APPENDIX. 395 



tourist's mind, namely, his own personal sensations and experien- 

 ces. I will briefly state, however, that I tasted vintages here that 

 were three times my own age, and I must confess that my vener- 

 ation for them is less now than before I tasted them. I believe 

 that a vintage is like a human being ; it requires a certain amount 

 of time to mature, after which it begins to deteriorate. There 

 is much humbug about very old wines. The finest wine I tasted 

 in Jerez was an Oloroso, only about ten years old. 



FKANCE. 



WAYSIDE SCENES, THOUGHTS, AND FANCIES. 



The moment you cross the frontier from Spain to France 

 you begin to realize that you are in a different country. The first 

 station in France on the international route between Madrid and 

 Bordeaux is Hendaye, where we change from the Spanish to the 

 French train, and the contrast is something remarkable. The 

 railway carriages are newer, brighter, and cleaner; the refresh- 

 ments served in the " buffet " quite unexceptionable ; and the 

 inspector of tickets when performing his duty greets you with a 

 pleasant " Billets, Monsieur, s'il vous plait ! " and after checking 

 them returns them with a bow and a polite " Merci, Monsieur ! " 

 all very different from the treatment received at the hands of the 

 Spanish oflBcials just across the frontier. Our train, too, after it 

 starts for Bordeaux, makes double the average speed that the 

 Spanish trains have made, and altogether an American begins to 

 feel that he is in a civilized country again. 



Bordeaux is a commercial city in which it is quite evident to a 

 stranger, from the large lots of goods which are constantly being 

 moved, a heavy business is transacted ; but the wholesale merchants 

 seem to take things quite easily, going to their offices between eight 

 and nine o'clock, and after working for two or three hours, then 

 adjourning for " breakfast," which is here a hearty meal, equivalent 

 to the mid-day dinner of the American people, and to this they 

 usually devote a couple of hours. After this some of them visit 



