told that we should probably be at Grao by twelve.... Henry has set up an
acquaintance with a Mexican who knows a little of England and English, and
is going to pass the winter at Valencia. About one o'clock we were in the
harbour of Grao. We landed in boats, and found ourselves surrounded by
a crowd of clamorous porters and _tartana_ drivers--one of the scenes
characteristic of landing in a country where police regulations do not
exist ensued. However, Henry's Mexican acquaintance came to his rescue, and
two courteous Gauls to mine. They were taking the French despatches into
Valencia, and offered Hopie and me seats in their _tartana_--a covered cart
not on springs, which is the cab of the country. We joyfully accepted,
leaving Henry to struggle through custom-house and other difficulties as
best he could. The drive (into Valencia) is about two miles, part shaded by
an avenue and carefully watered by men stationed at intervals, who ladled
the water in buckets out of the runlets on each side of the road. We took
up our quarters at the Fonda de Paris, and congratulated each other on
having arrived in Spain.]

_13th_.--[We went out at eight o'clock. Our first point was the market,
which we found in full activity. Such supplies of fruit and vegetables can
only be found in a city surrounded by leagues of _huerta_.... We went to
the _plateria_, but found the shops poor, and the articles displayed were
coarse and ill-wrought. We visited the churches of St. Martin, St. John,
and the cathedral, and ascended the tower _del Miguelete_. The churches are
so dark that it is quite impossible to distinguish the pictures, much less
to judge of their beauty. The panorama from the tower is most beautiful:
the city and plain of Valencia, the Mediterranean and the encircling
mountains, the fertile _huerta_, and the glorious sky of deepest blue
above....

Placards of a bull-fight on the morrow caught our eyes; and Hopie and I,