The Works of Théophile Gautier - Travels in Spain
The Works of Théophile Gautier - Travels in Spain
The Works of Théophile Gautier - Travels in Spain
Spain
in
Travels
Gautier:
Thophile
of
Works
The
Sumichrast
de
Caesar
Frederick
Gautier,
Thophile
*s
OF
^TTt^
Gubfll-nan Gravur
Picador.
THE WORKS OF
THEOPHILE GAUTIER
VOLUME FOUR
TRANSLATED AND EDITED BY
PROFESSOR F. C. de SUMICHRAST
Department of French, Harvard University
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY THE EDITOR
MCMVI
Copyright, igoi, by
George D. Sproul
CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A.
1 1 ;W2K2
( qoh
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Contents
'
is
'
27
'
'
47
66
' H4
' "57
' 198
* 277
' 323
' 356
Cadiz Gibraltar
* 378
Introduction
Introduction
************************
Travels in Spain
************************
Introduction
SPAIN
has
always
attracted
Frenchmen :
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
colour, and it was under a Spanish veil that Beaumarchais presented his subversive comedy " The Marriage
of Figaro," on the eve of the Revolution.
When the nineteenth century dawned and Roman
ticism arose, that school felt the Spanish attraction and
yielded to it more ardently than had ever before been
the case.
his " Dolorida " and " The Horn " seemed to the
enthusiastic youth of his day faithful pictures of the
past and the present in Old Spain. Alfred de Musset,
whose reputation balanced for a time that of the
sov'ran poet, made his debut with " Tales of Spain
and Italy," written in the richly coloured verse that
alone found favour in the eyes of the men of his
generation. Merimee produced his " Drama of Clara
Gazul," a collection of plays inspired by the free
drama of Lope de Vega and Calderon de la Barca,
which he palmed off as Spanish originals, and which
************************
INTRODUCTION
he followed with tales, the scene of which was laid in
the Peninsula, and later with " Letters from Spain,"
written while travelling through the country. Victor
Hugo, the chief of the school, had already in his
" Odes and Ballads " turned to the land of fiery pas
sions and fierce hatreds for striking subjects. In his
celebrated " Preface " to his drama " Cromwell," ad
miration for Spanish letters and modes of thought
showed plainly enough. It was with a Spanish subject
that he won his first triumph on the stage and over
threw for a time the Classical repertory.
************************
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
Italy never seemed quite foreign enough to the enthu
siasts of that excitable and emotional period in litera
ture.
INTRODUCTION
architecture than old Paris itself, swamped in the
newer city that had grown up around it.
The min
The accursed
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
INTRODUCTION
a youth intoxicated with the liquor of exoticism, with
the heady wine of local colour.
He had scarcely
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
The
4: *******************
INTRODUCTION
monks in robe and cowl from the deserted monasteries
he traverses.
With this reservation, which is a regret, the " Travels
in Spain " form most delightful reading. It is impos
sible, surely, to render with greater force, vividness, and
accuracy the external aspect of the land and its inhabi
tants ; to convey more admirably in words the sense of
form, the beauty of outline, the picturesqueness of detail
and of costume, the splendour and variety of colour.
The style of Gautier is fairly enchanting in these
respects, and the reader if he learns little or nothing
of the character and modes of thought of the Spaniards,
if he is not helped to an understanding of the forces at
work in the country which Roman and Moor con
quered and lost enjoys at least an unparalleled wordpainting of one of the most picturesque of lands, of the
most interesting of countries.
The " Travels in Spain " first appeared in the shape
of letters to the Paris journal La Presse, between May
27 and September 3, 1840, under the title Lettres d'un
Feuilletoniste Sur les Chemins. These comprised the
first nine chapters. The tenth and eleventh appeared
in the Revue de Paris, on January 17 and 31 and
October 17, 1841, and the remaining ones in the Revue
11
lb***********************
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
des Deux Mondes, between April 15, 1842, and January
1, 1843.
In 1 845
12
Travels in Spain
Travels in Spain
XJCXXxXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXZ
I R U N
AFEW weeks since, in April, 1840, I had
carelessly said, " I should rather like to
go to Spain."
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
IRUN
the brown-meerschaum shades which a painter might
hope for, everything is whitewashed after the Arab
fashion ; but the contrast of the chalky tone with the
dark, brown colour of the beams, the roofs, and the
balconies nevertheless produces a pleasant effect.
We parted with horses at Irun. To the coach
were harnessed ten mules, clipped half way up the
body, so that they were half hide, half hair, like those
mediaeval costumes which look like two halves of
different garments that have been sewed together.
These curiously clipped mules have a strange look,
and appear dreadfully thin, for the denudation enables
one to study their anatomy thoroughly bones, mus
cles, and the smallest of the veins included. With
their hairless tails and their pointed ears, they look
like huge rats.
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
It was
IRUN
nothing more than an ox-cart ascending the street
of Iran; its wheels shrieking hideously for lack of
grease, the driver preferring, no doubt, to put the said
grease into his soup.
exceedingly primitive.
XXXXXXXXXXXTXXXXXXXXXXXX
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
From now
************************
IRUN
every minute I expected to see Ketle or Gretle issue
from these new chalets.
They stay
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
traverse. From time to time they drive some millwheel, or feed some works by means of a dam, built in
just the place for a landscape painter.
The houses scattered in small groups through the
land are of a strange colour, neither black, nor white,
nor yellow, but the colour of roast turkey. This defi
nition, however trivial and culinary it may sound, is
none the less absolutely correct.
IRUN
skins like those which the good knight of La Mancha
slashed so furiously and we even expected nothing
at all, which is much worse.
Profiting by the little daylight which remained, we
went to visit the church, which in truth looked more
like a fortress than a temple.
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
The
***** * ** ************** **
IRUN
and other spices, of slices of bacon and ham, and on top
of all, a hot tomato and saffron sauce; so far the
animal portion.
varies according to the season, but cabbage and garban-zo always form the basis of it.
The garbanxo is
All this
This
To wind
our French
test****-****-*:******:*:*****
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
We traversed, with
26
XXXXXXX XXXTXXXXXXXXXXXXS
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
VERGARA BURGOS
AT Vergara, I saw my first Spanish priest.
His
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
The
V ERG AR A BURGOS
seen stretched out in infinite perspective.
They look
like great light velvet draperies cast here and there and
rumpled into quaint folds by a Titan's caprice.
At
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TRAVELS
to the church.
IN
SPAIN
VERGAR A BURGOS
it is fresh and clean.
There is
an admission ticket.
We hoped to find here the Spanish feminine type,
of which so far we had seen very few specimens.
However, the women who filled the boxes and the
balconies had nothing Spanish about them save the
mantilla and the fan.
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
V E R G A R A BURGOS
This bolero of death lasted five or six minutes, at
the end of which the curtain fell, putting an end to the
torture of these two wretches and to our own. That
is how the bolero struck two poor travellers in love
with local colour.
33
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
VERGAR A BURGOS
from the goatskin.
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
The
V E R G A R A BURGOS
Shortly before we reached Burgos a great building
on the hill was pointed out to us. It was the Car
thusian monastery (Cartuja dt Miraflores). Shortly
afterwards the tracery of the cathedral spires, which
became every moment more distinct, showed against
the sky, and half an hour later we entered the famous
capital of Old Castile.
The main square of Burgos, in the centre of which
rises an indifferent bronze statue of Charles III, is
large and rather striking in appearance.
Red houses,
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
Names
xxxxxxvTX vtxxxxxxxxxxxxx
VERGAR A BURGOS
Although Burgos has been so long the first city of
Castile, it has not preserved a very marked Gothic
appearance. With the exception of one street in
which are to be seen a few windows and porticoes, of
the time of the Renaissance, surmounted by coats of
arms with supporters, the buildings do not date much
beyond the beginning of the seventeenth century and
are exceedingly vulgar-looking; they are old-fashioned,
and yet they are not old.
Unfor
scxxxxxxl xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
the poor barbarians who did not make much use of the
Corinthian order and who did not seem to be aware of
the beauties of the attic and the triangular pediment.
There are still many people of the same opinion in
Spain; just as was the case in France before the
Romantic school caused the Middle Ages to be held
in honour and the meaning and beauty of the cathe
drals to be understood.
Two slender spires, crocketed all the way up, with
much open work, festooned and embroidered, carved
even in their smallest details like the setting of a ring,
spring heavenward with all the ardour of faith and all
the rush of firmest conviction. Our incredulous cam
paniles would not dare to venture into the skies with
no better support than lace of stone and ribs as delicate
as cobweb-threads. Another tower, also carved with
incredible richness, but less lofty, marks the intersec
tion of the arms of the cross and completes the mag
nificence of the outline.
A goodly fellowship of statues of saints, archangels,
kings, and monks animates the design, and this popu
lation in stone is so numerous, so closely pressed, it
swarms so amazingly, that unquestionably it is larger
than the living population which inhabits the town.
40
VERGARA BURGOS
As one steps into the church an incomparable mas
terpiece compels you to stop : it is the carved wooden
door which opens into the cloister.
It represents,
4i
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
The work is as
What kind of
The
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
El
VERGARA BURGOS
parto baskets, in which are kept the ornaments and the
vessels employed in worship.
It is difficult to
The
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
46
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
BURGOS
ON leaving the chapel of Juan Cuchiller, you pass
into another room very picturesquely deco
rated.
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
In
BURGOS
bassi-rilievi in the world.
The
49
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
It was completed in
*536.
Since we are talking of sculpture, let us mention at
once the choir stalls, which have probably no rival in
the world.
They represent
BURGOS
in all these incrustations, the yellow tone of which,
showing against the dark background of the wood,
imparts the look of Etruscan painted vases, a look
quite justified by the cleanness and primitive character
of the outline.
TRAVELS IN S PAIN
Fernandez Velasco, Constable of Castile, and of his
wife, occupy the centre and are no small ornament to
it.
The man
On the
BURGOS
and crystal suns, whose flashing reflections produce a
singularly brilliant play of light.
On the vaulting
XXXXXXXXXXTZXXXXXXXXTXXal
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
The archi
dbxxxx XXVXXXTXXSXXXXXXxi'X
BURGOS
adorable, and the most charming bad taste.
Every
perfume-burners, beams
The private
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
The unmis
It
itself is admirable.
Words fail to
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
^ --\'
The Garrote.
The Garrote.
Gubelman Gra^urt
BURGOS
pent, in a dun, threatening shade which no divine
ray illumines.
The need of truth, however repulsive it may be, is
a characteristic feature of Spanish art ; neither ideal
ism nor conventionality enters into the genius of that
people, which is wholly devoid of aesthetic feeling.
Sculpture does not suffice for it; it must have col
oured statues, Madonnas rouged and dressed in real
dresses. Never, in its opinion, is material illusion
carried far enough, and that excessive love of realism
often makes it cross the slight distance which separates
sculpture from wax figures. The famous and highly
revered Christ of Burgos, which can be shown only
after the candles have been lighted, is a striking ex
ample of that extraordinary taste.
It is no longer
painted stone or wood, it is a human skin, so, at
least, it is said, stuffed with great skill and care ;
the hair is real, the eyes are provided with lashes, the
crown of thorns is of genuine thorns, not a single
detail has been forgotten. But nothing can be more
gloomy and more disturbing to behold than that tall
crucified phantom, with its sham air of life and its
deathly immobility.
I am
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
BURGOS
have a look of strength and power which fully re
deems their lack of height.
BURGOS
a collection of all the passages from different authors
which praise the order and life of the Carthusians.
The margins were annotated in his own hand, in
that dear old priest's writing, straight, firm, some
what heavy, which suggests so much, and which the
quick-living, impetuous layman cannot master.
So the
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
ashes of so many saintly men ; it was pure and icycold, like death itself.
If the dwelling of men here is poor, that of God
is splendid. In the centre of the nave are placed the
tombs of Don Juan II and Queen Isabella, his wife.
