The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-05-09
Character of Spanish Scenery.

| spain Is nOI DoauGlful country. Ii
a traveller expects to find the soft charm
and luxuriant loYeliness of Italy, life in
Spain will be constant disappoint-
ment; no hope can possibly be more
misplaced. Spain is not the least like
Italy f; it has not even the beauty of the
greater part of France. Beyond the
Asturies and the valleys near the
Pyrenees, there is not a tree worth
speaking of IN the Peninsula. There is
scarcely any grass the shrubs may even
be counted; except when the corn is out.
which here lasts such short time. there
is hardly any vegetation at all. Those
| who wish to find beauty must only look
for beauty of an especial kind-without
! verdure, or refinement, or color. But
the artist will be satisfied without these.
and will exult in the long lines. in the
unbroken expanses of the stony, treeless.
desolate sierras, while every crevice of
| the distant hills is distinctly visible in
| the transparent atmosphere, and the
shadows of the clouds. fall blue upon
the pale yellow of the tawny desert. In
| the central provinces, hundreds and
| hundreds of miles may be traversed, and
no single feature of striking natural
| beauty be met with nothing more than
| the picturesque effects which NAV al
ways be obtained by the groups of cattle,
gathered around the fountains BY the
dusty wayside, or standing out as if en-
bossed against the pale distance, or by
the long trains of mules with their
| drivers in brigand-like costume and
flowing mantas bearing merchandise
from one town to another. On these
plains, too, there is a silence which is
almost CHASTITY, for there are no singing
birds, scarcely even any insects. Such
is the character of almost all the country
now traversed by the principal railways,
which was formerly toiled through in
diligence or on mule-back But even
here, Just when the spirits begin to flag,
and the wearied eye longs to refresh |
itself, the travler reaches one of the |
grand old cities which seem to have |
gone to sleep for 500 years, and to have |
scarcely walked up again, when you step |
at once out of the reign of Amadeo or |
Isabella III. into that of Philip II, and |
find the buildings, the costumes, the |
proverbs, the habits, the daily life, those |
of his time. You wonder what Spain !
has been doing since, and the answer is
quite plain-nothing. It has not the
slightest wish to do any thing more it
is quite satisfied. The Catholic sove-
reigns, Ferdinand and Isabella, made a
great nation of it, and filed it with
glorious works. Since then it has had, |
well-reverses, but it has changed as
little as ever it could. It has delighted |
in its conservatism in every thing, down
to the sleepy wickedness of its Bourbon
sovereigns. We said to many a Spaniard
who lamented over the absence of Isa-
bella, 'Oh, but she was so dreadfully
oh u hn I
with a look of much sympathy for the
exile, "she had, indeed, all the dear
old Spanish vices
Catching Reindeer.
In many bleak, northern regions
these animals are the sole support of
the people. When liberated from the
harness they go directly i'll pursuit of
food-a peculiar species of nutritious
moss, which their instinct enables them
to find deeply covered with snow. Some
times as many as one hundred go out
foraging, there being nothing provided
for them by their exacting masters. |
Like camels under similar circumstan-
ces, when unladen, they stroll off miles
in different directions. When they are
wanted again, their sealskin-clad dri-
vers get behind them in several direc-
U1OIIos ttLIN Df 1dllOOlIlSs b11ION1uSS oLlO"- | 4
balls, and making considerable uprOar,
the deer are gradually driven into a
smaller circle. The herd is then encir-
cled by slender cord, the men draw
ing in nearer, till it strikes their long
legs. They neither try to leap over nor
break it, but huddle up as close as pos
sible.
Finally the two ends meet, held by
one person, while the others enter under
the line and select the animals they
want, seizing them by their horns
bringing them outside, and tying them
to something strong enough to hold ,
them till harnessed to the sledge. The
remainder again scatter in pursuit of
moss.
Strong, tall and fleet though the rein
deer are, able, with a sweep of their ,
antlers, to NOW down score of sturdy I
Northmen, they cover at the voice of
man. Their masters are rude, harsh
and unkind toward them. Under no /
of oppression or hardship /
do they evince the slightest resentment.
They are so timid that the sound of
their drivers voice sets them to running :
at such speed that they will die before
halting, if the drivers continue to urge
them.
Roman London.