g upon the earth, mixed up with my portable table and writing
utensils, while the devil himself seemed to be dancing a hornpipe over
my body! Although this is a sort of thing that one will sometimes
submit to, when it comes by way of illusion, at its proper time and
place, such as a midnight visit from a night-mare; yet, as I seemed
now to be visited by a horse as well as a mare, and that, too, in the
middle of the day, and in the midst of a crowded camp, it was rather
too much of a joke, and I therefore sung out most lustily. I was not
long in getting extricated, and found that the whole scene had been
arranged by two rascally donkies, who, in a frolicsome humour, had
been chasing each other about the neighbourhood, until they finally
tumbled into my tent, with a force which drew every peg, and rolled
the whole of it over on the top of me! It might have been good sport
to them, but it was none to me!

On the 3d of July, we resumed our quarters in Villalba, where we
halted during the whole of the next day; and were well supplied with
fish, fresh-butter, and eggs, brought by the peasantry of Biscay, who
are the most _manly_ set of _women_ that I ever saw. They are very
square across the shoulders; and, what between the quantity of fish,
and the quantity of yellow petticoats, they carry a load which an
ordinary mule might boast of.

A division of Spaniards having relieved us in the blockade of
Pampeluna, our division, on the 5th of July, advanced into the
Pyrenees.

On the 7th, we took up our quarters in the little town of St. Esteban,
situated in a lovely valley, watered by the Bidassoa. The different
valleys in the Pyrenees are very rich and fertile. The towns are clean
and regular, and the natives very handsome. They are particularly
smart about the limbs, and in no other part of the world have I seen
any thing, natural or artificial, to rival the complexions of the
ladies, _i.e._ to the admirers of pure red and white.

We were allowed to remain several days in this enchanting spot, and
enjoyed ourselves exceedingly. They had an extraordinary style of
dancing, peculiar to themselves. At a particular part of the tune,
they all began thumping the floor with their feet, as hard and as fast
as they were able, not in the shape of a figure or flourish of any
kind, but even down pounding. I could not, myself, see any thing
either graceful or difficult in the operation; but they seemed to
think that there was only one lad