The human patience that built such a monument is
amazing. Sixteen lions, two at each corner, support
ing eight scutcheons bearing the royal arms, form the
base. Add an equal number of virtues, allegorical
figures, apostles, and evangelists ; fill in with branches,
foliage, birds, animals, a network of arabesques, and
you have a very faint idea of this prodigious piece of
work. The crowned statues of the King and Queen lie
upon the top ; the King holds his sceptre in his hand
and wears a long robe ornamented with intertwining
lines and flowered work of marvellous delicacy.
The tomb of the Infant Alonzo is on the Gospel
side of the altar. The Infant is represented kneeling
before a prie-dieu. An open-work vine, in which are
perched children gathering grapes, festoons with ever
varying fancifulness the Gothic arch which surrounds
the composition, itself partially set into the wall. These
marvellous monuments are in alabaster, and are the
work of Gil de Silva, who also carved the high altar.
-
xxxxxx xsbxx^xxjl^xxxxxxxxx
BURGOS
On the right and left of the altar, which is of won
drous beauty, are two open doors, through which one
sees two motionless Carthusians dressed in their shroud
like white gowns.
These two figures, which are
probably by Diego de Leyva, completely deceive you
at first glance. Stalls by Berruguete complete this
ensemble, which one is surprised to meet with in a
lonely countryside.
From the top of the hill we were shown in the
distance San Pedro de Cardenas, where are the tombs
of the Cid and Donna Ximenes, his wife.
The only
65
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TRAVELS IN SPAIN
xx x x x x x d? db xxxscxsxatxxxx x xx
VALLADOLID
THE royal mail-coach in which we left Burgos
deserves to be described.
Imagine an ante
VALLADOLID
Away we went in this concern in the midst of a
whirlwind of shouts, oaths, and crackings of whips.
We went like the very devil ; we flew over the ground,
and the vague outlines of surrounding objects flashed
on the right and on the left with phantasmagoric
rapidity.
wilder mules.
The devilish
.-
A fierce wind
VALLADOLID
burning in the middle of the road nearly made them
bolt ; they were so skittish that they had to be held by
the bridle and their eyes covered with the hand when
another carriage met us.
************************
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
into smoke and our coach was dismantled and wheelless. Happily the venta was not very far off, and
a couple of galleys were fetched and took us and
our luggage.
name.
dbxx?t?xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
VALLADOLID
the bottom of precipices ; instead of being upset once,
we ought really to have been upsetting all the time.
Duefias looks like a Turkish cemetery. The caves,
which are dug out of the living rock, receive air
through small turrets which swell out like turbans
and look singularly like minarets. A church of Moor
ish appearance completes the illusion.
To the left
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
In front of the
dbdbdbdbtlrdbdbd^dbtlr^rtlrtlrdbtibdbsbtlrdbtlrdbslrsbdb
VALLADQLID
be photographed, which is very difficult in the case
of mediaeval buildings, which are almost always set
in the midst of groups of houses and vile stalls ; but
the rain, which never ceased falling all the time
we remained in Valladolid, did not permit us to get
a picture.
showers at Burgos
Draughtsmen would be
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
We may
VALLADOLID
borne by great bluish granite columns in one piece,
which have a fine effect.
Under the
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
There is nothing
VALLADOLID
ing will be wholly abandoned, and their brick and clay
ruins will, little by little, melt away into the earth,
which devours everything, both cities and men.
The landscape beyond Olmedo is not very varied in
character; only, I noticed before we reached the place
where we were to sleep a beautiful sun effect.
The
It consisted of a vast
77
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
We had just
Everywhere
Pillars
VALLADOLID
imparted to it a monumental aspect.
Torrents roared
XXXXXXxlxXXTXXXXXtCXxVXSSI
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
At the turn of a bridge, admirably adapted for a
highwayman's ambuscade, we saw a small column with
a cross.
4:i:i::j:$:i:i:$:i:-Z:-ki:&*:::*:*:*:4:*:d!
VALLADOLID
limpid than
diamonds.
By dint of climbing we
Here,
81
/"
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
VALLADOLID
tion at the Customs, we put up close to the Calle de
Alcala and the Prado, and we lost no time in sending
Manuel, our valet, who was a thorough-paced aficionado
and tauromachian, to purchase tickets for the next
bull-fight.
83
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxsfcxxxxxx
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
MADRID
NEVER did any days seem so long to me; to
quiet my impatience I read more than ten
times over the posters at the corners of the principal
streets. They promised marvels : eight bulls from the
most famous breeding-ground ; for picadores Sevilla
and Antonio Rodriguez ;
Pastor,
***** * ** ****************
MADRID
afternoon, and the two together made up a perform
ance.
If it does
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
She
CsSkvxxvz dfXWJlrxsfcdbsfcsbdbwxxatsfc
MADRID
the rest of the week, she is certainly very much less
so on Sundays and Mondays. Country people are also
seen, coming in on horseback, their carbines at their
saddle-bow ; others mounted on asses, either by them
selves or with their wives ; besides the carriages of the
society people, and a multitude of worthy citizens and
sefioras wearing mantillas, who hasten on : for now
comes the detachment of mounted national guards,
trumpeters in front, riding forward to clear the arena,
and for nothing in the world would the spectators miss
the clearing of the arena and the precipitate flight of
the alguazil when he has thrown to the official of the
fight the key of the toril, where are shut up the horned
gladiators. The toril is opposite the matadero, where
the dead animals are skinned. The bulls are brought
the day before by night into a meadow near Madrid
called el arroyo, which is the place whither go to walk
the aficionados, a walk which is not without danger,
for the bulls are at liberty and their drivers have a
great deal of trouble in looking after them. Then
they are driven into the amphitheatre stable with the
help of old oxen accustomed to the work and who
mingle with the fierce herd. The Plaza de Toros is
situated to the left, outside the Alcala Gate, which, by
*~7
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
remarkable externally ;
the walls
are whitewashed.
MADRID
regulations, to make their way into that coveted pas
sage, entrance to which is as much sought after in
Spain as entrance to the wings of the Opera in Paris.
As it often happens that the maddened bull leaps
the first fence, the second is further provided with a
network of rope intended to prevent a repetition of
the spring.
TRAVELS
and tabloncillo, back seats.
IN
SPAIN
MADRID
giver which has the advantage of not shedding oil, and
it will be long before gas itself will replace it. A vast
rumour rose, like a mist of noise, above the arena ; on
the sunny side fluttered and sparkled thousands of fans,
and little round parasols with reed handles.
They
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
MADRID
heel.
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
The
espada's
MADRID
each other, backed up against the tablas, firmly seated
in their saddles, lance in rest and ready to receive
bravely the fierce animal.
s~
TRAVELS
sharp points.
IN
SPAIN
MADRID
the shoulder alone must be struck; but the bull
charged upon him with lowered head, and plunged
his whole horn into the horse's belly.
The chulos
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
MADRID
and he got back into the saddle with perfect coolness.
The steed of Antonio Rodriguez, the other picador,
was less fortunate.
It was gored so fiercely in the
chest that the horn went right in and disappeared com
pletely in the wound. While the bull was trying to
disengage its head, caught in the body of the horse,
Antonio clutched with his hands the top of the fence,
which he leaped with the help of the chulos, for the
picadores, when thrown, weighed down by the metal
linings of their boots, can move scarcely more easily
than the knights of old, boxed up in their armour.
The poor horse, left to itself, could but stagger
across the arena as if it were intoxicated, stumbling
over its own entrails ; torrents of black blood flowed
from its wound and marked irregular zigzags upon
the sand which betrayed the unevenness of its gait.
Finally it fell near the tablas. It raised its head two
or three times, its blue eye already glazed, turning up
its lips white with foam, which showed its bare teeth ;
its tail faintly beat the ground, its hind legs were
convulsively drawn up and struck out in a last kick,
as if it had tried to break with its hard hoof the thick
skull of death.
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
The dead
It was so thin,
The
MADRID
of it drove in more firmly. A small banderillero
called Majaron, drove in the darts with great skill
and boldness, and sometimes even he performed
a cross-caper before withdrawing. Needless to say, he
was loudly applauded.
,.
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
sb db db dr dt db db * MADRID
db dr sbdhfe dbsbtb sbsbJtdttfc * tfcti?
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
MADRID
sand at mad speed all those bodies which but now
had galloped so well themselves, had a strange, wild
aspect which helped to diminish the gloom of their
functions. The attendant came up with a basketful
of earth, and scattered it over the pools of blood in
which the toreros might slip ; the picadores resumed
their places by the gate, the orchestra played a few
bars, and another bull dashed into the arena ; for
there are no intervals to this spectacle, nothing stops
it, not even the death of a torero. We have already said
that the substitutes are standing by, dressed and armed,
in case of accident.
We do not intend to relate in succession the slaying
of the eight bulls which were sacrificed on that day,
but we shall mention some variants and some inci
dents. The bulls are not always very fierce ; some,
indeed, are very gentle and ask nothing better than
to lie quietly down in the shade ; one can tell by
their quiet, pleasant faces that they greatly prefer
pasturage to the circus. They turn their backs upon
the banderilleros, phlegmatically allow the chulos to
wave their many-coloured mantles before their nose.
Even the banderillas are not sufficient to dispel their
apathy.
a***** ******************
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
He indulges in a multitude of ex
MADRID
which is insufficient.
Exaspera
Then shouts of
On a sign from
the alcalde, the dogs are brought in. They are splen
did, handsome thorough-breds, and of remarkable beauty.
They charge straight at the bull, which may toss a
dozen, but cannot prevent one or two of the strongest
and boldest from fastening at last upon his ears. Once
they have got hold, they are like leeches ; you could
rip them open before they would let go.
The bull
&xx;t?xdbxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
Sevilla, in
MADRID
did not lose his stirrups, and held his horse in so firmly
that it fell back on its four feet.
The fight
and
had
fourteen
been a good
horses
slightly
Are they
**********************:?-*
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
When Madrid is spoken of, the very first things one
thinks of are the Prado and the Puerta del Sol. The
Prado, which has several avenues and sidewalks with a
driveway in the centre, is shaded by low trees with cut
tops.
The crowd is
no
MADRID
Salon and the driveway that it is often difficult to pull
one's handkerchief out of one's pocket ; you must walk
in step and follow your leader. The one reason which
can have led to the adoption of this place is that every
day you can see and bow to the people who drive past,
and it is always an honour to a foot-passenger to bow
to some one in a carriage. The equipages are not
very fine. Most of them are drawn by mules, whose
black coats, pot bellies, and pointed ears have a most
unpleasant effect.
Of course
The
There is
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
Un
MADRID
especially to the habits, of the Spanish women, that it is
really the only one possible for them.
They carry
II3
TRAVELS
other precious gems.
IN
SPAIN
The fans as
That type is
MADRID
tain portraits of the time of the Regency.
Many of
Theii
IN
SPAIN
She
MADRID
beads hung from her ears, her brown neck was adorned
with a necklace of the same material.
A black velvet
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
MADRID
According to their sex the water-sellers are called
aguadores or aguadoras.
The poor
A glass
Next
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
We
MADRID
the Levante, close to the Puerta del Sol.
I do not
mean that the others are not good, but the above-men
tioned are the most frequented.
It is a sort
The Madrid
are not yet ready, you can have agraz, a drink made
of green grapes and served in very long-necked bottles ;
the slightly acid taste of the agraz is exceedingly
121
db db x x db db db db it 4? is ^bdbdbabdbdbdbdbdbdb x xx
MADRID
and exceedingly light, sometimes powdered with very
finely ground cinnamon, and served with barquilos or
rolled wafers, through which you take your hebida as
through a siphon, drawing it in slowly by one of the
ends, a little bit of refinement which enables you to
enjoy longer the coolness of the drink.
served in cups, but in glasses.
it is little used.
