to take as much as five hours in its accomplishment. In olden days the abbey was the goal of the procession, and King William I. of the Netherlands--great-grandfather of Queen Wilhelmina--changed the day from Tuesday to Sunday so that a working day should not be lost. This reform did not answer, and the ancient order was restored. Some critics see in the dancing procession of Echternach merely the survival of the spring dance of the heathen races, but at any rate it invests the little town with an interest and importance that would otherwise be lacking. ECHUCA, a borough of the county of Rodney, Victoria, Australia, 156 m. by rail N. of Melbourne. Pop. (1901) 4075. It is situated on the river Murray, across which it is connected by bridge with Moama, on the New South Wales side, whence a railway runs to Deniliquin. The town is the terminus of the Murray River railway and the entrepot of the overland intercolonial trade; it has large wool stores, saw-mills, coach factories, breweries and soap-works. The rich agricultural district is noted for its vineyards. ÉCIJA, a town of southern Spain, in the province of Seville; on the Cadiz-Cordova railway and the left bank of the river Genil. Pop. (1900) 24,372. The river, thus far navigable, is here crossed by a fine old bridge; and the antiquity of the town betrays itself by the irregularity of its arrangement, by its walls and gateways, and by its numerous inscriptions and other relics. Its chief buildings include no fewer than twenty convents, mostly secularized. The principal square is surrounded with pillared porticoes, and has a fountain in the centre; and along the river bank there runs a fine promenade, planted with poplar trees and adorned with statues. From an early period the shoemakers of Écija have been in high repute throughout Spain; woollen cloth, flannel, linen and silks are also manufactured. The vicinity is fertile in corn and wine, and cotton is cultivated. The heat is so great that the spot has acquired the sobriquet of _El Sarten_, or the "Frying-pan" of Andalusia. Écija, called _Estija_ by the Arabs, is the ancient _Astigis_, which was raised to the rank of a Roman colony with the title of _Augusta Firma_. According to Pliny and Pomponius Mela, who both wrote in the 1st century A.D., it was the rival of Cordova and Seville. If local tradition may be believed, it was visited by the apostle Paul, who converted his hostess Santa Xantippa; and, according to one version of his life, it was the see of the famous St Crispin (q.v.) in the 3rd century.