The incident of the discovery of the spring upon Monte Orgullo after the cutting off of the aqueduct, but for which fortunate accident the town would have been probably forced to surrender much sooner, was communicated to me by an officer who was present at the siege. It was found about half way up the cliff where it overhangs the ocean, and surrounded by masonry is carefully preserved to the present day. The water is excellent, and the flow abundant. There were not wanting French partisans at the time, especially amongst the elderly female residents in San Sebastian, who believed the discovery of this spring to be miraculous! When Marshal Berwick attacked San Sebastian in 1719, he threw up batteries on the same Chofre hills where the Allies now planted theirs. He then pushed his approaches along the isthmus, and established himself on the covered-way of the land front. As soon as the breach was practicable, the governor capitulated. But the present governor, Ney, was made of different stuff. Capitulation was the last thing that he thought of, and Napoléon’s instructions to the defenders of besieged towns were never more terribly fulfilled than by this very gallant man. “Napoléon’s ordinance,” says Napier, “which forbade the surrender of a fortress without having stood at least one assault, has been strongly censured by English writers upon slender grounds. The obstinate defences made by French governors in the Peninsula were the results. * * It may be reasonably supposed that, as the achievements of Napoléon’s soldiers far exceeded the exploits of Louis (XIV.)’s cringing courtiers, they possessed greater military virtues.”--_Hist._ book xxii. c. 1. The attack was in a great degree carried on from the midst of “circling orchards.” From the ground taken up by the besiegers to Ernani, the whole country is covered with orchards. For the costume and other particulars of the Basque _barqueras_, or boat-girls of the Bidassoa and Urumea, the reader is referred to the tours of Madame D’Aulnoy and M. de Bourgoing. The _xaquetilla_ is a “little jacket” or spencer. As reference is made to the Guerrillas in this canto, the following brief sketch of the leaders may be acceptable:--