Coffee is not
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
No
MADRID
the fields of battle and in all the campaigns in the
world. Formerly, and even to-day, the nobility would
go into the shops near the Puerta del Sol, have a chair
brought out, and remain there the greater portion of
the day, talking with their clients, to the great dis
satisfaction of the tradesman, grieved at such a mark
of familiarity.
Now let us wander at haphazard through the city,
for chance is our best guide ; the more so that Madrid
does not possess many architectural attractions, and
one street is as interesting as another.
The houses of Madrid are built of laths and brick,
and of clay, except the door-posts, the binding-courses,
and the bearing-pieces, which are sometimes of blue
or gray granite ; the whole wall being carefully lined
and painted in rather fantastic colours, apple-green,
ash-blue, light-fawn, canary-yellow, rose-pink and
other more or less anacreontic shades. The frame
work of the windows is ornamented with sham archi
tectural work, numberless volutes, spirals, cupids, and
flower-pots, and provided with Venetian blinds with
broad white and blue stripes, or mats which are kept
watered for the sake of the humidity and the cool
ness.
xxxxxxxx x xxxxxxdbxjbdbifctfcxxjlj
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
or tinted like Paris ones. The projecting balconies
and miradores somewhat break the monotony of
straight lines and diversify the naturally flat aspect
of the buildings, every relief on which is painted and
treated in the style of theatre decorations. Light up
all this with a brilliant sunshine, place here and there
in these streets filled with light a few long-veiled
sefioras who hold their open fan against their cheek
by way of a parasol, a few tanned, wrinkled beggars
draped in tinder-coloured rags, a few Bedouin-looking,
half-naked Valencianos ; erect among the roofs the
little, dwarf cupolas, the bulging, leaden-ball-topped
spires of a church or a convent, and you have a
rather curious prospect which would prove to you that
you are no longer on the rue Lafitte, and that you have
really left the boulevard asphalt, even if you had not
already been convinced of the fact by the sharp pebbles
of the Madrid pavements which cut your feet.
A really striking thing is the frequent repetition of
the inscription " 'Juego de villar" which recurs every
twenty yards. Lest the reader should imagine there is
anything mysterious in these three words, I hasten to
translate them. They simply mean " Billiards." I
cannot see what is the use of so many billiards.
126
Next
dbdkdetbxdbxdbxxxdlrtfcdbxxdbxxxxdbxab
MADRID
to juegos de villar, the most frequent inscription is
despacho de vino (wine shop). In these shops are sold
Val-de-penas and other good wines. The confiterias
and pastelertas are also very numerous and prettily
decorated. Spanish preserves deserve particular men
tion. Those known as angel's hair are exquisite.
Pastry is also as good as it can be in a country which
has no butter, or at least, where it is so costly and so
poor that it cannot well be used.
It is much of the
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx^xxxxxxxx
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
are hung upon the walls, most of the paintings being
unframed and wrinkled. Wooden floors are unknown
in Spain ; at least, I have never seen any. All the
rooms are floored with bricks, but as the bricks are
covered with rush mattings in winter and reed mats in
summer, the inconvenience is greatly diminished. The
mats are plaited with much taste; the natives of the
Philippines or the Sandwich Islands could not do
better. There are three things which are for me an
accurate test of the state of civilisation of a country :
its pottery, the art of plaiting either willow or straw,
and the method of harnessing draught animals. If the
pottery is fine, of good shape, as correct as antique
pottery, with the natural tone of the yellow or red
clay ; if the baskets and mats are fine and skilfully
woven and adorned with coloured arabesques well
chosen ; if the harness is embroidered, pinked, adorned
with bells, tufts of wool and designs of the finest kind,
you may be quite sure that the nation is still primitive
and veiy close to a state of nature, for civilised people
do not know how to make a pot, a mat, or a harness.
At this very moment I have in front of me, hanging
from a pillar by a string, a jarra in which my drinking
water is cooling.
xxxxxd:x^dbx4bxxdbxxxxxxxxx
MADRID
cuartos, that is, about three pence.
The design is
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
On the other
other equally
I have
these descriptions,
MADRID
to discern objects, especially when you come in from
outside. The people in the room can see perfectly
well, but those who enter are blind for eight or ten
minutes, especially when one of the anterooms is
lighted. It is said that skilful female mathematicians
have ascertained by calculation that this optical combi
nation results in perfect security for an intimate tetea-tete in an apartment thus arranged.
The heat in Madrid is excessive.
It comes on
IN
SPAIN
shapes and sizes ; some are adorned with gilt lines and
coarsely painted flowers scattered over the surface.
As they are no longer made in America, bucaros will
become rare, and in a few years will be as hard to
find as old Sevres china ; then everybody will have
them.
Seven or eight bucaros are placed on the marble
tops of tables or in corners. They are then filled
with water, and you sit down on the sofa to wait the
effect which they produce and to enjoy the pleasure
thereof with suitable tranquillity.
XX x x x x x x xMADRID
xxtxxxxxxixx x xx
I have been to some evening parties or tertulias.
There is nothing noteworthy about them. People
dance to the accompaniment of pianos as they do in
France, but in a still more modern and lamentable
fashion, if that be possible. I cannot understand why
people who dance so little should not make up their
minds not to dance at all ; it would be simpler and
quite as amusing. The fear of being accused of indulg
ing in the bolero, fandango, or cachucha makes women
perfectly motionless.
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
.
.
TRAVELS
Pata de Cabra "
IN
an adaptation
SPAIN
of " The Sheep's
The ballet
MADRID
whom the poetic instinct always lasts longer, alone
remain.
The Queen's palace is a large, very square and
solid building, of fine dressed stone, with a great many
windows, an equal number of doors, and a great many
Ionic columns, Doric pilasters, in a word, all that
goes to make up a monument of bad taste.
The vast
Velasquez,
No
XXXXX XXXXXTTXXXXXXXXTXXX
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
lb*********:***:***********!
MADRID
were concealed in attics, and that there they were
mixed up without its being possible to collect them
afterwards and to sort them with anything like accu
racy. So no trust is to be placed in the statements of
the custodians. We were shown, as being the coach
of Mad Joan, the mother of Charles V, a carriage of
carved wood admirably wrought, which evidently was
not earlier than the time of Louis XIV. The carriage
of Charles V, with its leather cushions and curtains,
was much more likely to be authentic. There are
very few Moorish weapons, two or three old buck
lers and a few yataghans. The most interesting things
are the embroidered saddles starred with gold and
silver, covered with steel, but nothing certain is known
as to the date of their manufacture or as to their
original owners. The English admire greatly a sort
of triumphal cab
in
wrought iron
presented to
'-
xxxxxxx&xxdbxxxxxxxdbxxxxx
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
xxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
MADRID
riously opens a door, and when he calls you and at
last permits you to come in you hear a dull sound
of wheels and counterweights, and you find yourself
in the presence of hideous automata which are churn
ing butter, spinning, or rocking with their wooden
feet wooden children laid in carved cradles.
In
the next room is the grandfather, who is ill in
bed ; his potion is near him on the table.
This is
The facade on
After
MADRID
complete, the cycle of art is closed.
it be given to reopen it ?
To whom shall
A sketch by
Soon his
H3
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx*
THE ESCORIAL
THE Escorial is situated seven or eight leagues
from Madrid, not far from the Guadarrama, at
the foot of a mountain chain. It is impossible to im
agine anything more barren and desolate than the dis
trict in which it lies. Not a tree, not a house is there
on it; great overlapping slopes, dry ravines, known to
be torrent beds by the bridges which span them here
and there, and clumps of blue mountains snow-capped
or cloud-laden. The landscape, nevertheless, does not
lack grandeur; the absence of vegetation imparts
extraordinary severity and clearness to its lines. The
farther one goes from Madrid, the larger do the stones
which are scattered over the countryside become, ap
proaching almost to the dimensions of rocks. They
are of a grayish blue, and strewing the rough soil they
look like the warts upon the back of a hundred-yearold crocodile. They show like innumerable quaint
towers against the silhouette of the hills, which them
selves resemble the ruins of gigantic buildings. About
144
THE
ESCORIAL
Opposite to it is a
145
& 4: 4: & & & db & &&:!: && & :fc & & :(: db db 4:$:
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
It is well known that the Escorial was built in ful
filment of a vow made by Philip at the siege of Saint
Quentin, when he was obliged to bombard the Church
of Saint Laurence. He promised the saint to com
pensate him for the church which he had destroyed by
building another larger and finer, and he kept his word
better than the kings of the earth usually do. The
Escorial, begun by Juan Bautista, completed by
Herrera, is unquestionably, next to the pyramids of
Egypt, the most enormous heap of granite on earth.
In Spain it is called the eighth wonder of the world.
As every country has its eighth wonder, there must be
at least thirty eighth wonders.
I am greatly puzzled to state my opinion of the
Escorial.
THE
ESCORIAL
TRAVELS
the contrary.
IN
SPAIN
It is an ideal bar
***** * ** ****************
THE ESCORIAL
You enter first into a vast court, at the end of which
rises a church portal, noticeable only for its colossal
statues of prophets, its gilded ornaments, and its rosepainted figures. The court is flagged, damp, and cold ;
grass grows in the corners ; as you step into it weari
ness presses down upon you like a leaden cope ; your
heart sinks, and you feel as if there were an end of all
things and joy were forever dead to you.
You have
not gone twenty steps from the gate, when you smell
a faint, icy, savourless odour of holy water and
funeral vault, wafted by a current of air laden with
pleurisy and catarrh.
Although the thermometer
stands at eighty degrees outside, you are chilled to the
marrow and feel as if never again would life warm in
your veins, your blood, turned colder than serpent's
blood. The walls, impenetrable as a tomb, do not
allow the living air to filter through their vast thick
ness. Well, in spite of that cloister-like, Russian cold,
the first thing I beheld on entering the church was a
Spanish woman kneeling on the stones, who was beat
ing her breast with her fist with one hand, and with
the other fanning herself at least as fervently. The
fan I remember it perfectly was of a water-green
colour, which makes me shudder when I think of it.
149
&:trdb3bxdbx&xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
Huge,
XaXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXSXSc
THE
ESCORIAL
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
The cold
x x x x x x db if x x xxxxxxxxxxx x xx
THE
ESCORIAL
Pellegrino
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
******* *****************
THE ESCORIAL
tral pavilions.
bird's-eye view.
At the time we went up into the dome there was in
a huge chimney-top, in a great nest of straw like an
overturned turban, a stork with its three young chicks.
This interesting family showed most quaintly against
the sky.
xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxdbxxx
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
I did not
The
I seemed to be reborn, to be
156
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
TOLEDO
WE had exhausted the sights of Madrid, and
were beginning to be somewhat bored ; so in
spite of the great heat and all sorts of terrible stories
about the rebels and the rateros, we bravely started
for Toledo, the city of sword blades and romantic
daggers.
Toledo is not only one of the oldest cities of Spain,
but of the world, if the chroniclers are to be believed.
The most staid among them place its foundation at a
time anterior to the flood.
Others attribute
IN
SPAIN
certainly a wonderfully old city, situated some thirtysix miles from Madrid, Spanish miles, of course,
which are much longer than a twelve-column article
or a day without money, the two longest things we
know about. The trip is made in a calesa, or in a
small mail-coach which starts twice a week. The
latter is considered safer, for in Spain, as formerly
in France, no one starts on the shortest trip with
out making his will. The fear of brigands must
surely be exaggerated, for in the course of a very long
pilgrimage through provinces having the reputation of
being most dangerous, we have never met with any
thing which would justify this panicky terror.
