New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1852-12-29


Bokerss Calayao,
SEVILLE, Spain, Nov. 10, 1862.
/ left Gibraltar on the evening of the 6th in
the steamer Iberia. The passage to Cadiz was
made i'm nine hours, and we came TO anchor in
the harbor before day-break. twas cheerful
picture that the rising sun presented to us.
The long white front of the city, facing the East,
gl0wed with bright rosy lustre, on ground of
the clearest blue. The tongue of land on which
Cadiz stands is low, but the houses are lifted by
the heavy sea.wal which encompasses them
The main land consists of range of low but
graceful hills, while in the southeast the noun
tains of Ronda rise at some distance. went
Immediately on shore, where my carpet-bag was
seized upon by boy, with the rich brown COM
plexion Of one of MurillOs beggars, who trudged
of with it to the gate, After some little deten-
ton there, was conducted to a long, deserted,
barn-like building, where waited half an hour
before the proper officer came. When the latter
had taken his private toll of my contraoaIii
cigars, the brown imp conducted me to BlancG's
English Hotel, q neat and comfortable house on
the Alameda.
Cadz is soon SEEM Notwithstanding its ven-
cradle age of three thousand years-having been
foundedby Hercules, who figures on its coat. of
arms-it is purely a commercial city, and has
neither antiquities, nor historic associations that
interest any but Englishmen. 1t is compactly
built, and covers q smaller space than accOrds
with my ideas of its former splendOr. | first
walked around the searamparts, enjoying the
glorious lOOk-Off over the blue waters The city
is almost insulated, the triple line of fortifca-
tons on the land side being of but trihing length
A rocky ledge stretches out into the sea from
the northern point, and at its extremity rises
the massive lighthouse tower, 10 feet high
The walls toward the sea were covered with
companies of idle anglers, fishing with cane rods
Of enormous length. On the open, waste
spaces between the bastiOns, boys had spread
their lined cords to catch singing BIRDS with
chirping decoys placedhere and there in wicker
cages Numbers of bOatmen and peasants, in
their brown jackets, studded with tags and bu.
giles, and those round black caps which look
smashed bandboxes, lOitered about the walls
or louneed on the grass in the sun.
Except along the Alameda which fronts the
bay, the exterior of the city has an aspect of
neglect and desertion. The interior, however,
atones for this in the gay and lively air of its
streets, which, though narrow, are regular and
charminely clean. The small plazas are neat
ness itself, and one is too content with this TO
ask for striking architectural effects The hou.
ses are tail and stately, of the most dazzling
whiteness, and though you could point out no
one as a pattern Of style, the general effect is
chaste aud harmonious. In fact, there are two
or three streets which you might almost pro-
nounce fauitless The numbers of hanging bal
ponies and Of court-yards paved with marble
and ,;s,rrounded with elecant corridors, show the
influence o., Moorish taste There i not a
mean-lookin0 .ouse TO be seen, and have no
ooubt that Cadiz is the best built city Of its size
in the world. IL lies, white as new-tallen snow,
like cluster of ivory palaces, between sea and
sky. Blue and silver are its colors and rs eve
rybody knows, there can be no more charming
contrast.
l visited both the old aud new Cathedrals,
neither of which is particularly interesting. The
latter is unfinished, and might have been fine
edifce had the labor and money expended on
It's construction been directed by taste. The
interior, rich rs il is in marbles and sculpture,
has heavy, confused effect. The pillars divid-
ing the nave from the side-asles are enormous
composite masses, each one consisting OF six
Corlnthian columns, stuck around aud against a
central shaft. More satisfactory To me was the
Opga-House, which visited in the evening,
and where thedazzling array of dark-eyed Gadi-
tanas pat astop TO architectural criticism The
women Of Cadiz are noted for their beauty and
their graceful gait. Some Of them are very
beautiful, il is true, but Beauty is not the rule
among them. Their gait, however, is the most
graceful possible, because it is perfectly free
and natural. The commonest serving maid
who walks tho streets Of Cadz would put TO
shame whole score of our mincing aud wrig-
Cling bellies.
Honest old Blanco prepared ME cup Of
chocolate by sunrise next morning, and accom-
panied me down to the quay, 10 embark For
Seville. A furious wind was blowing from the
southeast and the large green waves raced and
chased one another necessarily over the surface
of the Bay. l took heavy craft, which the
boatmen pushed along under cover Of the pier,
until they reached the end, when the sail was
dropped in the face Of the wind, and away we
shot into the watery tumult. The boat rocked
and bounced over the agirated surface, running
with one gunwale on the waves, and sheets OF