revenue collections, and on the other by the neighbouring Abyssinians. Ever since they renounced Christianity (towards the end of last century) they have been subject to the Nayib of Harkeeko, who is answerable for the revenue to the Turkish Government, keeping ten i)er cent, for himself. Sheikh Shookr pays 2,000 dollars annually for Ad-Temariam. Resuming the route to Kdssala, on the 20th of October, at halfpast four in the morning, we had to follow the course of the Lebka, and after passing a most difficult defile, in which all the powers of our camels were put to the test, we arrived at Mah.-iber at a quarter-past nine. The Lebka had assumed, after the pass, quite a different appearance. Instead of the basidtic rocks with which it had been walled in lower • /!(/ signifies "country," or " tiibc," in Lower Tigr*. down, we saw on each side of us extensive jilains, except in one spot, where, on a craggy eminence, legions of baboons seemed inclined to dispute llie way with us. The bed of the river was nearly dry ; in fact, (jiily a pool here and there was to be found, the rest of the road being through heavy saml. We were obliged to sto|) three days at ^Ldlaber, in conse- quence of finding no camels there. .Sheikh .Shookr, of the Ad-Temariam, had, a .''ortnight before, been inlormed of our wish for a change of cattle at this place ; but whether his influence was not commensurate with his wishes, or what not, we could not obtain them till after a deal of palavering. I i an see the old fellow befi)re me now, with his bushy loc ks floating behind liini like a wig of the Charles II. era, brandishing his spear as he tramjjs down the road, anointed, and often beautifully-carved stick, which is fastened at all times to the hair, and answers the jiurposes of a com. The females, young and old, have usually httle beyond a kithern jjetticoat and n necklace of beads to set oiT their dusky charms. As we were jiassing one of the very few grass-built huis in the jilace, a person whom we judged, from his air, to be of some importance, came out to meet us, and invited us inside his dwelling, wh;re Wi. were regaled with the usual coftee. Served in very tolerable style for the desert. We aftenvards found out that thi^ was Sheikh Ahmed, chief of the Beni 'Amir, and one of the most powerful vassals deijendent on the Egyptian Government, as at any time he tan bring 10,000 horsemen into the field. In die course of the day he returned our visit, with several of his rel.itives and re- tainers. We found hint a vry ^•■'■'r!-.'::;.uiiy t'ello v, uid mure civilised thai) any of the chiefs we had fali'.'ii in with. Together with all his following, he took the greatest interest in Diane's small galvanic battery, and showed much pluck in enduring the unexpected shocks, which, of course, he .set down to our having a most i)owerful Sheitan in our possession. He could, however, afibrd us no assistance towards solving the camel difficulty, and so we had to proceed as we were. We found the day intensely hot, the thermometer showing 107 degrees at one time. The night, however, was iileasant and cool, and our slumbers were only broken by the lions, which insisted on thrusting their unwelcome presence every- where. Two of the villagers had been carriec off" the previous night, when we had been sleeping outside , und the people here, with the hospitality of their forefathers, anxious that no harm should happen to us during our sojourn amongst them, wanted us all to pass the night in one tent, surrounfled by a cordon of soldiers. This did not exactly meet our views, although I have no doubt that we were carefully looked after through the night. We had iatended leaving Zaga early in the afternoon the next day, but our camel-drivers had — purposely, as we were all mnvinced — iillowed their charges to stray too far, and they were not loaileil and ready to start till |)ast eight o'clock. It was, fortunately, a lovely moonlight night, and our road lay through a tract of country exhibiting the same park-like scenery I have before noticed. As, with our large cavalcade, it was impossible for us to carry sufficient water for our rei|uirements, we were forced to jnish on until we found .some, and in doing so tlie whole night was consumed. It was not till past sun- rise the following morning that we reached our halting-jjlace, on ths banks of a w.ater-course called Howashait, and here we selected a cool spot for encamping, beneath the shade of some fine trees. At 4 p.m. we were obliged to be oft' again, and marched on for nearly five hours, when we thought it a(K isable to rest for the night, men and beasts being both terribly fatigued. The moon, however, h.id not yet sunk the follow- ing morning when we were again on our journey, and we had to proceed for four hours before the stage was finished. Owing to a scarcity of water on the direct route, we had to make rather a detour, and halt at a place called Idrees-Dar, at the time occupied by a ])arty belonging to a large tribe called Hadendoa. which extends from here as far as Souakin. ( >f similar origin to the Beni 'Amir, they exhibit the same external characteristics, and are notorious for being great freebooters ; but being armed with swords and s])ears only, they did not venture to molest us. Br.d water and an intensely hot sun did not tempt us to remain Iiere long, and towards evening we resumed our march. The country we now entered, Taka, is of a more hilly character than Bdraka, but the general nature of the soil and vegetation undergoes litde change. Nine hours' marching led us into a n'Adi, at the entrance of which the leading camels of the caravan were att.icked by lions ; but the matchlocks of the gallant escort were suflicient to drive oft" the invaders, who are anything but the noble, courageous beasts romance has pictured them. We ourselves had ridden some w.iy ahead, up a gorge, situated between two precipitous >-iiifs, which, narrowing as we advanced, roiuhu ted us to several wells, dug deejily in the sand. t)n arrival here, we were saluted by the barking of hundreds of dogs, whidi seemed to issue forth from every jiart of the rugged luights by wlii< li wc were surriiundeious southern territory, altliough so full of promise from its geogra- phical position and climate, has remained in the same neglected condition in which the whole of this magnificent region had lain for centuries. The inhabitants of the peninsula are estimated at present to number not more than 6,000, the initire population of a tract of land 540 miles in length, by 50 in average breadth. They are chiefly half-castes, in whom Indian blood predominates. Mines of silver have long beei worked near the southern end of the peninsula ; but w ith regard to the resources, mineral or othenvise, of the remainder of the country, nothing was known until very recently. The peninsula — at least, all except its rorthern and southern extremities — is now the jwoperty of a trading com- pany, which has its central offices in New Yoik. It was purchased of the republican chief, Juarez, in 1866, during the time the Mexic.in Empire was nominally under the sway of the unfortunate Maximilian ; and the enterprise of the Anglo-Saxon has done more in a few months for the exjiloration of the country than Spanish-Americans accomjjlished during the cen- turies it was in their irossession. On the completion of the bargain, the first step taken was the despatch of a scientific expedition to explore the territory throughout its whole length, to map its topographical features, and examine its gcclogiial structure and natural productions. The exploring partv con- sisted of Mr. J. Ross Brown, Mr. AV. M. Gabb, and Dr. Ferdinand Loelir — all men of rei)utation on the Pacific coast as mineralogists and geographers — and the work was com- menced early in the year 1867. One of the most interesting results of the investigation; of these gentlemen, has been to modify the generally received notion as to the physical conformation of the peninsula. Un all mai>s, a chain of hills or mountains is represented as running along the centre, forming, as it were, its back-bone, and ap- pearing to be a continuation of the coast range of Upprr California. Such a roountiiin range does not exist ; the land gradually slopes, or for.ns a succession of plateaus, from tlii. shores of the Pacific to within a few miles of the eastern coast, where it terminates in abrui)t precipices, from 3.000 to .^,000 feet in height, facing the Gulf of California. This singular conformation suggests the idea that t^e jieninsula forms only the half of a mountain range, divided l.mgitudinally, of whi( h the corresjwnding or eastern half has disa))peared along the depression, where now roll the waters of ihe gulf. The narrow- tract between the foot of the high escarpment and the shores of the gtdf is broken into ridges and valleys, forming a kind of " undercliff," and clothed with a luxuriant semi-tropical vegeta- tion. A fertile soil, yielding, with but little labour, most of the vegetable productions of warm climates, lies here at the scrvii c of the hapjiv conunuiiitics which will soon be eslab- lished on the shores of the harbours and streams. The rocks which form the slope of this long mountain ridge are of modem geological date, being of the tertiary period, here and there overlaid by thinner strata of still more recent formation. This is the condition of the central, and by far the greater part of the peninsula ; the southern and northern portions are difl'erently constituted, the slope and escarpment disappearing, and a chain of granitic mountains taking their place. In the south the Peak of St. Lazaro rises to an elevation of about 6,000 feet, being the highest point. Most of the central part is bare of trees ; the fertile districts lying in the nanow valleys of the small rivers, which flow deep below the general surface of the land in their course to the Pacific. Towards the southern end of the territory belonging to the American Company, and on the Pacific coast, is a noble harbour, called Magdalena Bay, said to be equal to the bay of San Francisco in its accommodation for vessels. One half the population of the peninsula is concentrated in the picturesque valleys of the granitic range in the south, where the flourishing sih cr mines of Triumfo are situated. There are here three or four small tov/ns ; but in the rest of the territory only small scattered villages and mission stations are to be met with. Survey of Sinai. The survey of the Sinaitic peninsula, which is now in opera- tion, has been undertaken chiefly with a view to establish a firm basis — by mapping out 'lie topography of the intricate mountain system and labyrinth of valleys — lor setting at rent the much debated question of the route of the Israelites and the events of sacred history connected with it. The project was set on foot by the Rev. Pierce Butler, wlio intended to have accomi)anied the expedition, but died before his cherished object was realised. At his death the subject was taken up by Sir Henry James, Director of the Ordnance Survey, and other gentlemen, by whose exertions the necessary funds were obtained, the Royal Society and the Royal Cjcograjihical Society each contributing ;^5o, on the ground of the scientific results expected to accnie from an accurate survey. The expenses being thus provided for, the authorities of the War Office granted permission for the detachment on this duty of a party of officers and men of the Royal Engineers, and they proceeded on their mission in October last. A valuable accession to the party was obtained in the Rev. F. W. Hol- land, a gentleman who had already made three journeys in Sinai, and travelled on foot over hill and valley for weeks together, accompanied by an Arab guide, endeavouring to clear up the difficulties of its history and tojjography. As an example of the uncertainties atti-iching to these ])oints may be mentioned the fact that Mr. Holland has found reason for doubting the hitherto accepted identificatrm of Mount Siimi I' self; he finds another mountain, called JeLel Urn Alowee, a few miles north-east of the present Mount Sinai, to meet the requirements of the biblical narrative much more satis- factorily. It may be added that whilst investigating the to])o,;raphy of the country other branches of science will not be neglected; archaeology, geology, natural history, and me- teorolo.^y are entered on the piogramme of the expedition. Accordi.ig to the List accounts from Capt.iin Palmer, the le.idcr of the p.irty, they were, on the 26*.h November, 18O8, encamped at the foot of Jebel Musa, all in excellent healtll and spirits, ond proceeding with their work, '■I NOTES ON SPAIN. 65 nUEt. WITH THE NAVAJA. Notes on Spain. — ///. SPANISH INNS— THE roSADA AND VENTA— COOKERY — rUCHERO ANU OLLA— THE NAVAJA. Thk " ])icturesque barbarisms" which pervade tlie land have always been a strciiiy attraction and a favourite theme with travellers in Sjjain, and consc(iuently they are the points on which the modern Spaniard — of the upper classes, at least — is sorest, for his highest ambition is to be undislinguishable from the rest of the civilised world. They are therefore assailed at once from within and from without, by native sensitiveness and by the importation of foreign ideas. Some there are, however, which promise to die hard. The inns of Si)ain have from time immemori.il served as illustrations of the primitive simplicity which is the rule in the Peninsula, and thry serve now equally well as illustrations of the mode in .vhich the assimilating process works. Inns have always held a pro- minent place in Spanish literature and books relating to Spain. Every reader of " Don Quixote" and " Gil Bias" knows what capital the authors make of the ways and humours, and motley company of the road-side inn ; and from tlie days of Wiiliam Lithgow downwards, there is hardly a trans-Pyrenean traveller who has not had his fling at the discomforts and the deficiencies, the shortcomings and the short commons of the hostelries of Spain. Nor are these aspersions merely the ex- offiiio complaints of a class which always makes the 'nost of its sufferings abroad in order to impress friends .\t home. ICven Ford, with all his affection for and sympathy vith every- thing .Spanish, cannot bring himsel." to say a word in com- mendation of the Spanish inns. He divides them into three classes : the bad, the worse, and the worst ; the last class being by far the largest. From what has been already said VOL. 1. in these pages about Spanish travelling as it used to be, it will be seen that the wants and comforts of travellers were not very likely to be more carefully considered off the road than on it. But this was not all. The diligence, with all its in- conveniences, was still an improvement introduced into and adopted by Spain. In princii)lc and design it was French ; in its discomforts and general uncouthness it was Spanish. But the inn was everywhere, from foundation to chimney-pot, an institution wholly and ""itirely Spanish, and therefore a thing unchanged and unchanging, prescr\ing unini|)aired down to the nineteenth centur)' the ways and habits, luxuries and comforts, of the time of King Wamba. The old Spanish inn was a fine example of the way in which the virtue of patience operates in Spain. The large infusion of patience present in the Spanish character is, indeed, the key to at least half of the anomalies included under the term cosas ik Espai'ia. Every one who has ever travelled ivith Spaniards must ha^'e been stnick by the uncomplaining resignation with which the Spaniard will endure annoyances and discomforts that would at once raise a a])irit of revolt in any other man. It is not that he is insensible to them, nor is it wholly from an in- dolence which jjrevents him from taking any trouble to abate the nuisance. It is rather, one is led to fancy, that drop of Moorish blood which flows in Spanish vein:s asserting itself in I true Oiiental fashion under circumstances of suffering. AVhere : the impatient Northern would set himself to devise and en- I force a remedy, the Spaniard (piotcs a jjroverb, and it must I be a rare emergency which cannot be met by some apt and 66 ILLUSTRATED TRAVEL& !i >■ ■n • 'I sententious srraii of current Spanish philosophy. If there is none sufficiently appropriate and conclusive, he rolls and lights a cigarette, which action is in itself a practical proverb at once philosophical and consolatory. It is this ([uality, joined with an inborn spirit of obedience and respect for authority, that has made the Spanish the easiest governed, and therefore tiie worst governed, nation in Europe. As every rider knows, it is better that the horse should bear a little on the bridle. A too easy mouth begets a careless hand, antl then some day there comes a rough bit of road and a stumble, broken knees, an empty saddle, and a cracked crown. In the matter of inns Spain would have continued co tolerate to the end of the nineteenth century the sort of accommodation that prevailed in the seventeenth, had it not been for foreign influence, and it is remarkable how the march of improvement in this respect marks the track of the foreigner. The first establishments deserving the names of hotels were at the scajiorts, jjlaces like Barcelona, Valencia, Malaga, and Caili/., and date f'-om the period when steamboat communica- tion began to operate along the coast ; the inland towns for a long time made no sign, with the exception, perhaps, of Seville, which is, after all, a sort of seaport In 1855, in his last editio.i of the " Hand-book for Si)ain," Ford describes the Madrid hotels as among the worst in Europe, and only mentions one, and that with a recommendation which reads like a warni.ig. The rapid spread of railways since that time has, however, made a great change ; now, not only at Madriil, but at almost every large town, there are hotels, not, perhaps, as well appoin ed as the best in Paris, but on the whole as good as thase in most civilised parts of Europe, and, at any rate, good enough to satisfy all but the extremely fastidious. Recent tourists have, indeed, in some instances inveighed bitterly against S|)anish hotels, but it is impossible not to suspect that tiiese comiilaints are due, not so much to experience, as to tourist tradition and guide-book instniction, according to which it is a principle that all hotels in Si>ain must be bad, and that it is the correct thing to abuse them. The fact is, that in nine cases out of ten the hotels to which tourists go in Spain are no more Spanish than Mivart's or Meurice's. It is one of the peculiarities of Spanish progress that the pro|)eliing power is generally foreign. The railways are in l'"rench hands, the mines in Fjiglish, the literature is worked by the (.iermans, and the hotel department has been taken charge of by the Italians. To the Spaniard is left the part of complacent proprietor, a part which he looks and acts to admiration. As he does not att.ach the idea of dignity to labour, though he is quite able to ajipreciate its effects, the sight of foreign industry on his behalf is i)leasant to him. It is gratifying that he should have his bondmen "of the heathen that are round phout him," and though the labour is theirs yet he soil they work on is his : cs siempre Espam ; it belongs to Spain, and Spain belongs to him, and so he can regard the result with entire selfsatisfaction. For the real Spanish inn it is necessary to go farther afield, to leave the beaten tracks, or on the beaten tracks to try some nnvisited town, such as Aviia for instance, at which the foreigner does not stop because it is not the foshion to sto|). There the curious in such matters will find the unaiuilterated national hostelry, whatever title it may assume for the nonce ; foi it is to be noted that if Sjjain is above all countries naturally poor in inn accommodation, the Spanish language is the richest of all languages in words to express that idea. " Hotel " has been recently naturalised, and of indigenous terms there are " fonda," " parador," " meson," " posada," " hosteria," " venta," " ventorillo," " taberna ;" to which list may be adtled "hostal," which, however, is pure Catalan, and " casa de huespedes," and "casa de pupilos," though the last are more strictly the equivalents of " pension " or "boarding- house.'' This variety in nomenclature indicates, however, distinction rather than difference. The fonda (a title which is now adopted also by the buffets on the railways) is, or makes a pretence of being, the sort of thing which would in other countries be called a hotel ; but as one recedes from the great highways the distinguishing features become fainter and fainter, until, in the very remote districts, the name, when it does appear, ceases to imply any superiority or difference worth mentioning. The parador is the analogue of our old coai hing inn ; it is the place domle para la dilis^eticia — where the dili- gence stops — whether to dine, breakfast, sleep, or discharge its load. It varies of course with the quantity and cpiality of the passenger traffic on the road, in some cases boasting a iiu-sa ndondii (table d'hptc), and an attempt at a cuisine. The meson and the posada are both town inns, the chief differ- ence being that the former is rather a bigger and more bustling kind of establishment, and more property a sort of house of call for carriers, arrieros, muleteers, and business travellers of that description, while the ])osada is the inn, pure and simple, of city, town, or village, the place, as the name imi)lies, doiuk se posa — whc' _ one reposes : such, at least, is the theory. Hosteria is a vague term, which means anything, or very frequently noUiing. in the way of entertain- ment for man and beast. The venta is the roadside inn, the caravanserai, far from die haunts of man, to which the traveller looks forward as the place where he may break the weary journey between town and town, bait his steeds, cool his parched clay with a deep draught from the perspiring porous water-jar, and, if the house be one of good repute and large business, recruit himself with more substantial refreshment. The ventorillo is the diminutive of the venta, a half-way house, of bothie or " shebeen " order, just capable of sujiplying water for the mules, and fire-water — aguardiente— for their masters. This and the taberna are the lowest depths of Spanish entertainment. This latter is simply the wine shop of the mountain hamlet, and has .seldom much more o offer the wanderer who is forced to seek its shelter than black bread, clean straw, and vino de paste — not the light dry sherry- like wine which monopolises that name in this country, but simply the vin ordinaire of the district The taberna is, how- ever, almost confined tu the mountains of dallicia, Leon, and the Asturias, where the un-Spanish practice of calling a spade a spade prevails to some extent. In grandiloquent ("astile, or imaginative Andalusia, a house offering the same degree of accommodation would not have the least scruple in calling itself a posada. The posada and the venta are the two most typical and characteristic of all these. They are, indeed, things of Spain, wholly peculiar to, and in every sense redolent of S|)ain. Of course they vary considerably ; some i)osadas there are whii h the traveller will always hold in grateful remembrance for their excellent, homely fare, cosy lodging, and kindly ways. Many, most perhaps, will have a place in his mcii.ory solely from their i \ I { A NOTES ON SPAIN. «7 discomforts and humours, and the semi-barbarous originality pervading the entire establishment. To the traveller wiio, setting forth from Madrid or Seville, or some other civilised starting-point, i)lunges into the v.ilds of