The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1892-02-19

Tapgicr-Wcird Night Experiences ~
the Ancient Moorish City.
lCopyright. isSs. BY Edgar l.. Wakcman.l
TAsGrER, Jan. u.-At Tavira we had no
difficulty in securing passage in A stanch
coasting steamer plying between Lisbon
and Cadiz. After a day in the latter, once
the emporium OF the world and still the
most winsome and beautiful city Of Spa'n'
we sailed on A smaller vessel, little better
than a fcrryboat. for the African coast
touching for an hour It Tarifa, the sou0n
ernmost city Of Continental Europe. 0"'
fifteen miles southwest o. Gibraltar.
In an hours time ou have come abreast
of Cane Trafalgar. Your steamers course
Ia through the very waters where Nelson
won his immortal victory over the combined
fleets OF Gravina and Villeneuye. All 'he
mighty paintings you have seen, All the
majestic monuments 20 Nelson underneath
ubosa shadows YOU have stood, all the
thrilling prose and verse you have read
mon th}s inspiring theme. fill and thrill
vour mind and heart, until the air is
d;nmed with smoke. the hOarse bellowings
of cannon deafen You. the sheets OF flame
from lUD-l lNAU NU4lA NA'FAt ~ -"''V
blind Won. the shrieks Of wounded and dy-
ing and the crashing OF masts add to the
coniured horror-all for an instant. maybe;
but no poet or painter has ever brought 10
glory and sayagery to your comprehension
so matchlessly as your own brief presence
there.
And now Tarifa is r~eached-Tarifa, cele-
brated of all cities Of the Latin race for the
fatal beauty Of its women; Tarifa, where
the besieging Moors put TO death the son
of Don Alfonso before his eyes in an at
tempt TO effect the city's surrender; where
mighty battles between the kings Of Cas-
tile and Spain against the MOors were
fought beneath its walls; where once 1905
Roman sons came and took TO themselves
their pick of Spanish women; where the
Berbers first met the dispirited armies OF
Roderick, last of the ~GOths-Tarifa, with
its scores of towers and gates, labyrlnthlne
streets. balconies hidden behind masses Of
flowers, and its half Spanish, half Moorish
scenes and life which taunt and tempt ray
ishingly to d~allying and delay.
From this point, rs your course is set to
the southwest for Tangier almost straight
across the Strait Of Gibraltar, the scene on
every hand is one Of matchless beauty and
grandeur. Back 10 the northwest stretches
the Spanish coast line 10 Trafalgar, low ly
ing along the sea, but with "A background
of undulating foothills, breaking into deep
gorges and capped by lofty s%ierras, the
whole checkered by vineyards and dotted
with cities and hamlets, In the distance as
white as fakes of snow. Back across the
waters 10 the northeast looms gray ola
Gibraltar, a line of fishing villages, ar
seuals. Quays and moles at it's base like a
slender ribbon of foam, its thousands OF
threatening cannon above, hidden and sum
mited by terraces bright and vines and
gardens fair.
Before you is Africa, warm and glowing
beneath a midwinter sun. Away TO the
southeast is the shadowy peak OF Apes
hill. at whose base Ceuta lies. A grand
and diversified coast stretches westward,
past as yet invisible Tangier, TO Cape
Spartel, the northwesternmost point IN
Africa. Portions Of the coast are grandly
precipitous. Again great forests sweep
from noble heights into slumbrous valleys
which undulate softly TO the sea. The
lights and shades are strange. The green
of the middle strait blends into a rosy puce
toward land, this into a brilliant blue far
Their on, and the coast line at the waters
edge seems like a thread of lustrous onyx.
Above this, brown, then purple, then en-
erald, and beyond there is a glowing of
faint orange. as though the valleys palpa-
bly aung back the sunlight which fingered
lovingly above.
Feasting with eager and selfish delight
upon the glorious shores OF two continents,
i had lost sight Of honest DObrado; DObra-
do. who was TO have returned TO his place
by the babbling fountains of Lisbon, from
Beja, should | persist in tramping thence
TO Tavira and the sea; Dobrado, who was
now sworn servitor and friend; Dobrado,
broad of grin as Gargantua, and OF beam
rs Quixote's no less faithful squire; Do
brado, whom | found with lowering eyes
and hideous face, rs rapt as | had been,
scowling with unutterable hate at the fair
land of the Moors. In his attitude, looks,
mutterings and unconscious gesticulations,
increasing every moment in rapidity and
intensity, the whole story of the irrevOcable
vengefHlness Of Christian against M0slem
and Moslem against Christian was told.
touched the Gallegan gently upon the
shoulder, and my eyes sought his inquir-
ingly. He trembled and was woefully con
fused for a moment. Then his great blue
eyes saddened, and he said softly and slow
", as though his heart meanwhile Travelled
a long and bitter way;
There is not a choza CABIN from Fin
isterre TO Palencia in which there does
not hang some fOrefather's gaita or hoz
(sickle) or sword upon the wall, under
which the Gallegan boy Is not daily
brought TO swear vengeance for the mur
ders Of the MoorP'
As | pondered over Dobrados ramatl
action and words | could nos but feel th@t
after all it is a pleasant thing tonve' as we
Americans do. 50 far removed from the
endless mental if not physical clashlngS OF
these awful hereditary religious hatreds OF
the centuries.
But lust now we have rounded cape
Malabar. and Tangier lies before US IKE a
mass of foam churned in the seething tides
of the Gibraltar strait and tossed into
structural sembiance upon the mountain
trimmed shore OF the bay. Soon the mass
Of white resolves itself into s%piatches OF
brilliant white and seams and checkers OF
shade. then into white Gu es of varying dt
mansions. Gradually projecting corners
and heights OF snowy masonry take shape
70 the eve; and then the pale pinks, yell
lows and blues of the painted walls blend
into a rosy whole, broken only by a slender,
square tower, with glistening porcelain
sides. and one huge, ruinous mass 10 which
the city seems 10 lead in giant housetop
sfeps. The one is the tower, from the min
x.h4cb the Wpelam p,upygfp c4l1o