Pass of Pancorbo-Remains of military works-San Salvador de Oña-Count Don Sancho Garcia-The Padre Farmaceutico-Villarcayo-Spanish convicts-Melancholy rencontre-The British Legion-General Evans-San Sebastian -The Campamento-Admirable conduct of the British Legion-General Don Miguel de Alava.

CIRCUMSTANCES having occurred which induced me to visit Madrid, I returned to Háro, and thence commenced my journey towards Santander, having been informed the road from that town to the capital was open.

Our route lay through the celebrated and romantic pass of Pancorbo. This remarkable defile, called the garganta, or gorge of Pancorbo, seems to be cut through an otherwise impassable mountain-wall, by the glittering rivulet the Oroncillo, which flows at its base. The small town of Pancorbo is built also at the foot of the pass; enormous rocks of great height and fantastic forms overhang the road, and seem ready to fall upon and crush the traveller. The road, about a quarter of a mile in length and twelve

feet wide, is very good, and runs close to the rock on one side and to the rivulet on the other; this forms the entire width of the pass. Near the centre is a small chapel hollowed out of the rock and enclosed by a gate formed of iron bars, through which may be perceived a small altar surmounted by a figure of the Virgin, before which a lamp burns night and day, its expense being paid by the town. This chapel is dedicated to Nuestra Señora del Camino, or our Lady of the Road, the protectress of travellers through the pass.

Under the guidance of my patron, a respectable inhabitant of Pancorbo, I ascended that side of the mountain which overhangs the town. We were involved in a mist, or cloud, some time before we reached the summit, where we inspected the remains of some very important military works which were originally erected by the Spaniards I think about the year 1795, but were taken possession of by the French in the Peninsular War, and abandoned by them after the Battle of Vitoria in 1813; my companion informed me that seven hundred prisoners were then taken by the Spaniards. I saw eight pieces of iron cannon on the very top of the mountain, and close to some dilapidated embrasures. These guns were all spiked by the French before abandoning these commanding works, which they destroyed as far as possible. I understood there were fourteen or fifteen pieces of spiked

cannon in different parts of the mountain. The barracks for the garrison were caves hollowed out of the rock, as was the powder magazine; there were also algibes, or tanks for water which had been dug in the solid rock. As we descended I perceived a quantity of shot and shells in the interstices of the rock, which had been thus wedged in when cast down from the summit by the French before their retreat.

Part of the road from Pancorbo to Oña is through a very picturesque country fertilized by several streams which flow through it. Considerable tracts of this productive land belonged to the Benedictine Monastery at Oña. A respectable farmer, with whom I had an interesting conversation at a later period, and subsequently to the suppression of the monasteries, did not seem to be over pleased with the change of system. He said that when harvests were bad, or other unforeseen circumstances prevented punctuality on the part of the farmers in the payment of their rent, the community being rich, would, upon satisfactory explanation, wait a reasonable time; but that since the land had, by the abolition of the monasteries, become national property, the agents of government, whose necessities were so great on account of the war, exacted punctual payment.

The town of Oña is very beautifully situated, though a poor place in itself; but the Monastery of San Salvador

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SAN SALVADOR DE ONA.

de Oña-founded in the year 1008 by Count Don Sancho Garcia-which forms one side of the plaza, is a magnificent edifice, though it has been sadly injured since I first saw it; for after the changes just spoken of, its beautiful cloisters were used as stables for some hundreds of baggage-mules; the provisions and stores for the army, with which they had been laden having been deposited in the spacious granaries and storehouses attached to the Monastery. These cloisters contain several finely executed monuments of priors, bishops, and other high personages; some of them, I am very sorry to say, were seriously and wantonly defaced, as might have been expected, from the uses to which the cloisters had necessarily been applied. The Church is a very fine edifice.

The only monk left when I passed through Oña the second time after the lapse of several months, was the Padre Farmaceutico, or apothecary.

In the decree for the suppression of monasteries, a general exception was made in favour of the Padres Farmaceuticos, because from time immemorial medicines had been dispensed to the poor from those religious establishments, and it would not have been either humane or politic to deprive them of that benefit. Each householder paid annually half a fanega (25lbs.) of wheat to the Padre, who was bound to supply the family with medicines in case of illness without any additional charge.

THE PADRE FARMACEUTICO.

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The Padre Farmaceutico of Oña was a fine old gentleman. I was once lodged for a day in his apartments, and on my occasional visits to the town I always found him friendly and agreeable.

"Vamos!" a favourite expression of the worthy Padre, "Vamos! I am delighted to see you," he would say when I called upon him after a march. "Vamos! Vamos!

sit down, and let us have a little chat."

But the worthy apothecary could never remain still five minutes; for women and invalids were continually coming for medicines, but he was always ready to jump up, and with a kindly "vamos!" on his lips give them what they wanted.

Among the books in his library I observed translations from a few of our standard English works on pharmacy.

From Oña there is as fine a road as any in the world to Villarcayo. The distance is six leagues. This road is formed with great skill and boldness across mountains of considerable height.

Villarcayo presented a deplorable picture of the effects of civil war. The place having been surrounded and attacked by a large Carlist force, the Urbanos, or National Guards, after defending the town with great bravery and endurance, retired to the tower of the church, and thence fired upon the enemy who were pillaging the town. The Cura and the Corregidor were tied together