You leave Madrid by the Toledo Gate and Bridge,
both of which are adorned with flower-pots, statues, and
chicory leaves in very poor taste, but produce never
theless a rather majestic effect. You pass on the
right the village of Caramanchel, whence Ruy Blas
fetched for Mary of Neubourg the little blue German
flower (Ruy Blas to-day would not find a trace of
forget-me-nots in this cork-bark hamlet built upon a
soil of pumice stone) ; and you enter, travelling upon
a wretched road, an endless, dusty plain covered with
_
TOLEDO
corn and rye, the pale-yellow colour of which increases
the monotony of the landscape. A few ill-omened
crosses, which spread here and there their thin arms,
a few steeples which indicate an unseen village, the
dried bed of a torrent crossed by a stone arch, are the
only breaks in this monotony. From time to time you
meet a peasant on his mule, carbine by his side, a
muchacho driving before him two or three asses laden
with earthenware jars or bundles of straw tied with
cords, or a poor, wan, sunburned woman, dragging a
fierce-looking child, that is all.
As we proceeded the landscape became barer and
more desert-like, and it was with a feeling of secret
satisfaction that we perceived upon a bridge of dry
stone the five green light-cavalrymen who were to
escort us, for an escort is needed in travelling from
Madrid to Toledo.
We breakfasted at Illescas, a town in which there
are some remains of old Moorish buildings, and where
the windows of the houses are protected by compli
cated gratings surmounted by crosses.
Beyond Illescas the country becomes more hilly, and
the road consequently more abominable.
It is nothing
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
However, we
The gate is
At
161
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
It
TOLEDO
The Toledo streets are excessively narrow.
One
These narrow
Of course
In Spain women go
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
,'
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
The
TOLEDO
Leaning on an embrasure of a crenellation and hav
ing a bird's-eye view of that city in which I knew not
a soul, and where my name was utterly unknown, I
fell into a deep meditation in the presence of all these
shapes which I saw and probably would never again
see. I began to doubt my own identity ; I felt so far
away from myself, carried to such a distance outside
of my usual sphere that it all seemed to me a hallu
cination, a strange dream out of which I should start
awake to the sharp, trembling strains of some vaude
ville music as I sat in a theatre box.
In spite of the
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
We
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
TOLEDO
Oviedo Cathedral, and they will be satisfied." For
ourselves, we greatly regret that we could not enjoy
this pleasure. Finally, under the happy reign of Saint
Ferdinand, Don Rodriguez being Archbishop of Toledo,
the church assumed the marvellous and magnificent
form which it possesses to-day, and which, it is said, is
that of the temple of Diana at Ephesus.
chronicler, permit me to disbelieve this !
O artist
The temple
IN
SPAIN
The
A transept
cuts the great nave between the choir and the high
altar, and thus forms the arms of the cross. The
whole building, a very unusual thing in Gothic cathe
drals, which have generally been built at various periods,
is in the most homogeneous and complete style; the
original plan has been carried out from end to end save
in the arrangement of some chapels which in no wise
mar the harmony of the general aspect.
Stained-glass
TOLEDO
ecstasy.
************************
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
The archbishop's
Close by,
TOLEDO
tread over his tomb.
We shall
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
TOLEDO
subject being the battles between the Toledans and the
Moors. They are admirably preserved, the colours
are as bright as if they had been laid on yesterday, and
an archaeologist would find here innumerable interest
ing details of arms, costumes, equipments, and archi
tecture ; for the principal fresco represents a view of
ancient Toledo which must have been very accurate.
In the lateral frescoes are painted with a wealth of detail
the vessels which brought the Arabs to Spain. A pro
fessional man might obtain much useful information
for the difficult history of the navy in the Middle Ages.
The arms of Toledo, five mullets sable on a field
argent, are represented in several places in this chapel,
which is closed after the Spanish fashion by iron-work
gates beautifully wrought.
The Chapel of the Virgin, the walls of which are
covered all over with porphyry, jasper, yellow and
violet breccia superbly polished, fairly surpasses in
richness the splendours of the " Thousand and One
Nights." It contains a great many works, among
others a reliquary given by Saint Louis which contains
a piece of the true Cross.
By way of taking breath we shall, if you please,
take a turn through the cloisters, the elegant and
n
177
TOLEDO
as is our Opera in Paris.
We Northern Catholics,
Every
This work is
&xxxxxx4?x xtfciwxxxxxxxxxxx
TOLEDO
golden crown, or to draw with precious stones one
other design upon the brocade of her dress.
Never did any queen of antiquity, not even Cleo
patra who drank pearls, never did any Byzantine
empress, never did any mediaeval duchess or Venetian
courtesan of Titian's day possess a more gorgeous
jewel-case, a richer wardrobe than Our Lady of
Toledo.
One
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
The magnificent prospect enjoyed from the top of
the spire largely repays one for the fatigue of the
ascent.
The
TOLEDO
convent to which it belongs is abandoned and falling
into decay.
The church is situated on the banks of the Tagus,
close to the Saint Martin's Bridge.
A series of statues of
In
r"
sb :fc :fc :fc :fc :fc db :fc :b :fc *db :fc :fc :*: &:fc * db J: * sbsfc
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
tian imitation of the maxims and verses of the Koran
which the Moors used as architectural ornaments.
What a pity that so precious a monument should be
thus abandoned I
Having kicked open some doors fastened by wormeaten bars or obstructed by rubbish, we succeeded in
entering the church, built in a charming style, and
which seems, save for some startling mutilations, to
have been completed but yesterday. There is nothing
more elegant and delicate in Gothic art. Around the
church runs a gallery with open-work balustrade. Its
venturesome balconies cling to the groups of pillars,
following closely their hollows and projections.
Vast
TOLEDO
It seems to us the constitution would
have lost
It is rendered still
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
************************
TOLEDO
never in a hurry it was opened and we were asked
if we wished to see the synagogue.
On replying
At the end
Vestiges of
/""
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
The
TOLEDO
simplicity.
It was the
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
It takes the
TOLEDO
monuments built of such frail materials to stand until
our day.
First and foremost we had to get rid of the minute
population which marked with their bites the folds
of our once white trousers.
On the
dbdb4:4:4:d:^^bdbdb*-irdbdtdbdbdbi;dbtlrd?d:dtdb
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
many another interesting sight ; and we have to leave
to-morrow evening.
called upon you ! but of what use would you have been
in the streets of Toledo ?
The Cardinal's Hospital is a vast building of vast
and severe proportions.
TOLEDO
lation support the plinth and the cardinal's coat of
arms.
His
attempts.
brilliant tone of the draperies, the beautiful goldenamber tint, which warms even the coldest colours of
the Venetian painter, all combine to deceive the
most practised eye. Only, the touch is less free and
rich. The little sense which el Greco had left must
have completely vanished in the sombre ocean of
madness after he had completed
this
masterpiece.
193
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
It is situ
xxxxxtfcx&xx&^xxxdbxxxxxx&x
TOLEDO
the manufacture of these justly famous blades enter
old horse and mule shoes, which are carefully collected
for the purpose. To prove to us that Toledo blades
still deserve their reputation, we were taken to the
testing room. A tall and exceedingly powerful work
man took a blade of the most ordinary kind, a straight
cavalry rapier, drove it into a pig of lead fixed to the
wall and bent the blade in every direction like a ridingwhip, so that the hilt almost touched the point. The
elastic temper of the steel enabled it to bear this test
without breaking.
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
It is impossible to imagine a
I gazed
197
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
xxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxx
GRANADA
WE had to go through Madrid again to take
the Granada stage-coach.
We might have
GRANADA
the vile galleys, sillas, volantes, and coaches in which
we had been jolted up to this time, and really it would
have been a very commodious vehicle but for the lime
kiln temperature, which burned us up in spite of our
constantly moving fans and the extreme thinness of
our clothing.
The environs of Madrid are desolate, bare, and
burned up, although less stony on this side than when
coming from
f'
On leaving, the
drdbdfcdrJsrdb &*'dbdlr*'dfc'dbdbtl:sfcdbdbtfc4:tl?dlr4rtfe
GRANADA
bull-fight arena is seen on the left.
a monumental
form.
It is of rather
While we were
changing
************************
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
sides of the road, when the whirlwind of dust in
which the coach is galloping, enclosed like a god
within its cloud, clears up, blown by some favourable
wind, and enables you to see the details. The road,
although badly kept, is good enough, thanks to the
marvellous climate, in which rain is scarcely known,
and the small number of carriages, most of the trans
portation being done by beasts of burden.
We were to have supper and to sleep at Ocafia
while waiting for the royal mail in order to have the
advantage of its escort, for we were soon to enter
La Mancha, at that time infested by bands of brigands.
We stopped at an inn, outwardly good-looking, with
a galleried courtyard covered with a superb awning,
the cloth of which, either double or single, formed
symmetrical
patterns through
its
greater or less
XXX XX xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
GRANADA
to the boredom of formal visits and introductions, you
get to know each other and become somewhat inti
mate; and when, as in Granada or Sevilla, there
is the additional pleasure of an artificial fountain, I
know nothing more delightful, especially in a country
where the thermometer indicates tropical heat.
While waiting for the mail, we indulged in a siesta.
That is a habit which one must necessarily acquire in
Spain, for the heat from two to five in the afternoon
is beyond the conception of a Parisian.
The paving-
IN
SPAIN
Ocafia is not
xxxxxx&xx&xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
GRANADA
were being carried to great threshing-floors of beaten
earth ; a sort of circus, on which horses and mules sepa
rate the grain from the chaff by the stamping of their
hoofs. The animals are harnessed to a sort of sledge,
on which stands, in a bold, fine attitude, the man
charged with directing the operation.
It takes a great
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
long
GRANADA
the tepid water in their gourds, and jolted about like
rats in a trap, laughed and sang all the way.
The
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
To sack such
GRANADA
We were starving when we reached Manzanares at
midnight. We had supper about two in the morn
ing, to provide which half the village had to be
awakened.
We got back into the coach, we went to sleep, and
when we opened our eyes we were near Valdepenas, a
place famous for its wine. The ground and the hills,
studded with stones, were of a peculiar red tone, and
we could just perceive, on the horizon, the dentelated
crests of the hills, which stood out very sharply in spite
of the great distance.
Valdepenas is very commonplace.
tation is due to its vineyards.
designed with dash, adorns the blade, which is fishshaped and always very sharp. Most of them have
mottoes, such as " Soy de una solo " (I am one man's),
or " Cuando esta vivora pica, no hay remedlo en la botica "
14
209
bib****:*****:!:**********:*:*
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
Some majos
They use
navaja has its professors like fencing, and navajateachers are as numerous in Andalusia as fencingmasters in Paris. Each navaja expert has his secret
lunges and his own particular strokes. It is said that
adepts can tell by looking at a wound to what artist
it is due, just as we can tell a painter by the touch of
his brush.
The undulations of the ground now became more
marked and more frequent ; we were constantly ascend
ing and descending.
GRANADA
paradise of our dreams.
There is
************************
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
which leaves just room enough for the road which runs
by its side. The Dogs' Gate is so called because it is
the way through which the defeated Moors left Anda
lusia, bearing with them the happiness and civilisation
of Spain.
The
The
The remembrance
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
The adders, seeking their holes, left their zigzag tracks
upon the fine sand of the road ; the aloes began to
send up their great thorny swords by the edge of
the ditches ; their broad, fleshy, thick, ashy-gray leaves
at once impart a different physiognomy to the land
scape. You feel that you are really elsewhere, that
you have left Paris for good. It is not so much
the difference in climate, in architecture, and cos
tumes, which makes you aware that you are in a
foreign country, as the presence of these great plants
of torrid climates which we are accustomed to see
in hot-houses only. The laurels, the green oaks,
the cork trees, the metallic, varnished-leaved fig-trees
have a freedom, a robustness, a wildness, which mark
a climate in which nature is stronger than man and
can do without him.
At our feet was stretched like a vast panorama the
beautiful kingdom of Andalusia. The grandeur of the
view recalled the sea. Chains of mountains levelled
by distance rolled with undulations of infinite gentle
ness like long azure billows ; broad masses of white
mist lay between ; here and there brilliant sunbeams
tipped with gold a nearer hill, and clothed it with
a thousand changing colours ; other slopes, curiously
214
GRANADA
furrowed, resembled the stuffs one sees in old pic
tures, yellow on one side and blue on the other:
and over all a flood of scintillating, splendid light,
such as must have filled the terrestrial paradise;
light poured over that ocean of mountains like liquid
gold and silver; every obstacle it met breaking it up
into a phosphorescent, spangled foam.
