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IMPRESSIONS OF SPAIN.
AW
IMPRESSIONS
OF SPAIN
ALBERT F, CALVERT, f.h.g.s.
MTHOR OK
The Discovery of Australia," "The Exploration of Australia,
"My Fourth Tour in M'tstern Australia,"
" The Political Value of our Colonies,"
etc., etc.
LoNOciN : '
GEORGE PHILIP & SON, LIMITED, 32, Fleet Street.
Liverpool :
PHILIP, SON & NEPHEW. 45-51. South Castle Street.
All rights reserved.
1903.
^1^^
^i
^r^^
o-^
SENOR DON SEBASTIAN BARRIS.
My dear Harris,
As the pleasure and instruction I have derived from
my different visits to Spain have been contributed to so
largely by your unfailing kindness and invaluable counsel,
so the culminating pleasure of this modest attempt to set
down my impressions of your fair country lies in the
privilege of inscribing the result to you. In you I shall
ever feel that I have a firm and wise friend and lenient
critic, and I beg you to enhance the obligation of friendship
by accepting this dedication with the assurance of my
regard and esteem.
Albert F. Calvert.
" ROYSTON."
Swiss Cottage, N.W.
274024
PREFACE.
THERE is a character in current drama who devoted his whole
life to the writing of a book. He called it a "pamphlet,"
because he had intended it to be a pamphlet when he started on
his task, but in its completed state the work filled three mighty
folio volumes. Although the present volume has not attained such
gargantuan proportions, it is considerably longer than I had thought
to make it. It is not put forward as an exhaustive or profound
study of Spain and the Spaniards, but as a simple record of impres-
sions of people I have met and places I have visited during a series
of many journeyings in different parts of that greatly interesting and
much misunderstood country. These impressions were meant, in the
beginning, to form a small collection of sketches and appreciations ;
and, although the number has increased beyond the limits of my
original intentions, the design and scope of the book have not been
re\ ised or amplified. The result of this desultory system of working
is a string of disconnected chapters — tlie first fruits of fugitive note-
book jottings collected o\xr a period of several years- -rather than
a concentrated and comprehensive survey of the subject as a whole.
' But the system was also fraught with an unforeseen technical
difficulty, as I discovered wlien I came to arrange my illustrations.
The photographs that I acquired — sometimes singly and sometimes
in batches — during my frequent visits to Spain, increased out of all
proportion to the " increasing purpose " of my manuscript, and in
the end 1 was confronted with the alternative options of leaving out
a great many of my most recent and best pictures of Granada and
Preface. viii.
the Alhambra, or of publishing them en masse at the back of the
volume.
The fact that I am even now engaged in gathering material and
making notes for a work upon the Alhambra, which I hope shortly
to publish, tempted me to hold these surplus illustrations in reserve.
But I have hopes that the fragmentary nature of my material, and, in
many cases, lack of style and finish in its transcription, may be atoned
for by the variety and charm of the pictorial side of the book ; and,
with this desideratum in my mind, I decided to reproduce the over-
flow pictures in the form of an appendix.
To the many friends in Spain who have assisted me in my work,
with counsel, information, practical aid, and inexhaustible hospitality,
and particularly to Messrs. Hauser and Menet, Messrs. Laurent
and Co., and Sehor Garzon, the photographic artists who have
supplied me with pictures beyond those I took myself, and favoured
me with permission to reproduce them, I wish to tender my sincere
and grateful thanks.
It may be that my personal relations with the Spanish people
have been more fortunate than that of some other authors, whose
books on Spain I have seen; but in a somewhat wide experience
of countries and men, I have never met their equals in courtesy
and true consideration to the stranger within their gates. I have
encountered all sorts and conditions of men in the sunny South, the
black North, and the thriving East of the kingdom, and from each
and every one I have received nothing but kindness and good-will.
I have written enthusiastically in the following pages about the
Spaniards, for in every Spaniard I have met I feel that I have a
friend.
A. F. C.
Authors' Club,
London, S.W.,
November, 1903,
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
Alfonso Xlll.
Frontispiece
1896, 1898, igor, 1902
PORTRAITS AND PICTURES.
The Family of Charles V., by Goya .
The Velasquez Gallery in the Museum, Madrid .
The Divine Family, by Murillo
Bartolome Esteban, by Murillo
The Divine Family, by Murillo
The Divine Shepherd, by Murillo
A Conception, by Murillo
The King of Spain — 1886, 1891, 1892, 1893, 1895
The King and His Mother
S. M. El Rey Alfonso XIII.
S. A. Infanta Maria Teresa
S A. La Pkincesa de Asturia
S A. R. El Infante Don Carlos
Antonio Fuentes
Luis Mazzantini and Cuadrilla
GuERRiTA. BaiidiUero
The Surrender of Granada by Boabdil
1492
PAGE
242
24G
249
250
251
257
259
262
263
264
224
224
224
TO Ferdinand and Isabella,
Appendix
\'IK\VS.
AUCAKTE.
Elche (Women Washing) ....
I
Elche .......
5
The Esplanade ...
^^3
Esplanade and Wharf ....
84
The "Martyr's Promenade"
. ^5. 86
(High Road)
87
View of Elche ...
88
Entrance to the Station, Elche
91
/
List of Illustrations.
MADRID.
In Old Madrid
Royal Palace
A Corner in the Royal Palace
The Throne Room, Royal Palace
The River Manzanares
Avenue of San Geronimo and Parliament House
The " Puerta Del Sol," from the Hotel de Pari^
The Bank of Spain
The Counsellor of the Village
An Orange Seller
A Dancer
Full List of Lottery Results
Sketches in Spain .
A Milk Stall
The Bull Ring
EL ESCORIAL.
Escorial Monastery, the Evangelist's Court
General View of the Monastery
The Escorial Library ....
Mass Book of Philip IL, the Escorial Library
The Royal Palace, Aranjuez
BARCELONA.
General View
A Native of Catalonia
The Cascade
Senor Barris's House
Snapshot in Senor Barris's Garden
" Rambla de las Flores "
The Colon (Columbus) Promenade
The Columbus Column
Plaza Del Rey
Aragon Street
Lyric Theatre
Exhibition Hall
Principal Theatre
The Prim Memorial
List of Illustratiuns.
MONSERRAT.
The Monasteky
TARRAGO\'A.
The AgcEDUCT
General View
SAGUNTO.
The Roman Theatrk
75
TORTOSA.
General Vie\
76
CASTELLON.
Winding ok the High Road on Cuervo Mountain
VALENCIA.
St Catherine's Square and Tow-
General View
The Exchange
A Valenciana .
Trinity Bridge
Glorieta Fountain
The Mediterranean Shori
Heaching the Boats
Valencian Beauties
A Tartana
S4
84
84
84
240
92
CART H AGES A.
General \'ie\
89
MURCIA.
A Native of .
A Noon-time Halt
The Harvest Cart
A Cartload of Tin-
9-:. 93
92
92
92
List of Illustrations.
Church of Santa Maria de la Blanca .
The Visagra Gate .....
The Door of the Sun ....
The Cathedral .....
St. Martin's Bridge ....
Church of San Juan de Los Reyes, Courtyard
The Cathedral, Central Nave .
Exterior of High Altar
The Lion Door
The High Altar
Sepulchre of Alonso de Carrillo
General View of the Choir-stalls
Interior
Church of San Juan de Los Reyes, Retablo
Interior
Alcantara Door and Bridge
Gate ....
Facade of Santa Cruz
The Cathedral ....
Convent of San Juan de la Penitencia
PAGE
95
96
97
99
lOI
102
102
102, 104
97
104
Appendix
CORDOVA.
Bridge and Cathedral ...... 104
The Mosque
106
Cathedral, Choir Stalls
106
General Interior View
106
At the Fountain .
162
At the Spring
162
In the Court of Oranges
140
The Mosque, A Corner in
Appendix
Interior
,,
Cathedral, Tower
,,
ANDALUSIA.
Andalusian Gallantry
BURGOS.
The Cathedral, from the Castle
List of Illustratiovs.
SEGOVIA.
A General View ....
A Native . . . . .
AVI LA.
View ok .... .
CIUDADREAL.
General View ....
CUENCA.
The Valley of the Jucar
View from San Juan Hill
View ok Cuenca ....
GRANADA.
View from the " Barranco de la Zorra
The Wine Door
Entrance to the Court ok Lions
The Inkantas' Tower
El Generaliffe
The AcEyuiA Court
La Alcaiceria
View of Albaycin
Courtyard of an Arab House
The Generaliffe
The Ladies' Tower, The Alhambra
The Gipsy Quarters
A Street in Granada
Arab Silk Market ....
Showing the Alhambra and the Sierra Nevada
The Sacristy of the Cartuja Convent
The Columbus Memorial ...
Group of Gypsies ....
Transkit AM) Hii;ii Altar, Cathedral
THE ALHAMBRA.
The Court of Lions ...
Hall ok .Xmbassadors . .
Thic Favourite's Balcony.
(The Fox's Holk)
RO.M ^L\IN Entrance
PAGE
113
114
"5
116
117
119
120
125
127
128
131
133
134
135
139
2
15
^5
I 28
120
MO
140
122
13^
13^
132
List of Illustyations.
THE ALII AM BRA (Continued).
The Col-rt of Lions, A Little Temple
A Peep into
Little Eastern Temple in
Fountain in
Hall of the Court of fusTicE and Couut of Lions
Interior of the Mosqde
The Captive's Tower
The Sultan's Bath
The Dressing Room
Hall of the Two Sisters
Hall of the Court of Justice
The Door of Justice
The Captive and Cadid Towers
Washington Irving Hotel
Entrances to the Alhambra
The Court of Myrtles
Gallery in
Palace of Charles V. .
Roman Court
The Alhambra and the Sierra Nevada
The Royal Chapel, Cathedral .
El Generaliffe, The Acequia Court
Cyprus Court .
Gallery in the Acequia Court
,, A Corner of the Acequia Court
PAGE
Appendix
132
General View, from the Top of the '
Giralda," Looking
East 143
Dancing Boys, Cathedral .
145
The Tower of the Gold
146
Girls' Court in the Alcazar
148
Cathedral ....
149
Entrance to the Alcazar
150
The Alc.4zar, Ambassador's Hall
151. 158
A Doorway in
152
Cigar Makers
154
A Sevillian ....
155
List (if Illustrations.
SEVILLE (Contimiid).
TiiK " Sevillanas " Dance
Cathedral, Extekior
Fifteenth Century Gratinc
The Alcazar, Gardens
Sultana's (Quarters
InTERCOLUMNIATION, WHER
Assassinated
,, The Court of Dolls
San Fernando Square
A Sevillian Patio .
A Street ....
Gallery of Pilate's House
Don Fadrique was
156
146
152
M«. 150
I5«
158
152
150
162
152
152
CADIZ.
View from the Tavira Tower .
View from San Carlos Battery
165
168
MALAGA.
\'lEW FROM THE " FaROLA 1'rOMENADE " .
View from the "Gibralfaro"
169
173
The Gorge ...... 176
General View, with the Moorish Bridge of the " Tago de
Konda" . . . . . . -177
HENDA YE.
General View ....-,• 181
I RUN.
General View
PASAJES.
View of the Town.
183
GUIPUZCOA.
Pasajes de San Juan
184
List of Illustrations.
SAN SEBASTIAN.
Concha Promenade .
BILBAO.
Suburbs
General View
VizcAYA Bridge
Old Bilbao .
The Arenal Promenade
The Orconero Iron Ore Company's Wharf in Luchana
GALICIA.
A Native ••....
Natives ....
Views in Galicia . . . . _
PONTEVEDKA.
General View of Redondela
General View
PAGE
185
186
187
190
191
193
195
196
199
197
CORUNA.
General View taken from the Old Town
VIGO.
View from the Castle
GiyoN.
The Wharf ...
SANTANDEK.
The Port . .
General View
LEON.
The Cathedral
Cloister in Cathedral
The Cathedral Choir Stalls
View taken from the Cemetef
205
207
208
209
List of Illustrations.
SALAMANCA.
General View
View of the College, from the Iiu.andeses
PAGE
213
ZARAGOZA.
" Independencia" Pkomenade
Pilar Church .
A Flemish Dance . .
The Bouquet — The Dawn ok St. John's Day
■ii5
218
lOo
NUEVALOS.
At Nuevalos ...
THE CORONATION OF ALFONSO Kill.. 1902.
The King's Carriage
Arrival at the Congress .
Procession of the Coronation Bull-Fight
LINARES.
General View ....
-'■4
264
264
PONFERRADA.
View of the Castle
J40
BULL-FIGHTING.
The Procession
Entrance of the Bull .
The Picador
At Close Quarters
A Turn with his Back to the Bull
Fi.xing the Banderillas .
The Matador
The Final Stroke
Entertaining the Bull-Fighters
Bull-Fighters at the Tavern.
A Picador ....
221
223
227
230
233
235
237
239
160
240
240
List of Illustrations.
MINING VIEWS.
BILBAO.
The Union Mine
Orconera Iron Ore Company
Orconera Company's Workings
The Railway System
Transport of Ore, Arcocha
Los Altos Hornos del Disierto
RIO riNTO.
Terminus of the Mine Ra
The Canal System
San Dionisio Shaft
Mines
The Lago Cutting .
The Frames
The Cuttings
HUELVA.
Portion of Works, and San Fernando Villac
Cementation Vats . . . _
Head of the Sainte-Barbe Shaft
ALMERIA.
The Port of Almeria
Washing for Alluvial Tin
A Trench in Tin Ore
AGUILAS.
The Railway
The Castle and Harbour
PARAMO.
The Old Gold Workings
General View
Alluvial Gold Washing
270
278
281
283
285
287
271
272
306
288
289, 292
291
293
276
277
305
294
296
299
321
324
303
334
335
List of Illustrations.
XIX.
ESCURIAL.
Portion of Buildings
A Cutting ....
"Dolores," "Jaime," and Main Shaft
Galapagar Smelting Works
Engine House and Blacksmith's Shop
Snapshot Showing Cutting
310.317
3".3«3
3'3
315
3«8
HUERCAL.
B.A.KR1S Cutting
The Church .
Heaps of Copper Ore
320
i^5
BADAJOZ.
Las Palmas Bridge
33S
MAPS.
General Map of Spain .....
Railway Map of Spain .....
Mining Map of Spain .....
Map Showing Alluvial Gold District in North-West Si>ai^
I
267
-!:3
JOI
CONTENTS.
Introductory
PAGE
I
Madrid
lO
El Escorial
• 43
Barceloxa
• 50
0.\ THE East Coast
73
A Peep i\to Murcia ....
. 83
Toledo and Cordova
• 95
The Castiles
. 108
Granada and the Alhambra ....
. 122
Seville
• 141
In Southern Andalusia ....
. 164
The Basque Provinces.
. 180
In Northern Spain
•
• 195
BULL-EIGHTING . , ^
. 220
The Picture Gallery, Madrid ....
. 241
\'iva el Rey .
• 254
Mining ....
. 269
*Sifr5,
Lv
I ijmmTw /'^
i/-«^fc*r..'
ELCHE — WOMEN WASHlN't
3nt^o^ucto^P dbaptcr.
FROM the wild j^orges and noble crags of the Pyrenees, and
the treeless and apparently uninhabited sierras of the
North — vast, solitary, and impressive — to the snow-capped
hills of the mid-interior, "the palms and temples of the South,"
and the unrivalled beauty of the country from Seville to
Granada — Spain is a land to entrance the traveller. Its great
and terribly chequered history is writ large upon the face of the
country-. Its people have undergone as great, if not greater,
vicissitudes than any other people upon the earth, and to-day
there does not exist a race more courtly, more sincere, and
with more confidence in their country and themselves than
the Spanish. As Iberia, Spain was known to the Greeks: the
Phcenicians and the Carthaginians have left their traces there:
as Hispania, it came beneath the sway of Imperial Rome: it
was ravaged by the Franks. I'or three centuries it was mis-
ruled by West Gothic kings : it was conquered, pillaged, and
tyrannised over by the Arabs and Moors for nearly Soo years.
B
2 Impressions of Spain.
Then came the period of Spain's greatness. When PhiHp II.
ascended the throne in 1556, he became ruler of an immense
empire — the first empire on which the sun never set. Portugal
was then a portion of Spain by right of conquest; Sicily, a great
part of Italy, Holland, and Belgium, practically the whole of
the North and the entire Continent of South America, besides
the Philippines and other islands in the East, and parts of
Africa, were all under Spanish rule. Before he died, in 1598, the
power of Spain was at its zenith. At this period the fame and
dread of her army was heard and felt through the world ; her
scientific and artistic eminence was unchallenged. No valour
could withstand the charge of the Spanish pikemen ; it was
the Spanish galleys, under the command of a Spanish prince,
that broke the Turks at Lepanto ; the palaces of the king
were adorned by the glorious genius of Velasquez and Murillo;
and all Europe joined in delight over that first great novel of
Cervantes.
At the beginning of the 17th century, as the Rev. Wentworth
Webster concisely and luminously writes, "the Spanish armies
were the first in the world, her navy was the largest : at its
close the latter was annihilated, her army was unable, without
assistance from Louis XIV., to estabhsh the sovereign of her
choice; population had declined from eight to less than six
millions, the revenue from 280 to thirty millions ; not a single
soldier of talent, not a statesman remained to recall the glories
of the age of Charles V. and Philip II.; the whole country
grovelled in discontent at the foot of unworthy favourites
raised to power by court intrigues, and dependent on a foreign
prince. A period of resuscitation, under Charles III., was
followed by a signal relapse. The influence of the unscrupulous
Godoy led to the internal complications which lost Spain her
remaining Colonial prestige, and gave the crown of Spain to
Introductory Chapter. ^
Joseph Bonaparte. The Peninsular War, the loss of the whole
of Spanish Continental America, and the two Carlist wars
followed. The war with the United States in 1898, was the
preface to the abolition in 1899 of the Spanish Colonial Office
as being 'no longer necessary.'"
In my opinion, the deprivation of her Colonial possessions
has been a blessing in disguise to Spain, inasmuch as it will
afford her the opportunity of embarking on much-needed
schemes of domestic reform. As long as her Colonies imposed
an almost intolerable drain on the national exchequer, it was
impossible for Spain to attend to matters of urgent importance
at home. I regret, however, that this was not accomplished in
a different way. When the Spanish Government realised that
America had determined to acquire Cuba, it was a great pity that
they did not entertain the proposals made for the purchase of
that island, instead of rendering it necessary for the Cabinet
at Washington to find some excuse for the war of conquest
upon which they subsequently embarked.
But in spite of the dramatic epoch-making vicissitudes, and
the strongly-contrasted periods of greatness and disruption
that Spain has ,experienced by turns, she has altered as little
as any European country. The Spaniard is conservative in the
best, as well as the worst sense of the word. His pride is at
once his curse and his salvation ; his lofty but gentle resigna-
tion is immensely attractive; his courtliness never fails him.
His confidence in himself is, as has been said, unbounded. In
the course of a conversation I had with a Castilian recently, he
remarked : "We have been referred to as a decaying nation, a
country to be plundered and divided up among the European
powers. Before Spain is conquered there will be several million
corpses between Madrid and the sea."
Nobody who has any acquaintance with the Peninsula and
4 Iiiipressioiis of Spain.
its people can listen without impatience to the jeremiads of the
superior politicians who predict the decay of Spain. For in
spite of the accumulated trials, the disasters, and the strife of
centuries, there has lived in the hearts and imaginations of the
Spanish people a tradition too great to die. They have preserved
under the stress of widely-varying fortune a fortitude and dignity
which have prevented the nations, who have passed them in pros-
perity and power, from regarding them except with respect and
admiration. Still, as in the days of Cervantes and Velasquez,
the true order of nobility has not been that of formal rank
so much as that of the whole nation and the characteristic
Spaniard, whether the grandee of the court, or the beggar of
the highway, has always known how to wrap his cloak about
him with an air that seemed to make misfortunes honourable,
and all the material success of the commercial ages a form of
vulgarity. Notwithstanding the losses which have stripped
them from generation to generation of their conquests, down
even to the final blows of the war with America, they have
dormant reserves of vitality and vigour only awaiting the touch
of genuine leadership, and the inspiration of some hopeful
national movement, to make a country containing eighteen
millions of inhabitants capable of resuming its place as one of
the foremost Europeon nations.
In the past few years there has been a growing instinct in
Spain that when things have reached their worst they must
begin to mend, and that the disappearance of the last vestiges
of external empire will assuredly mark the real beginning of
national regeneration. That Spain has been mis-governed, her
Governments have been incompetent, and her official parasites
insatiable isonly too true, and it is scarcely to be wondered at if
her people have grown dispirited, pessimistic, and distrustful of
everybody except their individual selves. After himself, the
Introductory Chapter.
5
Spaniard's first pride is in his native province. Northern Spain
has Httle interest or confidence in the South, nor the East in the
West ; and North, East, South, and West wore, until recently,
supremely indifferent to the course of events in any other
quarter of the globe. But this self-concentration is graduallv
disappearing, the Spaniard is
learning to regard himself with
an "outside eye, "and the outside
world with a broader sympathy.
Moreover, he has come to view
the resources of his country in
a more practical and business-
like light, catching, it may be,
the reflection of the awakened
interest that they are attracting
amongthe neighbouringnations.
For many years now, Spain
has formed a great and inter-
esting problem. In a book,
published in 18S4, we read
as follows: "English and Ger-
man papers are continually pro-
claiming the fact, and usually
painting the situation in rosy
hues; statesmen are cherishing
ideas of commercial treaties, and
relations of closer friendship
and wider import ; merchants are turning eager and inquiring
eyes upon the comparatively untried ground: and speculators
are fondly hoping that they have at last discovered, after
many lean years, an El Dorado in Spain that shall not prove
barren or unfruitful."
ELCIIE, ALICANTE
6 Impressions of Spain.
That the reaction was imminent at the time the foregoing
was penned cannot be doubted, but the hoped-for movement
was checked by the declaration of war by the United States
in 1899. The consequences of that terrible and futile struggle
fell with paralysing severity upon the whole country, but the
story of the war cannot be regarded as a fair test of the
military prestige of her people. Nothing was wanting in the
warlike impact to throw into relief the condition of the country
as contrasted with the temper of her sons. All the chivalry of
ancient Spain was fully displayed. Individual courage and
bravery were splendidly in evidence. But they availed nothing
against the nation that had made haste to take the fullest
advantage of modern methods and appliances. The weakness
of her fleet, the mismanagement of her military system, and the
inefficiency of officialdom in every branch of the Government
were laid bare, and it was from this combination of causes, and
not from any degeneracy in her soldiers or lack of valour, that
Spain owed her defeat.
But by this revelation the Spanish people were awakened to
the fact that they were behind the times ; that their forms of
government were antiquated and inefficient ; that all their
national institutions cried aloud for re-organisation and reform.
Slowly at first, but increasing in momentum as the blessings of
peace made themselves felt, the forward movement has proceeded
along the entire line of politics, commerce, and public affairs.
But if the great work is to progress, as lovers of Spain would
desire to see it, the difference that at present exists between
the Spaniard, in his individual, his collective, and his official
capacity must disappear. This distinction has been emphasised
before, but it is so remarkable as to require a note in passing.
Self-interest, which is an integral part of human nature, is, or
rather was, the most highly-developed, in fact, the abnormal
Introductory Chapter. y
trait of the Spanish official. He was irregular in his methods,
and grasping— irregular, because irregularity was connived at;
greedy, because he was forced by the paucity of his pay to
live by the perquisites of his office. In his collective capacity
the Spaniard is mistrustful, strong-headed, and apt to prove
unreliable. Yet, individually, the Spaniard is remarkable for
the excellence of his personal and moral qualities. Truth and
valour are his by heredity, his personal honour is unassailable,
his graceful courtesy and air of high breeding make him a
delightful companion and a valued friend. He is quick to take
offence, but he never, through ignorance or tactlessness, proffers
one ; he is slow to bestow his confidence, but he never, without
cause, withdraws it. You may trust him with your purse, your
life, and your reputation. And this wonderful combination of
qualities is common alike to the nobles, the townsmen, and the
country people. All appear to have inherited the same dignity
and grace of manner, and the same sterling moral (jualities.
Borrow, who had an intimate knowledge of and admiration
for the Spanish people, has declared that, in their social inter-
course, no people in the world exhibit a juster feeling of what
is due to the dignity of human nature than the Spaniards.
Spain still retains all those old world, social, and personal
graces with which poetry, painting, and romance have made
the untravelled familiar. Grace is not necessarily a virtue, but
it is a flower often found on the path that leads to it. And
these flowers spring as naturally from racial instincts as do the
more prominent traits exhibited in eti(iuette and statecraft.
Spanish character is touched ; nay, it is entirely imbued with
the "grace of a day that is dead." The very beggars, whom
you encounter in every bye-way, do not lack this native grace
which no mere acquirement could exhibit. The receiver of a
dole regards it as a tacit acknowledgment that he is worthy of
8 Impressions of Spain.
it on principle. But there is a certain charm in Spanish indo-
lence, even in its indigence, which is as much a production of
the country as are the soft skies and natural beauties that form
its fitting background. The politeness of the peasantry is
proverbial, but they are keenly alive to the point of an equal
return of civility. Even the brigand was wont to regard himself
as a great caballero : and he was often disarmed by a frank and
confident air which tacitly acknowledged him on that footing.
The idler pursues his vocation as if imbued with a full sense of
its sufficiency, and supplements it with a grace beyond the reach
of art. Truly this is a nation of nobles, and here is a foundation
of national character which has in the past, and will again make
the Spanish race one of the greatest powers of the world.
Will Spain revive ? The problem is exercising the thoughts
of all Europe— by those who do not know better the question is
assumed to be also exercising the thoughts of all good Spaniards.
As a matter of fact, the Spaniard is above such speculation.
He knows his high destiny, and he will fulfil himself. His con-
fidence is supreme, and it is justified. He has driven back
every invader, and remains in full possession of one of the
noblest countries in the world, nearly the size of France, with
a climate which, if he were permitted to re-forest his plateaux,
would be as good, though warmer, with the same power, if
industry were set free, of producing wine, and oil, and wheat :
and with deposits below the soil incomparably greater than
those of his successful neighbour; and, perhaps, as rich as any
country in the world. Spain, as we were recently reminded by
a well-informed writer in the Spectator, is a "treasure house of
minerals never yet rified, though from the days of the Phoenicians
to those of the Rio Tinto, countless speculators have been
breaking into little corners and going away enriched."
And what is her position to-day ? She has 18,000,000 of
lutrodnctory Chapter. (j
people, who, if they are not as industrious as either Geriii.nis
or Englishmen, will, when properly rewarded, work as ener-
getically as any Southern race, and will save their wages. Her
children are as brave as any in the world : able, if fairly led, to
face any other troops, and with a special faculty at once of
endurance and abstinence which scarcely any other troops
possess. Seated on the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, with
a nearly impenetrable frontier to the North, and only Africa to
the South, she occupies, perhaps, the best position both for war
and trade possessed by any European State; and will, with a
decent administration and a new revenue, become once more as
great a maritime Power as she was till Admiral Jervis defeated
her fleet off Cape Vincent. She could not, perhaps, rule the
Mediterranean; but she could, by alliances, render it impossible
for any other Power to rule. Above all, she could suddenly add
to her strength, not by conquest, but by wisely-applied pressure
and support, the whole force of Portugal — Prim nearly achieved
this. Spain might thus assume, with an increasing population,
fairly rich and entirely contented, that position of a great Power,
which she has never entirely lost. The potentialities of Spain
justify Spanish pride.
AMONG the cities of Spain, I write first of Madrid, because
I knew it first, and because I know of no city that has
been more systematically and unjustifiably malig^ned. My first
visit to Madrid was undertaken on business grounds; but I
have returned there many times since, and always with feelings
IN OLD MADRID.
of the keenest pleasure. There is, to me, what the Americans
describe as a "homey" air about the city, that may in a
measure be accounted for by the good fortune I have had in
finding friends there. The friendship of a Spaniard is so
genuine, and inspiriting, and whole-hearted, that an English-
man cannot in a moment comprehend it. When a Spaniard
Mild rid. II
extends his friendship to you, your comfort, your interests, and
your honour becomes as much a matter for his concern as his
own, I first learned to understand this in Madrid. At that
time the EngHsh were not reported to be held in favour in
Spain, and I was advised to be prepared for an unfriendly
reception. But I was, on that visit, and on each subsequent
visit, agreeably disappointed; and although I have wandered
pretty extensively over many parts of the Peninsula, I have
KOYAL I'ALACK, MAI)K1I>
never found it to be other than an advantage to be an English-
man. I have seen the Britisher hustled in Paris, scowled at in
Italy, and made the butt of cheap Teutonic wit in Germany,
but in Spain he is invariably treated with the kindest con-
sideration. I was told by an English engineer that the ex-
planation of this friendly attitude, on the part of the Spanish
people, was to be found in the fa^t that the country has not yet
endured the curse of the average British tourist. It may be so,
Impressions of Spain.
yet the influence of the English is very marked in the city of
Madrid, if not to the full extent that it appears to be at first
sight.
An American writer, who "did" Spain in the customary slap-
dash, get-there-and-get-away-again-fashion of American globe-
trotters, was not a little chagrined to find in Madrid, English
goods, English manners, and
English influence predominating
over those of any other foreign
nation. In Spain, American
means South American, and the
Yankee is indiscriminately in-
cluded in the category labelled
"Ingleses." American tram-cars
and other Trans-atlantic inven-
tions are thus wrongly credited
to the English; and the writer
declares that his indignation rose
to fever-heat when he entered a
place marked "English drinks,"
and beheld a genuine American
soda-fountain. It must be, I
think, due not a little to this un-
intentional injustice to the land
of the great spread-eagle that
this same writer finds Madrid
ill-favoured and exceedingly noisy, its bread unappetising and
heavy, and its butter bad. He cannot bring himself to admire
the Puerta del Sol, which is "an ordinary square, such as may
be found in almost any city of a hundred thousand inhabitants ; "
and as for the climate, he flippantly dismisses it in a phrase —
"nine months' winter and three months' hell." In a more
A CORNER IN THE ROYAL
MADRID.
Madrid.
13
gracious mood he is inclined to think that the surroundings
have been too much depreciated by tourists and guide-book
makers : while in the rapid increase in the population, together
with the healthy appearance of the inhabitants, he discovers an
indication that it may be " not quite as bad as its reputation."
In the foregoing, we have a. precis of the generally-accepted
opinion of Madrid,
and it is one in which
I cannot concur. The
conscious superiority
of the American critic
has led him into error,
and I strongly depre-
cate these hasty and
ill-formed conclusions
upon the climate, the
situation, and the cit\-
itself, which are re-
sponsible for its un-
deserved reputation.
Madrid stands at an
elevation of 2,500
English feet above the
sea level, in the centre
of an open country,
and splendid views of
the capital are obtained from several miles around. Whatever
may be thought as to the wisdom of selecting a capital in the
centre of a great plain, and with no water communication with
the outposts of the kingdom, one cannot but admire both its
position and the magnificence of its buildings. It is a city that,
from the first moment of viewing, throughout an entire visit,
i^ Impressions of Spain.
commands a whole-hearted admiration. Immediately in front
of the point of arrival, the Northern Station, there rises up
the splendid Palacio Real, a huge building forming a square of
470 feet; and which, by reason both of its situation and general
appearance, is one of the most magnificent in the world.
What is true of the Palace is equally true of the other buildings
of the capital, the splendour of which is common to all the
public structures. But the natural features are a separate
consideration.
The best view of the country surrounding the capital is to
be obtained from the Parque de Madrid. Whether you like
the prospect or not is purely a matter of individual taste. From
this eminence, the vast campagna is stretched out to its greatest
advantage; and for my own part, I know few that can compare
with it. The immensity of the panorama alone entitles it to
respect. On every side, save where the Guadarrama fling
their rugged peaks skywards, the expanse is bordered only by
the far distant horizon. The sense of space that the picture
conveys is irresistibly impressive — it is more than a sight; it is
an experience. I have seen it when the land has grown lifeless
and shabby for want of rain, and when the coming storm has
caused the swift clouds to drag their huge shadows across the
broad landscape, and when, after the rains, the green pasture
is lit by a purple hue, and at night, when the indigo sky
is filled with a moon of such brilliancy, and stars of such
irridescence, that the whole earth was more brightly illuminated
than Piccadilly Circus at midnight.
The climate of Madrid has suffered greatly from the strictures
of visitors, who, from one cold breeze, or a single rain storm,
consider themselves competent to form, and justified in publish-
ing abroad, their opinions. That the city is subject to sudden
changes of temperature is incontestable. Perched as it is on a
Madrid.
17
commanding]: table-land so far above the level of the sea, it is swept
by every bree;^e that blows across the wide expanse of plains by
which it is surrounded. On the northern side, the horizon is
jag^'ed by the snow-capped peaks of the noble Guadarrama ; and
when the wind sets in from that direction, it comes like an icy
blast, bringing, as the ^uide-book writers aver, chills and acute
pneumonia with it. But the climate, thouj^h treacherous on this
account, is not unhealthy. It is true that pneumonia is
unhappily prevalent amonj^ the men of Madrid, but the women
are singularly free from the malady. There is a reason, of
course, for this curious anomaly, and it is to be found in the
different fashions in which the men and women protect them-
selves from the climate. The men, as a class, are abominators
of fresh air, and an "eager and a nipping air" is to them a
malignant danger to be avoided at any cost. They live in
houses, cafes, and clubs heated to the temperature of a second-
class New York hotel at mid-winter, without ventilation, and
rendered stuffy from over muc h tob acco smoke. When they
venture into the streets they encase themselves in heavy cloaks,
throw the " capas," or velvet-lined capes across their mouths,
and stifle behind its oppressive folds. Is it to be wondered at,
that, if by any chance the chilled wind should penetrate, or, as
more often happens, deprive the muffled pedestrian for the space
of a few inspirations of his accustomed protecftor, his lungs should
suffer the inevitable consequences ?
But the women face the elements with a sane hardihood that
makes the "coddlings" of their men folks seem more inexplica-
ble by comparison. Clad in sensible, thick dresses, supplemented
perhaps by a furcape,they brave the Winter winds with unmuffled
throats, and their heads covered only with a light mantilla ; while
theworkingwomentrust almost entirely to the natural protection
afforded by their splendid hair. The result is that, while pneu-
I)
1 8 Impressions of Spain.
monia is a veritable curse to the men, it is practically unknown
among the women.
The present excellent system of watering the streets that
has been adopted in Madrid, has greatly moderated the
excessive dryness of the atmosphere in Summer; and the
increase of vegetation around and in the city is sensibly affecfting
the climate. I was in Madrid one Autumn in the rainy
season. I have had some experience of the tropical rainfalls of
mid-Australia, where sandy tracks are converted in a few hours
into mighty rivers, and waggon ruts in the bosom of a hill
become rushing cataracts ; but the rain that I watched for a
fortnight from the luxurious shelter of the Hotel de Paris was
every bit as business-like and effedlive. When it was over, the
foliage had put on a brighter green, wild iiowers had sprung up
in profusion, and the lazy,imperturbable Manzanares had become
an angry, turbulent river. Madrid is then a sight that it is worth
enduring a fortnight of incessant rain to see.
Coming as I did direft to Madrid, and regarding the city
with eyes unacquainted with Spanish sights, I was quick to note
all the individual characteristics of its architec^ture, its crowds,
and its popular customs ; but even without the standards of other
Spanish towns by which to form a comparison, I could not fail
to be impressed by the cosmopolitan appearance of the capital.
Madrid and Barcelona are many years in advance of any other
city in Spain; they have not outgrown their national character-
istics, but they have adopted with broad-minded opportunism
the improvements that intercourse with other nations has made
them cognisant of. The casual visitor to Madrid would, perhaps,
not regard it as a go-ahead city ; and, indeed, I am assured
that only those who have a long acquaintance with the Spanish
capital can appreciate the advances it has made in the last half-
century. It has extended its boundaries, improved its condition,
Madrid. 21
and increased its notable buildings in an almost marvellous
manner. The present Pla-a de Toros, the magnificent viaduct
across the Calle de Sef^^ovia, the Markets, the Hippodrome, and
the Panpie de Madrid are all the creation of some twenty-five
years. And as Madrid has grown, the Madrilefto has advanced.
He, and more particularly she, has progressed at the expense of
thepi(^turesque. English women are the beneficiaries of I-'rench
fashions, because they have no style of their own— no peculiar
modes or costumes that became them peculiarly as a race.
Somebody once said that an English woman was only a French
woman badly dressed. It was a libel ; but, notwithstandmg,
she has lent truth to the definition by her anxiety to remedy
the defed^ion. The English woman who covets the distinction
of being well dressed buys her gowns in Paris ; but, in so doing,
she improves, she does not alter, her style of costumes. She
gains in effectiveness without the sacrifice of individuality. Hut
the Spanish woman, though having something to gain by this
Parisian attachment, has something also to lose. She had her
"velo" — her coquettish adornment with its rose fastening, and
her fan. With these, which suited her Spanish face to perfec-
tion, she was characteristic, fascinating, adorable; but I'rench
millinery demanded the renunciation of the "velo,"and taught
her to forget the witchery of the fan and the grace of the natural
rose ; and artists, experts, even the ordinary, impressionable
Englishman without aesthetic tendencies, may be allowed a
regret for the decay of a national means to a beautiful end.
To me, a stroll through the thoroughfares of Madrid is a
source of never-ending pleasure. I delight in its wide, clean
streets, its gay squares each containing a garden, fountain, and
statuettes, its crowded cafes, its promenades, its spectacles, and
its unending animation and bustle and crowded life. The
street A Icald, which divides Madrid in half, is magnificent in its
22 Impressions of Spain.
proportions. The Prado, made enchanting by its carriage drives
and its avenues, filled with beautiful women, is a panorama of
which one cannot have a surfeit ; while the people, and the variety
of Hfe in the Puerta del Sol is in itself a sight that shall not be
witnessed in any other city in Europe.
The Puerta del Sol is the living room of Madrid. It is a
mingling of salon, promenade, theatre, academy, garden, a
square-of-arms, and a market. The ItaHan author, Edmondo
De Amicis, was so fascinated Avith its attractions, that during
the first few days of his stay in Madrid, he was unable to
tear himself away from the spot. The change, the colour,
and the contrasts that it presents are admirably summed up
in his description of the crowd that from daybreak until one
o'clock in the morning throng this famous thoroughfare. Here
gather the merchants, the disengaged demagogues, the un-
employed clerks, the aged pensioners, and the elegant young
men; here they traffic, talk politics, make love, promenade, read
the newspapers, hunt down their debtors, seek their friends,
prepare demonstrations against the Ministry, and weave the
gossip of the city. Upon the side-walks, which are wide enough
to allow four carriages to pass abreast, one has to use one's
elbows to force away. On a single paving-stone you see a civil
guard, a match-vendor, a broker, a beggar, and a soldier, all in
one group. Crowds of students, servants, generals, officials,
peasants, toreros, and ladies pass ; importunate beggars ask for
alms in your ear ; cocottes question you with their eyes ;
courtesans hit your elbow ; on every side you see hats lifted,
hand-shakings, smiles, pleasant greetings, cries of "Largo" from
laden porters, and merchants with their wares hung from the
neck ; you hear shouts of newspaper sellers, shrieks of water
vendors, blasts of the diligence horns, cracking of whips, clanking
of sabres, strumming of guitars, and songs of the blind.
Madrid. 25
In this description, De Aniicis does not omit a single one of
the various noises and incidents that are to be heard and seen
in the Pnerta del Sol — indeed, the fault of his description is one
of commission rather than omission. For instance, I have never
yet been elbowed there by a woman, even by accident, who, to the
evidence of the sense of si}:,'ht, was a courtesan. This fact leads
me to the reflection that in two respects Madrid is ahead of any
European capital that I have visited— it neither Haunts its vices,
nor finds excuse for founding a total abstinence movement.
I have never seen there an intoxicated man or a representa-
tive of what Rudyard Kipling has described as " the oldest
profession in the world." I am not pretending that I believe
Madrid to be entirely free from this particular traffic — no city
that has American, French, or even English tourists on its
visitors' list could hope for that — but whatever there is, is kept
decently out of sight. Any grandmother may inspe(5\ the photo-
graphs exhibited in the shops without a blush; and the volumes
which are exposed to view in the booksellers' windows do not
appeal to the lower passions of the reading public, while as for
" the curse of drink," Spain does not understand the meaning of
the phrase. The Spaniard is temperate by temperament, by
custom and by heredity. The climate of Spain is antagonistic to
strong drink, and the Spanish character revolts against the abuse
of it. It would not be too much to say that the Spaniard regards
a drunken man with much the same feelings as an Englishman
looks upon the Spanish national sport of bull-fighting.
To anyone, other than the American on the make-haste, the
Pnerta del Sol, the subject from which I have digressed, is a
feature which appeals irresistibly to the student of humanity.
It is the centre where all the great arteries of circulation meet
and diverge, where the chief pulse of Madrid life beats hardest,
and the high tide of affairs How and ebb. Here are situated
26 Impressions of Spain.
many of those huge, highly-decorated cafes where the Madri-
lenians congregate to discuss pohtics, and settle the affairs of
the nation over good coffee and the most excellent chocolate ;
here is the Home Office; and here, too, is the handsome Hotel
de Paris. Even this imposing and supremely comfortable hotel
is not without its detractor. The author of a book of jottings,
which I came across recently, wrote of it: "I did not par-
ticularly like the place, and the manager and servants of the
hotel did nothing to render our visit agreeable." From my
knowledge of the hotel and its management, I feel justified in
stigmatising this expression as a gratuitous libel. A more
charming welcome, or more graceful attention, or more solid
comfort than I have invariably found at the Hotel de Paris, in
Madrid, is not to be obtained in any hostelry in Europe. It is
on these grounds that Sres. Baeza have built for the establish-
ment they direct a reputation equal to that of the Hotel
Chatham, in Paris; the Carlton, in London; the Hermitage,
in Monte Carlo; and the Hotel Bristol, in BerHn. The opinion
I have quoted is that of a traveller who "had heard such
miserable accounts of Madrid" that he had "almost abandoned
the idea of going there at all;" and who, having been there, can
apply to the capital such adjectives as "cheerless," "gloomy"
and "depressing;" but yet he cannot say that he "conceived
any violent hatred to the city." In poll-parrotting the opinion
of Theophile Gautier, which was expressed nearly half a century
ago, about a Madrid which is as different from the capital of
to-day as Madrid of to-day is, thank heaven! from Chicago,
this writer, doubtless, considers that he has earned a repute for
erudition and original observation surpassed only by that of
Gautier himself.
In the Piierta del Sol is the Imperial cafe, an immense hall,
comparable only in its size and the gaudiness of its decorations
Madrid. 2Q
with the For)ws in the Street AlcaUi, or the Colon, in Barcehjna.
Long after the theatres and the handsome Opera House is
closed, and the hour of midnight is past, the city remains
illuminated, the streets are filled with carriages, and the cafes
are just as crowded as at the beginning of the evening. If you
glance into the Imperial before the doors are open, or, as I was
privileged to do, after the doors were closed, you would marvel,
as I did, that so vast a room should find customers sufficient to
fill it; yet, for the previous eight hours without intermission,
each table had possessed its complement of guests, and every
chair had been occupied. And, in additicjn to these mammoth
halls, there are innumerable others throughout the city in which
;i hundred couples could dance easily. I have been told, and I
see no reason for doubting the statement, that enormous sums
are quickly amassed by the cafe proprietors in Madrid and
Barcelona. For the huge Colon cafe in the latter city the
present tenant agreed to rebuild the cafe and pay the sum of
£"i2,ooo for ten years occupation only. This he did, and although
only half the time of his tenure has expired, he has made a
fortune after deducting the cost of building.
Wherever one wanders in this "cheerless" and "depressing"
city, one's eyes are delighted with the constantly changing
groups of all ages, colour, and costume ; one's ears are filled
with sounds of laughter, and song, and merriment; and one's
senses are galvanised by the vivacity, the gaiety, and the almost
feverish overflow of pleasure by which one is surrounded.
Stroll, if you will, through the beautiful gardens of the Plaza
Mayor (the grand square of Madrid), saunter by the open shops
of the Calk de Toledo, cross the oval-shaped Plaza de Oricute,
which lies between the Royal Palace and the Royal Theatre,
linger on any of the many handsome bridges, or promenade
the beautiful /)r(n/os— the Bank of Spain, one of the finest public
30 Impressions of Spain.
buildings in Europe, is situated in the Salon del Prado — and
you shall never escape the carnival spirit that animates young
and old, rich and poor alike.
Rich as Madrid is in obelisks, fountains, and splendid statuary,
it has fewer architectural and antiquarian attractions to afford
the visitor than such cities as Toledo, Granada, or Cordova; but
it has a Royal Picture Gallery which contains one of the finest,
if not the very finest collection of old masters in the world.
Velasquez is to be seen here, and here only, in all his power.
Titian is also represented, as also are Raffaelle, Veronese,
Murillo, Juan Juanes, Rubens, Tenier, and many others.
Rembrandt alone, of all the great artists, is limited to a single
specimen; but there is a whole host of comparatively unknown
and yet veritable masters, from the sixteenth century Antonio
Moro, Coello, and Pantoja de la Cruz, through Pacheco, Ribera
(with, after all, his only too life-like representations of what old
days and old saints were), Zurbaran and Alonso Cano, down to
Valdes Leal ; or, the Goya and Lopez of but a century ago.
This quiet Museo is a veritable home of art. It is all in such
deliciously small compass, all so well ordered, all so good. One
has not to walk miles before attaining to favourite spots, or to
stare over acres of unresponsive canvas before lighting upon
familiar faces, or even to command one's temper against
officialism or jostling. All is contained in a few rooms, and
that by exclusion of the bad rather than through poverty. In
the neighbouring Academia of San Fernando — the Academy of
Fine Arts — in the Calle Alcald, there is, besides a fine collection
of minerals, precious stones, and the finest zoological depart-
ment in Spain, several excellent Murillos, Riberas, and Zur-
barans, a characteristic Rubens and some sketches of Goya's.
A visit should also be paid to the A rmeria Real. Here is housed
probably the very finest collection of armour in the world, a
IPi:
15
■
THE COUNSHl
AN ANPALDCIAN PANCER
FULL LIST OF LOTTERY RKSVLT.^
Madrid. ^-j
collection that is not on!)- a perfect epitome of the history of
the science of attack and defence, but is full likewise of touching
record and suggestion.
The Royal Palace of Madrid is admittedly one of the most
magnificent in the world ; it is, in every sense of the word, a
Royal residence. The building is a square of 470 feet by 100
feet high, occupying, it is said, the site of the original outpost
alcazar of the Moors. The exterior, despite its noble propor-
tions, does not fulfil the expectations inspired by the distant
view; but once it is entered, the princel}- magnificence of its
decorations fills the beholder with feelings of wondering ecstacy.
