Next Day we set out for Victoria.  It is a sweet, delicious, and pleasant Town.  It received that Name in Memory of a considerable Victory there obtained over the Moors.  Leaving this Place, I parted with Father White; he going where his Affairs led him; and I to make the best of my Way to Bilboa.

Entring into Biscay, soon after I left Victoria, I was at a Loss almost to imagine, what Country I was got into.  By my long Stay in Spain, I thought my self a tolerable Master of the Tongue; yet here I found my self at the utmost Loss to understand Landlord, Landlady, or any of the Family.  I was told by my Muletier, that they pretend their Language, as they call it, has continued uncorrupted from the very Confusion of Babel; though if I might freely give my Opinion in the Matter, I should rather take it to be the very Corruption of all that Confusion.  Another Rhodomontado they have, (for in this they are perfect Spaniards) that neither Romans, Carthaginians, Vandals, Goths, or Moors, ever totally subdued them.  And yet any Man that has ever seen their Country, might cut this Knot without a Hatchet, by saying truly, that neither Roman, Carthaginian, nor any victorious People, thought it worth while to make a Conquest of a Country, so mountainous and so barren.

However, Bilboa must be allowed, tho’ not very large, to be a pretty, clean and neat Town.  Here, as in Amsterdam, they allow neither Cart, nor Coach, to enter; but every Thing of Merchandize is drawn, and carried upon Sledges:  And yet it is a Place of no small Account, as to Trade; and especially for Iron and Wooll.  Here I hop’d to have met with an opportunity of Embarking for England; but to my Sorrow I found my self disappointed, and under that Disappointment, obliged to make the best of my Way to Bayonne.

Setting out for which Place, the first Town of Note that I came to, was Saint Sebastian.  A very clean Town, and neatly pay’d; which is no little Rarity in Spain.  It has a very good Wall about it, and a pretty Citadel.  At this Place I met with two English Officers, who were under the same state with my self; one of them being a Prisoner of War with me at Denia.  They were going to Bayonne to embark for England as well as my self; so we agreed to set out together for Port Passage.  The Road from St. Sebastian is all over a well pav’d Stone Causeway; almost at the end whereof, there accosted us a great number of young Lasses.  They were all prettily dress’d, their long Hair flowing in a decent manner over their Shoulders, and here and there decorated with Ribbons of various Colours, which wantonly play’d on their Backs with the Wind.  The Sight surpriz’d my Fellow Travellers no less than me; and the more, as they advanced directly up to us, and seiz’d our Hands.  But a little time undeceiv’d