agua," charging what was equivalent to about one-tenth of a penny for a good drink. At last, about twelve o'clock, 'Lloyds'" agent returned again from the health officer, and said he had urged every argument that could be without success, and he could do no more-that the people on the quay knew that we wanted to land, and that he had ordered us back to our ship, so back we must go, his dignity was at stake. Our Admiral was greatly annoyed, but "Lloyds" " agent said that he would take it as a personal favour to himself if we would return, and was so earnest about it that our Admiral consented. He said we were not, after all, treated so badly as another English yacht that left last night. Our Admiral remarked, that was curious kind of consolation, also that it was no new thing to be badly treated here, he had heard others complain, and he was so uncivilly treated when here previously that it had left on his mind a very unfavourable impression, and they might be sure he should give Cadiz a wide berth in future.* After we had returned to the Red Rose the health officer came on board and made matters rather worse than better, as we thought by what he said: so that I believe Mr. Shaw heard some of our party grumble as Englishmen can grumble. All the morning seemed wasted for nothing, and it was nearly two o'clock before we had landed and could commence seeing the town. The interior of the cathedral is very fine. Our train is at last started. We pass first of all the strip of land connecting the town with the province; on each side there are a succession of ponds called salinas, for evaporating sea water, and converting it into salt. The * On returning home, I find Mrs. Brassey, in her "Sunshine and Storm in the East," just published, records their experience. They had sailed from England, and after calling at Vigo, in the north-west of Spain, came to Cadiz, like ourselves, on their way to Seville-she says: "The officials made a great fuss about quarantine. First they said we could not land at all; then they offered to allow us to do so if we would state that we had come to Cadiz not for pleasure, but simply because we were wind-bound; and finally they promised to go and consult the governor and chief doctor." quantity produced is very considerable, and is heaped up in vast pyramids, like miniatures of those in Egypt, showing the immense evaporative power of the sun. Our Admiral said he expected future generations would make much greater use of the sun, in climates like this, than has hitherto been done. After passing the isthmus, for miles and miles as we travel along, the fences of the railway consist only of irregular rows of aloe and cactus of various shapes and sizes. The immense size to which they grow, and the appearance of vegetation generally, betokens a southern clime. The ground seems cultivated in a very antiquated manner, and we see oxen drawing the kind of plough sculptured in Egyptian monuments. We soon enter a vast vine-growing district, and stop at a railway station at the town of Zeres. Sherry is the principal wine produced here, of which so much is drunk in England. As we pass on towards Seville, we notice plantations of olive trees covering large tracts of the country, as well as large areas devoted to the cultivation of vines and other crops. The large province of Andalusia, in which we are travelling, comprises the whole of the most southerly part of Spain, and is unequalled by any other part in fertility and climate. Friday, April 23rd, at Seville.-We arrived here last evening, just as it was getting dusk; the sky was still cloudless, while a refreshing coolness pervaded the air which was deliciously scented with orange flowers. At ten o'clock the moon was shining so brightly we took a walk, when we found the whole atmosphere still pervaded with fragrance. This was our first night on shore since leaving England a fortnight ago. Mr. Shaw was once more in his native Andalusia, the land he loves so well. I told him if ever he read the Journal he would see how we enjoyed their splendid climate. As I spoke, and we looked up, there was above us an azure dome of infinite expanse studded with bright stars, while the moon almost turned night into day. Fine days and nights succeed each other here for weeks and weeks, while we find the air continuously enriched with fragrance. The peasants, we are told, can live on food that costs them only twopence or threepence a day, and at night can throw their rough cloaks around them, and sleep out of doors without injury; while others who have houses with flat roofs, as at Cadiz, can sleep with this splendid star-spangled sky for a canopy. Surely to live in such a climate must be a perpetual delight, and our little Journal would be very incomplete unless it did it justice. It seemed, for the moment, that Andalusia was the natural place for man, and that England, one thousand miles or more nearer the North Pole, surrounded by its clouds, and storms, and rain, and damp fog, was altogether left out in the cold. This morning, April 23rd, we first visited the Giralda Tower, which we saw