Spain, as he may do in most cases immediately on jiassing the gates of the city, his first posada affords nearly as conii)lete a change as coukl be obtained by dropping from a balloon into the middle of Chinese Tartary. However posadas may differ in internal arrangements and comforts, they always agree in one point, they are, externally, strictly honest ; they make no illusory outside promises about neat wines, beds, chops and steaks, or anything corresponding to those luxuries. They preserve an uncommuni- cative, unpromising, and even forbidding front, without a sign to guide the hungry pilgrim, or any in- dication of their calling except the name of the hostelry, Posada of the Sun, or of the Souls, or of Juan the Gallego, painted on the wall within a black border, like a mortuary in- scription, and, perhaps, a withered branch — diat bush which good wine needs not, according to the pro- verb — hanging over the entrance. This last is usually a gateway, lofty and wide, for through it must pass all that seek the shelter of the house — men, horses, mules, or wagons. Inside will generally be found a huge, barn -like apartment, with, at one end, an open hearth, or else a raised cooking altar, where some culinary rite or other seems to he alw.iys in progress. At the other, a wooden stair- case, or rather, a ladi)er. Every one works away at the common dish, liarpooning his food with the point of his knife, or, if a man of refinement. wine down his thro.it from the lealhcm bota which passes j round from hand to hand, or from the porron, a squat glass I flask, with a long curved spout like a curlew's bill. The posada, its w.ays and scenes, company and surround- ings, have rather a flil Ulas flavour. The venta, on the other hand, reminds one more of Don Quixote. The venta is, ; indeed, " the inn" of Q)uixotic story, and one, at least, of those I mentioned can be identified in the Venta de Qucsada, a ' couple of leagues north of. Manzanares, on the Madrid road. 76 ILLUSTRATKD TRAVKI^. Hi 'M )<1 i 'I'liis is clearly the inn Cervantes had in his eye when he described the Don's first sally, and how he was dubbed a knight by the innkeeper. Tradition says it, and topograjjiiy confirms it. The "great yard that lay neere unto one side of the inne," where the hero watched his armour, and tlie " cistern neer unto a well" on which he placed it, are still in existence, and have a positive historic value in the eyes of the Man- cliegans. By the way, Shelton and his successors would have done better in translating "pili" literally by "trough," which would have been more consistent with fact, as well as with the spirit of incongruity which pen ades the humour of the whole scene. There are better spetinens, however, of the Don Quixote inn than the Ventade Quesada. On the long, straight, dreary roads of La Mancha and Andalusia may be seen, at intervals, the very counterpart of that famous inn, in which are laid so many of the scenes of the first part — a bare, staring, white-walled, red-roofed building, big enough, and self-assertive enough, at least, to pass for a castle. For leagues there is no other house " to mark the level waste, the rounding gray." All the features described by the novelist are there, even to the corral where they tossed poor Sancho in the blanket, and the huge skins of red wine with which the Don did battle. The company, too, is much the same as of yore. Officers of the Holy Brotherhood, ladies in disguise, and escaped captives from Barbary no longer travel the roads ; but the barber and the priest, cloth-workers of Segovia and needle-makers of Cor- dova, pedlars, arrieros, and caballeros may still be found grouped together, by the levelling influence of venta accommodation. Any remarks about ventas and posadas would be incom- plete without a word on the fare and cookery of the Spanish inn. In the civilised hotels and fondas of the large towns, the cuisine is simjily continental — that is to say, French, or quasi-French. Spain asserts herself at the table only in a cer- tain leathery and pitchy twang in the wine, and in a feeble imitation of the puchero, which is one of the courses of every table d'hote. The parador, too, in these days very frequently shows signs of foreign influence ; but the meson, the posada, and the venta are true to Spanish cookery and Spanish dishes. About these there is a good deal of misconception. The olla and the puchero, for instance, are generally spoken of as if they were definite works of culinary art, and (juite distinct one from the other. Practically they are the same, olla being the term in vogue in Andalusia and the south, puchero, in the Castiles and the north generally ; and each meaning, like our "dish," not the contents, but the receptacle — the brown glazed earthenware pan or bowl in which the mass is cooked and, generally, served. In each case the composition and ingre- dients depend entirely on the sujjplies withi; reach. They are, in fact, stews or messes, into which anything edible that is at hand may enter with propriety. There are, however, certain ingredients more or less necessary. As the proverbs say, "Olla sin tocino, seniion sin Agustino" — an olla without bacon is as poor an affair as a sermon without a flavouring from St. Augustine, and as flat as a " boda sin tiimborino," a wedding without music ; and as bacon is ab at the one thing which is never wanting in Spain, bacon is always there to give an unctuous mellowness to the mass ; also there should be chorizos, the peculiar highly-spiced rusty-flavoured sausages of Spain, and likewise scraps of beef As a bed for these more solid in- gredients there should be ])lenty of cabbage, and garbanzos or chick-peas, to which may be adiled any fancy vegetable the season permits and the district produces. The same rule holds good with respect to the meat element. The recognised members are those mentioned above ; but mutton, fowl, goat, or any chance game picked up on the road — hare, partridge, (juail, nabbit, i)lover, magpie, all are admissible ; and then, as the cookery-book would say, let the whole simmer gently over a slow fire, for "olla que mucho hierve sabor pierde" — the olla allowed to boil too much loses flavour. The guisado, also an eminent posada dish, is a stew of another sort, simpler as regards its composition, but more elaborate as regards its sauce. In the north-west of Spain, and where the potato flourishes, the guisado occasionally developes a family likeness to the " Irish stew," and when really well cooked, is a dish to set before a king, not to say a hungry traveller. Another favourite posada dish is chicken and rice, which is something like curried fowl, witii tlie part of curry left out, or, to be more correct, undertaken by saffron. The tortilla and the gazpacho, sometimes alluded to in books about Spain, are not properly posada or venta dishes; the former, a substantial kind of pancake with slices of ])otato embedded in it, being rather a merienda or luncheon refection, to be eaten /// transitu ; the latter, a something between a soup and a salad consumed by the peasants and labradors in the fields. The true posada soup, or sopa, is simply bread saturated into a pulp with caldo — the water in which meat has been boiled. Condiments of various sorts are largely used in [josada cookery. The commonest are tomato, pimientos or jieppers, red and green, and saffron ; to which must be added those two bugbears of the foreign traveller, oil and garlic. As to the accusations brought against the former, a true bill must be found in most cases. It is generally execrable, so strong and rancid that " you shall nose it as you go up the stairs into the lobby," but there is rather more fuss made about garlic than it deserves. The Spanish garlic, like the Spanish onion, is a much milder and less overpowering article than that produced further north. Every one who has mixed much in peasant society in Sjiain must have remarked that, although (juite as much addicted to the use of garlic as that of the south of P'rance, it is by no means so objectionable on the same score. It is even possible for a Northerner to become in time quite tolerant of garlic, but it is a terrible moment when he first perceives that he has ceased to regard it with that abhorrence which a person of properly constituted senses ought to feel. He becomes the victim of a horrible self- suspicion somewhat like that of a man thrown among can- nibals, who found that their mode of dining was beginning to be less revolting to him than it had been at first The dessert of a Spanish dinner ought, considering the climate, to be well furnished. But the Spaniards aie not, like the Moors, skilful and careful gardeners, and fruit in Spain is generally poor, the oranges, grapes, and, perhaps, the figs, ex- cepted. The smaller fruits have scarcely any existence. The strawberry is all but unknown, except in a wild state. Melons, to be sure, are abundant, and large enough for Gargantua's mouth, but they are rather insipid. The apples are sometimes fair to look at, but seldom worth further attention. The pears are very much like those stone fruits sold at bazaars for chim- ney ornaments, and about as soft and succulent ; and as to the peaches, they are generally nothing b-Jtter than pretentious turnips in velvet jackets. What has been already said about the ways of the posada will throw some light on one of the minor barbarisms with which A VISIT TO PARAGUAY DURING THE WAR. 7» Spain is frequently charged. It has been urged as an ugly fact against the nation that every male, of the lower orders at least, should always carry about him such a murderous weapon as the " navaja," the Spanish knife about which so much has been written, and it is assumed that an instniment of that form can only be retained for homicidal purposes. The navaja is, indeed, the national weapon of the Spanish peasant, as the long Toledo blade was that of the hidalgo, and in that capacity it lias many a time done effective service in the guerillas of Spain, as many a poor French picket has found to his cost. Very likely it would come into play again should an occasion arise ; but at present, and in these latter days, it is, appearances notwithstanding, nearly as harmless a tool as a courtsword. Those frightful combats and scenes of slashing and stabbing with which Spanish life is so generally accredited, are in reality of the very rarest occurrence, now at least, whatever they may have been. There is not, perhaps, a less quarrelsome people naturally than the Si>anish, nor are they by any means the fiery, hot-tempered set, prone to shed blood on the smallest provocation, that those who are fond of generalisation repre- sent them to be. A fight of any sort, even in the back slums of the great cities, is the most uncommon of sights, and there are probably more of what are called " knife cases " in a week in England than in Spain in a twelvemonth. Better police regulations, too, have helped to make serious frays impossible. The professional bully, for instance, mentioned by Ford, and portrayed by M. Dor^, cannot well levy black-mail on the card-players with the same impunity as in days gone by. The navaja is carried more from force of habit than anything else. It is the old trusty companion of the Spaniard, a weapon abroad, a knife at board ; and, though fighting may have gone out, dining still remains in fashion, and he clings to the old tool. Still, however, it must be admitted, appearances are against the navaja, and, .being so, every tourist will, of course, buy a specimen, to serve as an illustration of the manners and customs of Spain. With the traveller who means to put up at ventas and posadas it is, indeed, a matter of necessity. A knife of some sort he must have, as has been already shown, and he had better provide himself with one of those of the country, for if he ])roduces a more civilised implement of foreign manufacture, he will find that its attractions as a curiosity are so great that it will be in any hands but his own at meal times. The Albaccte cutlery is the most esteemed ; but Santa Cruz de Mudela, Saragossa, and one or two other towns, turn out business-like articles. Eirbarous, indeed, in every way is the navaja. The blade, sharp at the point as a needle, varies from three inches to three feet in length. Knives of the latter dimensions are not, to be sure, generally carried in the breeches pocket, but they are to be seen in the cutlers' windows. From eight to ten inches is a convenient length for general society, but twelve or fourteen is not considered ungenteel. Nothing can be nider than the ornamentation, workmanship, and finish ; in fact, the whole affair rather looks like the uncouth weapon of some scalping, weasandslitting, stomach-ripping savage, than the peaceful companion of a European Christian. Still, the elasticity of British manufai ture, which on the one hand can surjiass the blades of Damascus and Toletio, and on the other descend to meet the tastes of the Malay and the Red Indian in creeses and tomahawks, is equal to the task of producing a navaja which can compete successfully with the native article. There is a form of knife, bearing the name of a Sheffield firm, which is -.ow becoming very popular in Andalusia on account of its f'.iirability, lightness, and cheapness, and it is curious to observe how the traditions and tastes of the country have been consulted in its construc- tion. It is certainly, in appearance, a less bloodthirsty instru- ment than the original navaja, and inclines rather to cutting than to stabbing as the true province of a pocket-knife ; but it is studiously and carefidly rough and rude in make, and, beside a common jack-knife, which does not cost half its price, it looks like the product of some savage workshop. This is the small end of the wedge; it will be for some hardwire Danvin of the future to trace the features of the old national navaja in the improved cutlery of Spain. A yisit to Paraguay during the War. BY THOMAS J. HUTCHINSON, f.R.G.S.. ETC CHAPTER II. BATTLE OF RtACHUELO— NOISES IN SOUTH A.MKRICAN TOWNS— CITY OF CORRIENTES— CMACO INDIANS— BONI'LAND THE BOTANIST- MIRACLE OF THE CROSS— LAKE OK YBERA- FLOATING ISLANDS— THE VICTORIA RECIA— THE FARANA ABOVE CORRIF.NTF.S— ITAPIRU FORT-THE BRAZILIAN FLEET— THE PARAGUAYAN CIIATA. March 30/^— Passing the Sombrero and Sombrerito points, we enter the bay oi)posite the Riachuelo, where was fought the great naval battle, already alluded to, between the Para- guayan and Brazilian squadrons, on the nth of June, 1865. Vessels ascending the river and entering this harbour have to contend against a very rapid current sweeping round the point; and the Paraguayans, availing themselves of this advantage, erected a battery at the place to aid their fleet. Into the centre of the river bight flows the small river Riachuelo, and at the upper end, us the only reminder of the battle, we sec projecting out of the water the three masts of the large Brazilian iron steamer, the Jequitiuhonha, which grounded on a bank during the fight. I hope to be excused giving any details of this contest, when I state the fact that both sides claim the victory on the occasion, and that medals to commemorate it were stnick respectively at Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, and at Rio de Janeiro, the capital of Brazil. Rounding the point of El Pelado (the treeless), and skirt- ing along the Isla de Palomeras (the island of bleak iioints), anchor is dropped in Corrientes roadstead at ten o'clock on Good Friday morning. In nearly all South American towns the first noises which attract the attention of a stranger are the sounding of bugles and the ringing of bells. It occurs to me that the latter prac< tice may owe its origin to the dogmas of Frater Johannes Drabicius, who, in his book, "De Ccelo et Coelesti Statu," printed at Mentz in A.D. 1718, employs 425 pages to prove !'■' H ;|! Li 'I Hi t>'< ! ■ I m i ' '; 1 !■ T» ILLUSTRATED TRAVEI^. that the occupation of the blessed in the world to come will j be the perpetual ringing of bells. Before sunrise bells and bugles are now vibrating at Corrientes, whilst (luring the whole tlay long the music of both is re|)eated at in- tervals — too often, 1 regret to say, in most distressing tones of discortlance. I had been informed, previous to my visit to this place, that there were some old ladies here whose notioiis of what ' Captain Maury calls the '■ tleography of the Sea" were so limited, that even after steamers began to ply in this direction they believed the mail and passenger vessels came out from Eng- land in the same flishion as the river craft etfected their voyages from Buenos Ayres: to Corrientes — namely, by lying every night alongside an island, to which their ship was made fast by a rope secured to a tree. I was agreeably disap- pointed with my first view of Corrientes from the road- stead. Two venerable-look- ingchurches — the Matriz (or jiarish chapel) and the San Francisco — with the Moorish- looking tower of the Cabildo (town hall), first attracted my attention, producing a fdeasant Okl-W'orld appear- ance. Then a number of brown sloping roofs — a very u;r,;sual thing in Spanish South American towns, where all the house-tops are flat — gave an air of quaintness to the place. On the beach, at the southern end, arc half- a-dozen tanneries; the leather which is manufactured here constituting one of the chief articles of export, together with dry and wet hides, tim- ber of various kinds, and oranges in their season. My earliest visit on shore was paid to His P',xcellcncy the Governor. In the Government House are comprised the governor's and the minister's office, as well as the offices of the customs, the bank, and the war depart- ment. The buililing was originally erected as a college by the Jesuits. Its i hief front faces Tucuman Street, and over the main iloor are the arms of the Argentine Republic. This bl()( k of buildings covers a .si|uare (cmnf/d) of ground (150 yards on each side), and inside the quadrangle is a smooth greensward of the finest grass. Everywhere in the streets of Corrientes this herbage, styled ^iwnil/a or J>aslo INIIIAN OF I'AKAi;l!AV. tierne, is seen growing. Between the offices and the gi.isg a corridor runs along on each side, clinging to the pillars of which grow scarlet and vari-coloured convolvuli, inter- mingled with white and red roses. In two squares which adjoin we find the commissariat's offices, busy with the troops and stores now in daily jireparation for the camjiaign in Paraguay. The ground on which the city is i.uilt is undulating like that of I'aranl In the same street as the post-office, and nearly o])posite to it, ' the theatre, of which I saw little except broken win- dows, and obsened th.it the light of heaven ])cnetrated very distinctly through the greater part of its wooden roof. The streets in one respect bear a resemblance to those of the city of Cor- dova, in being simily, which is attended with this ad- vantage, that in wet weather there can be little or no mud. Occasionally we see blocks of basalt cro])ping up in these sandy roads. Al- most every house has an orange -garden attached to it, and the fragrant odours of the blossoms and the golden fniit, when in season, make up for many defi- ciencies in the place in other respects. The pro- duce in oranges is so abimdant that, as I have before said, they con- stitute part of the exports of the city. In the principal />laz(t are situated the two churches of the Merced and Matriz, whilst between them and the river is the church of San Francisco. This square is very spacious, but the town-hall, a statue of Liberty in the centre, and a few private houses, constitute all its architectural features. Opposite the Cabildo (or town-hall), and on the other side of the square is a large, gloomy, prison-looking residence, with a siTiall entrance-door painted a very bright green, where resides Doctor Santiago Dercpii, who was president of the Argentine Confederation on the fall of Urquiza. A few palm-trees, not of very vigorous growth, are planted here ami there. The statue of Liberty has at each corner of the base of the column, and overto|)ping the pediment, the figure of a human bust. One of these represents Bclgrano, another San Martin, a third Alvear, and the fourth Liivallol — all A VISIT TO PARACUAY DURING 'I'HH WAR. 7.5 heroes of the war of independence waged I v the Argentines against Spain. In the Matriz there are sonic fine paintings by the old Spanish masters. The organ of this church was made by ,i priest, assisted by a native Macksmith, I mounted the tower . the Cabildo, in order to have a view o*" the city and surrounding dumtry. This edifice, the town-iiall of the ])lact'. was erected in 1812 by Deputy- Ciovernor I.a/uriage, uid has always been used for offices by the judges of crimi- nal, of civil, and of commercial causes, as well IS by the Gtje Po- litii. This last-named functionary is, in all Argentine towns, equiva- lent to the mayor or chi( f magistrate. P'roni the summit of the tower the eye ranges across the lu't.'r to the illimit- able wilds of the Gran Chaco territory ; but the most attr.Ktive object is a very imposing church, with enonnous dome, covered with blue and white porcelain tiles, situated in the north- eastern part of the city, at a distance of about a mile and a half from whore we stood. This sacred building was de- dicated to our Lady of Rosario ; but, although commenced ten years ago, it is still unfinished, and surrounded by scaf- foUling. Towards the borders of the town, on the south-east, we can see the chapel of El Milagro de la Cruz (The Miracle of the Cross), and adjoining this lies the public cemetery, Seen from this height, Corrientes might be styled the " city of orange groves," so abundant are the orchards of this beautiful fruit. Descending from the Cabildo, I stroUea up to the market- house, which is nothing but a galpon, or shed, resembling an African palaver-house, in being open at both ends. It is about fifty yards long. Among the articles offered for sale by the dark-skinned market-gardeners and costermongers were heaps of Indian com, s »gar-cane, sweet potatoes, melons, gourds, and a curious sort of lumpy saccharine confectionery that resembled too much the colour of the sellers to encourage me to try its flavour. As I walked tlirough the town I was able to VOL, I. SERGEANT GONZALES — PARAGUAYAN SOLDIER. notice more attentively the brown roofs of the houses, which had so curious an appearance from the deck of our steamer. They are constructed of the trunks of palm-trees, the cylin- drical stems being si)lit down the middle, and -n arranged in juxtaposition as to have their convex sides upwards. Attached to the majority of houses with this style of roof, and facing the street, are wide vcramlahs, beneath whi( h one can sit at any tir.if of the il;iy, and be protcrted from the scorching sun. Amongst the motley crowd of natives and foreigners to be met with here at this time, were occasional specimens of the Mo- covi and Guaicaru In- dians from the Gran Ch.ico. These people come across from their wild woods to sell grass for cattle, there being no alfalfa (South Ameri- can clover), on which horses are fed else- where in this coiiiilry, cultivated near Cor- rientes. The Chaco grass is extremely coarse, being almost as thick as wht n straw. It is, ne- vertheless, said to be very nutritious, and the horses feed on it with great avidity. During our stay at Corrientes the crew of the steamer caught in the river a large quan- tity of fish, some of them resembling in taste the English salmon. Two of the kinds taken were the dorado and the pekare, both excellent eating. The latter is said, by its presence, to be the invariable pre- cursor of the