It was grander
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Nevertheless, we snored
The cathe
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GRANADA
print of our Lord's face, was built by the dukes of
Medina Coeli.
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GRANADA
At one place the valley narrows gradually, and the
cliffs close in so as to leave room for the river only.
Formerly carriages were obliged to descend into and
travel along the bed of the torrent itself, a rather
dangerous method on account of the holes and stones,
and the depth of the water, which in winter rises a
great deal.
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Comercio, a so-called French hotel in which there were
no sheets, and where we slept in our clothes on the
table; but these small troubles did not affect us much.
We were in Granada, and in a few hours we should
see the Alhambra and the Generalife.
The first thing we did was to have our guide take
us to a casa de pupilos, that is, a private house which
receives boarders ; for as we proposed to stay some
time in Granada, the inferior fare of the Fonda del
Comercio did not suit us.
From the top of our house, which was surmounted
by a sort of look-out, we could see, through clumps of
trees upon the crest of a hill, standing out sharply
against the blue sky, the massive towers of the fortress
of the Alhambra, which the sun coloured with tints of
the warmest and most intense red.
The Alhambra.
Palace of Justice.
.-
In spite
GRANADA
hundred years and innumerable commonplace people
have passed over the scene of so many romantic and
chivalrous actions ; you think of a semi-Moorish, semiGothic city, in which traceried spires mingle with
minarets, and cupolas alternate with terraced roofs ;
you expect to see carved, ornamented houses, with coats
of arms and heroic mottoes ; quaint buildings, with
stories projecting one above the other, with protruding
beams and windows adorned with Persian carpets and
blue and white pots, in a word, an opera scene
realised and representing some marvellous prospect of
the Middle Ages.
The people you meet, dressed in modern costumes,
wearing stovepipe hats and frock coats, unconsciously
produce an unpleasant effect and appear more hideous
than they are ; for they really cannot go about for the
greater glory of local colour in albornoz of the days of
Boabdil, or in iron armour of the times of Ferdinand
and Isabella the Catholic. They insist, like nearly all
the townspeople in Spain, that they are not in the
least degree picturesque, and they seek to prove that
they are civilised by wearing trousers with straps ; that
is their main idea. They are afraid of being taken for
barbarians and of being considered behind the times,
15
225
"
dbdbdbd^^rdbdbdtdlrdbdbdl:dbdbslrtlrdbdbd^tfedbdbdbdb
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and when the wild beauty of their country is extolled,
they humbly apologise for not yet having railroads and
steam-driven factories.
Granada, although fallen from its ancient splendour,
is bright, gay, animated.
Andalusian vivac
GRANADA
their dazzling blooms above the garden walls, the
strange play of light and shade which recall Decamps'
pictures of Turkish villages, the women seated on the
thresholds, the half-naked children tumbling around,
the asses which come and go covered with plumes and
tufts of wool, impart to these lanes, which are
almost always steep and sometimes provided with steps,
a peculiar aspect which does not lack charm, and the
unexpectedness of which more than compensates for
their lack of regularity.
Victor Hugo, in his charming " Orientales," says of
Granada that
" It paints its houses with the richest colours."
The houses of
It is a wealth of
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We had
sft? jitr ts? t& ts? t)t tfc *^* r^* tJrifctiifdbtfrifcsIfifcii?ifcfc ? ifc tfcsfc
GRANADA
or green velvet with aiguillettes.
It is very fashionable
I was introduced to
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They go
It is true
GRANADA
reserve for great occasions ; but thank Heaven ! such
occasions are very rare, and the hideous bonnets show
in the light of day only on the Queen's feast day or at
the ceremonies in the high school.
f~
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of water, full of shrubs and flowers, myrtles, rose trees
jessamine, all the wealth of the Granada flora, fills up
the space between the Salon and the Genil, and extends
as far as the bridge constructed by General Sebastiani
at the time of the French invasion.
The car
GRANADA
always hanging to some man's arm, lack. This con
stant separation of men and women, at least in public,
smacks already of the East.
A sight which Northern people cannot have any idea
of is the Alameda in Granada at sunset.
The Sierra
seems to have
A"
****** ******************
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It is impossible to be welcomed
At Gra
nada I was Don Teofilo, my comrade was Don Eugenio, and we were free to call by their names Carmen,
Teresa, Gala, etc., the young ladies and girls in the
houses in which we were received as guests.
234
This
3bdbdb?ft:4rdbdbdb>slrdbdb>dbdbdbdbdbdbtbtlrdbtlrdb4;db
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familiarity goes very well with the most polished
manners and the most respectful attentions. So every
evening we went to a tertulia in one house or another
from eight to midnight. The tertulias take place in
the alabaster-columned patio adorned with its jet of
water, the basin of which is surrounded by flower-pots
and boxes of shrubs, on the leaves of which the drops
of water fall with a pleasant sound.
are hung along the walls, sofas and straw or wickerwork chairs are placed in the galleries, the piano is in
one corner, in another are the card-tables.
On entering, each guest greets the master and mis
tress of the house, who do not fail, after the usual
exchange of civilities, to offer you a cup of chocolate
which it is proper to refuse, and a cigarette which is
occasionally accepted. Having fulfilled this duty, you
go to the corner of the patio and join the group which
most attracts you. The parents and elders play at
trecillo ; the young fellows talk with the girls, recite the
verses they have written during the day, and are scolded
and punished for crimes which they may have com
mitted the day before, such as having danced too often
with a pretty cousin or cast too bright a glance towards
a forbidden balcony.
**
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exchange for the rose they have brought, they are given
a carnation from the waist or from the hair, and a
glance or a slight pressure of the fingers answers their
clasp when the company ascends to the balcony to hear
the band play the retreat.
Love-making seems to be the only occupation of
Granada.
GRANADA
a favourite composer among the Spaniards, or sings a
ballad by Breton de los Herreros, the great balladwriter of Madrid.
The evening closes with a little improvised dance,
but they do not dance, alas, the jota, the fandango, or
the bolero, these dances being left to the peasants, the
servants, and the gipsies.
************************
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It is true that
These
*** * * * ** * ***************
GRANADA
Spaniards spend a portion of the day in sleeping.
You may also happen upon a serenade composed of
three or four musicians, but usually it is the lover
alone, who sings couplets, accompanying himself upon
the guitar, with his sombrero pulled down over his eyes
and one foot placed on a stone or a post. Formerly
two serenades in the same street would not have
tolerated each other; the first-comer claimed the right
to remain alone and forbade any other guitar than his
own to strum in the silence of night.
XXZVXXXVXXTTxdfXXXSXXXxCS
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find him. Men sleep there under the blue vault of
the sky with the stars for night-lights, safe from
insects and from the stings of mosquitoes, thanks to
the toughness of their tanned skins bronzed by the
suns of Andalusia and as dark unquestionably as that
of the darkest mulattoes.
We were so passionately fond of the Alhambra that,
not satisfied with going there every day, we desired to
live there altogether ; not in the neighbouring houses,
which are rented at very high prices to the English,
but within the palace itself; and thanks to the pro
tection of our Granada friends, we were told that,
though a formal permission could not be granted to
us, our presence there would not be taken notice of.
We spent four days and four nights in the place, and
they were unquestionably the most delightful days of
my life.
To reach the Alhambra, we shall, if you please,
cross the Bibarrambla Square, where the valiant Gozul
the Moor formerly fought bulls, and the houses of
which, with their balconies and look-outs in joinerwork, somewhat resemble chicken-coops. The fishmarket is in one corner of the square, the centre of
which is an open place surrounded with stone benches
240
241
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Having
GRANADA
separate governor.
The
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The
The key is a
GRANADA
a verse of the Koran beginning with these words, " He
has opened," and it has a number of hieratical mean
ings. The hand is intended to ward off the evil eye,
like the little coral hands which are worn in Naples in
the shape of a charm or a breastpin to protect one
against the same danger. There was an old saying
that Granada would never be taken until the hand
seized the key.
<
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The
GRANADA
facade have been carved by a skilful, bold, patient
sculptor. The circular court with its marble columns,
in which were to take place bull-fights, is unquestion
ably a magnificent piece of architecture, but it is out
of place here.
The Alhambra is entered through a corridor in a
corner of the palace of Charles V, and after a few
turns, one reaches a great court called the Court of
Myrtles (Patio de los Jrrayanes), or the Court of the
Reservoir (Albercd). On emerging from the dark pas
sage into this bright space filled with light, it seems
as if the wand of an enchanter has carried you into
the East some four or five centuries ago. Time,
which changes everything, has in no wise altered the
aspect of the place, and one would not be in the least
surprised did the Sultana Binder of Hearts and the
Moor Tafi in his white mantle suddenly appear.
In the centre of the court has been dug a vast reser
voir three or four feet deep, in the shape of a par
allelogram bordered by hedges of myrtle and shrubs,
terminating at each end in a sort of gallery with very
slender columns which support Moorish arches of
great lightness. Basins with jets of water which over
flow into the reservoir by marble gutters, are placed
247
r-
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GRANADA
shape of the vaulting, which resembles the hull of
a boat. This antechamber to the Hall of Ambassadors
is worthy of its purpose.
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Gothic architec
the
The inscriptions in
GRANADA
palace. The windows are covered with verses in
honour of the clearness of the waters of the reservoir,
the coolness of the shade of the shrubs, and the per
fume of the flowers which adorn the Mexuar Court,
which, as a matter of fact, you catch a glimpse of
from the Hall of the Ambassadors through the doors
and the columns of the gallery.
The loop-holes, with internal balconies, pierced at
a great height from the ground, the timber roof with
out other decoration than zigzags and interfacings
formed by the adjustment of the timbers, impart to
the Hall of Ambassadors a more severe aspect than
that of the other halls of the palace, and more in
harmony with its purpose. From the end window
there is a superb view over the Darro ravine.
Having completed this description, we have to
destroy another illusion : all this magnificence is
neither marble, alabaster, nor stone, but simply plaster.
This greatly upsets the idea of fairy luxury which the
mere name of the Alhambra awakens in the most
commonplace imagination ; and yet it is absolutely
true. With the exception of the columns, usually cut
out of one block and the height of which is scarce
more than six or eight feet, and of a few blocks in
251
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If we were
At the entrance
GRANADA
is noticed a slab of white marble pierced with small
holes through which rose the smoke of perfumes
burned below the floor.
It
No description, no painting
pictures and have almost exclusively imitated Caravaggio and other sombre masters. The paintings of
Decamps and Marilhat, which represent only Asiatic
and African scenes, give a far more accurate idea
of Spain than all the costly paintings brought back
from the Peninsula.
We shall traverse without a stop the Lindaraja
Garden, which now is nothing but waste ground
strewn with debris, bristling with brambles; and we
shall enter for a moment the Sultana's baths which
are covered with mosaic patterns, formed of varnished
earthen tiles embroidered with a filigree in plaster
which would put to shame the most complicated
madrepore. A fountain stands in the centre, two
alcoves are cut in the wall.
GRANADA
stood the players and singers. The baths themselves
are great white-marble basins cut out of a single
block, placed in small vaulted cabinets lighted by
round or star-shaped traceried windows.
The English engravings and the numerous drawings
of the Court of the Lions give a very incomplete and
erroneous idea of it ; they are almost all lacking in
proportion, and on account of the minuteness rendered
necessary by the infinite detail of Arab architecture,
they make the monument appear much more im
portant than it really is.
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One of them
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GRANADA
of a grotto, or a cluster of soap-bubbles which children
blow with a straw. These myriads of diminutive
vaults or domelets, three or four feet across, which
spring one from another, crossing and breaking their
edges, seem rather the product of a fortuitous crys
tallisation than the work of a human hand.
