whom you may feel inclined to dance. With regard to dress, they appear to have the same habits as ourselves, and turn out on their evening walks on the Alameida, (at least the men,) as if fresh from Stultz or Buckmaster. As to the ladies, the mantilla and fan are graceful additions to the female toilette, and it is only to be regretted that they are so generally making way for a more fashionable, though far less becoming dress.

The Spaniards appear to have a great passion for cards, at least if we may judge by the eagerness with which most of the passengers engaged in that amusement, and ecarté had evidently accompanied the march. of intellect to these southern extremities of Europe.

A party of Englishmen similarly engaged in killing time in the cuddy of a steamer, would, no doubt, have been drowning it also with plentiful libations of spirits and water; here nothing stronger than the latter element appeared until about eleven o'clock, when supper was announced.

But although Jack Spaniard may lay every

claim to sobriety, he certainly cannot escape the charge of gluttony. The supper consisted of a great number of dishes, each of which was partaken of by every guest, and although, in my opinion, the fare was excellent, it was far from giving general satisfaction. Notwithstanding the good examples of temperance, or rather sobriety, my friend and myself took a Mosquito dose each, and turned in about twelve.

The following morning, at daybreak, saw us in sight of the hills above the villages, "de Los tres Molinos," whilst the old Catalan pilot, humming some incomprehensible tune, (which I observed the helmsman continued during the whole night,) bore up towards Malaga in a north-east direction. Although the wind had changed to the east, we slipped through the smooth water at the rate of eight knots per hour, and, at a little after seven, dropped our anchor in the bay of Malaga.

We had now to undergo all the vexatious delays of custom-house regulations, and it was not till twelve o'clock that we found our port

manteaus safely deposited at the "Fonda de las Cuatro Naciones."

Our next step was to call on the British consul, Mr. Mark, whom we found particularly civil; he accompanied us to the house of the commandant. On our way there, we met, and he introduced us to, the captain-general of Andalusia, Lieutenant-General Palameria, who was said to be at Malaga for his health.

The commandant was not at home, but we saw his lady, a buxom old lass of fifty, who made herself very agreeable, and offered us "her house," saying "Caballeros, esta casa es de ustedes," on our taking our departure: this was my first regular attempt at Spanish in ladies' society, and I got on very satisfactorily. On our way back, Mr. Mark pointed out several remarkable pieces of architecture in the town. The narrowness of the streets, projecting balconies, and grilled windows, sufficiently indicate their Moorish origin; and the mixture of architecture shews likewise the different tenants by whom, at various times, the town has been occupied. The en

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trance to the fort affords a remarkable instance of this: a couple of handsome fluted Corinthian pillars, of Roman origin, support a Moorish arch, and under the archway, in a recess, with tapers burning before it, is an image of the Virgin Mary. Thus Time, the general destroyer, mingles, and at last obliterates, everything.

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A FONDA

CHAPTER XIII.

Different sorts of hostelries in Spain-The Fonda— The Posada-The Venta-The Ventorillo-Pépé, the man of all work-La Señora Dolores-Long knives-The Patio-Moorish origin-La Comida— Catalogue of fishes-New acquaintance, and addition of three Ingleses to the party.

Malaga, March 16, 1838.

A fonda in Spain ranks vastly above a posada, as much as this latter takes precedence over the venta and ventorillo. The first answers to the English of hotel; the second, to a country inn; the third, to a publichouse, where entertainment may be had for man and horse; and, lastly, the humble ventorillo has pretensions to be nothing further than a shed on the road side, where a few loaves of bread and bottles of wine, or aguardiente, tempt the hungry or thirsty traveller.