from one to two millions sterling having been spent by English firms during the last ten years in developing the mines, besides the large amount of English capital invested in conveying the ore to England and elsewhere. We had intended to visit the town of Bilbao, if there had been time, but the delay with the authorities in landing made this impracticable. I had, however, seen it, with our Admiral, in 1873. It is quite an interesting picturesque old town, with a good deal of life and prosperity; the river being navigable for small vessels up to it. We returned in a saloon carriage to Portugalette. In the mean time our agent had been enquiring for a stronger boat than our own to take us over the bar to the Red Rose, and we were amused to find a Spanish man-of-war boat, with a full complement of sailors in uniform, ready for us, officered by the two officers in uniform who had given us pratique in the morning, who rowed us in grand style to the yacht, keeping time with their oars with remarkable precision and short sudden stroke, their style of rowing being similar to that in the French navy. The officers were shown over the vessel, and regaled with champagne, when the difficulties of the morning were forgotten, and many polite assurances given of a welcome. should we come again.

We left for Ferrol at 9 p.m., and steamed along the Spanish coast.

Wednesday, April 14th.-The excitement of our first day's landing on terra firma being over, and having good weather, we seemed to have more time to think and converse, and as we sat down to breakfast Mr. Markham said "to dream also," for he was certain some of us talked in our sleep considerably. Upon nearing Spain the day before yesterday we had conversed about the country-its present as compared with its former state, its bull-fights, &c.; so I give an imagined outline of his soliloquy upon hearing his companions speak in their dreams. "We neared Spain's shores at even. The thick clouds, drawn curtain-like across the sky, brought

darkness deep upon us-all nature seemed reposing. The sea, at rest, ripples scarce audible in tones of softest melody along the vessel's side-a seaman's lullaby, inviting sweetest sleep. Then why your troubled dreams? Why speech in sleeping? Is it the thought of Spain's lost greatness? or of the cruel bigots of the long past? and thousands of her children slain, with cruellest tortures in religion's name? or of still repeated savage sport with cruelty in miserable bullfights? when with agile acts and meretricious splendour the beholder's eyes are cheated to forget the degradation of the scene to man and beast! Wherefore your dreams?"

After breakfast some of us conversed on education ; and the senior of our party, who had given a good deal of attention to the subject, considered that much of the education in England, at the present time, is ill advised. The system of competitive examinations, and cramming for them, was open to the gravest objections. To make lads mentally precocious was not, or should not be, the aim of education; but to train them to habits of reasoning and correct thought, so as to become trained to reason out the causes of things; and to have their minds developed in various ways, not merely their memory so as to learn like parrots, without having their powers of thought developed. To overtax and overstrain the minds of the young is in most cases, if not in all, permanently to injure them, bodily if not mentally, for life, and is consequently to be deprecated. The old saying, "Mens sana in corpore sano," is too much lost sight of. I added it should also be the constant aim to enlist habit on the side of virtue.

We arrived at Ferrol about 8 o'clock, just as it was getting dark. The day had been fine and enjoyable; but now, while seated at dinner, we hear heavy rain. Ferrol is 250 miles west of Bilbao, which distance we had accomplished in 23 hours. Upon going on deck, after dinner, we found the clouds had cleared away, and the moon was shining brightly. We appeared to be in an inland loch, so com

FERROL.

13 pletely did we seem surrounded by land, and the entrance to the harbour being hidden from view we could not see how we had entered. Next morning the weather was all that could be desired; but while I was engaged in making this record more complete I was called by the steward on deck to find the ship apparently deserted by all but myself. After the refusal for us to land at Portugalette without authority, could it be that my companions in sudden panic had deserted the ship fearing a Spanish broadside from the batteries surrounding it, or was it that our Admiral had determined upon military precision in our movements now that we had arrived at such a renowned arsenal, and that not being on deck the moment he gave the word to man the boat to inspect the fortifications I had lost the opportunity.

