First, I purchased a horse. He was a black Andalusian stallion of great
power and strength, but he was unbroke, savage, and furious. A cargo of
Bibles, however, which I hoped occasionally to put on his back, would, I
had no doubt, thoroughly tame him. I then engaged a servant, a wandering
Greek, named Antonio Buchini; his behaviour was frequently in the
highest degree extraordinary, but he served me courageously and
faithfully. The state of the surrounding country was not very favourable
for setting forth; Cabrera, the Carlist, was within nine leagues of
Madrid, with an army nearly 10,000 strong; nevertheless, about the
middle of May I bade farewell to my friends, and set out for Salamanca.

A melancholy town is Salamanca; the days of its collegiate glory are
long since past, never more to return; a circumstance, however, which is
little to be regretted, for what benefit did the world ever derive from
scholastic philosophy? The principal bookseller of the town consented to
become my agent here, and I, in consequence, deposited in his shop a
certain number of New Testaments. I repeated this experiment in all the
large towns which I visited and distributed them likewise as I rode
along.

The posada where I put up at Salamanca was a good specimen of the old
Spanish inn. Opposite to my room lodged a wounded officer; he was
attended by three broken soldiers, lame or maimed, and unfit for
service; they were quite destitute of money, and the officer himself was
poor and had only a few dollars. Brave guests for an inn, thought I;
yet, to the honour of Spain be it spoken, it is one of the few countries
in Europe where poverty is never insulted nor looked upon with contempt.
Even at an inn the poor man is never spurned from the door, and if not
harboured, is at least dismissed with fair words, and consigned to the
mercy of God and his mother. This is as it should be. I laugh at the
bigotry and prejudices of Spain; I abhor the cruelty and ferocity which
have cast a stain of eternal infamy on her history; but I will say for
the Spaniards that in their social intercourse no people in the world
exhibit a juster feeling of what is due to the dignity of human nature,
or better understand the behaviour which it behoves a man to adopt
towards his fellow beings.

We travelled on by Valladolid, Leon and Astorga, and entered the
terrific mountains of Galicia. After a most difficult journey, along
precipitous tracks that were reported t