Throughout the palace the appointments are of extreme rich-
ness, and remind one of a time when Spain was in the zenith of
its glory. All the countries of Europe have been laid under
tribute for the art treasures that crowd every corner. In one
apartment there is a collection of timepieces, some of which are
worth almost their weight in gold, and they were all collected by
one monarch; while another sovereign devoted much time to
completing a collection of china which is one of the proudest
possessions of the palace. Other kings have covered the walls
with the priceless works of old masters, and the result is a
gallery of paintings of various schools which is one of the
wonders of Europe. But undoubtedly the finest apartment in
the palace is the throne room, which glows with rich colouring
and scintillates with a lavish display of precious metals. The
superb throne, made for the husband of Mary of I-2ngland, is
entirely of silver; the huge lions that mount guard on each side
being of the same metal. Marbles of almost every colour of the
rainbow are to be seen everywhere; and the furniture, made of
the rarest of inlaid woods, delights the eye with its graceful
form. The whole apartment is given a finished and warm
appearance by the costly hangings of crimson velvet. The ball
34 Impressions of Spain.
room of the palace is the largest in Europe. All the arts and
manufactures seem to have contributed to its splendour.
In Madrid I sampled for the first time the cooking of the
country. The untravelled Englishman still clings to the super-
stition that the visitor to Spain must either starve, or condescend
to consume food fried in rancid oil and seasoned with garlic.
The fastidious tourist will be fed as well in Spain, both in the
cities and the country inns, as in any city or provincial district
in Europe. That born master of commissariat, the Switzer, has
introduced himself into the country; and he has banished garlic
and bad oil from Spain, even as he expelled " rare " beef and
parboiled cabbages in England. But the hotel charges of New
York and Paris have not yet been adopted in Madrid, and one
can live sumptuously at the Hotel de Paris for ^i per day.
Throughout Spain the charges are remarkably reasonable, and
in the principal cities los. a day, including wine at meals and
all et ceteras, is the average at the best hotels.
But the cooking of the Hotel de Paris is not to be met with
all over Spain, nor are the menus of the city caravansary
the ones adopted for the general use throughout the country
districts. Pork, in its various phases — bacon, ham and sausage
— is the meat par excellence of provincial Spain, occupying the
same elevated position in the department of gastronomy as
English beef, Welsh mutton, and Irish potatoes. Judging from
the Continent generally, an Englishman is apt to fancy that a
rasher is a delicacy confined to the British Isles; but before he
has been long in Spain, he will discover the truth of Ford's
eulogium: "The pork of Spain has always been unequalled in
flavour. The bacon is fat and well flavoured ; the sausages
delicious, and the hams transcendently superlative, to use the
very expression of Diodorus Siculus, a man of great taste,
learning and judgment. Of all the things of Spain, no one need
€
m
k:
Madrid. 07
feel ashamed to plead guilty to a predilection and preference
for the pig." And wherever one travels in the peninsula, one
is met by the local dish, which is, indeed, rather a dinner than
a dish ; and when one has become used to it, it is both
satisfying and exquisite. The pucliero, or stew, would have
delighted the heart and stomach of Hucklebury Finn, whose
gastronomic prejudices, it will be remembered, favoured a
"barrel of odds and ends" in which "things get mixed up and
the juice kinds of swaps around and things go better." The
chief ingredients of the national puchero are bacon, beef, fowl,
according to the state of the larder, cooked in one mass with
garbanzos, a bean of peculiar size and tenderness and flavour,
cabbage, carrots, gourd and long-pepper, a sausage or two being
thrown in by way of make weight. The puchero is amenable to
unending expansion, according to the status of the householder.
Where the means are straightened, it consists of meat and
garbanzos only, but the wealthy housewife adds to it a hundred
delicious tit-bits ; and if the juice that " kinds of swaps around "
is sometimes a trifle over-seasoned, the general result is, as a
rule, delicious. Dumas has left it on record that he suffered
from hunger in Spain. I can only suppose that the supply of
puchero was insufficient for his requirements. I cannot believe
that the dish deprived him of his appetite. Then, again, the
Spaniards are great people for sweets ; they are, indeed, masters
of this branch of the culinary art, and their preserved fruits and
quince jelly seems to form an indispensable complement to the
dinner table; while their fruits and vegetables, their oranges,
Malaga grapes, asparagus and artichokes are famous in song
and story.
In one field of enterprise, and that, curiously enough, the
one in which their late antagonists, the Americans, claim pre-
eminence over the civilised world, vi/., in the journalistic arena,
38 Impressions of Spam.
Madrid is ahead of New York, England, and Paris. In influence
the press of Spain is second to none ; in variety it is equal to
that of Paris ; and in La Correspondencia de Espana, Madrid has
invented a newspaper which has no counterpart in any other
city in the world. It is supposed that nobody can retire to rest
before reading the latest edition of this "night-cap of Madrid,"
as it is commonly styled; and it is certain that few people in
the capital, who profess to take a lively interest in the world's
doings, ever go to bed until they have perused it. It is innocent
of politics, and almost contemptuous of parties. The objecft
of its wealthy originator and proprietor is not to propagate
views, but to give news. Nothing in Spain, or out of it, which
reaches Madrid is omitted from La Correspondencia, of which
there are three editions published during the day, the last of
which appears somewhere between ten o'clock and midnight.
Nobody takes it for its views, or its special articles, although
the mania of the moment has seized its millionaire proprietor,
and compelled him to adopt something of the movement of
contemporary journalism, but for its news it is read by every-
body in Madrid. Its advertisement charges are, consequently,
very high ; and also, consequently, it has its imitators. But
they do not prosper.
Although the Spaniard has an enormous capacity for enjoy-
ment, his popular pastimes are not numerous. Bull-fighting,
as I shall explain, is meat and drink to him, and it is some-
thing more, because it is his horse-racing, cricket, football, and
the prize-ring rolled into one. It is his National sport. Horse-
racing is creeping into popularity; but although all Madrid
attends the meetings at the Hippodrome, and ladies don their
most gorgeous gowns to do honour to the sport, it is doubtful
if it will imperil the strong position which the bulls hold in the
affe(5tions of the people. After bull-fighting, the only other
Madrid.
39
universal amusement is the guitar and the dance. The upper
classes affect polo and tennis; in the Basque provinces Pelota
rouses enthusiasm, and cock-fighting is still practised amongst
the lower classes in most of the Spanish towns; but these must
be classed in "side-shows" in the gallery of their general recrea-
tions. A widespread
andentirelyerroneous f?^^
impression prevails in
this country that the
Spanish national
dances are indecent.
People who entertain
this notion may dis-
pense with it as soon
as possible. London-
ers are frequently
given the opportunity
of witnessing Spanish
dancing at the Al-
hambra by Otero, or
Guerrero, or that
even more splendid
exponent of the art,
Consuelo Tortajada.
I was present one
evening at London's
Alhambra, when the
last-named was dancing the "Malagueiia" — a variety to which
the description " poetry of motion " may be applied with full
justice — and a spectator remarked to me: *'\'ery fine, very
fine indeed, but you should see it danced in Madrid. You
wouldn't recognise it for the same thing." And his look
MILK STALL.
40 Impressions of Spain.
was more meaningful than his words. Although he was not
aware of it, he had informed me that he had never been to
Madrid, or at least had never witnessed the Andalucian dance
on the stage of a theatre there; and I suspedt that if I had
displayed a craving for further information, I should have been
assured that Spanish women generally are ladies of flexible
ethics, who indulge in cigarettes. I believe that by paying
for the edifying spectacle, certain gipsy dances of the Hindoo
"nautch" variety can be witnessed in the gipsy quarter of
Seville ; but the Spaniard leaves these exhibitions to the English
and American tourists, who call it " studying the life of the
country," or "gaining experience." Those shows have no
more connection with the national dances than has burglary with
the marriage service. In the streets outside the cafes, and in
the theatres, the dances of Spain are as irreproachable as z. pas
de seul by Miss Topsy Sinden.
In the Spanish theatre, with the exception of the leadingi
playhouses in the larger cities, the two, and even more shows
a night system is an ancient and universal practice. /The
pieces are short, and the charges for admission are not based
on the idea of so much a seat, but so much a piece. Each
item costs the spectator fivepence, and the audience is
constantly being changed and renewed during the evening.
Variety is the spice of the entertainment; and in the pro-
vincial towns, where the theatres are always well patronised, a
constant change of bill is maintained. Madrid alone supports
no less than nineteen theatres; and Madrid, let it be remem-
bered, is a city with under half-a-million inhabitants. At the
same rate, London would have over two hundred^,
If one could extend the list of amusements without fear of
being thought irreverent, I should Jig inclined to include the
saints' festivals in this category. x\lthough these religious
Madrid.
observances are conducted with sincere devotional decorum,
they provide, as they do in all Roman Catholic countries, the
excuse for, as well as the main feature of, a general holiday.
I have seen many festival crowds in Spain, and the good
humour, the innocent happiness and universal sobriety that
characterise them, is to an Englishman acquainted with
English holiday-makers, as novel as it is delightful. The
festival of San Isidro del Campo, the tutelary saint of .Madrid,
is the principal festival of the Madrilenian year, and is
religiously celebrated by all the lower classes and the peasants
who come from the neigh-
bouring villages. It takes
place on May 15th, and
provides the most genuine
bit of local colour that is to
be witnessed outside Tole-
do. The great concourse
sets out early ; and crossing
the Manzanares, follows ;i
road which is lined with
men and women offering
their " agua fresca " (cold
water) from large jugs. Water, it may he noted, is the
staple beverage of all Spanish fairs and festivals. On the
other side of the river — in May, the Manzanares belies the
description — the miscellaneous vehicles (some drawn by as
many as six mules) discharge their crowded freights, and soon
the country is like an ant-hill, except that ants are usually
in mourning, and do not wear such bright colours as" the
peasant women and the soldiers who form so large a p>ortion
of the crowd. There are innumerable booths for eating and
drinking, and other common features of folk festiv.il>. Mon-
THE BULL-KING, MAOKIH
42 ■ Impressions of Spain.
unique are the family groups scattered everywhere, eating
their slices of cold meat, salad, red pepper and oranges. Many
have their wine m the same old pig-skins of which one reads in
Don Quixote. At every hundred yards there is some sort of
primitive music, to the rhythm of which the young men and
young women dance with an expression of delighted absorption.
Indeed the whole crowd wear a look of indifference to the past
and future, and a determination to make the most of the
passing moment. Away up the hill are long rows of booths
with pottery, toys for children and cakes, and further up still
is the saint's chapel, into which all the people crowd in turn
to kiss a silver image held by the priest, to receive a printed
picture of the saint, and to drop a copper. But that wonderful
crowd, whether at dance, or meat, or its devotion, contained the
greatest number of happy faces I have ever seen together in
my hfe.
\ NOTHERofthe Spanish royal residences, of which no other
-^^- European country can boast so many, is, to ^'ive the edifice
its correct title : " El Real sitio de San Lorenzo el Real del
Escorial," which is situated some twenty-five miles from Madrid.
The ancient glory of El Escorial, its revenues, its monks and its
magnificence, are vanished, but the activity and importance of
the district have been revived by virtue of the wonderful copper
mines which lie almost under the shadow of the mighty walls
of the historical building. The immediate vicinity of the
Escorial is extremely beautiful. Close at hand rises a mountain
range, highly picturesque in form and outline, and of a colouring
singularly rich and varied, while many of the upland slopes are
clothed with thickets and bushy patches of copse-wood, their
varied tints thrown into bright relief by the dark grey rocks
cropping out here and there along the face of the mountain.
Immediately below lies the park with its dark foliage of ibex,
while to the east lies a tiny lake, which glistens under the early
sunbeams.
The Escorial, which has been pronounced to be the '"eighth
wonder of the world," owed its existence to Philip II. and the
celebrated architects, Juan Bautista de Toledo and Juan de
Herrera, and is at once a palace, a monastery and the pantheon
of the monarchs of Spain. Formerly, it was known as the
Royal Monastery of St. Lawrence, and it was raised in com-
memoration of the battle of St. Ouentin, when the Spanish
armv routed the French on the festival day of the martyr, St.
44
Inipi'essions of Spain.
Lawrence. Philip II., or the architect, or both, are commonly
believed to have designedly planned the outline of the building
in the shape of a gridiron, out of respect for the butchered saint,
whose martyrdom on one of those utensils is a matter of history.
Probably, however, chance rather than design is responsible
for the exact plan ; though there can be no doubt, looking down
at the Escorial from the top of the neighbouring mountains,
that the simile is justifiable. A desire to protect majesty from
the keen winds and to obtain for majesty's apartments the bulk
of the sunshine in the neighbour-
hood, perhaps helped to make the
Escorial what it is, architecturally
speaking.
Before the French invasion, the
church teemed with treasures of
art — sacred vessels of gold and
silver — a multitude of shrines — •
reliquaires — and a tabernacle of
such exquisite workmanship, that
it was wont to be spoken of as
worthy to be one of the ornaments
of the celestial altar. All these
were destroyed by La Houssage's
troopers when they occupied the
Escorial in 1808, by way of giving vent to' their national feeling
respecting the battle of St. Quentin, two-and-a-half centuries
before. The Escorial sustained a still greater loss in 1837,
during the Carlist war, when about a hundred of the choicest
paintings were removed, for safety's sake, to the Museo at
Madrid.
The exploration of the Escorial is a formidable undertaking,
comprising as it does the inspection of a palace, a convent, two
t s< OKI^L MoNASTLR'l ,
THE evangelist's CUUKT.
. K
1^ 1
^^^^^^^P^Lai
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•:\^ i^. "^■•S
.
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^H
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€cJ
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hm
r 1
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El Escorial.
47
colleges three chapter-houses and three libraries, xvith their
concomitant complement of halls, dormitories, refectories and
infirmaries. There are no fewer than eighty-six staircases; and
someone gifted with a turn for statistics, has calculated that
to visit every individual room and to traverse each staircase
and corridor, would occupy four ent.re days, and carry the
adventurer over a distance of about a hundred and twenty
English miles. The square of the bmld.ng covers 5c>o ooo
Lt ; there are eighty-eight fountains, fifteen cloisters, sixteen
-"^::2-::;:::t::or:S
een": 2 It ^fi^ce to collect the won.Urful H;->-—
.hich It now contains. One of the mo^ fairu^^ M^ - ^ ^^
Esconal library is the " Libro de O- the ^ ^ o
composed of eight kilogrammes (uS lbs.) of .old
48
Iiiiprcssiojis of Spain.
letters, wh.ch are of course very thin, are attached to parchment
Forty-two richly-decorated altars are to be seen in the interior
of the palace church, but more wonderful in their way than the
altars are the service books for the use of the choir. It is said
that each leaf of each book was made from an entire calf-skin
17,000 skms being used in the process.
Beneath the church is the burial place of the kings of Spain •
the one spot, one would in.agine, where etiquette would not'
'■. THE ESCURIAL LIBl^ARV
rslrl „!■""' "°' '"'"^^'^ "'"^ 'he dust of princes, and
IZTZ had : "" [" ""= ''"''' ''""' f" 'hose sons of
t easu es and > " """"^ "°^" '"" ^^P'^' ^part from its
wh eh s of oa ' '7'°"""' '""^ ''°"' quar.erof .he Escorial
thr e sn,a, r„ T"'' '° E^g'-h-speaking peoples. In
h husTa ; 7;; '' "r '' ''' =^" °f 'he anchorite, dwelt
'orb,dd,ng sovere,gn at whose command .he myriad ships of
El Escorial.
49
the Invincible Armada were hurled against England. His
ambition was to make England the appanage of Spain ; all he
obtained were a few English elms which still flourish in the
palace gardens.
Yet another Royal Palace, occupying an extensive valley,
surrounded by hills, is situated at Aranjuez, in the extreme
south of the province of Madrid, on the left bank of the full-
flowing river Tajo. In the town of Aranjue/ there are splendid
farms, palaces and hotels, wide thoroughfares, good churches,
theatre, hospital, barracks, very beautiful promenades, and all
the other adjuncts of a model town. All these, however, are
surpassed by the beauty
of the gardens and parks
which, with the Royal
Pakice, are the property of
the Crown. The illustra-
tion shows the side of the
Royal dwelling which
opens on to what are called
the Island gardens, on
account of their being sur-
rounded by the waters of
the river Tajo. The first thing that strikes one is the monu-
mental fountain which deals with the allegory of the Pillars of
Hercules, and was designed by the Italian sculptor, Alexander
Algardi. The building, which was commenced in 1561 by
Philip II. and continued by all the Bourbon kings, is elegantly
proportioned, and is surrounded by delicious gardens, luxurious
avenues of trees, picturesque woods, and large lakes.
THE ROYAL 1-ALACE, AKANJDEZ.
Barcelona.
DON QUIXOTE was a true lover of Barcelona, which he
addressed as "the home of courtesy, refuge for strangers,
country of the valiant." Its history is replete with records of
its valour; its everyday life is illumined with a grave courtesy;
the stranger within its gates is welcomed with a cordiality
in which suspicion has no part. The Catalan is afraid of
nobody on this earth; he has no use, as the Americans put it,
for suspicion. He is a distinct race in costume, habits, and
language; combining the grace and charm of the Spanish
manner, with the mental vitality of the French, and the com-
mercial enterprise and integrity of the English. Physically he
is strong, sinewy, and active; and his dogged perseverance, his
enormous powers of endurance, and his patience under privation
and fatigue make him as fine a soldier as the world has seen.
The Catalans take what our grandmothers used to call a
proper pride in themselves. The hauteur of the proud Castilians
is not theirs; they regard the poetic language and indolent
gaiety of the Andalucians without envy ; they know themselves
to be the most serious, industrious, and progressive people in
the Peninsula; they are Spaniards, but Spaniards, be it under-
stood, of Catalonia.
This feeling is not of course pecuHar to the Catalans.
Spanish character, and the special localism that forms one of
its most distinctive features, has changed but little since Richard
Ford, writing more than half-a-century ago, said: "The in-
habitants of the different provinces think, indeed, that Madrid
Barcelona.
53
is the greatest and richest court in the world, but their hearts
are In their native locaHties. ' Mi paisano,' my fellow-country-
man, or rather my fellow-countyman, fellow-parishioner, does
not mean Spaniard, but Andalucian, Catalonian as the case may
be. When a Spaniard is asked, ' Where do you come from ? * the
reply is, 'Soy hijo de Murcia — hijo dc Grana.la' — ' I am a son
of Murcia — a son of Granada,' &c." This is strictly analogous
to the " children of Israel," the " Bene" of the Spanish Moors,
and to this day the Arabs of Cairo call themselves children of
that town; and just as the Milesian
Irishman is a "boy from Tipperary,"
&c., and ready to fight with anyone
who is so also, against all who are not
of that ilk : similar, too, is the clan-
ship of the highlander: indeed, every-
where, not perhaps to the same extent
as in Spain, the being of the same
province or town creates a powerful
freemasonr\- : the parties cling to-
gether like old school-fellows. It is
a home, and really binding feeling. To
the spot of their birth, all their recol-
lections, comparisons, and eulogies
are turned: nothing, to them, comes
up to their particular province ; that is their real country. " La
Patria," means Spain at large, is a subject of declamation, tine
words, palabras — palaver, in which all, like Orientals, delight to
indulge, and to which their grandiloquent idioms lends itself
readily : but their patriotism is still largely parochial, and self
is the centre of Spanish gravity.
And so it happens that if the Catalan has scant liking for
the romantic, pleasure-loving, guitar-thrumming .\ndalucian.
54 Impressions of Spain.
the Andalucian, on the other hand, regards the Catalan as a
hard, pedantic and unpoetic mechanic. As a matter of fact, he
is straightforward without being hard, grave without pedantry,
hospitable without ostentation ; and, like all Spaniards, he is a
poet. Poetry, as a national characteristic, is an accident of
climate. Here is Barcelona, the Manchester of Spain, a hive
of manufacturing industry, rejoicing in one of the most lovely
sites in Europe, possessed of a climate equal to that of Naples,
and with its beauty untarnished by the hand of time, or the
artificer. Such an atmosphere, such skies, such stars make a
people poets against their wills. I do not imply a charge against
the Spaniards that they write poetry — that is an entirely
different thing. They may — they do, happily, for the most part
— die with all their poetry in them ; but they are none the less
poets ; and indeed they are, as Oscar Wilde argued, the better
poets on that account. For the Spanish temperament rises
superior to the temptations of environment. If it were my
good fortune to live perpetually beneath that star-spangled sky,
I believe I could not resist the impulse to write verse. If for
no other reason than for this alone I doff my beaver to the
unversifying Catalan.
There is, however, another characteristic which accounts
for their prosperity, and excuses the tone of superiority they
adopt towards the people of the neighbouring provinces — they
are not afraid of work. Since the thirteenth century, when
the Catalans led the way to the whole world in maritime
conquest and jurisprudence, they have never thought trade to
be a degradation, but rather have ennobled it by their honesty
and enterprise. The Spanish race generally has lacked the
trading spirit. An intelligent American writer, who has studied
the causes which have brought Spain down from her ancient
eminence in the affairs of Europe, finds them in a position
Barcelona.
55
different from that which is generally supposed. " Pride, a
weak monarch, a dissolute court, religious intolerance — all
these," says our transpontine critic, "are admirable starting
points from which to prove a nation's decline. But Spain has
been by no means unique in the possession of these requisites.
A close examination of intrigue, and counter-intrigue, and plot
at the capital reveals a condition different from that of some
other countries onlv in being a little later in occurrence. In
THE CASCADE, BARCELONA.
fact, all these are mere effects ; the cause is the absence of that
which has developed the great nations of the earth, the cause
on which civilisation rests, the great primitive developing
agency — the trading spirit. For seven centuries she was a
battlefield. During that time, while she was keeping the
Mohammedan wolf from the door of Europe, there was no
chance for the development of the trading spirit. What
growth came in a measure to some of the coast cities was the
result of local commercial relations finding an extension and
M
56 Impressions of Spain.
expansion between nation and nation. The spirit of getting by
the good right arm grew, and produced its tradition; while the
precarious cultivation of land for food, an occupation ever
more and more removed from the leaders, became the work of
an ignorant and unrespected class.
" With the absence of trade goes the absence of knowledge
of the outside world; and though a certain general knowledge
was brought back by the Europe-conquering soldiers of Charles
and Philip, it was a knowledge of how easily gain could be made
in the old way, rather than a stimulus to the merchant.
"Without the logical traditions of buying and selling, raised
up through generations, Spain could hardly avoid the errors
of government which the want of such traditions bring. She
could scarcely hope not to become the victim of each and every
scheme for a financial millennium, as a nation, which we are
all accustomed to smile at when played in the more self-evident
form of personal charlatanry. And, most of all, the dignity
of work has been lost. The Spanish labourer pitied himself —
and was pitied.
" Up to the beginning of the Cuban war, however, a better
condition had been developing. Education, and a knowledge
of the outside world, were bringing home to this nation that to
be the proudest man in the world it is well to have a basis for
that pride in tangible rather than traditional thing? ; and of so
excellent a nature have I found the Spaniard when one knows
him, that I cannot help believing in his ultimate development.
" But few, I know, cross the threshold of the Spanish house
to find how good a man at heart the owner is. He is proud, it
is true, and does not much favour the stranger ; but it is the
pride of a reserved nature, not of a weak one."
There is indeed much truth to be found in this view of the
situation. Spain has never been a great commercial nation; she
Dftr^'^i^i-''-"
LVKIC TMKATKK.
KXHll'.iriON li
f ji ml.iI
%)i
l»^vfi
Barcelona. 57
is, in fact, only now enterinj,' for the first time the commercial
arena. No nation in Europe commenced her career on a trade
basis. Conquest in the early ages was the only acknowledf^ed
industry; and the empires of Carthage, Phctnicia, Rome,
Spain, and Great Britain all rose to greatness by the right of
might. England was a young nation when Spain commenced
to decline after centuries of con<iuest and supremacy, and
England was ripe to receive the impression of the value of
commerce as a maker and sustainer of kingdoms, Germany
did not become a great power until the supremacy of trade
was universally acknowledged ; America was cradled in a
SH.NOR BARRIS S HOl'SF, BARCKLONA.
counting house, and brought up in the atmosphere of profit
and loss.
Barcelona, of all the cities of Spain, has never been blind
to the advantages of commerce ; and to-day, the city, in its
bustling activity, its red-hot life, its ceaseless movement and
sense of prosperity resembles all the great commercial cities
of the world — London, New York, Melbourne, Liverpool,
and Chicago. But in one respect it more nearly approaches
London in the resemblance, by reason of an ill-favoured side
of approach. I have often met at Tilbury or Liverpool — but
Tilbury especially-- friends who have been on their first visit
to our Metropolis, and I have begged them, as a personal
58 luipressious of Spain.
favour, not to form any opinion of the city from the railway-
carriage windows. The squalor and dreariness of the eastern
approach to London is only mildly reproduced by the southern
environs of Barcelona. Indeed, when one makes one's first
acquaintance with it, it is difficult to believe that it is the
boastedly first city of Spain. Yet the boast is not unjustified
in so far, at least, as the concerns of every-day life, polity and
progress are concerned. When once the visitor is within the
circle of her brighter ways, he will look in vain for any of the
smudginess whose kingdom and on-coming have been heralded
by smudge ; he will speedily recognise the fact that here is
rolling by him a greater volume of trade than in all the other
great centres of Spanish commercial life put together. Every-
where in Barcelona there is apparent the lively, virile animation,
bred of a prosperous and forceful existence; and it is this
which constitutes one of the great charms of the place. In no
town-ways of Spain, not even in those of Seville, is the visitor
so well rewarded as in Barcelona.
On one of my visits to Barcelona, I arrived in the city
during the labour riots last year. Trains had been fired at
and attacked with stones, so the windows of the carriages
were barricaded, and all precautions were taken for the safety
of the passengers. We were allowed, however, to enter
the station unmolested; and although the crowded streets
were paraded by the military, and a further outburst of public
feeling was expected, the force of the human volcano had
evidently expended itself before our arrival. Much property
had been damaged ; and, on all sides, one saw windows riddled
with bullets, or smashed with stones, and evidences that the
industrious and law-abiding Barcelonian is a Spaniard when
roused. There was an alertness akin to menace in the flashing
glances that inspected us that seemed to threaten all kind of
Barcelona.
59
unpleasant eventualities. But we walked thr(ni;^'h the streets
in perfect safety; and my good friend, who had driven in from
his country house to meet me, along roads patrolled by soldiers
and skirted by turbulent rioters, apologised delightfully for the
insecurity of the highways which rendered him unable to offer
me the hospitality of his house until the following day. The
risk he had run in coming in to Barcelona to welcome me did
not occur to him. I was his friend— he had not given a thought
SNAPSHOT IN SHNOR HARRIS S GARI)i:\, HAKCI I.ONA.
for his skin. As we promenaded the streets, he approached
men and asked them questions about the riot, and the scowl
disappeared from their faces as a sea-mist lifts from the cliffs
as they gave us the required information. I have written that
the Spaniard's good manners are the result not of an acquired
and superficial politeness, but are derived from a natural and
national courtesy that is inbred in the race. There is in their
attentions a vein of selfishness which is half its charm. \
stranger will do you a courtesy for which your thanks can only
6o Impressions of Spain.
half pay him — the other half-payment he himself contributes
for the service. He has pleased you, and in so doing he has
pleased himself. And one feels that he has pleasure in his own
unselfishness. It is impossible to be many hours in Spain
without recognising this delightful trait. You step into a shop
and inquire the way to the cathedral. The friendly shopkeeper
places himself immediately at your disposal. He takes down
his capa, and personally conducts you to the desired spot. It
is the same always. You ask for your bearings of a member
of the famous guardia civil, and the pair will solemnly march
you to your destination; or the first pedestrian you meet
proceeding in the opposite direction, faces about on the instant,
and retraces his steps through the length or breadth of a town
to put you on the right road.
We have no force in this country that corresponds with the
Guardia Civil ; perhaps the Royal Irish Constabulary are their
nearest counterpart in organisation and fine morale. This body,
which is composed of 20,000 foot and 500 mounted guards, are
neither soldiers nor policemen, but they combine the duties of
both. Their splendid physique, and smart, soldierly bearing —
only the best men in the Spanish Army are admitted to the
ranks of the Civil Guards — give one a feeling of security and a
sense of order that nothing else seems to impart. They are
stationed in every town and small village throughout the country.
They patrol the roads, they accompany every train, and are to
be seen at every station ; they are to be encountered every-
where, and always in pairs. Dressed in blue tunic and trousers
of the same colour, with light buff-coloured belts, cocked hats,
and top-boots, they carry their well-polished rifles in a manner
which engenders the respect of evil-doers. In contrast with the
leisurely life around them, they stride through the traflic, in it,
but not of it — a class apart. They are, indeed, apart in habit
Barcelona. 63
as well as in appearance. Their association with the outer world
is almost entirely official. They live in barracks, mess together,
and hold themselves aloof. Their esprit de corps is as perfect as
their discipline ; they cannot be bribed, nor induced to accept
a reward for any service they may render you. The safety of
property and life in Spain is in their keeping; and it may be
said without exaggeration that they have done more to establish
order in the Peninsula than any other body.
Barcelona, besides being a busy, wide-awake, and rapidly-
growing commercial and industrial centre, contrasting strongly
with some other Spanish cities that still seem to be shrouded in
the mists of the middle ages, has also acquired the reputation
of being a beautiful city — beautiful, of course, in the modern
sense ; for, where modern enterprise rules, the old-time beauty
is apt to take flight. Its situation, on a slope running down
from the mountains to the sea, is both healthful and pictures<iue.
Its streets and boulevards are wide, regular, and well made ;
and its main avenue, the Ratnbla, has been styled, not without
justice, the " Vnter den Linden'' of Barcelona. This line of
promenade, formed by the Raniblas of Santa Monica, del Centra,
de San Jose, de Estndios, de Canaletas, and the Paseo de Gracia is
a veritable triumph of boulevarding. Europe may be challenged
to produce anything finer. It runs from the port ripht through
the heart of the town, and out into the country, a practically
uninterrupted series of carriage drives and public promenades,
shaded nearly all the way by over-arching plane-trees. The
lower portions are lined with handsome shops and cafes, with
the best hotels and theatres; and all the upper reach— the
Gracia Paseo — with the imposing blocks of houses of the Hn-
sanche, the residential region, par excellence, of the city.
The little Ranibia de San Jose, too, may justly be accorded its
more popular name of " de las Flores:'' for here each morning is
64 Impressions of Spain.
held the flower market, when both sides of the broad central
walk are lined with stacks heaped up in dazzling profusion with
all the floral wealth which southern sunlight, nature, and art can
produce. Here, amid the splendid highways of the city, one
may find a continual occupation for both eye and mind in the
ever-shifting and gorgeous colouring, and in all the movements
of the colossal game of life. The hour does not signify— early or
late, morning, afternoon, or night, it is all one — for Barcelona
folk seem to be able to do without sleep ; and at all times the
air is deliciously soft, and yet so fresh, from the sea and from
the hill-country which backs up the city, that one.is ever impelled
onwards. In the full artery of the life of it, one comes across
the Lonja, the Casus Consistoriales and Diputacion, but one looks
in vain for the great cathedral, the Churches of Santa Maria
del Mar, Santa Ana, Santa Maria del Pino, the old Benedidtine
Monastery of San Pablo del Canipo, the Roman remains, and
the fine Renaissance houses. These are not for those who run
to see, but are hidden away, tucked out of sight, so to speak, in
a most vexatious and puzzling manner.
In Barcelona, we have the old town with its narrow, tortuous
lanes, and the new town with its streets laid out at right angles,
its handsome houses, and its air of general prosperity. The
trade of the city is ever increasing, and its prospecfts are almost
illimitable. The wealth of the city has overflowed into the
handsome suburb of Paseo de Gracia, with its villas and minia-
ture palaces, and its population of nearly 40,000 inhabitants.
The port of Barcelona has, in the process of improvement,
effaced the historical Muralla del Mar; and its site is now
occupied by a broad, handsome quay, laid out with palms, and
enriched with a wonderful stone and bronze column, 197 feet
high, surmounted with a statue of Columbus. More handsome
and lofty houses are to be found in the Plaza Real; the finest
Banelona.
67
shops are situated in the Calle de Fernando; while the Calle A ncha
is given over to banks and insurance offices. In the Plaza del
Palacio is the beautiful fountain in Carrara marble representing
the four Catalonian provinces of Barcelona, Lerida, Tarragona,
and Gerona. Another superb piece of street ornamentation is
the Columbus Memorial, which was erected in 1S89. It is built
at the end of the Kambla in the Plaza I)J£ la Paz, and has
the picturesfjue silhouette of Montjuich for a background. The
pedestal, which is octagonal in form, rests on a circular base,
flanked by four spacious ledges, decorated with eight lions, and
from it rises the iron column, crowned
by a magnificent Corinthian capital
supporting a bronze globe; above
which, in graceful pose, is seen the
statue of the immortal discoverer,
also in bronze. Many historical and
allegorical statues embellish this
memorial, and also high reliefs in
copper depicting the chief events in
the life of Columbus and a great
number of ornaments and other
details, all e(iually elegant. I'Voiii
the ground to the top of the statue
the monument is 180 feet in height.
The vaulted arches underneath are
used as a burying-place for distinguished Catalan sailors. A
lift runs inside the column to the top, and a magnificent
panoramic view is to be obtained from the capital. I have
referred especially to this column and the fountain because to
my mind they are the most imposing of the many columns,
pyramids, and statues that abound in the squares and thorough-
fares of the city.
THE COIUMBLS CuLLMN,
KAKCELONA,
68
Impressiona of Spain.
Dark, mysterious, and imposing, the Gothic Cathedral is
worthy of a place by the most beautiful of Spain. After the
great Cathedral of Seville, I know no other that impresses one
in the same way as the Cathedral of Barcelona. The fine
proportions and care-
fully-arranged lighting
are common to them
both. At Tarragona,
Salamanca, Toledo,
Burgos, Leon, and San-
tiago, we can see work
that will bear more close
analysisand confergreat
teaching ; but the Cata-
lan here teaches us his
school of stern, solid,
domestic architecture,
and he conveys his
lesson by the hnest of
examples. Here we may
learn that little faults on
the part of old workers,
and big, glaring faults
on the part of their
successors are powerless
to detract from the effect
of awful solemnity and majesty of their splendid vistas, to
stultify the great ideas and fine grasp upon the subject of scale
with which the Cathedral was carried out. Beside this, its
numerous tine bits of enriched detail work and its glorious
stained glass are mere matters of detail — and the election of
models — and they are scarcely noticed.
RHY, BARCELONA.
Barcelona.
69
I have listened to some beautiful music beautifully rendered
in the Cathedral of Barcelona, and in many of the f^aeat
cathedrals in Spain; and I have seen an audience ^o into
ecstacies over a piece of vocalisation in the Opera House at
Madrid; but I should hesitate to describe the Spanish as a
musical nation. Sinking
among the working
people is a habit and
a relaxation, but it is
scarcely an art. The
working people of Bar-
celona, or of the Penin-
sula generally for that
matter, are not naturally
musical; buttheydonot
sing the less on that
account. One day as I
sat in a friend's room in
the Hotel and listened
to the servantschortling
incessantly as they went
about their work, I asked
a trifle impatiently : "Do
these good people never
cease their singing?"
He looked up with a
quizzical twinkle in his akagon stkeet. Barcelona.
questioning eyes. "Singing?" he asked. I held up my finger,
and the sound of three different voices, uplifted in three different
ecstacies, came from the corridor. " Oh ! that," he replied,
still smiling: "Yes, they do a good deal of it. So you call
that singing; now I think that is very amiable of you." I
70 Impressions of Spain.
asked hirn why their songs were unduly long; and learned that
as each vocalist improvises his or her own song, both words
and music, it is only limited by his or her individual fancy.
''But what are the subjects of their ballads?" I protested, and
my friend responded, "Oh! just anything — a bullfight, a tender
tale of love, a report of a police court case with ten adjourn-
ments." Schubert, it is said, could set a handbill to music, but
these people improvise a romantic opera out of an overdue
laundry account. Their guitar playing has little but mere form ;
and their dancing — the dancing of the working-classes who
picnic by the wayside and dance for the sheer love of it and the
joy of living — is governed, or seems to be, by the whim of the^
performer. When the children are not playing at bullfights,
they are indulging in one or other of their innumerable singing
and dancing games.
Besides the interest it affords in itself, Barcelona is within
hail of Monserrat, the pride of Catalonia, and one of the natural
wonders of Spain, which lies some thirty miles north from the
city. Antonio Gallenga has written of this wonderful moun-
tain : " It is the loftiest and grandest temple and most formidable
citadel that was worked by God's hands. The Monastery,
standing as it does, squeezed on its narrow ledge, with an
abyss of untold fathoms at its feet, and the weight of three great
rocky masses hanging over its head, must look both mean in
size and tame in taste, crushed by the Titanic grandeur, by
the sublime harmony and the terrible power exhibited by the
Supreme Architect in this His masterpiece of earthly handiwork."
Nor is the description out of keeping with the subject.
Seen from the road, this terrible yet beautiful mountain,
throwing off its morning mantle of mists and lifting its weird
peaks to the sun, presents a vision of entrancing loveliness.
At its base, the Monastery, vast in size and hideous in its
Barcelona.
71
severity, is almost a blot upon the landscape. l>ut the climb
from the Monastery to the summit of Monserrat is fraught with
a succession of overpowerin<jj sensations, of perpetual contrast
between terror and delight. The immense mass of mountain,
about twenty-five miles in circumference at its base, is composed
of a grey conglomerate of the granite type, brittle and crumb-
ling; and by its nature assuming every variety of fanciful and
weird appearances, baffling the utmost extent of men's inventive
powers. For about half the distance to the top its body remains
solid; then rent asunder in every
direction, it towers in thousands of
fantastic pinnacles to its highest point,
some four thousand feet above the
sea. "There is hardly a spot," says
Gallenga. "where you do not feel
that \ou stand on a thousand feet
precipice; hardly a nook where some
great boulder, as big as the \'atican
Palace, is not suspended over ycjur
head, ready, as you fancy, to slide
down in avalanche at every burst of
the storm wind." There are huge,
straight columns, the bases and shafts
of which have thus been crumbling away for thousands of }ears;
while the top, or as one may say, the capital, still hangs up in
air on nothing. Impervious as those crags and cliffs appear,
they are, however, crossed by paths running like threads on the
edge of the precipice.
Further up, the crest is formed by the jagged teeth of the
Saw. Here are a myriad points and aiguilles clustering in
groups of pinnacles tapering like the fingers of a man's hand:
further, a whole multitude of rock\- excrescences which have
IK MONASTKKV, MONnKKRAT.
72 Impressions of Spain.
been and can be equally compared to rough-hewn chessnien in
battle array, or to chessmen strewn carelessly over the board,
some standing up sharp and ereft, some fallen prostrate and
broken. The grand rugged scenery is softened and toned down
by a most wonderful profusion of vegetation, consisting of box,
ilex, myrtle, ivy, heather, laurel, and other evergreens ; which,
growing in every crack and crevice where they can possibly
find a hold, and flourishing at all seasons, transform this
mountain into a marvel of grey and green.
The walk from the Monastery to the summit occupies about
three hours, and is one of the most remarkable to be found in
Europe. The path is narrow, but it has been planned with
consummate artistic skill. It winds over a broad area among
and around the various crags and stone seracs, onwards and
ever upwards until it ends, at last, at the highest point. Some-
times it leads through a narrow valley walled in on both sides
by wild sentinels of rock, again through creeping masses of
myrtle, ivy, and jessamine, or under bowers of ilex and box.
And then, suddenly, unexpectedly, you have attained to the
apparently inaccessible summit, and you stand on the brink of
precipices and overlook Monserrat spread out beneath like an
enormous Medusa, its thousands of tentacles raised aloft on
every side, enclosing deep abysses whose terribleness is miti-
gated by a lining of perpetual green. Beyond lies the sun-
backed, flowerless plain, through which silver rivers turn and
return on their journey to the sea. To the north, distant but
clearly defined against the blue background of sky, a line of
snowy Pyrenees smile coolness down upon the torrid lowlands ;
while to the east, beyond the hazy suggestion of Barcelona, a
glittering silver rim of sea wafts inland the softest of noonday
breezes.
Qn the Emn Coatn.
MONSERRAT, according to the guide books, may be
hurriedly visited from Barcelona by means of a return
ticket for the day; but one can imagine few persons who would
be content with so hasty an inspection of one of the most
remarkable sights in Spain. One returns from the mountain
to Barcelona with one's mind crowded with wonderful sights,
and one's senses stirred
with a new idea of the
beautiful. Where shall one
look, one asks oneself, for
its equal? But Spain is full
of spots of almost dazzling
beauty. Within a hundred
miles to the southward,
following the coast-line, is
situated Tarragona. To
know Tarragona is to love
" TlIK AoL-KDUCr, TAKKAi.ONA
her, for her natural self
first, her oak forests, soft verdure and park-like land, then for
her treasures of infinitely beautiful architectural work ; and again
for her simple kindness and good fellowship, her gorgeous
colouring, her brilliant sky, her gorgeous sunsets, and her out-
look over the long sweep of rich country, rock-bound coast and
glinting sea. Here is another of Spain's many abodes of loveli-
ness — a paradise of far-reaching plains, dotted with villages
and homesteads, coloured with rich gardens, orange-groves and
74
Impressions of Spain.
vineyards, and shaded by a rich fringe of olive and fir trees, that
lose themselves against the distant rich brown hills. And on the
other side the fertile plain slopes gently down to the ancient
pine woods, beyond which lie the fringe of yellow sands and
dark green ocean.
Tarragona has her records too, and a history among the
most ancient in the kingdom. She once boasted her million of
inhabitants, her government, her luxury, and her art. The
GENERAL VIEW, TARRACiOXA.
Phoenicians made the town a maritime settlement, the Romans
made it an imperial city, the Goths selected it as their capital.
The Moors "made of the city a heap," and the ruins remained
uninhabited for four centuries. She can point to her grand
Cyclopean walls and gateways, her Phoenician well, her so-
called "tomb" of the Scipio, her amphitheatre, her Capital, and
her Roman aqueduct striding across the valley, and seemingly
defying time to destroy it.
Oh the East Const.
75
Hut if Tarragona's one-time iiiilli<jn iiihal)itaiits has (Iwindled
to its present population of some thirty thousand souls, it must
always be remembered, to its credit, that a few years ago it was
only a dull, dry, sleepy old town — a place of dusty meats and
sour wines — a temple of the past. But Tarragona has no
intention of resting satisfied with a great yesterday; she is
intent upon making a future for herself. The new has over-
ridden the old, the town has put away its look of despairing
inc()ngruit}and uselessness,and has put on the " handsomeness"
of modern cityhood. The streets palpitate with the life of
commerce; and the harbour shelters many ships that call for
cargoes of wine, nuts, almonds and oil. Most of the native
wines are excellent, and can compare with those grown in any
part of Spain ; but they are put, unfortunately, to base uses, and
scarcely ever reach the C(^nsumer in their pure state. The
^5 ImpressioJis of Spain.
lighter vintages are bought by Marseilles and Paris, where they
are transformed into viji ordinaire, while the full-bodied varieties,
known as "Spanish Reds," are sold in England and America
under the name of port.
The road from Tarragona to Valencia runs over the richly
fruitful plain that is bordered on the left by great brown hills,
and the lovely sea upon the right. In theTortosa region, only
the presence of the olives and algarrobos, instead of oaks and
GENERAL \'IE\V, TOKTUSA.
elms amid the soft green prettiness of the landscape, forbids
the delusion that one is in Sussex or Devonshire.
The famous marble, known in Italy as broceatello de spagna,
and largely employed in the decoration of churches in Rome,
is quarried near Tortosa, and the city itself has its place in song
and story. Tubal, Hercules, and St. Paul, according to Martorel,
were all connected with Tortosa; and the latter is further stated
to have instituted Monsefior Ruf as bishop here. Under the
Moors the place became the key of the east coast, and from
On the East Coast.
77
time immemorial it has been acquainted with warfare and the
clash of arms. It withstood the siege of Louis de Dcbonnaire,
son of Charlmagne, in 8ii, but two years later the city fell and
had to be recaptured by the Moors. Since then it has been
four times besieged and thrice taken ; to-day it is chiefly noted
for its imposing appearance, its fine Gothic cathedral, and its
picturesque bridge of boats. Sixty-five miles to the southward
is Castellon, which, though a flourishing place in a garden of
plenty, is of only Moorish origin, and consequently an infant
among the towns of Spain. Naturalists make it their head-
quarters; and it is the junction for the copper, cinnabar, and
lead mines that abound at Espadeno.
A stop must be made at Murvicdro, which flourished under
its old title of Sanguntum. Then it was a seaport city of
magnificence, richness and power; to-day it consists of a wild
bare hill, studded with white houses, traversed by long lines of
wall and crowned by an old castle. Two thousand years ago
78
Impressions of Spain.
it was laid in ruins by the Carthagenian army, and it has been
little else than a heap of ruins ever since. The Roman Theatre,
which still remains, is placed in a bend of the northern skirt of
the hill between the town and the immense fortress which
crowns the mountain. It has seats built of blue limestone and
^T, CATHEKINE
cement, petrified by the action of the centuries which have
elapsed since it was built, which, according to the most authori-
tative opinion, was in the first century of our era. The stage,
which measures about 165 feet in length and ig|^ feet in width,
was vaulted, some of the vaults being still in existence. The
On the East Coast.
8i
amphitheatre was composed of three series or {groups of steps
separated by wider ones which served for landings, A spacious
portico ran round with small columns, statues, and a triple row
of seats. At present the theatre is surrounded by a wall which
prevents it from falling entirely to ruin, a consummation which
would be due more to the vandalism of men than to the ravages
of time.
The population of \\ilencia, the third city in Spain, which
according to the last census was 150,000, makes this an
important centre, but it is not an outwardly picturesque city.
This is due to the flatness
of the country, which pre-
vents a good view of its
buildings, as well as to the
luxuriant vegetation which,
surrounding the town on
all sides, hides from the
observer.
