The Press., 1896-02-27
Number 48.
EUROPEAN LETTER.

ne one great charm Of travel in Spain is the absence of fellow tourists. The Nectar of romance and adventure" has not all been drained by curious Ameicans and discontented English, and one finds the people as musical, pictm esque and unclean as could be wished. The local color and life have withstood the compar- atively little invasion of travel, and though Granada with it's incomparable Alhambra has been the goal of more cu- riOsity and sight seeing than other Span ish cities, it retains many of its purely characteristic and delightful features. One of these is the gipsy camp in the out skirts of the city. Cervantes alone de- scriDes these people as, "Just as God made them and oftentimes worse" Edu- cation has never laid her rule or feruleI on them honesty and morality have pass ed them in despair, and if the proverb' affirming the proximity of cleanliness and godliness is true the gipsies are 'way off. It has been enough for them that they live and they have never asked those enig. nautical questions whence, why and whith- CT. Their houses are caves and we were allowed to go through one. The first choicest one the abode of the pigs. There were many of these compartments about the size of a steamer state room, and as one groped his way by the aid of a smal candle into the depths of the hill, the smell became painfully prominent. The pigs, though like the gipsies, were con. tented and the fact of being kept in tho parlOr or spare room added no arrogance to their amiable manners. Evidences O. certain luxurious tastes were to be seer in the cave, such as piece of carpet be fore each bed on the earth floor, and d stovepipe running up from the kitchen fire place. Indeed artistic taste was also manifest, for hanging over the bed in one of the rooms was highly colored adver- tisement of a German beer.
 When we left the cave we were told that we could see the real and genuine gipsy dance for the modest sum of seven dollars, but we declined. Our interpre- ters, after a consultation with the gipsies, told us that our economy would be re- spected and the dance given for five dol lars. As we drove respectfully away we were again informed that though it was a great sacrifice and altogether unparalled ill the annals of history, we might see it for three dollars. We accepted this propO- sition though it developed that we really paid four dollars, the last one being in redemption of a counterfeit dollar that had been substituted for the good one we had given. The coin was probably q product of gipsy ingenuity and so far as l know, the transaction may be one of their established ways of making an hon. ast dollar. so to speak. The dance, how ever, was quite worth the experience. Accompanied by our two guides and two policemen who, it was explained were necessary for our safety, and who only added to our general feeling of insecurity, we went up dark alley, darker flight of steps and into tiny room where the orchestra and dancers were assembled. The orchestra consisted of three men who played the guitar, mandOlinr, and tam bourine. The dancers were four ugly women and one pretty one, all gorgeously arrayed in bright calicOes and with arti- ticial flowers in their coarse dark hair. The services opened with a frightful song that nearly deafened the audience, which on account of the size of the room was within two feet of the singers. Then the women danced together-an active, spir- ited dance, such as Kiralfy labOrs in vain to get. This was followed by ddhl%e du Uentre. There were several graceful fig ures danced by the women and then one, | La Hata," by the tambOurine player and, the pretty girl, which was quite the pret- tiest of all, and would compare faVOrably with the best dances on the American stage. During the dance 1 wondered that some enterprising American had not i'm ported them all to America and made his fortune by putting them on the stage l One does not find such abandon, anima tion and natural grace in the dancers who learn on chalked squares while they count one, two, three,. one, twO,. three. The pretty woman had a fouI months old baby in the room and the little creature act ually waved it's arms when the mother danced as though already interested il it's future employment. The father haC been sent as a soldier to Cuba, the moth CT cheerfully explained, and the cares O maternity and widowhOCd sat lightly Ol her mind. It was only another illustra tion that women don't always weep while their husbands war, and her devotion tC the tambOurine player led me to think she might be preparing for the future 't the worst should come to the wOrst' il Cuba.
 We escaped flom this place with Oul lives, and we were not robbed; the latter because we decided to give them all w( had and save them the cxertiOn of taking 1t. As we drove away l looked among the children for some of those that com mon report says the gipsies steal but saw none, and judging by the number thai had been sent in the natural and approved way to the camp, l see no reason fol thinking that the gipsies find it difficult to resist the temptation of stealing others I should be glad to think they experienced the same lack of temptation about more portable and desirable articles. With al their depravity though they are an inter esting and picturesque people.