to the best possible advantage, the sun shining full upon it—the clear blue sky of heaven being the background. It is 350 feet high, and is considered the finest specimen of purely Moorish architecture in Spain. We ascended to the belfry and, looking down upon the city and upon its ancient buildings, mosques, and towers, we were carried back in thought to the time of the Romans. Cordova had sided with Scipio, so Julius Cæsar favoured Seville; and below us, on the top of a high column, is a statue of him, with another near, of Hercules on an equally high column, as if they might be holding converse together. From where we stood the müezzin used to call the people to prayers with the solemn cry-" Great is Allah! Mahomet is his prophet! Come to prayer! Prayer is better than sleep." The cry being caught up and echoed from the towers of all the other mosques in the city. The tower is rectangular and large, and the passage inside, for ascending, consists of a moderately steep incline turning at every angle, so that you seem to rise to beneath the vane, and obtain the fine view, without effort. At the foot of the Giralda is the court of orange-trees, through which we pass into the cathedral, a noble Gothic building, the interior of which so much surpassed our expectations that it seemed worth the whole journey; but other relics of the past around us are also immensely worth seeing, in fact While Italy is said to be the home Of all art yields and nature can decree, In wondering reverie we gaze and see, In outline noble, in conception grand, Old Moorish mosques and towers around us stand, We ne'er have seen such scene in any other land. Seville was the birth-place of Murillo. We saw the valuable painting of his that was stolen from the cathedral and taken to America, but is now recovered and replaced; also the slab in the floor of the cathedral above the grave of Fernando, son of Columbus, with the inscription "To Castille and to Leon, Columbus gave a new world." After leaving the cathedral we visited "The Alcazar," which probably surpasses in architectural and artistic beauty every other structure at Seville. The original edifice was rebuilt and enlarged and beautified by the architects and builders who had been engaged on the Alhambra. We were then shown the Casa del Pilatos, or house of Pontius Pilate, built by one of the crusaders on his return from Jerusalem, and said to be an exact copy of Pilate's house. It is in a wonderful state of preservation, and the exquisite arabesque work and excellent proportions of the whole structure are very striking. The brilliancy and transparency of the colouring of the old tiles especially struck us. In the afternoon some of us visited the Government tobacco factory, where more than four thousand women and girls were employed in making cigars. The building is large and spacious and kept at a high temperature, as otherwise the leaves would not be in a fit state for the purpose. It is full of small tables, at each of which six or eight were sitting, chatting and busily earning wages according to the work SEVILLE. 35 done, the earnings generally being from Is. to 3s. a day. We afterwards took a drive, first passing for a short distance along the Guadalquiver, or Great River, as its name implies. There was a good deal of shipping in it. Our Admiral might have brought the Red Rose here, but the channel of the river is narrow and tortuous, and the navigation slow, so that he decided against it; but we found Mrs. Brassey was navigating it, having been here during the fair which is just over, and left yesterday or the day before. In our drive we noticed some fine wheat in full ear, nearly ready for harvest, a contrast to that in England, which we left just appearing above the ground. Andalusia is celebrated for the splendid white flour its wheat produces. Saturday, April 24th.-We spent this morning visiting everything most worth seeing that had been omitted yesterday, especially a gallery consisting entirely of Murillo's pictures. Some students were making copies. There is an ease, grace, freedom, buoyancy, and life in the great master that is matchless. The artists were doing their best, and some of their pictures were finished, but their efforts only set off in bolder relief the excellencies of Murillo. We afterwards visited the museum, in which we saw some interesting specimens of sculpture, dug up from the site of the ancient Roman City, Italia, about five miles from here. Italia was founded by Scipio, and beautified in the reign of Adrian; the figures were finely proportioned, and the parts not broken as perfect as when they came from the sculptor's hands. We had just been admiring Murillo's pictures, and now saw the admirable work of some eminent though unknown sculptors. We passed several times over the place where the Autosde-fé took place during the time of the inquisition. In order to understand the present, it is necessary to examine the past, and in doing so we find that every dominant sect, whether heathen, moslem, Roman catholic, or protestant, has attempted to force its opinions upon others |