family farewell, and having mounted my mule, set forward to
Arroyolos.



CHAPTER VII



The Druids' Stone--The Young Spaniard--Ruffianly Soldiers--Evils of
War--Estremoz--The Brawl--Ruined Watch Tower--Glimpse of Spain--Old
Times and New.

After proceeding about a league and a half, a blast came booming
from the north, rolling before it immense clouds of dust; happily
it did not blow in our faces, or it would have been difficult to
proceed, so great was its violence. We had left the road in order
to take advantage of one of those short cuts, which, though
possible for a horse or a mule, are far too rough to permit any
species of carriage to travel along them. We were in the midst of
sands, brushwood, and huge pieces of rock, which thickly studded
the ground. These are the stones which form the sierras of Spain
and Portugal; those singular mountains which rise in naked
horridness, like the ribs of some mighty carcass from which the
flesh has been torn. Many of these stones, or rocks, grew out of
the earth, and many lay on its surface unattached, perhaps wrested
from their bed by the waters of the deluge. Whilst toiling along
these wild wastes, I observed, a little way to my left, a pile of
stones of rather a singular appearance, and rode up to it. It was
a druidical altar, and the most perfect and beautiful one of the