Leaving injunctions to call me before sunrise, I took a draught of Val de Peñas, and retired to my _quarto_, a small square apartment, with no furniture in it excepting one chair and my bed, which consisted of a mattress laid upon three boards, supported by two logs. The window was open, and not more than six or seven feet from the ground; but the assurance of Polinario was enough, and I slept well till awoke by the muleteer calling to me that my mule was ready. I swallowed a cup of chocolate while dressing, and was seated upon my mule, just as the highest peaks of the Sierra received the earliest message of day. It was as charming a morning as ever broke upon the mountain tops; the sky was one field of azure, with that pale green tinge peculiar to morning skies in the south of Spain; and the air felt so light and invigorating, that every draught was like the gush of a mountain spring. My mule trod sturdily up the steep winding road: and the muleteer, an Andalusian of Andujár, walked or ran as was necessary. Although early, we were not the earliest upon the road; for several trains of mules were seen winding round the brow of the opposite acclivities: these, though close at hand, were not speedily gained by the road, which was obliged frequently to ascend one side of a gorge, cross it at the extremity, and return by the other side to the point opposite to that by which we entered it. After about half a league of steep ascent, the first pass is obtained: here the scenery is wild and striking; the road passes beneath a succession of lofty rocky peaks, while on the other side, a deep and narrow gulf runs parallel with the road: if twelve or fourteen feet of rock were here blown up, this pass would be no longer a pass.