65 



Fine old oak trees are sorely maltreated in the district ; they appear to be 

 systematically pollarded to a height of 9ft. to 10ft., and their gnarled stems 

 stand crowned with a wild, weak growth ; and beneath them are stacked up 

 the lopped branches, apparently the customary firewood of the country. 

 At the time, here and there, farmyard manure was being distributed over 

 the fields in small and distant heaps, which argued of scarcity, for the average 

 dressing did not appear to me to exceed 3 tons to 4 tons to the acre. I noticed 

 a few, more or less, ill-grown maize crops ; and, on the whole, apart from 

 their glorious woods, and from the agricultural point of view, these 

 mountainous regions have very far from a prosperous appearance. 



I now found myself beset with difficulties. The next stage in my wander- 

 ings should have taken me from Bayonne to Spain. At the time, however, 

 Portugal was in the throes of political revolution ; and the daily press never 

 wearied of impressing on the public that it would be Spain's turn next and 

 that right speedily. On the other hand, the great French general railway 

 strike was threatening country towns such as Bayonne with isolation, and 

 acts of " sabotage " were of daily occurrence. Had I been alone there was 

 nothing very alarming in this state of affairs ; I had, however, to think of 

 others in my charge. Finally, I decided that it was, on the whole, preferable 

 to risk the chances of a Spanish revolution rather than remain cooped up 

 indefinitely in Bayonne ; hence, on the 14th of October, we were fortunate 

 enough to secure seats in a special train making for the Spanish frontier. 

 The regular train between Paris and Irun had been delayed by the strike, and, 

 fortunately, as yet, the Bayonne railway men were only considering the 

 desirability of joining in the fray. By way of precaution, however, the 

 railway line was guarded throughout its length by an extended line of armed 

 patrols. 



SPAIN. 



On the frontier the attentions of Customs officers were unremitting. Con- 

 trary to usual custom, they overhauled and minutely examined every article 

 in our possession. It was " bombs " and other anarchist gear that they 

 were after, apparently. We were incurring the penalty of travelling in 

 troublous times, and possibly in bad company. Another surprise awaited 

 us on the threshold of Spain. I had taken the precaution to take out before- 

 hand " combined circular railway tickets/ 5 covering a specified itinerary 

 over the Spanish railways. As we proceeded to board the Spanish train we 

 were very politely informed that it was a special train, and that if we wished 

 to travel by it we must take out a special supplementary ticket. There was 

 no time to argue the question, and with all the good grace that I could summon 