\'alencia has little to
boast in the way of archa-
ological prizes. Her old
" " 1111. l:\i HAN .K. \.\LK\i lA
churches and palaces, her
iapia walls and massive gates, with most of her ancient monu-
ments, are gone; and only a few beautiful bits — the late Gothic
Lonja, the octagonal Miguelete belfry-tower, and some odd
portions of the cathedral — remain. The very beautiful Lonja
(Exchange), the ornamentation of which is characteristic of the
Renaissance, is situated in the large Market stjuare. The Lonja
comprises the handsome Hall of Trade, the Watch Tower,
on the ground floor of which is the chapel, and the Pavilion of
the Consulado de Mar, which was previously used for offices
and as a commercial hall. Lxtensive restoration work has
1
82
Impressions of Spain.
recently been carried out in the building, which has suffered
great mutilations. The Silk Exchange, besides being a market for
this article, contains the commercial bourse, the municipal courts
and other government offices. But if the city has swept herself
almost clean of her precious art relics, she has assumed an air of
modern alertness, and developed a commendable intention to
move with the times. The improvements being carried out in
the city of the Cid have almost entirely transformed Santa
Catalina Square. Both the Santa Catalina and the Rhein
Square near by, in the heart of
the city, contain magnificent build-
ings, luxurious cafes, and all kinds
of shops. There is a vast amount of
'V >■?•/• ' /- bright life and gorgeous colouring
^^y^^£i^^r'^ ^" ^^® Streets and market places,
^V" \!?^^5i*l» with a quite Catalan forcefulness
of character. The Valenciana is,
Jf* '^§:M1BW moreover, a progressive and very
I '•• iRh^ ■ I excitable individual, and he imparts
I ' Lfi I ' ^ special charm of fervour into all
his affairs. On the occasions' of
their feasts and sports, the varied
A VALENCIANA costuuics of thc lowcr classes —
especially that of the huerta man,
or peasant from the garden — may be seen in perfection. With
his brilliantly-coloured nianta thrown loosely over a white linen
shirt and black velveteen jacket, and with a bright kerchief
knotted round his head, he is perhaps the best-dressed indi-
vidual in the whole Peninsula, and he looks as if he thought so
into the bars:ain.
H IPccp into riDurcia.
THERE are some parts of Spain over which I have
travelled as the long hand travels round a clock dial —
without haste, but without stopping. I have seen Murcia, as it
were, from a moving platform, and the impression I derived of
"African Spain," as this quarter of the country has been called,
has left me with the desire to return and spend a round of
months amid its floral enchantments. This little province was
the spot cherished by the Carthagenians, who found consolation
in its possession for the loss of Sicily, and from it they derived
84 Impressions of Spain.
the mineral wealth which enabled Hannibal to make war against
Rome itself. The Goths of Murcia held their territory so
stoutly against the Moors that during the lifetime of the warlike
Theodimah the province was allowed to retain its independence.
Under the Moors, Murcia was transformed into one continuous
htierta or garden ; and after the disruption of the Kalifate of
the Ummeyahs, it held its own as an independent State from
1038 to logi, when internal dissensions among the members of
the ruling Beni-Tahar family prepared the way for the triumph
ESPLANADE AND WHARF, ALICANTE.
of the Spaniards. But to this day Murcia is regarded by the
Spaniards as the Boeotia of the south.
At Alicante I spent four-and-twenty hours, but half as many
weeks would not exhaust its attraftions. I saw the ruined
Castle of San Fernando from a distance, and made the ac-
quaintance of the Castle of Santa Barbara only from the outside.
I perambulated the palm-shaded Paseo de los Martires, and the
well-paved and capacious harbour, where the work of exporting
minerals from Almagra and other places was going forward.
There is always an air of bustling activity about the wharf,
?
r
m
i^r-'r V
^
fen'i
1
\
Wt"
m^
lik'
i-\
^1
W 4
f-'
^1
^ A.
h.
<
/„.
! 4*
'm?^::^
A Peep into Mnrcia.
85
which is ahve with small wagons, roofed over by a cover of
heavy matting, made of esparto grass. Esparto, which resembles
the spear-grass that flourishes on the sandy sea-shores of
Lancashire, grows wild in vast (luantities in this district. It is
very wiry and tenacious in fibre, and is worked up by the natives
into an infinite variety of purposes — such as matting, baskets,
soles of sandals, is.c. It is also largely exported to England,
France, and the United States. It is the best substitute for
rags in the manufacture of paper, and between 80,000 and
100,000 tons are annually imported into this country for that
THE "martyr's" promenade, ALICANTE.
purpose. The Iberian whips, described by Horace, were manu-
factured of this material. The women and children are largely
employed in the hand manufacture of esparto, and in the silk-
worm-gut industry, of which Murcia is the centre in this part
of Spain.
The huerta, or garden of Alicante, is situated at some two
or three miles from the town to the north, and is irrigated from
the artificial Pantano dc Tibi, of Moorish constructure. It is an
oasis in a wilderness of sand and dust. The fields that surround
86
Impressions of Spain.
this garden are parched and dry ; the almond and fig trees that
hne the road are coated with dust that cHngs to them hke thin
snow, and the ahnond nuts resemble plaster imitations of them-
selves. And in the midst of this blistered country nestles the
luscious hiierta- — a wide stretch of verdant plantations, thickly
foliaged, cool, sweet, and refreshing, with villas embowered
among its oranges and palms, a film of dim mountains in the
background, and away to the south the silent brimming sea.
I received an invitation to inspeft the tobacco facftory in the
THE "martyr's" promenade, ALICANTE.
northern suburb, and listened to enthusiastic descriptions of the
beauty of many of the 6,000 girls employed there ; but my
time was limited, and I was compelled to postpone the pleasure
of a visit.
From Alicante, past Elche to Murcia, lies a tra(ft of African
Spain — a vast plain covered with plantations of orange, lemon,
pomegranate, fig and olive, among which scattered palms lift
their broad heads with stately pride. At intervals, small towns,
very Oriental in appearance, with domed, azure-tiled mosques,
nestle among the palms, and add to the attra(5tiveness of a scene
A Peep tutu Murcia.
87
of enthralling beauty. " Why is this lovely corner of the world
so little known ? " wrote a German enthusiast ; and his question
has been capped by the more prosaic cyclist, who asked : "Why
are the people of these towns so rude and annoying, and why
do the children favour us with a shower of stones ? " One has
not to ponder long in order to solve the cyclist's problem.
Cycles are as rarely seen in Murcia as bears in Bloomsbury, and
it is scarcely surprising in the circumstances if the indefatigable
wheelist is regarded with many wondering and sarcastic stares.
But the peasant children in Spain, and especially in Southern
THE " MARTVKS " I'KOMENAUE (HIGH KOAU), ALICANTE.
Spain, are, as a rule, chartered libertines. Until they are old
enough to make themselves useful they are quite spoiled. On
the assumption that children can do no wrong, they are per-
mitted to do exactly what they please. The girls amuse
themselves with singing and dancing, and the boys, in Southern
Spain especially, find a favourite diversion in imitating the
perils of the bull ring. Amongst themselves they are, even in
argument, punctiliously polite : with the inoffensive stranger
they are wary and not disobliging: but to the peripatetic oddity
88
Impressions of Spain.
they are annoying in the manner that boys, given the same
provocation, display all the world over.
Elche, rising from among its thousands of date-palms to a
height of fifty feet, resembles an oasis in the desert. All around,
the country is flat and fertile — a slumberland of soft greens and
unbroken peacefulness. From Elche one passes to Granja,
with its double-towered Moorish church, its old castillo clinging
VIEW OF ELCHE, ALICANTE.
to the frowning height, its houses built into the rock of the
mountain, and overgrown with aloes, fig, and cad\i. There are
Calossa de Segura and Albatera, flat-roofed and minareted ;
and from these spots may be seen the Montana de Calossa,
where amethyst steeps, glowing in the afternoon light, contrast
with the varied tints of the plain in an ensemble of colour and
outline nowhere surpassed in effect.
Carthagena, one of the three arsenals of Spain, and the largest
A Peep intu Miircia.
91
port in the country after Vigo, lies to the south. From here is
shipped the silver and lead ores, iron ores, manganiferous iron
ores, calamine, blend and copper ores from the rich mines in
the surrounding districts, and also from the mines of the in-
terior. In the suburbs of Sta. Lucia are extensive lead smelting
and desilverization works, and the goods terminus of the steam
tramway which conne(5ls Carthagena with La Union, the centre
of the mining distri(ft. Escombreras, on a bay just outside the
harbour, was at one time an important smelting and shipping
place, but at the present time only one large furnace is open
there. The country around
Carthagena has been so
wastefully denuded of for-
est as to make it an un-
mitigated desert. The
landscape is a barren,
burning waste, and the
city itself is destitute of
any semblance of green-
ness. Carthagena, which is
considered impregnable to
a foreign foe, was besieged
by the Government soldiery in 1873, when a Commune was
established there by Roque Barcia. A very little artillery practice
directed against the walls, however, impressed Barcia with the
advisability of taking a trip to Africa, and the Commune was at
an end. There is an academy for cadets in the place, and
blind people are numerous— a fact which may be owing to the
excessive dazzle of the sunlight and absence of verdure. The
men of Carthagena are so big, and the donkeys are so minute,
that the latter are almost hidden beneath their human burdens.
The Moorish city of Murcia, the capital of its province, is a
ITKANCK TO THE STATION, EI.CHK
92
Impressions of Spain.
pifturesque town in a beautiful setting. The city is one mag-
nificent mass of varied colours, and all around, as far as the eye
can see, are rare tropical shrubs and wide vistas of luxurious
vegetation. Murcia is the land of roses — the Mecca of the
floriculturist — the Canaan of the tribe of Art. I did not see its
Gothic Cathedral, its pi(5ture gallery, nor its churches of Sta.
Catalina or San Nicolas — I was there and away again, carrying
with me an impression of
sunshine, and roses, and
soft airs. The country is
intersected with swiftly
flowing brooks, that part in
and out beneath the tall
palms. Here the dark-com-
plexioned and Oriental-
looking Murcian washer-
women, dressed in brightly-
coloured garments,
assemble to follow their
daily avocations ; and the
chatter, the laughter, and
the brilliant hues of the
many shawls are a per-
petual delight to the ear
and the eye. The men
have the reputation of being the most ill-disposed and revenge-
ful of any in Spain. The only indication I could discover of
abnormal belligerency about them was in their practice of
carrying the long Albacete knife ; but I am inclined to the
opinion that it is worn more for ornament than use. The
teamsters, it is true, have a fierce aspect, and their manners are
not improved by strong drink ; but I have never met teamsters
NATIVE OF MURCIA.
■ ^-L-i' .'? ; "
^55 '
,1
A Peep into Miircia.
93
in any part of the globe who were celebrated for remarkable
sobriety, or angelic dispositions. The Murcian girls, as the
traveller will observe at the various railway stations where they
sell flowers and sweets, are pretty and engaging, and their
costumes are charmingly picturesque.
The present city was built by the Moors from the remains
of the Roman Murgi in the early part of the Sth century. It
was taken by the Spaniards
under St. Ferdinand in 1240,
and was reconquered by
Alonso el Sabio, who left his
heart and bowels to the Dean
and Chapter; and these
precious relics, preserved in a
sarcophagus, are still to be
seen in the Presbytery of the
Gothic Cathedral.
From the palm-land of
Murcia one passes over the
unvarying, toneless plains of
La Mancha to the Sierra
Morena mountains, and be-
yond them to the daisy and
buttercup-spread fields of
Andalucia, which stretch
away to the south, and lose themselves in a wide perspective,
bounded by gold-shot undulating hills. The road runs down
long slopes of flaming poppies, and beside gardens of blooming
wild roses, amid extremes of perfecUy-blended colour, to Hailen
and Jaen, and the snow-crowned Sierra Nevada which surrounds
Granada. Bailen is famous only as being the scene of the
battle in which the French, under Duport, were defeated by
94 Impressiojis of Spain.
the Spanish forces led by Castanos. Jaen, or Gien, the Arab
word for fertiHty, is delightfully situated amid a jumble of
mountains which are covered with luxuriant vegetation. Under
the Moors it was a petty independent kingdom; but its ancient
walls and its castle, which stands like a sentinel commanding
the gorge of the mountain approach from Granada, have been
almost entirely destroyed, and its own formidable bulwarks are
reduced to a single gate. Jaen, like Baeza, surrendered to the
victorious St. Ferdinand in the Xlllth century, and the two
towns conjointly form the see of a Bishop.
^olc^o an^ (^ol^ova,
SPAIN is a country that has never laid aside the sword, or
cast off her armour. Her martial spirit is lulled to rest, but
its memory is kept alive in the frowning battlements, the gaunt
fortresses that crown each peopled eminence, and guard the
approaches of its ancient, war-scarred cities. Imperial Toledo,
" the crown of Spain, the light
of the world, free from the time
of the mighty Goths," as Padilla
describes it, is a rock built upon
a rock 1,820 feet above the sea.
It is a mighty citadel, almost en-
girdled by the rushing Tagus, and
armed at every point by massive
Moorish masonry — solid, venerable,
invincible. Toledo, in the heyday
of its history, contained, beside
the cathedral, one hundred and
ten churches, thirty-four hospitals,
a university, and four colleges.
Toledo, or Toledoth, the Hebrew
"city of generations," has now only
fifty-nine churches ; its hospitals have been reduced to four ;
its fame as a seat of learning is a tale that is told. John
Lomas, m^ wrote of this city that it " never had rest until
it entered into the tomb; blighted, but not destroyed. There
CHURCH OK SANTA MAKIA I)E
LA BLANCA, TOLEDO.
96
Impressions of Spain.
is the old Toledo yet, simply fossilised — a theatre with the
a(?tors gone and the scenery left. But the curtain will never
be drawn up again, or the music re-commence. Rome may
play the wanton with each succeeding age, and deck herself
out in obedience to every passing fashion. But Toledo — ?
She is at least faithful to the dead past. The liveliest imagina-
tion cannot picflure her as a creature of to-day, a receptive pupil
of nineteenth century science and improvement. And so she
keeps her old ways : her old tongue, thank heaven ! knowing
nothing of the mixed dialects and slang that mark off progress ;
her old narrow streets and solid buildings that are so beautifully
fitted for defence, intrigue, and shelter, and would spell ruin to
any enterprising company
that should attempt to
adapt them to the require-
ments of the new life that
has come into the world.
She has been poked at —
twice — by inquisitive,
bustling railroads, without
the slightest elecRirifying
results. So she retains her
old Soko, and will have
nought to do with the corredl; Plaza de la Constitucion, her old
stern inconveniences and her old traditions."
In many respects the foregoing is a faithful picture of Toledo
of to-day. But will the curtain never be drawn up again ? Will
the music never re-commence ? I may be wrong, but I cannot
share this opinion. Writing eighteen years after Mr. Lomas, I
have been privileged to find his prognostications already proving
incorrect. The power and virility upon which Spain built up her
greatness may slumber for awhile; but even in the fastnesses
THE VISAGRA GATE, TOLEDO.
c,
Toledo.
THE HIGH ALTAR, TOLKPO CATIIKHKAL.
Toledo and Cordova.
97
of the Castilian mountains it has never died. The machinery
of the curtain of the theatre of Toledo is a trifle rusty, the
pulleys are jambed from long disuse ; but that curtain is rising
steadily if slowly, and already I can hear the tuning up of fiddles
in its ancient orchestra. The ancient spirit still burns in the
Toledans, and the ancient prosperity of their city is surely
recovering itself. Since 1884 much re-building has been done,
and more is in progress ; whilst new and handsome shops are
seen in the principal thoroughfares where an increase of
population and traffic is apparent.
But one must live in such a city
as Toledo in order to appreciate the
changes that are being wrought in
her. The casual visitor cannot hope
to detect the specks of modernity in
this vast temple of the anticjue. Its
ancient grandeur is comparatively
impervious to the pretty wiles of
modern improvement. One's eyes
wander from the newly-built em-
poriums to the immensity of its
enduring monuments, and one's
mind flings back instinctively into the
past, out of which they arose to defy
the hand of Time himself. And so the majority of book-makers,
who take Spain for their subject, overlook the present condition
of the country; the instant life that rushes before their eyes
escapes their notice. And, indeed, it requires an effort, even on
the part of a shrewd and unetnotional observer, to stand beneath
the shadow of the ruins of the old Alcazar and keep one's mind
from slipping backwards into the history of a city which
presents an epitome of the principal arts, religions, and race-
g8 Impressions of Spain.
lives which have dominated the world for the last two thousand
years. This was the theatre in which grim tragedy was ever
played, where waves of strife, rapine, and misfortune swept
remorselessly across its stage in constant succession ; where
Jew and Roman, Goth and Moor in turn played their stern parts.
Here the voice of the Goth echoes amid Roman ruins, and the
step of the Christian treads on the heel of the Moor. Here are
palaces without nobles, churches without congregations, walks
without people ; and over all that silence which is so peculiar
to the ancient cities of Spain. Before England was, Toledo had
been.
In a city which holds one spellbound by its past, it must be
difficult for the present to make headway. Wormann has well
described Toledo as " a gigantic open-air museum of the
architectural history of early Spain, arranged upon a lofty and
conspicuous table of rock ;" and Street has declared : " Few
cities I have ever seen can compete in artistic interest with it ;
and none, perhaps, come up to it in the singular magnificence
of its situation, and the endless novelty and picturesqueness of
its every corner." And the grandeur is emphasised by the
silence that serves to enhance the awe that the place inspires in
the heart of the visitor. Such occasional sounds as are heard
echo along the narrow streets, and turn innumerable corners,
and the noise of a passing horse reverberates like the clatter of
a charging squadron. But horses are few, and carriages are very
far between, for the ascents of Toledo are formidable, and its
turnings are endless. One must be resident in the city for
months in order to learn its topography: the visitor must
engage a guide, or be prepared to make a dozen inquiries on a
journey from the Hotel de Castilla to the Cathedral. It is a
maze built of masonry; an ideal place in which to lose oneself.
One can walk for miles through these stone passages and make
TOLhDO.
ALCANTARA DOOR AND BRIDGE.
THE CATHEDRAL.
ALCANTARA GATE.
Toledo and Cordova.
99
but little progress, and zig-zag among the same houses for
hours. Without a guide it is possible to live for weeks in
Toledo and yet not see one quarter of the city. Hut, with an
THE CATHEDRAL, TOLE
obliging cicerone to lead one about, the " Spanish Rome " may
be superficially exammed in a few days.
Special admirers of ecclesiastic sculpture and architectural
detail will find in the famous cathedral of Toledo not one, but
several weeks of stud\- and enjo\nient laid out for them. To
attempt even a general survey of its marvels would be impos-
100 Impressions of Spain.
sible in a volume of this size and design, and I must refer the
antiquarian to Seiior Parro's exhaustive book on Toledo. In
this work of 1,550 pages, one half is devoted to the cathedral,
which is justly considered one of the most beautiful in the
world. It is situated in the very heart of the city, around which
cluster multitudinous churches and convents. So closely do the
surrounding buildings press upon it, that no free view of the
structure can be obtained, and one passes with a feeling of infinite
relief from the congested vicinity of the exterior into the broad
quietude, the lonely shade, and the austere gravity of the interior.
I am told that it would take a week to minutely examine the
high altar ; it would take as long to inspeft the accumulation
of treasures in the sacristy — treasures of silver and gold, of
pearls, rubies, and diamonds, sufficient, it is said, to entirely
replenish the exchequer of Spain. The frescoed ceiling by Luca
Giordano is the best in Spain ; while pictures by Franceso
Bassano, Giovanni Bellini, Titian, Rubens, Goya, Guercino,
Van Dyck, and Carlo Maratta are to be seen on every side.
Through the beautiful Oriental-looking cloister garden, with its
shade of great trees, its grove, and its mass of luxurious verdure,
one arrives at the bell-tower, from which one can enjoy a
magnificent view of the city and the surrounding country.
But an even finer panoramic view of Toledo is to be obtained
from one of the four great towers of the Alcazar. Involuntarily
one catches one's breath, and pays a silent tribute of amazed
admiration as the spectacle discloses itself to view. From this
vantage ground, every street, and turning, and detail of the city
is revealed, with the cathedral rising like a mountain of granite
in the midst of it. The statues on the terrace of San Juan de
los Reyes look like dolls, the houses like dolls' houses, and the
horses like huge beetles climbing the tiny alleys. Towers and
fortifications lie below us. A little further off, near the Puente de
Toledo.
GENERAL VIEW OF THE CHOIR-STALLS, TOLEDO CATHEDRAL.
1^
INTERIOR OF TOLEDO CATHEDRAL.
'I'oledo and Cordova.
lOI
Alcantara, are the ruins of the old Castillo de San Servando ;
and beycMid and around has the great green plain, stretching
outwards to the distant rocks and mountains. At the foot of the
city, and almost surrounding it, runs the River Tagus.
No finer panegyric has been written on this mighty River
Tagus than Ford's description of its poetical and picturesque
course : " First green and arrowy, amid the yellow cornfields of
New Castile, then freshening the sweet Tempe of Aranjue^,
clothing the gardens with verdure, and filling the nightingale-
tenanted glens with groves : then
boiling and rushing around the
granite ravines of rock-built Toledo,
4, hurrying to escape from the cold
H « » '_ ^^^^ shadow of its deep prison, and
H ffl^ li^^^?~!?^5j dashing joyously into light and
H UEI BnHi^^^^-^a liberty, to wander far away into
silent plains, and on to Talavera,
»T- BmB^H where its waters were dyed with
.-^^fH^^eP ■" li'^Si brave blood, and gladly reflected the
flash of the viftorious bayonets of
England — triumphantly it rolls
thence, under the shattered arches
of Almaraz, down to desolate Estre-
madura, and in a stream as tranquil
as the azure sky by which it is curtained, yet powerful enough
to force the mountains at Alcantara. There the bridge of
Trajan is worth going a hundred miles to see : it stems the
fierce, condensed stream, and ties the rocky gorges together:
grand, simple, and solid, tinted by the tender colours of seven-
teen centuries, it looms like the gray skeleton of Roman
power, with all the sentiment of loneliness, magnitude, and the
interest of the past and present. How stern, solemn, and
ST. MARTIN S BRIDGE,
TOLEDO.
102 luipressions of Spain.
striking is this Tagus of Spain ! No commerce has ever made
it its highway — no Enghsh steamer has ever civilised its waters
like those of France and Germany. Its rocks have witnessed
battles, not peace : have refle(5ted castles and dungeons, not
quays, or warehouses : few cities have risen on its banks, as on
those of the Thames and Rhine : it is truly a river of Spain —
that isolated and solitary land. Its waters are without boats,
its banks without life : man has never laid his hand upon its
CHURCH OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES, COURTYARD, TOLEDO.
billows, nor enslaved their free and independent gambols."
The old Alcazar, which occupies the highest ground in
Toledo, is of Roman origin, and was used by the Visigoths as a
citadel. The Cid resided here after the capture of the city by
Alfonso VI., and it was converted into a palace by the saintly
Ferdinand and the learned Alfonso. It was burned down in
the war of Spanish Succession in 1710, was restored by Cardinal
Lorenzana in 1772, was burned by the French in 1810, and in
Toledo and Cordova. 103
1887 it was gutted by a third conflagration. To-day it is
utilised as a Military Academy for the education of officers for
the Spanish infantry. /The Archbishop's Palace, the Hospital
of Santa Cruz, the Moorish Mosque, the Town Hall, the
Synagogue of Santa Maria la Blanca, and the Church of San
Juan de los Reyes, which looks more like a royal palace than a
church, are but '^ few of the many sights that Toledo has to
offer to the leisured visitor. To the traveller, whose time is
limited, as was mine when I stayed there, she leaves an
impression of greatness, grandeur, and melancholy which one
does not, and would not, lightly lose.
From Toledo I proceeded direcft to Cordova, because, in my
mind, the two cities were linked together by the broad band of
longevity, and I desired to see them both in the same mood
cycle. So, while the atmosphere of Toledan greatness was still
hot in my veins, I hastened across the broad, bare, sandy plains
of the celebrated Mancha — the immortal theatre of the adven-
tures of Don Ouixote — past Argasamilla — where Don Quixote
was born, and died, and where his great creator, Cervantes, was
imprisoned for debt — across the Sierra Morena to the land of the
valley of the Guadalquiver — " the garden of Spain, the Eden of
the Arabs, the paradise of poets and painters" — to Andalucia.
Thenceforward there are no more rocks, but fields now studded,
now hidden by flowers — flowers, flowers all the way — carpet
after carpet of purple, gold, and snow-white flowers, poppies,
daisies, lilies, wild mushrooms, and ranunculuses. Then, as we
are carried deeper into the bosom of the south, we are met
with grain and orange groves, olive groves, and green hillsides,
vineyards, and fruit trees. First a few Moorish towers and
many-coloured houses, then on the hills of the Sierra Nevada
clusters of villas and gardens, then a perfumed air scented with
rose leaves, an enchanted garden, and — Cordova.
104
Iiiipressious of Spain.
Cordova is as different a place from Toledo as Monte Carlo
is from Manchester. Toledo, sombre, austere, overpowering in
its impressive solemnity ; and Cordova, gay, vivacious, flashing^
its pervading whitewash in the sunshine beneath the clearest sky
in Europe. And yet Cordova is one of the most ancient of
cities ; its record of all the races that have fought for it, made
it, died for it during twenty centuries, are visible on every side.
A thousand years ago it boasted upwards of a million inhabi-
;ridge and cathedral, curdova.
tants, three hundred mosques, nine hundred baths, and six
hundred fondas. Its cathedral was formerly a mosque : before
that it had been a basilica : and it had commenced life as a
Roman temple dedicated to Janus. The Carthagenians styled
the city the " Gem of the South." Caesar half destroyed it, and
slaughtered 28,000 of its inhabitants, because it had sided with
Pompey. Under the Goths its importance diminished ; but it
became, under the Moors, the Athens of the West, and was the
Toledo.
^i'lrf^^"-
lETAKLO, SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES CHURCH.
THE LION DOOR, TOLEDO CATHEDRAL
^EPULCIIKI OK >
TOLEDO CATHKl'KAL.
INTERIOR, SAN JUAN DE LUS KEVES CHURCH.
Toledo and Cordova. 105
successful rival of Bagdad and Damascus as a seat of learning,
and the centre of European civilisation. It was the birthplace
of Seneca, Lucan, Averroes, and Juan de Mena, the Chaucer of
Spain ; and here, in the Church of San Nicolas, Gonzalo de
Cordova, the great captain of Spain, was baptised.
I-^To-day Cordova is no more than an overgrown village in
size and rank, a village with open-air market-places, and
winding, uneven streets. Theophile Gautier wrote, in his
delightful. graphic style of the streets of Cordova, that "they
have a more thoroughly African appearance than those of any
other town in Spain. One threads one's way between inter-
minable whitewashed walls, their scanty windows guarded by
heavy iron bars, over a pebbly pavement so rough that it is like
the bed of a torrent, littered with straw from the burdens of
innumerable donkeys." These streets are traversed by happy,
light-hearted people, who would seem to have no memory of the
past, and no thought for the morrow. But the city contains a
mosque which gives one a better idea of the power and magni-
ficence of the Moors than anything else in Spain, not excepting
even the Alhambra. This wondrous Arab temple — huge,
wonderful, fairy-like in its Eastern gorgeousness — with its
thousand marble columns, is unique in beaut}' as it is in curious
detail. It is said that these columns were brought, already
shaped, from various centres of the old civilised world —
Carthage, Constantinople, Alexandria, Nimes, and Narbonne —
while others came from the marble quarries of the Sierra Morena,
from Loja and Cadiz. Black, gray, dark green, and dull red in
colour, they stretch out on every side, and form a seemingly
boundless forest of marble pillars.
Concerning the impression made by this many-columned
mosque, Gautier says: "You appear to be walking about in a
roofed forest rather than in a building : whichever direction you
io6
Impressions of Spain.
turn to, your eye strays along rows of columns, which cross each
other, and lengthen out endlessly, like marble trees that have
risen spontaneously from the soil." De Amicis has written of
it in similar terms : " Imagine a forest ; fancy yourself in the
thickest portion of it, and that you can see nothing but trunks
of trees. So, in this mosque, on whichever side you look, the
eye loses itself among the columns. It is a forest of marble,
whose confines one cannot discover." It stands, this dazzling
Mezquita, in the centre of the Court of Orange Trees, whose
rows were planted to correspond with the lines of the columns in
the mosque. Above the dark, shining foliage and flame-colour
_^^^^^^ fruit rises the creamy deli-
Ifc^ T#^-?Sp ^rftjHHlGBJ cate belfry-tower, rival of
T^ \i.j' ^H 1 C \g;^SMw' :M Sevilla's Giralda.
Some day, when "the
wandering footsteps of my
life " take me again to
Spain, I shall go to Cor-
dova, and seek out this
Patio de los Naranjos; and
among its pleasant fount-
ains, and its blithsome,
indolent gossipers, I shall recall the impressions of my former
visit. And, if possible, I shall again visit the city in May.
The guide-books warn the traveller against going there in
that month, when the annual fair is held. I know that fair,
as the suspicious Brother Goldfinch used to say, with its booths
erefted under the trees, its band and its coloured lanterns, its
dear dates and its cigar lotteries, its gaiety, its gaudy mantillas,
its laughing, dark-eyed girls and gesticulating men, and its
culminating display of fireworks. I know it, and I can conceive
no reason why the guide-book makers should endeavour to
CORDO\'A.
CllOIK STALLS, CDKDOVA CATHKDKAL
GENERAL INTKKIOK VIEW, COKDcAA CATIU
THE PRIM MEMORIAL, BARCELONA
Toledo and Cordova. 107
deprive other visitors of the enjoyment I got out of the innocent
and exhilarating experience.
Everything about Cordova — the streets, the squares, the
houses, with their patios — are small, lovely, mysterious, and
Eastern. The ground-work is white — white and smooth are
the walls and the houses — but the detail is a blaze of colours —
roses, aod oranges, and pinks forming a colour scheme of
Nature's own designing. The youthful gaiety of the town has
overgrown its ancient might and sombreness, even as gay
flowers, burst from between the ancient stones of a ruined castle.
It has a charm that fills the heart with a sad pleasure ; a
mysterious spell that one cannot resist. The cathedral is a
fortress from without, but within it is a palace of enchantment ;
the town is a citadel become a pleasure garden ; it is a museum
of Roman and Arabian antiquities, peopled with blithesome
men and women. Within a mile or two of Cordova once
flourished Medina Az-zahra, which was one of the most mar-
vellous works of architecture, the most superb earthly palace,
and the most delicious garden in the world, and Zahira, built by
the powerful Almansur, the governor of the kingdom. Both
these superb cities have been destroyed, and not even the ruins
are to be foimd.
SOME of the oldest and most truly national citieaj of, Spain
are situated in the two Castiles — silent cities peopled by silent
men, in the midst of a mountainous, silent country. It is no
Hght thing to bear the stamp of Castile. The men, reserved, well
bred, loyal, and proud, carry their Castilian origin in their faces,
their habits, and their cast of mind ; and the cities are Castilian
in their strength and their uncompromising severity. One
sees it in the Toledo of New Castile, and finds it in the Burgos
of the older province. Burgos, a representative Gothic Castilian
city, was long the capital of the kingdom of Castile and Leon,
and its cathedral ranks among the finest in Spain. What
voyager that crosses the Pyrenees is not acquainted with Burgos
Cathedral ? The train that hurls the traveller across the moun-
tainous boundary dumps him in Burgos, and being there, he
proceeds forthwith to inspe(5t the Cathedral. He is, it may be
assumed, new to Spain, the Spanish cathedrals have the charm
of novelty, and the first one he visits he does thoroughly.
Unless he is an architect, or an archaeologist, he will expend
over this first specimen of the Peninsula's religious edifices an
amount of enthusiasm that would, if properly apportioned, carry
him with interest round all the cathedrals of Spain. As an
illustration of this contention I may mention the experience of an
American whom I encountered in Seville. He was enthusiastic
about the bull-fighting, delighted with the Alcazar, and fasci-
nated with the Sevillian patios ; but when I spoke to him of the
cathedral, he replied, in an off-hand manner and a shrug of the
The Castiles.
log
shoulders: "Oh, I haven't seen it, except from the outside. I
got so full up of cathedrals at Hurgos that I haven't been inside
another."
Burgos Cathedral is certainly a magnificent specimen to get,
to quote my American acquaintance, "full up on." Although
by no means large in comparison with many others in Spain, it
appears to fill half the town. In addition to its conspicuousness
and inviting aspecft, it is the principal surviving monument to
Ji !i h
p:
THE CATHEDRAL FROM THE CASTLE. BL'RGO
the ancient wealth and grandeur of the province, and one of the
most beautiful strud\ures in Europe. It was begun in I22i,and
it was not finished till 1567, so that the period of its ere(5tion
extends over three centuries and a-half, during which Gothic
architedture passed through its successive stages in what we
regard as Early English, Decorated, and Perpendicular. The
exterior is greatly admired for the variety and richness of its
outline, which embraces a whole forest of pinnacles, spires, and
no Impressions of Spain.
towers ; but unfortunately it is so hemmed in with houses that
it is not easy to find a point from which the eye can take in the
whole sweep of the building from one end to the other. The
Capilla del Condestable, the most interesting portion of the
interior, might vie, for elevation and spaciousness of proportion,
with many a church ; while its magnificent tombs, profusion of
sculpture and other decoration, combined with its general
sumptuousness, render it worthy to be the sepulchre of kings.
Burgos, like all other Spanish cathedrals, or all that I have
visited, abounds in magnificent iron-work, a department of art
which appears to have been cultivated with more ease in this
country than in all the rest of Christendom. Almost every
chapel (and some cathedrals contain no fewer than twenty) is
fenced about by grilles of most graceful design and admirable
workmanship ; while the high altar is enclosed on two sides by
railings, and in front by gates of the same material, each portion
being a perfedl marvel of the metal-worker's art. Some of these
gates stand thirty feet high ; and when constructed of iron, as is
usually the case, are not only richly gilt, so as to convey the
effect of light and shade, but covered in addition with profuse
ornamentation and heraldic devices.
There is a Christ in Burgos Cathedral — the Christ it is called
in Burgos — and it is claimed for it that it bleeds every Friday.
It hangs behind a curtain over the altar in one of the chapels.
When the curtain was drawn, I expelled to see a figure of
painted wood or marble, such as one sees elsewhere, and the
spe(?tacle filled me with horror. For this effigy is covered with
skin, and is so terribly real that one recoils from it involuntarily.
The beard, the hair, and the lashes are real, the hair is matted
with clots of blood, the wounds gape in the side and the hands,
and the pose is a marvel of realism. It has well been designated
''the Christ " — to see it is to lose all desire to look upon it again.
The Castiles. ill
In one of the rooms of the old sacristy the visitor is shown
the broken and worm-eaten coffer m which the Cid carried his
treasure in his wars against the Moors. The Cid, it would appear,
was the original exponent of the confidence trick. Being in need
of ready money, he filled the coffer with metal and stones, and
pawned it to a Jewish usurer, making a stipulation that it
should not be opened until the loan was repaid. Seeing that the
Cid would, in all probability, have kept the trick to himself if he
had redeemed the goods, we may assume that he never paid his
debt. People have been fillingportmanteaus with bricks and living
at hotels on the good faith of their worthless luggage ever since.
But Burgos, though magnificent in its cathedral and severe
as a judge by temperament, is somewhat like an ancient and
irrepressible comedian in appearance. Its situation, on the slope
of the mountain is sufficiently impressive; its narrow, winding
streets are serious and unresponsive in characl:er; but its colour-
ing is strangely genial, even to the verge of facetiousness. No
two houses together are of the same colour; but orange arxl blue,
red and grey and green confront the eye from doors, and railing,
and windows, and from every bit of decoration that can bear
its dollop of paint. No design is allowed to restricft the freedom
of the artist's fancy ; the paints are daubed on irrespedtive of all
the laws of colour harmony, and without any reference to the
feelings of the family that live over the way. But the effed:!: is
decidedly cheerful and waggish, and the cathedral uprears its
head in the midst of it like a Salvini in the middle of a crowd
of Gaiety choristers. The silence of Burgos arises in part from
the lack of vehicular traffic, and, in a measure, from the scarcity
of women to be seen in the streets. Such ladies as are about
keep their eyes to themselves, and pass along unheedful of the
signs of life about them. But in the security of their miradores,
or high-balconied windows, they regard mankind with perfect
112 Impressions of Spain.
composure and entire freedom. So long as the beauty of Burgos
can only be contemplated by throwing back the head and gazing
up at "skied" windows, it is not a bad thing that carriages
should be few and far between.
La Granja wakes up for three months in the year, viz., in
July, August, and September, when the Court seeks in the
altitude of the Palace a relief from the heat of the capital.
Madrid has no reason to be ashamed of her elevation, but the
Royal Residence of La Granja stands nearly 1,500 feet above
the Palace of Madrid, and the Spanish people are well pleased
that the King should desire so exalted a spot in which to live.
The palace is a cheerful, if theatrical-looking French chateau, the
antithesis of the severe Madrid palace, or the proud, gloomy
Escorial. The interior is pretty rather than magnificent ;
agreeable rather than impressive. But if French art has reared
the building, the natural surroundings are truly Spanish, and
unmistakably Castilian. Around the palace on all sides are
rocks, and forests, and crystal streams, and adjoining it are the
palace gardens, which are at once among the finest, as they are
certainly the most costly in the kingdom. These gardens, which
cover an area of 360 acres, are an imitation, on a smaller scale,
of the gardens of Versailles. The formal cut of the ground plan,
the regularity of its avenues, the artificiality of the numerous
fountains, marble vases and statuary, and its dwarf-like vegeta-
tions is all in striking contrast with the wild scenery on every
side. In order to form these grounds, rocks were levelled
and bored for the water pipes to feed the fountains, and
hollowed to admit the roots of trees. One fountain — the Baiios
— which shoots up water to a height of 130 feet, cost Philip V.
three millions of pesetas (over ^£'100,000), but that monarch con-
fessed that the display had amused him for three minutes. The
cost of the gardens alone reached the enormous total of forty-
The Castiles.
113
five million pesetas ; and on the death of Philip \'. his debts were
found to be within a couple of pesetas of that amount.
After the magnificent scenery of the Alpine Nava Cerrada,
the chain of pine-clad mountain and the road, indescribably
beautiful, that winds through the dark woods to Li Granja, the
6 miles that still separate the traveller from Segovia are flat and
uninteresting. Hut the dull, bare country changes as if by magic
when a sharp corner is turned and the city bursts upon the view.
iEGOVlA — A
The first sight of Segovia from La Granja fills one with a thrill of
rapturous awe. The rocky gorge, by which the cit\- is approached,
is spanned by Trajan's noble aqueduct ; and beyond it, from the
bosom of a soft, green vale, rises the rocky ridge upon which the
fine old Castilian stronghold commands the surrounding country.
The prospect is indescribably impressive, and one fears that the
magic of the spectacle will disappear as we near it. Hut in this
oneisagreeably'disappointed. The drive under the hugeaqueducft
114
Impressions of Spain.
gives one a momentary flash of realisation of the might of its
Roman builders ; and then the road struggles ever upwards,
past red, sunlit plazas and curiously-fronted houses, beneath
nodding roofs and under archways, into the Plaza Mayor, over
which lies the shadow of the grim Gothic cathedral. The
wonderful fairy-like " Puente del Diablo," with its 320 arches,
which rise, tier upon tier, to a height of 102 feet, is constructed
of granite, without cement or lime. It is indeed a lasting
monument to the enterprise, the resolution, and the architec-
tural genius of its creators. The
great cathedral, one of the largest
in Spain, the old /Vlcazar which
successfully stood out against the
plundering Comuneros who sacked
the city in 1520, and the eighteen
lesser churches, are for antiquarians
and ecclesiologists : but the aqueduct
is a separate ecstacy that appeals
alike to the layman and the expert.
Although it has points in common
with Segovia, Cuenca, and all these
ancient cities of Castile, Avila, the
home of the saint-like Teresa, Spain's
lady patroness, with its granite approach and its massive granite
walls, its memories, its fortified cathedral, and its severe
menacing air, is as well worthy a visit as any city in Spain.
The Avila of to-day is the Avila of a thousand years ago — a
mediaeval wall-girt city. Its frowning ramparts wear a strangely
forbidding appearance, and its countenance is an index of its
character. Protected by walls forty feet high and twelve feet
thick, pierced by ten gateways, and studded by no less than
eighty-six towers, commanding at every point the plain below,
NATIVE OF SEGOV:
The Castiles.
115
it stood from its foundation, until the era of artillery, a city
imprej^nable. Local tradition has it that Avila was originally
called Abula, after the mother of Hercules, and it is not incon-
gruous to associate this brave old fortress town with all the heroes
of mythology. The earliest authentic records of the city date back
to B.C. 1660. The cathedral, dedicated to San Salvador, the
Prince of Peace, reminds one of the futile voice that cries
"Peace, peace," where there is no peace. Nor did Alva Garcia,
its archite(5t, gamble on its peace prospecfts : for its strong
cimborio was evidently built for defence, and its apse, with
castellated machicolation?, forms one of the towers of the city
walls. Vvoxn the general charad\er of the cathedral it is evident
that although it was commenced in a.d. logi, it was not com-
pleted until the early part of the thirteenth century, and it is
much disfigured by some poor patchwork restoration. Don
Ramon of Burgundy, who rebuilt the citv at the same time as
ii6
Impressions of Spain.
the cathedral, endeavoured to secure peace by preparing for war,
and the old church was pressed into the defence of the town.
The "Royal City" or Ciudad-Real is a fledgling among the
cities of Castile, being little more than 650 years old. It was styled
"royal" by Juan II. in 1420, and Cervantes called it "imperial,"
and " the seat of the god of smiles." Ciudad-Real may, in the
days of Ferdinand and Isabella, have worn a regal appearance,
but the touch of a hand that is dead no linger lingers about this
dull, poverty-stricken, backward town. The cathedral is vast,
bare, and uninteresting; and when it has been hurried through,
there is nothing else of interest to detain one in Ciudad-Real.
Quite recently the tower of the cathedral partially collapsed,
damaging, but happily only to a slight extent, in its fall, the
beautiful dome of the building. The authorities, with com-
mendable promptitude, engaged a small army of workmen, and
at considerable risk removed the rest of the dangerous portion,
The Castiles.
119
and prevented further injury to the dome. As the tower was
regarded in the Hght of a national monument, a proposal to
rebuild it is now under consideration. Within ten miles of
the city is Almaden, a town that boasts no antiquity, and refled\s
not the shadow of a departed glory, but rather provides the
substance of a matter-of-facl to-day. For at Almaden, on the
confines of La Mancha, Estremadura, and Andalucia, is the
great and apparently inexhaustible quicksilver mine, which is
one of the few real sources of diredl: income to the State. These
CUENCA — VIEW FROM SAN JUAN HILL.
mines are Crown property ; and of the ;^250,ooo worth of the
mineral which Almaden produces annually, a profit of £"160,000
goes to the Government.
Rock-girt Cuenca is more picfturesquely situated than either
Ronda, or Granada, or even Monserrat. It is built on a granite
height, the base of which is girdled by two graceful rivers, the
Huecar and the Jucar, that run their green courses through the
most luxuriant of valleys, filled with paths and groves of hand-
Impressions of Spain.
some trees. Terraced fruit gardens, rising like a grand staircase
of verdure, stretch up to the perpendicular rock columns on one
side of the city; and on the other it is guarded by abrupt, wild
crags that fringe it in a hundred weird forms, their nakedness
being modified, like the points of Monserrat, by hchens, ivy and
other trailing vines.
O^i From the city one
^-'*'' looks across the
river-washed valley,
over the line of cliffs
that merge into the
distant mountains,
and compose a scene
of grandeur and
loveliness, of slope,
and precipice, and
fairy-like verdure —
a scene as grand
and beautiful as one
shall find in Spain.
Time was when
Cuenca was known
to the world by its
literature, its arts,
(^uENCA. ^"*^ ^ts manufacures;
to-day it is no more
than a back-cloth, a spedlacle, an empty stage. Its trade has
deserted it ; its artists and authors have never been replaced.
Time was when its mountains were the fastnesses in which
the brave Celtiberians waged their desperate guerilla warfare
against the Romans ; to-day the Idubedan ranges are devoid
of the vigorous spirit of either Roman or Celtiberian. The
The Castiles. 121
race of rich traders who peopled these localities in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries is extinct. The beautiful pinares de
Cnenca still remain with their immemorial glades and rocks,
their wild poetical scenery, and their myriad squirrels. All that
is left to Cuenca is its history and its beauty, and if its history
was great, its beauty is even greater and more enduring.
(Brana^a an^ the Blhanibra.
To the majority of travellers who visit Spain the Alhambra
is Granada. They visit the city in order to see the
wonders of the old Moorish palace, and unless they can spend
many months in the neighbourhood they have no time to see
anything else. A celebrated French artist declared that a man
might worthily devote a life-time to the study of the Alhambra.
Washington Irving, who lived for six years in Spain, and nearly
the whole of it in Granada, complained, in 1829, that the
Alhambra had been so often described that little remained to be
said. Irving added to the literature of the subject his great
and fascinating work, and it might have been thought that with
this book the last word had been spoken. Hundreds of thou-
sands of words in all languages have been written since then
about the Alhambra, and yet I am not deterred from adding my
few pages to the pile. There are many sights, like moonlight
on running water, or the dancing shadows of feathery trees on
a lawn, or the Hall of the Two Sisters in the Alhambra, which
inspire one with cacoethes scnbendi, and the mania is not to be
resisted.
Granada, which has been called the city of running waters,
is another monument of Spain's decayed glories. Under the
Moors it boasted a population of half-a-million inhabitants;
to-day it has but little more than a tenth of that number. There
must have been more virility in the district under the Romans,
who ever congregated where wealth was obtainable, and who
reaped a rich harvest by washing the gold in the sands of the
Granada.
TRANSEI'T AND HK.
,nadX cathedral.
