CHAPTER XIV. ORLEANS: BLOIS: TOURS: POITIERS: BORDEAUX: BAY ONNE BIARRITZ: BURGOS: VALLADOLID: MADRID: AGA: GIBRALTAR. ORLEANS one of the most ancient cities of France, has a population of 52,000. In 1429 this city was besieged by the English for six months; but in the following year Joan of Arc, in full armor, bearing a sacred banner, entered the city at the head of a very small force, bringing supplies to the besieged. In opposition to the judgment of the French commanders, she crossed the Loire in boats, accompanied only by a chosen number of men, and attacked the Bastile des Tournelles. Although pierced by an arrow, she waved her banner, scaled the walls and carried the fort. Hence her name of Maid of Orleans. The city has a fine Cathedral, and an equestrian statue of Joan of Arc. Blois on the river Loire, was the native city of Louis XII., Peter the Divine, and Papin, inventor of the steam engine. The old castle overlooking the river, was once the palace of Francis I., and of Charles IX. In it is a room where Catherine de Medici consulted the stars and concocted her most diabolical plots; foremost among these was the cold-blooded murder of the Duke of Guise; when, at her instigation, her son Henry III. placed daggers in the hands of his attendants to stab him as he entered the chamber. Napoleon I. dated his last imperial decree at Blois to which place he had previously dispatched the empress with the young king of Rome and the remnant of his court. Tours, the principal city of Touraine, has a population of 48,000. It was near here, in 732, that the battle took place between the Christians under Charles Martel and the Mohammedans under Abder Rahman, which resulted in the death-blow to the Koran in the West. Poitiers is chiefly noted as having given the name to the famous battle fought near by, between King John and the Black Prince, which resulted in the defeat and captivity of the former. Bordeaux the second sea-port town of France, is on the Garonne, 60 miles from its mouth, and has a population of 216,000. It has a quay 3 miles long, surpassed by few in Europe. The city is particularly celebrated for its extensive trade in claret wine, of which it exports large quantities to foreign ports. Among its most remarkable edifices are the ruins of an old Roman palace; a fine theatre built by Louis XIV.; and St. Michael's Church; in a cave of the tower, are a large number of wonderfully life-like bodies. standing upright against the walls; their preservation being attributed to the nature of the soil in which they had been buried 400 years before. Bayonne is situated at the junction of the Nive and Adour rivers, on the high-road to Spain; and is one of the most strongly fortified towns of France. Its citadel is considered the best work of Vauban the engineer. From Bayonne the bayonet derives its name; it was invented in the 17th century, originating from the incident of a regiment short of ammunition, defending itself against the Spaniards by means of long knives which they stuck in the barrels of their muskets. Biarritz on the Bay of Biscay, 8 miles from Bayonne, is a fashionable watering-place, and was a favorite resort of the Emperor Napoleon III.; its mild climate rendering a sojourn here attractive during the fall and winter months. The shore is rugged and wild, with cliffs from thirty to forty feet in height. After crossing the Spanish frontier at Irun, where a most thorough search is made by the custom-house officials, the first city of importance reached is Burgos, the former capital of the kingdom of Castile. It is situated 3,000 feet above the level of the sea, and contains 30,000 inhabitants. The streets are narrow and dirty, and the houses high and inclosed in glass verandas. At intervals of 15 minutes throughout the night, the voice of the watchman may be heard in loud tones announcing the hour and the state of the weather. The ladies still adhere to the picturesque lace mantilla, and the graceful fan; while the men invariably envelope themselves in the voluminous folds of their mantles. Before being admitted into a house, the stranger is first jealously scanned through a grating in the outer door; a custom having its origin in a time of general insecurity. The small donkey, the only beast of burden seen on the streets, is often so heavily laden as to be scarcely observable under his bulky load. Burgos is celebrated as the birthplace and tomb of the Cid, a Moorish name meaning unconquerable. This celebrated Spanish hero was a great warrior, whose deeds have been recorded in prose and verse by writers of all countries and periods for the last eight centuries. Even after his death he is said to have won a great victory; his followers having secured his corpse to his favorite horse, conducted him to the battle-field, where the foe, having heard of the death of the great leader, were appalled at sight of the ghastly apparition, and, conquered by their own superstitious terrors, fled ignominiously from the field. Valladolid the ancient capital of Spain, is at the confluence of the Pisuerga and Esgueva rivers, and has a population of 52,000. It was here that Christopher Columbus, who gave a continent to the world died,- May 20th, 1506-in a small dimly-lighted room, in a narrow street of the poorer quarter of the town. Valladolid was the birthplace of Philip II. and in the Cathedralone of the finest in Spain · were married, in 1469, Ferdinand and Isabella. Madrid, the capital of Spain, is in the centre of the kingdom, in a barren, rocky plain 2,200 feet above the level of the sea. Owing to its situation, the city is exposed to cold winds and the climate is particularly unhealthy. Madrid has 400,000 inhabitants and though of very ancient origin, has, owing to its handsome buildings and wide streets, a modern appearance. The most conspicuous public ornaments are, the statues of Spain's gifted sons, Murillo the artist, and Cervantes the author of Don Quixote; and of Philip IV. on horseback surrounded by the early kings; besides the fountains of Neptune and Sibyl. The Park, of an afternoon is thronged with the élite driving out in their elegant equipages, among them that of the Royal family, in which is the little Infanta accompanied by her attendants. The Royal Palace is an immense structure built of granite, and covering, with its surroundings, 80 acres of ground. Favored with invitations from the Palace we attended the Christening of the Royal Infant of Spain. The ceremony was performed in the Royal Chapel by a Cardinal, assisted by the highest dignitaries of the |