280 SAN SEBASTIAN. [1878. 



the Pyrenees. We are fully occupied and out all day long, but 

 it suits me perfectly, and I am quite well and enjoying myself 

 immensely. My only wish that you were with me. 



To the Same. LOTTRDBS, 23rd April 1878. 



Since writing to you from Bayonne we have been to La 

 Guetanz, thence along the cliffs to St Jean de Luz, and by 

 carriage to Hendaye. On this walk I witnessed one of the most 

 singular tempests I ever experienced. The morning was hot and 

 sultry in the extreme not a breath of air, so hot that even I 

 had to put up my umbrella. At Guetanz we went at 1 to the 

 hotel to breakfast, or rather lunch. Suddenly the sky clouded 

 over, the wind rose, and in fifteen minutes it was blowing a 

 hurricane as though it would blow the house down. It lasted 

 two hours and then partly ceased, when we continued our route. 

 The sea was a mass of foam and running very high. At a dis- 

 tance of a mile from shore we saw a boat full of people, whose 

 position we thought extremely dangerous. In fact, after watch- 

 ing it for ten minutes we walked on, but on looking there again 

 we could see nothing of the unfortunate boat. The next day we 

 heard that almost every village along the coast had lost boats 

 which had gone out and were caught by the suddenness of the 

 gale. We heard of 50 lives having been lost. The high road 

 was blocked by fallen trees. I hope this gale did not reach our 

 coasts. 



On Sunday morning we drove over from Hendaye to San Sebas- 

 tian got there to breakfast, and then went to high mass at the 

 large church. The music was a full orchestral band. I called 

 on a M. Brunet, who insisted on accompanying us to the coast 

 and to the various sections in the neighbourhood. There was 

 not, however, much to see. After dinner at an excellent hotel, 

 where, however, the cuisine was entirely French, we returned to 

 Bayonne, which we reached at 10.15 P.M. We found the com- 

 mandant and M. Detroyat waiting our arrival, and the latter 

 offered to accompany us to-day an offer which we gladly ac- 

 cepted. Starting at 5.45, we stopped at Peyrehorade, and then 

 hired to visit " la grotte de Sordes " and some implement-bearing 

 beds on the top of a hill above Caresse. 



The weather at starting was very wet, but it cleared up and 



