I saw a private carriage standing at the hotel door
to-day. The coachman had black kid gloves, a dark
green frock-coat with black buttons, and a black cap
with a peak. The horses had brown silk saddle-
cloths.
I was anxious to hear which were the "Four
Nations," from which the hotel is named ; a question
which has often puzzled me elsewhere. Here they
hold that the four nations are Europe, Asia, Africa,
and America !



( 35 )



CHAPTER IV.
TARRAGONA — VALENCIA.
Dec. 14th, Tarragona. — We got here yesterday, only
a four hours' journey from Barcelona, and are at the
Fonda de Paris, kept by Italians. There are only two
hotels here. This one is fairly comfortable ; there are

a few bedrooms with fire-places, but St. L finds

his draughty and ill-arranged. The rooms are all in
suites, with a salon containing an alcove with a bed
in it to each suite. It is a thoroughly wet day, and
we have seen hardly anything.
Dec. 15th.— A lovely day, and we have decided that
Tarragona is a lovely place. It is on a hill with a
broad flat top, and a wide street, shaded with trees,
goes straight through the city across this hill, termi-
nating at each end in a deep gateway, through one of
which appears a vista of blue mountains, and through
the other, of bluer Mediterranean. If you go through
these gateways, you find that they occur in a massive



36 AZAHAR.
