(panniers) was painful, but that the shaking in this vessel was something he could never have dreamt of; two days more, he protests, would have killed him. Long and loud are his exclamations of Shookr Alhum-dullillah! Thanks to Almighty God 1

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On the evening of the 24th, five or six carts and carriages were brought for our conveyance to Goorieff. They the Tutor, a German naturalist, a Russian doctor, and I, started in a sort of phaeton, drawn by three ponies; off we went like mad. They in a dreadful perturbation; I really sometimes think that these shakings and novelties will be too much for him.

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This place, Goorieff, is chiefly a village of fishermen ; the houses are all of planks, comfortable and clean. It is only within the last few years that the Caspian has retired from this ground. Enormous quantities of fish are caught here, and a considerable trade is carried on in consequence with Astrakhan.

man.

October 1st. Arrived at Ourénbourg after a most harassing and tiresome trip by the post carts. There was a village of boxes, (for the dwellings cannot be called houses,) and a small field fortification at every station; but the only place of any consequence is Ooreilsky, which is a considerable town, with some fine houses. It is the headquarters of the hettman of the Ooral Cossacks, a very agreeable, accomplished gentleThe arrangements regarding post-horses are excellent, and the pace good, but, oh! the carts, they are dreadful. I have travelled far, and in barbarous countries, but never did I suffer so much pain as on this journey. The tract of country from Goorieff to Ourenbourg is occupied by the Cossacks of the Ooral, who are amongst the hardiest soldiers in the Russian ranks; they have many privileges connected with the fisheries on the river. The fish is caught in very great quantities, and is a considerable article of traffic.

On my arrival at Ourenbourg I parted with my longcherished beard, and inserted myself into the tight garbs of Europe. Here I found a very pleasant society. There is a considerable fortification, and a large force. The bazar is a

very busy scene, and natives from all parts of Asia may be seen wandering about, staring at the wonders of European skill and science. Since my arrival, the natives of Khyva, who had been so long in confinement, have been set at liberty, and are to be allowed to return to their homes with their property. The total number of natives of Khyva at 'Ourenbourg, Oureilskee, and Astrakhan, who thus owe their release to English mediation, is 640, which added to the 416 Russians brought with me makes a very satisfactory little total in our favour, to say nothing of the numbers which the prohibitory orders may be hoped to save from a life of slavery.

From Ourenbourg I posted to Moscow, via Lunbeersk. At Moscow I took a place in the diligence, and arrived at Petersburg on the 3d of November, where I had the honour to receive the thanks of the Emperor for the kindness which I had found it in my power to show to his subjects. This city, and the road to it from Ourenbourg, have been often described by many more able persons than myself; and having carried my unfortunate reader safely into civilized life, I will now make my bow, and wish him, when next he moves, a pleasanter journey with a more amusing companion. (BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE.)

PASSAGES IN THE CAREER OF EL EMPECINADO.

THE BETRAYAL.

The obstinate persecution of the Empecinado by the French, afforded that chief numerous opportunities to display his natural talent for guerilla warfare a talent he possessed in common with many of his country-men, but in a supereminent degree. With a handful of men, aided by the nature of the country, and a perfect knowledge of localities, he not only managed to elude the pursuit of forces more than fifty times as numerous as his own, but also found means to harass and annoy the enemy, much in the same way that, on a sultry July day, one may sometimes see a horse tortured and driven nearly frantic by the active and persevering attacks of a solitary fly.

Encouraged by the too sanguine reports of some of his spies, to believe that the French were beginning to relax their vigilance, the Empecinado, after remaining some time in the mountains, ventured back to the plains of the Duero; but soon found it would be impossible to continue there, so numerous were the detachments of hostile cavalry that patrolled the country. In retiring towards the

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Sierras of Burgos, the guerillas were compelled to cross the Duero at the ford of the Puente Caido, or Fallen Bridge, which is within sight of Aranda. The garrison of that town having caught a view of the Empecinado and his band, a regiment of dragoons were sent out, which chased them as far as the town of Coruna del Conde, (1) but there dropped the pursuit, while the Spaniards took refuge in the Sierra of Arlanza, and fixed their headquarters at a Benedictine monastery, situated in the very wildest and most savage part of those mountains. Hence emissaries were dispatched in every direction, who soon returned with news that the French were determined to surround the Sierra on all sides, and not to raise the blockade till the Empecinado had fallen into their hands. Upon receiving this intelligence, and after some consultation between the Empecinado and Fuentes, the partida was divided into four detachments of twenty-five men each. The same night, Fuentes, at the head of one of these parties, left the mountain, and, passing through the French lines, made a forced march in a southerly direction, following the course of the Duero; Sardina and El Manco, subordinate officers of the Empecinado, with other two detachments, took the direction of Arragon, but by different roads; while Diez himself remained in the Sierra with the last twenty-five men.

A week passed away, during which time the French, having posted troops round the mountain in which they conceived the guerillas to be lurking, waited patiently till hunger or an attempt to break through the lines should place their troublesome enemy in their power. On the seventh day, however, news came to the general commanding, that on the road to Arragon a party of troops escorting a quantity of clothing, and some sick and wounded, had been attacked by the band of the Empecinado. A few hours later, and while the French were yet chafing with fury at the escape of the Guerilla whom they had made so sure of capturing, another messenger arrived, and reported that a courier had been surprised and taken, and his escort of twenty dragoons cut to pieces, at the

() The Clania of the ancient Romans, and birthplace of the Emperor Galba,

village of Magaz, on the Valladolid road, also by the Empecinado. Heartily cursing their ubiquitous enemy, the French commanders marched with all their forces to the provinces of Valladolid and Siguenza, leaving forty troopers with the depot at the headquarters in the town of Covarrubias, which is situated at the foot of the Sierra of Arlanza, and little more than half a league from the Benedictine monastery where the Empecinado had all the while remained.

It was on the second morning after the French troops had marched from Covarrubias, that eight or ten of the dragoons remaining there in garrison, were lounging about in front of the large stable where they were quartered, grumbling at the routine of duty that had consigned them to the dulness of the depot, while their comrades were riding over the country, and perhaps engaged with the enemy. After having sufficiently lamented their hard fate in being left to ennuyer themselves in an insignificant Castilian town, and after having discussed, without coming to any satisfactory conclusion, the means by which the Empecinado had slipped through their fingers, some of the idlers were making a move in the direction of a neighbouring tavern, and others, stretching themselves on the straw inside the open door of the stable, seemed disposed to indulge in a forenoon nap, when a shrill voice from the further end of the street called the attention of both the sleepy and the thirsty.

Barquillos! Barquillos! Quien quiere barquillos!

The person who uttered this cry, common enough in the Spanish towns, was a woman who carried, suspended from her arm by a broad leathern strap, a tin-box nearly three feet in height, serving as a receptacle for a quantity of the thin wafer-like cakes called barquillos, and having a sort of dial-plate painted on its circular top.

"Vamos, senores ; a provar la suerte. Try your luck, sirs, said the wandering cake-merchant, setting down her moveable warehouse, and giving a vigorous spin to the brass needle poised in the centre of the dial.

The Barquillera was a strapping wench of some five-andtwenty years of age apparently, whose lower person acquired