The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-07-09

continue a. series of marvellous evolution,
from one angle to the other for so long {
time as to tire out the musician who perform.
the accompaniment. If he succeed. with q
bound he seizes the sticks, and his triumph
is complete A Basque proverb saws. "a
good jumper may often be found under bad
cloak, meaning that poor dress may cover
a noble heart.
The honor of executing the first mutchico
trom mutchlco, boys, or young men) after
one of the pastoral representations of which
the Basques are passionately fond, is put uu
to auction, and is so hotly competed for by
the young men of different parishes, that the
successful commune has frequently to pay a
hundred and fifty or two hundred francs.
Inc privilege of dancing the second, aud then
the third, is also sold to the highest bidders.
the sum released going far towards defravine
the expenses of the temporary theatre. which
is opened gratis to the spectators Monv
OF the pastorals are of sacred character.
and are drawn from the Bible or the lives of
sa,n, g others turn upon the struggle between
IL - -. and the cross or upon the death
0 .S u ~ 20 dresses needed for these
o. .o'Su e.,tt.;ona ne oa. -nthing; they are OBJ
representations coSu L. chests of avarz
tained by ransaoking the 10 noicbho.y Icy
chateau or bourgeois house IN IL e, -
hood, the owner being bound by cue:Hn w
lend for the purpose whatever no may cnencs
TO possess of beautiful or antiques; should ne
refuse. some means woui;a. doubtless pc founa
of making him smart for his churlish-
ness. Under these circumstances dra-
matte accuracy of costume is not to be
expected; but the savagery OF the Mussulmau
princes is duly suggested by their blood-red
garments, their head dresses of cylindrical
shape, adorned with plumes and little look
ing-glasses, and their large, clumsy boots,
Not many years ago another and more ques-
tionable, kind of .pastoral-now dis
couraged by the police-was in vogue.
If matrimonial scandal shocked
q village, instead of being treated
to the trough music" common still in some
parts of England, the offending husband or
wife was caricatured upon the stage. A poet
was sent for (and every Basque is more or
less of rhymester), to whom every attainable
detail was related, and whose business it then
was to compose kind of sarcastic drama for
the occasion, and as the identity of the
offender was made clear by the actor who
personated him mimicking, as exactly as he
could, his dress, voice, aud manner, the un-
lucky spouse who had drawn upon himself or
herself this stinging punishment might we'll
, vow amendment for the future.
Mock courts of justice used also to be
held, for the purpose of putting down
social vices, and testing the eloquence of
the young men. A grand procession, with
music, dancers, etc, inaugurated the day.
The actors representing the persons CON
along in carriage, preceded by an usher,
mounted on donkey-back, with his face
tailward, and surrounded by harlequins
and policineli. Arrived at the court, the
prisoner was accused and defended at
great length by two advocates solemn
messages were despatched to the Senate,
the Minister'S, and even the King, en-
treating advice, At length the case was
deelded; the accused was convicted, and
! sentenced to death; he escaped, but was hero
ically recaptured, and the sentence was on the
point of execution, when a courier was beheld
arriving in breathless haste, who proves to be
the bearer of royal pardon. This usually
terminated the proceedings, and judge and
advocates were wont to give place to the mu-
sicians, and to wind up the evening with a
dance.
Women and girls do not, as a rule, take
part in the acting of these pastorals,
though in private houses they also some
times dance the mutchico; but they are
by no means behind their husbands and
brothers in energy and fine health. They
take their full share in the labors of the
field, and it is q saying among the Spanish
Basques that the country is never better cul-
tivated than when, all the men being gone to
the wars it is left to the sole management of
the women. Their strength being thus de-
veloped, their children come into the world
with the greatest ease, and more than one
baby passed its first day of life in the
shade of the tree beneath which it first saw
the light, while its mother
resumed her work. In general
however, weeks rest is allowed; but the
old and strange custom of ia couvade" does
not even now seem wholly abandoned in tn
more remote districts. This custom consists
in the mother of a newborn child giving uI
her place to its father, who remains in bee
with the infant for period varying from {
few hours to four days, during which time he
feasts with his friends, while the wife cook
and waits upon the party. 1t is a moot poin
among the curious how this extraordinary
custom originated.
The first striking popularity in the Basque
succession law is the rigid rule of primogeni
ture, applied "without distinction of sex OF
person noble or not), of property, movable
or fixed private or common (between mar
red couple), in direct and collateral line, tC
relatives of all degrees, and to their descend
ants and representatives forever" Should
the heir consent to the alienation of property
under pressing need, the liberty to redeem
it remains with him and his successors, il
Soule during forty years, in Labourt IL
perpetuity and in old times, if a stranger
acquired fixed property among the French
Basques, every purse was opened to assis
in effacing, by means of this right, what was
regarded as national disgrace. The future
of the eldest of the family thus secured, the
younger children are almost without rights
and they are considered in the light of borr
servitors. or, as they used to be called, slaves
though, according to Bella, emancipation i
possible at five-and-twenty In the valley O
RareOeS thew take no mart in the municiDa