Blue,
257
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In
The
GRANADA
are put into the stomachs of cardboard dogs to pre
serve their equilibrium ; the faces, rayed with cross
bars, no doubt intended to figure the moustaches, are
exactly like the mouths of hippopotami ; the eyes are
of such primitive drawing that they recall the shape
less attempts of children : and yet these twelve mon
sters, if considered not as lions but as chimeras, as
caprices of ornamentation, produce, with the basin
which they upbear, a picturesque and elegant effect
which enables one to understand their reputation and
the praise contained in the Arabic inscription, in
twenty-four lines of twenty-two syllables, engraved
upon the sides of the basin into which falls the water
from the upper basin. It was into this fountain that
fell the heads of the thirty-six Abencerrages drawn
into the trap by the Zegris.
would all have suffered the same fate but for the devo
tion of a little page, who hastened, at the risk of his
own life, to warn the survivors and prevent their
entering the fatal court.
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growing with
incredible
richness.
The
with
water and
extraordinarily
fertile.
A stray
GRANADA
scarlet flowers of the pomegranate, and a cactus on
one side of the road is, in spite of its thorns, embraced
by a laurel on the other. Nature, left to herself,
seems to become coquettish, and to insist on showing
how far behind her is even the most exquisite and
consummate art.
It is a fifteen minutes walk to the Generalife, which
is a sort of country house of the Alhambra.
The
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At the foot of
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GRANADA
it, it looked like an explosion of flowers, like a bouquet
of vegetable fireworks, a splendid and vigorous mass
of noisy freshness, if such a word may be applied to
colours which would cause the most brilliant rose to
pale. Its lovely flowers bloomed out with all the
ardour of desire towards the pure light of heaven ; its
noble leaves, designed expressly by nature as a crown
for gladiators, were laved by the spray of the jets of
water and sparkled like emeralds in the sunshine.
Nothing has ever given me such a deep sensation
of beauty as that rose laurel in the Generalife.
The water is brought to the gardens by a sort of
very steep slope with side walls that serve as weirs.
Upon it are laid runlets formed of great hollow tiles,
down which the brooks rush with the brightest and
most lifelike ripple.
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GRANADA
by way of contrast to this fresh beauty, rises a
bare, burnt, tawny mountain, spotted with ochre and
sienna tones, which is called the Silla del Moro, from
the remains of buildings upon its summit. Thence it
was that King Boabdil watched the Arab cavaliers tilt
in the Vega with the Christian knights.
The remem
What
It is a
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GRANADA
of the church is curious. It consists of stucco ara
besques absolutely marvellous for the variety and the
invention of the motives. It seems as though the
architect had intended to repeat in a different style
the lightness and complexity of the lace-work in the
Alhambra.
/.
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GRANADA
much that only the whites of them were visible, her
lips drawn over her teeth, her face of a shining leadcolour; she was in a state of ecstasy carried to the
point of catalepsy. Never did Zurbaran paint any
thing more ascetic and fuller of feverish devotion. She
was fulfilling a penance imposed upon her by her
confessor, and had eight more days of it.
The convent of San Jeronimo, now transformed
into a barracks, contains a Gothic cloister with two
stories of arcades of remarkable character and beauty.
The capitals of the pillars are ornamented with fan
tastic foliage and animals of charming invention and
exquisite workmanship. The profaned and deserted
church has the peculiarity that the architectural orna
ments and reliefs are painted in grisaille instead of
being real. Gonsalvo de Cordova, called the Great
Captain is buried here.
************************
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tated in something else than its stupid vandalism. This
was impressed on me as I visited the former convent
of Saint Dominic in Antequeruela. The chapel is
decorated with an incredible excess of gewgaws and
gilding.
GRANADA
ing, for they knew very well how to keep for them
selves whatever was good. The courts and cloisters
are admirably cool, and adorned with orange trees and
flowers.
The most
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GRANADA
to them.
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Generally Spaniards
GRANADA
the army, but thanks to the wretched condition of
the finances, they remain sometimes for many a year
without getting any pay.
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course these remarks, like rules, are subject to numer
ous exceptions ; no doubt there are many active, hard
working Spaniards who enjoy all the refinements of
life ; but the impression stated is the one which a trav
eller receives after a stay of some time in the country,
an impression which is often more correct than that
of a native observer, who is less sensitive to the novelty
of manners.
276
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MALAGA
APIECE of news well calculated to excite a
whole Spanish city had suddenly spread through
Granada to the great delight of the dilettanti. The
new circus at Malaga was at last finished, after having
cost the contractor five million reales, and in order to
inaugurate it solemnly by fights worthy of the finest
period of the art, the great Montes of Chiclana had
been engaged with his quadrille, and was to perform on
three successive days, Montes, the first swordsman
in Spain, the brilliant successor of Romero and Pepe
Illo. We had already been present at several bull
fights, but we had not been fortunate enough to see
Montes, his political opinions prevented his appear
ing at Madrid, and to leave Spain without having
seen Montes is just as inexcusably barbarous as to leave
Paris without having seen Rachel perform. Although
Cordova was next on our itinerary, we could not resist
the temptation to make a dash to Malaga, in spite of
the bad roads and the short time at our disposal.
277
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quicker, for we were to take to cross-roads at Alpujarras in order to reach Malaga on the very morning
of the bull-fight.
Our Granada friends told us of a cosario or traindriver called Lanza, a handsome fellow, a very honest
man, and most intimate with the bandits.
In France
MALAGA
which is often dangerous.
arrangement.
One night, between Alhama and Velez, our cosario
was dozing on the neck of his mule at the tail end of
his train, when suddenly shrill cries awakened him.
He saw trabucos gleaming by the roadside. There
could be no doubt about it, the convoy was attacked.
Greatly surprised, he sprang off his mule, threw up
with his hand the muzzles of the muskets, and spoke
his name. " Oh, forgive us, Sefior Lanza," said the
brigands, very much ashamed ; " we did not recognise
you. We are worthy people and incapable of such
indelicacy. We have too much honour to take even a
single cigar from you."
If you do not happen to be travelling with a man
who is known on the road, you must have a numerous
escort armed to the teeth ; which is expensive and
much less safe, for generally the escopeteros are retired
brigands.
It is customary in Andalusia, when travelling on
horseback and going to a bull-fight, to wear the
national costume ; so our little caravan was quite pic
turesque and looked uncommonly well as it left Gra
nada.
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MALAGA
animal. It is when travelling that the Spaniards
assume their old characteristics and throw off all
imitation of foreign ways. The national character
reappears in its entirety in those trains which cross
the mountains and which cannot be very different
from the caravans that traverse the desert. The
roughness of the track, the wild grandeur of the land
scape, the picturesque costumes of the arrieros, the
quaint harness of the mules, the horses, and the asses
walking in a long file, take you thousands of miles
away from civilisation.
You are
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XXXXXXXXXXTZXXXXXXXXVXXX
MALAGA
of rebels, robbers, innkeepers, whose probity is gradu
ated according to the number of rifles which you
have with you ; danger surrounds you, follows you,
precedes you. You hear whispered around you terri
ble, mysterious stories.
Unfortunately the
Oh,
MALAGA
an adventure at the cost of their luggage !
We were
Most picturesque
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wood in a fire.
IN
SPAIN
To
dbdbtfcdtrdrdbd^^rdbdb^dbdbdbslrdbJrdbdb^fedrdbslrdb
MALAGA
neck, thinking it was more capable of taking care of
itself, and trusting entirely to it to get through difficult
places.
We were travelling through a regular Campo Santo.
The crosses in memory of murders became frightfully
frequent. In certain places we counted as many as
three or four within a hundred yards. It was no
longer a road, it was a cemetery.
It must be con
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dk^^icicic-k-k :fc:fc:S::lr:fc:fe:fc:fc:t::fc:fc:fcdb:fc:fc:fc
MALAGA
where we were to sleep.
Of a truth, the
Maidens
The guitars
289
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simple. All the maids and all the boys of the inn had
gone to the dance, and we had to be satisfied with
a simple gaspacho.
tion.
MALAGA
soup. The gaspacho is stated to be very refreshing,
an opinion which seems to us somewhat bold ; but,
strange as it may seem the first time you taste it, you
end by getting used to it and even by liking it. By a
compensation of Providence we had, to wash down
this meagre repast, a great carafe full of excellent dry
Malaga wine, which we conscientiously drank to the
very last drop, and which restored our strength, ex
hausted by nine hours' travelling over atrocious roads
and in a heat like that of a lime-kiln.
At three o'clock the mule train started again.
The
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The aguardiente
MALAGA
Chariots dragged by oxen and files of donkeys be
came more and more numerous. The traffic which is
always met with in the neighbourhood of a great city
was already evident. From all sides came trains of
mules bearing spectators
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xxx x x x x x x a? xxxxxdbxxxxx x XX
MALAGA
them a still more diabolical and fantastic appearance.
I know not why they had been sent to the galleys, but
I should have sent them there for the mere crime of
having such faces.
We stopped at the Three Kings Parador, a com
paratively comfortable house, shaded by a beautiful
vine the leaves of which clustered on the iron-work of
the balcony, and provided with a great room in which
the hostess sat in state behind a counter laden with
china, quite as if it were a Paris cafe.
A very pretty
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dbdbd:d?4rtbdbtlrdbdb^^Jbtlrdbdbdbdbtlbdbtlrdbtl;db
MALAGA
back the crowd. Though it was scarcely one o'clock
the benches were already filled from top to bottom, and
it was only by dint of using our fists and our tongues
that we succeeded in reaching our stalls.
The Malaga
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~~~~~~~~~
"&-&"& db is drdt^dt^btlrdbdbsfcsfcsfcdbdirdbslrdb
MALAGA
cessive phases of the bull's death are attentively fol
lowed by pale and charming creatures whom an elegiac
poet would be only too glad to have for Elviras; the
merit of the strokes is discussed by such pretty lips
that one could wish to hear them speak but of love.
Because they look with dry eyes upon scenes of car
nage which would cause our sensitive Parisian ladies to
faint, it would be wrong to infer that they are cruel
and lack tenderness ; it does not prevent their being
good, simple-hearted, and sympathetic ; but habit is
everything, and the bloody side of a bull-fight which
most strikes strangers is what least occupies Spaniards,
who pay attention to the skill with which blows are
dealt and the cleverness shown by the toreros, who do
not run such great risks as one might at first fancy.
It was yet but two o'clock, and the sun poured
down a deluge of fire upon the side of the circus upon
which we were seated. How we envied the fortunate
ones who were enjoying the coolness of the shade cast
by the boxes above.
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The people who occupied the shaded seats chaffed
us incessantly. They sent water-sellers to prevent our
catching fire ; they begged us to light our cigars at the
tip of our noses, and they suggested that we might have
a little oil in order to complete the stew. We replied
as well as we could, and when the shadow, moving
with the day, gave up one of them to the rays of the
sun, there broke out endless laughter and applause.
Thanks to a few jars of water, several dozens of
oranges, and a couple of fans constantly kept in motion,
we avoided being burned up, and we were not quite
cooked or struck with apoplexy when the band sat
down in its gallery and the cavalry patrol began to
clear the arena, which was full of muchachos and
majos, who disappeared, I know not how, into the
general throng, although, mathematically speaking,
there was not room for another person ; but under
certain circumstances a crowd is wonderfully elastic.
An immense sigh of satisfaction arose from the fif
teen thousand people, whose expectations were at last
about to be fulfilled. The members of the ayuntamiento were saluted with frantic applause, and when
they entered their box the orchestra began to play
national airs, " I who am a Smuggler," and " Riego's
300
MALAGA
March," which the whole company sang together with
clapping of hands and stamping of feet.