water rising — a change very much needed at the time of my visit. The dorado, as its name in- dicates, is of a golden colour; whilst both species are plump and fat These two kinds of fish are plentiful in all parts of the river, from Monte Video upwards. Whilst at Corrientes I made inquiries respecting the dis- tinguished French botanist, M, Amadde Bonpland — a man who once enjoyed great fame as the companion and worthy fellow-labourer of the illustrious Humboldt, in his world- renowned journeys across the Cordilleras of the northern part of the South American continent Bonpland died in 1858, at his estancia, or plantation, in the territory of Missiones, near a town called Mercedes, at the distance of about fifty leagues 10 74 ILLUSTRATED TRAVELS. i I 1 ^ , ill east from Corrientes city. To me it was a subject of sadden- ing rctlL'ttion to find that the name of this celebrated saTant was already almost forgotten in the country of his adaption. In spite of the s|)lendid career which lay open to a man of his great attainments in l-airope, after his travels, he left the centres of Old-World civilisation, anil came to the banks of the I'ljta to do what he coidd towards the spread of eiiiiyhtenment in the New World. A grant of lami, four leagues in extent, v.as given to him at the time that Don Juan Pujol was governor of this province in 1854. At this last-mentioned period, being then interested in the establishment of the agricultural colony of Santa Anna, where he temporarily resided, Bonpland was appointed by Governor Pujol to be director-in-chief of a museum of the natural products of the province of Corrientes, just created in the capital. His reply, accepting the post, seems to be worthy of being preserved. It is dateil Santa Anna, the 27th of October, 1854, and is addressed to the governor in the following words : — " I shoukl wish to be younger, as well as more worthy to fill the situation of director-in-chief of the m\iseuni, or perma- nent provincial exhibition, that your Excellency has deigned to offer me. Although I am now three months beyond eighty ye.ars of age, I accept with gratitude the honourable position placed at my disposal ; and I pledge myself to employ all my powers in fulfilling the numerous duties exacted by an institu- tion calculated to be so useful to the people of Corrientes, to whom, as well as to your Excellency, the honoured founder of this museum, I owe numberless obligations. "The chief riches of this province, as far as we know at presenl, consist in its vegetable productions. In the Argen- tine Republic, together with Paraguay and the Banda Oriental, I have collected a herbarium of more than three thousand species of plants, and I have studied their properties with the mon careful attention. This work, in which I have been employed since 18 16, will be very useful when I come to arrange our vegetable collection ; and I hope in a short time to place in the museum of Corrientes a herbarium that will be as useful as your Excellency need de-sire, in encouraging in the minds of your fellow-citizens an ambition to study the natural products of their country. "As to the mineral kingdom, t' ere is no doubt that with the advance of time our mines of silver and gold will be worked with much advantage, when we have a more numerous population, and labour is carried on according to better rules than those which now exist. Although quicksilver has been discovered, many years ago, in the neighbourhood of La Cruz, still the predecessors of your Excellency have neglected the glory of utilising this metal, which is so useful for amalgama- tion with gold and silver. It would seem expedient to me to explore as soon as possible the three small hills which overtop the town of La Cruz, for it is there that may be discovered the chief deposit of this quicksilver. If, as I hope, we can ascer- tain with accuracy the position of this mine, it will prove an invaluable treasure to serve for the amalgamation of the numerous ores of gold and silver, that are at the present time being worked with so much zeal all through the Argentine Republic. "The animal kingdom is well represented in the pro- vince, but as yet we have only a superficial knowledge of it. Therefore much interesting information can be elicited, as well as a good collection formed, by an assiduous study of thid branch of knowledge. God bless your Excellency, &c. &c. "AMAOfclb: Uo.NPLA.'iU." The st.itements in the foregoing letter, that the writer was eighty ye.irs and three montlis old when he accepted the post of director-in-chief of the Corrientes Museum, and that he had made a collection of more than three thousand species of pliints, made me very anxious to know something of the result of his 'abours in this interior province. I found that his name is remembered, and that is all. No one in Corrientes of whom I inquired knew even where the museum had formerly stood, although it was only twelve years since it was established ; and of the whereabouts of Bonpland's botanical collection they were eciually ignorant. Such is scientific fame in South .'Vmeru a ! Young as these South American countries are, the city of Corrientes boasts a miraculous legend concerning its founda- tion. It is thus related by the historian. Dr. Vicente C. Quesada : — " In the year 1588, Don Juan Torres de Vera .and Armgon was AdelanUulor, or Governor of Paraguay. Me sent h's nephew, Don Aloiizo de Vena, with eighty soldiers, to found a city in some advantageous position, lower down the river than the capital of Asuncion. In the report of Don Alonzo on the place which he selected, he describes it as 'a beautiful situation, not only with a charming persi)ective, but possessing manifest adv.antagcs for agriculture and the rearing of cattle.' On the 3rd of A|)ril, 1588, they mounted the banks, which in this place are not more than from ten to twelve feet above the water, and pitched their tents in a small bramble wood, called Arazatary. The custom of the Si)aniards in those times was, in the first place, to make a cross, which they planted, as a signal of their having taken possession in the name o£ the Spanish sovereign. At this epoch the Guarani Indians in- habited this part of the country in large multitudes, anil they knew, from sad experience, how dreadful was the tyranny of the white man, under whose bondage their brethren were then suffering in Paraguay ; so that, at sight of the Spaniards, they prepared to defena ilicir soil and their liberties against these invaders. The new-comers, having erected the cross, con- structed a wooden palisading, inside of which they placed themselves for defence against six thousand Guaranis, who came at once to attack them, and who were commanded by three famous cacicpies, named Canindeyu, P.ayaguari, and Aguard Coemba. The Guaranis poured in on the besieged a shower of arrows, against which the palisading was but a miserable defence. Previous to returning the assault with their arquebuses, although these were charged, the Spaniards knelt down before the cross, and offered up in loud voices the most fervent prayers to heaven for protection. The Indians, observing the ciirious cries and movements of those who had Knelt down before the symbol of their faith, believed that it contained some charm which would prevent their overcoming sui h a handful of soldiers whilst it existed ; therefore, as the cro s was placed at the entrance to the palisading, they piled around it a quantity of dry branches of wood, a quantity of scorched-up grass, and anything of a combustible nature which they could pick up. Then they set fire to the mass, amidst yelling and dancing, for they calculated on certain victory when the cross should be consumed. But their surprise was very great when, after an hour's burning, the sacred symbol A VISIT TO PARAGUAY UUKING THK WAR. 75 was observed in the midst of the ashes jjcrfcctly uninjured. With chagrin and disa]ii>oint,nKnt, they rctiirncd to a|ii)ly fire again, when, as one of tlie Indians ajiproaihed to stir up the smouldering embers, he was struck dead upon the spot. Some say this was done by a flash of lightning, sent down from heaven to punish his impiety; but others, less credulous, believe he received his deathblow by a shot from one of the Spanish arquebuses. The Indians, at all events, at sound of the detonation, and on seeing the dead body of their brother, took this as a signal mark of displeasure from above ; then the six thousand Guaranis, with their caciciues, women, and children, bowed thi r heads to the yoke of their eighty Spanish conquerors." Having ob'ained a horse through the kindness of Dr. Newkirk, I rode out on one morning of my stay here to see the pillar which is erected on the spot where the cross was originally planted ; for, although a chapel was the first edifice built in Corrientes directly upon the place where stood the holy symbol, that chapel, with its \)r'ue(\ memorial, was recon- stnicted on the loth of March, 1736, and again rebuilt on the 30th of March, 1808, on the site where it now stands. The existing La Capilla de la Cruz is very near the town, whereas the first one was more than a mile distant. The column, which is erected about 500 yards from the river's bank, to commemorate "La Cruz de los Milagros" (The Cross of the Miracles), was completed, and its opening celebrated by a grand religious festival, on the 4th of May, 1828, "as a testimony of the people's veneration for their religious traditions." It is a simple stone pillar, plastered over with mortar ; and at the time of my visit there was a bird's nest on the top of it. The height does not exceed fifteen feel, and it has about six feet square of metal railings at the base. On two sides of its base are inscriptions in Spanish, that nearest the river being, " The people of Corrientes erect this monument as a testimony of their gratitude to the sovereign Author of omens, with which His omnipotent right hand deigned to work in favour of their Fathers on the memo- rable 3rd of A])ril, 1588;" whilst that on the side facing the city runs, " The pnme people of Corrientes, in homage of the memory of their twenty-eight illustrious ancestors, on the 3rd of April, 1588." Although the first great miracle is believed to have occurred on the date just mentioned, its celebration was changed to the 3rd of May by the Bishop of Paraguay, Dr. Don Benito Line, when he visited the i)lace (at thai time forming part of his diocese) in 1805. For a considerable number of years after this the Governor, the House of Representatives, the civil and military bodies, were accustomed to hold a grand festival in the neighbourhood of the column on the 3rd of May. During the day all kinds of Gaucho games were cele- brated, and many features of carnival times were presented, whilst the night was passed in singing, ddncing, and playing the guitar. But now there is little more in Corrientes than the desolation which war brings everywhere. The city of Corrientes was named " Taragui " by the Guarani Indians. This word, in their languu^v., signifies a " lizard," and they gave the appellative from the fact of the walls, roofs, and patios (court-yards) of the houses abounding with these reptiles, shortly after the city was founded. The original title given by the Spanish founders was " San Juan de las Siete Corrientes " (Saint John of the Seven Currents), from the circumstance that, a short distance above the city, the river Paran;l breaks on some points of rocks, wlii( h cause so many back-waters (/>., .seven), and consecjuent eddies, each having an opposite tendency. The coat of arms of the province represents seven points of land, with a cross in the middle envelo|)ed in (lames. Corrientes province is divided into twenty departments, including the cajjital. 'i'hesc are territorial resent the ensign of Holland. The shores of the river between Itapiru and the Tres Bocas is clothed with a seemingly impenetrable jungle of bushes, and trees of moderate height. The fleet, seen from a short distance presents an im- posing ajipearance, consisting, as it docs, of monitors, iron- clads, gunboats, and trans|)ort steamers, of whose numerical as well as cannonading strength I confess my ignorance. The greater portion of them are Brazilian. One day, after my arrival, I went on board a Paraguayan "< hata," that lay alongside a Brazilian war steamer, in order to exanune its construction. It had been captured in the fight at Riachuelo, and in shape resembled (yie of our canal boats, except that it was more tapering at the ends, at each of which it was fiirnished with a rudder, similar to the ferry-boats on the Mersey plying between Liverpool and Woodside. The toji of its bulwark was elevated only fourteen inches above the water. Being flat-bottomed, it had a very shallow draught, In the centre was a circular depression a foot deep, in which there was a brass swivel, so that its armament of a 4. the sea at no distant period, .i.id, after being well washed by numerous sweepings of freshwater, it has become, like most recovered swamps, of mar- vellous richness, and admirably adapted both for grazing and corn crops. The corn of this part is celebrated, and fetches a higher price than any other French grain. Except a few trees close to the houses, the country is bare, and without hedges or walls, or any other mark to signify tiie boundaries of proi)erty. T'.ie larm-houses are large, low, comfortable-looking habita- tions, and, in some cases, adjcin a larger house belonging to the JDroprietor, who, for the most part, only appears at long intervals. There is one small park in the heart of this wild district, but the inhabitants generally care little about shelter, and even less for ornament. The first few miles of travelling in the Camargue were unmarked by any incident. The road got gradually worse, the country more open, the cultivation less evident But there was nowhere any appearance of swamp, in the ordinary sense of the word. Near Aries the whole soil is gravelly, and the transported material brought down by the river is coarse. It soon becomes finer, however, and before long gives way to a fine sand, or mud, in which no pebble so large as a pea is to be seen. When we have jjassed the farm houses and cultivated lands, nothing so large as a pin's-head can we find of real stone. We then enter the actual living delbi — the great broad tongue of land creeping onwards with a strange but calculable and almost visible motion, pushing itself info the sea, in spite of the ceaseless attacks of the waves on its extremity, gaining, year after year, a few yards in advance of its former position, but always retaining the same general appearance and the same external form. It is a strange, weird thing, this advancing and pushing outwards of a point of land, and this growth by slow and imperceptible steps, causing the waters of the mighty ocean to recede, however slightly, from a position they have once gained. In watching it, "/e are face to face with one of those mysterious contest.) of nature by means of v\hich the existing surface of our globe has been produced. The Camargue is a magnificent study for the geologist The first thing that ..kes one, after leaving behind all cultivation, is the smooth and even surface of the ground, and the comparative rarity of any kind of vegetation. The nature of the material of the soil varies, however, some of it being ^E A FEW DAYS IN THE CAMARGU.K. n clean white silica sand, some of it made up of innumerable small fragments of shells, and some of it approaching in appearance to mud. But there is no tenacious mud, and the whole is hard and solid to walk on, either for man or horse. At intervals there are countless groups of perfect shells, con- sisting of small and thin-shelled cockles, mixed with a few land and fresh-water snails. On a sudden we find ourselves at the edge of a sheet of water, but this does not in the least interfere with progress. We ride on in a straight line towards the object we have in view, for there is no danger of (]uicksands or swamps, and we may cross miles of these sheets of water without risk, as they are all exceedingly shallow, being nowhere more than from thirty to forty inches deep, and often not half that depth. These lagoons are the characteristic feature of the delta. They vary greatly in magnitude, and slightly in depth of water, according to the season ; but they are rarely dry, and rarely impassable. The great central lagoon of the delta is 16,000 acres in extent, at certain times ; at others, it is reduced to a few detached lagoons of small size. Advancmg across the lagoons in a direct line towards the sea, we soon perceive that the line is broken by ranges of low sandliills, a few yards above the general level of the lagoons. These, at first, seem to follow no fixed direction. On reaching them, we find them to be roughly parallel to each other, and also to the shore-line. Those further inland are often covered with a coarse kind of vegetation, consisting of tamarisk, juniper, and some kinds of grasses. They separate some of the lagoons very effectively, and form them into a series which, on the whole, are gradually more saline as they approach the sea. The innermost lagoons are nearly or quite fresh, although even these, when dried, present indications of salt incrustations. The inner lagoons are, of course, those first subject to the floods, and that receive most of the fresh water, while the outermost lagoons are subject to be flooded with salt water whenever, owing to storms or high winds, the sea advances over the land. There is a gradation observable in those which are intermediate. The outermost abound in sea-fish, the inner contain eels ; and it is not a litde curious to study the acclimatisation of some of the fishes, in passing from one pool to another. One of the most important industries of the Camargup consists in the manufacture of salt by the evaporation of sea- water ; and this is carried on to great advantage, owing to the wide expinse of flat lands little above the mean level of the sea, and ihe rapid evaporation that takes place during the si'mmer sea on. Not only common salt, but Epsom salts are manufacture 1 to an enormous extent, and very economically. The 3u<-!.»ce cf water exposed in the evaporating pans of one establishment that I visited was to the extent of 2,500 a-res — nearly four square miles. The piles of salt were almost alarming. Seen from 1 distarce across the level plains, these piles rise in a ghost-like mat ner against the sky, their deitd- white lines contrasting with t'le greyish-blue vof the atniospheie. The length of the principal heap was nearly an English mile, the breadth at die base being thirty feet, and the height about fifteen feet. The total quantilj of common salt in stock at the time of my visit consid-jtably exceeded ioo,oco tons, besides which there was a pile of Epsom .salts measuring forty yards long and sixteen feet wide at the bottom, the ^eight beini; upwards of twelve feel on an average. The .salts of both kinds (common and Epsom) are here made with great economy, and of great purity. The Ejisom salts do not cost more than two shillings per ton, the common salt, of course, much less. 'J'he Camargue feeds a large number of oxen and sheep. The fonner are half wild, and are a peculiar breed. They are hardly tended, roaming over the marshes and feetling at will. When met with they generally disapjiear as soon as possible, so that observations on them are not easy. There are also a large number of horses enjoying entire liberty, and enormous flocks of sheep, who pass the simuner in the Alps and are pastured during winter in these salt plains. The human inhabitants of the delta of the Rhone include not only the farmers and other permanent residents of the jilains, but the dwellers in the two or three small towns, one within the delta, the rest on the edge of the low terraces overlooking it. These are thoroughly medixval. Lunel is the least so, though not wanting in objects of interest. St. Gilles is now a railway station, and may improve, but for some centuries past it has been as completely stagnant as it is well possible for a village in an out-of-the-way part of I'Vance to be. It has had its history, however, and retains not a few marks of its ancient importance. Many centuries ago it was an important station —almost a port — on a canal leading from the Mediterranean to Beaucaire, the site of one of the chief of the great European fairs. In those palmy days its fine old church was crowded, its many large and excellent hou:,es occupied, and its market-place and wide streets may have been necessary. Its architectural remains are still sufficiently interesting to attract a few tra- vellers, and amongst them 's one of those wonderful staircases, complete /m/rs d( force of cjnstruction, of which one can only say that they are possible because we see them accomplished. But the town of Aigues-Mortes is both more perfect in its way and less easily reached. It is within the delta, though not strictly in what is called the island of the Camargue. It is a perfect gem to the archa:ologist, being entirely unchanged in its external appearance, and in the most admirable condition. It is surrounded by a wall, in one angle of which is a lofty and massive tower, called the Tower of Constantine, From this tower might have been seen in the year 1 248 a fleet of galleys moored to the rings on the seaward wall, most of which still ,f iiain, and of these g.ilioys, or of galleys such as these, an example found in the adjacent marshes a few years ago may now be seen in Paris in the galleries of the Louvre. The walls are lofty, but not very thick. They remind one of Nuremberg, but are more perfect and less picturesque. They were not adapted to resist any very severe attack, and not at all defensible against modem weapons. The tower is the most interesting part. This large and lofty building is cylindrical and o])en in the interior to the roof. Galleries are built all round, and eacli story is separately defensible. All kinds of curious contrivances remain, evi- dently intended to assist a few occupants in keeping out an enemy, however numerous. It is now undergoing judicious repair. One can easily perceive that whatever the temptation m.oy have been to occupy Aigues-Mortes as a safe place during the middle ag^s, there is 'itde inducement now to settle there. It leads nowhere, it h,is no business, and certainly there are no amusements. A small fragment of populi''- 1 hangs on, how- ever, and though half the streeU arc 1 vn with grass, there are still a few children seen playing ui the other half. I i M I : ■ 80 ILLUSTRATED rRAVKLS. ; t li i.\ I ': i There remain also fragments of miny fine houses. In one of them is a grand Renaissance (hiinney-jjiecu of really <'.