Granada and the Alhambra. 123
Darro. To-day this vast source of revenue is pra(5tically
neglecfted; although, after the rains, a number of gold-fishers
may be seen puddling in its eddies. The beautiful and mag-
nificent cathedral, the burial place of the Catholic kings of
mediaeval Spain, the religious monuments — the superb Cartoja,
the Montesacro, containing the grottos of the martyrs, the tomb
of Gonzales di Cordova in the Church of San Geronimo, the
Convents of St. Dominie and of the Angels — and, above all, the
Alhambra, remain to link the city with its mighty past, but the
only living survival of its ancient acftivity is represented by the
sand washers on the banks of the Darro. Granada has gone to
sleep. She is content to doze in the midst of her beautiful
gardens, encircled by her noble mountains, rejoicing in the
fruits that a fertile ground grows of its own accord — content in
her idleness and the variet}- of her beauty. If she is reproved
upon her condition, she replies with a yawn, and says, as a witty
Italian writer puts it : "I gave to Spain the painter Alonzo
Cano, the poet Luis de Leon, the historian Fernando de Castillo,
the sacred orator Luis de Granada, and the minister Martinez
de la Rosas ; I have paid my debt ; leave me in peace ! "
So the visitor leaves sleepy Granada in peace in the hollow,
and breasts the hill, on the summit of which the Alhambra
mounts guard over the city. From the distance it presents, as
do so many Oriental palaces, the appearance of a fortress, and
the approach is so planned that one comes right under the
shadow of its walls without obtaining another view of it. A
curve in the road brings one suddenly at the entrance to a
grove, the trees of which are so thickly planted that a man may
scarcely pass between them, and their mighty branches inter-
lacing overhead defy the sun to penetrate their foliage. An
avenue pierces this park of verdure ; the shade is deep, but the
air is soft and fragrant with the perfume of flowers ; and at the
124 Impressions of Spain.
end we stand before a large square tower, dark coloured and
crowned with battlements, and entered by an arched door. It
is dowdy, commonplace, and unimpressive, but it is the Door
of Justice, the principal entrance to the Alhambra. But if the
visitor feels a shock of disappointment at this first close
acquaintance with the world-famed strufture, it will certainly
not be allayed when, having passed through the gateway and
ascended an embanked road, he is brought up before a great
ruined palace in the style of the Renaissance, beyond which stand
some miserable-looking little houses. The palace was eredted
by that arch-vandal, Charles V., who, to his everlasting shame,
planted a Gothic Church in the middle of the Mosque at Cor-
dova. The Alhambra has had its full share of vicissitudes and
desecrations. For a number of years it was inhabited by smugglers
and vagabonds, the French soldiers stabled their horses there
during their occupation, earthquakes have visited it, and a gun-
powder explosion destroyed some of the ceilings, but it remained
for Charles V. to outstrip the earthquake and the invading
armies in the work of ignorant spoliation. "But this," one
inquires, aghast, "this rubbishly palace is not the Alhambra?"
It is a relief to be reassured that it is not ; but the consolation is
changed to amazement when one learns that the Alhambra itself
is contained among the wretched hovels that lie beyond. But the
suspense is nearly at an end ; there is a little door to be entered,
a little courtyard to be crossed, and one is in the marvellous
apartment, which is at once a hall, a courtyard, and a garden —
the Court of the Myrtles. Two rows of Moorish arches, upheld
by light columns, stretch out on the right of the entrance one
above the other, while a tower rises on the opposite side ; and in
the centre, extending right across the width of the patio, is a
large redlangular basin of water, which refle(51:s, as in a mirror,
the arches and arabesques, and the superb mosaics which
Granada and the Alhanibra.
127
ornament the walls. The deep thrill of emotion and delighted
surprise that one experiences in gazing round this beautiful
Eastern interior is repeated again and again as one proceeds
through the halls and courts of this fairy palace. Moorish patios,
with every variety of mosaic marble columns, fountains, and
llowers, may be seen in other cities of Spain, but here are whole
suites of courts, and gardens, and halls, vying with each other
in splendour, in regal magnificence and lavish expenditure ; while
the situation of the palace is the most romantic and pictur-
esque in Europe.
The Tower of the Ambassadors, which contains two halls,
one of which is the great Hall of the
Ambassadors, would alone earn for
the Alhambra its reputation for un-
surpassed beauty. The walls and the
ceilings are covered with an enor-
mous tracery of embroideries in the
form of garlands, roses, branches, and
leaves, so blended as to make one
magnificent whole so delicate and
intricate that the visitor could spend
hours in examining its inextricable
network, and yet gain no more than
a vague impression of its detail.
Gautier has compared these orna-
mentations to "a kind of tapestry worked into the wall itself;"
and De Amicis, employing the same simile, writes of it: "The
walls seem woven like a cloth, rich as a brocade, transparent
as lace, and veined like a leaf." The Hall of the Ambassadors
is a spacious square apartment lighted by nine arched windows,
which, by reason of the thickness of the walls, form nine alcoves,
each supported by a little marble column and surmounted by
i
'C*/x<^^^^
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W^
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-IPI
li^' -
tj
mm
L. ,
I28
Impressions of Spain.
two exquisite small arches, surmounted in their turn by two
little arched windows. The views from these windows are
entrancing ; and one turns from the handsome workmanship
of the interior to the magnificent landscape without in an ecstacy
of sensuous pleasure.
-^ The Court of Lions is one of the most beautiful edifices in
Granada, and the finest and most elegant piece of Mussulman
architecture of the Nazarite period. There is not a more
magnificent and fantastic example, in or out of Spain, on which
the artistic genius of the Arabs
might pride itself; and certainly
its builder, the famous architect
Aben Cencid, is worthy a place
with the most noted architects of
all time. Transparent arcades,
columns which have been grouped
together in large and small num-
bers m order to share the weight of
the beautiful arches and ceilings,
seven fountains, two high orna-
ments in the form of temples, which
advance majestically to relieve the
monotony of the cloisters, four
golden cupolas which gleam in the rays of the sun, eleven different
forms of arches gaudily decorated, constitute, as Don Rafael
Contreras, who restored the Alhambra, says, a magical and
delicious whole, even though seven centuries have elapsed. In
the centre of the Court is a great marble basin, surrounded
by a little paved canal, and supported by twelve lions — lions
fashioned in the strictest accordance with the injunction of the
Koran, which forbids its followers to make an image of any living
thing. A glance at these lions shows how faithfully the sculptors
ENTRANCE TO THE COURT OF LION^
'J
Granada and the Alhambra. 129
of these ill-shaped, grotestjue, ridiculous monstrosities observed
the tenets of their creed.
Perhaps the most beautiful apartment in the Alhambra is the
hall of the " Two Sisters," which, in its exuberance of orna-
mentation, richness, and variety of carving and manifold
combination of every line that can produce beauty and grace, is
beyond description. Fergusson has described it as " the most
varied and elegant apartment in the whole palace." The pro-
portions are so graceful, the colours so bright and gay, yet
subdued into such exquisite harmony that it soothes while it
enchants the eye ; and every portion, down to the tiles, bears
the stamp of such refined taste and infinite invention, that one
looks around with a sort of despairing wonderment, unable
either to classify the various objedts that challenge admiration
on every side, or to carry off anything more distinct than a
dream-like recollection, in which every element of decoration is
blended in a bewildering chaos of beauty.
The ancient Moors made art a virtue, and bathing an art.
They did not bathe from a sense of duty, but because bathing
was a luxury. Here between the Hall of the Two Sisters and
the Court of the Myrtles is the Sala de Keposo, where the
favourites of the Kings prepared themselves for their bath, or
rested themselves after it. This hall, which was restored by
Spanish artists on the ruins of the old one, is in keeping with
the rest of the palace. A fountain occupies the centre of the
apartment, alcoves are set in the multi-coloured walls, and the
atmosphere of the whole place is cool, fragrant, and delicious.
Around this hall are the little bath rooms, each bath formed out
of a solid slab of marble. The rooms are lit by means of holes
in the wall in the shape of stars and flowers, a device which
admits the glow of the sun without its rays. Soft light and
perfumes, rose-coloured curtains and music, contributed to the
130 Impressions of Spain.
sensuous delights of the Sultanas' ablutions. They may not
have been a particularly intelligent class of women, these dainty,
languid-eyed sultanas ; but they must, as an American tourist
observed, have been a "wonderfully sweet and wholesome kind
of female to have about one."
From the baths one proceeds to the Tocador de la reina (the
Queen's toilet), situated at the top of a tower from which one
obtains a magnificent view of the surrounding country. This
royal boudoir is perched on the edge of an abyss. It is open on
all sides and on all sides a sped;acle of amazing beauty is spread
out to the view. Immediately below lies the city of Granada,
the houses interspersed with groups of trees and huge bunches
of foliage which seem to fight with the buildings for every yard
of land that the hand of man has snatched from nature. Beyond
the city is an immense green plain, over which endless rows of
cypresses, pines, and oaks thread their ways amid groves of
oranges and a riot of flowers. The deep valley of the Darro is
almost hidden by the profusion of vegetation that runs right
down to the water's edge, and the silver Genii shimmers amid
the groves and gardens. Beyond the plain are the hills, their
green sides torn by the rugged boulders that thrust their way
through the trees; and to the south rise the majestic snow-capped
peaks of the Sierra Nevada, white and dazzling in summer
sunshine. The spe(5tacle is one that can never fade from the
mind ; the thrill it produces can never quite be lost.
The huge wall which surrounds the vast precincts of the
Alhambra is studded with towers which retain their original
na-mes. The Torre de las Infantas is one of the best preserved
outwardly, and presents that severity of outline which
chara(5terises the exterior of the palace, and contrasts so strongly
with the prodigal magnificence visible everywhere in the interior.
The Alhambra would be inexpressibly beautiful if it had been
The Alhambra.
THE COURT OF LIONS.
Granada and the Alhambra.
131
set up in the Arabian desert, or the wastes of Siberia ; but
situated as it is in one of the most lovely spots on earth, it
is as though the Moors had discovered Paradise and made it
habitable. I am told that there is no time in the year when"
Granada is not beautiful ; but beyond question the best time to
be there is when the song of the nightingale and the fragrance
of the orange blossom fill its groves with melody and sweetness :
when the eye, penetrating the foliage of its elm-planted alameda,
rests on the dazzling crest of Mulahacen with a sense of
refreshment, to which the contrast of green leaves and summer
snow lends an unwonted
charm: when da}' is
Elysium, and night a
dream-land of romance,
illumined by the warm
beams of a southern moon :
when the Alhambra
assumes a garb of beauty
to which, amid the glare
of noon, its courts and
bowers are strangers. At
- THK INFANTAS ToWKR
that hour, as Irving tells
us, "Every rent and chasm of time, every mouldering tint and
weather-stain, disappears. The marble resumes its original
whiteness: the long colonnades brighten in the moonbeams: the
halls are illumined with a softened radiance, until the whole edi-
fice reminds one of the enchanted palace of some Arabian tale."
Another American author, G.P. Lathrop, has acknowledged
the supreme spell of the Alhambra in a passage of remarkable
descriptive power: "When the Madonna's lamp shone bright
amid the engulfing shadows of the Tower of Justice, while its
upper half was cased in steely radiance, we passed in by Charles's
1
132 Impressions of Spain.
Palace, where the moon, shining through the roofless top, made
a row of smaller moons in the circular upper windows of the
dark gray wall. In the Court of the Pond a low, gourd-like
umbellation at the north end sparkled in diamond lustre beneath
the quivering rays ; while the whole Tower of Comares behind
it, repeated itself in the gray-green water at our feet, with a
twinkle of stars around its reversed summit — the coldness of the
moonlight on the soft, cream-coloured plaster in this warm, stilly
air is peculiarly impressive. As for sound, absolutely none is
heard but that of dripping water : nor did I ever walk through
a profounder, more ghost-like silence than that which eddied in
Lindaraxa's garden around the fountain, as it mourned in silvery
monotones of negledted grief. The moon-glare coming through
the lonely arches shaped gleaming cuirasses on the ground, or
struck the out-thrust branches of citron trees, and seemed to drip
from them again in a dazzle of crystals. . . From the Queen's
Peinador we saw long shadows from the towers thrown out over
the sleeping city, which, far below, caked together its squares
of hammered silver, dusked over by the deep gray of roofs that
did not reflect the light. But within the Hall of Ambassadors
reigned a gloom like that of the grave. Gleams of sharp radi-
ance lay in the deep embrasures without penetrating ; and at
one, the intricacies of open work above the arch were mapped
sharp figures of light on a space of jet-black floor. Another was
filled nearly to the top by the blue, wierdly-Iuminous image of
a mountain across the valley. Through all these openings I
thought the spirit of the departed would find entrance as easily
as the footless night breeze. I wonder if the people who lived
in this labyrinth of art ever smiled ? In the palpitating dark,
robed men and veiled women seemed to steal by with a rustle
no louder than that of their adtual movement in life : silk
hangings hung floating from the walls : scented lamps shed their
bki^
Granada and the Alhainhra.
133
beams at nionients throufj;h the obscurity, and I saw the j^'leani
of enainelled swords, the shine of bronze candlesticks, the blur
of coloured vases in the corners : the kasidas, of which poetry-
loving monarchs turned the pages. But in such a place I could
not imagine laughter. I felt inclined to prostrate myself in the
darkness before I knew not what power of bygone, yet ever
present things — a half-tangible essence that expressed only the
solemnity of life and the presentiment of change."
It were endless to describe all the various courts, balconies,
galleries, and baths contained within the circuit of the Alhambra.
The Mosque alone, with its exquisite
niche where the Koran is deposited,
would long detain an archaeologist.
Yet that is but one Mosque ; there
are the remains of three others to
be seen. There are the ruins of the
house of the Cadi, the Water-tower,
the Tower of the Prisoner, the
Tower of the Candil, a dozen other
towers besides the house of Mondejar
— what is left of it — the military
quarters, the gardens, the promen-
ades, the but the list is endless,
the sights are inexhaustible. One
may live in the Alhambra itself, as
Washington Irving lived, and echo his plaint, "Oh, that I had
seen the Alhambra !"
In ancient times there was direct communication between
the Alhambra and the Generaliffe, the summer palace of the
Moorish sovereigns, by the Iron Door, and a narrow path running
in front of it between two rows of red walls. An exquisitely-
carved door, inlaid with Dutch tiles, in the lower garden of this
EL GENERALIKKE
134 Impressions of Spain.
place of recreation, leads into it. The Generaliffe was built by
order of Prince Omar, and the word has been interpreted as
meaning " Recreation, or Pleasure House," and truly a more
delicious and charming spot, or one with more splendid views,
cannot be conceived. It is a small, white villa, with a terrace
of gardens stretching from the top of the mountain to the
walls of the house, which is encircled by thickets of laurel and
myrtle. Flowers and myrtles, arbours and high espaliers, sur-
mounted by arches, abound on every side, and the ears are
soothed by the murmur of a hundred springs and brooklets
which gurgle and bubble amid the greenery and sparkle in every
open space. The noise of the distant city floats upwards with
the sound of a soft hum, and the air is laden with the perfume
of roses and orange blossoms.
The Cathedral of Granada is a splendid pile, but I did not
inspect it during my visit. There is a Cathedral in every Spanish
city one enters, but there is only one Alhambra in the world.
Yet here are the tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella, here is the
casket in which Isabella sent her jewels to the pawnbroker — the
jewels that were disposed of in order to furnish Christopher
Columbus with the money for the arming of the ships in which
he sailed to discover the New World.
Close to the Cathedral there is a bazaar, Arabian in form
and appearance, which was re-decorated in 1844 owing to the
fire which occurred there the previous year. It is said that
Alcaiceria signifies the house or place of Caesar; and, ac-
cording to Marmol, it is the place where public and private
merchandise was stored according to the custom in Eastern
towns. Before the fire this Alcaiceria preserved all its old
characteristics, and was a great deal narrower than it is now,
the shops being so small that the shopman had to get on the
counter or outside it, as there was no room behind it. At
Granada and the Alhambra.
135
present the Arab decoration is too artificial, and a strange in-
congruousness exists between the beautiful Arab columns and
the angular horse-shoe arches covered with show-bills and notices
advertising various articles and professional services of all kinds.
To the visitor to Spain, who has already seen Seville and
Toledo and Cuenca, the city of Granada is not greatly im-
pressive, or even delib-
erately interesting. '^The
older streets are tortuous,
narrow and noisy; but
the modern part is as
regular and unimagin-
ative as only a modern
city can be, with wide
thoroughfares, spacious
squares, and excellent
pavements. This monot-
ony is broken by the
famous Alameda, which,
with its rows of immense
trees whose foliage meets
and interlaces overhead,
its handsome fountains,
its garden filled with
roses, myrtle and jessa-
mine, and its glimpses ol
the snowy Sierra Nevada
from amid the tropical
vegetation, makes it one of the finest and most picturesque
promenades in Spain. During the daytime the Alameda is
deserted, but in the evening it is crowded with a laughing,
bustling multitude ; and, in the habit of keeping late hours.
136 luipi'essions of Spain.
the people of Granada are every bit as fashionable as those of
Madrid or Seville. Beggars there are — and where are they not
in this land of mendicancy ?— ordinary beggars and gipsies— the
most persistent and irrepressible of beggars.
Where do they all come from, these hungry-looking, scowling,
emaciated men and women, and these wretched, withered,
whining children? From the Albaycin, the gipsy quarters on
the face of the hill. The road is steep, and the streets are
narrow, the houses dilapidated and unsavoury. The higher one
climbs, the more miserable become the houses, the more
wretched and ragged the people that sleep in the doorways or
shuffle about the streets. Yet this is the Belgravia of the
Albaycin. Further still, and the path grows so rugged and
narrow, so full of boulders and holes, that it seems more like
a cutting made by a mountain torrent than a street, and the
dwellings are no better than hovels. We are miles from Spain,
in an African village, and an evil specimen at that. The build-
ings are so many ruins with tiny doors — you pass through the
doorway and find yourself in the court-yard of an Arabian
house, surrounded by graceful, slender columns, surmounted by
very light arches, and bearing those indescribable traceries which
are the glory and the bewilderment of the Alhambra. One gazes
from the bits of arabesqued walls to the morose wrinkled faces;
from the dehcate columns to the rags that serve to but half-clothe
the women, and one's mind refuses, or is incapable of reconciling
these incongruities. The conditions of the houses and the people
continue to grow more malodorous and repulsive as one proceeds ;
but if the visitor has a mind (and stomach) for high-class slum-
ming, there is yet more to see.
For beyond the residential area, where hovels serve as
dwelling-places, we come to the district of the cave-dwellers.
The caves are dug in the earth in the side of the hills; caves
Granada and the Alhambra.
139
with a mud wall in front, with holes to admit the lif^ht, and cracks
to serve as a means of ingress and exit for the people. They
are mere dens, fit only for wild beasts ; and the gitanos that
swarm in them are little better than savages. Their numbers
are unobtainable; their laws, if they have any, are unknown
to the statute of any country. No one shall say how they exist,
or what they exist
upon. The police f^' -.-
dare not penetrate
their fastnesses ; the
tax-collector never
troubles them; nor
doctor nor priest
visits them. " Man-
ners none, customs
nasty" is the only de-
scription that can be
applied to them. One
reaches the gates of
the gipsy quarter, but
few people have any
desire to go further.
No sooner is the in-
truder espied from
afar than the whole
mountain-side vomits
forth its pack of beg-
gars — men, women
and children — the blind, the lame and the halt, the diseased
and the decrepit, all filthy, and all shouting for alms, and
thrusting out their hungry palms. It is not dignified, 1 admit,
but. in the circumstances, it is advisable to button up your
COL-KT-VAK
140 Impressions of Spain.
dignity, with your other vahiables, and take to your heels. Take
the advice that Jack Bunsby gave to Captain Cuttle, when he
was in his matrimonial fix, and bolt.
It is told of one of the gitani, to whom a man child was born,
that he brought the baby to a priest in Granada, and asked that
it might be christened. The old padre was delighted to find
such a sign of awakening to moral consciousness in one of the
outlawed people, and willingly acquiesced.
" And what do you wish to call your son ? " he asked. '
" Tiger ! " promptly responded the proud father.
"Tiger?" protested the priest. "But you cannot name a
child after a wild beast."
" That is his name," persisted the father. " The Pope, he is
called lion (Leo), my son shall be tiger."
And " Tiger " he was duly christened.
XllK COLUMUL-.-. MEMORIAL, i ,,<ANAUA.
IN THE COURT OF ORANGES, CORDOVA
Seville.
THERE is an old German saying : " Wein Gott lieb hat, dem
giebt er ein Hans in Sevilla,'" which may be translated, " He
whom God loves has a house in Seville." Truly, there are few
fairer, gayer, and more wholly desirable places of abode in
Europe. It is at once a seaport town, situated on the banks of
the Guadalquiver ("the great river"), fifty-four miles from the
sea, and the centre of an exuberantly fertile district which
produces olives, grapes, oranges, cork, and grain in perfe(?tion.
The Sevillians proudly call their country " La Tierra de Maria
Santisima," of which Byron wrote :
" . . . All sunny land
Of love! When I forget you, may I fail
To -say my prayers I"
The sunshine refledled from the walls and the houses darts
through the labyrinth of narrow streets, peers into fairy-like
patios, and floods the orange trees, palms, and acacias that grow
in every open space and square of the city. Here is all gaiety,
and mirth, and roses which blossom all the year round in a
climate which is claimed to be one of the most delightful in
Europe. And the sun is in the blood of the people. They
pursue pleasure as the serious business of life ; bustle, love, and
laughter fill their days and nights, and the air is ever abuz with
soft sounds. I suppose that the English temperament, which is
more like that of the Catalonians, would in time grow weary of
the buoyant, light-hearted Andalusian nature, and the English
resident in Seville would find himself complaining that he had
142 Impressions of Spain.
"... breathed too long awhile,
Soft airs and perfumes, listened to soft sounds.
And journeyed in soft paths beneath soft skies."
But my visits to Seville have never been so far protracted as to
afford me the opportunity of putting this surmise to the test.
My impressions of the city are snapshots rather than etchings;
they are slightly blurred and indistin(5t, but wholly delightful to
reflect upon. Seville, like Venice and Rome, is a place that one
goes to with one's mind full of preconceived notions — uncon-
sciously primed for disappointment and the disillusionment of
reality. Yet I have never met anyone who confessed to being
disappoi nted with Se yilkr. — ^fter the modernity of Madrid, the
)sperous and business-like alertness of Barcelona, and the
''sombre mediaivalism of Toledo, the exhilarating sense of enjoy-
ment that permeates the air of this " all sunny land of love "
inspires one with a sympathy that makes the criticisms of the
[adrileiios seem as ill-natured slanders. Are these bright,
laughing people, these spruce, graceful men, and entrancing
women, vain, false, changeable, and given to gossip ? Perish
the thought ! True, that is the opinion held in the capital ; the
Sevillians only half resenting the allegations, which they ascribe
to jealousy. And their criticisms of the bodies, minds, and
manners of the Madrileiios are unprintable. In Madrid you
hear, " The Sevillians ! Ah, they can do nothing but make
love!" And in Seville they declare that the Madrileiios can
make nothing — but mistakes.
But whatever the shortcomings of Seville may be, no town
in the south of Spain receives more visitors. All sorts of people
go there, with all sorts of motives. The artist goes to fill his
portfolio with the pidturesque forms and showy costumes of
Majo and Maja. The lover of painting makes a pilgrimage there
to see Murillo in all his glory. The seasons of the Church —
Christmas, Holy Week, and Easter — attra(ft thousands from
Seville.
145
devotion or curiosity, the religious ceremonies of the place
being of peculiar interest, and unrivalled, except in Kome. And
not even in the Eternal City itself shall you see boys dancing
before the high altar. This curious survival of a very ancient
custom takes place at the festival of Corpus Christi — the corps
de ballet, if one may so term it without offence, consisting of
two rows of boys, from eight to ten years old, dressed like
Spanish cavaliers of the mediaval age, with plumed hats and
white stockings. The
dance they execute to
the low music of
violins is simple, dig-
nified, and exceed-
ingly graceful. When
they break out all
together into a love!}-
and harmonious
chant, the effed^ upon
the spe(rtator is elec-
trical ; and even the
use of the castanets
does not rob the cere-
mony of its impress-
iveness. I am told
that some two hundred years ago an Archbishop of Seville
desired to suppress this dance, and the tumult that ensued
among the people and the canons of the cathedral echoed even
to Rome. The Pope was naturally curious to see the dance,
and the boys were taken to Rome to dance and sing before his
holiness. The Pope laughed, and did not express any disapproval;
but, wishing to satisfy the canons without displeasing the Arch-
bishop, decreed that the boys should dance until the clothes they
iHKKKAL
146 Impressions of Spain.
had on were worn out, after which the ceremony might be
considered as abolished. In two centuries these clothes are
still in a state of excellent repair; and as only one part of the
boys' costumes are renewed at a time, they bid fair to last for
ever.
Seville, which is always gay, and Spanish, and fascinating to
the receptive visitor, is at its best at this festival of Corpus
Christi. For days beforehand preparations are in progress,
streets are swept, awnings are put up over all the streets and
squares along which the procession is to pass, flowers are
banked to make a back-
ground, chairs are placed
in every available corner,
and in the cathedral the
columns are draped in
gorgeous velvet cloths. On
the day itself, thousands
flock into Seville from the
country and the neighbour-
THE TOWER OK GOLu, SEVILLE. iog towns. Thc procession
itself would appear a poor
and ineffe(ftive spectacle to people who saw Alfonso XIII. ride
from the Palacio Real to the Plaza de Toros in May last year,
or Edward VII. pass from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham
Palace. But the line of route is a sight to remember. Along
it, on either side, one can observe the Andalusians in all their
glory. As a beauty show, it is a display that in my experience
has no equal. Every window and every balcony contains a
pi(fture of feminine loveliness. Every individual beauty com-
posing it is a subject for the painter's brush. Hardly less
attra(5tive is the sight of the soldiers lining the route, either
on foot or mounted on Andalusian steeds, proud and graceful
Seville
147
as their riders, and beautiful as the senoritas, who gaze upon
them with their big, black, lustrous eyes.
The streets of Seville, in comparison with those of Toledo
or Cordova, are almost modern and relatively spacious. The
most interesting of them all is the QnlJ^ de Sievpes, which no
wagon is allowed to enter, and which is lined with cafes, club-
houses, and splendid shops. Many of the latter are semi-Moorish,
and although you do not see a turbanned Mohammedan squatting
in a small booth open to the street, you do see no end of shops
which are praiftically in the street, the whole front wall (con-
sisting of doors) being removed in the daytime. I have wandered
for hours through the dazzling white streets, sniffing the
diffused odour of oranges, and watching the handsome and
picturesque peasantry as they revel through life. To the
Englishman, no city in Spain presents more novel sights and
historic contrasts. Having been successively a Phoenician,
Greek, Roman, Gothic, Moorish, and Catholic city, it preserves
traces and monuments of almost all these dynasties. At the
suberb, Italica, the birthplace of three Roman emperors, the
ruins of an ancient amphitheatre, with its various subterranean
divisions for the gladiators and the wild beasts that appeared
therein, may still be seen. Seville itself is Moorish in the
arrangement of the streets and houses, and the Alcazar is the
best preserved specimen of Moorish archite(5ture in Spain.
Adjoining it is the Christian Cathedral. In the streets the
mediaeval donkey grazes the modern tram-car. At the hotel
sits an Englishman in a Moorish patio reading the latest number
of the Times.
These Moorish patios are, of all the sights in Seville, the most
interesting. One finds them at Malaga and Granada, at Cordova
and Toledo, but one must come to Seville to see these pleasant
courtyards at their best. Here are patios of all sizes and grades
148
Impressions of Spain.
of splendour, but always patios. In the finest of these square
courtyards the floor is of marble, and the walls are inlaid with
elegant mosaic. In the centre is a flower plot, or a fountain
surrounded with flowers or statuary. Marble columns on each
side support the inside projection of the upper story, which is
sometimes provided with windows, while the patio itself is open
above to the sky at night, and covered during the daytime with
an awning. To mc these sweet shady spots were a source of
increasing delight. Anything more exquisite after its kind —
more perfe(?tly ordered, delicately arranged, and beautifully kept
up, than the court of a
Sevillian gentleman's resi-
dence, I have never seen;
and the poorer classes
follow suit with marvel-
lous success and unani-
mity. There is no great
outer door, as at Toledo,
but cunningly - wrought
and fairy-like iron gates,
which only serve to set
off an enticing pidture of marble pavement, colonnade, and
fountain, in a framing of palmitos, bananas, and lemon-trees,
with here and there a coquettishly-perched cage of singing
birds. The temptation to pry into these dainty interiors was
irresistible.
I confess that I had been two days in Seville before I
explored the cathedral. For one thing, there was so much to
see all around that I had no temptation to make a definite excur-
sion to any particular point of interest ; and as somebody once
remarked about a five-adt: tragedy, it was so easy not to go to
the cathedral. Moreover, I had seen cathedrals in every town
;ls court i\ the
Seville.
149
that I had visited in Spain, and I was surfeited of thetn. I
had stood in admiration before the magnificent pile, and gazed
in wonderment at the famous rose-coloured Giralda ; but it was
not until the third day of my visit that I determined to "do'"
the cathedral. It has been said "there is not a more solemn
and beautiful temple
in the world than the
great cathedral at
Seville." It is so
grand and solemn as
to strike the visitor
with amazement and
awe. Fromi the gay,
colour-slashed streets
of the city to the
grand interior is but
a step, but the effedt
is overwhelming. The
sudden transition
fromthedazzlingsun-
shine of the outer air
produces a sensation
of darkness; all is
confused and indis-
tin(ft ; while the eye,
instincftively seeking
relief, looks upward
to the clerestory,
where, through the small windows, a feeble ray of daylight
comes struggling in. By degrees, the magnificent proportions
of the building reveal themselves, and their majestic grandeur
almost oppresses the mind. Even Furguson allows Seville
SEVILLE CATHEDKAI.
J
150 Impressions of Spain.
Cathedral to be " so grand, so spacious, and so richly furnished
rv that it is impossible to criticise when the result is so splendid
and imposing." How, indeed, can one criticise a building
whose decorations consist of paintings by Murillo, Juan Valdes
Leal, Morales, Zurburan, Roelas, and Vargas, sculptures by
Montanes and Alonso Cano, and whose painted glass, wood-
carving, and embroidery, mural decoration, and metal work are
the finest examples of
^ i(L ^^ ^^^ finest date in
CT^ ^ ^ every branch of each
" ^ ^ "^ art?
"The first view of
the interior," says
Lomas, " is one of the
supreme moments of
a life-time. The glory
and majesty of it are
almost terrible. No
other building,surely,
is so fortunate as this
in what may be called
its presence. Nave,
ENTRANCE TO THE ALCAZAR, SEVILLE. sldc alslcs, and lateral
chapels, all of singu-
larly happy proportions, a vista of massive and yet graceful
columns, a rightly dim religious light, gloriously rich stained
glass, and an all-prevailing notion of venerable age — such is the
sum of one's first impressions."
Gautier's and De Amicis' comparison of the interior of the
mosque at Cordova to a marble forest, is in reality much more
applicable to the interior of the Seville Cathedral. As one
writer has said : " Vast height, dim light, gloom, and awe are
Skville.
SAN FERNANUl
Seville.
151
the characteristics of a forest primeval ; and all these, absent in
Cordova, are to be found in the Cathedral of Seville. But if
this cathedral be compared to a petrified forest, it must be to a
forest of giant trees. There is something supremely massive,
colossal, mammoth, in the huge, high pillars of this building —
something which makes one wonder, as do the Pyramids of
Egypt, that human might should have sufficed to place these
monstrous stones in an upright position, and in symmetrical
rows. The Cordovan pillars are mere walking sticks in com-
parison, and the ceiling which they support only one quarter as
high as that in the Seville
fCathedral, which is the
largest — and its tower the
highest — in Spain. So vast
is its interior space that,
notwithstanding its ninety-
three windows, a dim, mys-
terious twilight pervades
every part all day long."
Yet, although Seville is the
warmest and sunniest place
in Spain, and this cathe-
dral its coolest spot, the flock of worshippers is very small
indeed. The number of priests who officiate at the thirty
chapels and eighty-two altars, have been reduced from 133 to
100 ; but it seems as if to-day one quarter that number would
suffice for all needful purposes.
The Alcazar, built on the ruins of the Roman Prjetorium,
was, in the design of its creators, the principal feature in the
scheme of the city's fortification. It was also the palace of the
Moorish Kings, and is to-day the residence of the Spanish
sovereign ; but the exterior, with its masses of bare masonry
THE ALCAZAR, AMBASSADOR S HALL,
SEVILLE.
152
Impressions of Spain.
and its embattled towers, still preserves the character of a
mediaeval castle. The Alcazar is in an excellent state of preser-
vation, and its charms are bewildering ; while its associations
with the crisores and amours of three races of kings lend it an
historic interest. The ornamentation of the rooms is superbly-
beautiful, and the variety of designs and colours, the gold and
the gems, with which the walls are decorated, produce in the
brain a feeling of tiredness and confusion. All that is mar-
vellous in complicated" design, all that is rich and exquisite in
tone and material, all that genius
and workmanship is capable of,
has been enlisted in the beauti-
fying of this palace of delight.
One gazes from the friezes to the
fairy -like columns, from the
capricious arches to the bejewelled
ceilings, from the secret doors to
the lovely little windows, and in
the mysterious gloom one feels
again the thrill of exaltation and
amazement that only love, or wine,
or the spectacle of the sublime and
the mysterious can beget. The
Alcazar, taken in conjunction with
its history, is a dose of artistic and imaginative intoxication that
no Hving soul shall resist.
Seville is instinct of Bartolome Esteban Murillo. Here is
the house in which he lived, and the house in which he died :
here in the picture gallery are over a score of his paintings, and
here are the originals of the beggar-boys, which are admitted
to be beyond praise. Here, too, in the centre of the Plaza del
Museo, is the statue of the painter that was erected in 1866.
DOORWAY IN THE ALCAZAR,
SEVILLE.
Seville.
A STREET IN sE\ll.Lb.
GALLEK\ IIH IILATE's HOUSE.
■■;\***'.-*-A^
:|<ft-:,i» ■,„>-■ rJ^KI-
IITEENTH CENTURV GRATING,
SEVILLE CATHEDRAL.
THE COURT OF DOLI.S, ALCAZAR.
Seville. 153
Everybody who visits Seville goes to the La Fabrica de
Tahacos; and travellers who delight in the picturesque should
not omit to make a call at El Corral del Coude, where
the washerwomen follow their avocation. The crowd, the
clatter of female tongues, the groupings, the attitudes, the
draperies, and the babble of children, make up a scene which
would move Mr. Beerbohm Tree to enthusiasm. The tobacco
factory is, of course, an institution, and the women employed
there are made famous by the opera of "Carmen." The building
is an enormous quadrangular edifice, and has 28 interior
patios; and some 5,000 women and girls are engaged in the
manufacture of cigars and cigarettes. The stories of the beauty
and diablerie of these ladies that had been told me were strangely
conflicting. From some I had gathered that they were a collec-
tion of alluring sultanas ; while others had described them as
plain, coarse, and unattractive. But I found them to be very
much as I expected. They were not all Carmens, but the
majority of them were something more than interesting, and
man)- were downright beautiful. The architecture of the
building makes accommodation for the workers in three vast
rooms, and each room is sub-divided into three by three rows
of pilasters. The girls work in dishabille, and silence is not
imposed. In order to obtain the maximum measure of freedom,
they discard their finery, which is suspended on the walls, and
forms an amazing mass of black and red, slashed with vivid
streaks of white, purple, and yellow. A fancy dress warehouse
could not present a braver display of colour, nor a corps de ballet
at rehearsal a sartorial exhibition of more engaging scantiness.
The whole place is alive with colours and with sound. There
is no noise but a kind of incessant buzzing. If these girls
were English, their voices would produce a clatter ; but the soft,
singing accents of Andalusia, even when several hundred girls
154
Impressions of Spain.
are talking altogether, sound harmonious and soothing. The
amount of pay earned varies according to the capacity and
industry of the workers, and the majority appear to be both
busy and skilful. Some there are that look dull and sleepy ;
others, as we enter, are asleep with their heads pillowed on
their arms, that are crossed on the table, but they are wakened
by a nudge or a whisper ; and even the most absorbed labourer
finds time to give us a glance as we pass. It is said that the
morality of the tobacco workers is a trifle loose — babies are
CIGAR MAKERS, SK\'ILLE.
numerous in la Fabrica de Tobacos. A friend who was with
me remarked their presence to the manager: ''There would
seem to be more babies here than married women," he said. " It
is possible," was the reply, "some married women are blessed
with more than one." We looked at our guide with questioning
eyes, but he did not so much as smile.
Immediately around Seville are green gardens a^ yineyards,
and olive and orange c^ljgrclsyaiidJDe'Jrorfti them the level, mairshy
K
Seville.
155
country with grass in plent}', in which are bred flocks of sheep,
herds of cattle and horses, and mosquitoes of singular malignity.
No trees arrest the eye, nothing but green, flat plains, traversed
by roads bordered by hedgerows of prickly pear surmounted
with their yellow flowers — substantial, business-like hedges that
do not require the artificial embellishment of barbed wire or
spikes to make them deadly to would-be trespassers. Such
hedges would keep out an army — unless of course it be an army
composed of beggars, whom no fortification, natural or created,
would keep out. There are beggars
everywhere ; sick beggars, and
sorry beggars, sad beggars,
smiling beggars, blind beggars,
beastly beggars, old beggars, and
baby beggars. There is no escaping
them. They follow you along the
roads, crawl out in front of you
from the hedges, cluster around
you if you stop to takea momentary
observation. Toujours beggars !
You drive up to your hotel —
there is a small crowd of them
awaiting you. If you hesitate
a moment in handing the fare to
the driver, they hem you in on every side, whining for "Seiior,
una limosnita por el amor de Dios " (" A little alms, sir, for the
love of God"). A tiny boy of some seven summers explains
with dignity that he is not begging for himself — he would scorn
to beg for himself — but it is for the little senorita, and he points
to a tiny girl of four who looks pleading up at you out of great
eyes. A blind man at your elbow commences to scrape out the
ghost of a tune on a wretched fiddle, and a filthy segment of
sE\ ILLIAN.
1^6
Impressions of Spain.
humanity thrusts the stump of an amputated arm before your
face, It is horrible to the visitor ; it is equally repulsive to the
Spaniard. The Englishman feels sick and angry : the Spaniard
feels sick and sorry. The former bolts into the shelter of his
hotel with a male-
diction between his
teeth, the latter
thrusts his hand into
his pocket instinc-
tively and gives.
A large number of
the beggars are chil-
dren, who are brought
up to mendicity as a
profession, and they
never desert it. They
beg, as do their simi-
lars in Naples, in Con-
stantinople, or in
Colombo, for their
fathers and mothers
and for the love of
God. They are so
importunate, so
bright, and, in many
cases, so pretty that
the British visitors.
SEVILLANA.^
they reap a living wage even from
One gets to love these Spanish children — it is impossible to
resist them. Their childish dignity and politeness, and their
eagerness to be of assistance if the opportunity presents itself,
is delightful. I remember well a little chap we encountered at
the railway station at Chinchilla, where, for reasons best known
Seville. 157
to the railway officials, we had to change trains in the middle
of the night. He fastened on to us diredtly we dismounted
from the train, and desired to be made of some service. He
followed us into the waiting room, and suggested that we should
commission him to notify us when our train was due. We
charged him with this mission, and so great was his zeal in the
discharge of it that he had us out again upon the platform,
where we stood, exposed to the rain and the cold night air, for
a quarter of an hour before the train arrived. He was very
pleased with himself; and when, after bundling our traps into a
compartment, he was rewarded with a whole peseta, his gratifi-
cation was unbounded. He bit the piece between his teeth, and
then, approachmg a porter who stood near with a lamp in one
hand and an open umbrella in the other, he got him to cast the
light of his lantern upon it. Then he took another bite at the
coin — bad money is not so rare in Spain as it is in this country —
and came back to us, and his face was one expansive smile. He
climbed up to the carriage window, as we supposed, with Feste's
iniportunation in his mind : " Hut that it would be double dealing,
sir, I would you could make it another." But he had only come
to place himself at our entire disposal. Were we wanting anything,
he would fetch it ; did we wish to send letters, or telegrams, or
messages, he would carry them. I sent him to get me another
pillow, and on his return gave him half a peseta. His delight
was humorous. He desired that God would treat me according
to my great deservings, that my journey would be a safe and
comfortable one, and that my days might be man}-. The bow
he gave me as the train steamed out of the station was quite
worth one and a-half pesetas.
Spanish trains are invariably slow, and, as often as not, they
are overcrowded. For some reason or other, which I have failed
to plomb, the so-called fast trains travel at night, and the times
158 Impressions of Spain.
are so arranged that one generally has to leave a place and arrive
at one's destination at about two o'clock in the morning. The
Spaniard is a lover of the night, not from poetical or sentimental
motives, but because it is only before sun-up and after sun-down
that one gets a sufficiency of the much-longed-for shade. Shade
is to the Spaniard what gold is to the Jew, or English origin
is to the American. Hence the Spaniard rises early and gets
through as much work as he can before the heat of the day sets
in ; hence, also, he makes his siesta as long as he can ; and,
consequently, he is able and ready to pursue his business or his
pleasure far into the night. It is in the cool of the evening in
Seville that one sees the promenades full, the highways alive
with splendid Andalusian horses — when one sees in one week of
evenings more feminine beauty than can be seen anywhere else
in a month.
But to return to the railways, and the subjecfl brings to mind
the refle(5^ions and the prophecy indulged in by Ford when the
undertaking was in contemplation : — " Certainly if the rail can
be laid down in Spain by the gold and science of England, the
gift like that of steam will be worthy of the Ocean's Queen, and
one of the world's real leaders of civilisation : and what a change
will then come over the spirit of the Peninsula ! how the siestas
of torpid man vegetation will be disturbed by the shrill whistle
and panting snort of the monster engine ! how the seals of this
long, hermetically-shut-up land will be broken ! how the
cloistered obscure and dreams of treasures in Heaven will be
enlightened by the flashing fire-demon of the wide-awake
money worshipper ! what owls will be vexed, what bats dis-
ost, what drones, mules, and asses will be scared, run over
and annihilated! Those who love Spain, and pray, like the
author, daily for her prosperity, must indeed hope to see
this ' network of rails ' concluded, but will take special care
Shvii.i.h.
ALL OF AMBASSADORS, ALCAZAK.
m^
i^^iy -.rVf
ill: P» "<
INTEKCOLCMNIATION, WHERE Df)N FADRIyUE
WAS ASSASSINATED, ALCAZAR.
HALL OF AMBASSADORS, ALCAZAR.
SDLTANA's QUARTERS, ALCAZAR,
Seville. 159
at the same time not to invest one farthing in the imposing
speculation."
Richard Ford, who wrote the foregoing in 1846, was not far
out in his calculations. Although the network of rails is not
yet complete; the railroad now conne(5ts most of the principal
cities of Spain, and its introduction has been a blessing to the
country. But its cost has been enormous. French capital has
been, for the most part, sunk in the venture ; and those who
followed Ford's advice, with respect to investing their money
in it, have little to complain of. The speed, which seldom
exceeds twenty miles an hour, and averages not more than ten
miles, is regulated by law, and the management of the entire
system might with advantage be reorganised. But the delays
at juncition stations, the slowness of the pace, and the other
inconveniences, which the traveller accustomed to British or
American railroads finds so great a trial on hi? patience, are not
necessarily the result of bad management. They are rather the
effed^s of a combination of natural causes and temperamental
prejudices. The danger incurred by the starting of rails exposed
to the full heat of the sun on sandy plains and the menace of
mountain torrents govern, to an extent, the regulation as to
speed. Moreover, this is always to be borne in mind, that the
railways are primarily for the convenience of the Spanish people,
and the Spaniards are never in a hurry. But that there is not
a little red-tape about the whole thing cannot be denied.
A short time ago I was travelling from Valencia to Barcelona
by the East Coast Railway. Rain had been falling for a week,
and some doubt was expressed as to the train being able to
complete the journey. Time was precious just then, and the
only alternative route was via Madrid, which would be very
much the same as going from London to Hull via Cardiff.
"We may be delayed," my companion admitted. "I was
i6o Impressions of Spain.
twenty-four hours late on the same journey once before, but we
shall get through. We will start, in any case — at the worst it
is only an excursion." So we started, and the rain continued.
We were within sight of Murviedro, or Saguntum as it was
known by the Romans, when the train stopped, and we were
informed that something had happened to the line just ahead of
us. Further information told of a rushing torrent which had
carried away a seven-arch bridge, and that further' progress was
impossible. Then a German commercial traveller, who was in
our carriage, published his opinion aloud upon the railway system,
the officials, and everything connected with " this damned
country." He compared Spain with Germany, and his eloquence
was up to the high water mark of his indignation. He damned
everything in English, and the bridge in particular. He said
that in Germany they would have ferried the passengers over
the stream, placed them in another train which would have been
awaiting on the other side, and not lost more than an hour by
the accident.
As our wait was likely to be somewhat lengthy, we decided
to walk along the rails and inspect the scene of the breakdown for
ourselves, and our German critic was surprised to find that the
" stream " he had wished to be ferried over was a mad, boiling
torrent in which no boat — not even a boat "made in Germany"
— could have lived for thirty seconds. We wandered back and
interviewed the engine-driver, the guard, and the other train
officials. We were all agreed that the only thing to be done
was for the train to return to Valencia. But the engine-driver
would not acft without instructions — on that point he was
adamant. He wired to Barcelona, and he wired also to Madrid,
explaining the situation, and requesting permission to return the
way he had come. After four hours' delay the necessary orders
arrived, and we looked for an immediate start on the backward
Seville. i6i
journey. But this the officials could not think of. We could
not return in that slapdash fashion — we were the 8.30 from
Valencia to Barcelona, and if we went bundling back into
Valencia like an old tramp steamer that had sprung a leak, the
entire railway system of the country would be thrown into
confusion. The point was debated warmly, but without haste ;
and, eventually, the engine-driver, who had been consulting his
time-table, discovered that if we waited a further couple of
hours we should be able to re-enter \'alencia with our dignity
unimpaired as the 4.47 from Barcelona. Which we did, and
nobody but the German appeared to see anything foolish or
unmethodical in this solution of the difficulty. " You do not
find the arrangement incongruous? " asked my companion, for
the German was still swearing. I smiled. " For three months
I was a season ticket holder on a certain South of England
railway," I explained.
But if the railway system of Spain has its drawbacks, it is
the embodiment of luxury and speed compared with the old-
fashioned posting facilities for those who are in a hurr}-. If
time. is no objec^t, and the weather is fine, there is no pleasanter
way of seeing the country. The engine is of course driving the
mule team further and further from the large cities, but the
delights of posting are not yet banished from the Peninsula.
In the northern provinces posting is still very general, and in
many parts it is excellent. The oaths of the drivers would,
doubtless, shock the unaccustomed ear that was sufficiently
versed in the jargon of the road to understand it, but the pace
leaves nothing to be desired. The Spaniard is a born muleteer ;
and, as I have invariably found him, a good fellow. His
vocabulary of objurations is varied and peculiar, and he keeps
it in first-class working order by continual practice. The
customs of the road are like the laws of the Modes and Persians
1 62 Impressions of Spain.
in their unalterableness. You may improve the dihgence off
the road, but while it remains on it, it cannot be improved. A
French minister described the stage as a " clumsy, inconvenient
carriage drawn by mules which have no other spur or rein than
the voice of their guides. On seeing them harnessed together
and to the shafts merely by cords, and observing them traversing
as it were at random the winding and sometimes unfrequented
roads of the Peninsula, the traveller at first conceives himself
as deriving all his dependence for safety from the care and
kindness of Providence : but on the slightest appearance of
danger, a simple and short exclamation from the mayoral restrains
and dire(?ts these tra(?table animals."