We do not intend to describe here the bull-fight;
we did so carefully during our stay in Madrid ; we
shall merely relate the chief events, the remarkable
features of this fight during which the same combatants
performed for three days running without rest, when
twenty-four bulls and ninety-six horses were slain, al
though no accident happened to the men save the rip
ping up of a man's arm ; a wound in no wise dangerous,
which did not prevent his reappearing the following day
in the arena.
At five o'clock sharp the gates of the arena were
opened, and the company which was to perform
marched in procession around the circus. At its
head were the three picadores, Antonio Sanchez and
Jose Trigo, both from Seville, and Francesco Briones
from Puerto Real, hand on hip, lance erect, as grave
as Roman generals ascending in triumph to the Capi
tol. The saddles of their horses had the name of the
owner of the circus marked with gilded nails. The
capadores, or chulos, wearing their three-cornered hats
and wrapped in
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
Montes had
The alguazil, in
MALAGA
him. So it was in the midst of an immense Homeric,
Olympic burst of laughter that the fight began; but
soon silence fell, the bull having ripped up the first
picador's horse and thrown the second.
We could look but at Montes, whose name is
popular all over Spain, and whose prowess is sung
in a thousand marvellous tales.
at Chiclana, near Cadiz.
He is a man of forty to
33
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
34
MALAGA
swung it around two or three times to its intense
disgust, amid the frantic applause of the whole com
pany, and thus gave time to pick up the picador.
Sometimes he plants himself right in front of the
bull, his arms crossed, his eyes fixed upon him.
The
Every
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
The chances of
The
least
skilful
bull-fights and
MALAGA
In the herd it was known as Napoleon, that being
the only name which answered to its unquestioned
superiority. Without the least hesitation it charged
the picador posted near the gates, threw him down
with his horse, which was killed on the spot, and
charged the second who was no luckier, and whom
there was scarcely time to pass over the fence, bruised
and crushed by his fall.
37
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
of the terrible Napoleon, which, heedless of the wound
in the shoulder, caught the horse under the belly, with
one jerk made him fall on his fore legs upon the edge
of the fence, and with a second, raising his hind
quarters, sent him with his master flying on the other
side of the barrier in the flagged passageway which
runs around the arena.
This feat was welcomed with thunders of applause.
The bull was master of the arena, which he trav
ersed like a conqueror, amusing himself for lack of
adversaries in turning over and tossing the body
of the horse which he had ripped up. The stock of
victims was exhausted, there were no more horses
left in the circus stable to give to the picadors; the
banderilleros were astride of the fence, afraid to go
down to worry with their darts that terrible gladiator,
whose fury unquestionably did not need to be excited.
The spectators, irritated at the wait, shouted for the
banderillas, and to throw into the fire the alcalde
because he did not give the order.
At last, at a sign
xxx^xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
MALAGA
up his sleeve.
xxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
delivered with the quickness of thought, a shout of
indignation arose from all parts of the circus ; a storm
of insults and hisses broke with incredible tumult and
noise. " Butcher ! assassin ! brigand ! thief ! galley
slave ! executioner ! " were the mildest of the expres
sions used. " To Ceuta with Montes ! " " Burn him
alive ! " " Set the dogs on him ! " " Death to the
alcalde ! " sounded from all the seats.
Never have
Gi'btlrosn Osvye
V"
^:ifcdb^lrtfcdbtlr^rsfcdlrtlr'Slrslrdb^rdbsfcd:db^rtlrd:sfcdb
MALAGA
factory fashion. The Spanish dancers, although they
have not the finish, the accuracy, the style of French
dancers, are greatly superior, I think, in grace and
charm. They look like women who dance, and not
like dancers, which is a very different thing. Their
method has no relation whatever to that of the French
school. In the latter, immobility and uprightness of
the bust are expressly recommended, and the body
scarcely ever shares the motion of the legs ; in Spain
the feet rarely leave the ground ; it is the body that
dances, the back that curves, the hips that yield, the
waist that is twisted with the suppleness of an almeh
or an adder.
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
3H
As a poet, I again
MALAGA
the leaves in the forest and the sand on the seashore.
Most of these plays are written in octosyllabic verse
mingled with assonances, and printed in two columns
on cheap quarto paper, with a coarse engraving by way
of frontispiece.
leaves.
MALAGA
the highest degree of susceptibility ; the hero always
preserves a noble, solemn attitude, even in the midst of
his most horrible outbursts of anger and in his most
atrocious vengeance. It is always in the name of loy
alty, of conjugal faith, of respect for ancestors, of
the integrity of his name, that he draws from its sheath
his great sword with the iron shell-guard, even against
those whom he loves with all his soul and whom an
imperious necessity compels him to slay.
The interest
All
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
MALAGA
Moratin, the author of the " Si de las Ninos," and
" el Cofe," whose tomb is in the Pere, Lachaise ceme
tery in Paris, is the last representative of the Spanish
dramatic art, as the old painter Goya, who died at
Bordeaux in 1828, was the last descendant of the great
Velasquez.
Nowadays Spanish theatres give little else than trans
lations of French melodramas and vaudevilles.
At
Leaving out
321
322
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
CORDOVA
UP to this time we had made acquaintance with
two-wheeled galleys only ; we were now to
learn something of the four-wheeled galley. One of
these pleasant vehicles, filled already with a Spanish
family, was about to start for Cordova.
pleted the load.
We com
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
dbdbdbdb4r dbdbdbdlr^lrtlrdbslrdbsbd^db^rslrdbdbdbsbdb
CORDOVA
and are the people so very wrong to admire these en
ergetic natures, although the use to which they turn
them is worthy of condemnation ?
The road along which we were travelling climbed
up and down, in rather abrupt fashion, a district inter
sected by hills and narrow valleys, the bottom of which
formed dry river-beds full of huge stones, which jolted
us atrociously and drew sharp cries from the women
and children.
The
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
Around the
The
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
Night fell.
To complete our
db & tfc & :fc :fc :fc 4:& *:b db :fc :b :fc sb db &:!: sfc jhfe
CORDOVA
back to the road ; but his investigations were useless,
and much against his will he was compelled to tell
us that he had lost his way and did not know where he
was. He could not understand it; he had travelled
twenty times along the road and could have gone to
Cordova with his eyes shut.
However, after having wandered at haphazard for
two or three hours, we perceived far in the distance
a light shining through branches like a glow-worm.
We immediately made it our polar star and drove
in its direction as straight as possible, running the
risk of upsetting at every step. Sometimes a hollow
in the ground concealed it from our sight, and then
all nature seemed a blank; then it reappeared, and
our hopes rose again. At last we got close enough
to a farm to make out the window, the heaven whence
shone our star in the shape of a brass lamp.
Ox-wag
Peasants
S~~
* * *** * ** ************* * **
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
honest travellers who had lost their way, they politely
asked us to come and rest in the farmhouse.
It was their supper time.
33
xxx x x x x x x xxxxxxxxxxxx at xx
CORDOVA
antique arches and mill-weirs. At the other end one
enters a square planted with trees and adorned with
two monuments in poor taste.
The
f-
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
CORDOVA
turned, and blooms out into flowers, volutes, and foliage.
There is not a single inch which is not hatched, fes
tooned, gilded, embroidered, or painted. All that rococo
can produce of most rocky disorder, all that French
taste, even at the worst times, has always known how
to avoid, is here most luxuriant.
This Pompadour-
Situated on low
TRAVELS
privations.
IN
SPAIN
XX XXX XVXXXTVXKXXSCXXXXXXX
CORDOVA
stones ; and it was in wells, indeed, that one had to
look to find verdure and coolness, for the heat was
comparable to that in the neighbourhood of a great fire.
The temperature of a hot-house in which tropical plants
are raised can alone give any idea of it ; the very air was
burning, and the puffs of wind seemed to carry fire
with them.
We left Carlotta at about three o'clock in the
afternoon, and in the evening we halted at a wretched
gipsy hut, the roof of which consisted merely of
branches of trees, placed like coarse thatch upon cross
poles.
xxxxxxxxxxx^xxxxxxxxxxxx
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
a half, yet the distance traversed is only about twenty
Spanish leagues, or about ninety miles ; but the car
riage was heavily laden, the road abominable, and
there were no relays of mules ready. Add to this
the intolerable heat, which would have killed both
men and beasts if we had ventured out while the
sun was high. We look back pleasantly upon that
slow and toilsome journey.
of charm.
CORDOVA
which are put on by passing the head through a hole
cut in the centre of the piece of stuff, were waiting
for the opening of the gates with the phlegm and
patience usual to Spaniards, who appear never to be
in a hurry.
************************
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
yellow colour.
338
If
xxxxxis xtb:l;xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
CORDOVA
the Moors were to return, they would not have to
alter much before settling down. The idea that one
may have of Cordova, that it has traceried spires
and houses with Gothic windows, is entirely incorrect.
The universal use of whitewash gives a uniform tone
to all the buildings, filling the cavities, concealing
the tracery and preventing one guessing at their age.
Thanks to whitewash, a wall built a century ago cannot
be distinguished from one finished yesterday.
Cordova,
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
34
CORDOVA
wings, a halo around his head, his travelling-stick and
his fish in his hand, majestically placed between two
superb pots of hyacinths and peonies, with an inscrip
tion which reads thus :
IN
SPAIN
to******************:*****
CORDOVA
tions so seriously collected by historians, Cordova had
two hundred and fifty thousand houses, eighty thousand
palaces, and nine hundred baths, while twelve thousand
villages formed its suburbs ; now it has not even forty
thousand inhabitants and appears almost deserted.
Abd-er-Rhaman wished to make the Mosque of
Cordova the object of pilgrimages, the chief temple of
Islam next to that in which rests the body of the
Prophet. I have not yet seen the Kasbah at Mecca,
but I question whether it equals in splendour and
extent the Spanish mosque.
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
Nothing, there
CORDOVA
architecture.
The
Of
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
CORDOVA
freely along the vast colonnades and discover from one
end of the temple the orange trees in bloom and
the upspringing fountains of the court in a flood
of light which was all the more dazzling by contrast
with the twilight
of the interior.
Unfortunately,
This well
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
CORDOVA
undergone, a portion, called the Mirdhb, has been pre
served as if by a miracle with scrupulous integrity.
The carved and wooden ceiling, with its media
naranja studded with stars, its traceried windows with
their gratings that give passage to a soft light, the
gallery with its trefoil, the coloured-glass mosaics, the
lines of the Koran in gilded, crystal letters which
wind in and out through the most complicated and
graceful ornaments and arabesques, form a work of
fairy richness, beauty, and elegance, the like of which
is to be found only in the " Thousand and One
Nights," and which need not envy their art.
Never
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
CORDOVA
in matters of legend, I could not help thinking that
in those days either men had very hard finger nails
or porphyry was very soft.
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
ickkis4: k db k "kick*kkkkkkkkkkkk
CORDOVA
Flat or slightly undulating ground planted with olive
trees, the gray colour of which is made paler by the
dusty, sandy steeps on which shows from time to time
blackish verdure, these were the only things we saw
for many a mile.
At Luisiana all the inhabitants were stretched out
at their doors, snoring in the starlight. Our carriage
forced the lines of sleepers to rise and press against
the walls, grumbling
We stopped
The
353
Then we
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
Lime-kilns cast
We were in Seville.
355
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
SEVILLE
A SPANISH proverb very often quoted says that
vel.
It is
SEVILLE
and bustle of life; a rumour hovers over it at every
moment of the day; it scarcely takes time to enjoy
its siesta; it is not troubled by yesterday, still less by
to-morrow, it is wholly given up to the present.
Memory and hope constitute the happiness of unfortu
nate places : but Seville is not unfortunate ; it enjoys
itself, whilst Cordova, its sister, seems in silence and
solitude to dream of Abd-er-Rahman and of the Great
Captain, of all its vanished splendour lights gleaming
in the night of the past, of which it has naught left but
the ashes.
