evident but the noise infinitely greater. There people seemed to like
sound for its own sake. In Barcelona they were intent upon making money,
and as far as one can see, gained their object. Everything prospered. It
was delightful to go down to the fine harbour and watch the vessels
loading and unloading, the flags of all nations vividly contrasting with
the brilliant blue sky as they flashed and fluttered in the wind. The
port is magnificent. Its waters are blue as the heaven above them, and a
myriad sun-gleams light up its surface. Nothing can be more exhilarating
and picturesque. The faintest outline of a ship possesses a nameless
charm; suggests freedom, wide seas, infinite space: speaks of
enterprise, danger, and courage, yet is an emblem of absolute repose;
hours and days and weeks where the world cannot reach you, and its cares
and worries are non-existent.

Nowhere is the element found under more favourable conditions than in
Barcelona. Few harbours are so well placed. Climb the heights for a
bird's-eye view of the port, and the scene is enchanting. Low-lying
shores undulate towards the mouth of the harbour; green pastures,
glittering sandhills, the blue flashing sea stretch beyond. If your
vision could carry so far, you might gaze upon the lovely Island of
Majorca, rising like a faultless gem out of its deep blue setting of the
Levant. Nothing meets the eye but the broad line of the horizon, broken
here and there by a passing vessel.

[Illustration: THE RAMBLA: BARCELONA.]

On the other side the water, beyond the shipping, lies a small new
settlement of houses called Barcelonita. It is not aristocratic and is
the laundry of the mother town, where dwell the ladies who undertake to
rapidly bleach and destroy one's linen with unrighteous chemicals, and
have earned for Barcelona an unenviable reputation. Ship-builders and
fishermen alone dispute the right of way with these women of the
wash-tub. Turning back to the town, the broad thoroughfare running down
a portion of the quays is lined with magnificent palms, giving it an
almost Oriental aspect. At one end rises a monument to Columbus; at the
other an enormous triumphal arch, combining the Oriental with the
classical; the former quite the pleasanter. Everything bears witness to
the well-being of Barcelona. Its quays are lined with bales of goods.
Men keep tally with the monotonous sing-song one knows so well. Boxes of
oranges betray themselves by their exquisit