\i client work. There are but few public buildings, lowever, and the churn down to the observance of forms, the meaning of which was quite beyond the comprehension of his limited intelligence. They wanted, in fact, to raise him at once to the level of the white man, instead of leading him to it by a gradual process of civ'- lisation. The results of such a system w..re what mi|{ht have been expected. It could only destr ly what natural 84 JI.LUSTRATED TRAVELS. character he liad, and turn liini into a hypocrite. Nevertheless, ' parallel with the coast. Here a beautiful and varied panorama the Catholic niission.aries in Madagascar deserve our respect : of the mainland unrolled itself before our eyes, from the high for their ])L'rseveranrc among an unruly ])opuhition, as W(;ll as mountains of Angontsy to the rugged hills of Voheni.ir, and the for their ( oniplcte disinterestedness. escarjied peaks of Mount Anibre. Near the headland the sea We found the same festivities going on at Sainte Marie as is always so rough that we were obliged to keep furdier out. 1 1 Madagascar ; dances under the trees on the sea shore, and , The next day saw us running at full speed through a sea as irt H:t;i ' ] REE-I'ERN— MADAGASCAl;. games of all sorts. The poor natives enjoyed themselves thoroughly in the absence of the governor, who does not encourage any merrymakings. We weighed anchor at three o'clock in the afternoon, and sailed for Nossi-Be. Two days are generally occupied in the voyage. We coasted along Madagascar, leaving jioint Larrey on our left, and then, steer- ing to the north-east, we soon Inst sight of land, but in a few hours were in view of the lofty East Cape, after which we ran blue as azure, and as still as a mill-pond. At ten o'clock we doubled Cape Saint Sebastian, and soon aftenvards were in sight of Nossi-Mitsiou, the country belonging to Tsiniiar, the last descendant of the northern kings ; by six o'clock in the evening we were anchored midway between Nossi-Fali and Nossi-Be. Next morning we i)assed between the island of Nossi-Cuniba and the fc est on ; but we did not imagine that, when their minds were disabused upon this point, they would have been so determinedly set upon fleecing us. We were obliged to put up with it. After passing Ked&ref, we could not obtain a sheep under three dollars, exactly nine times the price they used to cost at Massdwa ; while eggs were sold at a piastre and a half apiece, answering to fivepence of . our money — a charge which, I tliink, would be considered exorbitant anywhere. TAKROOREB SOLDIER. At Hellet-el-Kanz we fell in with Abd-ul-Melak, a Copt, who had represented himself to our Agent and Consul-Gencral in Egypt as possessing a good deal of influence with tlie Aboona or Metropolitan of Abyssinia, and as having power to render considerable service towards the liberation of Consul Cameron and his companions. Colonel Stanton had accord- ingly dispatched him on a kind of mission for that purpose, and had entrusted him with letters and presents for the bishop. Amongst the gifts destined to propitiate the head of a non- smoking church were several fine amber mouthpieces, and enough Latakieh to stock a tobacconist's shop in a provincial Turkish town. It is needless to say that the envoy had never set his foot beyond Matemma ; and as he had letters of recommendation to all the Egyptian authorities in those parts, he was continually travel- ling between that town and Ke- daref, and living handsomely on the unfortunate peasantry, who had orders to supply him with everything he wanted. Mr. Rassam took measures to prevent the imposition being carried on any longer, and, with a warning, left the detected rogue to find his own way back to Cairo. We left the district of Ke- daref at Hellet-el-Kanz, and entered that of Rashid. The country for many miles round is merely one vast steppe, co- vered with tall and sun-dried grass, and tenanted only by the giraffe and the ostrich. For a long distance not a drop of water is to be found. At one in the morning, after marching six hours, we halted for the night at a place where the ravages of fire allowed us room for our camels and ourselves to lie down ; but before daybreak we were obliged to be off again. Five hours and a half brought us to a , village called Wed-el-Amas, where there is a spring of tolerable water, and one large tree, under which we could spend the day. As the trunk was quite hollow, I found room inside it to spread out my bedding, and was able to take a nap in a cool and comfortable apartment, free from the glare and heat of the sun. At half-past three in the afternoon we were off again, and travelled for more than nine hours before we reached our next watering-place, Medalc The road here loses a good deal of its prairie-like character, and in parts is very stony. Trees of a much larger growth begin to show themselves, but the country is still very level, the only eleva- tions -we saw being two low hills to the right, Doka and '-Trr; i I III ii liMi Ii Li I 9» 1 1.I.US TRATKD TRAVELS. Dagak'cs. The fomicr is considered the s;inatoriimi of Matcmma, and is an agrL-cabic retreat while tiic summer heat rages so fiercely in that district. At Medak there are several wells, and some fine trees, beneatii the siiade of which we were glad to take refuge till the sun went down a little. Five hours brought us to Uervcesh, where we left the Rashid district and the country of the Arabs, and entered that of Cialabat, the land of the Takroorees, as they are called by strangers, or .Xrbab, as they style themselves. Riding on for an- other hour, we arrivetl at a village called Ja'afra, where we passed the night, and starting the next morning at four, journeyed on pleasantly through a dense thicket, in which a beautiful species of acacia with feathery leaves was especially conspicuous. I,ea\ing the camels behind, we travelled on briskly, and at a ((uarter to nine reached a valley with a tiny streamlet running through it, called the Khor-el- Athrub, by the side of which in- numerable monkeys, some in family parties, and others evi- dently in a state of single blessed- ness, were disporting themselves. Here we remained till half- past two, and an hour's ride then brought us into Matcmma. The chief of the district, Sheikh Jooma, was absent at the time, having been compelled, .ac- cording to annual custom, to present himself with his tribute at the court of King Theodore, but we were welcomed by his loaiin kneiis, 'Izz-ud-deen, and by the sheikh of the town. Hassan KiTendi had ridden on previously, and had given glowing accounts of the wealth and magnificence of the Prankish embassy, which was for some time to take u|) its f|uarters in the district, and we found on arrival that jireparations had already been made for our recei)tion. A hill facing the east and overlooking the town, and umiuestionably the healthiest spot near it, was assigned to us. It usually served as the summer residence of the sheikh, and on it were erected a fine large airy shed and three small houses, which, with our tents, amjjly sufficed for our accom- ! modation. j Looking down from our hill, we could see the collection of \ huts, called Matcmma, '.o the fullest advantage. Altogether there may be si.x hundred of these flimsy edifices lying over the plain in scattered patches. Thsy are of circular form, and built with grass walls and thatched conical roofs. The houses of the sheikh are perhaps the best in the place, and are situated ' WOMAN OF KASSAI.A CARRYING WATER. within a large enc! ire near tlie centre of the town. A little further on flows the Metcharah, a streamlet from which the majority of the inhabitants obtain their water, and which fonns a most picturescpie feature in the lan->ted, jjartly by reason of the unhealthiness of the lower lands, and partly by the prevalence of the tsetse fly, which destroys the bullock teams of the traveller. On the most recent ma])s, it will be seen that there are no fewer than five mouths traced with doubt as belonging to this river, marked along 300 miles of the coast. .Xccording to recent news from Natal, the I.impojjo has at length been traced to the se.i, the feat having been performed by Mr. .St. Vincent Krskine, son of the colonial secretary of Natal, who trained himself for the task, and accomplished it between July and September of last year. He appears to have made Leydenburg, a small town in the northern part of the Transvaal Republic, his starting-point, and to have marched direct from there to the junction of the Oliphant river with the Limpojio, the position of which he determined by observations for latitude. He then descended the pre- viously unknown lower course of the great stream, and reached its mouth in triumph on the 5th of September. According to the scanty news we at i)resent have of this adventurous journey, Mr. Krskine appears to have found the embouchure to coincide with the river Inhampura as marked on the maps. If this be the case, most of our learned geographers have greatly erred in their calculations of the direction of the river. The river does not appear to fonn a delta, or to spread itself over extensive marshes, as had been conjectured by some writers and travellers. ^Vhether it is available for navigation or not, and what is the nature of the country through which it flows in the lower part of its course, will not be satisfactorily known until the complete narrative and map of Mr. Krskine reaches Kngland. As he has been throughout in correspondence with the Royal Geographical Society of London (through Dr. R. J. Mann), the complete account of the journey will pro- bably shortly be communicated to that body and to the jjublic. il:_ A VISIT lO lAK.UiUAY UURINU IIIK WAR. *•?? (RSI I t^'-jis- ■t'*'*'" . , , , DETAH.S OK JKSllT ARrHITitCTURK IN PARAnlAV. yf l^isii to Paraguay during the PVar. BV THOMAS J. HUTCHINSON, F.R.G.S., ETC. CHAPTER III. TIIK ALLIED CAMP — ITAPIRU FORT— HEAT OF THE CLIMATE — CAUSES OF THE PARAOUAYAN WAR — INCIDENTS OF THE WAR— BATTLE OF VATAY. On tlie 4th cf April 1 went ashore and visited part of the Brazilian and Argentine camps. In the Argentine quarters I passed a short time in the tent of the commander-in-chief, Brigadier-Cleneral Don Barto'ome Mitre, President of the Argen- tine Republic. His Excellency spoke hopefully of the speedy termination of the war, hoiuing an opinion in which I regretted not to be able to agree. The President's encampment was in a shady orange grove, perfectly impenetrable to I'.ie sun's rays, I'"rom this I strolled to the rear of the camp, through one of the prettiest tracts of woodland I have ever seen, where the tinamus, or native partridge, and other birds of magnifi- cent plumage, abounded, nothwithstanding the vicinity of the warring hosts. The trees rose to an immense height, and a dense undergrowth of bushes and smaller trees, of the most varied and elegant foliage, clothed the ground. The forest here, however, is not continuous and impenetrable, like the virgin forests of other parts of South America, for it is diversified with open, grassy spaces. Now and then, emerging from the woodland pathway, I came upon a space of bright green sward, reminding one of those opening glades of which the poet Moore writes in the "Epicurean," as seeming "to afford a playground for the sunshine." The camp being partly in the woods, the officers had availed themselves of VOL. I. the trees to form cool tents aid bowers in the dense shrubbery I and under ovt'rhanging branches. In many of these could be seen, as I passed, the lounging hammock suspended from the j boughs. Thus wen. the fiitigues of campaigning in so hot a I climate greatly alleviaied. Nothing can exceed the beauty of the park-like scenery in the neighbourhood of the Paso de la Patria, on the Corrientes side of the river. I rode tlirough it one evening, in company I with Colonel Leopold Nelson, and would have been willing to remain for hours enjoying its charms, only that we were within range of the Paraguayan 48-pounders and bomb-shells, which were likely to salute us at any minute from the oppo- site post of Itapiru. To the north of the point there is a snug little bay from 400 to 500 yards in length, in front of which, on the opposite side of the river, extending to nearly a league northwards, appears the encami)ment of the Para- guayan army. A whitewashed house in the distance was pointed out to me as the residence of President Lopez. On the day after we had passed, and on the very spot where I stopped with Colonel Nelson during a few minutes for observa- tion, two Argentine soldiers were killed by the bursting of a bombshell fired across from Itapini. One of them had his head taken off, the chin and whiskers being left ; and the other was struck by a piece of shell in the back as he turned to escape. April 'ifttu — The heat is almost unendurable. Little con- solation it is to know that the sun is now at the equinox, and is marching northwards to warm the other hemisphere, leaving '3 98 IL1,USTRATF.D TRAVEI5. ;i« 111' these southern regions to their approaching winter. It is pleasant, however, as evening conies on, to observe the gathering of dark clouds above the horizon that presage a thunder-stomi. It comes like a true tropical storm— a furious tempest of wind preceding the hurried sweep of cold air which accom|)anies the deluging rain. Fearful bursts of ligiitning and tlumiler attend tlie ilown-pour. 'I'hose who know only the cliin.itc of Kurope will scarcely believe it, but on the succeeding morning I observed a ditlerence in the temjjcra- ture of 33° Falirenheit, produced by the storm overnight. The air was not only cool, but as cold as it often is in England in the month of March. It is not an easy matter to trace the causes which led to the Paraguayan war, so recently and tragically brought to a termi- nation, at least for the present. Although I have resided for seven years, including the commencement of these hostiliiies, in the Argentine Republic, I confess myself still unable lo find an adeijuate explanation. Mutual antipathy, dating from an early period, would seem to bear no small share in it. We find in the work entitled, " An Account of the Al' 'pones of Paraguay," by Martin Uobrizhoffer, that, " from a letter written by the King of Spain in 1839, it appears that in five years 300,000 Paragu.ayan Indians were carried into slavery by Brazilians." These slave-hunting expeditions were carried on by the " Mamclucos," who are described by Dobrizhoffer as a race of Mestizos, inhabiting the interior of Brazil, the offspring of European fiithers and Indian mothers, celebrated for their skill in shooting and robbing, and ready for any daring enter- prise. He further records of these people — " In the space of one hundred and thirty years two millions of Indians were slain or cairied into captivity by the Mamehicos of Brazil, and more than one thousand leagues of country, as far as the river Amazon, were stripped of their inhabitants." There can be little doubt that the memory of these deeds has rankled for generations in the minds of the people of Para- guay, whose country suffered so much from being in close contiguity with the interior provinces of Brazil, peopled by the Mamehicos. Whenever the history of this Paraguayan war comes to be written, incidents like those which I am about to record, and for the truth of which I can vouch, will render it remarkable amongst the annals of military daring and patriotic self- sacrifice. At the retaking of Corrientes by General Paunero, the Argentine commander, in May, 1865, and after the Para- guayans had been driven out of it, there was one Paraguayan soldier, a sentinel, who had been left behind, most likely through his commanding officer forgetting to order his with- drawal. In the melk, he found himself surrounded by more than a dozen of the attacking party, who called on him to surrender. This he refused to do, with the rei>ly of "No tengo ordines" (I have no orders). But he was overpoivered by a superior force, and slaughtered on the spot. A repre- sentation of this faithful soldier, from a drawing I brought from Paragiiay, is given at page 100 ; it is taken, as well as the one on page 73, from a work I have published entitled " The Paran.-l, with Incidents of the Paraguayan War." At the battle of Yatay, which was fought on the 17 th August, 1865 — with victory to the allies, of course, for they were as three to one to the Paraguayans — a marine officer named Robles was very severely wounded. Yatay is situated about a league north of Restauracion, on the right bank of the river Uruguay. In this fight the allies numbered twelve thousand troops, and the Paraguayans only four thousand. The fonner had thirty-eight pieces of cannon, the latter only three. Major Duarte, who commanded the Paraguayans in this engagement, was taken prisoner, and sent to Ri» ; but the marine officer Robles, his second in command, who fought like a lion, was cut down by overpowering numbers, and captured whilst in- sensible from his wounds. As soon as he recovered conscious- ness, and found himself in the hands of the Brazilian surgeons, he tore the dressii.ijs off his wounds, rather than submit to their curative manipulation, and in a short time died of haimorrhage. A spirit similar to this is recorded by the Brazilian admir.il. Baron de Imhauma, in his despatch to the Argentine war mmister, Gelly y Ohes, dated "Camp in Tuyucue, March 8th, i86rf." This relates the circumstances connected with a daring attempt of the Paraguayans to take the Brazilian iron- clad.s. The attack was made by a fleet composed of forty- eight canoes , lashed together by twos, with twenty-five men in each. A g"oup of eight canoes (four pairs) was commanded by a captai'i, and destined to board one iron-clad, but, having lost the order on which they were advancing (very probably from their occupants being blinded with smoke from the firing of the monitors), fourteen attacked, and their crews boarded, the Lima and Barros ; twelve engaged with the Cabral, whilst some were driven down by the current, and others were sunk by the guns from the Si/aJo and Iferfal. During the engage- ment on board the iron-clads, some of the canoes returned to land, carrying their wounded am! dead. What a grand tribute to these courageous fellows is this last paragraph in that admiral's report ; — " The Hen'al and Silado killed a great number in the water, who had thrown themselves overboard. I endeavoured to save some, ordering boats to be lowered for that purpose, but they refused any help, and fitferred to die." The most remarkable characteristic of the Paraguayans throughout was their devotion to Lopez, their president and commander-in-chief — a spirit which was ridiculed by the Argen- tines as Paraguayan stolidity, and of which I am about to record an instance that came under my own observation. When Her Majesty's gunboat Doterel, on returning from Asuncion, in June, 1865, was passing by the Marques de Olinda steamer, lying a wreck, after the battle of Riachuelo, the commander, Lieut. Johnson, R.N., had his attention drawn to signals of distress flying from the wrecked vessel— a Brazilian flag overtopping the Paraguayan at the mainmast The Doterel was stopped, and the commander sent one of his boats to the steamer, which lay out of the channel, the river being here a mile wide. It was found that a number of wounded were on boaril, and that the vessel was without engineer or ofSccr. Fifteen Paraguayans, of whom twelve were seriously wounded, were taken therefrom, and placed on board the British gunboat. One of these men had his skull fractured by the falling of a mast ; a second had his leg broken by a shot ; a third was suffering from peritonitis, caused by a gun-shot wound in the abdomen ; and so forth. For four days and nights they had been living on ship's biscuit and water. The steamer had burst her boilers. Her commander. Captain Robles, brother of the hero at Yatay, was wounded, taken prisoner, and put on board one of the Brazilian steamers, where he had died a few days previously. The engineer had got away on a small raft he constructed, and by which he A VISIT TO PARAGUAY DURING Tllli WAR. floated himself down to an Italian schooner that was anchored a few humlred yards below, in the river. When the Dottrel onived at Rosario, on her way down, I went on boanl to see these poor sufferers. Every appliance which humanity could suggest for their comfort was put at their disposal by the humane Commander Johnson; and the gooil surgeon, whose name 1 regret having forgot, exerted hinjself to the utmost to assuage their sufferings. On the morn- ing of their arrival I went on board, to give my assistance to the doctor, in amputating the leg of one • i the wounded Paraguay.ans. Whilst waiting for the dottoi : get his in- struments in order, it was distressing to he. r the piteous groans of the man who was suffering *" mi peritonitis. The sergeant who was in charge of the gr' advancea to his bed- side, and 8i>okc to him in Guarani, which was translated for me by the pilot, when I saw that the words hai' the effect of at once stopping the plaints of tho woun-k 1 man. " Dog of a bad Paraguayan I are you not ashamed to let your enemies hear you complain, and give them rea:>on to lauph at you? Is not the glory of having been woundeetuosity of the people," writes UUoa, " often waxed so warm as to render necessary a forcible separation." But the Jesuits, having qualifications of the suavitcr in modo, joined with the fortita- in re, never failed to suppress these tribal dissen- sions. No doubt that training of this kind has made the Para- guayans what they proved themselves to be in the present war. For they, having associated less with the outer world of European progress and civilisation, in fact, living completely isolated fur more than half a century, may be said to represent to-day the courage, discipline, and perseverance inculcated into them by miiii 1 1 .1 -USl'RATED TR A V F,T ,S. ; ■■i W -m I f. ' ' 3 the religious teachers of their forefathers more than two hundred years ago. There was another element in this military schooling, whereby the Paraguayans were taught to turn in the same cheerful obedient spirit from a long and doubtful struggle to the peaceful cultivation of tlieir fields, or again to leave the plough and grasp the sword in defence of the missions — a cause as sacred in their eyes as the rescue ' ^ of the Holy Sepulchre from the infidel to the crusader. No expense of time, labour, or money was spared by the Jesuits in constructing their churches. Those at Candelaria,* up the river Vermejo, and on its left bank in the Gran Chaco ; of St. Joachim, likewise in the Paraguayan part of Gran Chaco, and of Asuncion the capital, were said to rival in symmetr)', taste, and splendour, the riches of Peru. What a curious an- tithesis may be deduced from the remark of Vol- tairc.t that " the estab- lisl ment in Paraguay of the Spanish Jesuits seems in some respects to be the triumph of humanity," and the fact, that the chief history of Paraguay, from the Jesuit expulsion, is known to us only as comprised in the accor'-'ts of Robert- son, and others — de- scriptive of the bloody tyranny under the dicta- torships of Francia and Lopez. It may be needless for me to add, that Paraguay has no commercial annals. Not the least re markable among the incidents of the Paraguayan war have been those in which the female part of the population were the chief actors. Hostilities had barely commenced, in May 1865, when the ladies of Asuncion, the capital of Paraguay, waited on I'ield-Marshal I-opez, for the |)ur- pose of making him the ofler of all their jeweller)', plate, and trinkets for the service of their country, and to establish a national currency of gold. Lo])ez, in reply, consented to • l-'niimloil in A.D. i6::7, in l.il. 27" 26' 4O" S, 1 Essai Mv Ics Mccurs. J'AK.MilAYAN SENTINKI. : "NO TF.NGO 0RDINE3."— /. 