The right of the enemy immediately opposed to us rested on a nearly perpendicular rock, at an elbow of the Bidassoa, and overlooking the small market place of Bera, so much so, that, if inclined, they might have smashed the roofs of the houses, at the west end of the town, by rolling down upon them huge fragments of rock. This post was decorated with a variety of fancy flags, or strips of cloth, of various colours, tied at the top of long poles while groups of French tirailleurs, who encircled them, sounded their small shrill trumpets, _and jocosely invited us to the attack_. Their centre or reserve, composed of black columns, crowned the heights on each side of the _Puerta de Bera_, and also the wooded heights extending to the base of the rock of La Rhune, on which their left was stationed in an old ruin. The ground having been fully examined, and the picquets properly placed, we re-entered the mouth of the pass, and, having cut down two or three small fields of Indian corn, and stored it up as provender for the animals, we encamped on the stubble close to the river. The day was fine, but during the night the rain descended in torrents, and continued to fall so heavily for two days, as to swamp the ground on which our tents were pitched, and it was with the utmost exertion that we could keep them upright, owing to the frequent gusts of wind tearing the pegs out of the liquid mud. In these damp and chilly regions the tents proved of incalculable service to the army. The weather again clearing, our first brigade ascended the bare heights of Santa Barbara, the second brigade occupied a rising ground to protect the entrance of the defile leading to St. Estevan, and the picquets were pushed into the town of Bera, (within half a stone's throw and beneath those of the enemy), and into the farm houses in the valley, enclosed by orchards.[55]