286 THE FOREST AND THE FIELD. 



stream of clear water running down the centre. 

 Here we got a very tolerable dinner, and engaged 

 mules and guides, which were to be ready to start 

 at four o'clock the following morning. We had 

 brought a fine ham with us, which we ordered to 

 be boiled, with half-a-dozen fowls, as the piece de 

 resistance for our trip. Packing these carefully 

 in one basket, with sundry additions, such as cold 

 beef, sausages, hard-boiled eggs, lettuce, and plenty 

 of cold potatoes, and condiments for salad, we filled 

 a second with claret, and a country wine re- 

 sembling Malaga, not forgetting a bottle of 

 cogniac, and our preparations were complete. 



We then perambulated the town, which towards 

 evening began to show a little more life, for the 

 peasants came in from working in the fields, and 

 the dons, signioras, and signioritas, now ventured 

 forth " to eat the air." We visited the Marquis of 

 Sauzal's garden, and took stock of the celebrated 

 " Dragon tree," a gigantic old relic of days bygone, 

 which measures nearly forty feet in circumference, 

 and is about eighty in height. The centre, 

 where the parent tree once stood, is hollow, its 