98. receive only twenty-five per cent, of the \alue thus offered to him. As the war continued, and whilst busy workmen were engaged night and day at the arsenal in Asuncion, turning out new guns in September, 1867, the women again came forward and offered the free contribution of their pots, pans, boilers, ana at the time was more than two miles from the fort. This morning I saw the Ba/iia, one of the iron- clads, with several holes in her chimney, the effects of Para- guayan cannon-shot, after she had been reconnoitring too near Itapiru. " April iQih. — This morning a sally was made by the Para- guayans from Itapiru on a small island in front, that liad been garrisoned and fortified by the Brazilians, chiefly with the object of inducing the Paraguayans to believe that at this point it was the intention of the allies to cross over. The Paraguayans attacking came at early dawn, or, in faci, before daybreak, many of them swimming the distance of half a mile, others coming in canoes, and all having, for clothing, no more than the usual fighting costume of their people — a red shirt. Of the number of the invaders or the killed in this bold attack, it was impossible to obtain a correct return. The Paraguayans, how- ever, did not succeed in holding the island. " Captain Romero (Paraguayan), whom I saw on board the Brazilian flag-ship, Apa, to-day, April 12th, had not been more than four hours a prisoner till he offered to enlist as a Brazilian, doubtless with some ulterior design. This is the man who commanded the attack on the island a few days ago. He told me that President Lopez was getting very fat, and that he smoked incessantly. Romero was not more than five days on board the Apa, when he slipped over the ship's side one night, and escaped. The Paraguayans are almost amphibious." Whilst the Paraguayans were here in the neighbour- hood of Itapiru, it was well known that they were furnished with movable electric telegraphs, similar to those which were used in recent European campaigns, and whereby communica- tion was kept ui>, not only with the capital at Asuncion, but with the various tlivisions and forces all through the army. No more palpable proof of these people having been many years making preparations for this struggle, need be adduced than the facts of the existence of these telegraphs, as well as of the effectual manufacture of torpedoes, by which, as before related, they have done much damage to the Bra- zilian squadron. The arrangements that might have been made on the establisliment of peace, if Lopez had succeeded, would have referred chiefly to the boundaries of these countries. The most melancholy feature of South American war has been, from time immemorial, this fighting .ibout disjwted boundaries, and claims to territories which none of the holders or claimers can turn to any practical account So that, until we find South American nations — be they republics or monarchies — disposed to listen to common sense, and turn their splendid soil and m.ignificent climate to practical account, they must be con- tent to remain as they are — distrusted by all mankind. It was from feelings of pride and ambition that the Brazilians resented the insult to national honour and dignity, which it was said Lopez had given to the empire. The Paraguayan Presi- dent, no doubt, considered himself equ.-illy justified to maintain what he founded his initiative of war upon — " the equilibrium of the Rivei Plate," disturbed by the Brazilian interference in the Republic of Uruguay. General Mitre looked upon the Argentine national "honour and security as outraged," and called to their post "citizen soldiers, whose banners were always wreathed with justice and victory." But it might have been no harm for the belligerents, at the end of three and a half years' 'fighting, to ask one another, " Have we not had enough of it ? and can we not establish some equilibrium that will be better for our mutual prosperity and comfort tiian this per- petual fighting ?" On my return from the Paso de la Patria to Corrientes, we had «n board the Due de Saxe steamer, in which I came down, from thirty to forty wounded Brazilians and Paraguayans, who were on their way to the hospitals. As I believed the miseries of such a war as this could be best alleviated by attentions to such sufferers, it was a pleasure to me to comply with a promise I had given to the Brazilian admiral, Visconde Tap mandare, to visit the hospifls when I returned to Corrientes. The principal Argentine hospital — there were two of these — was presided over by Dr. Almeyra, and was situated in the houses and square of what was formerly the Argentine College. Here Dr. Newkirk, a very excellent Canadian medical practitioner, was the active genius of the place. At the time of my visit there were very few wounded patients, although a month pre- viously there had been several hundreds. How well the sick and wounded are cared for may be imagined, when I state that the nurses were six French sisters of charity, whose angelic devotion to all in need of aid and consolation is well known. The other hospital was in an old battery near the river-side, and close to which took place a battle, on the 25 th of May last, when the Argentines and Brazilians drove the Paraguayans from their temporary occupation of Corrientes city. In these tv.o hospitals there was space for from five hundred to six hundred patients. About six Inmdred y.irds further to tlie north was the Bra- zilian Marine Hospital. This consisted of tliree long wooden houses, and was capable of accommodating more than five hundred patients. In e.ach house the boarded floor was raised two feet over the ground, and all the rooms were ventilated to perfection. Every bed occupied by a patient had 'a mosquito- curtain over it, and was supplied with a washstand and other necessaries. The chief medical man was Dr. Lourez Pinto ; besides him there were three other doctors. The dispensary- room was well stocked with medicines and surgical ap- pliances. In fact, the (ou/ ensemble appeared to me as perfect in its arrangement as any of the hospitals I have visited in Dublin, London, or Paris. The same may be said of the chief military hospital, which was about half a league south of the city. This was an immense range of buildings, and would be able to accommodate three thousand sick and wounded. Whilst I was visiting here, the principal surgeon was engaged in some important operation, but I was conducted through the wards by the director. Major Seeker y Lima. This hospital consisted of seven long houses, similar in con- struction to the marine hospit;d. Each bed, when occupied, had a mosquito-curtain and the other conveniences, as in the last-named establishment. In one of the houses there was a considerable number of consumptive patients. Every sick man had a j)aper fastened at the head of his bed, on which was written his name, age, rank, cUss of constitution, diagnosis of CALIFORNIA AND ITS PROSPECTS. 103 disease, temperament, date of entrance, and name of his birth- place. To these were supplemented columns, on which the attending physician or surgeon noted down every day the kind of external or internal treatment that had been prescribed, with the quality of the diet that was to be ordered for the invalid, and any other general observations that he might deem expedient to note. Tliere was a third hospital, which was chiefly for medical cases, with accommodation for 1.500 beds, near the ([uinta of a Senor Abalos, and about half a mile interior to the military one. Altogether, these hospitals were admirably fitted up for the comfort of the sick and wounded; and no expense was spared on the part of the Brazilian authorities to assuage the sufferings of their sailors and soldiers. The best medical men from Rio de Janeiro form the staff, under whose regulations these hospitals are managed. Connected with my memories of this cruise, there is another thing that gave me great pleasure to note. It was the custom which the Brazilian Government has of giving to its war vessels the names of men who have fallen in their service. There was a small steamer destroyed by the Paraguayans, whilst I was at Paso de la Patriae which had been entitled the Colonel Fidelis, after an officer of that name who was killed at the battle of Yatay during the present warj and one of their war steamers, called the Enrique Martinez, derives this name from a young midshipman, so called, who was shot by the Paraguayans when defending his flag at the naval battle of Riachuelo. California end its Prospects. BY FREiyERICK WHVMPER. A RECENT writer has told us that Califomians believe empha- tically in a future state — that State being California I And perhaps the inhabitants of no other country in the world have at the present time a better right for self-congratulation. The historians of its early days were, indeed, of a different opinion, and described the region as having very much of the nature of a desert — one strewed with gold, but so parched up in summer and deluged in winter, as to be altogether unfitted for agri- cultural pursuits. There must be few of our readers who do not remember the first tidings which reached home from this El Dorado of the Pacific. Conflicting as they were in regard tQ the country, all seemed to agree that its new population included a large proportion of rowdies, convicts from our penal settlements — " Sydney ducks " — runaway sailors, and loose fish generally. There was, unfortunately, a measure of truth in all this, which gav ^o the country for a time an unenviable reputation. But tht reign of these undesirable settlers, never predominE^t, was soon over. Lynch law and the " Vigilance Committee " organised by the respectable citizens, soon settled all outstanding accounts, and banished a still larger number of these gentry into the ouriying territories, where, repeating the same pranks, they usually ended their career, sooner or later, in a very sudden manner. San Francisco, and, indeed, California generally, has now an orderly and law-abiding as well as energetic and prosperous people. A lady may at the present day more safely venture out alone and unprotected in the streets of the capital than she can in London. When the writer first landed in San Francisco, in the autumn of 1862, he soon fo'md that it was not the "Fr'isco" of his imaginings and readings, nor .'hat of common belief. He found himself in the hea'.t of a highly-civilised community, where there were neither paupers, beggars, nor crossing- sweepers ; where labourers smoked ten cent cigars, where bLTvant giris still obtained wages of three to six pounds a month, and where there were uU the evidences of general prosperity. Numbers of particularly well-dressed citizens — from merchants to mechanics — hurried about on their daily avocati JUS ; numbers of ladies — ladies blooming as the rose. and infinitely more like English mothers and sisters than are those of the Atlantic States — were out promenading and shopping in the principal streets, which themselves were quite gay and Parisian in character. Although, from the universal deference shown these dames in street, or store, or car, it was obvious that they reigned supreme, it was equally clear that they were not quite such rare curiosities as in those early days when a miner would walk twenty miles to catch a glimpse of a petticoat ; when the steamboat companies advertised " four lady passengers to-night " as a sure bait to travellers, or when a crowd was known to collect and dance round some relic — ■ a ribbon or a crinoline — (which was it?) which some one had found — the nearest approach to a female they had seen for a long time. High civilisation is not possible in the absence of the gentler sex : lovely woman and the Vigilance Committee did more for San Francisco in a few years than any other power brought to bear upon it The capital, the " Queen City of the Pacific," has now no lack of imposing public buildings. Two cathedrals — Episcopal and Roman Catholic — churches and chapels, to say nothing of .synagogues and Chinese temples ; schools innumerable ; ther.tres and other places of amusement ; government and municipal edifices ; an immense dry dock hewn from the solid rock, 450 feet in length by 120 feet in breadth ; other docks in progress ; a grand sea-wall now in course of construction, and a population of 140,000 people, are tolerable proofs that there is a wonderful vitality in the country, and that San Franciscans have some reason for belief in their future. Twenty years ago all this did not exist; there was then but an embrj'o disorderly village of shanties and tents on the sand-hills and wastes now covered by handsome streets. And then those San Francisco hotels ! five or six stories high, kept d, P Americaine, fitted up with more than usual luxuri- ance, where the table-set affords a sufficient proof of the richness of the country. Things elsewhere luxuries on account of their rarity — game, from wild fowl to antelope and elk ; fish : salmon, sturgeon, and almost every other known variety; fniit : grapes, peaches, melons, and green figs — are in the market as cheap and plentiful as the commonest meats or fruits else- 104 ILLUSTRATED TRAVELS. ■ ■ ! i ;'!: 'i i. y: ' 1 ; » !!;ll ■^iri i^^'i' M' It |H where. As the writer has shown in another place, " the ojrk at a first-class San Francisco liotcl contains, in one harmo- nious whole, the delicacies of London, Paris, Xew York, and New Orleans. The verdant foreigner can, till dys[)e|)sia brings him back to sanity and plain living, revel in waftles, buck- wheat and flannel cakes, fried and jjoiled mush, hominj-, corn- bread, French and Spanish omelettes, the national fish-ball, gumbo soup, terrapin stews, clam and cod-fish chowders, potato salad, sweet potatoes, oyster plants, green corn, elk meat, California quails, squash pie, floating island, ice creams, and rose candy (candies and sweetmeats often figure in the dessert of a dinner bill of fare)." Long before there were any gold " rushes " or excitement, long before the acquisition of the country had added one star more to the " spangled banner " of the United States, the precious metal was known to exist in California, and had been obtained by Indians and Mexicans. As early as 1842, a thousand dollars' worth (including some twenty ounces belong- ing to Mr. Stearns, of Los Angeles), had been dispatched for assay to the U.S. Mint at Philadelpiiia. The priests, too, at the old Spanish missions, of which settlements tlu were twenty-one at the date of Beechey's visit, in 1827, were well aware of all this, but discouraged even the Indians from searching for the metal, knowing that a miscellaneous immi- gration would ruin the objects of their religious zeal. It was not till the 19th of Januar)*, 1848, when Marshall, a man employed at the mill of Captain Sutter, an early pioneer, found gold in the stream hard by, that attention was called to the countr)'. Californians, indeed, always date the rise of their state from '49, the epoch of the first great " rush " thither. At that date the news commenced to spread all over the globe. Ships from every port made for San Francisco, to be deserted almost invariably, by their crews on arrival; some, indeed, being left without their captains and officers. Pro- visions rose to famine prices ; some of the commonest necessaries were unattainable. The ordinary conditions of life were reversed. Professional men yielded precedence to labourers. " Spades were trumps.'' " Doctors hauled sand, lawyers waited at restaurants," and the few delicately-nurtured women there, found that they must do their own house and laundry work. Washing was sixteen dollars (about ^3 6s. 6d.) a dozen. A lady writing thence at the time said, " A poor young man thinks it quite an economy to have a better half who is a good washer," but added, "this child is not to be caught." Servants then received 100 to 150 dollars per month, and must, indeed, have been nearly unmanageable, for in //lese days it is a standing joke to say in San Francisco that a domestic "engages" her mistress. Miss Saxon's* story. Apropos of that period, is but one version of a well-known Californian yarn. \ well-dressed gendeman addressed a shabby, seedy-looking man one day: — " I will give you a couple of dollars to carry my portman- teau as far as the Plaza." "You .vill?" saindon in 1800. r », ■ P P n k TK- GRAND CASCAUE OF YOSEMITE. VOL. r. »4 io6 ILLUSTRATED TRAVEI5. ■,'( J!il Cortes embarked again, and " during this voyage f':ll in with the land of Califomix He was by this time as heartily tired of the business as any one, but he could not bear the thoughts of returning, after such extensive losses, without liaving effected something." Meantime, the wife of Cortes, who wxs becoming anxious, dispatched UUoa with two ships to search for her husband, who, falling in with him, induced him to return to Mexico. Cortes was undoubtedly the first discoverer of Cali- fornia. The discovery of San Francisco Riy, though a disputed point, may, we think, 1- attributed to Sir Francis Drake. The " fair and good baye " where he repaired his damaged vessel, which had then on board five million dollars i)illaged from the Spaniards — a richer freight than has ever since entered or left the " Golden Gate " — could never have been that slightly more nortliern cove, or rather open roadstead, to which Vancouver gave the name of " Drake's Bay." Twelve miles within the parallel of latitude named by Hakluyt would have brought him to the entrance of San Francisco Bay. Nor did he pretend to exact observations ; and in point of fact the prevalent fogs of that coast would sufficiently account for the lack of them. Drake was bent on a marauding, not on a scientific expedition. The topography of California may be very easily indicated. "It is characterised by a grand simplicity. Two mountain chains — the coast range and the Sierra Nevada — outline the form of the state ; the one extending on the Pacific shore on its western side, the other along its eastern border," overlook- ing the great basin of plains and prairies which might be properly named, if the title were not elsewhere appropriated. Central America. Both chains interlock north and south. Mount Shasta (14,400 feet) may be taken to be the terminating peak of either range in the nortli. These mountains enclose the great, broad, fertile, now much cultivated valleys of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, and are fed by countless tributaries, which spring mainly from the snows, or the moun- tain tarns of the Sierras, where there are a hundred peaks of 13,000 feet in height, and one at least (Mount \Vhitney) of 15,000 feet. The coast range, averaging perhaps 3,000 or 4,000 feet, rarely rises above 6,000, and is seldom snow-tipped, while the Sierra Nevada is an essentially Al|)ine chain. Scores of volcanoes have in former clays blazed along the crest of the latter, and have covered with lava an area of 20,000 square miles. " Sometimes this lava overlies, and at others underiies, the deposits of gold-bearing gravel wrought by the miner."* In early days gold nuggets were often found that bore all the marks of fusion, lying amongst scorched pebbles and other volcanic indications. The coast range is broken near its centre by the gap known poetically as the " Golden Gate," the entrance to the Bay of San Francisco. The cool afternoon wind, the " Key- hole breeze," which, while keeping the capital healthy, renders it a somewhn less pleasant place of residence tlian the country generally, sweeps in by this entrance. Ten miles away, even on the bay itself, this wind is not felt at all, and at twenty miles from the city you may live in a steady warm climate of almost perpetual summer. • -Sec an nrticle by H. Avery, a wdl-known Califomian writer, in the Oferliind Monthly (.San Francisco), Dec, 1 868. In Ireating of points which have not come umler my own observation, I have been much in- debted to the stores of information contained in this magazine. These mountain ranges have their characteristic vegetation. The coast hills and mountains, though often treeless, are cele- brated for their red-wood cedars, from which, indeeston where Californian burgundy, hock, port, sherrj-, champ.agne, and wine-brandy, are not to be obtained. The lighter wines are the better jiroductions ; some of them will com|)are with ex- cellent French .and Rhenish wines. There is one variety of sweet wine prettily named " Angelica." If California can only induce her sister states to become wine instead of whisky- drinking communities, she may be a good angel of temjierance to them, accomi)lishing more than all the Maine liquor laws in the world. Raisin-dr)'ing, as well as that of figs, prunes, &c., has been commenced ; these products will some d.ay be items of export. But California can do more than this. 'I'he fig-tree grows everywhere ; in the south, it yields two crops a ye.ar. Oranges, lemons, limes, and citrons ; almonds, olives, and even dates and b.ananas, thrive in southern Californi.a, which is also the great stock-raising jiart of the state. There immense herds of cattle roam, live, and die almost uncared for and untended. Woul, and, by consequence, woollen goods, are staple productions. In one mill at San Francisco, over 300 Chinamen are cncployed. And now, how large a i)opulation docs the reader suppose this country has .so far attracted to itself? Not more than 600,000 souls ! The united population of California, Oregon, Washington, and other outlying territories, is about one-third that of London. There is, then, an imbounded field for emigration on these northern Pacific shores. San Francisco will be the New York of the coast ; it is already its commercial centre. In front of it, says Mr. Dilke,* • "Greater Britain," Vol. I. wmam CALIFORNIA AND ITS PROSPECTS. 