The foregoing, which might have been written yesterday, was,
as a matter of facft, indicated a hundred years ago. It is evident
that the worthy French minister did not understand the purport
of those "simple and short" exclamations, and I am inclined
to think, from his remarks upon the traftability of the animals,
that he must have been asleep when the start was made. For
the mules appear to entertain a rooted and conscientious obje(51:ion
to starting, and the scene is diverting. All the skill and patience
and language of the mayoral, and the united efforts of ostlers,
helpers, and all the hangers-on of a posthouse are required to
persuade them to take the first step. For several minutes one's
ears are assailed with a perfecft tornado of shouts, and orders,
imprecations, and deprecations ; which, beginning with " Anda ! "
(Go) "Anda!" "Anda!" invariably end, when breath and
patience are exhausted, in an abbreviated form of " Da ! Da !
Da ! " and then, after a good deal of kicking, the team starts
suddenly across the road or over a heap of stones, with an
occasional leg over the traces, at a pace that threatens to bring
the carriage and its cargo to inevitable grief. Only a Spanish
muleteer could bring this riotous team into order, and pilot
Seville. 163
them with such patience until they drop into a more moderate
pace. Ford has described those exciting starts, and the motion
of the "dilly," as away it goes, "pitching over ruts deep as
routing prejudices, with its pole dipping and rising like a ship
in a rolling sea."
It goes without saying that the observant Ford did not fail
to note the vituperative supremacy of the Spanish muleteer.
" Their language," he tells us, " is limited only by the extent
of their anatomical, geographical, astronomical, and religious
knowledge : it is so plentifully bestowed on their animals — ' un
muletier a ce jeu vaut trois rois ' — that oaths and imprecations
seem to be considered as the only language a mute creation can
comprehend : and as actions are generally suited to the words,
the combination is remarkably effective. . . . The Spanish oath
is used as a verb, as a substantive, as an adjecStive, just a^ it
suits the grammar or the wrath of the utterer." But why, the
reader may ask, does the mayural swear to this degree, or with
this fluency ? Unless it is a part of his habit, I cannot answer.
It is told that a traveller once asked the same question, and
received a similar reply. The mayoral had uttered an oath of
such peculiar force and aptness that a fellow traveller remarked
upon it with good humoured appreciation: "That's one on
the devil ! " " But why? " queried the seeker for information,
"why does he swear so? " The Spaniard stared in astonishment.
" Because he is the mayoral ! " was all he said.
3n Southern an^alu6ia.
IDLE as a "painted ship upon a painted ocean," fair Cadiz
sleeps beneath her white mantle and dreams of the suc-
ceeding storms that she has endured since Hercules brought
her into being eleven hundred years before the advent of the
Messiah. For century after century Cadiz played her important
part in the world — the world that ended at her glistening
shores. Yet it might, from external evidence, have been built
yesterday, and whitewashed this morning. But beneath that
white covering lies the rust of three thousand years. The
natives compare their spotless city to a silver dish ; Fernan
Caballero describes it as an ivory model set in emeralds. It is
an architectural symbol of purity. Extreme neatness and
scrupulous cleanhness are its leading characteristics — white is
its prevailing and only colour. The Venice of Spain, so far as
my opportunities of making a comparison extends, is decidedly
the best-kept city in the Peninsula. The impression is
heightened by the ever-ready brush of the whitewasher, which
keeps the houses and walls in the most immaculate condition.
Although Cadiz is slowly recovering from the decadence into
which it was sunk for so long, there is small activity either of
commerce, trade, or manufacture to support its seventy thousand
inhabitants ; and suitable docks have yet to be constructed to
enable it to take the commercial rank to which its situation
entitles it. Its resemblance to Venice is remarkable. Lying as
it does seven miles at sea, the inhabitants could, if they wished
it, have had canals instead of streets, for most of the thorough-
fares begin and end at the ocean. Coming straight from the
In Southern Andalusia. 167
ultra-Moorish Seville with its narrow winding; streets, the
traveller wonders why in nei^'hbourinj^'Cadi;^, which also belonged
to the Moors for over hve hundred years, the streets should be
so much wider and strai^hter, and why they possess so few
patios and other Arabian characteristics. The explanation lies
in the fact that almost the entire town was newly laid out and
rebuilt after the bombardment in 1596. Cadiz beinj^j practically
on an island is much cooler than Seville, so that Moorish patios
are not essential to comfort, and their places are taken by the
turrets on the top of the houses, from whence ?ea-bree;^es and
a magnificent view can be obtained at the same time.
The history of Cadiz is an epitome of the progress of civil-
isation up to the time when Spain was the chiefest nation of
the world. It capitulated to Hamilcar Barca in B.C. 237, it was
fortified by Caesar, rebuilt in marble by Balbus, and destroyed
by the Goths. Its greatness was its misfortune. So rich it
was that England in 1596 fitted out an expedition to sack the
city. Lord Essex did his work so thoroughly that Cadiz was
brought to the verge of bankruptcy, and Spain received the
first blow to her supremacy. Two other English expeditions
against this place proved unsuccessful ; but it was bombarded
at the end of the eighteenth century, it was devastated by the
plague, and was the theatre of the horrible massacres in the
revolution of 1820. Cadiz supplied the ancient Roman epicures
with salt fish and anything but proper dancing girls ; and was
resorted to by philosophers, who came here to study the curious
phenomena of the tides. A city with such a history might be
expected to be full of antiquarian records ; yet, from a mere
archaeological point of view, it is by no means a place of great
attractiveness. In the convent of San F"rancisco is to be seen
the last Murillo, the picture upon which the artist was engaged
when he fell from the scaffold and sustained his fatal injuries;
i68
Impressions of Spain.
but beyond this and the cathedral, which is not remarkable, the
city is destitute of works of art.
\ Moreover, Cadiz is one of the noisiest cities in Spain ; but it
is, none the less, a delightful city to live in. Here the beggar
nuisance is unknown, its society is, with the exception of that
of Madrid and Barcelona, the most cultivated in the Peninsula,
and its women are the most graceful in Andalusia. The
Alameda, where everybody promenades in the evening, com-
CADIZ — V'lEW FROM SAN CARLOS BATTERY.
mands lovely views of the ocean, the blue of which is varied,
according to the light, with rich dark green and royal purple.
And in a walk along the sea walls surrounding the city one
passes large mercantile storehouses, and mixes with sailors from
all parts of the world — negroes and Moors (betokening the
nearness of Africa), troops of soldiers who are always at the
quick step, and crowds of hardy, picturesque, and sun-browned
fishermen.
/;/ Soittheni Andalusia. 171
One does not find in Cadiz the virile gaiety that prevails
in Seville. The tone is quieter, more subdued and less fitful.
If the Sevillians are not intensely joyous, they are in tears —
the people of Cadi;^ take their happiness as it comes, rather
than make it a sacrifice to their subsequent peace of mind.
They are as tidy and attractive as their own orderly, sunny
streets, and invariably courteous both between themselves and
towards strangers. The women are taller than their sisters of
Seville, a trifle darker, and a shade less languishing, but — they
are Andalusian, and in that admittance the highest compliment
to feminine fascination is paid.
Different, quite different from Cadiz, different in situation,
tone, and complexion is Malaga. Seen from the shore, the
houses stand out in violet and yellow against a background of
green and reddish hills, and on either side of the town the
mountains stretch out into the distance as far as the eye can
reach. The site of the city is excellent; its harbour is one of
the best in the kingdom ; and in importance it ranks next
to Barcelona among the commercial centres of Spain. Its
merchants are men of substance, and their villas are objects
of beauty in suburbs that are naturally beautiful. But Malaga
does not appeal to the heart of the visitor as does Cadiz or
Cordova. The certain grandeur that one notes from a distance
dwindles almost to vanishing point as one comes nearer ; and
when one plunges into the narrow, ill-kept, malodorous streets
of the lower town, the delusion is dispelled altogether. But
one has only to leave the city behind one to regain the first
impression of its picturesqueness. If one would see Malaga at
its best, an expedition must be undertaken to the summit of the
high hill which overlooks the city. The tramway takes one
the first part of the journey — the only part that the average
Spaniard ever attempts. I am not sure that I blame him for
172 Impressions of Spain.
stopping short there. The walk up that brown-baked hill under
the fierce rays of the morning sun is an achievement that
makes some call upon one's powers of endurance, but the view
from the summit fully atones for the discomforts of the climb.
At one's feet lies picturesque Malaga, set in a huge garden of
tropical and semi-tropical floral vegetation ; beyond it the blue,
clear, glinting Mediterranean stretches far out to where, in the
distance, the shores of Africa are dimly visible.
Although the land winds are occasionally variable and trying,
the climate of Malaga is one of the most equable in Europe.
Wmter as we know it is unknown here ; and the sugar cane,
which is destroyed by the merest suspicion of frost, is cultivated
on a large and profitable scale. As an invalid resort it has a
considerable repute, but it is as a flourishing commercial centre
rather than a sanitorium that Malaga is best known. The raisins
of Malaga are famous, the manufacture of sugar gives employ-
ment to some thousands of hands, while its wines are widely
celebrated. The port receives visits from upwards of 2,500
vessels annually; and although the air of thrift and prosperity
is not so marked as it is in Barcelona, and its people lack the
sterling integrity and moral balance of the Catalans, there are
unmistakable evidences of progress and improvements in its
streets. Much building is in progress, the paving of the
thoroughfares is receiving attention, and the new stores and
warehouses that are being erected are constructed on the most
modern plan. Like Cadiz, Malaga is of immemorial antiquity;
and, like the white city on the west of Gibraltar, it is singularly
deficient in antiquarian monuments. Phoenicians, Carthagen-
ians and Romans occupied it in turn; the Moors caused it to be
styled "a paradise on earth;" and the French sacked it in 1810
and walked off with twelve millions of reals in gold and silver.
The present cathedral, which was nearly 200 years in the making,
In Southeni Andalusia.
7b
presents a motley appearance. Many architects have put much
bad art into its decoration, and with the exception of the
magnificently-carved Silleria del Coro, archaeologists find little
in it to engage their attention.
The reports as to the amount of ignorance that prevails in
Malaga are probably exaggerated, since commercial progress
and ignorance do not usually go hand-in-hand. But there is no
gainsaying the fact that superstition, which is most nearly allied
to, and has its foundation in ignorance, is widespread ; and the
people are notorious for their republican tendencies. The
sacredness of human life is only imperfectly understood here;
and juries are even, according to official report, culpably averse
to bringing in adequate verdicts in cases of manslaughter. The
Andalusian is quick-tempered and impulsive — he acts without
thinking when he is provoked — and stabbing cases are the not
infrequent outcome of the most trifling disagreements. The
Procurator Fiscal of Malaga has commented severely upon the
leniency with which juries regard such offences. But how can
one bring home the heinous nature of manslaughter to a num-
ber of men who know themselves capable of committing it
within the hour if the provocation should arise; and who realise,
moreover, that the person charged only acted on the spur of the
moment, and was desperately sorry for his hastiness the moment
afterwards? And if the Malaga people are prone to swift
individual action, they will act collectively with equal passion
and the same entire want of conviction. One might, and possibly
would, live all one's life in the city without coming to any harm,
but the reading in the newspapers of freijuent impetuous blood-
lettings conduces to a feeling of insecurity.
After bustling, th/iving Malaga, one finds in Ronda — "the
Tivoli of Andalusia" — a haven of wondrous peace and infinite
loveliness. Half-a-centur\- ajro Ronda was one of the eavest,
176
Impressions of Spain.
the most flourishing, the most beautifully-situated towns in the
south of Spain. Half-a-century ago it was the grand centre of
smuggling for the mountain district of which it was the capital;
and at that date " free trade " was a very feasible, highly profit-
able, and eminently virtuous method of earning a livelihood. But
the decay of smuggling
meant the diminution of
prosperity and joyaunce.
No longer are the streets
alive with dancing and
the strumming of guitars.
Contrabandists in cos-
tumes of picturesque
splendour no longer
linger in its shadows.
Ronda has lost its air of
thrift and light-hearted-
ness, but the situation of
the town still remains to
maintain its world-wide
renown for beauty. A long
tract of table-land ter-
minates, with the abrupt-
ness of an ocean-cliff, in
a precipice varying in
height from 800 to 1,000
feet. On this natural plat-
THE (.;ORGE, KONDA. -^
form stands Ronda above
an Alpine valley, in which the orange and olive flourish in rich
luxuriance. The view from the bridge is a sheer delight. A
chasm, 300 feet wide, divides the old town from the new. It
is spanned by a massive wooden bridge, under which, at a depth
In Southern Andalusia.
79
of some 700 feet, the Guadalvin rushes forth into open day from
the caverns which hitherto have imprisoned its waters. In a
bound it clears a huge ledge of rock and dashes onward down
the slope, until, having fertilised the green meadows of the
valley, it finally empties itself into the green-hued and romantic
Guadairo. The sides of the cliff are covered with festoons of
moist, fresh creepers; and nothing could be more delightful
than the transition from the sun-baked town into these cool
depths, where the spray of the waterfall, dropping like unseen,
gentle dew, maintains a perpetual freshness.
\
ZTbc Basque jprovincee.
THE Basques are a people apart and peculiar in the most
acceptable application of the term. They are distinct from
the Spaniards of the rest of Spain in type, language, law and
custom. They are conservative, shrewd, industrious and in-
telligent in a high degree. The men possess the hardy and
robust appearance common to mountaineers and the symmetry
of form which is almost universal in Spain. The women are
decidedly handsome, but of a type which is at variance with the
characteristic of Spanish beauty. It is enhanced, moreover, by
an ere6i and dignified carriage not usually belonging to peasants,
and is attributable principally to a very unpeasantlike planting
of the head on the neck and shoulders. But for the difference
in dress, many of the village girls, who are universally blondes,
might be mistaken for well-bred English or German ladies.
But, like all women trained to severe manual labour, their
beauty disappears with their youth.
In these provinces of mountain and valley everybody works ;
and, for the most part, they work their own land. Consequently,
Basque farms are small. Five acres, or in other words, just so
much land as a man, his wife and family can till, dictates the
size of the holding. The Basques, who are the most Gothic
gentlemen of Spain, and claim to be the oldest race in Europe,
are grievously affefted by genealogy. Peppery as the Welsh,
proud as Lucifer, and combustible as his matches, as one writer
has described them, these Nobleza de Espaha — they are noble by
the mere fadt of being born in these provinces — fire up when
The Basque Provinces.
i8i
their pedie^ree is questioned. Yet they recognise no indignity
in agricultural employment. Adam, the first gentleman who
bore arms, occupied himself in husbandry, and you will not
convince a Basque that Adam did not speak Basque.
But without accepting or controverting their pretensions to
being the oldest inhabitants of the Continent, these Caballeros
Jiijos de algo are admitted to be the aborigines of the Iberian
Peninsula. They have held the provinces of Alava, Viscaya and
lNERAL niew.
Guipuzcoa for themselves : they have never been subdued or ex-
pelled. Liberty has been their immemorial birthright, and their
lives the means by which they have preserved it. The Visigoths
never conquered them : the Moors could not prevail against
them ; and they beat back the Franks who swarmed down upon
Spain from the north. While they fought for their homes and
their independence their arms were consistently victorious.
They are born mountain fighters, and have been distinguished
i82 Impressions of Spain.
at all times for their great valour ; but their Carlist tendencies
brought disaster upon them. The conspicuous part they played
in both the Carlist wars resulted in the loss of all their special
privileges. In particular they resented the order counter-
manding their exemption from compulsory military service,
which they had hitherto enjoyed, and it was thought that they
would prove a failure as regular soldiers. But this fear was
misplaced; and although Gonzalo de Cordova affirmed that he
[RUN — GENERAL VIEW.
would rather be a keeper of wild beasts than a commander of
Basques, the wearers of the blue blouses and red trousers of
the Highland provinces have proved themselves exceptional
soldiers when commanded by Basque officers.
To the dwellers on the sea-board, fishing affords a lucrative
occupation, and they are considered to be among the best
sailors in Spain. The islanders, dwelling in the sub-alpine
towns in the midst of green hills, cultivate maize, which is the
The Basque Provinces.
183
staple breadstuff, good milk, inferior cheese, and splendid
apples. Oranges and palms flourish in the more sheltered
districts; but the wine of the country, though wholesome and
palatable, is distinctly thin. The hotels are generally very
good, and the roads are amongst the best in Spain. The songs
and dances of the Basques are of ancient origin, and are
entirely different from those in other parts of the Peninsula.
Their language is as difficult as Russian, and as ear-pleasing as
\^:^wf^^^
-
^^^ . ■
1
■^B^^ggi?" -\ C^
BSyHr^ •^^-.ii^
"i^Ml
V*^- • « ' _-i*JM*lf ' ■ '^
<
^^M
"■ f^^^ai.^ , :»fift^-'V-r JHI
■VIEW OF THE TOWN.
Welsh. The devil is said to have devoted seven years to the
study of it in the Bilboes, and to have mastered exactly three
words. Pelota, which is played more or less all over Spain, is
zealously cultivated onl}- in the Basque provinces.
The game of pelota is not only interesting in itself, but it
challenges the common impression that the Spaniards are an
indolent people, who prefer to take their recreation with the
least possible physical exertion. In point of fact, Spain is
i84
Iiupyessioiis of Spain.
experiencing, in common with England, the dubious blessing
of athletic professionalism. Her bull-tighters to-day are all
*' pros.," and her pelota players belong to the same category.
The game, which would resemble fives if it were not so vastly
different, is the most fatiguing I have ever witnessed. So
greatly does it tax the constitution, that the career of its paid
devotees is limited to three, or at the most, four years. It is
played with a four-ounce ball, which has a diameter of eight
•^/^s-
PASAJES DE SAN JUAN (GUIPUSCOa).
inches, and is " volted " about a court, 175 feet long, 50 feet
wide, and 40 feet high, by the players, whose hands are encased
in leather gloves about two feet in length, protected by basket-
work backs. The rallies between good players realise anything
between twelve and twenty strokes ; and although " soft
returns " are not unknown, the majority of the strokes are
delivered with all the force of which the players are capable.
The Basijiie Provinces.
i8s
In a game of fifty up the players will wear a hole completely
through the soles of their shoes.
The traveller by the Paris- Madrid route leaves France at
Hendaye, the charming little seaside town on the Hay of
Bisca>', and enters Spain at Irun, which is comparatively
modern, is charmingly situated, and is about as much French
as Hendaye is Spanish. ' But except that here the passenger
has his luggage examined, changes trains, and puts his watch
back twent}-Hve minutes to mark the difference that is observed
between Paris and Madrid time, Irun is of no particular
interest ; unless, of course, the traveller has plenty of time on
his hands, for in that case he will traverse the eight miles to
Pasajes, the pretty land-locked harbour which, thanks to the
enterprise of a private company, has been made the best port
between Corufia and Cherbourg, and ships a third part of the
entire exportation of the Spanish wine to France. Pasajes is
i86
Impressions of Spain.
perhaps the most picturesque port on the north coast of Spain.
The tramway also runs over the eleven miles which separate
Irun from San Sebastian. This city, which boasts some 33,000
inhabitants, and the favour of royal patronage, is historically
interesting on account of the gallant assault by which it was
taken by the English forces in the face of the strenuous defence
made by the French veterans under General Rey in 1813; it is
fashionable by reason of the annual visit of the ex-Queen
Regent and the young Kmg, who spend four months in each
year in the handsome royal palace overlooking the sea, and it
is beautiful with a beauty that is entirely its own. Here you
shall find the tamarisks and the geranium and heliotrope in
full bloom far into the autumn, and the birds singing among
the fohage, and the Spanish sunlight glinting through the
trees and lying hot on the white horse-shoe of glistening sand.
And even on the stillest day the blue Atlantic rollers break
fiercely upon the rocks beneath the quaint bit of old town, and
curl themselves magnificently along the firm, smooth beach.
La Perla del Oceano, the bathing establishment, is a popular
resort, and, in the season, thousands of bathers disport them-
Tlic Basque Provinces.
189
selves on the yellow sands. The old niniparts of the land
defence works are now demolished, and their site is occupied
by the handsome streets of the Parte Nueva, or New Town.
The Calle dc la Alameda, stretches across the isthmus that
divided the old town from the new. And beyond the old town
the gaunt eminence of Monte Orgullo, crowned by the castle of
La Mota, rises sheer out of the sea, and forms a scene which
fills the eyes with beauty and the mind with memories that do
not easily fade. The Grand Casino, which cost ;^8o,ooo, the
bull-ring, the churches of Santa Maria and San Vicente, the
BILBAO — VISCAVA BKID
Palacio de la Diputacion, and the Pelota Court — these lions of
San Sebastian are but so many specks in the broad impression
one carrries away of ocean, and sky, and the black mountain
frowning majestically through the golden sunshine.
Bilbao, the most important city in the Basque provinces, and
one of the most progressive and rtoiuishing places in Spain, is
the capital of Viscaya, and gained its proud title of La Invicia
Villa de Bilbao by successfully withstanding three sieges by the
army of Don Carlos. The river Ncrvion, u[)i>n which it is
situated, is navigable for steamers up to the town, ci^^ht and
I go
Impressions of Spain.
a-half miles from its mouth. The old town, which is composed
of a mass of narrow streets, closely packed between the river
and the hills — the city is built in a mountain gorge — was famous
for its iron and steel manufactures in the days of Elizabeth ;
and Shakespeare uses the terms bilbo, a rapier, and bilboes,
fetters. The new town,
on the more spacious
left bank of the river, is
IS-' * well built; the principal
streets are straight and
broad, and the houses
are substantial. Three
stone and two iron
bridges cross the river
between the old and the
new Bilbao. The city
owes, of course, its pros-
perity mainly to the
enormous deposits of
iron ore on the left bank
of the Nervion, which,
though known since the
earliest times, have only
been systematically ex-
ploited during the last
(juarter of a century.
"L" I II lA.. Long lines of steamers
are constantly loading
iron ore, chiefly for Cardiff, Newport, Glasgow, and Newcastle ;
and the annual amount of British tonnage entering Bilbao
exceeds, with the exception of Antwerp, that of any other
foreign port in Europe. Pig iron is the staple export —
The B
asque
Provii
193
red wines, wool, and other products are numerous, but un-
important.
The iron ore mines (red and brown hematite) in the
Somorrostro range and district are largely in the hands
of English capitalists. These mines, which began to attract
the attention of British iron masters about 1870, occur chiefly
in the mountain limestone, and are worked in open quarries.
Short railways and tramways have been made to San Nicolas
on the Nervion ; and a wire tramway has been constructed by
the Galdames Mining Company, who possess a cliff of iron ore
a
I.I1.I;Ai) — THh oKCuNEKO IRON ORE COMPANY S WHAKK IN LLCHANA
about a mile long and 280 feet high. The tramway carries the
ore through a tunnel, 600 feet long, to the quay. The Landore
Siamese Steel Company have important hematite mines con-
nected with the river by a wire tramway, carrying baskets for
loading.
Bilbao is largely modern and wholly commercial, and its
public buildings are not notable. But its thoroughfares are
full of movement, and the shady arenal, in the old town — the
focus of the life of the whole city — contains the principal
hotels, the chief cafes, and the New Theatre. The land which
194 Impressions of Spain.
this beautiful promenade now occupies was at one time very
boggy, and swept by the tides. Now the two principal avenues
are asphalted. The Church of San Nicolas de Bari, which
faces it, is one of the city parish churches. It was built
towards the end of the fifteenth century on the ruins of the
sailors' and fishermen's little church. This church has suffered
greatly on account of floods, especially during the year 1553.
It was closed in 1740 as ruin threatened it. When it fell, the
present one was begun in 1743. During the last war it was
used as a provisioning station ; and, after repairs, was opened for
worship on the 21st of January, 1881.
3\\ IRorthcni Spain.
THE great bulk of the Spanish people know as little of Galicia
and the neighbouring Principality of the Asturias as the
average Englishman knows of the Hebrides. Nor can they
judge of the inhabitants of these provinces from the few indi-
vidual Galicians who emigrate to Madrid any more than we
in England can form an idea of
Italians from the specimens who
perambulate the London streets
with a piano organ and a monkey.
The Madrileno comes across a few
Galicians in the capital engaged in
menial services, and speaking a
harsh, strange patois, which he finds
some difficulty in understanding;
but the Gallegan in exile is a very
different person from the man you
meet in his own land of rain and
mist, where the scenery is exquisite,
the hotels are famously bad, and
devotion is the chief recreation of the community. At home
these people are poor, but hardy; possessing little intelligence,
but great capacity for work; knowing little comfort, but nursing
a passionate attachment for the country of their birth. Many
of the young women are remarkably handsome, but drudgery
and hardship early tell their tale, and very few of them retain
their good looks beyond the age of twenty. The country, for
196
Impressions of Spain.
the most part, is poor to barrenness; the peasantry work day
and night for mere subsistance; the cottages, which do duty
for bedroom and nursery, stable,
kitchen, rabbit hutch, pigsty and
parlour, are damp and dirty, and
destitute of beds or chimneys. The
climate is rainy, the surface is
mountainous, and the roads are
generally bad. Small wonder is it
that muleteers and commercial
travellers constitute the principal
visitors to Galicia — for those who
have a soul above scenery, and an
ambition beyond fishing, the country
is practically without attraction.
A (, ALICIA. \ . . r ^ ■ ^
The smgle provmce of Oviedo,
which constitutes the principality of the Asturias, harbours a
people who have remained uncon-
quered alike by Roman and Moor.
There is protection, if not complete
safety, in a country of mountain
and valley, of damp and cold ; and
the Asturians have ever been able to
spread themselves over the land and
farm their straggling holdings in
comparative security. They have
cultivated maize for their staple food ,
poached the hills and rivers for
game and fish, cultivated the art of
dancing, and lived in terror of the
.,• ^ , . . A I.ALICIAN.
evil eye trom the most ancient times;
and despite damp, hard fare, and harder toil, they have learnt
xf
In Northern Spain. 199
the secret of longevity and the charm of a gracious civihty of
manner. Minerals in abundance are common to both Asturias
and Galicia ; and while
the former is the richer
in coal and iron, the latter
has been worked for gold,
silver, and tin from the
time of the Roman occu-
pation. It is on their
mineral resources that
these provinces will have-
to depend for their future
prosperity.
After the cities of the South — Barcelona, Toledo, Granada,
or even modern Madrid — the Northern towns are small, shabby,
and unimportant. Coruiia, the chief seaport of Galicia, though
interesting to Englishmen as being the landing place in Spain
of John of Gaunt, and the harbour from which the invincible
Armada sailed to conquer and Romanise Great Britain, is a
place of only secondary
importance. The city was
founded by the Phoenici-
ans; its name is probably
derived from Columna,
the Phcenician Pharos, or
lighthouse; and its famous
!iL;hthouse, the Tower of
Hercules, has had its
1^ counterpart from the ear-
liest days. The Phceni-
cians, who made gain rather than discovery the aim of all their
expeditions, were attracted to Galicia and to the province of
200 Impressions of Spain.
Orense particularly by reason of its rich deposits of tin. Coruiia
in ancient days was the principal port of the North-west Coast,
and the most westerly town in Europe. It is still the chief
military station in Northern Spain, and ranks as a commercial
city of the first importance.
The hill-girt city of Santiago, though knowing nothing of
commercial prestige, and having no part in the military system
of the country, is to the traveller of far more interest than the
CORUNA— GENERAL VIEW TAKEN FROM THE OLD TOWN.
capital of the province. For dead as it now appears to be, with
the hand of death on its crooked, branching streets, and its
crazy, deformed squares, which echo the pilgrims' footfalls to the
deaf ears of the dead, it was at one time the most celebrated
religious centre in Spain— the goal of fanatics from every corner
of Europe, the Mecca of countless thousands of theologians,
and the tomb of one of the personal companions of Christ.
Although the ancient glory of Santiago has departed, although
Ill Sorthern Spain. 203
its broad-flagged pavements are no longer thronged by the feet
of the devout, and it has been much shorn of its former civil
and religious dignities, the city is still the See of an Archbishop
with a cathedral, two allegiate churches, and fifteen parishes.
The cathedral is erected on the site of the chapel which was
erected by Alonso II. to mark the spot where Theodomer,
Bishop of Iria Flavia, is said to have discovered the body of
St. James the Apostle ; and the city, which sprang up around
the memorial, bears the Spanish name for St. James the Elder.
The original cathedral, which was finished in 879, consecrated
in 899, and destroyed by the Moors in 997, was replaced by
the present edifice in 107S. Whether one believes or not the
tradition of the foundation of the cathedral — which, by the way,
is no mere tradition in the mind of the Galician — one cannot
but regard this mighty pile of stone with awe, and recognise in
it the expression of an influence which was once felt throughout
the Christian world. Even to-day it is one of the most
frequented pilgrim-resorts in Europe.
One passes through Pontevedra, a picturesque granite town,
with arcaded streets and ancient houses bearing armorial
shields, on the journey to \'igo. Here, as everywhere on the
Galician coast line, the parish priest goes down to the shore
one day in every year and blesses the sea ; here also the oysters
are excellent and abundant, and here the watchman's night
chant is heard in the streets. The call of the sercno, or watch-
man, who dates from the building of the ancient walls of
Pontevedra, and the chapel of Alonso II. of Santiago, seems to
catch the imagination of the traveller, and hurl him back into
the mediaeval ages, when life was a state that men fought to
retain, and religion was a power for which they laid it down.
The seretio, with his theatrical cloak wrapped about him, his
axe-headed staff, his lantern, his majestic stalking walk, and
204 Impressions of Spain.
his thrilling chant, "Ave Maria Purissima. Son las diez y
sereno,'' seemed to me impressive, unreal, almost fantastic. At
ten o'clock he passed me in the deserted square, at eleven he
was offering up his quavering invocation beneath my window.
Galicia has little in common with the towns of the South — it
retires to rest early in order to be up betimes.
At Vigo a small fragment of the ancient sea walls yet
remain, but the ruins that Lord Cobham made of the town in
1719 have been obliterated, and in place of the fortified port,
which Drake visited in 1585 and 1589, we have a thriving,
modernised town. Vigo is an important place of call for
Mediterranean steamers, it is one of the chief centres of the
cattle trade export to London, and the port of the mineral
provinces of Pontevedra and Orense.
The town of Orense, the capital of its province, is reached
by the magnificent old bridge that spans the river Mifio. Though
now deprived of three of its arches, which were removed to
give the road more width, and also of the ancient castle which
defended the entrance, it continues to attract the attention of
the traveller on account of its elegant and bold construction,
its ample proportions and majestic appearance. Tradition says
it is Roman, but many learned writers find nothing to confirm
this assertion. It is quite likely that a bridge existed there
previously ; but the present one, it would appear, was built by
order of Bishop Lorenzo during the first half of the thirteenth
century, and has since undergone many alterations, including
those to the largest arch, which is more than forty-three metres
in width, and the reconstruction of which was completed about
the middle of the fifteenth century. In the Roman days Orense
was celebrated for its warm baths. These three springs, which
are still in existence, flow copiously from fountains one above
another, but the waters have lost their medicinal virtues — it is
In Northern Spain.
207
only a supposition that they ever possessed an}- — and are now
used for domestic purposes. The present cathedral, which is an
obvious imitation of the cathedral at Santiago, was raised in
1220. The cathedral, the warm springs, and the bridge over
the Miiio, comprise the three marvels of the city.
Equally ancient, but in many ways more interesting, is the
capital town of Lugo. It boasts a cathedral which shares with
San Isidoro of Leon the immemorial right to have the con-
GIJUN — THE WHARF.
secrated Host always exposed; Roman walls in an excellent
state of preservation that entirely surround the city, and an
establishment of baths. The bath-house contains 200 beds ; and
the springs, which contain nitre and antimony, are good for
cutaneous diseases and rheumatism. The river Mino, which is
the glory not only of Lugo but of Galicia, rises in the
mountains, some nineteen miles from the city.
As the centre of a beautiful and variegated country, which
208
Impressions of Spain.
affords good sport for the angler, and scenery of enchanting
loveHness to attract the artist, Oriedo, the capital of the
Astionas, has its charms ; but the seaport of Gijon, with its
tobacco manufactory, its railway workshops, its iron foundry,
and glass and pottery works, is a much more thriving and
important town. Gijon, like Santander, is a flourishing port ;
and both have gained immensely in importance of late years.
While the latter, with its handsome modern houses, makes a
SANTANDER— THE PORT.
more splendid show, its drainage and sanitary arrangements
leave much to be desired, and the harbour at low water is some-
times most offensive. Both towns are of Roman origin, but
Gijon is the most pleasantly situated on a projecting headland
beneath the shelter of the hill of Santa Catalina, and the harbour
is the safest on the North Coast. It exports apples and nuts
in enormous quantities, coal, and iron, and jet; while its shores
are much frequented by bathers during the summer months.
1)1 Northern Spain.
2og
It is currently believed, and I have no reason to doubt the
accuracy of the statement, that if a visitor in any town in
England stops the first native he meets and inquires as to the
objects of interest that the place possesses, he will be referred
immediately to the principal hostelry of the town. If you
wander in London, and ask your way about, you will be directed
right across the city by references to public-houses, which are
the only landmarks that the Cockney ever dreams of studying.
SANTANDEK- GENKKAL VIEW.
In Spain, cathedrals are as ubiquitous as inns are in England.
You may be sure of finding comfortable accommodation for
man and beast in most English towns, and in the Peninsula
you can be quite as confident of "bringing up" against a
cathedral — if nothing else. In Leon, the capital of the
province of the same name, and in Salamanca, the second city
in the province, we find the same state of things existing — the
cathedral first and the rest nowhere. Yet these two cities
K
Impressions of Spain.
boast of a noble history of ancient splendour and old-time
greatness, and with this — and their cathedrals — they appear to
be content. Leon, in the time of Augustus, was the head-
quarters of the legion that defended the plains from the
Asturian marauders ; and when the Romans withdrew, it
P- - continued as an in-
1 dependent city to
h withstand the con-
jR tinned attacks of the
j^a^ Goths until 586.
The city yielded to
the Moor, was
rescued by Ordofio
I., and retaken by
the Arabs with every
accompaniment of
inhuman atrocity.
^ ^ ^..^ Its defences were
teiiiiiA'^'^fil'll i^'i^ rebuilt by AlonsoV.
BRIMiiiMF*^. nearly 400 years
later, its houses were
repeopled, and it
continued to be the
capital of the Kings
of Leon until the
LL.N THE CAXHKUKAL. ^^^^^ ^^g rCmOVed
to Seville by Don Pedro. Its present miserable condition is
a lamentable appendix to such a history. Its streets are mean,
its shops are miserable, and its inns are worse. Nothing is
left to it but its cathedral.
This temple is truly an architectural wonder, combining the
delicacy of the purest Gothic style with a solidity which has
In Northern Spain.
211
stood for centuries; the manner in which the problem of
stabihty was solved is wonderful,
the immense weights seeming to
have no solid bases. The finest
and most beautiful chiselled work
is visible everywhere, and careful
study is necessary in order to under-
stand how the weif^ht and strain of
the arches were made to rest on their
elegant buttresses. The origin of
this magnificent temple is not quite
clear, but many archaeologists be-
lieve that it was founded in the time
of King Ordono II. It is of irregular
form, but the cathedral or nave,
transept, and presbytery are in the form of a perfect Latin cross.
LEON -CLOISTER IN CATHEDRAL.
LEON — THE CATHEDRAL CHOIR StAI L?
212 Impressions of Spain.
The windows are of colossal dimensions, and the ratablos and
sculptures are notable. Among its many famous works the
cloister must not be forgotten. It is an example of the tran-
sition style from ogive to renaissance, with large galleries,
interesting groups of sculpture, and a beautiful door leading
into the temple.
Among all the choral stalls treasured in Spanish churches
those in the cathedral at Leon stand out prominently. Unfor-
LEON— VIEW TAKEN FROM THE CEMETERY.
tunately, the names of the master who designed them, and of
the artists who assisted him to carry that marvel of ogive art
into effect, are not known ; but it must have been executed
during the last thirty years of the fifteenth century, for it is
known that in 1468 the necessary bulls were obtained from his
holiness through Archbishop Antonio de Veneris in order to
arrange means for meeting the cost of the stalls, and in 1481
the work was still proceeding.
In Northern Spai)i.
213
Salamanca has a great name, a Horid Gothic cathedral, and
a square of handsome proportions and pleasant prospects.
In other respects, it is quite without attractions. The streets
are badly paved and dull, the climate is shrewd, and fuel, I was
told, is scarce and expensive. Even the cathedral, though
grand, is bare ; and when one has visited the cathedral and
lingered awhile in the pleasant garden of the Plaza Mayor —
one of the largest and handsomest squares in Spain — and
SALAMANCA — GENERAL VIEW.
tested the accommodation of "La Comercio,'' one can find
little else to entrance one in the disappointmg old cit} which
was once a world-famed seat of learning. In the fifteenth
century, when its university gave precedence to Oxford alone,
it boasted of 10,000 students. In the following century its
scholars had declined to one half that number, and to-day only
some few hundred students are on its books. The sun of
Salamanca commenced to set at a period of the world's history
214
Impressions of Spain.
that to all the rest of Europe was one of awakening and
advancement. Decline and decay are writ large on the face of
the city. From a distance its noble situation and fine buildings,
built of beautiful creamy stone, gives the place an imposing
and picturesque appearance. But though the shell of Salamanca
remains, its spirit has departed. The ravages of the Romans,
the Goths, the Moors, the Spaniards, and the ruin which the
neighbourly French inflicted less than a hundred years ago.
SALAMANCA— VIEW OF THE COLLEGE FROM THE IRLANDESES.
have left their cruel marks upon its historic walls. Salamanca
is but a broken hulk spent by the storms that, from time to
time, have devastated her. Her narrow, tortuous, ill-paved
streets, which skirt its multitude of grandiose buildings, her
squalor and poverty, her inferior art work, but even more the
uncorrupted art of the grand old cathedral, all remind us of
what Salamanca was, and turn our eyes backwards from what
it is.
In Xurtliern Spain.
217
One must approach Zaragoza with one's mind full of memories
of heroes, queens, poets, and bandits that have been associated
with this once mighty city, and one's heart filled with sympathy
and respect for the old, proud Aragon that flourished, and was
illustrious in history while the Englanders still decorated
themselves with blue paint, and were domiciled in caves. For
Zaragoza is not altogether a gay or an exhilarating city. Many
of the streets have a gloomy aspect, and the old houses are
high dark, and repellant. But the city is not only important
as the seat of a university, an Audiencia, an archbishop, the
captain-general of Aragon,
and other officials; it is
also the junction of four
railways, and its commer-
cial progress has been
steadily increasing of re-
cent years. For Zarago;ia
is in reality two cities—
the old part with ancient
fortified houses, converted
now into stables and wood
stores, and the new part traversed by broad, well-paved and
excellently-lighted streets, and lined with modern buildings
Until the railway connected the city with Madrid and
Barcelona, Zaragoza was as dead - Salamanca, and as
dilapidated as Leon. But it has always held the advantage of
those places in having two cathedrals to thcr one The
principal cathedral, that of La See, is a venerable Gothic pile
occupying the site of a Moorish mosque, and its high arches
have choed many councils, and looked down on the solemn
coronations of the kings of Aragon. More modern is the
Cathedral El PUar, so called from the identical pillar on which
ZAKAdOZA — riLAR CHURCH.
Impressions of Spain.
FLEMISH DANCE.
the Virgin descended from heaven. It was commenced on St.
James's Day, 1686, the work being designed and carried out by
the famous Don Francisco Herrera,
the architect. In the year 1753
King Ferdinand VI. instructed
^isi^ JT Ventura Rodriguex, the architect,
J. ^^ to design and build a new church,
^^ as luxurious as possible, in which
to instal the image without taking
it out of its temple. This was done
by erecting a small Corinthian
temple under the magnificent
cupola, which was ornamented
with the richest marble and jasper
that could be procured. On one
of the altars of this temple, which
is crowned with a magnificent silver canopy, reposes the
venerated effigy, the jewels on
which are of incalculable value.
The Stone Monastery at
Nuevalos, on the right bank of the
river from which it takes its name,
is one of the places most worthy
of a visit in the province of
Zaragoza, not only on account of
the building itself, which is of
great historical interest, having
been built in 1195, but for the
delicious picturesqueness of the
place. Surrounded by rocks, wind-
ing amidst thick woods and dashing
into deep abysses, this river runs its erratic course, imparting
In Northern Spiii)i. 219
life to a landscape which is, according to the noted poet, Don
Ramon Campoamor, " an improved dream of Virgil." Among
its many picturesque waterfalls, the one called " La Caprichosa"
is perhaps the most beautiful.
The dress of the Aragonese peasantry is peculiar and
picturesque. The men, as a rule, wear no hats, but have instead
a coloured handkerchief wound round the head, leaving the
top bare. Their knee-breeches are slashed down the sides and
tied by strings below the knee. The waistcoats are worn open.
Round the waist they wind a wide sash, in the folds of which
pipes, tobacco, money, and provisions are carried as safely as
in a pocket. Their feet are shod with sandals, and they uni-
versally carry a blanket, which is thrown in a graceful manner
over their shoulders.
A BULL-FIGHT is underlined for an early visit in the note-
book of every visitor to Spain. He goes prepared to be
disgusted, and he comes away to denounce it as a revolting and
demoralising exhibition. He even plumes himself upon his
moral and human superiority over the Spaniard, because the
spe(5tacle proves too strong for his untutored stomach. The
inference is as gratuitous as it is illogical. In point of fadt,
the effect of the spectacle upon the spectator is not so
much a matter of sensibility as custom. The Spaniard grows
up to the sport as our Elizabethan ancestors grew to bull-
baiting — even as the present generation of Englishman grows
to pugilism. To the Spaniard, the cruelty of the craft of
tauromachy does not appeal ; the spe(5tacle inflames his blood,
and stirs not a chord of compassion in his nature. Yet he can
be intensely sympathetic, gentle, and tender-hearted ; but these
softer qualities of chara(fter are not touched by the sight of
animal suffering. In the first place, the bull is his enemy by
heredited tendency. He cannot forbear to hurl insulting epithets
at him when he chances to pass him on a journey. He witnesses
his end with the thrill of satisfaftion which a soldier feels in the
death of a treacherous and implacable foe. The Englishman
cannot share, or even realise this sentiment — it would be strange
if he could. His leading feeling is curiosity, and a nervous
apprehensive tension which only magnifies the horror and
repulsion of the sport. With the Spaniard it is entirely
different. Long habit has familiarised him with the bloody
details, and his experienced eyes follow each trick and turn of
Bull-Fi^htin<^.
221
the contest with the enthusiasm of an athlete watchin^j an
athletic display. Every detail of skill and dexterity and nerve
exhibited by the fighters, and every clever move made by the
bull is greeted with critical applause. Cruelty there must be,
but courage in a high degree is a factor in the contest — danger
gives to the contest a dignity which is absent from pheasant
shooting, and which formed no excuse for the vogue to which
bear-baiting and cock-fighting once attained in this country.
It may be thought that I am trying to champion an institu-
tion which is regarded with aversion by all classes of English
people, but such is not my intention. My object is to look at it
from the Spanish point of view, and endeavour to see if there is
not some plausible explanation of its popularit}' as a national
amusement. But when all is said and done, there still exist two
objections to the sport which cannot be explained away. The
first is the almost inexplicable indifference which a Spanish
audience shows for the torture that is inflicted upon the horses
222 Impressions of Spain.
that take part in the corrida : the other is the attendance of the
gentler sex. It must, however, be noted that a large proportion
— certainly the majority of Spanish ladies — are opposed to the
sport, and with the rest it is the manly courage and address of
the performers that fascinates them. But the fad; remains that
women are seen in large numbers in the amphitheatre, as 300
years ago good Queen Bess was not ashamed to be a spectator
at many an exhibition of bear-baiting. English sentiments in
matters of sport have undergone a great change since the
Elizabethan era, but Spain is notoriously the most conservative
country in Europe.
However, enough has been said of the theoretical side of bull-
fighting; let us accompany the seething populace to the Plaza
de Toros, and witness the sport for ourselves. The streets of
Madrid are crowded with people who are all moving in the same
dire(?tion. April to Octob er is the regular bull-fighting season,
but the Spaniard finds the lightest excuse a sufficient one for
indulgence in his favourite pastime during the "close" season.
And so, although it is February when I am in Madrid, I am not
to forego an experience of a promising corrida.
Although I have seen bull-fights in some of the best rings in
Spain, including those of San Sebastian, Valencia, Barcelona,
and Madrid, it is more particularly of my experiences at the
latter place that I shall write.
During the fashionable months, a boletin de Sonibra, or "ticket
for the shade," is a luxury to be prized ; but in February, in
Madrid, we need all the warmth and glare that the sun can give
us. The present Bull Ring, which was built at a cost of ;^8o,ooo,
and opened in 1874, seats 15,000 persons. It stands on a gentle
elevation in a broad stretch of bare yellow land, where it raises
its brick-coloured walls — the only land-mark in the barren, tree-
less, desolate expanse between the city and the solemn distant
Biill-Fi''htini
223
mountains. Around the various entrances countless human
beings cluster like bees, and the Plaza is alive with men and
horses, mules with tinkling bells, soldiers, police, picadors, and
fruit-sellers. What strikes one most curiously about this con-
course of human beings, both outside the bull-ring and within
the huge amphitheatre, which rises tier above tier from the brown
sand till it is almost lost in the vast expanse of blue above, is its
single-mindedness, its patience, and the entire absence of horse-
play. To a Spaniard this is not curious, but to the English
ENTRANCE OK THE HVI.
spectator some familiar characteristic of a crowd appears to be
absent.
Punctuality is not a strong trait in the Spanish character,
but i)uiictuality will be observed to-day. At the hour and the
mimite appointed, the President enters his /xi/to, the signal is
given, and the proceedings commence. The procession, headed
by two caballeros, habited in black velvet, moves slowly across
the ring to the front of the President's seat. The two cspadas
224 I mpressions of Spain.
in yellow and violet, and gold and green costumes respectively,
follow the caballeros. After them come half-a-dozen stoutly-
protected picadores, then eight banderilleros, gay with a profusion
of silk sashes, short breeches, and variously-coloured hose, and
the rear is brought up by a posse of attendants, leading the mules,
all bedecked in plumes and rich trappings, which are to drag off
the carcases from the arena. The entrance of the glittering
cavalcade is announced by a trumpet sound, and the President
tosses the key of the toril into the ring.
