396 



WILD SPAIN. 



of Bonanza to the full light of the custom-house at Seville. 

 Here, after many more weeks of delay, it was solemnly 

 declared that that white-painted six-foot barrel was "an 

 arm of war " ; that " the combination of boat and gun 

 savoured of the mechanism of war " ; and, lastly, that 

 " the boat could not be permitted to pass the Customs 

 until it had been registered at tlie Admiralty as a ship 



of war/' thus forming au integral part of the Imperial 

 navy of Spain. 



\\e were informed, in reply to a respectful protest, that 

 a high official of the Admiralty at Madrid — the Deputy 

 Chief Constructor, we think, was his title — would 

 " shortly " be visiting the arsenal at San Fernando, where 

 a new war-ship was nearly ready for launching, and that 