109 quoting Governor Gilpin, " are 745 millions of hungry Asiatirs, wlio have spices lo exchange for meat and grain," and already the increasing trade between California, China, and Japan has called into existence a line of first-class steamers. It is, moreover, the terminus to the great Pacific Railway. It is possible even now to reach the Pacific from the Atlantic, a distance of 3,400 miles across the continent, in twelve days. Less than 300 miles of that enterprise remains to be con- structed. The company speaks of its certain completion this summer. With these facts in view, and with the knowledge that the bay of San Francisco is the best harbour on the coast — anywhere from Mexico to Vancouver Island, if not, in- deed, from Panama to Behring Straits — it is hardly too much to say that San Francisco has a more promising future than any other young city on the globe. And are there no drawbacks to a residence in this other\vise happy state? There is but one of a serious nature : Cali- fornia has proved herself to be an earthquake country. Earthquakes have been very common ever since the first settlement of the country : the writer has experienced several. But, until the late earthquake '' (21st October, 1868), no severe shocks had frightened the in- habitants, and it was believed that they would never seriously damage the prospects of the state. The writer, though ab- sent from San Francisco in the late earthquake, has received both private (written) and printed accounts from tho country since the date of its occurrence. It created a great panic ; nay, some have left California in consequence. At five minutes before eight o'clock on the morning of the 2 1 St October, the earth- quake shook San Francisco to its very foundations. The walls I ing of Nov reeled as if about to bury the entire population. Helpless | to reach it infancy and decrepid age, frantic mothers and awe-struck men, j alluding to THE FATHER OF THE FOREST. nished out into the streets in crowds ; friglitencd horses trampled their w.ny through them hcfdicssly ; llie entire city was affected as it had never been before. Yet, in summing up the dani.ige done to life and property, we find that not over six persons were killed, and that no buildings were ruined but those on the "made ground" — />., ground reclaimed from the bay, and loosely filled in, the houses, in hundreds of cases, standing on piles. There, walls fell in all directions ; whole houses collapsed to their foundations ; " floors were crumpled between the better built walls of ad- joining houses, like cards in the hand of a child." No buildings were iwich damaged among those on the rocks and hills on which San Francisco is largely built ; and it is re- markable that the same was tnie of the great earthquake of Lisbon, which, in the space of a few minutes, destroyed 60,000 people. There, also, " /wf a building ti'as injiiird on file secondary limestone or basalt." Without irreverence, San Franciscans should evi- dently remember the respective fates of the man who " built on the sand," and of him who placed his dwelling "on a rock ;" and indeed the occur- rence has already awakened a very intelligent discussion in California. Anglo-Saxons will not allow even an earthquake to get the better of them, if, huniui.iy speaking, the appli- cation of common sense may be able in any way to neu- tralise its power. There are important streets in San Francisco built on ground snatched from the bay, over which s/ii/>s anchored twenty years ago, and where, as a recent Califomian wTiter says, " they may anchor again I Wheie the marble quay at I>isbon stood on the first mom- ember, 1755, a line of a hundred fathoms failed for ever afterwards." The same writer, besides the different results experienced on different : { ; k CTfNJL VC^ ''v>^ ^^ot Mii fit m n^' ) ■'■]' no ILLUSTRATED TRAVE15. foundations, shows that some forms of building were much more "earth(iuakc proof" than others; but the subject is too technical for readers who, happily, have no such occur- rences to fear. The State archives of California record several important shocks. "The mission of S;in Juan Bautista (between San Jose and Monterey) was destroyed by an earthciuake in tlie month of October, 1800." "The good fathers there were compelled to sleej) in wagons to avoid the danger, since the houses were not habitable, and the ground opened into deep fissures." In 1808 and 1812 there were several severe shocks. In the late earthquake, the old church at San Jose, which had lasted through so many vicissitudes, was shaken down, but the country generally was not affected severely, though the vibra- tion seems to luve gone through tlie breadth and length of the land. Latest accounts show that all this is already forgotten. Without at all glossing over the facts connected with these convulsions of nature, there seems good reason to believe and ho|)e that California will never experience any such earth(|uakes as those which have desolated many parts of South America, for the force of the earthiiuake wave seems to die out in its northward course. But who can tell f There is nothing perfect : there are spots on the sun. Earthquakes are the spots on the otherwise tramjuil course of Californian life. ^ yotirney through the Soudan and IVestern Abyssinia, with Reminiscences of Captivity. BY LIEUTENANT W. F. PRIDEAUX, IV. — ^Western Abyssinia : — Tchelga and Taccosa. The country we were .about to enter was one which, viewed from either its religious or historical aspect, presented features of the highest possible interest to the European traveller. As the field in which the missionary zeal of the great Alexandrian champion of the orthodox faith reaped its first-fruits ; the land where the enthusiastic monachism of the fourth century, the contagion imjiorted from the Thebaid, had produced the earliest version of Holy Writ, after the Septuagint and Vulgate ; the scene of those sanguinary conflicts between the followers of the old religion and the almost invincible zeal and energy of Rome, and in which the latter, though triumphant for a time, and aided by all the influence of king and court, had yet to succumb before the steadfast and unwearying adherence to their fathers' faith which distinguished the mountaineers in the rocky fastnesses of Lasta ; and lastly, as the one green spot in Northern Africa where Christianity, debased and rotten though it be, has still defied for hundreds of years the Koran and the sword on the one hand, and on the other the temptations of a sensual and soulless paganism ; — Ethiopia is invested with peculiar interest, and there is much to lead us to the expecta- tion that prophecy may yet be fulfilled in her. In its ancient books we find fables based on history, and histories where the personages are fabulous : the Jewish king El-Hakeem, and the queen who came from the south with longing in her heart to hear the words of wisdom ; her son, who fled from Jerusalem with the ark as a trojjhy, and the greatest amongst the doctors, and scribes, and musicians as his companions ; and after that, Candace and the God-fearing eunuch ; and later still, the tale of Abraha and Atsbaha, the war of the Elephant, and the conquest of Yemen. Truth and myth mingled together, and hardly to be sifted now. In our own days we have seen an old man, infirm and in his dotage, and yet with a genealogy which goes back to the era of Brute and Locrine, in the pages of Geoffrey of Monmouth, Hats6 Yohannes, last of the de- scendants of Solomon. In its physical characteristics, also, Abyssinia affords much that is interesting to the student of geography. Starting from the low-lying shores of the Red Sea, a few miles bring us to F.R.G.S., BOMBAY STAFF CORPS. two or three lofty ranges of mountains which can only be crossed by devious routes and by passes, now hanging over the crest of a peak, now plunging into a rocky defile ; and which form the watershed of the rivers which irrigate the plains beyond. These once surmounted, we find there is a gradual dip of about one in one and two-thirds to the western provinces through which we took the journey now briefly to be sketched, and which, while deficient in the picturesque grandeur and sublimity which lend the highest charm to the eastern districts, enjoy, and deservedly, a more enviable reputation for fertility and material prosperity. The Abyssinians themselves make a general distinction between the Dagga, or highlands, and the KwoUa, or lowlands. The elevated plateaux of Shoa, the Wallo Galla country, and many parts of Tigrfi, may be taken as types of the former, while the latter are well represented by the districts of Walkait and Waldubba on the north-west, and the deadly and dangerous valleys of the TacazzS and the Haw^h. Beyond these there are the snow-covered heights of Semyen, the tchokyi of the Amhara, which possesses such fascination in the mind of the soldier proceeding on the war-path, that, with the gwAza, or thin tufts of grass, which offer the only semblance of vegetation in those Alpine regions, it forms the burden to one of his most favourite battle-songs. The districts immediately to the westward of the Tsana Sea cannot properly be included in any of the above divisions. Their average altitude may be estimated at 6,000 feet above the sea-level, and they thus possess neither the cold and bracing climate of the da^a, nor the hot and malarious atmosphere of the kwolla. Generally speaking, these provinces may not be well adapted to a European constitution, but there can be no question that the natives of both sexes are strong, robust, and handsome, if not so long-lived as the dwellers in more elevated districts. Herds of cattle abound in great numbers, sheep to a much less extent, while horses are generally imported from the higher countries of Shoa and Godjam. But it is time now to return to our own personal experiences and wanderings. Soon after crossing the narrow rivulet which divides the Galabat district from the debatable land beyond, we bade A JOURNEY THROUGH THE SOUDAN. Ill farewell to the friends who had thus far accompanied us, and proceedeti on our way alone. It was the 28th of December, and though surrounded by scenes seldom associated with that kindly Christmas-time, it wos impossible to prevent the mind banishing for the moment the rugged boulders and dwarf bamboos which fringed the path, and the crowds of dusky foces and uncouth forms which environed us, and reverting to pleasant retrospects of home ; and then perhaps the thought would arise, where should we be tb^t time next year? A question easily put ; fortunately for us then, not so easily answered. The evening was pretty far advanced when wc arrived at our halting-place. The local nomenclature is, as a rule, Arabic, until the Gandwa, the boundary of Abyssinia Proper, is crossed, and this place, only noticeable through the possession of a little water, was called Dakn-el-Feel (the Beard of the Elephant). Our beds were quickly spread in the open air, and we lay down to snatch a few hours' rest, while the servants lighted fires, and cowered around them for warmth and com- panionship. But the extreme cold prevented us from sleeping long, and before daybreak we arose, and joined our servants around the cheerful embers. Abyssinians are never at a loss for conversation; while some are eloquent, all are garrulous; and if, with our limited knowledge of the language, we could not chime in with the messengers, the Shiho Mohammed, or the Tigrfi Hailu, in the anecdotes they were doubtless relating about the caurt of the great king, we could still find something to chat about with the interpreters, Omar Ali, Dosta, or Walda Gabriel of Shoa, who, with his young wife, was accompanying us from Matemma. At break of day we resumed our march, and travelled on till breakfast-time, when we halted at Alaradib, the Abyssinians being regaled with their favourite " brur. ■ or raw meat, as a cow was slaughtered incontinently on our arrival. The country is here more thickly wooded, and the shamboko, or bamboo, has increased in size ; but there is still a deficiency of what would be considered forest trees in England. Rumours had reached us that Tirsu Gobaz;,'6, the insurgent chieftain of Walkait, and the greater part of North-western Abyssinia, was hovering in our neighbourhood with a large gathering of his wild caterans, in the hope of intercepting the rich booty destined for Theodore, and this made us naturally anxious to push on as fast as possible. That night we crosseu the Gandwa, a stream which, rising in the hills of Alafa, pursues a north-westeriy course for about fifty miles, till it falls into the Atbara, not far from where we forded it It was about thirty yards wide at that season of the year, and, as I said above, is usually considered to bound Christian Abyssinia. We bivouacked for the night at Khor-el-Lailo, and rising betimes, travelled over hill and dale till we reached Wahhnee, where, seeing no preparations made to receive us, we halted beneath the shade of a large sycamore, a little beyond the market-place, till our servants and baggage should arrive. Wahhnee, the first village in Abyssinia Proper, is in the district of Tcharkwa, or Tchargo, and as it is situated on the high road between the producing countries of Godjftm, Agow Meder, and Dembea, and the great mart of Matemma, it is a place which boasts a considerable trade. We arrived while the weekly market was being held, but the real business of the day was nearly over, and consequently the peasantry who had come in to sell their wares, and those who had come to buy, together with the soldiers, priests, idlers, and general population of the place, who had no means of doing either, had plenty of time to stare at and take stock of the new arrivals. We had ex- pected that we should have been met here by the olVu-crs deputed by King Theodore to escort us ; but while we were still lying under the tree, and discussing whether it was worth while to pitch our tents, one of their servants c.ime up in hot haste, and informed us that in conse(iuencc of the story relating to Tirsu Gobazyd, mentioned above, their masters felt them- selves constrained to keep an eye on the rebel's movements, and they accordingly advised us to proceed forthwith to a place called Balwehft, a few miles further on, and await their arrival. The Shoom, or he.id man of the village, who probably h.id small desire to see us quartered on him as guests, recommended us also to follow this course. Then ensued a battle-royal between our Arab and Takrooree camel drivers and the Abyssinian followers of the Shoom. I do not wish it to be understooil that any blood was shed, or ev.n blows exchanged, but the strife of tongues was kept up «'ith the greatest heat for upwards of an hour. The cameleers, who knew pretty well what the road between Wahhnee and Balweh4 was like, and who were only engaged as far as the former place, vowed by their Prophet and his Koran that nothing should induce them to kill their beasts by urging them up the rugged paths and stony defiles which lay before them, while the Christians were equally zealous in invoking the aid of St Michael and all the saintly host in effecting what they wished. At length authority won the day ; the cameleers, whose animals had been seized, came in again by driblets ; harmony was restored, and peace ratified by the promise of an additional bakhsheesh. The following afternoon, on the last day of 1865, we settled ourselves down at Balwehft, and pitched our tents on a small plot of ground which had been cleared by nature, and was surrounded on all sides by thickly-wooded hills. The name Balweh4» properly belongs to a small brooklet, which rippled close behind our encampment ; but either that appellation, or that of Ballatcha, is used indifferently for the neighbourhood. On arrival, we found that the Shoom, who had already received intimation of our approach, was ready to receive us, and although he was too poor to provide us with tedj (mead), the rich man's drink, he had done his best to furnish us with as much talla, or beer, as we could drink. Thirsty and tired as '*v. .. :re, Blanc and I imagined we had discovered a treasure when we descried the gombo or jar slung over the shoulders of a stalwart maid-servant ; but we had scarcely moistened our lips with the sour but not unpleasant liquor it contained, when we discovered that we had acted quite contrary to all Abyssinian eriquette, which dictated that the offering should have been first laid at the feet of the chief of the party, or at any rate at those of his azMj, or intendant — which office, in fault of a better, Walda Gabriel had assumed. Our fault, however, in consideration of our ignorance, was condoned, and we promised thereafter to hearken attentively to the counsels of our Shoan "guide, philosopher, and friend." Later in the evening the Shoom dispatched on a visit to Mr. Rossam his better half, who came, according to the wont of Abyssinian dames, riding on a mule, enveloped, head and all, in the thick folds of her shama, and attended by two black-eyed, laughing damsels. We found our time hang rather heavily on our hands here ; there was no game to speak of, and as the surrounding country • Wtka in Amharic signifies " water," and is often used as a suffix to the names of rivers, just as Mai is used as a prefix in Tigr& !« I' r- ll'il iia ILLUSTKAIEU I'RAVKLS. was tliii kly wooded and liilly, ami the wihl reivers of 'I'irsu Goba/ye ininlit be in any direction, it was not < onsidered safe to stroll far beyond the precini ts of the c amp. One afternoon, I remember, we determined on ascending an in( onsiderable, but rather steep, eminence hard l>y ; wiien, as we were retnrning, we found ourselves confronted by a man who only after much parleying, and then with but scant courtesy, allowed us to pass. We discovered that he was an officer in the employ of the Customs authorities, and that it was only in what he considered the disc harge of his duly that he had stopped us, as, for aught he knew, we might have been smuggling merchandise along that unfreciuented path. lie must, however, have re- ceived a severe rebuke from his superiors, who were better aware of our position than himself, for, coming the ne.\t day with a heavy stone upon his neck, he prostrated himself before Mr. Rassam, and en- treated parilon in the abject manner usual to Abyssinians. This of course he received, and with a smalt present into the bargain he went away happy and contented. On the 4th of January we were informed that the oflicers composing our escort had ar- rived, and we were instructed by our Mentor, Walda (iabriel, that if we wished to inspire them with suitable respect and awe for us we should re- main seated in the tent, and without oftering to rise, merely regard them while they made their obeisances with that look of hauteur and con- scious superiority which an Abyssinian noble always as- sumes before inferiors, '.'his however we could not do. As soon as they were ushered ir. we felt constrained to rise, and welcomed them with an honest English shake of the hand. They were three, or rather five, in number ; but the principals, who held the rank of Basha, and had been invested with the silken shirt of honour, were youths scarcely arrived at manhood. Lidj* Tesanima and Lidj Sharoo were the sons of a chief who had formerly held large fiefs under Rus Ali ; his widow — for he had been dead some years — still resided at Wandige, a large district on the western border of the Tsana .Sea, where his pos- sessions had principally lain ; and the eldest brother of these joung men, Aniiire Hailu, had been appointed by Theodore to an important post in the government of his fortress of Magdala. • Li.d not far from the edge of the plateau, near a village called Sarabo, some four or five miles to the south-west of the town of Tchelga, the capital of the district of the same name, which we had now entered. Close to our camp there flowed a small brook, but we soon found that the inhabitants of the village made the most strenuous objections to our using any of its water. It turned out that they were all Kamants — a singular race, half Christian anvl half Pagan, who inhabit chiefly this district Though nominally all converted to Christianity by the late king, they still retain many of their old superstitions, an 1 amongst them is a strong repugnanco to eating meat or drinking water touched by those of other creeds. They had a like objection to our entering a small grove hard by, which to them possessed a character of peculia:r sanctity, and it was only through the influence of the Shoom, and in his company, that we could do so. Per- sonally, the Kamants rer.emble other Abyssinians, and it is only within a few years that their females have left off the singular custom of piercing the lobes of their ears, and hanging to them heavy billets of wood, thereby bringing the huge flaps at last as far down as their shoulders. They are, unlike the Falashas or native Jews, so many of whom reside in these districts, unskilled in any mechanical arts, and are chiefly employed in .upplying Gondar with wood. Their language is akin to the Falasha and Kuaragna, or that spoken by the natives of Kuara, the westernmost province of Abyssinia, but they generally understand the Amharic. We were forced to remain al Sarabo for three days, for want of a sufficient number of carriers, but at last 1,200 men were collected together. These gradually dwindled down to a third of the number, and by the time we reached the king's camp, our cavalcade presented comparatively quite a sorry appearance. The country was flat and uninteresting ; scarcely a village was to be seen, and the mark of the plunderer's hand was visible everywhere. We halted for half an hour at a ruined hamlet called Les4g, and should have liked to pay a visit to Gondar, which w.as distant about twenty miles E.N.E.; but our guides lold us it was quite impossible to do this, as there was no knowing whether it might not be in the hands of the rebel Gobazy6 at that very moment About noon we encamped beneath a large and solitary sycamore tree at Tankal, at the south-westem extremity of the large and formerly flourishing province of Dembea. The province of Dembea bears the highest reputation for fertility. Its broad and ample plains, sparsely covered ""'th trees, and its rich black soil, arc capable of producing with case three crops within the year. TeflT (Poa Abyssinica), barley, and mashela {IMcus sorghum) are the favourite cereals, and they are frequently raised in this order of rotation. In this district is situated Gondar, a stationary camp until the days of Hats^ Fasil, in the latter half of the seventeenth century, and converted by that monarch, with the aid of the Jesuit-fciught native artificers, into the capital. Dembea was doubtless selected as the head-quarters of a large and dis- tinguished court, on account of its extraordinary fecundity. Until within the last few years, when, as I remarked above, it has severely suffered from the marauding soldiers of King Theodore, it formed the granary of Northern and Western Abyssinix The climate, unsuitable for horses, which are said to be attacked there by a disease analogous to glanders, is admirably adapted to the rearing of immense herds of cattle, which cover the wide-spread prairies, and are usually tended by the Z.aian, a tribe of neatherds, who, with no peculiarities of race, are yet looked upon as a distinct caste by their fellow- countrymen. Zaldn is used as a term of reproach ; I know not why. Mr. Isenberg asserts that they assume a descent from Jacob, one of the companions of Menilck in his exodus A JOURNEY THROUGH THE SOUDAN. «'S from Jerusalem, and states that, in his opinion, in point of morality they are far in advance of other Abyssinians, and are usually content with one wife at a time. I am sorry to say that the truth of this last remark cannot be borne out by my own personal observation. One thing is cert.iin, however : they can handle the long stick, with which they are always pro- vided, most deftly, and few soldiers, armed with spear and shield, care for an encounter with one of these doughty quarter-staff players. Their chief habitat is in the provinces of Dembea, Foggara, and Belessa. On the following day (January 14th) we left Tankal, and entered the district of Taccosa.* En route, at a spot called Amoos Gabea (Thursday market), we fell in with startling evidences of the sanguinary disposition of the monarch under whose protection and escort we were travelling. The ground for several roods around the large tree, beneath whose spread- ing branches the mirket was held, from which the place derives its na'raa, was covered with bleached and grinning skulls, the trophies of the great king's vengeance over some rebels who had unfortunately succumbed to his power in that locality. Travelling on, we soon descried the rocky pro- montory of Gorgora, which juts out into the sea from the north-western corner of it, and it was not long before we could catch a glimpse of the blue still waters of Tsana, glinting beneath the noon-day sun. We halted at WanzigS, a village not far from the lake. The Shoom was absent with his sons in the camp of Theodore ; but his wife, on hearing of our arrival, imrajdiately sent a message of welcome to us. We went to pay our respects to her, and the worthy dame, anxious to show us all the hospitality in her power, insisted on pre- paring for us a dish of Jitfit with her own hands. Emptying tht contents of a gourd of curdled milk into 2 deep wooden bisin, she added some crumbled te^ bread, and then, stripping >ip her sleeve, she vigorously stirred the whole with her hand for several minutes. Then, a judicious admixture of dillihh, or capsicum-chutney, and a renewal of the stirring process followed, and the m;ss was pronounced ready to be served. Some amount of courage was required before we could bring ourselves to attack a dish so unlike anything we could re- member in a European menu, but, unwilling to cast a slur on our hostess' hospitality, we at length boldly plunged in our hands; and notwithstanding the strange flavour afforded by this milange of sour milk, sourer bread, and burning pepper, we contrived to do justice to the fare, and washed it down with a horn or two of rough beer, compared with which a l).;vonsliire labourer's cider would seem quite sweet We then bowed ourselves out, glad to exchange the smoky and stifling atmosphere of the small hut which form.