om their own breasts.

The Basque Provinces are, perhaps, the best known to English travellers,
since they generally enter Spain by that route, and those staying in the
south of France are fond of running across to have at least a look at
Spain, and to be able to say they have been there. The people pride
themselves on being "the oldest race in Europe," and are, no doubt, the
direct descendants of the original and unconquered inhabitants of the
Iberian Peninsula. In Guipuzcoa, the Basque may still be seen living in
his flat-roofed stone house, of which he is sure to be proprietor, using
a mattock in place of plough, and leading his oxen--for _bueyes_ are
never driven--attached to one of the heavy, solid-wheeled carts by an
elaborately carved yoke, covered with a sheepskin. He clings tenaciously
to his unintelligible language, and is quite certain that he is superior
to the whole human race.

The _fueros_, or special rights, already spoken of, for which the
Basques have fought so passionately for five hundred years, might
possibly have been theirs for some time longer if they had not unwisely
thrown in their lot with the Carlist Pretender. They practically formed
a republic within the monarchy; but in 1876, when the young Alfonso XII.
finally conquered the provinces, all differences between them and the
other parts of the kingdom were abolished, and they had to submit to the
abhorred conscription. With all the burning indignation which still
makes some of them say, "I am not a Spaniard; I am a Basque," the
extraordinary advance made in this part of Spain seems to show that the
hereditary energy and talent of the people are on the side of national
progress.

The distinctive dress of the Basques is now almost a thing of the past;
the bright kerchiefs of the women and the dark-blue cap (_boina_) of the
men alone remain. The Viscayan _boina_ has been lately introduced into
the French army as the headgear of the Chasseurs and some other
regiments.

"Aragon is not ours; we ought to conquer it!" Isabel la Catolica is said
to have remarked to her husband; and, indeed, the history of this little
province is wonderfully interesting and amusing. It alone seems to have
had the good sense always to secure its rights before it would vote
supplies for the Austrian kings; whereas the other provinces usually
gave their money without any security, except the word of the King,
which was usually broken. Among the provisions of the _fuer