10 Trip from Bayonne in France, to St. Schaftian in Spain, [Auguft I, 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
TRIP from BAYONNE iz FRANCE, £0 
ST. SEBASTIAN 7# SPAIN, 
(Continued from Page 538, No. 116 ) 
ry EMOUNTING our horfes, at tre 
t \ fouth weft corner of the harbour, 
we proceeded for above three miles to St. 
Sebaftian. The road was good, only 
flippery, being paved with large flat 
fiones, and in general bordered with trees. 
The hils ftill lined the fore on our 
right, until we came near the town, 
where the little river Urumea falls into 
the fea, forming a bread flat fandy beach, 
covered at high-water. 
St. Sebaftian lies cn a low fandy neck 
of round, about three quarters of a mile 
over, from ealt to weft, connecting the 
main land to a high oblong recky hill, 
called Mount Orgullo, about one mile in 
ieneth along the fhore, and half a mile in 
breadth trom the town tothe fea on the 
outiide, 
On the weft fide of the town is a round 
bay, a mileand a half in breadth from eaft 
to weft, and three quarters of a mile in 
depth, from the entrance to the bottom. 
The entrance is about three quarters of a 
mile over. 
Tn the midway, between the two points 
of the bay, lies an iflind a quarter of a 
mile long, and of cenfiderable elevation, 
but by no means fo high as either of thefe 
points. This iflaed is uninhabited, but 
has on it a chapel and hermitage dedicated 
to St. Claire. 
Mount Orgullo, on the hill of St. Se- 
- bafttan, is very feep and abrupt all around, 
having a long winding road carried round 
the wet end up to the calle, in a very 
commanding fituation, and prefenting a 
very picture(que cbiect at a diltarce. 
This caftle, called La Mota, lies in 
north latitude 43°, 19’, 30”, and in long. 
eaft from Cadiz 4°, 18%. 
The bay ot St. Sebatian, although 
very deep at the entrance, can only admit 
a tew large vefcls, for the water foon be- 
comes fhailow; and for the ufe of the 
finalier fort, piers have been formed on 
tre weft fide of the town, under the fhoul- 
der of Mount Orgulic, where thips cf 
30c tens may enter at high water; but 
the bot:om is very hard. 
‘The view from the caftle ts very exten- 
fiveand grand. To the north lies the fea, 
vary ng its furface, when we faw it, only 
by the long even unbroken fwell, which 
solis from the Atlantic inte the Bay of 
Bitcay. On the fouth we Icoked down 
tic the townand harbour; the rivers aad 
4 
inlets on each fide, and cultivated flats ex= 
tending for a couple of miles, until they 
meet gently floping hills, covered with 
villages, and ornamented with fields and 
woods. 
Beyond all are the Pyrenees, rifing to. 
the clouds, whofe fhaggy fides and rug- 
ged fummits exciude all farther profpeét. 
Here we at one glance perceived the 
propriety of the term Sierra, (Saw), ufed 
in Spain to denote a Jong range of moun- 
tains, whofe indented ridge may without 
much violence be compared to the teeth of 
that inftrument. 
St. Sebaftian is fortified on the land- 
fide. It is the place of arms for the {mall 
province of Guipufcoa, as well as the ca- 
pital, and the feat of its commerce. ° 
The town from its fituation is {mall : 
it is, however, neatly built, and full of 
people and bufinefs. 
The ftreets, well paved with flat ftones, 
and kept clean, crofs each other in a regu- 
Jar way. In the center is a handfome 
oblong fquare, furrounded on three fides 
by houfes, built on an uniform pian, 
having an open portico on the ground, 
and balconies above. 
The fourth fide is occupied by the town 
houfe, containing commodious apartments 
for tranfacting public bufinefs. 
In this f{quare are exhibited the bull- 
fights, for which the relifh feems to have 
undergone very little abatement. ‘“Thefe 
{peétacles are exhibited here only occa- 
fionally, the town having no permanent 
privilege to this effe€&t ; and it is not 
without confiderable difficulty that the 
magiftrates can obtain from court the 
eauilite permiffion. : 
The reigning princes of the houfe of 
Bourbon have, it is faid, conftantly thewn. - 
a fincere defire to difcourage, and even 
entirely to fupprefs bull-fights, or rather 
bull-featts, (Las fieffas de toros). A friend 
who had refided many years in Spam, in- 
formed us that he had feen a copy of the 
letters patent granted to a certain city, 
authorifing the inhabitants to enjoy at 
pleafure this favourite entertainment. 
Thefe l-tters, he faid, contained the 
folowing claule:—Nos propier ferccita= 
tem ac barbariem populi hujus, ei concef- 
Jimus, et. per has prefentes literas nofiras 
concedimus libertatem tauros in arena pub- 
lice occidendi.* —Buat as our friend loved 
* Be it known unto all men by thefe 
prefents, that we, on account of the fe- 
rocicus and uncivilifed difpotitions of the 
inhabitants, of the faid city, have granted, 
and 
