up into the air. The fire had reached some caissons of cartridges which the enemy, unable to carry with them, had concealed beneath a quantity of straw.

At sunrise, we quitted Soto, and for two days followed the track of the partisans in the direction of Munilla and Cervera. Despairing at last of being able to get a blow at them, we took up our quarters in the town of Arnedo, and then returned to Logrono.

General Simon had no better success in his expedition into Navarre against Mina. That chief being attacked on the 19th at Estella, and on the 20th at Puente de la Reyna, disbanded his followers, and thus avoided the troops that were marching from every quarter against him. General Simon was no sooner gone, than Mina again collected his bands. The Marquis de Porliere, driven from the mountains of Castile, retraced his steps, and threw himself among those of Asturias. In this retreat, where he was pursued by a force at least four times stronger than his own, he did not lose more than thirty men.

By the accounts of the French commanders at this period, it appears that bands, similar to those of Porliere and Mina, existed in every province of Spain occupied by the French. These bands did incalculable mischief to our armies, and no power could extirpate them. Incessantly pursued, frequently dispersed, they always rallied again, and renewed their depredations.

VOL. II.

K

4

CHAPTER VII.

FOR nearly a month we remained in the province of La Rioca, while General Loison was lifting the arrears of his contributions; afterwards, we marched for Burgos, to join our regiment in Andalusia. On the 25th of January we arrived at Madrid, and staid five days in a village near that capital, waiting for a detachment of our regiment on its way from France, with baggage, money, and a good supply of fresh horses. This new detachment having arrived, an adjutant-major, under whose care it had been placed, took the command of our column of hussars. We crossed to La Mancha, and soon after arrived at Santa Cruz, a small town at the foot of the Sierra Morena. These mountains, which separate La Mancha and Andalusia, are inhabited by some colonists from different parts of Germany, brought thither by Count Olivades in 1781. The most aged of these emigrants followed us on foot for hours, to enjoy once more, before their death, the happiness of talking in their native language with such of our hussars as came from Germany.

When the mountains were passed, we found ourselves in Andalusia. A sensible difference was then experienced in the warmth of the atmosphere; and the grandeur of the prospect which expanded

before us, formed a striking contrast to the barren black mountains we had just crossed. The husbandmen were busy with the olive harvest, and the landscape presented that cheerful animated aspect about the close of winter, which is only witnessed in more northern countries during the harvest or vintage months.

On our left were the mountains of the kingdom of Jaen; and in the distance we could distinguish the summits of the Sierra-Nevada of Grenada, covered with perpetual snow. These heights were the last retreats of the Moors before they were utterly expelled from Spain.

up

The road lay through extensive olive plantations, under whose protecting shade grew alternately the corn and the vine. The fields were bordered with hedges of aloes, whose leaves were as sharp as lances, and whose taper stems shot wards to the height of trees. Here and there, behind the habitations, we perceived the thick planted orange orchards, and on the unploughed borders of the streams grew laurels of a lively whiteness, which were then in flower. A few old palm-trees were still seen at intervals, which the clergy preserved in their gardens, that they might have their branches to distribute on Palm Sundays.

We marched either on the one or the other side of the Guadalquiver, and followed the windings of the river in its course between Andujar and Cordova. The country becomes less picturesque in approaching Seville. Sometimes we crossed fields of corn several miles in length, without meeting with a tree or a house, and at other times we passed over uncultivated tracts, where we saw only flocks of sheep.

Andalusia is, beyond comparison, the most fertile and naturally richest country of Spain. It is a common proverb in La Mancha and the Castiles, that "the very water of the Guadalquiver fattens more horses than the barley of other countries. " The bread of Andalusia is reckoned the whitest and sweetest in the world, and the olives there are of a prodigious size. The climate is so pure and mild, that one may sleep almost the whole year in the open air. During the summer, and sometimes even in winter, people are seen sleeping all night under open porticos. A number of individuals not burdened with riches, travel without ever concerning themselves to seek shelter for the night. They carry their own provision, or purchase such food as women prepare for passengers, on chaffing dishes, at the entrance, or on the public squares, of great cities. The poor never ask each other, as is the case farther north, if they have a house to inhabit, but if they have a good cloak to keep out the sun's heat, or to screen them from the winter rains.

At every step in Andalusia, still more so than any where else in the Peninsula, the traveller meets with remains and memorials of the ancient Arabs. It is the singular blending together of Eastern manners and customs with Christian usages, that chiefly distinguishes the Spanish people from all other Europeans.

The houses, in towns, are almost all constructed in the Moorish fashion. Within, they have a pavemented court of large flagstones, in the middle of which there is a basin, where fountains perpetually spout their waters, and refrigerate the air, under

the shade of citron or cyprus trees.

the street.

Trellis-work

of oranges is sometimes supported on the walls and these trees carry all the year round their leaves, fruits, and flowers. The different apartments communicate with each other through the court. There is generally a porch within the gate, which opens to In the ancient palaces of the Moorish kings and nobles-as for instance, in the Alhambra of Grenada-these courts have peristyles or porticos running round them, whose numerous narrow arches are supported by very tall and elegant columns. Common houses have but a very plain small inner court, with a cistern in one corner, shaded by a lofty citron tree. A kind of pitcher or jar, in which water is put to cool, is generally suspended near the door of such houses, or where there is a current of air. These pitchers are called alcarazas, an Arabic word, which shows that they were introduced into Spain by the Moors. *

The Cathedral of Cordova, which is an ancient mosque, has within its walls one of these open courts. Like private houses, this court is shaded by citrons and cypresses, and contains basins constantly supplied with the living stream by upright jets of water. On entering the consecrated part of the mosque, or mezquita, for its ancient name is still retained, the sight of so many marble columns of different colours strikes the beholder with astonishment. These columns stand in parallel rows pretty near each other, and support a kind of

* These jars have the same form, and are similarly used, as those described by M. Denon, in his Travels in Egypt, which are manufactured on the banks of the Nile, between Dendera, Kene, and Thebes.