In travelling between Cadiz and Gibraltar, the plan usually recommended is, to leave Cadiz in the afternoon, and sleep at the town of Chiclana; the following day a push is made to reach Tariffa, or the Venta de la Jondal; and the third day, a moderate journey brings the traveller to Gibraltar. I left Cadiz therefore about two o’clock, and proceeded along the causeway, and through Isla, both of which I have already spoken of in returning from Xeres to Cadiz. In the course of four leagues, I was stopped no fewer than five times by custom-house officers, and was obliged each time to have a _peceta_ ready, to avoid the inconvenience of search: this is only a part of the system of bribery and robbery which pervades every public department in Spain; these men have scarcely any salary; and for the sake of a paltry saving, government allows itself to be robbed to a hundred times the amount, by the contraband trade, which is connived at by all the under employées. Shortly after leaving Isla, I left the Xeres road, and turned to the right, through a dreary and swampy plain that extended nearly to Chiclana: it was almost dark when we yet wanted a league of the town; but we put our horses into a gallop--and no horses go more agreeably than the little Andalusians--and arrived about eight o’clock at the door of the posada. Here we found tolerable accommodation for this part of Spain--some good fresh eggs, and a stretcher to sleep upon--and at five next morning we mounted, and trotted out of the town.