-d the cMtelaine's abode for the purer air outside. The following morning there occurred a regularstrike amongst oir many hundred porters. The Tchelga and Dembea men refusiid to carry our baggage through Taccosa and the regions beyond. But Lidj Tesamma's mother, a fine old lady, who had joined us at Saribo, mounted her mule, and gallantly riding forth amongst the malcontents, eloquently harangued * This nam: should be properly spelt Takuesa, but I prefer an orthography in un: with the pronunciation. I may mentiou here that the letter g is always h.inl in Amharic, and that in words ending with the filth vowel form (A) the accent is nearly alTays on the penultimate, « in Wandi'gt, Wanii'yS, Tacai'iA, &c. Git is nasal, and should be pronounced like a French git (champagne), or Spanish A (Se&or). them, and, whether by appealing to their better feelings, or by bringing before their eyes the dread prospect of King Theodore's vengeance, or what not, reduced them at length to submission. Eventually, however, arrangements were come to by which a change was made ai the frontier of each district 'I'his proceeding, though involving considerable delay, was so obviously dictated by justice that we could make no com- plaints. We encamped the next day at Goja, on the very borders of the lake, and moved on the 16th to Belass. The country was deserted, the land untilled ; and it was but rarely that we came across a village with a single inhabitant in it. At Arrico, a small hamlet mentioned by Bruce, we rested for half an hour at the house of a worthy old man, a carpenter by trade, as, indeed, were nearly all the people in the place. Belass is a large marsh, full of teal and other wild fowl, but we did not see any hippopotami, although the lake was said to be full of them. Soon after passing Dengel-bar (Gate of the Virgin), the next day, we entered the district of Wandige, the hereditary property of Lidj Tesamma's family. On the road, we had turned aside from our path to examine an ancient church, dedicated to Kedoos Mikhail (St Michael). Every one knows the style of architecture used for ecclesiastical edifices in Abyssinia. The inner circle, or holy of holies, in which the Tabot or Ark is deposited, and into which the priest is alone permitted to enter ; the outer ring, in which the worship of the laity is carried on, and the verandah beyond, which none may overstep save those possessing inward and outward purity, have been so repeatedly depicted by pen and pencil of late, that it is a work of sunererogation to do more than glance at them here. The grotesque representations of saints, angels, and devils with which the walls are bedaubed, are never remarkable either for beauty Oi antiquity. The exploits of favourite princes of modern days are mingled with selections from ancient history, sacred and legendary. Next to the wise and valiant Sab'a Gac'.is, who is quietly transfixing with his lance an elephant, who appears to submit to this phle- botomising treatment with equal composure, may be seen Pharaoh crossing the Red Sea at the head of a compact phalanx of musketeers. In a thinly-wooded country, c church as it crowns some eminence, and its cross-surmounted roof peeps out from a grove of dark green cedars, may appear picturesque and imposing enough ; but a near approach soon dispels tlie first feelings of awe and veneration, and the only wonder is how there can be even a pretence of devotion amidst such gross and sacrilegiou-i semblances of all that is usually held most holy, as look down on the worshipper from the walls. Such,, at least, were my impressions at the moment. Time and experience have induced me to modify them to some extent ; still, in the present narrative, it has chiefly been my aim to record images just as they were stamped upon the retina of the mind, but, if it were rt-quired to comment upon them, to do so in the light of a more advanced knowledge of the people. In judgirg of the religious observances of the Abyssinians, the very complex character of the nation must always be borne in mind. Impulsive, yet calculating ; brave, and yet cowardly ; now a (raitor, and now ? very Abdiel : one man will exhibit all these traits, and his conduct will be guided accordingly by the niling passion of the moment. It was from his perfect acquaintance with the character of his people that i" 111 wm u ii6 ILLUSTRATED TROWELS. the late king was able to keep his liold over them so long ; and it was probably from an eciually intimate knowledge of the Ethiopian race that Athanasiiis found it an easy task to implant amongst them a religion that, in the midst of enemies, has flourished, with starcely a change in its constitution, for fifteen centuries. The warm blood of the south has always demanded a more materialistic taith than the frigid north : more saints, more festivals, more (jomp and bravery of and who after a short and miserable reign, died by an assassin's sword. But, while thus keenly affected by the contemplation of the avenging hand of Heaven stretched forth in wrath, the recollection does not deter the Abyssinians from the commission of crimes eeiual ux enormity to t!'at of the royal parricide. Many a soldier, without hesitation, and almost without compunction, slew his father or his brother at the bidding of King Theodore. One of our guards at VIEW NEAR TCIIELGA, AnVSSINIAN rLATEAU. sacerdotal attire, these ha\e been the paiiem d cinenscs that Remans since the days of Constantine have cried for. But the Abyssinian requires more than this. To i)lease him effectually, virtue must be visil)ly recompensed and vice as openly chastised. Reward and punishment, viewed as the result of Divine intervention, touch him, and awaken his religious sympathies. I have seen a lad almost moved to tears as he recounted the tale of 'i'akla Haimanot Ergooni {The Amirsfd), the hue of whose complexion, after the murder of his father, I-Lits(J Yilsu'e, changed to a deep black, Magdala was hotorious for having betrayed his nearest re- latives into the merciless hands of the king. He was em- phatically styled among us "The Murderer;" yet, after a day spent in treachery and crime, he would offer up his prayers with as much simi)licity and earnestness as a guileless child. It is hard to judge these Africans by our northern canons. Before they can be enlightened -and improved, their character must I)e fully understood, and that can only be done by men of wider sympathies and more catholic views than those who have hitherto attempted the task. ROUTES ACROSS THE HIMALAYA. 117 Routes across the Himalaya. To the north of the broad valley of the Ganges stretches the vast range of the Himalaya, the highest, though not the longest, of the mountain chains of the world. A glance at the map of Asia will show that to the north-west of Hindostan there is a great mountain-knot, from which diverge four ranges of mountanis : to the north the Bolor Tagh (the Cloudy Moun- tains) to the west the Hindoo Koosh, to the south the Soli- maun, and to the east the Himalayan, ranges. The ranges of the Himalaya make a grand sweep of nearly eight degrees to the south-east, and then run eastward. A line from their most nonhem to their most southern declivities would traverse a distance which, due north and south, would measure about 560 miles. The Himalaya consists of no single line of peaks, but of many parallel chains. Seen from the plains of India, these chains seem to rise distinctly one behind another. The lower and middle hills appear of the blue grey tinge which distant mountains generally show, but above and beyond them rise the snow-covered peaks of the highest summits. At great distances — from 120 to 200 miles off — in the plains, the highest only of these mountains can be seen, just breaking the horizon-line. At a distance of from fifty to sixty miles from the mountains, the three clearly-marked parallel ranges are easily to be made out ; but, on a nearer approach, the lower of the mountain ranges hides from sight the more elevated and distant peaks. The apparent uniformity of outline disappears ; spurs with their dividing valleys become distinguishable ; and at last, when the traveller enters the hill region itself, one valley with its bounding mountains is all that he beholds. The average height of the Himalayas is 20,000 feet — more than 4,000 feet greater than the height of Mont Blanc — and the highest peak of all, Mount Everest, has an elevation of 29,002 feet above the level of the sea— a height almost as great as if two Mont Blancs were piled one on the other. Clothed at their feet with the perpetual verdure of the tropic!, the Himalayas rise into increasingly colder levels of the at! iiosphere, though the climate even of the higher valleys is milder than is found in other countries at similar elevations. Corn has been grown at a height of 18,000 feet; birch-trees with tall stems are found at a height of over 14,000 feet; the vine flourishes in some of the high valleys ; and forests of the Deodar cedar are found almost up to the snow-line. The snow- line occurs at elevations of from 15,500 to 18,000 feet ; and in the upper valleys of the mountains are found some of the largest glaciers in the world. As the northern part of the mountain system is approached, the remarkable dryness of the atmosphere is manifested in the fact that, even at elevations so great as that of the Karakorum Pass (18,200 feet above the sea level), a traveller in the month of August found only patches of snow. There arc, however, so many lofty summits rising thousands of feet above even the highest snow-level, that the name applied to the range, Himalaya, " the dwelling of snow," has a striking applicability to these mountains. The vast extent of the Himalaya is perhaps more easily realised by comparison with some elevations better known to most Europeans. At their smallest breadth the Himalayan range is 400 miles across — that is, farther than from London to Edinburgh. The Alps would take, it is calculated, at the outside, three days for a man to cross, and a good walker can go from a village on one side to a village on the other in a summer's day. But from any point in the Punjaub it takes a man, assisted by a pony, sixty-six days to cross the mountains ; even if a man tried his utmost, he could hardly do it under fifty-five days. For twenty-five marches, the road is never under an elevation of 15,000 feet; and during forty-five marches, never descends below 9,000 feet. A native of India who traversed the Himalaya, in the service of the Great Indian Survey, by the Karakorum Pass, took twenty-five days to march from the !?st village south to the first village north of the pass. Fistinctly defined as the ranges of the Himalaya appear to be when the mountains art viewed from the plain, it is found that, in traversing them, there are vast numbers of inter- mingling spurs which join one series of heights to another. From one valley, by means of a higli pass, the traveller reaches another valley or small plain, higher than that which he has left ; and thus stage after stage he rises, the elevation attained being indicated not so much by the actual steepness of the ascents as by the changes in the vegetation, the presence of snow, and the greater rarity of the atmosphere. Long branches from the Himalaya cross the table-land of Tibet and join the Kuen-lun range ; indeed, though the Himalaya are sometimes spoken of as the southern, and the Kuen-lun as the northern boundary of Tibet, neither of them can be well separated from that lofty table-land, which has an elevation of from 15,000 to 16,000 feet above the level of the sea. Practically, it is difficult to define where the Himalayan ranges end, and those of the Kuen-lun begin. Beyond the range of the Kuen-lun, however, there opens out a wide, and in many places fertile, plain, known to geographers as the p!:;in of Yarkand and Khotan. After crossing the Himalaya and Kucn-Iun and arriving at Ilchi, the capital of Khotan, the traveller feels as if he had left the hills altogether, and as if he were in the plains of Hindostan. No hills are to be seen in any direction, except on a clear day, when the lower ranges of the Kuen-lun are visible. This plain is of considerable width, and is bounded on the north by the volcanic range of the Thian-Shan, whose singular forms have given rise to many legends of the influence of Shaitan in causing the contortions of the rocks. Westward stretches the Bolor Tagh, the western edge of the great central table-land of Asia, of which the Himalayas form the southern boundary, and eastward the fertile Yarkand plain merges gradually into the sandy desert of Gobi. Tlie slopes of the Kuen-lun, the Bolor Tagh, and Thian-Shan mountains, send streams down to water the plain. These, of which the chief are the Kashgar, Yarkand, Khotan, and Kiria, unite to form the Tarim, which loses itself in lyake Lop Nor, one of the numerous salt lakes which abound on the great table-land. The soil is generally sandy, and free from ston-j and rocks. It is very productive, and a fine dust, which is blown by the east wind from the desert over the fertile plain, is looked upon by the inhabitants as a kind of manure for the soil, without which no vegetation would thrive, Indian corn, wheat, barley of two kinds, buckwheat, and rice all grow in great perfection ; olives, pears, apples, peaches, apricots, mulberries, grapes, currants, and melons are produced f ;';■ I ■erara-w-M'- I I ii8 ILLUSTRATED TRAVELS. 1: '" t of large size and delicious flavour ; cotton of valuable quality, and raw silk abound. There are forests of poplar, willow, and tamarisk, and abundance of good grass. Between the towns of Khotan and Aksu there is for twelve marches a forest so dins?, that travellers are said to have lost themselves in it Minerals are found abundantly, especially in the Kuen-lun mountains ; those that are known are gold, silver, iron, lead, co[)per, antimony, salt, saltpetre, sulphur, soda, and coal ; jade is also found in large quantities. Gold and precious stones abound in the bods of the streams which flow from the Kuen lun range, and it is said that more than 3,000 men are at work on the gold-fields. Gold is abundant, and is only about half the price in Khotan which it is in Kashmir, on the southern slopes of the Himalaya. T'^e current coins are made of silver and copper ; gold is not used for coin, but is sold in small packets of varying value. The wild animals are chiefly the Tibetian species of the goat, wolf, jackal, fox, and hare. In the great forest before mentioned, bears, tigers, and leopards roam at large. There are many wild birds, among them a species of hawk, which is kept by the natives for the purpose of hunting wolves, jackals, &c. Camels and asses are employed as beasts of burden, horses for riding and drawing wheeled conveyances. Most of the horses are imported. Goats are to be met with in large flocks, and they yield the material of which the fine shawls are ma e. Geese, ducks, and fowls are the domestic birds, and are very abundant. This fertile plain is not very thickly populated ; but in the great towns considerable numbers of people are collected to- gether. The town of Yarkand is said to have a population of 120,000; the inhabitants of Ilchi, the modern capital of Khotm, number 40,000 ; and there are other large cities, of wliich Kashgar and Aksu are two. Kashgar is an ancient city, one of those that have escaped the encroachment which the desert has from time to time made on the inhabited country. Not all of the towns of the plain have been so fortunate. The province of Khotan contains several of these buried cities, one of which is only a few miles distant from the present capital, Ilchi. The shifting sands of the Gobi move along in vast billows, overpowering everything, and -they are said to have once buried 360 cities in the space of twenty- four hours. Tiiere is probably considerable exaggeration in this statement ; but some of the buried cities are known, and from out of their ruins various articles are dug. In one of them large quantities of brick tea are found, which has a ready sale, now that trade with China is stopped. Gold coins, some of them weighing four pounds, and various other articles, have also been discovered ; and it would seem as if tlie cities had been suddenly buried, so that the inhabitants had no time to remove their property. There is something weird in this modern utilisation of the things discovered in these old cities, of whose name and date there remains no record known to us, and whose position, even, is a secret carefully kept by a few. The people are fine -looking, with a Tartar cast of features, and are well-dressed and cleanly. They are Mahom- medans, and are apparently very strict in the observance of their reii: -is duties. The • ommerce and trade of the country is carried on in the citi s by means of bazaars held periodically in each. Yarkand is the chief seat of what may be called the foreign trade, and to it are brought goods from Russia and Bokhara by means of caravans, which visit Yarkand twice a year, employing as many as a thousand camels. British goods, up to the present time, have also reached Yarkand and other cities of Eastern Turkestan by means of a circuitous route, which brought them first to Bokhara, and then, along with other things, through the narrow passes of the Bolor Tagh, to the cities of Kashgar, Yarkand, and the rest. Into Yarkand are imported sugar-candy, loaf-sugar, cloth, wrought- iron, brass, iron vessels, horses, China tea, and silks. From China there are at present no direct imports. Ilchi is a great manufacturing town. Silks, felts, carpets both silk and woollen, and coarse cotton cloths, are made and sent all over the country. The bazaar of Ilchi, which takes nlace weekly, is frequented not only by natives, but by Kashmirees and Cabulees ; it is held chiefly in a long street, running east and west, which is covered in with a roof of reed matting. The bazaar presents a very lively scene, both men and women being anxious to buy and sell. Up to a recent time — not much more than five years ago- Eastern Turkestan, the fertile country which has just been described, formed an integral part of the Chinese Empire. But, as is well known, the Chinese government has been unable to retain power even in provinces nearer the capital than this, and it is therefore not surprising that the Khan of Khotan was able, in 1863, to raise a rebellion against the Chinese, which resulted in the massacre of many of these people, and the expulsion of the rest from Khotan. Yarkand, Kashgar, Aksu, and other cities, followed the example given ; and all direct communication with China was thus ended. This change of circumstances seems chiefly to have incon- venienced the inhabitants of Eistern Turkestan with regard to their supplies of tea. The readiness with which the brick tea from the buried cities was brought up is evidence of this ; and it is certain that, did safe routes exist from Hindostan to Eastern Turkestan over the Himalaya and Kuen-lun ranges, the bazaars of Ilchi, Yarkand, &c., c firr/is may be seen (:om|)L'tin,' siicxessfiilly with those of I'riin, Olozaga, Esp.irtero, or SerraiU), in the jihotograpliers' or printsellers' windows. The coinini! man we take to he I'Vastiielo, a shin, lithe youth, whose so.il is dearly in iiis j)r()fession. He is not at present of sulTiciently high standing to appear generally as a primer esp.idi, a position somewhat analogous to that of a leader in a law case, but he has a very good jiractice as a sohresaliente, and is higlrfy thought of as an aceoMiplished ban- derillero. 'I'lie common banderilla is at least two feet in length, but he in his pride loves to ])lant banderillas not more than three or four inches long. Also he has a passion for literally taking the bull by the horns — at least, it seems to be a point of honour with him to touch the horns of every bull he railway system in Spain, for the provincial towns are now no longer dependent on mere local practitioners, but can always get down, jier rail, any amount of the highest talent from the metropolis. The niore eminent members of the torero profes- sion are by no means fixetl stars, bat seem to be i)erpetually on the move, the man that api)ears on 'I'hurs lay at Saragossa having performed perhaps at Valladolid on Tuesday, aivd being set down for a part at Madrid on Sumhiy. Thus the provinces get their fair share of the ability of the kingdom, and on great and special occasions, such as the Santa Semana, at Seville, or the Festival of the Virgcn del Pilar, in the middle of October, at Saragossa, the corridas are, bating a slight tinge of i)rovin- cialism, just as good as those at Madrid in the height of the season. 'I'he usual course is for some individual, or an crapresa, ||j h If f il lUE iia.m>i;kii.i.i;ro i.n iue chair. ■t \ I, . 1 1 i 1 ! \' meets in the way of business. But his wonderful agility very soon relieves the mind of the spectator from any apprehension as to his being really in danger. The chair feat, that of planting banderillas while silling in a chair — a new refinement introduced into tauromai Iiian art, of which M. IJore has given us a sketch — is one which he performs to admiration ; and he is frequently called upon by public acclamation to take the office of espada, which he does in a inanncr that justifies the o|)inion of his admirers, and presages a bright career in the highest walks of his profession. 