that was sweet and pleasant in life, and a stern, and rugged, and joyless futurity lay before him. The Alpujarras quite equalled my expectations. They present singular contrasts of the wildest and most savage sterility, with lovely valleys redundant in fertility and of the freshest verdure. The fields of grain were in their young vegetation, and spread sheets of emerald green to relieve the eye from the aridity of the mountains. The villages peeped out from citrons, figs, and almonds, and the very rocks were covered with the luxuriance of southern plants of poetical renown, which struck their roots into every crevice. The mountains also, notwithstanding their nakedness, have a beauty from their rich and varied tints, for they are composed frequently of the finest marble.

among groves of oranges,

In the course of our progress through the mountains, after leaving the beautiful village of Lanjaron, we fell in with a singular character, just at the foot of one of the wildest and most solitary passes. He had all the air of one of those predatory rovers who hover like hawks among the Spanish mountains to pounce upon the traveller. He was mounted on a young and active mule that bounded among the rocks like a goat. He wore the Andalusian hat and jacket, and pantaloons bordered by silver lace; a cartridge belt of crimson velvet slung over one shoulder and passing under the other arm; two carabines slung behind his saddle, pistols in front, a cutlass by his side, a long Spanish knife in the pocket of his vest, in a sheath ornamented with silver. He was a complete subject for Wilkie's pencil. He joined us and kept with us for the rest of the morning, through some savage defiles of the mountains. We were somewhat puzzled to make out his character, or to know whether he were bandit, soldado, contrabandista, or simply

caballero, for though he talked very freely about himself he had the Andalusian propensity of inventing facts as fast as his tongue could wag. Stoffregen took a violent dislike to his whole conduct and demeanor, and as we had but a solitary escopeta to defend us, he seemed to think we had fallen into very unsafe company. We took a repast together in a little venta in a deep gorge of the mountains, and from further conversation with our new comrade I conceived a better opinion of him, and considered him one of the amusing Fanfarons common to this part of Spain. He told us he was concerned in the mines of Berja whither we were travelling, and offered to conduct us by a more direct route through the mountains, which would save us at least half a day's travelling. After consult. ing with our muleteers who we found knew this man, and confirmed the truth of what he said, Gessler and myself concluded to follow the route he pointed out. I found afterward that Stoffregen assented to this change of route with the utmost repugnance, and on subsequent reflection he was right, for though the man turned out to be an honest person, and the route really was the shortest and best, yet it was extremely imprudent in us to put ourselves so completely under the guidance of an utter stranger in those wild regions, so infested by desperate characters. The change of route, however, procured us some curious variety of scenery. Our way for the most of the day lay up the dry bed of a river, which in times of rain must swell to a great size, but was now shrunk to an insignificant stream. It was bordered by arid mountains; there were neither villages nor hamlets; the whole country was solitary and savage. Toward sunset we arrived at the village of Cadiar, surrounded by olive orchards, with a small vega, through which ran the river bordered with willows. Here we put up at one of the