New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-03-20

ties the river is ditched and canalled as to form
artificial borders on which more washing boards may
be laid and more laundresses practice that peculiar
attitude which has no single English word COM
petent to describe it, The soil is trOdden INTO mud,
the turbid water flows sluggshly between the end
less lines of its tormentOrs Day after day the same
sceBe presents itself to whoever ventures outside the
cty till the tired traveller begins to wish the Maui
zanares might in fact run itself out of water and till
tine romance which may have hung about the name
in his memory vanishes utterly and forever The
disenchantment may be the first. but it will not be
the last he will have to endure he extends his tour
through country where at every moment the e1-
tremes of beauty and uglness of poetry and prose-
of exquisite charm and hopeless disgust are sure to
be met.
Spain has long been famed for her robbers. She
deserved the fame and deserves it still The traveller
will be told that the robbers exterminated buG
they are not; they have only changed their method
Formerly they attacked the tourist the road high
ways and Tiied his pockets by force. This was in
convenient, uncertain ard sometimes dangerous;
they have accordingly abandoned IT. and adopted
the profession of nnkeepeTs which less exposed TO
the hostility Of the law and offers far greater faci-
ties for plpnder. He who has Travelled much in Eu-
rope is familiar with many forms of extorton, vary
ing in different countries. In Spain he will find
them al employed in single hotel, and he will no
more expect TO escape being robbed by landlords than
to escape being bitten by feas The double luxury
NAV ,lways be enjoyed under the same roof Nor is
thegenius of the Spanish landlord bounded by the
nsrrow limits of single continent alone of all Euro
pean countries Spain combines the two systems of ho-
telkeeping known as the European and American. In
America you pay fixed sum, which includes every
thing but wine. In Europe you pay fixed sum for
room and are then charged for service candles meals
and whatever else they can think of. In Spain the
cautious traveller first agrees to pay fixed sum to
inclade everything on the American system, and Is
tLen charged for all the extras of the ordinary
European hotel bill. If he resist. part will be
taken off, but continual resistance to petty swindles
though conscientious persons incucate it as a duty
to those who come after them embitters the enjoy
ment Of travel to such eXteBt that seems better
to pay for peace though the landlord does not charge
for it under that name. Nor will any economy make
Spain cheap country to travel in. Still less can
comforts be procured which do not exist. The re-
mark of Gauter is as true to-day as it in 1S4O
In other countries you are 1eeced, but you have
what you pay for; in Spain you pay for the want of
everything its weight in gold The hotels of Madrid
have long been famous for their badness and dear
ness they continue TO deserve their reputation. !
spent some weeks in the one now considered the
best 1t is Clearly and the service good, but nothing
less than stomach Of cast iron can resist the in
roads of its cooking Bad that is, it the best
found in Spain, with one exception. The at
tempt to graft the national dishes on French
cuisine is a dreadful failure. II this RevOlu-
luton had an able at its head his first act would
be to abolish the pipkin out of Spain, the utensil
which Spanards call the puchero and then call the
product Of il by the same name. Once there was an
outcry against garlic l suppose just enc, but
pviv,.
of knowing for the protest of invading travellers has
banished the garlic from every dish offered 10 for
eigner. Doubtless the Spaniards continue TO con-
sumo it in secret as the chiefs of the Chrstianized
tribes of Africa stil keep smoked missionary hung in
their private Iarders for the pleasure of trusted gour
mands of their acquaintance. Would they row
Danish the puehero there might be hope for freedom
in Spain. 1t appears on every table public and |
private rich and poor, driving the fish ont of ITS
proper place in succession to the soup, which tGelfis
Spanish and greasy Surprised by the substitute,
supposng you ale to have no fish, and doubtful |
whether any other dish may follow you rashlg attack
the puchero which you perceive to be Kind of stew,
and a stew you rightly consider, may be very good
thing May be anywhere but in Spain but in Spain |
never Tough meat and vegetable bullets under the |
name Of garbanzas without flavor and generally
ialf cooked, will be the penalty of your
rashress Other dishes are not much better.
Th,fsh will come. but il will not De fresh. Meats
viii be loose grained and tasteless Theoil in your
said has the favor Of pitch, which has already re-
neled You from the decanter. The old story is told
va how the wine is good in itself, bu the custom
ofhe country is to transport il in pieskins tarred
n, the inside am not sure but they are turned in
sde ont for the greater convenience OF the pitch
;tickng TO tia hristles With practice this mixture
Il drinkabe; the choice IS between tand water, for
the French wines are bad and tbeiT price about twice
what 1t was in war times in New-York
ON the road to Madrid, met suhdry Spaniards
,vbo said. Don't Judge Spain by Madrid. Don't
leaye Spain without seeing Andalusia" OF no city
have ever heard so many hard things said as Of
Madrid. The guide books all give it a bad name,
and if all they say we're to be believed nobody ever
would 20 to Madrid except eompulsion. The
climate is pronounced 'ntolerable and the Madn- {
lenians themselves describe this year as three {
months of Winter and nine months of hell" II {
not merely disaHeeahe, IL IL dangerous. They have
a tyne of pulmona which is fatal in forty-ejght s
lours or less and on or two other malades scarcely
Ies evnedtioua IDeed not enumerate all the scare
coys nor need tley brighten anybody whose busi- Z
e or ,nclinatioi takes him to the Spanish capital
Tbre are few eihesin Europe which have not some
net horror of this kind, and traveller soon learns Ia
go on his wsy regardless of such rumors using I
reasonable precautions about health, and above all
things keeping his mind free from anxeties. since
of all pTedsposng to disease fear is the most
potent. After seven weeks residence In Madrid dr. ,
ing December, January md February, have moth. ,
ing but good to report Of the Winter clroata
Almost every day brouht warm sun and coo, ,
breezes 1t rained but Oce, there was no foo and =,
the contrast with Londa was complete. No nra ,
caution is necessary excet to wear scarf abont ,h
neck in the evening and to cover the month o,S :
nose on first coming into tie night air The spaniord
muffie themselves in cloak whence infer that te1
experience the sensation cold, but Nortboro.,