A ■WINTER CAMPAIGN IN DON ANA. 



349 



crenellated walls and spacious bodegas, and the busj- strand 

 of Bonanza, celebrated by Cervantes in Z>« Ilnstrc Fregona 

 as a rendezvous for ruffians, smugglers, and pirates. On 

 the stream floated craft of many descrij)tions, from the 

 London steamer receiving her cargo of manzanilla at the 

 wharf to the falucha-rigged " ariels " and lumbering 

 fishing-sloops — vessels not unlike the caravels in which, 

 four centuries ago, Columbus set sail from the neighbour- 

 ing port of Palos to discover a New World, when 



" A Castilla y a Leon 



Nuevo Mundo dio Colon." 



The river at this point, close to its confluence with the 

 sea, has a width of two miles, but the long lateen-sail, 

 bellying out before a gentle iioniciitc, bore us rapidly to the 

 silent strand, where our horses stood awaiting us under a 

 giant pine. No short time was spent in landing baggage, for 

 the falucha lay aground a stone's throw from the shore ; 

 but at length all was landed, stowed in the mule-packs, 

 and we set out on the long ride. 



It had been intended to have one "drive" this after- 

 noon, but these delays, and the customary tardhiess of 

 Spanish trains and travel generally, frustrated this plan, 