Looking at my watch I found the latter the true explanation, I was five minutes too late! Nelson said that all his success in life arose from being always ready five minutes before time. Fortunately my mistake could be remedied, the boat came back with fish and vegetables, and then took me on shore, when I saw Ferrol and returned with the rest of the party. It is quite a good-sized town, with a population of about 25,000, very continental in appearance, but not at all inviting to visit. We were told about 1,000 men were employed at the arsenal. Notwithstanding its situation as the most northerly port of Spain, and its splendid harbour, it is not an improving town. While Santander, which our Admiral and I visited in 1873, Bilbao and San Sebastian all have railway accommodation, Ferrol has none, which is greatly against it. San Sebastian in particular is a thriving place. When I visited it in 1872 I was surprised to see so many new houses built and in progress, as the Carlist war was then going on. It is on the direct railway route between Paris and Madrid, and a desirable place for a tourist to stay at for a day or night on his way.

I was told it was becoming an increasingly favourite resort for sea bathing, and the beach of pure sand with its trans

B

parent clear water seemed to me everything bathers could desire, and quite equal to anything at Biarritz, where I had bathed two days previously.

Ferrol at the extreme north west of Spain, without a railway, is comparatively out of the world.

As soon as we had had lunch we started in the steam launch, our Admiral intending to take us to visit the town of Coruna, and the battle field near; but when we reached the mouth of Ferrol harbour the sea was too rough, we therefore ascended a hill close to the bay of Coruna, from which we had an excellent bird's-eye view of the bay and of the town on the opposite side about five miles away. Our Admiral, who had previously visited the battle-field, pointed out its position. Coruna is of great antiquity, claiming to have been a Phoenician and Carthaginian settlement. It was here that the Invincible Armada put in to refit after the storms encountered off Cape Finisterre, setting sail again for the attack on England on Friday, the 29th July, 1588; it was sighted off the Lizard six days afterwards. We all know the result, which was summed up in few words by Sir Francis Drake, as follows:-"Their invincible and dreadful navy, with all its great and terrible ostentation, did not in all their sailings about England so much as sink or take one ship, bark, pinnace, or cock-boat of ours; or even burn so much as one sheep-cote on this land." The year following Drake sailed to make reprisals, when he and Norris took Coruna with only 1,200 men; but it is now best known to us from the battle of Coruna, when Sir John Moore, with only 13,000 men, defeated the French army of more than 20,000, led by Soult, the event being recorded in those well-known lines"We buried him darkly at dead of night, The sod with our bayonets turning, By the struggling moon-beams misty light, And the lantern dimly burning."

The

An urn of granite marks Moore's place of burial. lighthouse at the entrance to the Bay of Coruna is built on a Roman foundation, and is termed the tower of Hercules;

STORM IN THE ATLANTIC.

15

it presents a very imposing appearance from the sea, looking like a grand monument.

Friday, April 16th.-We left Ferrol about 5 a.m., and soon, by the motion of the vessel, found we were entering the vast ocean, upwards of 3,000 miles across to America. The wind was south-westerly and brought with it rather a heavy swell, which continued to increase until, as night approached, we found we were encountering a storm. As it increased in violence the knight of our party (Mr. S. Lancaster) was soon on deck to see if he could be of any service, evincing a knight's true qualities, the first on the scene of action at danger's call. Our Admiral also was up, the whole crew being on duty, and three men at the wheel. This being the state of things on deck the state of the landsmen below may be imagined. The tossing made them feel as if a little more would send them quite out of their berths, while any stray boots or other loose things went careering about the cabins as if taking erratic midnight holiday, while the sea-going qualities of our yacht were tried to the utmost. Suddenly in the middle of the storm the engines were stopped, owing to the heating of the screw shaft. We then, for a short time, floated in the trough of the sea, but, thanks to a kind Providence over us, and to the good seamanship and admirably constructed vessel, no harm came of it; and in about a quarter-of-an-hour the shaft had been sufficiently cooled by the application of water to permit of a re-start. As I was winding up my watch that night a sudden jerk made me over-wind it and break the main-spring, and thus, having no means of telling the time, the night seemed as if it never would end. Twenty times or more as the vessel tossed and strained under the crashing weight of the waves I looked out to find it always dark. At last the grey morning light appeared, and the storm gradually lessened. Our Admiral told us the next day that when he went on deck not only was it intensely dark but there was a howling wind and blinding rain, the sea was running mountains high, while