To the "new chum," all this preliminary detail, common-
place and "circusy" as it is, is sufficient to strain the nerves,
and expectancy changes to apprehension. The creak emitted
by the opening of the heavy door of the toril intensifies the
feeling. The clutch of curiosity with which the entire
concourse awaits the entrance of the first bull is contagious.
Instinctively one strains forward and catches one's breath. Toro
does not keep us long in suspense. There is a momentary lull,
and then the bull dashes from his dark cell into the glint of the
Spring sunshine. The novelty of the environment staggers him
for a moment. He hesitates in the centre of the ring, and looks
wildly around him. The arena is empty, with the exception of
three picadores, who sit rigidly in a row on their sorry hacks,
waiting for the bull to recognise their presence.
Our first victim is a doughty warrior. He is as ignorant as
the blindfold knackers — that would be dear at a pound a leg —
of the fate in store for him. He may make a brave fight, kill
horses, upset men, and leap the barriers with a heroic rush, but
in twenty minutes his corpse will be coupled up to the mules,
and fresh sand will be strewn on the red trail that will mark his
last passage across the arena. The inevitableness of the outcome
of the encounter, so far as the principal a(5for is concerned, is the
least pleasing feature of the sport. The fox and the stag are
^^^yy- '4
i
Bull-Fi^htin^. 225
given a gambling chance, the grouse is not without hope, and the
gladiator of the cock-pit may live to fight another day, but the
bull is a doomed animal. Happily he is not capable of calculating
the uselessness of his efforts. The horses stand but little better
chance, and the picadores, despite their iron and leather greaves
and spears, are paid to take risks.
The art oi ihe picador is displayed in the skill with which he
avoids the charge of the bull, and turns him on to the next
picador, who, in turn, wiM pass him on to the third. In this
instance the manceuvre does not come off. The bull's rush is
met by the first picador with the point, but the horse he strides
is too ancient to obey with sufficient celerity the rider's injuncftion
to swerve, and horse and man are rolled over with the force of the
impa(5\. The wretched equine is lacerated on his opposing fiank,
but the spearman appears to be uninjured, and before the bull
has completed his circuit of the ring, the horse is on his feet
again, and the picador is waiting for the next attack. The toreros,
with their red capa, are immediately on the spot to draw the
bull from his victim, but the bull is too eager to waste time on a
fallen foe. The second and third horseman avoid his rush; and
the bull, smarting from spear thrusts, and confused by the cheers,
is inclined, in racing parlance, to "turn it up." The first horse
who crosses the line of sight is caught on the brute's horns, and
is so deeply impaled that the bull has to swerve at right angles
to rid himself of his enemy. The second horse is impaled before
the combatant can plant his spear in the bull's neck. Steed and
rider are lurched in the air, and fall heavily to the ground, and
the momentary victor lowers his head again to the prostrate
man, and rolls him over and over. Toreros hasten to the spot to
get him away, the people rise in their places, ladies lift their fans
and avert their faces, while the air is filled with the usual murmur
of lamentation which accompanies an accident. Both the other
226 Impressions of Spain.
picadores are unhorsed before the President gives the signal for
them to retire. A(5l one of this most reaHstic of sporting melo-
dramas is over.
The banderilleros now come forward. They are costumed like
Figaro, in the opera of " II Barbiere de Sevilla," and their hair
is tied into a knot behind. To the English spectator, this part of
the performance is the most fascinating and least abhorrent of
the entire piece. The banderillevo inflicTts no more pain on the
bull than the humane angler deals out to the wily trout, and the
agility and daring with which he addresses himself to his task
is superb. His aim is to plant small barbed darts, or banderillas,
on each side of the neck of the bull. The chulos, or apprentices,
here open the ball by tantalising the animal, and working him
up to a proper pitch of fury. Then the banderilleros circle round
him, and one, standing full in his line of flight, "defies" him
with the arms raised high over his head. If the bull stops, as he
is doing now, the man walks composedly towards him. Then
the bull lowers his head and makes his rush, and the athlete,
swerving nimbly to one side, pins in his banderillas simul-
taneously. Again and again the maddened animal, frantic more
from impotence than pain, makes his rushes from one tormentor
to another. At each rush he receives further instalments of
his hated decorations. Then one man bungles. He loses his
nerve, or, failing to time the animal's charge, shirks the
onslaught. A howl of execration greets the exhibition, and the
unfortunate baiter is tempted to more rash efforts. He seats
himself in a chair, and waits with suicidal calmness the rush
of the bull. Just as the animal's horns are thrust beneath him
he jumps lightly up, manipulating his darts with miraculous
precision, while the chair is tossed high in the air.
Thunders of applause greet this venturesome feat, and the
other banderilleros, warmed to their work by the plaudits of the
Bull-FvAtiui'.
227
public, vie with one another in deeds of coolness and "derring
do." One waits, alert but motionless, for the attacks of the
charging bull, and as the galloping brute lowers his head to toss
him, places his foot between the terrible horns, and is lifted clear
over his onrushing enemy. Another, seizing hold of the lashing
tail, swings himself along the bull's side, and plants himself for
one thrilling moment right between the horns.
I once saw a banderillero, in response to the jeers of the crowd,
take the darts, which are about two feet long, break them across
'>ft*-
'rn
THE FICADOK.
his knee, and plant the stumpy weapons, with unerring pre-
cision, on each side of the neck of the bull.
These feats appear to be fraught with infinite danger, and the
agility with which the performers acquit themselves cannot be
witnessed without a tremour of amazement and admiration.
Several times the venturesome chitlos escape death as by a
miracle : they sometimes seem so close to their end when they
vault over the barriers to avoid the pursuing bull, that they
228 Impressions of Spain.
appear to be helped over the fence by the bull's horns. One bull
exhibits at this stage of the proceedings an emphatic disin-
clination to continue the fight. He paws the ground when the
darts are driven home, but makes no show of retaliation, and
the hoots and opprobrious epithets that are hurled at him by
the populace fail to inspire him to renewed efforts. Then the
banderillas de fuego are called for. These are arrows, provided
with fire crackers, which explode the moment they are affixed in
the neck. In a moment the spectacle, which had worked me up
to a high pitch of excitement, becomes intensely distasteful. The
tortured animal, driven mad with fright and pain, bounds across
the ring in a series of leaps like a kid. The people scream
with delight, and I mentally wonder what kind of "steadier"
the Spaniard resorts to when his stomachic nerve is affe(?ted by
a detail of the exhibition. The firework display had not lasted
long when the last trumpet sounded, and the espada walks
forward to a storm of rapturous applause.
The Jinale of the spectacle is approaching. The executioner
comes alone : the bull, who has hitherto been tormented by
a crowd of enemies, is now able to concentrate his whole
attention on one object. Toro has become exhausted with his
previous exertions, and he moves without his old dash. The
espada studies his foe carefully, to judge the temper of the
animal with which he has to deal. With his left hand he
waves the muleta — the red cloak — to lure the beast into a few
characteristic rushes and disclose his disposition. If he is a
dull, heavy bull, he will be despatched with the beautiful half-
volley; but if he proves himself a sly, dangerous customer, that
is cunning enough to run at the man, instead of at the muleta,
a less picturesque, but safer thrust must be employed. But our
bull is neither sly nor leaden. He has recovered from his
fright, and is quick to seize his opportunity to make a final
Bnll-Fi'f(htin<^. 229
effort before the stinging banderilleros return to distract him.
Once or twice he thrusts his horns into the unresisting cloak,
then gathers himself together for a final rush. The swordsman
raises the point of his glimmering Toledo blade ; while every
nerve of his sinuous, graceful body quivers with the absolute
constraint and concentrated effort that hold him. The duellists
are both of the same mind. The espada has summed up his
antagonist — he is levantados, the bold bull, a fit subject for la
siierte de /rente. The bull's ne.xt rush is his last. The fencer
receives the charge on his sword, which enters just between
the left shoulder and the blade. The bull staggers, lurches
heavily on to his knees, and rolls over, at the feet of his con-
queror, vomiting blood.
The assembled multitude rend the air with their cheers, the
men yell applause, and every face is distorted with excitement
and enthusiasm. The only indifferent person in the building is
the espada. With a graceful and unassertive turn of his wrist,
he waves the sword over his fallen foe, wipes the hot blood
from the blade, and turning on his heel, approaches the Presi-
dent's box, and bows with admirable sang-froid. The team of
jingling mules enter, and the dead bull is carried oft" at a rapid
gallop. The espada walks composedly away, without another
glance at the result of his handiwork.
The superb imperturbability of these espadas always fills me
with admiration. They accept the plaudits of the spectators
with the same unconcern with which they hear the execrations
that fill the air if they do not at the first attempt infiict the coup
de grace. During the first corrida I attended, an espada failed
to aim at the precise spot, and the bull tore up the sand in
agony. The populace insulted the swordsman with jeers and
bowlings, but he remained perfectly cool and collected, and
nerved himself with as much composure to his second and
230
Impressions of Spain.
successful thrust as if he had been practising with a sack of
potatoes in an empty arena. When I had been witness to the
death of two bulls, I remarked to my Spanish friend that I had
seen as much as I desired, and was quite ready to quit the spot.
But my companion was a friend of long standing : he could be
firm without seeming discourteous. "No! no!" he said, "you
kept me in the theatre last night until ' Don Juan ' was played
to the bitter end : you shall remain to-day to reward me
for my exemplary patience and respect for your wishes." I
AT CLOSE QUARTERS.
saw five other bulls done to death during the afternoon.
Although not to be compared with an ordinary corrida as a
display of skill, and capacity, and artistic finish, a Royal bull-
fight, such as Madrid saw on the occasion of the coronation of
King Alfonso XIII., is more interesting as being a revival of the
sport as it was originally practised. Bull-fighting to-day is a
pure lyj^afps.sign al busine ss, but in the knightly days of ancient
Spain it was employed as a means to teach the chivalrous youth
Bnll-Fi'ihti
23]
the use of arms. In those days, mounted caballeros encountered
the bulls in the ring with lances alone — a more dangerous
pastime than is bull-fighting in its modern sufficiently hazardous
form. Then the combatants were mounted on good horses, and
their business was to save them and turn the bull, to kill the
bull if possible, but, at the risk of their own lives, to protect
their steeds from injury. It is recorded that in one Fiesta dc
Toros at the beginning of the sixteenth century, no less than
ten young knights lost their lives. The corrida, Real con
Caballeros en plaza — a Royal bull-fight with gentlemen in the arena
— on the olden lines, that was held on May 21st, 1902, in Madrid,
was fought by young officers and scions of noble families, who
were attired in the gorgeous costumes of Spanish knights of the
reign of Philip IV., and attended by their pages and grooms
wearing the dress of the same period, and displaying the colours
of the noble house which they served. On that occasion, the
Paseo de las Cnadrillas, or preliminary procession of the bull-
fighters across the arena to the strains of military music, was a
most imposing sight. The Padrinus, the grandees who acted
as supporters or godfathers of the knights, accompanied the
fighters, followed by their mediasvally-clad retinues, to the foot
of the Royal box, and presented them to the King. The
spectacle was strikingly brilliant, but the display was not to
be compared with a professional bout. The horses of the
cavaliers had evidently not been sufticiently trained for their
work, and the best riding in the world could not bring them off
scathless. Let me condense an account of the scene to convey
an impression of what the pyesent-day bull-fight has been derived
from.
When the procession had withdrawn, leaving only the cliulos
and the gallant caballeros in the arena, the door of the toril
swung on its heavy hinges, and a splendid specimen of a bull,
232 Impressions of Spain.
dungeoned for several hours previously in utter darkness, darted
into the light of day, tearing up the ground with its hoofs, and
ploughing the air with its horns. Suddenly, a horseman and
his prancing steed vaulted into the centre of the ring — the
charger, with flowing mane, full-veined ears and shapely head
slanted forward — to meet the onrush of the goaded bull. The
second picador seeing the bull worried and dazed by the tantal-
ising assistants, scudded past on a swift, white racer, sitting
gracefully in his saddle, and then turning deftly as he passed
the great brute, plunged his lance into his neck, and whirled
aside to avoid possible pursuit. But by sheer accident, the
bleeding steer dashed off in the same direction, caught the
horse in the hindquarters, raising it on its forelegs and en-
dangering the equilibrium of the rider.
Before the scampering bull had time to recover from the
compact, the second cahallero, dashing up, had planted his lance
deep into its neck. The white horse, stung with pain, made a
wild rush, but was brought to hand by splendid horsemanship,
and his rider urged him along, to infli(5l another wound in the
animal's head. Then two toreros advanced, beguiling and wearying
the bull. By the time the bull had received the fifth lance in
his neck, and the white steed had been twice wounded, the edge
was taken off the keen thirst for violent emotions, and another
torero unfolded his red capa, waved it to and fro until the bull
swooped down upon him, and a moment later he was sprawling
in the sand seemingly gored by the infuriated animal. The
next minute the wounded steer tottered, dropped on its forelegs,
and turned over on the sand, and a knife put a speedy end to
its sufferings.
The second bull, a black massive creature, appeared listless
and faint, and made little effort to defend itself. It made one
successful attack on the white charger; and, then, at the signal
Bull-Fii^htin^.
233
from the King, an amateur e$pada stepped forward. The attempt
was a miserable failure. The young swordsman dedicated, in
a few well-chosen words, the death of the bull to his sovereign,
and after a dozen passes with the red capa, plunged the
gleaming blade of Toledo steel into the animal's neck, but so
ineffectually that a storm of hisses resounded through the ring.
The second attempt was still more awkward, the sword entering
but a few inches. The sword was pulled out, and another
effort, made amid groans and hisses, proved equally unsuccess-
A TURN WITH HIS BACK TO THE BULL.
ful. Although the madness had died out of the expiring brute's
eyes, and his forelegs were bending under him, the ine.xperienced
torero seemed unable to put him out of pain. However, he
grasped the short, sharp knife, and unsteadily taking aim,
plunged it into the neck. Another failure. Yells, groans,
shrieks, whistling, and hissing marked the anger of the crowd.
The espada may be a paid professional, or the greatest noble in
Spain, but in the ring he is judged by the rules of the ring, and
234 Impressions of Spain.
his bungling is recognised with the most poignant scorn to
which failure could be subjected. He again grasped the sword;
and, spurred by the vitriolic exclamations of the public, sheathed
it in the bull's neck. The animal stood still and tottered, his
forelegs bent, his head sank upon the moist, red sand, his hind
feet quivered, and a tlourish of trumpets announced that life
was extinct.
It is curious to find, in talking with learned enthusiasts on
the relative merits of the bull-fighters, what diversity of opinion
exists ; but all parties are agreed upon the unrivalled skill and
daring of the mighty Frascuelo. In his day, for death's whistle
summoned him from the arena in the height of his fame,
Frascuelo was regarded as the greatest niatadov that Spain had
ever seen ; and Spaniards, in debating the subject of the bull-
ring, never indulge the hope that his equal will ever arise to
shed a new glory on the National sport. Frascuelo is dead,
and his famous rival, Guerra, or Guerrita — to give him his
professional name — has long since cut off his coleta, and lives
in well-earned retirement at Cordova. But the school of
fighters, who claim Frascuelo as their master — the fearless,
dare-devil toreros, who scorn to concede a yard of ground to
the bull, and do all their fighting at close quarters — is widely
popular; and if their terribly dangerous methods are attended
by frequent casualties, the intoxicating applause that rewards
the accomplishment of a brilliant coup is, apparently, ample
compensation for the risks that it entails. But the wildest
appreciation of a successful feat does not exempt the most
popular performer from the furious condemnation of the multi-
tude when his scheme miscarries. The allowances made by
a Spanish audience at the ring-side are of the most grudging
nature. I once travelled from Barcelona to Madrid in the
company of Bombita-Chico — the boy Bombita — who, although
Bull-Fii^hting.
^35
he was barely recovered from an unfortunate encounter with a
tricky bull eight days before, was on his way to take part in
a grand currida that was to be held in the capital. He was —
as his name denotes — no more than a lad, with large, strong
hands that sparkled with jewels, while a formidable anchor
about hve inches long, set with magnificent diamonds, dangled
from his watch-chain. I saw him again in the arena a few
days later. He seemed nervous, and was, it appeared to me,
a little perturbed by the demonstration that welcomed his
FIXING THE BANDERILLAS.
reappearance in the ring after his accident. Ill fortune allotted
him a troublesome animal, and his kill, while creditable enough
to untutored eyes, lacked the grace and finish that the critical
spe(5tator requires. Bombita was their own Boy of Madrid,
and because of his recent misfortune they forgave him. but
they did not cheer him ; and the lad walked out of the arena
amid a silence that could be felt.
Mazantini, now grown old and heavy, was in his day an
236 Impressions of Spain.
undoubtedly fine matador. There are some that still regard
him as the head of his profession. But the majority, remem-
bering what he was, regret that he has not gone into honourable
retirement. But Mazantini cannot tear himself away from
the fascination of the arena, although his appearances grow
less frequent every year. Conejito, who was wounded in Bar-
celona in the spring of 1903, is generally regarded as the most
accomplished matador now before the pubhc; but Fuentes is,
par excellence, the best all-round man. For, with the exception
of the picador business, Fuentes plays every part in the piece.
Other espadas have their assistants, who play the bull with
their capas, and stand by while the banderilleros ply their
infuriating darts. It is only when the bull has been prepared
for the slaughter by the other performers that the matador
comes forward to put the finishing touch to the grim tragedy.
Fuentes, on the other hand, on special occasions — of which
the corrida which I attended in Madrid was one — keeps his
assistants entirely in the background ; he takes the stage when
the picadores leave it, and keeps it to the end. So close does he
keep to the bull, that during the corrida in Madrid, of which I
am writing, he seldom allowed the animal to be a dart's length
away from him. On one occasion his capa got caught so
tightly on the bull's horns that he tore it in jerking it away ; and
at another time the bull stopped dead, with his forefeet on the
hated sash. As a handerillero, Fuentes is without equal in
Spain. He frequently works with darts that have previously
been broken short, and he uses them sparingly. Yet the
encounter between the handerillero and the bull when Fuentes
is on the scene is the most thrilling part of the whole perform-
ance. It is a contest between human intellecft and brute
intelligence — a duel between mind and matter. Fuentes does
nor~avotd the bull, but by exerting some magnetic power he
Bull-Fi^htin^.
237
repulses the animal and compels it to halt. When the bull
charges, in response to his "defiance," he waits with the
banderillas suspended above his head until the animal is
within a few yards of him. Then he deliberately, but
without haste, lowers one arm until the arrow is on a level
with the brute's eyes. The bull wavers in his onslaught,
slows up, and stops dead within a foot or two of the point.
Sometimes Fuentes walks backwards, while the bull glares at
him with stupefied impotence, until he escapes the eyes that
THE MATADOR.
hold him, and gallops away. Again and again the bandcrilUro
taunts his enemy to attack him, only to arrest his charge and
force him to turn from his deadly purpose by the irresistible
power of his superior mentality. The crowd follows this superb
exhibition with breathless interest, and in a silence that is more
eloquent of admiration than the wildest cheers would be. Hut
the end is nearly reached. Fuentes grasps his stumpy darts
and advances against his bewildered antagonist, who waits
238 Impressions of Spain.
his approach with sulky indifference. The man's arms are
flung up with a gesture of exasperating defiance, and when the
bull makes his final rush, his opponent, instead of stopping
him, steps lithely on one side, and the brute thunders past him
with the two galling arrows firmly implanted in his huge neck.
Fuentes has already moved to the side of the ring. The bull
turns and charges back at him. The banderillero glides grace-
fully over the sand, but his pace is not equal to that of his
infuriated pursuer. The distance between them decreases
rapidly; in half-a-dozen yards he will be upon him. Fuentes
glances over his shoulder and, without changing his pace, doffs
his cap and flings it in the bull's face. This stratagem only
arrests the rush of the brute for a moment, but it gives the
man time to reach the barrier, where he receives his muleta and
sword from an attendant and returns to complete his task.
All the kings of the bull-ring have their own particular feats
or strokes, which the Spaniards appreciate as Englishmen
revel in Ranjitsinhji's acrobatic hitting, or Morny Cannon's
inimitable "finishes." Bombita-Chico's speciality in playing
his bull is to kneel in the arena and allow the animal to charge
through the capa which is held within three feet of the ground.
The nerve required for this feat fires the audience with en-
thusiastic approval. The tale is told of a torero, whose name
I have forgotten, who gained distincftion by his exceptional
skill in facing the bull with the long vaulting pole, known as the
salto de la garrocha. With this instrument he would goad the
bull on to the attack. When the brute was in full gallop he
would, timing his movements to the instant, run a few yards
to meet him, and swing himself high into the air at the end of
his pole. The oncoming bull would charge the pole, the
grounded end would be tossed upwards, and the torero would
drop lightly to the ground and make good his escape. On one
Bnll-Fiahtinir.
239
occasion the man performed his risky " turn " at a moment
when the attention of a royal lady was attracfted from the arena,
and she sent an attendant to the expert to command him to
repeat it. In vain the poor fellow protested that it was im-
possible for him to accomplish the same feat again with the
same bull. The lady's desire had been expressed. "But it is
more than my life is worth," argued the athlete. "It is the
lady's wish," responded the attendant. The torero bowed, and " I
dedicate my life to Her Royal Highness," he said. The attempt
THE FINAL >TK(
fell out as he foretold. The bull charged and stopped dead.
The man vaulted aloft, his body described a half circle, and fell
— on the horns of the bull. He was dead before the attendants
could entice the animal from his victim.
Lagartijo, Lagartijillo, Mazantini, and Montes all have
their distinguishing methods of attacking and despatching the
bull, but none of these are capable of the feat by which
Guerrita was wont to throw the bull-ring into transports of
240 luip/essions of Spain.
deafening enthusiasm. In the ordinary way, the espada having
taken the measure of his adversary, receives him standing
sideways, and having thrust his sword at arm's length be-
tween the left shoulder and the blade, leaps aside as the bull
blunders forward on to his knees and falls to the earth. But
Guerrita advanced his left arm across his body and waved his
muleta under his right uplifted arm. When the bull lowered his
head at the charge he passed the sword over the animal's horns
and plunged the blade into the vital spot behind the shoulder. In
other words, he stopped the brute and killed him while his head
was under his arm ; and so closely were the duellists locked in
that last embrace, that Guerrita's side was frequently scratched
by the bull's horns. One may le6ture, write, and preach against
the barbarity of bull-fighting ; but so long as Spain can breed
men of such amazing nerve, and skill, and dexterity that they
can successfully defy death and mutilation to provide their
countrymen with such lurid sport, so long will bull-fighting
continue to flourish in Spain.
■:■'.
K
■¥ . \
in
A VALENCIAN BEAUTY
A VALENCIAN BEAUTY.
Bl'LL-FlGHTEKS AT THE TAVEKN.
A PICADOKi:
Zbc Ipicturc 6nllcr\>, nDa^ri^.
IN returning to the subject of the Museo of Madrid, and its
priceless treasures, my object is not to pen a dissertation on
Spanish art, but to add a few lines by way of an accompani-
ment to the excellent photographs of some of the principal
pictures which I am privileged to reproduce. In a collection
which contains numerous canvasses by Rubens, Vandyke, and
Rembrandt, no less than forty of Titian's best productions,
ten pictures by Raffaele, including the Spasimo, considered by
many to be his greatest work, and, among the Dutch and
Flemish specimens, more than 200 of Teniers alone, the artist
is concerned almost entirely with the masterpieces of the Spanish
school. Here are sixty paintings of the superb \'elasquez,
who was Court painter under Philip the Fourth ; nearly as
many pictures by that gentle and serene genius Murillo ; and
many magnificent specimens of the fiery temperament of Goya.
Here are miracles of art from the sixteenth-century genius of
Anotonio Moro and Coello to \'aldes Leal and Lopez of but a
century ago. The catalogue of this collection would make a
formidable appendix to a book of this size ; an adequate
appreciation could not be contained in two such volumes. The
most famous gems of the Madrid gallery are familiar not only
to students, but to the men in the streets of every city of the
world — even Goya's " Family of Charles IV.," the least known
of the few that I have selected for reproduction, has been
copied by scores of enthusiasts. The passionate, fulminating
genius of Goya, which found its supreme nourishment in the
242
Impressions of Spain.
spectacle of the bull-fight, and its highest expression in scenes
of war, and blood, and laceration, was scarcely at home as a
courtier. He brought the terrible realism of his execution
scenes and battle pieces to the portraiture of the Royal Family,
and the members of the family of Charles IV. will, conse-
quently, go down to posterity as the most unamiable and
unattractive group of royalties that has ever been put on
THE FAMILY OF CHARLES V., BY GOYA.
canvas. The faces are worse than plain, they are hideous ; but
the details are treated in the artist's vigorous and effective style,
and the whole composition compels a belief in his fidelity to
nature.
From among the profusion of masterpieces by which
Velasquez is represented I have passed over the dignified, serene,
and powerful picture of yEsop, in favour of the huge and dra-
The Picture Gallery, Madrid. 245
matic painting of the Surrender of Breda — the latter a superb
achievement, both in colour and design. " The Surrender of
Breda" is regarded as the noblest of the works of Velasquez,
and is, perhaps, one of the finest historical pictures in the
world. " Such a masterpiece," says the Chevalier D'Avillier,
" must be seen ; it cannot be described." It is usually known
in Spain as Les Lanzas from the upright lances that cut
the sky. A celebrated art critic has written of the picture,
"never were knights, soldiers, or national character, or the
heavy Fleming, the intellectual Italian, and the proud Spaniard,
more nicely marked even to their boots and breeches. Observe
the genial countenance of Spinola, who (the model of a high-
bred, generous warrior) is consoling a gallant but vanquished
enemy (Justin of Nassau). It is interesting to recall the fact
that Spinola took Breda in 1826, and died five years afterwards,
broken hearted at Philip the Fourth's treatment, exclaiming,
' Me han ijititado la Jioiira ! ' (They have robbed me of my
honour!)" The head placed on the extreme right of the
picture, with a plumed hat shading his finely-chisseled brow, is
that of \'elasquez himself, who has in other of his pictures
introduced his personality. In La Familia the artist has
represented himself painting the Royal Family of Philip I\'.,
and in it the painter stands before his easel, brush and palette
in hand. On his breast is the red cross of Santiago : and
tradition has it that the King painted in the decoration in order,
as he declared, "to finish the picture."
By his works in the \'elasquez Gallery alone must the great
artist be judged. Outside Madrid the painter is apt to be
judged by a few gloomy figures, conceived in a stiff, gloomy
style, and attired in staid, gloomy costumes; whereas his fertile
genius composed a whole gallery of types and examples ranging
from kmgs to beggars, from warriors to clowns, from martyrs
246
Imp}
of Spc
to drunkards — all vigorous, living, speaking presentments.
Velasquez was, as his pictures in the Museo teach us, a painter
of real personages, a chronicler of what he saw, a surprisingly
faithful depicter of humanity ; but one must go to Madrid to
realise and properly appreciate the genius of the master, for it
might almost be said that the entire produce of his brush is
contained within these walls.
Murillo, with his placid inspiration, which found its outlet in
THE DIVINE FAMILY, BY MURILLO.
simple and noble elegance of outline, in benign and consoling
expressions, and a sweetness of eye and lip on saintly faces that
defies description, is represented here in all his glory. Murillo
was unequalled in the art of representing the Divine idea in his
saints and madonnas, and Spain has rightly named him "The
Painter of the Conceptions." Of the four wonderful " concep-
tions " that are to be seen in the Museo of Madrid, I have
w^
fNil
itir»7:c*r.**i^^
BARTOLOME ESTEBAN, BV MUKILLO.
1^m^LX^i
M
IJAKTOLOME ESTEBAN, BY MIRILLO
The Picture Gallery, Madrid.
249
chosen for reproduaion two that all the world has acclaimed to
be the most wonderful imaginings of soulful beauty and tender
youthfulness that man has given to the world. Devout m purpose
and idea, tender and exquisite in execution, his pifture of the
Sacred Family-called the Pajarito from the little bird held m
the Christ's hand— is
one ofthe most purely
devotional pi(ftures of
the youthful Saviour
in existence. An altar-
piece, known as La
Porciuncula, from a
plot of ground near
Assisi, where Christ
appeared in a vision
to St. Francis, is in
the artist's best style,
and El Divino Pastor
is another most
characteristic and
most popular of the
master's works.
Murillo's heart
was divided between
beggars and baby-
hood—he seems to
have taught the
THE VV
INE FAMILY, BY MIKILI
Spaniards benevolence towards the one and devotion to the
other. Most of the beggar-boy pictures have been transferred
,0 foreign collections, but remains the Holy Fam.hes and the
cherub-peopled Annunciations. Of these Andalus.an cherubs a
charming American author, Katharine Lee Bates, has wr.t.en.
Impressions of Spain.
" Such ecstatic rogues as they are ! Their restless ringlets
catch azure shadows from the Virgin's mantle ; they perch
tiptoe on the edges of the crescent moon ; they hold up a
mirror to her glory and peep over the frame to see themselves;
they pelt St. Francis with roses ; they play bo-peep from behind
the fleecy folds of
cloud ; they try all
manner of aerial
gymnastics. But a
charm transcend-
ing even theirs
dwells in these
baby Christs that
almost spring from
the Madonna's
arms to ours, in
those Christs that
touch all boyhood
with divinity. The
son of the Jewish
carpenter, happy in
his father's work-
shop with bird and
dog ; the shepherd
lad whose earnest
eyes look toward
his waiting flock ;
the lovely playmates, radiant with innocent beauty, who bend
together above the water of life — from these alone might Catholic
Spain have learned the sacredness of childhood. But Spain
first showed Murillo the vision that he rendered back to her."
Murillo's baby Christs are indeed an inspiration, for "they
THE DIVINE SHEPHERD, BY MURILLO.
The Picture Gallery, Madrid. 253
touch all boyhood with divinity," as his Virgin's waken all souls
to adoration. De Amicis, the Italian writer whose appreciations
of Spain it is a pleasure to read and a privilege to quote,
says of Murillo that he is " not only a great painter, but has
a great soul ; is more than a glory ; is, in fact, an object of
affection in Spain ; he is more than a sovereign master of the
beautiful, he is a benefactor, one who inspires good actions ; and
a lovely image which is once found in his canvasses is borne in
one's heart throughout life with a feeling of gratitude and
religious devotion. He is one of those men of whom an
indescribable prophetic sentiment tells us that we shall see
them again; that the meeting with them is due to us like some
prize ; that they cannot have disappeared for ever, they are
still in some place : that their life has only been like a flash of
inextinguishable light, which must appear once more in all its
splendour to the ages of mortals." In transcribing his general
impressions of the pictures in the Museo of Madrid, De Amicis
pathetically comments: "It is one of the most dolorous con-
sequences of a charming journey, this finding one's mind full of
beautiful images, and the heart a tumult of intense emotions,
and only being able to give expression to so small a portion of
them ! With what profound disdain I could tear up these
pages when I think of those pictures! Oh, Murillo; oh,
\'elasquez : oh, poor pen of mine ! " Yet these are the artistic
bewailings of a writer who has comprehended as much of, and
expressed more faithfully the charm and soulfulness of Murillo
than any living critic.
Diva el IRe^.
ON the 17th of May, 1902, Queen Maria Christina re-
Hnquished the Regency she had sustained so faithfully
and unfalteringly for upwards of sixteen years, and Alfonso
XIII., or to give his name in full, Alfonso Leon Fernando
Maria Santiago Pidro Pascual Marcian Antonio, appeared
before his subjects for the first time in the character of ruler as
well as King. The eyes of all Europe were directed to Madrid
on that day of sunshine and rejoicing, and perhaps in England
more than in any country in the world was the nobility and pathos
of the Queenly figure, and the brilliant promise given by the
young King, most sympathetically appreciated. Queen Christina
had devoted her life to her duty ; to the service of Spain and
the task of fitting her son for the high destiny to which he
was born. The difficulty of that task cannot be over-estimated.
Taken from the cloistered and secluded life in the Convent of
Hochradin in Bohemia, the young Abbess-Princess, who from
her earliest years was remarkable for the gravity of her
character and her singular piety, was suddenly thrust into the
fierce light that beats about a throne to secure a union between
the two great Catholic families of the Hapsburgs and the Spanish
Bourbons. Married in 1879, Queen Maria Christina enjoyed
six years of complete happiness. Handsome, young, and brave,
King Alfonso XII. proved a faithful and a devoted husband. His
early death left her an alien in a strange land to govern a people
who regarded her, if not with dislike, at least with suspicion.
The Spanish have no reason to love Austria, and the mere fact
of the Queen Mother being an Austrian by birth was sufficient
1886.
tSgi.
1892.
a
1893.
1895-
1890.
w
1S9S.
1901.
[902.
Viva el Rey.
257
to excite a feelinj:^ of distrust. But the brave Queen outlived
the popular want of confidence, and won the admiration and
respect of her subjects.
A few months after the death of Alfonso XII., the infant
King — he was King
from the first breath
of life that he drew
— " the only child
born a king since
Christ" — was pre-
sented to the great
officials and gran-
dees of Spain, lying
upon a silver salver.
The thrill of the
tirst cry of "\'iva el
Rey!" that rose
outside the Palace
of Madrid on May
17th, 1886, and
were renewed with
tempestuous enthu-
siasm on May 17th,
1902, has never died
in the hearts of the
Spaniards. The
Divine right of
kings is not an unmeaning formula in Spain, in spite of all
past history; and to the people who so ardently desired him,
the circumstances of Alfonso's birth gave their King a peculiarly
Heaven-sent character. From the moment of his birth he has
been hedged about by restrictions and precautions. The hopes
THE KING AM
258 Impressions of Spain.
of the Royalists and of men of all parties who believe that only
monarchical government is possible for Spain have been centred
in hint, and his every look and action has been watched with a
most intense anxiety, rising from the conviction that only the
life of this one-time delicate lad stood between Spain and the
chaos of revolution.
The weakness of the infant King added to the unparalleled
trials that were laid upon the Queen. She has had, in addition,
to meet the unquenchable hate of the two political factions —
the Carlists, who still dream of a successful coup on behalf of
the Pretender; and the Radicals, who would found the Red
Republic. She has had to meet the menace of risings in the
CarHst North and labour troubles in the Republican South.
She has seen Spain drained in men and money in a futile effort
to subdue the Cuban Rebellion. More recently still her heart
has been wrung by the appalling disasters of the war with
America. She saw the gallant army of Spain defeated, its
heroic fleet annihilated ; Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines —
the last remnants of what had once been the greatest Colonial
Empire in the World — torn from the Crown of Spain. The
Queen Regent bore these terrible misfortunes with dauntless
courage ; and her wisdom, prudence, and ability enabled her to
save the dynasty and to see the Crown placed on the head of
the son she so dearly loves.
Under his mother's untiring care the little King threw off
his infant ailings. He had the usual illnesses of childhood,
one of so severe a character that it cost the country many days
of painful suspense. But, like many other delicate children, he
grew in health and strength as the years went by, and his
subjects were soon able to assure themselves that it was no
weakling that would sit on the throne of Spain. It is a matter
of history that he opened his first Cortes in his nurse's arms at
S. M EL BEY ALFONSO Xlll
Viva el Rey. 261
the age of one ; at two years old he sat on a throne to open the
Exhibition of Barcelona, and from his earliest years he was
taught the lesson of responsibility. Efforts have been made
before now to bring up a future ruler of a country in ignorance
of his or her coming power, and in subjection to temporary
guardians. With Alfonso XIII. the opposite plan was very
wisely followed. He has always been the King, subject to no
will but his mother's; and even in his childhood there must have
been borne upon his mind some perception of the idea which
all the pomp and ceremony surrounding him portended, and
some knowledge that he himself was the embodiment of that
idea. Until the age of seven, his time was spent between the
Palace of Madrid and the Palace of Miramar in San Sabastian,
under the immediate eye of his mother and his sisters. There-
after, in conformity with the traditions of the Court of Spain,
he was obliged to have a separate establishment of his own, and
his education was entrusted to a distinguished officer of the
Royal Household, General Sanchis, assisted by three officers
and a staff of professors. His Majesty proved an apt scholar,
mastering English, French, and German, each of which he
speaks fluently, and obtaining a wide and deep knowledge of the
history of his own country. He was also instructed in the
elements of law, political economy, and the theory of Govern-
ment — branches of study for which he showed a very marked
aptitude. Like every true Spaniard, the King early disclosed a
passionate fondness for the army, and three days in the week
he was regularly instructed in military drill and exercises in
company with a number of young Spanish nobles. He early
became an accomplished fencer, a capital shot, a good swimmer,
and an excellent horseman. He has an admirable seat and
great pluck and judgment, and never looks better than he does
on horseback. In the extensive stables of the Palace, which
262
Impressions of Spain.
contains a very varied collection of steeds from all countries,
there is scarcely a horse which he has not ridden.
What manner of King was it that on his 17th birthday made
his first official appearance as the Constitutional ruler of Spain?
Accomplished as a scholar and a musician, and a fine all-round
athlete, we know also of him that, thanks to heredity and careful
training, he has developed a manliness and resolution of character
which promise to stand him in good stead in the future. " Tall
and slender," to quote the descrip-
tion of a writer who was in a position
to picture His Majesty with accuracy,
" graceful in movement in spite of
the length and looseness of his limbs,
the King has inherited, not only the
mobile features, but also very much
of the charm of manner, the bon-
honinie and easy grace, which made
Alfonso XII. so dear to his friends.
He is no lover of ceremonious eti-
quette; but, simple and familiar as
he prefers his intercourse to be, he
shows a rare tact in one so young
in never forgetting, or permitting
others to forget, that he is King. Above all, he is Spanish to
the backbone; and for this he owes much to his aunt, the
Infanta Isabel, the widowed Countess of Girgenti, who has
particularly devoted herself to the task of making her nephew
a good Spaniard. The Infanta Isabel is deservedly one of the
most popular women in Spain ; she possesses a rare knowledge
of even the intricate mazes of its political life, as well as an
absolute and innate sympathy with many national character-
istics. Other reasons, too, have contributed to make Alfonso
S. A. INFANTA MARIA TERESA.
Viva el Rey. 263
XIII. a good Spaniard. There is no greater incentive to
patriotism than national suffering ; and it was at the most
impressionable age that he learnt, day by day, to listen to the
tale of the disasters that were befalling his country. In this
connection, it may be added that he shows signs of becoming
a keen soldier, and has shown a lively interest in the military
life by which he is immediately surrounded. His brother-in-
law, the husband of the Infanta, known now b)- courtesy as
the Prince of Asturias, fully shares
this inclination, and has proved the
best of comrades to the King in
that as well as in other pursuits."
Such was the Royal youth who
stood by his mother's side when the
yueen-Regent of Spain presided at
her last Cabinet Council in the
Palace in Madrid. Sixteen and a-
half years before she had been seated
in the same vast State hall waiting
to receive all the Diplomatic Corps
and the message of condolence that
they were bringing. Senor Zarco del s a. la pkinc.:>a ik amlrias.
\'alle, introducer of Ambassadors at
the Spanish Court, describes her appearance as she sat, crushed
by grief and despondenc} , her face and eyes swollen by the
tears she had shed. Her hands lay loosely in her lap and
trembled. The sight of the forlorn widow was so heartrending
that Seiior del \'alle hesitated long before he pronounced the
official words, " Madam, may I announce to your Majesty His
Eminence the Apostolic Nuncio?" Scarcely had the words
crossed his lips than Maria-Christina started and stood upright
before him, a Queen and a ruler from head to foot, her forehead
'I&4'
264
Impressions of Spain.
erect, a fire of resolution burning in the depths of her brown
eyes. The late Sefior Sagasta, who was then Prime Minister of
Spain, was still her chief Minister when she received the official
farewells of the Councillors. Sefior Sagasta, in the course of an
eloquent address, recalled the day when the Queen, who then
barely knew him, did honour to his loyalty, and, trembling and
weeping at the loss of her Consort, so fresh in her memory, she
placed her confidence in him. Sixteen years and a-half elapsed
since that day, during which the Queen was sacrificing her
youth, a slave to duty and a
jealous guardian of her children.
She had suffered so much,
finding at last compensation
in the happiness of the King.
He, a grateful and loving son
to his mother, on receiving
the carefully-guarded deposit
of Royal power, would receive
therewith a moral education
which assuredly he would
never forget in all the trials of
his life.
The Queen listened to Sefior Sagasta's words with increasing
emotion, and finally was moved to weeping. But, recovering
herself, she responded, and, in thanking Sefior Sagasta, said
that she had ever had the earnest desire to do right, even
though she might not always have been right; and she ever felt
profound love for Spain in return for the kindnesses that had
always been heaped upon her. She hoped that the statesmen
before her assembled, and those who could and might become
Councillors of the Crown, would help her son as effectively as
they had helped her.
S. A. R. EL I.NFANTO DON CARLOS.
Thh Coronation of Alfonso Xlll., i<p2.
THE KlNi; S CARRIAGE.
ARRIVAL AT THE CONGRESS.
•ROCESSION OF THE COKON\TION HULI.-FK.HT.
Viva el Key. 265
On the following day the formal enthronement of Alfonso
XIII. as King of Spain was accomplished; a chapter in the
history of the Spanish Monarchy was closed and a fresh
epoch was begun. The young Monarch made his appearance
before his subjects under the happiest conditions. Madrid
looked its best beneath the bright sun and cloudless skies which
fortunately attended the whole course of the city's festivities.
The procession was one of those picturesque and impressive
displays in which the Spanish as a people know how to excel.
The young King's demeanour was an engaging mixture of
boyish self-possession and boyish delight, together with traces
of a maturer air of resolution, which were especially apparent
when he recited the oath of enthronement before his Congress.
From that body he had a magnificent and remarkable recep-
tion. The crowds in the streets vied with their Parliamentary
representatives in their acclamations as the King left the Con-
gress, and these unmistakable signs of a loyalty deep and true
were received by the King with manifest pleasure. The whole
day of rejoicing was one which must live long in the memory of
both subjects and Sovereign.
So, amid sounds of universal rejoicing, the young King
entered upon his task with all the promise of youth and under
fair auspices, and nowhere than in this country was the hope
more cordially felt that the unbounded enthusiasm with which
he had been proclaimed would be the prelude to a long, ever-
brightening record of loyal co-operation between the Sovereign
and his subjects, of re-awakened national energies, of solid and
enduring gains of domestic unity and progress, and of the
attainment of the indomitable aspiration of a noble people.
In every respect these high hopes are being realised. The
King's popularity, based on the solid foundation of respect for
wise authority and administration, of his frank, generous, and
266 Impressions of Spain.
engaging personality, is growing daily. He has gained the
confidence as he won the hearts of his subjects, and it is safe
to assert that at no period of recent history has the throne of
Spain been more secure, or the future of the country more full
of promise. The renaissance of the Spanish nation has com-
menced ; her commercial prosperity is steadily and surely
increasing; and with the ever-lessening evil of domestic friction,
the expansion of her trade, and the development of her natural
and mineral resources, the boundless possibilities before Spain
are assuming definite and tangible form.
I '7 iJ5i"jliil!ii|i|!
nOininci.
THE history of mining in Spain would fill a dozen books,
each twelve times as large as the present volume, and even
then only the half, if so much of the story, would be told.
It would form a narrative that would combine tragedy and
romance, and present a moral as stern as humanity has ever
been asked to peruse. The mineral wealth of the Peninsula
was responsible for the origination of the African slave trade,
for the demolition of Carthage, for the decline of Rome, for
the sacrifice of lives innumerable, for tortures unspeakable, for
crimes that are without parallel in the annals of the world. In
ancient times Spain was ravaged, plundered, and depopulated
to provide Carthage with the spoils that were to make her the
prey of the Romans, who, in their turn, were to be lulled by
wealth and luxury into the deadly sleep of degeneracy that
precedes decay.
It is probable that the beginning of the history of precious
metals may be traced back to India, although it is commonly
assigned to Greece about 900 B.C. ; but the earliest specific
mention of gold or silver mining in European history is derived
from the story of Cadmus, a Phoenician, who mined for copper
and gold in Thrace in 1594 B.C., or thereabouts. Jason, another
Phoenician, journeyed as far west as Sardinia in search of
precious metals in 1263 B.C.; and it is known that the
Phoenicians were working the gold placers of the Guadalquiver
previous to iioo B.C. The means of winning the gold — the
only mineral that was exploited in those days — were both
limited and arduous, and some time between 1200 and 500 B.C.
270
Impi
of Spc
(it is impossible to compute the period more exactly) the
auriferous resources of Spain were thought to be exhausted.
The results of Phoenician mining enterprise must have been
considerable, for about B.C. 500 Darius, of Persia, undertook and
successfully executed a military expedition against Phoenicia
for the purpose of acquiring the metallic treasure, which its
adventurers had carried away from Spain. Some portion of
this hardly-won stock of bullion found its way back to Europe
some two centuries later when Alexander the Great plundered
Persia.
THE UNION MINE,
Spain did not benefit in the slightest degree by the earliest
discovery of her auriferous riches ; and when her silver re-
sources were disclosed, they provided the Carthaginians with
a further incentive to pillage and plunder the country which
was cursed by the possession of her coveted mineral wealth.
Between 480 and 206 b.c. the silver mines were worked by
the Carthaginians, who stored their spoil at Carthage against
the coming, in B.C. 146, of the plundering Romans who cap-
tured the city, rifled its treasure houses, and either sold its
myriad inhabitants in the slave markets of Rome, or condemned
Mini Hi
271
them to the hideous labour of the Spanish mines. Spain was
to the Ancients what Mexico and Central and South America
became in later ages to Spain — El Dorado, the land of gold, the
richest mining country of the world ; and the nearer history
of Mexico and Peru — the fate of its aborigines, the subsequent
struggle among leading nations for the mastery of its precious
metals, the destruction of its soil, the neglect of its agriculture,
and the resultant poverty and decay of its population — is no
more than a repetition of the ancient history of Spain. The
aborigines were easily brought into a state of subjection by the
TKKMINUS OF T 1 1 K MI\E K A 1 1.WA V , Kin TiNTO.
disciplined and well armed soldiers of Carthage, who reduced
them to slavery, and compelled them, with every accompaniment
of savage brutality, to explore and work the mines.
" These people," says Didorus, " though by their labour
they enriched their masters to an almost incredible extent, did
it by toiling night and day in their golden prisons. They were
compelled, by the lash, to work so incessantly that they died of
their hardships in the caverns they had dug. Such as by great
vigour of body continued to live, were in a state of misery
which rendered death a preferable fate." Again Didorus, in
272
Impressions of Spain.
describing the conditions under which mining was carried on
at this period, tells us that infinite numbers of slaves of both
sexes were thrust into the mines, kept at work night and day,
and guarded so strictly as to make escape an impossibility.
