age of King Alfonso and Queen Mercedes. The
young King took great interest in the proposed voyage; he sent word over
the country that the American was the guest of all Spain, and requested
his people to receive him hospitably. Before leaving Madrid to begin the
perilous undertaking, the Minister of the Interior gave Boyton maps of
the river and all the information concerning it he possessed, which was
surprisingly little: The maps were glaringly incorrect, as was
afterward learned. Many towns that the maps located on the river were
not near it.

When all was ready Paul's agent and baggage were sent to Lisbon to await
the termination of the voyage. Paul returned to Toledo to make final
preparations for the trip, which was one never before attempted. In
fact, as far as was known, the river had never been navigated from
source to mouth. It is three thousand five hundred feet above sea level
at Toledo, which accounts for its rapid descent. On his return to the
famous old city, Boyton was met by an aid-de-camp of the governor, who
tendered the hospitality of that official, which was gratefully
accepted for one day. That day was spent in visiting interesting
points. The next morning, Thursday, January 31st, 1878, Paul drove to
the river through the Gate of the Sun, and found a crowd of people
assembled to see him start. In a few moments he was in the water, and
the people cheered lustily as he began energetically to ply his paddle.
As he turned the bend at the end of the first half mile, he took his
last look at the stately Alcazar, away on the Crest of the hills,
and at the ruins of the Moorish mills on the riverside below. Onward,
and the bright, sunlit vision faded from his view.

"Now that I was started," said Paul, detailing an account of the
wondrous journey, "I felt easier and stopped at noon to partake of a
light dinner. I knew I was in for a tough job and made up my mind to go
through with it. The river ran all over the country and was as
changeable in temper as a novelist's heroine. Sometimes it was a mile
wide, running slowly, with as calm and smooth a surface as a lake.
Again, at the next bend it would dart toward a range of hills, and
instead of going around them as its previously erratic course led me to
expect, it would plough straight through the solid rocks. Then it would
become as narrow as a canal, deep and rapid as a mill race, and in some
places hurried along with the speed of an