all the other passengers having been battened down below. He was
almost drowned in the seas that broke over the vessel, and, on one
occasion, was struck down by a water cask that had broken away from
its lashings. Even after he had escaped Cape Finisterre, the ordeal
was not over; for the ship was in a sinking condition, and fire broke
out on board. Eventually the engines were repaired, the fire
extinguished, and Lisbon was reached on the 13th, where Borrow landed
with his water-soaked luggage, and found on examination that the
greater part of his clothes had been ruined. In spite of this
experience, he determined to continue his voyage to Cadiz in the
Manchester, probably for reasons of economy, indifferent to the fact
that she was utterly unseaworthy, and that most of the other
passengers had abandoned her. During his enforced stay in Lisbon,
whilst the ship was being patched up, Borrow saw Mr Wilby and made
enquiry into the state of the Society's affairs in Portugal. Many
changes had taken place and the country was in a distracted state.

After a week's delay at Lisbon the Manchester continued her voyage to
Cadiz, where she arrived without further mishap on the 21st. During
this voyage a fellow passenger with Borrow was the Marques de Santa
Coloma. "According to the expression of the Marques, when they
stepped on to the quay at Cadiz, Borrow looked round, saw some
Gitanos lounging there, said something that the Marques could not
understand, and immediately 'that man became une grappe de Gitanos.'
They hung round his neck, clung to his knees, seized his hands,
kissed his feet, so that the Marques hardly liked to join his comrade
again after such close embraces by so dirty a company." {186a}

Borrow now found himself in his allotted field--unhappy, miserable,
distracted Spain. Gomez, the Carlist leader, had been sweeping