Two rivers, the Lama and Tamboga, which rise in the north-east part of Galicia, unite and form the Minho; but the Sil, which joins it with an equal body of waters, is believed to have been the Minius of the ancients. It is the boundary between Spain and Portugal along a considerable line; upon that line it is never fordable, except at one place above Melgaço, and there only after an unusual continuance of dry weather. There is no bridge over it below the city of Orense, and the Portugueze had been sufficiently aware of their danger to remove all the boats to their own side of the river. Just at its mouth it is joined from the Portugueze side by the river Coura; each stream has formed a bar, and upon an island between these bars the Portugueze had a fortress and a small Capuchine convent. On the Spanish side, immediately at the mouth of the river, Mount St. Thecla rises, a place of great local celebrity, because of an annual pilgrimage, and known to sailors as a sea-mark. ♦FEB. 10.♦ On the other side of this mountain is the little port and town of S. Maria de la Guardia, and thither Soult went with the captain of a French frigate and some seamen who had been prisoners at Coruña, to reconnoitre and consult concerning the passage. Means of transport were found in the fishing-boats of Guardia; but it would have been difficult to double the point in them when laden as they must have been for that service, and they would have been perilously exposed to the fire of the island. He determined, therefore, to carry the boats overland a distance of about three miles to a lake or broad, from which the little river Tamuga issues, and enters the Minho above the village of Campos Ancos. There was great difficulty in removing them, and still more in conveying two pieces of artillery to the same place. Means, however, for transporting three hundred men at once were collected, and the troops appointed for this service were exercised in embarking and disembarking on the lake, where it could be done in safety. The attempt was to be made at high-water, and under favour of the night, though little danger was apprehended from the old frontier fortress of Caminha, in the face of ♦FAILURE OF THE ATTEMPT.♦ which they were to cross; for the works, originally ill planned and ill situated, had long been neglected, and the French held in equal contempt the place and the people by whom it was garrisoned. However, in order to deceive them, the troops were withdrawn from the opposite shore, and a feint made of marching up the river. ♦FEB. 15.♦ The flotilla descended the Tamuga easily and in good order; but when they came into the great stream the want of sailors was felt. The boats separated; those that were best manned reached the shore; but the Portugueze were upon the alert. General Bernardim Freire, who had been appointed to the command of Porto and of that province, had sent a detachment with two six-pounders to this point. They kept up a fire