Naked, maimed, and sick they laboured on beneath the lash of
the brutal overseers without rest or remission. " Neither the
weakness of old age, nor the infirmities of females," says this
authority, " excuse any from the work, to which all are driven
by blows and cudgels, until borne down by the intolerable
weight of their misery many fell dead in the midst of their
THE CANAL SYSTEM, RIO TINTO.
insufferable labours. Deprived of all hope, these miserable
creatures expect each day to be worse than the last ! and long
for death to end their griefs."
The mortality among the workers in the mines of Spain at
this period must have been apalling, and the conditions were
calculated to decimate the entire race. Soon it became
necessary to recruit the fast thinning ranks of native labourers
with imported workers, and these were brought in thousands
from Africa. Negro slaves had previously been introduced, to
a small extent, into Etruria ; but the traffic had not hitherto
^ LJ LJ LJ LJ 3 ^ J,
W
Mining. 275
attained the <,'igantic proportion that it was then to assume.
Jacob, in his History of the Precious Metals, says: "This
oppression and exhaustion of the native labourers led to a trade
in human beings which was carried on by the Carthaginians
with the interior of Africa, and supplied to Andalusia the place
of those native workmen who had been destroyed by the
excessive toil imposed on them by their Asiatic intruders.
This horrid traffic was extended and continued, and it augmented
the produce of the mines of Spain in such a degree as to have
an influence on the whole commerce of the world at that period.
That influence was continued for upwards of seven hundred
years, until the Government of the Romans, who succeeded the
Carthaginians in the mastery of Spain, had fallen into the
hands of the Gothic monarchs."
The spoils which Phoenicia had won from Spain led to her
spoliation by Darius of Persia, in the flfth century before the
Christian era; three hundred years later the silver hoards of
Carthage excited the cupidity and envy of Rome, and Spain,
which provided the booty, was wrested from the Carthaginians
by the armies of the Commonwealth. Up to B.C. 400, when
mining in Spain was reduced to a regular system, and the
output was enormously increased, Carthage was able to utilise
her silver in her Indian trade; but with increasing returns the
necessity arose for establishing other markets for her precious
metals. In Carthage and in Rome the numerary money system
still obtained, but about this date the Carthaginians adopted
silver currency and endeavoured, but with little success, to
dispose of their surplus supplies of silver by offering them in
the markets of Rome. But Rome still held to her copper
tokens, and was as yet free from the fatal influence of the
mines. " Rome trusted to itself antl its sword," says Heeren
in his Researches, African Nations, "Carthage to its gold and its
276 Impressions 0/ Spain.
mercenaries. The greatness of Rome was founded upon a
rock; that of Carthage upon sand and gold-dust."
But the increasing volume of the trade of Carthage with the
Orient did not keep pace with her ever-multiplying returns of
silver. Carthaginian silver made its appearance in Italy, and the
jealous eye of Rome was led from Carthaginian silver to Carthage
and its hugely profitable Indian trade. In B.C. 264 began the first
Punic War, which cost Carthage the islands of Sicily, Sardinia,
and Corsica — all of them mining countries — and an indemnity
of 1,200 talents of silver. Three years after Hamilcar Barca,
PORTION' OF WORKS, AND SAN FERNANDO VILLAGE, HUELVA.
on the plea that the extension of the Carthaginians' arms into
the interior was necessary in order to make good the loss of the
mineral-producing islands ceded to Italy, condu(51:ed a maraud-
ing expedition through Spain. This campaign of conquest
and slaughter culminated in B.C. 219 in the sacking of Saguntum
(the modern Murviedro), a Greek colonial city and furnished
Rome with the pretext for another war against Carthage. In
B.C. 269, prior to the first Punic War, Rome had formally
adopted silver as a portion of her monetary system ; and the
Mini in
277
demand for the metal made it necessary for her to devise some
means for ensuring a larger and more regular supply than she
could obtain from her own mines or by purchase. Italy's
growing commerce with the Orient, which consumed all the
silver at her command, hastened the means to the end. The
capture of Saguntum by the unauthorised commandoes of
Hamilcar Barca was the excuse upon which Rome declared the
second Punic War which, in B.C. 207, ended in the conquest of
Spain, and the final evacuation of the coveted territor}- by the
Carthaginian forces five years later.
^%'-r?'y- ■ M J i
1
CEMENTATION \ ATS, HLELVA.
Carthage built her greatness on the spoils wrung from the
mines of Spain, and her fall is directly traceable to the same
cause. As Alexander del Mar says : " They corrupted the
Government of Carthage, and led to the neglecfl of military
discipline and precautions ; they introduced a mercenary and
gambling spirit into all enterprises ; they created monopolies of
wealth ; they impoverished the masses ; they occasioned the
abandonment of those industries which had built up the State,
and they eventually so crippled its power, that in the memorable
278
Imp}
of Spc
contests that ensued with Rome for the mastery of these same
mines, Carthage was unable to successfully cope with its more
vigorous adversary."
There is abundant evidence to show that although the Car-
thaginians were driven out by the all-conquering Romans, they
left with the full determination
to return at some future time,
and they took the most careful
precautions to hide their
treasures from the eyes of the
invaders. The ancient workings
that are attributed to Roman
miners are, in many cases, of
Carthaginian origin; for it
appears certain that numbers of
these well-developed mines were
never discovered by the Romans.
The site of a mine at Cordova,
for instance, was indicated by a
series of seven abandoned and
rubbish-filled shafts, forming an
irregular row of workings. One
or two of these shafts at either
end of the row had been tested
without yielding any satisfactory
results, and when the property
passed, at a nominal figure, into
the hands of English capitalists the manager received instruc-
tions to empty these shafts. He started at one end and cleared
three of the seven holes, only to find that they stopped suddenly
at a few yards from the surface. Then, following the course
that had been taken by the Romans and the more recent Spanish
■:CONEKA IKON ORE COMPANY,
BILBAO.
Miniug. 279
proprietors, he be^an at the other end only to hnd that the
supposed shafts were no more than huge pot holes. Disappointed
with the fruitlessness of his efforts he wired to London, " Have
cleared six holes. No trace of lode." The answer was instantly
returned to the despondent manager: — "Clear the seventh."
A(fting on these instrucftions the centre shaft was cleared, and at
a httle depth he came upon a massive iron door which proved to
be the entrance to the enormous ancient workings which the
Carthaginians had hidden for over two thousand years by this
ingenious device of digging dummy shafts, and so giving suc-
ceeding generations the impression that the mine was a
worthless and abandoned prospe(5t.
In the majority of these ancient workings in the copper
mines that I have inspected, tools of Carthaginian make had
been found lying scattered in the tunnels where the workmen
had thrown them when they made their hurried departure. One
has only to glance from those enormous catacombs to the
implements with which the excavations were made to realise the
terrific difficulties of the task and the misery and almost super-
human labour that was involved in its accomplishment. Human
blood was spilt like water to gratify the mineral greed of the
Carthaginian conquerors. When the younger Scipio, carrying
the war into the enemy's country, sacked and afterwards burned
Carthage to the ground, 60,000 of its citizens were sent to labour
as slaves in the Spanish mines of which they had so recently
been the opulent masters.
Before the conclusion of the second Punic war Scipio
returned to Rome with so great a cjuantity of the precious
metals captured by his forces, that the Roman numerary system
was finally abolished, and the complete establishment of silver
currency was effected. But the triumph of Rome was the
beginning of her end. She had crushed her great Carthaginian
28o Impressions of Spain.
rival, and gained her Indian trade; she had extended her
possessions to the Atlantic ocean, and made herself the owner
of the greatest mineral country of the world. But she had
transferred to her own shoulders the curse of Carthage's decline
when she assumed the Carthaginian mantle. Public and private
morality was demoralised by the accumulation of the treasure
in Rome; wealth was the precursor of corruption; and cor-
ruption led to that gross luxury and social and political
supineness which sapped the greatness of the empire.
When the impairment of the stock of silver coins by export
to India and the surrounding countries necessitated larger and
regular supplies of the metal, Rome applied herself to the
exploitation of her Spanish mines with a vigour as great as it
was pitiless. The native races and their erstwhile Carthaginian
masters worked side by side, and their ranks were subsequently
swelled by condemned criminals from Italy, and in later times
even by legionary soldiers. Jacob tells us that " the silver pro-
cured by the Romans by these operations must have cost more
than its current worth ; and, according to Polyblus, the 40,000
workmen who were constantly employed in the silver mines at
New Carthage in Spain produced only 25,000 drachmas (valued
at under ;£'i,ooo) per diem — a sum that could scarcely have
purchased more than sufficient to keep alive the miserable
beings who were immolated in them. Another reason why
these mines were worked at a loss at this time, if indeed they
were, is supplied by Del Mar, who points out that " when these
mines were worked by the Romans there already existed in
their own markets a mass of the precious metals that had been
obtained at a cost which, reckoned in blood and cruelty, was
immeasurable; but which in mere pecuniary outlay of labour,
in killing and sacking, was as nothing. It was against the
competition of this mass of metals, which pecuniarily cost
Miniin
281
nothinj;, that the mine owners had to measure their products
in the Roman market ; and it is to be hardly wondered at that
they found the industry unprofitable. The Spaniards sub-
sequently had the same experience in America, and the
Californians and Australians are repeatinp^ it at the present
time.
The Romans also worked for jjjold the sands of the Guadal-
(juiver, Darro and Uuero rivers, but with what results is not
known. They also mined for copper on a large scale, with, it
is evident, the most gratifying success. The mechanical re-
sCiiNEKA COMPANY S UOKKINGS, BILBAO.
sources at their command were limited, and there seems no
doubt that many rich mines were abandoned for want of
knowledge and the proper appliances with which to treat the
ores. In one instance, that of the Escurial Mines at Escurial,
a huge lode carrying rich copper was broken by a fault, and the
Romans made no effort to pick up the lode again. The present
English owners penetrated the fault, and found the lode of the
original dimensions on the other side.
During the eight hundred years that Spain was under Arab
domination, the mines of Sardinia are believed to have been
282 Impressions of Spain.
lor-
worked by the conquerors, and they prosecuted their explc
ations for the precious metals on the main land with some
vigour. Yeats, in his History of Commerce, tells us that in the
eighth century the old silver mines, thought by the Romans to
be exhausted, were made to yield afresh by skilful working ;
and the Spanish mines then furnished to the world the chief
supplies of precious metals. The Arabs exported quick-
silver to Constantinople, and it is possible that they extended
the industry by opening up new mines. Spain is so full of
metals that, after being explored for centuries, new mines are
constantly being discovered ; and perhaps the richest of all the
silver mines — the Hiendelaencina — was opened up in 1843. But
what the Arabs did in the way of discovery we have no means
of ascertaining. They are believed by Jacob to have re-opened
the Roman silver mines in the present French division of the
Pyrenees, and to have worked the gold mines at Lares, the
silver mine of Zalamea in Andalusia, and that of Constantina,
near Cazalla. The hills of Jaen, upon which they principally
concentrated their exertions, are pierced with over five thousand
shallow pits, which are estimated to have been the work of five
centuries. Even the approximate amount of the precious
metals obtained as the result of Arab mining in Spain is a
matter of the merest conjecture.
It is curious to note that when Spain was at the zenith of
her greatness the wealth in which she abounded was not the
result of the exploitation of her own vast stores of precious
metals, but the fruits of conquest, bloodshed, and cruelties,
similar to those which she had herself suffered at the hands
successively of the Phoenicians, the Carthaginians, the Romans,
and the Arabs. She had seen each succeeding nation of her
despoilers crumble into decay, but she failed to learn the lesson
that their disastrous endings had for her.
Ml
283
In her turn Spain crushed Mexico and Peru, and grew rich
and powerful by tribute and plunder to the neglect of her own
resources and her ultimate temporary ruin and submersion
among the nations of Europe. Her own metallic hoards were
passed over — the treasure for which Carthage, and Rome, and
Morroco had fought and bled was neglected ; while the methods
of the Roman and the Carthaginian conquerors were being
practised upon the people of the New World. The result is,
that while Spain is to-day recognised as the richest mineral
country in Europe, her mineral assets are in a more backward
THE K.\IL\
State of development than those of any other European
country.
In the production of copper ore, lead, and quicksilver Spain
heads the list; she is second only to Austria-Hungary in the
production of salt and silver; her tin mines are at present
almost untouched ; while among the less important minerals
distributed over the Peninsula are manganese, antimony, cobalt,
soda sulphate, sulphate of barium (barytes), phosphorite, alum,
magnesia sulphate, sulphur, kaolin, lignite. Gold is also found
there in payable quantities; coal and cement of good quality
284 Impressions of Spain.
and in enormous deposits are present in the province of
Lerida; while the richness and extent of her iron resources in
the districts round Santander and Bilbao have long been
recognised. With all this vast mineral wealth within her
boundaries, Spain should be one of the richest, rather than one
of the poorest of European countries. The natural conditions
are all favourable to the development of the industry. Labour
is cheap and abundant, transport facilities are mostly good, and
the mines are within easy reach of all the important markets of
the world. The working of the mineral resources is carried on
under generous and encouraging State regulations. For this
purpose the whole kingdom is divided into three sections, and
each of these into four districts. Each section is under the
charge of an inspector-general of the first class, and each of the
districts under an inspector of the second class. There are no
harassing restrictions to hamper the energies of the mine
owner, while the climatic conditions render it possible to work
the majority of the properties all the whole year round.
Yet with all this mineral wealth to hand, only waiting to be
systematically developed to yield immense returns, less than
ten per cent, of the population of Spain are engaged in its
mining industries ; and between sixty and seventy per cent, are
occupied in various branches of agriculture, or in pastoral
pursuits. The reason is not far to seek. In many parts the
country realises Mr. Stephen Phillips's dream of that fair land
where
"Trees without care shall blossom, and the fields
Shall without labour unto harvest come."
The Spanish peasant can tend his land to produce sufficient for
his needs, and allow him to be independent of his fellows. He
is more contented and happier, and his best qualities are more
strikingly evident when he is "on his own " than in the mass.
Mi)iiu^.
285
Unregulated labour is congenial to him, and if liis earnings are
small, his wants are few. Agriculture appeals to his tempera-
ment and satisfies his needs. Mining, however, demands
capital which he has not got, and experience which he has no
means of acquiring. It is something which he does not under-
stand. The Spanish noblemen and
landed proprietors who own the
mines neglect this source of
revenue for another reason.
Englishmen, nobles or common-
ers, who possess mineral land do
not hesitate to turn their posses-
sions to practical account; but
the Spaniard has the greatest
aversion to anything that savours
of trade. In England pig-iron is
aristocratic, though tenpenny
nails still remain scarcely respect-
able ; in Spain wholesale and retail
are alike beneath the dignity of
the aristocracy.
But, although since the days
of the Ancients the minerals of
Spain have not been worked on
the same enormous scale that
was then adopted, the industry
has never been neglected to the ^'
BILBAU.
extent that is generally supposed.
The majority of people cherish the delusion that since the times
of the Moors the metallic resources of the Peninsula have not
been exploited, and that the revival of activity that is now being
witnessed is a development of recent months. Nothing could be
286 Impressions of Spain.
further from the truth. That the eyes of EngHsh capitaHsts and
investors have only lately been turned upon this Bonanza is an
indisputable fact ; but in a quiet unostentatious way the country
has been mined without interruption for centuries, and fabulous
fortunes have been made by a comparatively small number of
people. And this select coterie of millionaire mine-owners has,
for years, managed to disguise the magnitude of its operations
and secure immunity from active competition.
Before the discovery of America thousands of mines were
being energetically exploited in Spain ; new mineral discoveries
were of daily occurrence, and Royal Charters were granted by
tens of thousands. But the astounding richness of the mines of
Peru and Central America enticed whole armies of Spanish
miners to the new Eldorado, and for a while the home industry
languished. Spain has never since re-attained its commanding
position as a mineral country in the eyes of the world ; but
hundreds and hundreds of mines have been and are being
worked by small companies and private individuals, and the
returns have been buried from sight in official statistics and
unpublished records. While the general public were being kept
out of the country as the result of this carefully cultivated policy
of suppression of facts, it was inevitable that the plums should
fall into the hands of a few wealthy monopolists. The small
local owners did not stand a chance. If they mined for copper
there was no market for their ore ; the fall in the price of tin
rendered that industry for a while unprofitable, and the develop-
ment of iron properties necessitated the expenditure of more
capital than the Spanish proprietors could command. And the
agents of the mammoth firms, who form a close corporation for
the exploitation of Spain's mineral resources, have been up and
down the country, inspecting, and acquiring for ready cash
all the most promising properties. There has been no fuss,
Mining.
287
no sensation, no publicity, and no incitement to competition.
The direct consequence of this condition of affairs has been to
give currency to all kinds of erroneous impressions with respect
to the condition, the profits, and the prospects of Spanish
mining. A general belief has grown up that the minerals have
been largely worked out ; that the difiicullies of transport, the
vexatious mining regulations, and the paucity of natural
facilities have combined to spoil the industry — fallacies which
have been fostered by those whose interests were best conserved
by their promulgation.
This condition of affairs has obtained \-ery largeK' in the
iron industry of Northern Spain — an industry that is so widely
known that it is unnecessary here to make more than passing
reference to it ; but in the Southern Pro\inces (principally)
of Almeria, Granada, and Murcia, the iron mines are being
developed in the interests of a far larger number of persons.
Both foreign and Spanish capital is invested in the enterprise,
and many of the mines are fully equipped with wire tramways
and American waggons, and the promise of the future of the
Southern iron fields is well on its wa\- to being realised.
288
hiipressions of Spain.
Foreign capitalists are embarked in the venture which, until
now, has attracted the attention of few Englishmen ; and, indeed,
until recently Englishmen have only possessed a vague idea of
the magnitude and richness of Spain's mineral deposits. The
French people realised it long ago, and attempted, in a half-
hearted and parsimonius manner, to develop them, but with
only indifferent success. Native enterprise proved even less
satisfactory, and the attempt of the Government to work the
world-famous Rio Tinto mines resulted in utter failure, and the
sale of the property by public tender in 1873. The Rio Tinto
RIO TINTO MINES.
mines, like those of Tharsis, were extensively developed by the
Romans, and so perfect was the smelting process they adopted,
that in the heap of ancient slag on the surface hardly a trace of
copper remains. The Phoenicians and Carthaginians both
worked the Rio Tinto property prior to the advent of the
Romans, and their galleries and shafts are found in every direct-
ion and at every depth explored by the Moderns. Especially
on the North lode are found innumerable shafts and vast slag
heaps, the latter testifying to the great extent of their smelting
operations. On this lode are also to be seen the traces, now
Mi).
289
almost obliterated, of a Roman town and a Roman cemetery;
while upon the summit of the Cerron Salomon (3,000 feet) are
the outlines of a fortified enclosure covering many acres. From
the time when the Roman occupation was broken up by the
inroads of the Visigoths, until the middle of the sixteenth
century Rio Tinto fell into utter
oblivion. The Moors apparently
never directed their attention to
them. An attempt was made to re-
open the mines under Philip II.,
but the purpose failed, and for
another two centuries the
property remain neglected.
Ultimately they were leased to
a Swede named Liebert Wolters
in 1725, and the property reverted
to the Crown in 1783. The
Government at first leased the
mines, but the wretchedly un-
satisfactory result of this arrange-
ment prompted them for a while
to undertake the management.
The loss to the Government was
so great that they disposed of the
mines in 1872 for ;r4, 000,000 to
a group of capitalists, who formed
the present Rio Tinto Company.
This company has developed the property on a vast scale, and in
accordance with the dictates of modern science. A railway line
has been constructed to Huelva, a distance of fifty-three miles,
terminating in a pier nearly half-a-mile long in the River Odiel.
This pier consists of two floors, used rt spectively for loading and
THE LAGO CUTTING,
ago Impressions of Spain.
unloading. It has, at some portions of its section, ten lines of
railway abreast and above, and can easily berth five large
steamers. The ore for export is brought from the mines and shot
directly into the ships' holds. The quantity of pyrites extracted
in igoi was 1,928,776 tons, of which 633,949 tons were exported.
The sulphur ore shipped in that year was 119,683 tons, and
21,100 tons of copper were produced by treatment at the
mines. Of the ore that is not exported a portion is worked up
into copper by the cementation process, and the remainder by
smelting. The sulphur fumes emitted by the roasting, which is
a necessary prelude to parts of the processes, had denuded the
surrounding hills of every vestige of vegetation before the
company commenced operations; and the so-called Hill of the
Pines has not borne a tree for thirty or forty years past.
At the Rio Tinto mines there are nearly fifty miles of
railway above ground and over ten miles underground, all of
which are available for locomotive traffic. The underground
workings are all reached by adits or galleries running in from
the hill-side on different levels. Nearly fifty locomotives are
daily employed in these workings, besides those used for the
traffic to Huelva. The original town has been greatly enlarged,
and three or four separate villages have been built by the
company for the housing of their army of workmen, which
numbers between 10,000 and 11,000 persons. Stores have been
opened to supply the needs of the workmen, schools have been
founded and hospitals built, both at Huelva and the mines,
and forty armed guards, recruited out of the Civil Guard, are
maintained to preserve order and protect property. The
company has also constructed several reservoirs for the storage
of water, which is of such importance in copper mining. The
largest of these, which is about twice the area of the Serpentine,
has a depth of seventy feet, and a capacity of 2,570,000 tons, or
Mining. 291
575,000,000 f^allons. These figures convey some impression of
the vastness of the undertaking, but another figure may be
added, viz., the revenue of the company, which la.-t 3ear
amounted to upwards of £1,800,000. Of this sum over one and
three-quarter million sterling was profit on sale of produce.
The Tharsis mines, though not such a remarkable proposition
as the Rio Tinto, form a notable property. They appear to
have been practically abandoned from the time of the Roman
occupation until 1865, and were not worked at a profit until
they were acquired by the present Scotch company. Since
then, however, an enormous quantity of ore has been extracted,
and last year a total output of some 400,000 tons of metal
returned a profit of over /'320,ooo. The mines are connected
by a railway twenty-eight miles in length with the pier station
at Corrales, a short distance from Huelva, on the opposite bank
of the river Odiel. A fine iron pier, 765 yards long, allows the
ore for export to be carried direct to the ships. The Tharsis
mines and the Lagunazo mines are now yielding considerably
smaller returns of copper ore; but at the Calanas mines the
output is steadily increasing, and vigorous exploration work in
292
Impressions of Spain.
-^A
- -^
this portion of the property has disclosed, in addition to the
already proved resources of ore which can be profitably treated
for the production of copper, a large mass of low-grade ore,
which, though comparatively poor in copper is rich in sulphur.
The Rio Tinto and the Tharsis have been rightly regarded
as the show mines of Spain, and
the former can, of course, hold
its own among the leading mines
of the world ; and, if it is un-
likely that any other Spanish
property will rival this cupiferous
wonder, there are many that,
under proper scientific manage-
ment, will be found to be as
relatively rich and profitable.
What is required in Spain is
money for development and
brains to diredl: the operations.
The existence of minerals, and
of copper particularly, has been
demonstrated ; and now that
English capit d is slowly but in
steadily increasing amount being
invested in these mines, a tre-
mendous rea(5tion inthe industry
may confidently be looked for
^^'' ' "^^ ' ' in this quarter of the globe.
Within the past year or two quite a number of promising
properties have been acquired for the English markets, and in
every instance the results of the opening-up work have more
than realised the expectations of the proprietors. The company,
which was formed a short time ago to acquire an extensive
l^liff:^*^^^
Ml
293
property at Coruna, is regarded by experts as a proposition of
the highest importance. Another company, called the Escurial
Copper Mines, is already working at a prortt, and promises to
give very large returns for many years to come. La Recompensa
Mines also appear to be rich in copper, and the ore also contains
precious metals, assays giving as much as 12 ozs. of silver and
9^ dvvts. of gold to the ton. An important fa(5t in connection
with all these mines is that they are only distant two miles from
the Escurial Mines ; consequently the cost of ore treatment will
be considerably reduced by reason of the proximity of large
IE CL'TTINt.S, RI
smelting works now nearing completion. The latest reports from
the Huercal Copper-cobalt Mines, in the province of Almeria, all
tend to confirm the very high opinion which the English owners
formed of their value at the time they acquired the property;
and the English-owned Rio Rimal Mines in the province of
Gerona are putting out very fine copper.
Among the other Spanish mines in which English capital
has been invested — and attention will be mainly confined to these
in this chapter — tin and silver-lead play a prominent part.
Although tin was smelted more than two thousand years ago,
294
Impressions of Spain.
and some of the first ore containing the metal was probably
discovered by the Ancients in that north-westerly provmce of
Hispania, which the Romans named Gallaeci, Spain is not
to-day ranked among the great tin-producing countries of the
world. Pliny refers to Cornish tin, but most of the metal con-
tained in the ancient bronze weapons and objefts must have
been derived from the Spanish mines. The ancient town of
Orense, the capital of the Galician province of the same name,
which was founded by the Romans, and greatly esteemed by
them on account of its warm springs, is the centre of the industry,
-^
AGUILAS, THE PORT OF ALMERIA.
and the country is scored and bored with many indications of
the enterprise and energy of the ancient miners. Beariz, a little
village in the mountains of Balcovo, is situated on a hill that is
tunnelled with Roman workings in what are probably the richest
tiniferous deposits in the richest tin distriti in Spain. Enormous
quantities of the mineral must from this mine alone have
rewarded the labours of the pioneers, who were so rudely
interrupted by the invasion of the viftorious Visigoths, and no
succeeding owners have mined the property on the same gigantic
scale.
Miuiuf;;. 295
The tiniferous areas of Spain are enormous ; and the alluvial
tin-bearing deposits, which extend for miles, are pra(5tically virgin
ground. The Ancients, who worked the tin lodes of Galicia,
entirely negle(5\;ed these alluvials, and, more remarkable still,
they have been neglected b}' every succeeding generation ever
since. The quartz mining, which entails an enormous initial
outlay in crushing and concentration plant, machinery, and
explosives, was prosecuted to a limited extent until the slump,
and the consequent fall in the price of tin, which caused the
operations to be condudted at a loss. Immediately every tin
mine in the country was shut down — the owners could only
afford to work for quick cash profits. Small private companies
are now making large profits from quartz mining — one company,
of which nothing is heard by the general public, is shipping
from thirty to forty tons of tin per month — but alluvial tin
mining in Spain is onl}' in its infancy. There are vast fields of
tin-bearing alluvials that can be treated hydraulically at a cost
of 2d. per ton, and yet there is not a single hydraulic plant, or
a solitary dredger in operation in the country. When these
distrifts are in full operation, when the tin fields of Beariz, of
Arnoya, and Pontevedra and of Salamanca are being washed on
a large scale, as they will be very shortly now, Spain will be
near the head of the list in the produ(5lion of tin.
There are two important reasons why tin stands so low in
the table of Spain's mineral output. In the first place the
tiniferous areas are, comparatively speaking, so few that, although
they may yield fortunes to their exploiters, the country can never
compare with Australia and the United States in the aggregate
output. And in the second place, although the tin is found in
such exceeding richness that Senor Alfred Lasala, the eminent
mining authority, reported on the Beariz Mines, " It is almost
impossible to cubicate the quantity of tin ore in these conces-
2g6
Impressions of Spain.
sions," yet the properties can only be made to pay when the
mineral stands at a good price in the market. Spanish mine
owners have very strong views upon the absolute necessity of
making the mines pay their own way. The expenditure of
capital in properly opening up the mines, with a view to future
regular outputs is never entertained. " Spend nothing and get
all you can without " is the motto they have adopted. Con-
sequently the amount of development work accomplished on
WASHING FOR ALLUVIAL TIN.
most locally owned properties is small, unscientific, and
frequently dangerous.
The silver mines in the neighbourhood of Jadraque, in the
province of Guadalajara, have supplied all the Spanish silver
that has been coined for generations, and the supply of the
metal would appear to be almost inexhaustible. The principal
property in the district, called the Hiendelaencina, was at one
time in the hands of an English company, who worked it for
Mining. 297
awhile unsuccessfully, and abandoned it when their capital was
expended. On the advice of the Spanish mine foreman — advice
which had been rejected by the Enj^lish owners — the work was
carried on by a Frenchman, who acquired the mine for the price
of an old song. The lode was struck, as the foreman had pre-
dicted, and at the very spot he had pointed out ; and within a
year the lucky French owner had sold the mine for £160,000
cash.
Silver-lead, although not so widely distributed over Spain
as are some other minerals, is found in no fewer than half-a-
dozen provinces ; and the industry is, generally speaking, in a
healthy condition. In the case of the mines of Granada, trans-
port difficulties have had to be overcome ; and in Guadalajara,
Murcia and Navarra, the want of capital and the absence of
scientific methods have militated against their progress. The
most favourable conditions for lead mining exist in the
provinces of Badajoz, Jaen, Cordova and Ciudad-Real, where
foreign capital has been more freely invested, and very large
profits have already been obtained. Such astute investors as
the Rothschilds are heavily interested in these latter districts,
and of recent months several concessions have been acquired
for the English market and are now being developed with
English capital.
The number of Spanish mines that, having been abandoned
by one set of owners, have been taken over by other persons
and profitably exploited, is extraordinarily large — in fact, it
might almost be said that there are few important properties
in the Peninsula that have not changed hands at least once
before enriching their proprietors. The Triumfo Silver-lead
Mine at Cordova is an interesting case in point. So much
fruitless exploration work was done on this mine that the
French owners had come to the conclusion that further
2g8 Impressions of Spain.
endeavours would only be wasted ; but after listening to the
combined entreaties of the Spanish foreman and their French
manager, they reluctantly agreed to continue working for a few
more weeks. Before the extension limit had been reached, an
enormous seam of silver-lead had been located ; and the
output of the Triumfo to-day is only limited by the market
requirements and the obligations entered into by the company.
In La Mancha there is a silver lead-mine which a French
company, after sinking an enormous amount of working
capital and failing to strike the lode, abandoned as a " duffer."
On the representations of the Spanish mine captain, who never
doubted the existence of the lode at depth, the property was
taken over for a nominal consideration by some Scotch
financiers. The Spaniard's sanguine predictions were speedily
verified ; and for the expenditure of a trifling amount of
further capital the Scotch investors acquired a mine of extra-
ordinary richness, which has been returning them enormous
dividends ever since.
In lead mining, the element of speculation is reduced to a
minimum. In other branches of mining, 60 per cent, of the
properties are failures ; in silver-lead mining, 60 per cent, of the
properties are successful. And, in the case of the 40 per cent,
of the silver-lead mines that turn out badly, the explanation is
that sufficient preliminary care has not been bestowed on prov-
ing the existence of the lodes before commencing operations.
What may appear to be a lode may prove only a pocket ; but
where proper precautions are taken, this risk may be eliminated.
The French engineers largely failed in their mining ventures
in Spain for this very reason. They made haste too quickly,
as the Amercians say, and they were not expert economists.
Then there is another favourable element in lead mining — it
can be conducted with only a shaft and a winch — and as soon
Mining.
299
as the lode is reached, the mine commences to pay. A very
large number of properties are locally owned, and the mines of
Ciudad-Real, Badajoz, Jaen, Cordova, Seville and Almeria
supply the markets of Europe with lead. It is found in large
lodes, it is cheaply worked, and there is a ready market for the
produce. It is, therefore, a branch of mining that commends
itself to the fancy of the small capitalist ; while the large
capitalist is so eager to secure the ore that he will even advance
A TREN'CH IN TIN ORE
money on it before it is taken out of the mine. The works at
Peiiarroya, and the smelting firms at Carthagena and elsewhere,
absorb the entire output.
Amongst the important properties may be mentioned the
San Antonio, Maria del Pilar and San Teodoro (situated at
Agudo in the Almaden district) and the San Luis at Piedrabuena
in the province of Ciudad-Real, and the silver-lead mines of
Santa Maria, in the province of Hadajo/. These latter mines,
300 Impressions of Spain.
which have been proved to a depth of over 700 feet, and are
now fully equipped with machinery, are the properties of the
Santa Maria Mining Company.
There are extensive coal and cement stone mines at Almatret,
in the province of Lerida. The coal or lignite, which is of
good quality, is at present worked, and about eighty tons per
day are being shipped. This will, it is anticipated, be shortly
increased to 200 tons per day. The cement is suitable for
constructive work; and experts who have reported upon the
properties have expressed their belief that it will be found to
approximate very closely to the composition required for true
Portland cement. The quantity of cement stones is said to be
practically inexhaustible.
One department of mining enterprise, which has remained
unexploited from the time of the Romans until the last few
years, is that of alluvial gold washing. The Romans washed
for gold over a larger area, and on a much larger scale, than
the chroniclers of the times were aware of. Even Jacob (1831)
confessed himself unaware of the extent on which their
operations were conducted, for modern investigation had
disclosed that in the provinces of Lugo, and Orense, and Leon
many of the rivers were washed by them on a scale of almost
incomprehensible magnitude. So profitable must the operations
have been that, in one case, the river Sil was diverged out of its
course by means of a cutting made through a mountain spur in
order that the river bed might be exposed for the precious metal.
Considering the primitive means that the Romans possessed,
this must be regarded as a gigantic engineering feat ; and it has
been estimated that if 10,000 men had been engaged on the
work it would have taken many years to complete. Before
iioo B.C. the banks of the Guadalquivir were worked for
alluvial gold, and sometime before 500 B.C. the auriferous
E E
It ta
0. cu
Mining.
303
deposits of Spain were believed to be exhausted. But Pliny
records that in 207 B.C., when the second Punic war ended in
the Roman conquest of Spain, "the Asturias, Galicia and
Lusitania furnished 2,000 lbs. weight of gold (4,427 lbs. English
weight) annually; but Asturias supplies the most, nor in any
other part of the world during so many ages has so great a
quantity been obtained."
In the case of other alluvial properties, water was brought
in by the Ancients from great distances by canals; and at
Paramo, in Leon, the ancient water channels are now used as
THE OLD GOLD WORKINGS, I'AKAMO
country roads. Many of these water-races are so substantially
constructed that they could be repaired at a comparatively
small cost. Where these indications of previous workings are
observed, gold has always been found; and in the summer,
when the river channels narrow under the influence of the sun,
the banks of the Ouria, the Navia, the Sil and their tributaries,
and all the considerable rivers of these North-west provinces, are
panned by the country people, who get a very good return on
their labours. Yet the fact remains that while the existence of
gold in highly-paying quantities has been definitely proved, no
304 Impressions of Spain.
systematic exploitation of this rich source of auriferous supply
has yet been attempted. In New Zealand, scores of locally-
floated gold dredging companies are reaping rich and regular
returns on a comparatively trifling outlay; m New South
Wales and Victoria, gold dredging has been carried on for
years with most satisfactory results; and in California, alluvial
mines worked by hydraulic sluicing methods give handsome
profits from alluvial carrying only about four grains of gold per
cubic metre. Even in Australia, where the water has to be
pumped, the cost of treating the alluvial does not exceed 6d.
per ton.
In Spain, the conditions are immensely more favourable to
profitable working, while the gold-bearing alluvial is very much
richer than that of Australasia or America. The concessions
are held direct from the Spanish Government in perpetuity
at a nominal yearly rental. The most important properties
that have as yet been acquired in Spain are situated in the
provinces of Lugo, Orense and Leon ; and the nature, value
and depths of the alluvial is practically common to all. The
Romans, with the primitive apparatus that was employed in
those days, could only wash the sands down to the water level;
but below the water level in the rivers is a vast stretch of
the rich deposits which have not yet been touched. Of the
thirty-three groups of properties that have been secured by
English capitalists, four are in the province of Leon, and
have a total area of 541 English acres. Of these, the Crones
(153^ acres), and the Retorno (129 acres), are situated on the
river Sil; and the Florez (180 acres), and the Bostarga (79
acres), are both on the left bank of the river Cabrera. The
twelve concessions in the province of Orense comprise the Bano
(190 acres), the Disco (160 acres), the Alameiro (158! acres), the
Otero (148I acres), the Casayo (272^ acres), the Carvalleda (50
Mini lit;.
305
acres), the Bacelos (176 acres), the Gateira (233 acres), the
Charca (228 acres), the Pedela (67 acres), the Vuelpozo (233
acres), and the Mouchinos (114 acres). All the foregoing
properties, with a combined area of 2,031 acres, are situate on
the rivers Sil and Mino and their tributaries, while the seventeen
concessions in the province of Lugo, which have an aggregate
acreage of 2,148 acres, are in the same geographical district,
and are also located on the river Sil, the river Mino and their
^^^
^^' /t20\^^Hfl
^^^■^ jnh^iK
Ww^ WS^
W-^r^\
■ ' .'"k^B
f^ "■ ■■■^^mm
' iin^L
mR^j<^^
4:^%
J f*H
L^
IK
ifi^-;^^
HEAD OK THE SAINTE-BAKBE SHAFT, HfELVA.
tributaries. The Lugo groups include the Arenas (203 acres),
the Subieros (121 acres), the Peuadolo (54^ acres), the Coba
(74 acres), the Corrego (74 acres), the Lor (loii acres), the
Lodeiras (196 acres), the Reineite (79 acres), the Rosio (69
acres), the Baicela (76* acres), the Libedo (loi^ acres), the
Pesquiera (iii-J acres), the Alban (116^ acres), the Lis (109
acres), the Blanca (282^ acres), the Lloris (1S8 acres), and the
Ramamo (190^ acres). The Paramo Alluvial Gold Mines, in
the province of Leon, on which gold-washing machines are
3o6
Impressions of Spain.
now working, are giving satisfactory returns. The Kingston
Gold Mines in Leon, and the Moraleja Gold-bearing Alluvial
Mines in the neighbouring province of Orense, are being
exploited on a steady scale, with good results.
The geological features of all the foregoing groups present
an almost remarkable uniformity. The gold-bearing alluvial
deposits cover practically the whole of the entire area of each
concession, and the depth of the alluvial varies from ten feet,
which is the minimum depth on any of the properties, to
twenty-five feet. In cubicating the alluvial ground available
SAN DIONISIO SHAFT, RIO TINTO.
for treatment, one-half may be deducted (although that is a
very high proportion, and one not likely to be attained), on
account of the stones and boulders which may be present in
the earth and sand. The average of the assays made of the
alluvial deposits of all these concessions give a minimum of
five dwts. of gold per cubic yard ; but if the return is estimated
at only one and a-half dwts., the facilities for economically
working and handling the ore are so favourable that the profits
will be seen to be enormous. The cost of working the deposits
varies from 3id. to 6d. per cubic yard. The working of these
Miniiw.
307
alluvials is being done by machines, especially adapted for the
purpose, which are capable of treating twenty-five cubic yards
of earth, at a cost of 5s. per day ; and give, roughly, a return
of £6 per day per machine. The number of these machines,
which cost £2=) each, and can be erected on the spot at a small
additional expenditure, can be increased indefinitely.
When the alluvial is exhausted, by means of these machines,
down to water level, the beds of the rivers will have to be
dredged. Up to the present time these river deposits have not
been touched, and they will, of course, be found to be consider-
ably richer in gold than the exposed alluvials. By many
mining men the result of the dredging operations are looked
to, to complete the revival in Spanish mining that has been so
long coming. It is impossible to contemplate the probable
— one might almost say the assured — return from this dredger
mining without a feeling of amazement that such a source
of wealth should have lain so long untapped. Want of capital
in Spain, and want of confidence in the Spaniards, have
hitherto been the chief obstacles to her progress ; and the
fact that the country has never become a fashionable mining
venue has also to be taken into consideration in reviewing the
causes that have contributed to its backward position. It is,
however, evident to those who have been much in the country
in recent times, that the long-delayed interest in its mineral
resources has set in ; and it is with considerable confidence that
one predicts an enormous revival in the industry as soon as
some of these alluvial gold-bearing districts are systematically
exploite(], and regular returns are forthcoming. But the gold
quartz mines of Spain are still almost entirely neglected, as
they have been since the days of the Romans; and despite
the fact that there are numberless prospects containing reefs
that yield from half-an-ounce to i\ ozs. of gold per ton, only
3o8 Impressions of Spain.
two or three companies are engaged in gold quartz mining
in the Peninsula. The miner and the investor have generally
confined their attention to iron, copper, and lead — metals that
occur in huge deposits — and have disregarded the less assertive
tin and gold-bearing alluvials which, when scientifically de-
veloped and economically managed, will give larger returns
than any other mining in the world.
THE COPPER Mines of Escurial.
Some of the most prominent and promising of the newly-
acquired copper properties in Spain are those of the Escurial
district, of which mention has been made. Here, at a spot
situated within thirty miles of Madrid, at the end of an hour-
and-a-quarter's train journey, is a district which promises to
take rank among the leading copper-producing areas. Yet
until some two years ago the properties were practically being
ruined by the starvation policy of the Spanish owners, who
obtained excellent results by following the richest of the
leaders until a little expenditure was required to further
prosecute the work, and then abandoned them. The Romans,
who would appear from the evidences of their workings to
have been the original miners at Escurial, carried out their
developments on a large scale ; and judging from the immensity
and richness of the dumps of ore which they discarded as being
too poor to pay for treatment by the primitive methods at
their commands, they must have won enormous quantities of
very high-grade copper ore. These huge mounds of refuse
ore have been assayed to yield about 4 per cent, of copper;
and with the modern system of concentration will all give
profitable returns. Some of the outhouses and walls on
the property are constructed of rich copper ore, and the
purplish colour of the loose stones of the road from Galapagar,
Miniu'
309
and on the other roads about the property, are ever\\vhere
indicative of the presence of the same mineral. The Romans
evidently recognised the value of their mine, for before they
vacated the country they carefully filled in all their workings,
and obliterated every trace of their activity. The openings to
the galleries and the mouths of their shafts were closed up with
rubble, but they could not remove the incriminating dumps —
the monuments to their energy and the witnesses to the rich-
ness of the property.
The Romans undoubtedly meant, at a more convenient
PORTION OF BUILDINGS, ESCURIAL.
season, to return to the scene of their labours, as did the
Carthaginians and Phoenicians before them ; but the fates
which govern nations ruled it otherwise. The \'isigoths
succeeded the Romans; and they in their turn were driven out
by the Moors, who dominated the Peninsula for over 800 years.
The Moors have left the marks of their greatness, their
industry, and their love of art over the entire face of the land ;
but they have contributed comparatively little to the historj' of
its mining. They certainly did not undertake systematic re-
310
Impressions oj Spain.
searches into the mineral resources of the country, and as
certainly they did not happen upon the copper caverns which
the Ancients had quarried at Escurial,
The present proprietary, upon taking possession of the
property, immediately set to work to have the mine cleared,
and all the old workings explored. These operations were
attended with many remarkable discoveries, and it seemed as
if everything was revealed which had been done by the original
proprietors. But Sefior Barris, the modern discoverer of this
remarkable property, and a gentleman who combines the
m
j1
^<''^J^^id0^^
A CUTTING, ESCURIAL.
erudition of the scholar with an unsurpassed practical know-
ledge of Spanish mining, was not satisfied. He was convinced
that there remained further traces of more recent exploitation
to be revealed ; so the research was resumed, with the result
that during my visit I paid to the property in 1902, some
additional deeper workings of Spanish origin were discovered.
Only then was Seiior Barris convinced that the end was reached ;
but even later, I have since learned, a falling-in in one of the
levels disclosed the existence of further large ancient workings,
and the presence of a mass of magnificent copper ore.
Milling. 311
The Spaniards, whoever they were, who had worked the
mine for a short period some (approximately) 300 years ago,
had been interrupted in their labours by the lack of proper
machinery, and had abandoned the pursuit. The walls of the
^'allery they had excavated had fallen in, rubbish had blocked
up the entrance, and the mine had returned to the condition
in which it had been left by the Roman discoverers. And,
curiously enough, not a single document or record has come to
light to reveal the identity of these disappointed adventurers.
"DOLORES," "JAIME," AND MAIN SHAFT, ESCURIAL.
The Escurial district is a network of copper lodes, which
curve, and zig-zag, and bisect one another in an extraordinary
fashion, and would appear to have their origin, or their ending,
in a concession known as the Antigua Pilar — one of four
concessions which constitutes the property of the Escurial
Copper Mines, Limited, the principal company in the neigh-
bourhood. The mines are chiefly in the hands of three
companies — which are known as the Escurial, the Escurial
Extended, and the Georgia Mines and Development Company.
The properties owned by the premier company consists of the
312 luipressions of Spain.
Antigua Pilar (103^ acres), the Gloria (140 acres), the Jaime
(4g|- acres), and the Ramon (49^ acres). This group, with a
total area of 342^ acres, is held on perpetual tenure from the
Spanish Government, subject only to an annual payment of
6s. 5d. per claim.
The mines are equi-distant from three railway stations, but
Torrelodones is the most convenient, as it is connected with
Galapagar by a good cart road. From this place, where are
situated the Galapagar concentration works, one travels over an
excellent high-road built of stone, all of which shows traces of
copper. The weather is cool, clear, and invigorating ; and
the manager of the Escurial Copper Mines, Limited, informs
me that the climate, though hot in summer and very cold in
winter (the mines are about 2,850 feet above the sea level), is
wonderfully healthy. I remarked upon the solidity of the
buildings which serve to protect the openings of the various
shafts, and was informed that such substantial structures were
necessary as affording a shade from the sun in the hot weather
and a shelter from the snows in winter.
The Escurial Mines, unlike some others in Spain, are
worked all the year round ; and, as many of the miners live on
the property, a small barrack has been constructed of masonry
for their accommodation. These buildings, which are of the
most durable kind, having masonry walls three feet thick and
tiled roofs, include, in addition to the men's quarters and the
manager's dwelling, offices, &c., a small metallurgical establish-
ment, large stores for the storage of minerals, for coal, and
wood, and blasting powder, engine houses, and other buildings.
"The mine is our home," explains one of the old watchmen —
a phrase which I take to be equivalent to the Englishman's
expression : "We've come to stay ! "
If you happen to entertain any doubts as to the capacity
Miniu'
315
and general excellence of the Spanish miner, I would advise
you not to ventilate your opinion of the subject in the presence
of the manager of the Escurial Mines, or of Senor Harris, the
Company's local director. Nor indeed can one be long among
these men without recognising their sterling good qualities. They
work well, and they lighten their labours with an enthusiasm
which I have not remarked in any miners outside Spain. Every
man and boy has a personal interest in the mine and its develoji-
ment ; his talk is about its progress and prospects ; his joy is a
rich strike or a satisfactory return ; his sorrow is a blank day.
.E HOU.>E AND BLACKSMITH
E.-iCUi.;.\L,
And with the characteristic independence of the Spaniard, each
man keeps to his own drive, or shaft, or gallery, which he is
convinced is the best, and richest, and most promising portion
of the whole property.
