270 Spanish Highways and Byways. [MARCH, 



from our route, and meet our carriage again at Hernani, the next stage. 

 To this proposal I gladly assented. Horses and mules were speedily 

 engaged,, though rather rudely caparisoned, and, under the conduct of 

 a guide, we commenced our detour. 



We passed through a beautiful vale, richly covered with oak and 

 chestnut- trees, and proceeded till our progress was arrested by the Bay 

 of Pasages, which we crossed in a boat, sending our horses round to 

 meet us. The boat was conducted by two very interesting young 

 females, who evinced every disposition to be communicative ; but as 

 they spoke nothing but Basque, which unfortunately was unintelligible 

 to every one of our party, our understanding was limited to an ani- 

 mated pantomime, in which, however, they evidently had the advan- 

 tage. The features of these girls were eminently handsome ; their com- 

 plexion was of a clear olive, with sparkling black eyes, teeth as white as 

 alabaster, and their long black tresses gathered into a braid, hanging 

 down to the waist. They were finely formed, a little above the middle 

 height, and dressed in the costume of the country. They were altoge- 

 ther a fine specimen of the female beauty of Spain. 



The Bay of Pasages forms a secure and spacious harbour. During 

 the siege of St. Sebastian it was filled with British ships of war and 

 transports, which supplied the besieging force with every thing neces- 

 sary for their operations. Near the small town of Pasages, which is 

 divided by the neck of the bay, and inhabited by fishermen, we 

 remounted our horses, and rode to St. Sebastian. This beautiful little 

 town, so celebrated in modern history stands on a small peninsula, the 

 natural defences of which are heightened by well-constructed fortifi- 

 cations, commanded by the citadel, which is built on the summit of a 

 conical mountain, having its base strongly defended by outworks. Both 

 the town and fortifications were at that time exactly in the same condition 

 as they were at the termination of the siege. The breaches effected in 

 the walls by our well-served batteries, and the dilapidated, tenantless 

 houses, presented a sad picture of the desolating effects of war. Many 

 streets were entirely deserted, and an unnatural stillness seemed to have 

 succeeded to scenes of strife. Cannon-balls and pieces of broken shells, 

 intermingled with fragments of ruined houses, were heaped together in 

 the silent streets places formerly echoing with the busy hum of com- 

 merce, or the lighter sounds of hospitality, but now presenting a melan- 

 choly scene of loneliness and desolation. Few men can stand unmoved 

 on the spot which has been the theatre of glorious deeds ; and, as I 

 leaned against a huge fragment of the wall, which had fallen in the 

 breach, and surveyed the place where the work of carnage had been 

 most rife, it was with a melancholy feeling that I thought of the tran- 

 sitory meed of valour. In a few years, perhaps, fresh walls would 

 arise from the ruins on which I stood, and other battles be fought at 

 fheir feet the recollection of former deeds would be effaced by the 

 brilliancy of later and to the memory of thousands, who had shed their 

 blood before that very breach, nought would remain but a single line of 

 history to record the event their lives had purchased. A few years 

 more, and the stranger would unconsciously repose on the grave of 

 heroes, and the listless hind crush with his plough the mouldering bones 

 of the brave ! 



Having refreshed ourselves with that most sentimental of fare, fruit 

 and wine, we remounted our horses, and, at about the distance of a 



