and the Pyrenees, in 1825. 361 



royalists, and from whence he made no movement to arrest Mina, 

 as is supposed, through jealousy of the French. Such at least 

 is the account that the inhabitants give (and perhaps think it 

 the most plausible) when a stranger asks them what has be- 

 come of the forty beds and of the furniture, of which this im- 

 mense pile of building used formerly to boast. 



*' On the 25th, we descended slowly along the wild and pic- 

 turesque valley of Querals, and soon encountered the first part 

 of the retinue of the Senor Rector^ composed of a man armed 

 with a gun, and three others with pick-axes, to repair the path 

 where the winter storms had rendered it impassable for mules. 

 So soon as they perceived us at a distance they made a halt, 

 gazing on us open-mouthed, and whilst we passed them, they 

 could scarcely reply to the customary salutation of " Dios guar- 

 da'^ that we made them. In the evening, indeed, they acknow- 

 ledged, that^ seeing us both dressed in grey from top to toe, armed 

 with our boxes and cartons, holding an open knife in one hand, 

 and a stick shod also with a knife in the other, they took us for 

 some new kind of banditti, and were so completely terrified, that, 

 as the valiant fellow with the musket declared, if he had had 

 the power, he would have thrown away his piece, and taken to 

 his heels. 



" About a mile lower down, we met the rector himself, with 

 the greater part of his suite, composed of eight or ten men, three 

 young and handsome maid-servants, and seven or eight mules, 

 loaded with provisions and kitchen utensils. The curate, far 

 from corresponding to what one expected from such a retinue, 

 was dirty and disgusting in the extreme, and, hke many of his 

 brethren in that country, his ignorance, his want of religion, 

 and his licentiousness, were but feebly concealed by a few su- 

 perstitious rites. 



" Returning in the evening to Nouri, having spread out our 

 plants, we petitioned for a bed for that night ; and perceiv- 

 ing that our provisions were nearly exhausted, we asked the 

 curate if he would provide us with supper ; but aware that, in 

 Roussillon, the curates are accustomed to welcome a traveller 

 to their table in those districts where there is no inn, it was not 

 without some fear of offence that we hinted that we should pay 

 for what we should have. But he was not so easily affrontal, 



3 