It will be seen from a glance at the accompanying plan that
the northernmost claim, the Ramon, is situated at a little
distance from the rest of the group, and it is here that the
principal buildings and cr»ncentration works are located. Two
lodes have been proved on this property. No development
work had been done on the Ramon at the time of my last visit,
3i6 Impressions of Spain.
nearly the whole of the labour having been concentrated on the
Antigua Pilar concession, which carries eight proved reefs, and
is undoubtedly the most valuable claim of the entire group.
The developments on this, and on the adjoining Jaime lease,
have demonstrated that both these claims are of very great
value, and the manager declares in his report that with proper
management "they will yield incalculable profit."
The Antigua Pilar claim has been exploited in a masterly
manner, and the results reflecfl the greatest credit upon the
management. All the work proceeds under the unremitting
personal supervision of the manager, and his very full and
luminous reports reveal his intimate knowledge of every detail.
"It is a pleasure," he said to me, "to work such a mine. Every
week brings its work, and the work brings its recompense in the
consistently and thoroughly satisfactory nature of the progress
made. The property has never, as mothers say of good children,
given me an uneasy moment, and I am only too delighted to
show visitors over it." As we proceed, he explains to me
his theory of the property and of its prospecfts. The Antigua
Pilar he believes to be the centre of a network of reefs,
and the eight lodes he has already proved are only a few
that he expefts to discover as the work progresses. " It is a
large property," he says, "and it must be developed by degrees.
I have proved to my entire satisfaction that the lodes in the
Ramon and the Jaime leases will pay handsomely when we get
to work on them. I have also traced two of the Antigua Pilar
reefs into the Gloria lease, and six others are also making
in that direcftion. This naturally led me to make a special
study of the lodes in Antigua Pilar, and I am convinced
that in formation and structure the reefs are the same in
all. Everything pointed to satisfactory results, and, indeed,
the results have exceeded our expectations."
Mini in
317
i
In the manager's office I was permitted to examine the
figures and measurements on which he had based his estimates
of the value of the mine, and they are calculated on so
moderate a scale that he is convinced the net profits will be
much greater. To give an idea of the value and sizes of the
lodes on the property, I nia\- mention that by cubing the lodes
of Nos. 2, 3, and 4 on
Antigua Pilar alone,
and calculating the
yield of copper at the
very low return of 5 s
per cent, per ton, he
estimates the value of i»^ ^ -'.J' '
the ore at £'155. 53^- * "^^ ^^^
B }' t h e p r e s e n t ^ ^ MF
methods of exploita- ,- " ^H*-"-^^'
tion, the daily output ^ ' ^
of ore will shortly be
twenty tons per day; ^JSi.*^*^'
and this ore, WMth ^T^^
proper plant for con-
centration, could be
brought up to ^^ per
cent, of copper, worth
;^i6 los. per ton. The
carbonates of copper
which the ore carries could, by proper treatment, be made to
yield from sixty per cent, to eighty per cent, of copper suitable
for smelting. But there is an alternative scheme for the com-
plete exploitation of the property, by which 100 tons of copper
ore, of a value of ;^550, could be raised and treated per diem.
This plan would, of course, involve a larger outlay, but it has
3i«
Impressions of Spain.
been forwarded to London for the consideration of the directors.
Such figures and prospects justify the manager in his high
opinion of the mine, which is shared by the miners and the
local shareholders.
When I was at Escurial I visited two other groups of
properties in the neighbourhood which had been acquired by
British capitalists. The successful developments in the Escurial
property proper — especially on the Jaime and Antigua Pilar
leases — attracted a good deal of attention to the district, which
subsequent prospecting work shows to have been thoroughly
SNAPSHOT SHOWING CUTTING, ESCURIAL.
warranted. One of these groups comprises the Recompensa, the
Pepitanga, and the San Antonio leases, which have a combined
area of 437 acres. The local theory is that the nature of
the country and the constitution of the lodes is the same
throughout the district, and the work done on these mines
bears ouf that belief. The lodes and veins are numerous,
varying in thickness from seven inches to three feet ; and the ores
have yielded, as the result of assays, from eleven per cent, to
thirty per cent, of copper. Seven lodes, which are distinct and
well defined, have been followed for a distance of over 6,000 feet
Mining.
319
throuj:2^h the property, and five separate workings have been
undertaken to test the value of the mineral deposits. As the
workings are 750 feet above sea level, at which depths the lodes
usually improve, the quantity of ore in the property must conse-
quently be very considerable. The ore also yields both silver
and gold, but it is not possible to estimate the profit likely to
be made from this source. Only one assay has been made from
this ore, but it disclosed the existence of nearly thirteen ozs. of
silver and over nine dwts. of gold. The other group that is now
the property of English capitalists, consists of five concessions,
called the Clarisa, the Morena, Natividad, Mitry, and the
Mercedes, having a total area of 2,111 acres.
Thb Huercal Copper Cobalt Mines.
A railway journey of 20 hours' duration, over three railroad
systems, transports the visitor from Madrid to the little mining
town of Huercal (pronounced Whercal) Overa. We leave the
capital by the express train for Alicante, and travel via Alcazar
and Albacete to Chinchilla, which is reached at some unearthly
hour in the middle of the night. From Chinchilla the line runs
through the beautiful province of Murcia to Lorca, where we
change onto a small English railroad which takes us to Huercal.
We had left Madrid in our winter overcoats and rugs; when we
stepped out into the soft sunshine of Almeria we could have dis-
pensed with our under coats and waistcoats. We are in the land
of the spring roses and early oranges, and the nipping and eager
air of the capital is forgotten. Our visit is regarded by the
community with general interest, for the townsfolk look to
El Monte Minado, as the copper mines are known locally, to
make the fortunes of Huercal-Overa. Many of the leading
people here are shareholders in the mines, and all the labour
employed on the property is drawn from the town. There is not
320 Impressions of Spain.
a child in the neighbourhood who is unacquainted with the
personahty of the Spanish representative of the EngHsh pro-
prietors, who adts as our cicerone, and the word goes round
that he is come to town. The mine captain, and several
prominent people of the distridl, are at the station to meet us ;
and in the sitting-room that has been reserved for our use in the
comfortable hotel we find the table laid, not for dinner, but
with an array of valuable
' ^ specimens taken from the
mine. Here is copper in
pracftically every form —
'5^-^-^'^M^ -^^^^^^Sm gi^^sn carbonate of copper
* :; ^"A iK - f -tl^ (malachite), blue carbon-
ate of copper (azurite), red
oxide of copper (cuprite),
copper pyrites (yellow sul-
;. phuret of copper), and
^^^'^ T ■ ' l^*?*»'^\*.- - '- • native copper. Added to
this, the abundant associ-
' " %.• >*5^V ation of cobalt — cobalt
:".^^^fQ steel-gray, and pinkish
■ -- } ' -. ^ purple, like the hue of
'- _ ' ?. . .- ., peach-blossom in colour —
sj^~-,..,- • - . and of bright emerald green
BARRis CUTTING, HUERCAL. tlu ted uickcl, glve thc specl-
mens an extremely beauti-
ful appearance. The Monte Minado property comprises a copper
hill not unlike the celebrated Mount Morgan in conformation,
and has an area of iii^ acres. There are indications that point
to Phoenician industry in the Huercal Mine, but the traces of
later workmanship demonstrate conclusively that the Romans
were the last of the Ancients who exploited this copper
Miuiui:.
321
mountain on a large scale. It was the Romans who obliterated
so carefully all traces of their handiwork, and tilled up with
rubbish the openings of their levels and other workings.
The composition of the mountain, being of volcanic creation,
it is a crumbling conglomerate mass ; and unless the galleries
are substantially timbered, the
chances of their falling in pre-
sent an instant danger to the
miners. The men who are em-
ployed in the work of clearing
the ancient galleries and putting
in new levels have had many
narrow escapes from falling
earth. The Spanish mining
regulations impose a very high
rate of compensation in the case
of accidents which occur in the
mines ; and as a do(ftor, whose
duty it is to report on all casu-
alties to the Department of
Mines at Madrid, is attached to
every working property, mine
owners are exceptionally careful
for the safety of their employees.
On one occasion, when the
Spanish representative of the
present proprietary was being
conducfted by the manager through some new workings, a huge
piece of the country rock fell upon his guide. His head was
very luckily protected by one of the hard pot hats which the
underground hands always wear ; and although this helmet was
badly dented, it probably saved the wearer's life. The visitor
322
Impressions of Spain.
was naturally much concerned, but the manager accepted the
mishap with smiling philosophy. "You see," he remarked, "I
am not meant to be an expense to the owners, just yet."
The labour of fortifying all the drives, as the work advanced,
rendered exploitation both slow and expensive, while not
entirely eliminating the element of danger from the operations.
It was at one time intended to cut the lode by driving an adit
into the mountain at a level of i=io feet below the ancient
THE CHURCH AT HUERCAL
workings; but as it was discovered that this adit would have
had to be shored up and cemented like an electric railway tube,
the proposal was abandoned as impracticable. Since then, the
difficulty has been successfully overcome by the adoption of
another policy.
The present leaseholders opened their negotiations for the
purchase of the Huercal Mines on the strength of the mammoth
dumps which from a number of assays made by different firms
Mining. 323
gave results varying from 571 per cent, to 10-40 per cent, of
copper, 2-19 per cent, of nickel, and 3-13 per cent, of cobalt.
It was argued that even if the mines were worked out, the
dumps alone, if scientifically treated with modern machinery,
would return a handsome profit. But very little e.xploration
work was required to convince the Englishmen that so far
from the property being exhausted of its mineral treasures, the
bulk of the mineral had been little more than pecked at ; and a
more comprehensive system of development disclosed the fact
that in El Monte Minado they had acquired a copper-cobalt
mine of extraordinary richness. The consistent and surprising
richness of the dumps in carbonates and copper pyrites made
it abundantly clear that if the Romans, with their primitive
methods and appliances, had regarded this ore as unprofitable
for treatment, they must have found still more valuable deposits
to engage their attention. There could be no other excuse for
regarding five per cent, copper ore as debris. For the first time
since the Roman miners left their Bonanza, the old workings
were now cleared and the mystery was solved. These ancient
galleries, as will be seen from the illustrations, were not driven
on any systematic plan, but simply followed the lodes blindly
through all their twists and curves. The idea of going boldly
through the mountain and sweeping all before them does not
appear to have been considered practicable by the Romans; and,
doubtless, the danger of excavating in the soft country rock
on a large scale had also been taken into their calculations.
As the workings were freed from the rubbish that choked every
drive and level, further traces of cobalt and nickel were en-
countered, and copper in its many beautiful forms became
more abundant, and of richer quality. In the Napoleon gallery
the ore was assayed to yield from 17" 17 per cent, to 78"69 per
cent, of copper, and at the extreme end of it was found to be
324
Impressions of Spain.
in the face of a three-foot lode, in which native copper was also
discovered.
As I follow Senor Jose Perez, the mine manager, through
the old Napoleon and Esperanza galleries, it is impossible to
resist the contagious enthusiasm with which he describes and
exhibits the property. Certainly there is excuse on every
side for their eulogiums. The copper in the lodes is very
plentiful, while in the hanging-wall of the lodes important
veins of pink and black cobalt are frequently to be found, and
at all points where work had been done abundance of ore has
THE CASTLE AND HARBOUR, AGUILAS.
been exposed. I was shown a large caverture, the roof of
which is supported by a single column of ore, which had been
left for that purpose by the Roman excavators. The miners
who were clearing the drives at first took this circular chamber
to be a break in the lode ; but it is really a cavern in the walls,
and roof of which nearly every variety of copper ore is to be
seen. The spectacle is strikingly beautiful, and to the geologist
it presents a feature of unusual interest. I have examined many
caverns in mines, but this particular example, which has been
Minin<
325
christened "The Cathedral," far exceeds in natural beauty
anything of the kind that I have ever seen.
A considerable amount of useful development had been
accomplished by clearings and surface cuttings on both sides
of the mountain, and these have been of the greatest import-
ance in the adoption of the latest scheme for working the mine.
In one clearing the outcrop had been stripped over about 1,100
feet, and by this means the copper and cobalt lode had been
exposed for a distance of 70 feet, and similar work had been
HEAPS OF COPPER ORE. HCERCAL
done on the opposite side of the hill. As the result of much
anxious consideration and many discussions it was decided to
undertake the opening up of the mines on a scale which, it is
safe to presume, the Romans never dreamed of, viz., by re-
moving the top of the hill to a depth of thirty feet, as one
scalps an egg. The ancient workings, situated at a depth of 180
feet from the summit, having been located, and their dimensions
ascertained, the over-burden, which had been found to be only
30 feet in thickness, will be removed, and from that point down
326 Impressions of Spain.
to 180 feet, where the ancient galleries are situated, is a mass of
copper, cobalt, and nickel ores that will be worked by the open-
cutting process. A trench has been cut from the " Barris" clear-
ing connecting with the " Marin" clearing on the other side of
the mountain, and four lines of rails have been constructed to
work the ores, which are loaded up into the trucks and con-
veyed to the sides of the hill. No timbering is necessary,
shafts and drives are done away with, and all risks to life are
eliminated. The soft nature of the country rock renders the
work, which in quartz would be an impossibility without the
aid of dynamite, a simple pick-and-shovel business, and by this
means the mountain is being gutted at the price of labour and
cartage.
The Rio Rimal Copper Mines.
The Rio Rimal Mines, in the province of Gerona, are
situated close to the quaint old-world village of San Lorenzo,
which stands, surrounded by its mediaeval fortifications, at the
foot of a high mountain. Far above it an ancient watch-tower
still looks out over the wide expanse of plain and valley. It is
broken and weather-beaten, but is otherwise as it was left by the
old Moorish warriors who built it. Within a mile or two, on the
east and west, are the comparatively modern fortified places of
Figueras and Rosas. In the municipality of San Lorenzo, at
the beginning of the last century, was a huge Government
Arsenal and Smelting Works, where the metals won from the
neighbouring mountains were cast into cannon, and made into
shot and shell. Among the hills are still to be seen the remains
of busy mining camps where hundreds of men were once
engaged in working the mineral deposits. Before Napoleon's
all-conquering marshals marched across the frontier the Spanish
Government blew up the arsenal, destroyed the smelting
Mining.
327
works, and concealed the entrance to the more important
workings. Nothing remains to-day but a few melancholy ruins
to show the extent of the former operations.
The Government factories were never re-constructed. The
pro.ximity to the border, and the exposed nature of the country,
combined with the experience of the then recent events,
rendered the situation too insecure for the purpose, and the
arsenals of San Lorenzo were re-built on more powerfully-
protected spots at Ferrol and Carthagena.
Even the massive stone bridge over the river Muga, which
was blown up to impede the passage of the French troops, has
never been rebuilt. The interesting point about all this is the
fact that somewhere, close at hand in the hills, must exist the
mineral deposits which fed the factories before the Peninsula
War. The tunnels and workings have been very effectually
concealed — by no means a difficult matter. A few barrels of
gunpowder would have brought down hundreds of tons of rock
and debris over the mouth of the shafts and galleries, and left
no trace of human handiwork. But that these mines are still
there, and waiting only to be re-discovered, is an indisputable
fact.
The operations of the Spanish owners on the Kio Kimal
property commenced, as modern engineering science counselled,
near the bottom of the hill, and they put in their galleries and
levels to tap at lower depth the richest portion of the reserves
of copper. But work had only been in progress about two years
when the Carlist war broke out. For seven years operations
had to be suspended, and during the whole of that period the
mine was abandoned. When the owners again turned their
attention to the property, it was to find that many parts of
their galleries had caved in, and the mine had become Hooded.
After a considerable interval, the worst parts of the galleries
328 Impressions of Spain.
were repaired. The water was pumped out, the level and
inclined shaft were cleared, and work was resumed. The price
of copper in 1874 at Swansea was very low, and the method of
inclined shaft workings being very costly, all hope of continuing
to work the property at a profit was extinguished. For thirty
years nothing was done at the mine. In 1898 an endeavour
was made by the present owners to obtain possession of the
mines, but it was not until January, 1902, that work was
resumed on the property.
It was then decided that the most profitable course to be
adopted was to concentrate all labour upon the work of repairing
and unwatering the second level, and of driving a further level
some ninety or 100 feet lower down the mountain side. This
work was at once put in hand, and the north-west gallery was
driven a distance of 185 feet on the line of the lode, cutting
entirely through the same for the whole distance. In many
places the lode is mineralised for a width of fifteen inches, the
ore assaying thirty-three per cent, copper. In driving this
gallery some splendid copper was obtained. Work on the
level has in the meantime been progressing steadily, although
the workmen experienced great difficulty on account of the
hardness of the rock. At the beginning of this drive a very
hard conglomerate was encountered, which resisted all tools.
For a time the formation defied dynamite, and small progress
was made until the sandstone ground was reached. Thereafter
work became easier, and consequently more rapid.
The Buena Presa property, which adjoins the Rio Rimal
Mine on the north, was subsequently acquired, thus increasing
the original area by 141 acres. The Rio Rimal lode traverses
the adjoining concession for a distance of about 2,100 feet. It
is a strongly-defined masterly lode, and has every appearance of
producing large quantities of mineral when developed. Judging
Mining. 020
from the outcrops, it resembles the Rio Rimal lode in every
respect ; and although no systematic work has been done
upon it, the probability is that it will be found to be of equal
value.
The Coruna Copper Mines.
The Coruna Copper Company's property, which covers an
area of 2,540 acres — a tx^tX of country more than si.x times as
large as Hyde Park — is situated in the mining district of
Santiago, and is connecfted with the railway, which is about
eight miles distant, by a first-class road. The country in which
the concession is situated, consists of a series of low rolling hills,
and the charad^er of the ore, so far as it has yet been explored
by the prospe(5\;ing operations, is very similar to that produced
by the Rio Tinto and Tharsis Mines. It is a low grade copper
ore, carrying on the average twenty-three per cent, of sulphur,
and from two to three per cent, of copper. No attempt was
made by the late owners to determine by a systematic series of
borings the extent over which the mineral actually exists, or the
depth and characfter of the ore; but the prospecting work already
carried out by the English company, and the natural outcrops
found at many points on the concession, place it, in the estima-
tion of some mining experts, quite beyond doubt that the mass
of mineral is one of the largest known, extending in one
dire<5\ion for over two miles, apparently without a break.
This preliminary work has clearly proved the whole of the
north-west quarter of the concession ; and taking the outcrops
into account, one-half of the whole ground is assumed to
contain mineral. Three shafts and nine trenches are being sunk,
and numerous outcrops have also been located on the concession.
The original estimate of the quantity of mineral was 50,000,000
cubic metres, equal in round figures to 250,000,000 tons. The
330 Impressions of Spain,
most recent assays indicate a mean of three per cent, copper in
the ore. The prospecting work has in every instance proved
the accuracy of original estimates as to the value of the property,
as well as the correctness of the opinion, that a very large output
could be obtained with pracftically none of the unproducftive
development work required in most mining enterprises. It was
recommended that mining operations should be chiefly " open-
cut," and of the simplest character, the exceptionally favourable
conditions under which the ore exists rendering operations an
extremely easy and inexpensive matter. The property is being
opened up on these lines, and it is considered there will be no
difficulty in supplying the concentrating works with i,ooo,
2,000, or even 3,000 tons per day, all obtained from open
cutting.
Tin— The Mines of Beariz.
Fortunately for the present proprietary of the Beariz Mines,
the late owners possessed considerable technical knowledge;
and if the property was not worked extensively by them, the
work was prosecuted on right lines. They overhauled the
Roman shafts and put in new galleries ; and at a time when the
standard price of metallic tin was £iS2> a ton the mine returned
the owners a handsome profit. Some years ago, when the
mines were reopened and actively exploited, a large number of
hands were engaged ; and although the ore had to be carted by
road to Vigo, large profits were made. Gradually the price of
tin dropped, and the profits shrank until operations could only
be conducted at a loss. Then work was suspended. Since 1878
the Beariz Mines have remained idle, save for the persistence
of the "Tributors," who have continued to make a livelihood
by washing alluvials.
The three leases that comprise the Beariz group are entitled the
" Esperanza," the " Federico," and the " Elena," and together
they have an area of 450 EnfjHsh acres of tin-bearing ground.
Since the mines were closed down, the railway has been con-
structed from the port of Vigo to within twenty miles of the
property, and the roads between Beariz and the railroad are
well made and in excellent repair. Sefior S. J. Barris, whf)
was requested to inspect the properties and report upon
them by the intending purchasers, spent several weeks at
Beariz ascertaining the dimension of the lodes, estimating the
extent and value of the alluvial, and making assays. He
traced four distinct lodes on the "Federico" property, three on
the "Esperanza," and two on the "Elena," and his tests
proved that the whole of these nine lodes carried rich oxide
of tin (cassiterite), averaging thirty per cent, of the mineral. " I
am well aware," he wrote, in communicating the results of his
examination, "that the average will appear to be very high,
but I would point out that this is a very exceptional property ;
in fact, I have inspected almost all the known tin properties in
Spain, and I can say with confidence that, taking into con-
sideration the numerous lodes and the very rich alluvial
deposits, these Beariz Tin Mines are one of the richest, if not
the richest, mining properties I have ever seen."
Worked as a quartz mine, as it was worked by the
Ancients, the owners possess in Beariz an asset of proved
value, but the property is rendered the more valuable by the
fact that the lodes represent only one portion of its assets.
For, in addition to the quartz lodes, the greater portion of
the 450 acres is composed of tin-bearing ground, almost
every yard of which will pay to work. On one side of the
hill a large number of boulders are present in the alluvial,
which reduces its value ; but the major portion of the area is
exceptionally free from untreatable material, and consists
332 Impressions of Spain.
entirely of tiniferous deposits. Tin is found in the decomposed
granite, which is so soft that it can be worked by pick and
shovels. The upper alluvial is about five feet in thickness ; but
the depth of the granitic formation, which is very rich in tin,
has not yet been ascertained. It was for this reason that Seiior
Alfred Lasala, the leading mining engineer of Orense, reported
that it is almost impossible to cubicate the quantity of tin ore
in these concessions ; but he added in his report that ** in every
shaft and every trench, cutting, or outcrop, from the highest
point down to the bed of the river Beariz, which runs at a
great depth below the workings, the tin ore is found in remark-
able abundance." Senor Lasala describes the formation of the
Beariz tin deposit as tiniferous granite, concentrated in great
masses of tin mineral, which is intersected by cross lodes of
tiniferous, quartz veins, or stringers, containing the metal in
great quantity. Two samples of earth, that had been washed
to remove the mica, tourmaline, and other principal elements
of crystalline formation that are present in the ore, assayed
62 per cent, and 81 per cent, of tin respectively ; and Seiior
Barris estimates that every ton of tin ore, after being properly
concentrated, will assay from 62 to 65 per cent, black tin.
The upper alluvials contain a smaller percentage of tin than
is found in the lower strata, a fact which is explained by the
laws of specific gravity, and by the attention that has been
devoted to the surface ground in times past. The granitic
formation, which is practically virgin ground, is computed to
be hundreds of feet in depth, and there is enough of it on the
Beariz property to employ all the energies of the company for
fifty years to come. The whole of this formation is traversed by
innumerable veins of quartz, containing from 15 to 20 per
cent, of tin, which will add enormously to the value of the
output.
Ml
^ng. 333
The Spanish Tin Corporation's Mines.
The Spanish Tin Corporation, which was formed towards the
end of igoi, became the purchasers of 1,361 acres of tin-bearing
land in the Arnoya districfl of the province of Orense. The
Government's annual publication of Spanish mining statistics for
the year 1900 gives the produ(5tion of tin ore for the entire province
at 240 tons, and adds, " So far, only one mine has been produc-
ing tin in the province, the ' Roberto,' which in nine months
produced 240 tons." The extent of the concessions, the richness
of the immense tin-bearing alluvial deposits, and the exception-
ally favourable conditions under which they can be worked,
makes the property exceedingly valuable. The whole surface of
the concessions is more or less covered with alluvial soil, with
an average thickness of fully 3J feet of tin-bearing ground: and if
one-half be deducfted for boulders, surface soil and waste ground,
the amount of block tin is computed at 30,368,365 lbs., and the
value at nearly one million pounds sterling. Practically, it is
said, the whole of this vast quantity of tin can be recovered by
simple hydraulic working. In addition to the alluvial tin-bearing
ground there has also to be taken into consideration the tin
contained in the masses of decomposed granite lodes which
traverse the propery, and is estimated to contain 60,936,730 lbs.
of black tin, of a value of nearly two million pounds.
The Pontexhdra Tin Mines.
The revival of the mining industry has spread even to the
province of Salamanca, where, according to the Government
report, not a single mine had been worked during the year 1900.
A reference is made, however, to visits of mining experts to the
distri(5\s of \'alsalabroso, but nothing is reported as to the result
334
Impressions of Spain.
of their inspe(5lions. One result, however, was the acquisition
of three properties known as San Antonio, Adela and San Pablo,
having a total area of 437 acres of tin-bearing ground, on behalf
of English capitalists. Three well-defined lodes have been
discovered, and the leases have been specially pegged out to
contain these lodes for a length of 2,500 metres, or about 2,700
yards. Apart from these lodes, it is stated that the whole of the
ground is sufficiently rich to allow of the alluvial being profitably
worked. Various tests have been made which endorse this view
by giving a return of nineteen pounds of alluvial tin per cubic
yard. The company, which has been formed in London to
work the property, has decided to exploit the alluvial, while
development work is being prosecuted on the lodes. Special
tin-washing machines have been sent to the Pontevedra Mines,
and they are now at work and producing tin. Labour is cheap
and plentiful, and transport facilities are very favourable to
economic working, while another important feature is supplied
in the close proximity of a stream, which gives an abundant
supply of water for all mining purposes.
Minintf.
335
The Paramo Gold Mines.
I visited at Paramo, in the province of Leon, an alluvial
gold-mining property, which appeared to possess all the natural
advantages for economical and highly profitable working. This
concession consists of an immense bank of alluvial, over 300
feet in height, and a great plateau, which has been proved to
carry gold wherever tested. The richness of this plain was
evidently fully appreciated in ancient times, and the remains of
gigantic operations can be clearly traced. Water had been
brought in from a great distance by canals; and at the western
extremity of the plain, where it ends suddenly in steep bluffs, two
ALLUVIAL GOLD WASHING. I'ARAMO.
great valleys have been sluiced away. The water channels
employed for this purpose are still visible, and are now used as
country roads. Millions of tons of earth must have been
washed here, and with satisfacflory results, even with the
imperfccft appliances then in use, or otherwise work on such a
gigantic scale would never have been carried out. On the lower
ground, very extensive sluicing operations had also been carried
on in ancient times, and a water-race has been brought from
some three miles away. This water-race could be repaired at
little cost, and sluicing be begun here on a large scale with a
very small expenditure compared with what is usually necessary
336 Impressions of Spain.
in such operations. Along the river, on both sides, are level
stretches of alluvial, formed by the eating away of the higher
ground by winter floods, and these deposits carry gold from the
grass-roots down.
THE Kingston Gold Mines.
The Kingston Gold Mines have acquired four important
concessions in the municipality of Puente de Domingo, Florez,
in the province of Leon. These properties are well situated on
the banks of the river Sil and its tributaries, and are very accessi-
ble, being close to the railway station of Ponferada. The alluvial
deposits cover almost the whole of the area of the concession.
The average of the assays made of the alluvial deposits give
five dwts. of gold per cubic yard ; but the engineers state that,
taking the average at only one and a-half dwts. per cubic yard,
these properties ought to give a large return per annum.
The Moraleja Gold-bearing Alluvial Concession.
This is another company that has been formed for the
purpose of working alluvial gold mines in Spain, and there are
good indications that their enterprise will be crowned with
success. The two properties known as Barbantes and Acha,
comprising 208 acres in the province of Orense, have already
been tested, with the most satisfactory results. The engineers
have based their calculations on the uniform depths of the
deposits of fifteen feet, but in most places they are far deeper,
and it is reported that nearly the whole of the ground will pay
well to work. The tests have given an average return of five
dwts. of gold per cubic yard; but the facilities for working and
handling the ore are so favourable that if only a quarter of
that estimate is realised, the profits of the company will be
enormous.
Ml
337
The Lugo Goldfields.
The Lu^'o Goldfields, Limited, has acquired three groups of
[properties in the province of Lugo (Gahcia). These concessions,
which are situated on the main road to Madrid, and twenty-six
miles from Lugo, consist of 525 acres of quart/ country and
alluvial property seventy-five acres in extent, which contain
strong evidences that the Romans, during their occupation of
the Peninsula, washed from it large quantities of alluvial gold.
On the first group, broad gold-bearing quartz reefs, which
increase in width from six feet to twenty-four feet as depth is
reached, have been traced for many miles on each side of the
property ; and on the second group the reefs are highly
mineralised, and contain gold, silver, copper, and lead. The
reefs are situated in hills rising from 350 feet to 450 feet above
the river-bed, which will enable the ore to be run out of the
galleries by means of trucks on rails, and so save, for some
considerable time at least, the initial outlay and annual expendi-
ture entailed by the erecli^ion and maintenance of pumping and
haulage machinery. In taking the samples of stone for assay,
good, bad, and indifferent stone was included, and the calcula-
tions as to the value of the ore was based on a minimum
extra(5tion of five dwts. of gold per ton. The assays gave
returns varying from three dwts. two grs. up to sixteen dwts.
eight grs., and the ore has been tested to be eminently adapted
for concentration. Water, labour, and timber present no
difficulties, and the working of the mines should be carried on
at a low cost. It is estimated that the expense of mining the
ore, delivering the concentrates in Swansea, and paying the
charges for treatment there, will amount to los. per ton of ore
crude, which means that two and a-half dwts. of pure ore will
pay all expenses.
338
Impressions of Spain.
Silver-Lead.
The Santa Maria Mining Company, Limited, Silver-Lead
Mines (Badajoz, Spain).
Among the most important of the silver-lead properties in
Spain, mention has been made to the group in the province of
Badajoz that has been floated in London under the title of the
Santa Maria Mining Company, Limited. This property, which
originally consisted of four leases, having an area of 138 acres,
»>M*l' ^,
LAS PALMAS BRIDGE, BADAJOZ.
has been since increased to 166 acres, by the acquisition of the
Santa Florentina lease at Mestanza, Puertollano, in the neigh-
bouring province of Ciudad-Real. So far as the position of
the Santa Maria property is concerned, it could not easily be
bettered. It is only six miles distant from the railway system,
with which it is connected by two good roads, and is situated
quite near to the Rothschilds' Smelting Works at Peiiarroya.
Mini}t<^. 339
Timber is procurable at a clieap rate froin Cuenca and PurtuKal;
there is an abundance of water obtainable for all mining
purposes; while labour, which is obtained from two villages in
the vicinity, is cheap, plentiful, and efficient.
The history of the Santa Maria group presents, as do so
numy other mines in Spain, an object lesson in mismanagement
and wilful disregard for the future of the property. It was first
opened in 1845 by a Portuguese Company, and it is abundantly
proved from the reports of their consulting engineer, and from
the condition in which the mines was left, that the work could
not have been conducted in a more haphazard and destructive
fashion. No attention was given to exploration or development
work; and, doubtless, acting under peremptory orders, all
labour was concentrated on the extraction of the rich available
ore. The shaft, instead of being perpendicular, was sunk at a
vertical angle, and was so badly timbered that it was always
in a dangerous condition. The galleries, being left without
sufficient supports, frequently collapsed, and work was con-
ducted at imminent risk of life to the miners. The official
figures showing the quantity of ore won by the adoption of
these methods are not available, but the great heaps of debris
which have accumulated show that the amount was something
very considerable; and it was not until 1889, when the policy of
ore-grabbing could no longer be safely proceeded with until
money had been spent in repairing the shaft and the workings,
that the mine was abandoned and became flooded up to the
first level.
During this time the Santa Maria lode was worked by its
faulty shaft down to the seventh level, but the dressing of the
ore was so defective that the dumps are found to contain nearly
five per cent, of galena. From this refuse the present manage-
ment have been obtaining from ten to twelve tons of "dressed"
340 Impressions of Spain.
ore per month, giving fifty-five per cent, of lead and 600
grammes of silver per ton.
When Senor Villanova purchased the property in i88g he
took from the first level of the Santa Maria shaft about 100
tons of ore, which gave a return of seventy-five per cent, of
lead and 850 grammes of silver per ton ; and, then, in order to
avoid the expense of unwatering the mine and repairing the
shaft, he decided to confine his operations to the San Juan
shaft, upon which little work had been done. The winding
engine was accordingly removed and re-erected at this shaft,
which was sunk to a depth of about 540 feet. Six levels were
driven, in each of which the lode was found to be mineralised
throughout. Senor Villanova continued to work the mine on the
principle of making it entirely self-supporting. No exploration
or dead-work was undertaken, and when a fault was encoun-
tered in the eastern levels the pursuit of the vein was
abandoned. This fault has since been cut through in all the
levels, and the lode has in every case been found to continue
on the other side. The property was starved for working
capital, no cross-cutting was allowed on account of the outlay
it would involve, and the stoping was only carried on where
the mineral was rich. Yet even under these conditions Senor
Villanova extracted from this shaft alone over 3,000 tons of
ore, which yielded him substantial profits.
When the present company took over the mine they were
advised that both the Santa Maria and the San Juan lodes
could be better and more economically worked by means of the
Santa Maria shaft, and they decided to have this shaft un-
watered and put into thorough repair down to the bottom
level. The shaft had to be enlarged and galleries cleared, and
all the workings retimbered. These operations, although
vigorously prosecuted, took longer than was anticipated.
9«rr
VIEW OF THE CASTLE, PONFEKRADA
GENERAL VIEW, LINAKE>
Minin-. j,|i
Twelve years of nef,'lect had reduced this part of the mine to
such a condition that the task of clearin{< the congested
galleries was not only difficult but highly dangerous. The
timber with which the workings were fortified was so rotten
that the removal of the rubble brought down the woodwork
with it. The old supports had consequently to be replaced by
new timber as the work progressed ; and as the galleries were
constructed on a small scale, the want of space rendered it
impossible to employ a large number of hands. At the same
time all the buildings and the masonry work on the property,
which had also fallen into decay, were repaired or rebuilt ; the old
engine-house at the San Juan shaft was replaced by a substantial
building, tram-lines and trucks were purchased, the roads were
overhauled and repaired, and the property was completely
equipped and put into thorough working order. Yet in spite
of all this dead work, the exploitation of Santa Maria has never
been a severe charge upon the company, for the return of ore
per month from the San Juan lode was sufficient to defray all
the expenses incurred in development, and to return a profit on
the mine. During the early part of last year the Penarroya
works were being rebuilt and enlarged, and the ore had to be
sold at Carthagena ; but since the reopening of the works the
whole of the output has been purchased locally, and a consider-
able saving has been effected thereby.
Coal.
It has been already stated that the production of coal in
Spain is quite insignificant in comparison with the extent of
the coal-bearing beds (which are estimated to cover an area of
about 3,500 square miles, of which nearly a third belongs to
Oviedo); but the new find of coal (lignite) and cement stone
in the province of Lerida should, and undoubtedly will, draw
342 hnpressions of Spain.
attention to this profitable industry. The Almatret Mines,
which have an area of 820 acres, are situated on the river
Elbro, near Fayon, on the main railway from Madrid to
Barcelona. In each of the eight seams, which are distinctly
visible on the property, the lignite is much decomposed, and
the outcrops contain a great deal of gypsum. This has
effloresced, and the seams present a very different appearance
from that of lignite. On cutting into the beds, however, the
infiltrations of the gypsum soon disappears. The workings,
which are very limited, had been carried out without any
system, and much of the lignite had been lost in winning.
The quality of the lignite is very satisfactory. It keeps well,
and burns with a long flame. Owing to the exceptional
conditions under which these deposits can be worked — the
seams lying horizontally, and being entirely free from water or
deleterious gases — no shafts are required, and the ventilation is
a very simple matter. The question of transport is stated to
be the chief element of a successful exploitation of these mines,
and it will be necessary to construct a light railway to reduce
the cost of the present system. The probable profit on the
lignite, according to expert's reports, will depend on the ruling
price of coal in Spain : this is determined by that of Cardiff
coal and the rate of freight. The calcareous layers are, in
several places, comprised of highly aluminius and siliceous
limestone, forming a natural cement stone. One of the beds
of this material has been exploited m formei years for the
manufacture of a cement which was somewhat largely used in
Lerida for house construction, &c. A cement of this quality is
highly suited for constructive work, such as floors, staircases,
water tanks, &c., for which very large quantities are used in
Spain. It is not, of course, equal to a true Portland cement ;
but when the various layers of cement stone have been
Mini,,-. 343
examined and analj-sed, several of them will be found to
approximate very closely to the composition rerpiired for ^'ivin;(
the true Portland cement. The quantity of cement stones
which exist on the property is enormous. In fact, it may be
said to be practically inexhaustible.
I have referred in detail to these Almatrct Mines because
they demonstrate the truth of the contention that the coal
districts of Spain are not, as has been erroneously accepted,
confined to the province of Oviedo ; although, up to the present,
little mining has been done outside the Asturian coal basin.
Even here the rate of progress is lamentably slow. Lack of
capital, which has hitherto retarded the increase of mechanical
facilities and railway construction, is now being overcome,
and it is confidently expected that a material advance is
imminent. Every class of coal is obtainable in this district ;
and the seams, which vary from two and a-half feet to over
six feet in thickness, are being worked by galleries in the
mountain sides. In only one instance is the pit system in
practice; and the whole of the coal below the level of the base
of the mountain is virgin ground, which will ultimately be
exploited by deep workings. But it is highly improbable that
this profitable industry will be undertaken by the present
owners, who, for want of the necessary capital, will, in a large
number of cases, suspend operations when they have exhausted
the coal from their lower galleries. \'aluable concessions will
then come into the market at "knock-out" prices; and if
British capitalists desire to be associated with the highly-
promising enterprise, they will have to seize the opportunity
before the French and Belgian investors step in. For, despite
their comparative failure in the past, the French capitalists are
more keenly alive than their English rivals to the enormous
possibilities of Spanish mining, and Spanish money is now
344 Impressions of Spain.
coming forward as an earnest of the rejuvenated spirit of
enterprise which careful observers have already noted in the
spirit of the country.
In the foregoing pages I have outlined, in the barest fashion,
the history of the mining industry of Spain from its genesis,
and I have cited instances of modern development with the
object of proving that in Spain of to-day we have at once one
of the most backward and most promising mineral countries in
Europe, if not in the world. I have not attempted to exhau*st
the list of mines that are in full operation at the present time,
but have contented myself with giving some particulars about
representative properties — properties which, for the most part,
have come under my own immediate notice, and several of
which I have visited more than once. My experience compels
me to the conclusion that Spanish mining offers more andli
better opportunities for the investment of British capital than
that of any other country with which I am acquainted, and I
treasure the hope that a closer union will be welded between
England and Spain by the common bond of a mutual interest
in her mineral development.
E. Goodman &• Son, PJicenix Pyinting Works, Taunt
INDEX.
Aben Cencid, 128
African Spain, 86
Avila, 114
Albaycin, The, 136
Alcazar (Toledo), 100
Alfonso VI., 102
Alfonso XIII., 254, et seq.
4|^ambra, The, 122, ct scq.
Alicante, 84, ct seq.
Alluvial Gold Washing in Spain, 300,
et siq.
Alonso II., 203
.-\lonso el Sabio, 93
Alonso v., 210
.Almaden. 1 19
Alva Garcia, 115
American in Spain, The, 12
Arab Mining Enterprise, 281
Aragonese, 219
Aranjuez, Palace of, 49
.\rmeria Real (Madrid), 30
Bailen, 93
Barcelona, 50, et scq.
Barcelona, Labour Riots in, 58
Basque Provincia, The, 180, et seq
Beariz and its Tin Mines, 294, 330,
etscq.
Beggars in Spain, 155
Bicycle in Spain, The. 87
Bilbao, 189, ct seq.
Bombita-chico, 234
Borrow, George, 7
Bull-Fighting, 38. 220, ct scq.
Burgos, 108, et seq.
Cadiz, 164, ./ scq.
Cadmus, 269
Carthagena, 88
Carthaginian Miners in Spain, 270
Castellon, 77
Castiles, The. 108, et scq.
Catalans, The. 53, et scq.
Cervantes, 116
Charles the Fifth, 124
Children in Spain. 87, 156
Christ in Burgos Cathedral. The, no
Cid. The. 102. in
Coal and Cement Mines of Spain.
The, 300. 341
Cobham. Lord. 204
Colon Cape (Barcelona), 29
Colonial Possessions. Loss of. 3
Columbus Memorial (Barcelona). 67
Contreras Rafael, 12S
Cooking in Spain. 34
Cordova. 103, ct seq
Coruna, 199, et scq
Corufia Copper Mines, The. 329
Crime in Spain. 175
Index.
Cuba, 3
Cuenca, iig
Cuidad-Real, ii6
Dances, 39, ct seq.
De Amicis E., 25, 106, 127, 253
Decline of Carthaginian Iniluence,
275
Didorus, 271
Don Carlos, 189
Don Pedro, 210
Don Quixote, 103
Drake, Sir Francis, 204
Elche, 86, 88
English in Spain, The, 11
Escorial, The, 43, ct seq.
Escurial CopperMines, 293, ^oy, et seq.
Espadeno, 77
Esparto Grass, 85
Ferdinand and Isabella, 116, 134
Ferdinand VI., 218
Festival of San Isidro del Campo, 41
Ford, Richard, loi, 159, 163
Francisco Herrera, 218
Frascuelo, 234
Fuentes, 236
Galicia, 195, ct seq.
Gallenga, 71
Gijon, 20S
Gold-bearing Alluvials of Spain, 300,
et seq.
Goya, 241
Granada, 122, 134, et seq.
Guard ia Civil, 60
Guerrita, 239
Gypsies, 136
Herrera, Juan de, 43
Hiendelsencina Silver Mine, The, 296
Hotel de Paris (Madrid), 26, 34
Huercal Copper-cobalt Alines, 293,
319, ct seq.
Huecar, The, 119
Huerta of Alicante, The, 85
Imperial Cafe (Madrid), 29
Infanta Isabel, 262
Iron Industry, 287
Irun, 185
Jaen, 94
John of Gaunt, 199
Juan the Second, 116
Jucar, The, 119
Kingston Gold Mines, The, 336
La Correspondencia, 38
La Granja, 112
La Mancha, 93
La Princesa de Asturias, 263
La Union, 91
Leon, 209, 212, et seq.
Libra de Oro, 47
Liebert Wolters, 289
Lomas, John, 95, 150
Lorenzana, Cardinal, 102
Lorenzo, Bishop, 204
Louis de Debonnaire, 77
Lugo, 207
Lugo Goldfields, The, 337
Madrid, 10, et seq.-
MadrileTw, El, 21
Madrid, Climate of, 14
Malaga, 171, et seq.
Maria Christina, 254, 258, 263
Mazantini, 235
Medina Az-zahra, 107
Mendicancy in Spain, 155
Index
Mining Enterprise in the Middle Ages,
2S6
Mining in Spain, 271, ct seq.
Mino River, 204, 207
Monserrat, 70, et seq.
Moraleja Gold-bearing Alluvial
Concession, The, 33G
Muleteers, 161, ct seq.
Murcia, 83, it seq.
Murcians, The, 92
iMurillo, Bartolome Esteban, 152. 167,
Murviedro (Sanguntum), 77
Nava Cerrada, 113
Newspapers in Madrid, 38
Northern Spain, In, 195, ct seq.
Nuevalos, 218
Officialism in Spain, 6, 160
Ordofio I., 210
Ordono II., 211
Orense, 204
Orense and the Tin Industry, 294
Oriedo, 20S
Oviedo, 196
Pdlncio Real (Madrid). 14
Piintano dc Tibi, 85
Paramo Alluvial Gold Fields, 305, 335
Pasajes de San Juan, 183
Pasco lie Giiicia, 64
Pelota. 183
Philip II., 2, 43
Philip the Fifth. 112
Phu?nicians in Galicia, 199
Phci^nician Miners in Spain, 270
Picture Gallery, The (Madrid), 30,
24 1, «7. 5,7.
Pontevedra, 203
Pontevedra Tin Mines, The, 333
Posting, 161. et seq
Piuhero, 37
Piiente del Diablo, 114
Piurta del Sol, 22, ct seq.
Rafael Contreras, 128
Ramon of Burgundy, 115
Railway Travelling, 157, el seq.
Rambla. The, 63
Recompensa Copper Mines, 318
Rio Rimal Copper Mines, 326. et seq.
Rio Tinto Mines, 2S8. */ seq
Roman Conquest of Spain. 277, 279.
et seq.
Roman Gold-washing Operations, 300
Ronda, 175. et seq.
Roque Parcia. 91
Royal Palace (Madrid), a
Sagasta. 264
St. Ferdinand. 93, 94
St. James the Apostle, 203
St. Lawrence, 44
Salamanca, 209. 213
Sanguntum (Murviedro), 77
San Isidro del Campo. Festival of. 41
San Sebastian. 1S5
Santa Lucia. 91
Santa Maria Silver-lead Mines. 299.
338
Santiago. 200, et seq.
Segovia, 113, et seq.
Serena, El. 203
Seville. 141. el seq.
Sevillians, The, 142
Sierra Nevada, 103
Silver-lead Minim; in Spain, 297, ft
s.q.
Silver Mines of Spain. The, i^jd
Singing in Spain, (n)
Slaves as Miners, 271, 27-)
Index.
Soko. El, 96
Somorrosto Range, 193
Southern Andalusia, In, 164, ct seq.
Spain (Her Position To-day), 8
Spain's Mineral Resources, 283
Spaniards as Miners, 312
Spaniards, The, 6, et seq.
Spanish-American War, 6, 56
Spanish Courtesy, 59
Spanish Mining, 271, et seq.
Spanish Mining Regulations, 319
Spanish Tin Corporation's Mines,
The, 333
Spanish Pride, 3
Spanish Provincialism, 53
Spanish Wines, 75
Sport, 38, 183
Tagus, The, loi
Tarragona, 73
Temperance Question, The, 25
Tharsis Mines, 291
Theatres, 40
Theodimah, 84
Theophile Gautier, 105, 127
Tin Mines of Spain, The, 295
Toledo, 95, et seq.
Toledo, Juan Bautista de, 43
Tortosa, 76
Trading Spirit, The, 54
Truimfo Mine, The, 297
Valencia, 81, et seq.
Velo, The, 21
Ventura Rodriguex, 218
Velasquez, 242
Vigo, 204
Webster, Rev. Wentworth, 2
Wormann, 98
Zahira, 107
Zaragoza, 217, et seq.
Granada.
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