'I'o any of our readers about to see a bull-fight, it is our duty, of course, to say " Don't." But if they persist, as no doubt most of them will when they have a chance, we should say, " Then see a good one ; " and if Frascuelo — who, it appears, is also known in private life as Sal- vador Sanchez — is mentioned in the bills, that opportunity will probably be a fair one for testing how far the sight has any redeeming features. Even bull-fighting is favoured by the development of the or management, to hire the Plaza de Toros, which generally is the property of the municipality, and contract with some emi- nent professional as primer espada, who brings down with him his company, assistant espadas, picadors, and a competent quadrilla of banderilleros, the empresa finding the inferior attendants, and the bulls and the horses to be killed ; for, it must be confessed, the death of the horses, or at least of a fair proportion of them, is almost as much a matter of course as that of the bulls. They are consequently the part of the preparation upon which the least money is spent, and are generally specimens, not of horse-flesh, but of horse-gristle or horse-bone, such as may sometimes be seen in the shafts of a London night cab, but rarely anywhere else. Now and again, a battered broken-down steed, with unmistakable signs of breeding about him, shows in the ring. We remember once seeing a gallant old grey, horribly gored, carry his ridtr un- flinchingly through three combats (in one of which, by the way, he fairly beat off the bull with his heels), and drop at last in c z a Hi ia6 ILLUSTRATED TRAVELS. t! » the fourth course, untossed and unconquered, amid the cheers of the arcn.i ; for at a bullfi^jht pluck is always applauded wherever it appears, in man, bull, or horse. But in general the horses are miserable worn-out screws, with neither spirit to face the bull — the right eye is usually bandaged with a handker- chief — nor strength to resist the shock of the mildest charge. Still, with all its drawbacks, the spect.icle must be admitted to have striking features. The first view, as you emerge from the dark passages and galleries into the interior uf the bright open pla/a, is even grand and imposing. The larger rings accommodate frt)m ten to twelve thousand spectators, and the vast space is filled with ple.asure-seekers bent on their " Roman holiday." The sunny side, el sol, is all of a quiver with the red and yellow fans, that m.ake it look like a tulip garden in a gale. The central space is occupied by a lounging, chatting crowd. These are the aficionados proper, the genuine sports- men, somewhat akin to those who visit the Paddock at the Derby. How they are all to find places is a mystery, for the benches round seem already densely packed ; but somehow they do, and the despejo, the clearing out, is effected with even less difficulty than our boasted clearing of the course on a Derby day. The scene, indeed, in many points, reminds one of that great occasion. There are always individuals upon whom the crisis comes when they are at the farthest possible distance from their party, and who have consequently to walk across the empty space under a brisk fire of " chaff," and to smile as if they rather liked it, or else look as if they were deaf. Vague persons there are too, who have no precise idea as to where their seats are, and are repulsed from time to time, and much flurried by the insistance of the offici.ils, to the immense delight of a seated and settled public. But in some unkn0'.vn manner even these outcasts get stowed away some- where, and, sharp to the time announced (for in this matter Sp.ain, for once, is punctual), one of the four entrances to the ring is thrown open, and the procession enters, headed by the algua- ciles in shoit cloaks, and hats and feathers, and mounted on capering steeds, which have evidently been subjected recently to some of the recognised stable processes for stimulating action. Behind them walks the primer espada, bright as a butterfly in gay satins of his favourite colour, gold lace, and silk stockings, followed by the other espadas in their colours, and the sobresaliente in his ; then come the banderilleros, a brilliant cluster, followed by the chulos, the men whose busine'is it is to draw off, bewilder, and distract the bull, all with their bright-lined cloaks draped picturesquely round their shoulders. Behind them, on their sorry steeds, ride the picadors, glorious as to the upper man in their rakish broad- brimmed hats and gorgeous jackets, but very clumsy below in their buff leggings, which are padded so as to make them look more like gout or dropsy patients than bold bull-fighters. Behind them, gaily tricked out with worsted trappings, come the mules, whose business it is to drag out the bodies of the slain ; and behind them, in a well-appointed arena like that of Madrid, come the dogs, tugging and straining at their leashes, and, dog-fashion, trying to cultivate an acquaintance with everybody and everything within the range of their vision. The dogs, it should be observed, are sometimes called for to stimulate a very slack-mettled bull, whom no sense of wrongs can rouse to vengeance, and even banderillas de fucgo fail to exasperate. The procession, having made obeisance before the box of the presiiling authority, whoever he may be, files out, all but two picadors, who take posts at ojiposite sides of the ring, and the chulos, who station themselves at the palisade, with one foot on the lower ledge, ready to vault over, should the bull prove a nimble customer. The key of the toril, where the bidls are confined, is thrown from the president's box, and carried across by an alguacil, and a sudden .and deep silence and stillness fall upon the whole arena. Not a fan flickers ; not a whisper is to be heard ; of twenty thousand eyes, there is not one — bad cases of squint, of course, excepted — which is not fuxed on the door at which the key was delivered. A grating sound of bolts and hinges, a p.iusc, and a rush of a black or dun-coloured object into the middle of the plaza. Then the tongues are unloosed, and a buzz runs round the ring. That is criticism : they are discussing his points, those of his horns in particular. Meanwhile Toro, brought up suddenly by the unexpected nature of the liberty given him, wheels and stares, and with quick turns of the head sun'eys the crowded ring with the air of one looking out for a friend, whose face he expected to recognise somewhere in the mass. Poor Toro ! he has come to the wrong place for th.at. If he quits himself like a bull of spirit, applause he will i;et without stint ; but he will descry no Iriendly face in all that crowd — nothing but •' Wolfish eye«. Waiting to see him Jie." In truth, he is a noble object, that Spanish bull. To English eyes, accustomed to the slow mounds of meat that here repre- sent his family, he seems at first '..»ii and small ; but he is as fine as an antique bronze. He is built like a lion — light and wiry behind, massive and powerful before; with broad, deep chest ; vast neck thickly coated with musc.e ; and small, clcan- cuu i. road-browed head, topped by a mighty pair of horns, cuiriag brwards and upwards, and sharp as spears — veritable " ssias, as in correct ring language they are called. But his iji>it lit, as he stands, h?s been already taken by a master hand. " His eyes nri; jet. ami they arc set in crystal rings of snow; But now tliey siare with one rcil glare of brass up m the foe. His neck is massy, like the trunk of some old knotted lie:;. Whereon the monster's shaggy mane, like billows curled, ye see. His legs arc short, his hams arc thick, his hoofs are black as night. Like a strong flail he holds his tail in fierce n-ss of his might. Like something molten out of iron, or hewn from forth the rock, Harpailo of Xarama stands, to bide the Alcaydc's shock."* He does not stand long, however. Failing to find a friend, he soon spies a foe ; and, with a fierce snort, he dashes at the nearest picador, who receives him with his garrocha on the shoulder, and fends him off, if he can, much as a man in a boat with a boat-hook fends off another boat This is the crucial test. If the bull be a thoroughly good one, the wound received only exasperates his rage, and leads to a second charge, so fierce and determined that the poor staggering horse, shaken by the first assault, goes down, or it may be up, heels over head; and then the business of the after- noon begins, and connoisseurs and critics settle themselves in] their places, and prepare to give their minds to the spectacle. If, however, as rather more frequently happens, the bull is checked by his first reception, he careers over the arena until he comes across the other picador, at whom he goes, in the hope that he may prove less "cunning in fence" • "The Bull-fight of GazuL" Lockhart's Spanish Ballads. N0Ti8 ON Sl'AIN. 1*7 tlian the first ; or else, perhaps, he makes a wild dash for freedom, and clears the barrier between the cirrus and the narrow corridor that separates it from the spec tators. Some- times even, by a clever "in-and-out" jump, he will get among the public — a feat which we have seen once or twice performed by active bulls. But, as we said in the beginning, the incidents of the bullfight have been too often described to justify a minute recapitulation of all the scenes in the circle ; and indeed it must be confessed, however strange and striking those scenes may be, the work of description would not be always agreeable. One feature, however, wc must refer to, as it is missed in the spirited and otherwise accurate sketches of M. Gustave Dorf. The routine of a bull-fight is as inflexible as the laws of the M ;des and Persians. It is a tragedy in three acts, with dis- tmct actors in e.ich, and therefore to represent banderilleros and picadors, or picadors and espada in the ring together, as M. D016 has done, is a solecism of the same sort as bring- ing on the Grave-diggers and the Ghost in Hamlet in the same scene. The bull is first picado, met by the picadors, then banderilleado, stuck with banderillas, the stimulus of fuego, bandcrillas with fireworks, being applied if he has shown a want of mettle. Then comes the last act of all, and the most impressive, when the espada, dressed more as if for a ballet than for a bull-fight, with the red flag in one hand, and a thin light sword, a mere riband of steel, in the other, stands face to face with the fierce jwnting beast, all of a glow with rage and pain. Even the bull, in his fury, seems impressed by the temerity of his antagonist, and stares at him with a puzzled kind of "what now?" expression. But even this scene, im- posing and intensely exciting as it is, has often something of the disagreeable in it. Often the first, and the second, and even the third thrust fails to do its work, and the gallant brute, with the sword half buried in his body, charges madly round the plaza before he drops, and the cachetero can put an end to his misery. Then the trumpets blow up, the team of mules dashes in, a rope is hitched round the horns of the carcase, and with a whirl of dust and jubilant music out goes poor brave Toro, and in four-and-twenty hours he is stewing in scores of pucheros in the back lanes of the city. Bull-fights are not, however, always such painful spectacles. At Madrid in the off-season, and occasionally in the larger towns, there are corridas of a less sanguinary sort, in which toros embolados, or bulls with knobs on the points of their horns, figure, as well as novillos, or two-year-old bulls, which are generally incapable of inflicting severe injury on the horses. Sometimes, too, the public is invited to enter the ring and bait a few novillos, just for the fun of the thing. This, however, is not necessarily a sport to be indulged in with impunity : ir one of these encounters we saw a youth tossed three or four times in quick succession. The landlord of the hotel, in discussing that bull-fight the next morning, observed that it had proved a better one than could have been expected, five horses and a man having been killed. But if there are tragical, there are also comic incidents. Sometimes Don Quixote and Sancho on Rozinante and Dapple — Rozinante, it is needless to say, look- ing the part to the life — will engage an embolado bull ; or burlesque picadors, mounted on donkeys, will come in to be tossed : that is to say, the donkeys come in for that purpose, for the men, of course, always take very good care to fall off, and get clear at the first touch of the bull. One noble jackass we saw on such an occasion inspired us with the liveliest admira- tion. He had been knocked down, and then jerked up into the air, half a lozun times — .spun aloft as a boy would spin a halfpenny, legs, cars, and tail revolving like the spokes of a wheel, — and as he l.iy on the ground, his long gnive face wore a most thoughtful and resolved expression. He h.id clearly made up his mind about this sin},'ular game. Its object appeared to be to keep him in a recumbent position. As fast as he got upon his legs he was knocked off them ; and so he came to the determination that, as he was down, down he would stay, and so save trouble lo all parties, and some per- sonal inconvenience to hims.''". And down he did stay. When the officials with much labour raised his fore-quarters, his hams api)eared to be afflicted with paralysis, and when they hauled him up by the tiil, he knelt. There was nothing to be done with him, and at last he had to be dragged out sitting, with his legs tucked under him, shaking his long ears, and looking the picture of stolid determination, while the plaza rang with apjjlause at his gallant obstinacy. Bull-fights of this sort, however, are looked down upon by the aficionados ; and though there are generally one or two toros de puntas, bulls whose horns are not tiijjied, and toros de muerte, or bulls doomed to death, the genuine sportsmen of Spain regard them with somewhat of the same contempt that a regular opera-goer here feels for the English opera out of the season. One word in conclusion as to the morality of the Spanish national pastime. We have no intention of attempting such a hopeless task as a defence of the bull-figi.t ; but it is, we think, unjust to set it down, as is frequently done, as a proof of the innate cruelty of the Spanish character. It is unquestionably a cruel sport ; but there is cruelly, more or less, in every sport in which animals are concerned — in hunt- ing, shooting, fishing, coursing, even in racing. It is a question of degree ; in the bull-fight there is more suffering to the animals engaged ; but the object is not the production of su5"ring any more than in any of the other cases. The object is to test pluck, endurance, address, skill, as in any other sport. An instance may occur of actual delight in the exiubition of suffering, as in the case mentioned by Ford, of the old lady who called his attention to the dying horse. But that is not the prevailing sentiment Look round the ring at Madrid, and you will not see in anyMace a gleam of pity ; but the excite- ment does not flow from any idea of the infliction of pain. The fact is, that the ordinary Spaniard's mind is on this sub- ject a iaiu/a rasa. Its condition is what Johnson would have called " stark insensibility " to the idea of sufiiering, especially in his fellow- creatures of the animal world. He has never been taught, and it has never occurred to him, that the beetle finds as great a pang as when a giant dies. He has never been led to bestow a thought on the subject of " corporal sufferance." If he is cruel, it is from thoughtlessness and ignorance, like a child, not from actual pleasure in cruelty, like a savage. The bull-fight is not the only proof of this. Most travellers in Spain must have been shocked many a time at the manner in which they have seen animals of all sorts treated, from the horses and mules of the diligence, to the wretched poultry carried to market hung in bunches, and flung about as if they were some tough and hardy species of vegetable ; and perhaps the commonest toy which the parents of Spain put into the hands of their children is a live bird, to be taken to pieces as if it were a puzzle, or a, dissected map. 128 ILLUSTRATED TRAVEI S. h i ■ ; J ''■ r i! i Easicf Island. Rapa-nui, or Easter Island, as it is more commonly called, is a solitary island in the midst of the eastern i^art of the Pacific Ocean, in lat. 27? 10' S. and long. 109° 26' W. It is about iii miles long, and 5 J broad, and so far out of the ordinary track of vessels, that but little is known of it. Cook visited the island in 1772, remaining there a few days to examine the colossal statues which Roggewin, the Dutch navigator, had seen, but which no one had hitherto closely inspected. At first sight, the island presents a barren appearance ; not a tree is to be seen, and, save the few spots planted with sweet potato and sugar-cane, forming green patches, all is covered with sun-dried grass. On the western side lies Cook's Bay, where our great navigator anchored. It is opposite this bay that the nati\e village of Angaroa lies, just above a small sandy beach ; close to the cea are two buildings belonging to the mission, and beyond these are the huts of the natives, about a hundred in number. They are built of grass and reeds, of an oval shajje, something like a boat bottom up, and are not more than si.x feet high, with a small square hole for an entrance. It is only within the last three years that the missionaries have effected a landing, whites ha\ ing always been repulsed by the natives. The first who arrived led a life of slavery for a year, but through his perseverance and industry all the s;ivages have become Christianised ; lately he has been joined by two others. The natives now number not more than s-'.v hundreil men and three hundred women. Their dress consists, in most cases, of a girdle round their loins, sometimes with the addition of a piece of cloth hanging loosely over their shoulders. In their former savage state they wore large head-dresses made of birds' feathers ; they also had necklaces of shells strung on a piece of thread. Their food consists of sweet potato and sugar-cane ; the only animal food they have at [iresent is the flesh of rats, but sheep and poultry have lately been added to their stock, and fowls have greatly increased. Water is very scarce, there not being a stream on the island any- where ; the supply is obtained from i)ools of rain-water formed in the beds of the craters, of which there are three. The largest volcano, Teranokau, is about two miles from the village; its circular crater is about 1,700 yards across at the top, 1,400 yards at the bottom, and about 500 feet deep; the bottom is perfectly tiat, covered with reeds and moss, and containing the pools where the nati\ es get their water ; the sides slojje evenly down to the bottom, though rather steeply, and are covered with \egetation. The other two volcanoes are situated at each extremity of the island. The crater of Otoo-iti at the bottom is about 300 yards in d'ameter, and is occupied by a i)ool of water, on one side of which are several of the gigantic images, some stanroportion of what is mean and commonplace. That there is a good deal of tnitl; in this statement of the case cannot be denied ; but, if the result is disa])pointment, it is, as we have before pointed out, because in the case of Spain especially people expect to find as a general rule that which is and must be exceptional. A slight glance at the physical geography of the Spanish peninsula will explain how it '■omcs that, while some speak in raptures of the grand mountain scenery, and the richness and verdure of the plains and valleys, others seem to have had no experience but of the " tawny Spain" of the poet, a vast Sahara of bare, burnt-up steppes. Looking at any tolerably well-executed map of Spain and Portugal, and at a proper distance for generalisation, it will be seen that the framework, or rather the skeleton, on which the mass of the peninsula hangs, is, roughly speaking, a T-shai)ed structure ; the horizontal part being the Pyrence-^ their continuation, the long range that under various north-western corner, in Oalicia ; the stem, or down stroke, being represented by an irregular mountain chain, which branches off from the other a little beyond the point where the Pyrenees proper end, and, with many bends, but on the whole a due south direction, runs down to the Mediterranean. This latter is the backbone of Spain, and the watershed of the streams that flow into the Atlantic on one side and into the Mediterranean on the other. It varies considerably in height, at one part rising, according to some measurements, to almost 9,000 feet, in the Moncayo near the junction of Old Castile, Navarre, and Arragon, while in others it is not much more than a third of that height. It is, however, rather a central ridge than a mountain range rising above the surface of the country, for, in many places on the eastern side and most on the western, the ground slopes away with a gentle declivity ; so that, if it were possible to take a bird's-eye or balloon view of the entire peninsula, it would be seen to resemble somewhat the roof of a house, or an open book lying face downwards on a table. It will be observed, also, that this range or ridge divides the peninsula into two very unequal proportions ; that while on the western side the Atlantic coast descends in a line parallel with the ridge, on the eastern the Mediterranean coast-line inclines inwards towards it, and meets it at the south-eastern angle at the Cabo de Gata. Thus there is a square on the left-hand side of the T, and a triangle on the right ; conse- quently, the declivity on the right, or east, side is greater towards the lower angle of the triangb than that on the other side, and the warm winds and clouds coming from the Mediter- names runs parallel to the Bay of Biscay and terminates in the ranean are soon intercepted, and as they rise to cross the vot.. I. ly and W P ''-. i*!* I M f \: 1 I ' i if 13° ILLUSTRATED TRAVELS. ill i;- 1 ^i 1.1 i i .1 3 t * I j « t barrier are robbed of their moisture, which falls back towards the coast. Hence it is in this angle that we find the garden of Spain, that luxuriant strip of country that extends from Murcia up to Catalonia, in vegetation the richest and most varied tract in Europe, where everything seems to flourish, the date-palm, the pomegranate, the carob, the aloe, and the cactus, as well as the plants and fruit trees more properly belonging to the temperate zone. To this strip may be added what in reality is its continuation- -the narrow border running westwards to Malaga. For, though for clearness sake we have described the stem of the T as ending at the Cabo de Gata, it in truth bends to the left and finishes in a becoming flourish with the lordly Sierra Nevada, the Ronda mountains, and Gibraltar. With the other, the western side of the ridge, the case is very different. There the winds from the Mediterranean arrive desiccated in their ascent ; while those which come from the Atlantic have to travel some hundred of miles up-hill, shedding their moisture as they go. Portugal takes heavy toll of them as they pass, and consequently Spain is left high and dry. There is, therefore, stretching across the peninsula nearly from north to south a broad belt of the most rainless country in Europe, except perhaps seme parts of Russia. Nature having done so much, man has given a helping hand. The Spaniard's carelessness and even dislike of trees has denuded the moun- tain side of the forests which, as we can see by the samples left on the Guadarrama Sierra and on one or two other spots, have once covered them more or less completely. There are no sponges to retain, no reservoirs to catch and gradually distri- bute such rain as does fall, and it can only roll off" the pent- house roof by those great natural gutters, the Douro, the Tagus, the Guadiana, and the Guadalquivir. Those rivers themselves, ••■ ; ■ . U the story plainly enough. They suggest a life alter- ii.'.iin .• ■•<.' r'cen drought and flood ; for the most part, either wandeni g over vast expanses of gravel, or else rolling along ; -A- .1 steep high banks, in deep troughs cut by the force of rushing waters. So it comes that, while on the one side there is a rich moist country teeming with vegetable life in every form, on the other there is a country, not indeed barren, for it yields corn, wine, and oil in abuntlance, but parched and bare to the eye, with little vegetation except wheat, vines, and olives, a true " Belad-el-jard," a dry and stri[)ped country. It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that a traveller crossing the middle of the peninsula from north to south might count the trees he will pass between the Bidassoa and the Bay of Cadiz ; or at least from the moment when, issuing from the Pyrenean defiles, he leaves behind the green woody Basque country, and enters upon the genuine tawny Spain by the plain of Vittoria, until, approaching the sea, he comes within sight of the hills of Jerez. Beyond Valladolid he will see some stone- pines, with their round green heads dotting the great yellow expanse across which the railway stretches. Turning a corner of the Guadarrama mountains, he comes upon a few stunted firs together with some masses of more refreshing foliage about the Escorial, Madrid has some instances of what, for the nonce, may pass for trees, in the Royal Park, in the Buen Retiro, and along the line of the Prado ; but there is not one between it and that patch of greenery at .\ranjuez, about which the Spaniartls (and who can blame them ?) brag as if there were no other trees and water in the universe, and in which they revel, wallow, one may say, like the hippopotamus in his tank. And then, except for an evergreen oak or elm or two on th ". sides of the Sierra Morena, there arc no more all the v/ay across La Mancha and through Andalusia, down the valley of the Guadal