At last, however, he arrives at the end of his long journey--he has got over a distance of a hundred and ninety-five miles in nineteen hours and thirty-five minutes! The hour of arrival is inconveniently early it is true, but, even at 3 o'clock A.M., he finds a comfortable hotel open to receive him; an officious "boots" sufficiently master of his drowsy senses to present the well or rather the ill-used slippers--a smirking chambermaid sufficiently _awake_ to make him believe that the _warming_-pan, with which she precedes him up three pair of stairs, contains _hot_ coals; and impudent enough, whilst presenting him with a damp, once white, cotton nightcap, to ask at what o'clock he would _like_ to be awakened--she well knowing, all the time, that the stir of passengers about to depart by an early coach will to a certainty effect that object for him in the course of an hour, whether he _likes_ it or not. These rapid proceedings have, as I before confessed, no charms for me, and such as cannot dispense with the comforts I have slightly sketched, must abstain from travelling in Spain, for very different is the entertainment they are likely to meet with at an Andalusian _posada_.[14] _There_, in the matters of "Boots," Hostler, and Chambermaid, no uncertainty whatever exists, and the traveller must therefore be prepared to divide with his attendant the several duties of those useful personages. Nor should he, amidst his multifarious occupations, neglect the cooking department; for, if he have not an _arriero_[15] power of consuming oil and garlic, he must watch with vigilant eye, and restrain with persuasive words, the too bountiful hand of Our Lady of the _Olla_.[16] It is to be understood that I speak here of the South of Spain only, and more especially of the mountainous country encircling the fortress of Gibraltar,--from whence, in due time, I purpose taking my departure. I ought here perhaps to give notice, that it is not my intention, in the following pages, to conduct my reader, town by town, kingdom by kingdom, through every part of Andalusia; giving him a detailed account of its statistics, productions, resources, &c.; in fact, spreading before him a regular three course banquet of travels; but rather to present him with a light and simple dish of the country, seasoning it with such tales and anecdotes as were picked up in the course of many excursions, made during a period of many years; a _Gazpacho_, as it may be called, whereof the country furnishes the principal part, or bread and water; and to which the tales--so at least I hope it may be found--give the _gusto_, imparted to this favourite Andalusian dish, by the addition of oil, vinegar, and pepper.