To the great disappointment of travellers and anti
quarians, whitewash reigns supreme in Seville. Houses
are whitewashed three or four times a year, which
makes them look clean and well kept, but which pre
vents one tracing the remains of Arab and Gothic
sculptures which formerly adorned them.
Nothing is
************************
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
However, the lack of dark shades results in much live
liness and gaiety.
The pavement
Without
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
Un
xxxxx db xxxd:xxxxxxdbxdbdbxxxx
SEVILLE
sess in a high degree what the Spaniards call sal. It is
difficult to give an idea of it in conversation : it is
composed of nonchalance and vivacity, of quick replies
and childish ways, of a gracefulness as piquant as it is
savoury, which need not accompany beauty, but which
is often preferred to it. So in Spain they say to a
woman, " How salt (salada) you are ! " and no compli
ment is greater than that.
The Paseo de Cristina is a superb promenade upon
the banks of the Guadalquivir, with a Salon paved with
large slabs, surrounded by a white-marble bench with an
iron back, shaded by Oriental plane-trees, and with
a maze, a Chinese pavilion, and all sorts of Northern
trees, ash, cypress, poplar, willow, which excite the
admiration of the Andalusians, just as aloes and palms
would excite that of Parisians.
At the approaches to the Cristina there are bits of
cord steeped in sulphur and rolled around posts, which
offer a light always ready for smokers, so that one is
freed from the nuisance of the boys who carry coals
and pursue you, shouting out, " Fuego ! " which makes
the Prado at Madrid so unbearable.
Pleasant as is this promenade, nevertheless I prefer
the river bank itself, which offers an ever-varied and
361
/*
xx^&xdbxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
TRAVELS
animated spectacle.
IN
SPAIN
SEVILLE
watch the sun setting behind the Triana suburb,
situated on the other side of the river. A noble palmtree spread its disc of leaves as if to salute the set
ting sun. I have always greatly loved palm trees,
and I can never see one without being carried off
into a poetic and patriarchal world, into the midst
of foreign scenes of the East, of the splendours of
the Bible.
A bridge of boats connects the two banks and
unites the suburbs to the city.
A few
/-
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&x&tI?
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
When
SEVILLE
Julius
TRAVELS
necessary to sustain life.
IN
SPAIN
Notre-Dame in Paris
SEVILLE
Everything is on the same grand scale. Every year
there are consumed in the cathedral twenty thousand
pounds of wax and an equal quantity of oil ; the
sacramental wine amounts to the terrifying quantity
of eighteen thousand seven hundred and fifty pints.
It is true that every day there are five hundred masses
said at eighty altars. The catafalque which is used
during Holy Week, and which is called " The Monu
ment," is nearly one hundred feet high.
The organs,
of gigantic size, look like the basalt columns of Fingal's Cave, and yet the storms and thunders which
escape from their pipes, which are the size of siege
guns, sound like melodious murmurs, warblings of
birds, and song of seraphs under those colossal arches.
There are eighty-three painted windows after cartoons
by Michael Angelo, Raphael, Durer, Peregrino, Teobaldi and Lucas Cambiaso ; the oldest and finest are
the work of Arnold of Flanders, a famous painter
on glass ; the latest, which bear the date of 1 8 1 9,
show how greatly the art has degenerated since the
glories of the sixteenth century, the climacteric epoch
of the world, when the plant called Man bore its finest
flowers and its most savoury fruits.
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
369
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
Padua " does not know the highest work of the Seville
painter. It is like those who fancy they know Rubens
and have never seen the Antwerp " Magdalen."
All styles of architecture are found in the cathedral
of Seville, the severe Gothic, the Renaissance, the
style called by the Spaniards plateresque, or silverwork, and which is marked by an incredible wealth of
ornaments and arabesques, the rococo, the Greek, the
Roman, none are lacking, for every age has built a
chapel or a retable in the taste which was its own, and
the building is not yet entirely finished. Several of
the statues which stand in the niches of the portals,
representing patriarchs, apostles, saints, and archangels,
are in terra cotta merely, and placed there provision
ally. In the direction of the Court de los Naranjos,
on the top of the unfinished portal, rises the iron crane,
37
SEVILLE
a symbol that the building is not yet finished and will
be continued later.
The
'
************************
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
anything, make economists shrug their shoulders with
pity ; even the people begin to calculate the worth of
the gold of the cup ; the people who of yore dared not
raise their eyes to the white sun of the Host, now
reflect that bits of crystal might perfectly well replace
the diamonds and gems on the monstrance.
The
Spain is no longer
Catholic.
The Giralda, which serves as a campanile to the
cathedral and rises high above all the spires of the city,
is an old Moorish tower built by an Arab architect
named Djabir or Gever, the inventor of algebra, to
which he gave his name. It is very effective and very
original. The rose-coloured brick and the white stone
of which it is built impart to it an air of brightness and
youth which contrasts with the date of the building,
which goes back to the year iooo (the Giralda was, as
a matter of fact, built from 1 184 to 1 196), a very respect
able age, at which a tower may indeed permit itself to
be ruined and no longer fresh. The Giralda, as it
stands to-day, is three hundred and fifty feet in height
and fifty feet broad on each face. The wall is smooth
up to a certain height, where begin stories of Moorish
372
SEVILLE
windows with balconies, trefoils, and slender columns
of white marble framed in great panels of lozengeshaped bricks. The tower formerly ended in a roof
of varnished tiles of different colours, surmounted
by a bar of iron adorned with four balls of gilt
metal of prodigious size. This upper portion was
destroyed in 1568 by the architect Francisco Ruiz,
who sent one hundred feet higher into the pure light
of heaven the tower of the Moor Gever, so that its
bronze statue might look over the Sierras and talk
familiarly with the angels who pass by.
To build a
V"
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
Seville
xxxxxdbdbx xxxdbxxxxxtfcxxxxxx
SEVILLE
cathedral.
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
ridiculous.
The so-called baths of Maria Padilla, the morganatic
wife of King Don Pedro the Cruel, who lived in the
Alcazar, are still as they were in the time of the
Arabs.
SEVILLE
Rock," the " Miracle of the Loaves," which are vast
compositions admirably wrought ; " Saint John the
Divine," carrying a dead man and supported by an
angel, which is a masterpiece of colour and light and
shade.
377
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
XXXXtCXXTXXTTXXXXXXXSVXXX
CADIZ GIBRALTAR
THE paddles, aided by the current, carried us
rapidly towards Cadiz.
379
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
The
The
The next
glance, blue and white ; the blue was the sky, repeated
in the sea, the white was the city. Nothing more
radiant, more sparkling, of a luminosity more diffused
and more intense at one and the same time, can be
imagined.
The houses in Cadiz are much higher than in the
other Spanish cities. This is due to the configuration
of the ground, the city being built upon a narrow islet
joined to the main land by a slender neck of land, and
also to the desire of the inhabitants to have a view of
the sea. Almost all the terraces have at one corner a
turret or a belvedere, sometimes covered with a small
cupola.
/*
to*********:***:******:*****
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
the stories.
unexpectedness.
CADIZ GIBRALTAR
mad wind.
charming.
On the breakwater near the Custom-house Gate, the
bustle is unparalleled.
/*
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
Byron has
Never
dbdbdbdbtbtbdrtt^lrdb^lr^^l:tl:dbdbsksbdbtlrsl:afealbdb
CADIZ GIBRALTAR
did a more splendid sight strike a toper's eyes.
We
385
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
The strait
CADIZ GIBRALTAR
as the keels of the ships that passed near us, and which
seemed to be flying through air rather than floating
on water. We were bathed in brilliant light, and the
only sombre tint within sixty miles was that of the long
plume of dense smoke which we left behind us. A
steamer is unquestionably a Northern invention.
Its
of Gibraltar.
Gibraltar is absolutely amazing.
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
Nothing presages it ;
monsters of Karnak
The out
** ** ***************** **
CADIZ GIBRALTAR
it is replete with munitions of war ; it is the very
luxury and coquetry of the impregnable ; but it shows
to the eye merely as a few imperceptible lines mingling
with the wrinkles of the rock, a few holes through
which the guns show furtively their bronze muzzles.
In the Middle Ages Gibraltar would have bristled with
donjons, towers, and crenellated ramparts ; instead of
being at the foot, the fortress would have escaladed
the mountain and have been placed like an eyrie upon
the topmost crest.
Gib
Abyla,
tbdttfcdtx ixiixixxxxxxxxxixtx
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
by a narrow congue of land called the Neutral Ground,
on which are the Custom-house lines. The first Span
ish possession on that side is San Roque.
Algeciras is
kill them.
39
CADIZ GIBRALTAR
warmth-loving monkeys to develop there without the
need of stoves and furnaces. Abyla, on the African
coast, possesses, if we are to believe its modern name,
a similar population.
The next day we left this artillery park and centre
of smuggling, and were sailing towards Malaga, which
we already knew, but which we enjoyed seeing again
with its tall, white, slender lighthouse, its harbour full
of ships, and its continuous bustle.
the cathedral appears larger than the city, and the ruins
of the old Arab fortifications produce a most romantic
effect upon the rocky slopes.
The next day we were at sea again, and as we had
lost some time, the captain resolved to pass by Almeria
and push on at once to Cartagena. We coasted Spain
closely enough never to lose sight of its shores. The
African coast, in consequence of the broadening of the
Mediterranean basin, had long since vanished from the
horizon.
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
A procession of red,
CADIZ GIBRALTAR
manors ; nevertheless, we are bound to say that we
saw at these well-grated windows only lovely faces and
angelic features.
From Cartagena we went to Alicante, which, in con
sequence of a line in Victor Hugo's " Orientales,"
"Alicante mingles minarets and steeples, "
I had imagined possessed an infinitely picturesque sky
line. Now Alicante, to-day at least, would find it
difficult to mingle steeples with minarets, a mingling
which I acknowledge to be very desirable and pictu
resque ; first because it has no minarets, and second
because the only steeple which it possesses consists of
a very low and not very apparent tower. What does
mark Alicante is a huge rock which rises in the centre
of the town, which is topped by a fortress and flanked
by a watch-house hung in the boldest fashion over
the abyss. The City Hall, or to give it local colour,
the Casa Consistorial, is a charming building in the
best taste. The Alameda, flagged throughout with
stone, is shaded by two or three lines of trees which
have a fair number of leaves for Spanish trees the roots
of which are not sunk in a well.
A Renaissance window,
S~
TRAVELS
IN
SPAIN
CADIZ GIBRALTAR
velvet, adorned with buttons made of silver coins ; the
legs are provided with a sort of inemtds, or gaiters, of
white wool with a blue tape border, which leave the
instep and the foot bare. On their feet they wear
alpargatas, or sandals of plaited cords, the sole of which
is about an inch thick, and which are fastened on by
ribbons like the Greek cothurn. They usually have
their heads shaved in Oriental fashion and envelop them
in bandanas of brilliant colours. Over the bandana
is placed a small, low-crowned hat with turned-up
brim, adorned with velvet, tufts of silk, spangles, and
shining ornaments.
xxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx tn
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
ouin, if he unties his bandana and shows his closeshaven blue skull. In spite of Spanish pretensions to
Catholicism, it is always difficult for me to believe that
these Valencians are not Moslems.
It is probably
The black
CADIZ GIBRA LT A R
great comb, or traversed with long pins with silver
or glass heads.
lar, and but for the full blue velvet trousers and the
great red caps of the Catalans, one might fancy
one's self in France.
************************
TRAVELS IN SPAIN
has a somewhat stiff look, as have all towns closely
confined within their fortifications.
The cathedral
On
Shall I acknowl
CADIZ GIBRALTAR
the silvery peaks of the Sierra Nevada, the rose laurels
of the Generalife, the long, moist, velvet glances, the
blooming carnation lips, the small feet, the small
hands, all these came back to my mind so vividly
that it seemed to me that France, where I was going
to meet my mother, was a land of exile into which I
was entering. My dream was ended.
26
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