The Lamar register., 1899-06-28
TIE BRAVE BASQUE.
A Proud and uneonquered People Who
Live In III. Mountain. Of sn,,,

Live In the Mountains of spain
In the most northern part Of spain
where the Pyrenees dip into the nav
OF Bisray. Is the country Of the
Bhsqnes. the uneonquered spanIards
These are the people OF whom Caesar
10 his account OF his conquest OF
spain, writes, "a few pretty people
higher up in the mountains, did mo-,
make submission or send hostages .
The Roman poets called these people
ibertans. and pictured them as alnos,
supernatural, whom neither hunger.
heat, cold. nor armies could conuusr
and whose greatest Joy was facing
peril. The Basques OF today bear the
stamp OF this ancient people: IN char
aeter. disposition. language and Gus
toms. they are entirely different from
the spaulaFds south O, them. and In
deed they can be eiaEssd with no other
race 0f the earth. Their earliest an.
oestors were probably the cave dwell
ers of the Alps and PyTenees, whose
bones are found in the cAysrnz of n
mountains. together with the remains
OF those gigantic animals which were
the ancestors OF cur present quadru.
peds Only in this tiny country.
among the mountains have these
sturdy. sthlwart people succeeded In
retaining anything Of their own in
diNiduaiity. II this is their true ori-
gin, their earliest ancestors must have
lived twenty centuries before Christ.
and have been surrounded by a coua-
try different in physical features. and
10 r.aa
have long since ceased 10 exist. Since
those days long ago. their whole force
has been used tn lighting their way In
the world, In trying to preserve their
racial distinction All previous TO the
Roman conquest Of Spain Is. as far
as Basque history is concerned.
blank, Even the Romans found It i'm
possible TO cunsHeT these sons of the
mountains. who. Shcu hard pressed
b. armies. or beslrzed In their forti-
fed towns. dashed themselves from
the highest rocks. and died by their
o~a hands rather than surrender. Al
length Caesar. with great wisdom.
made them his allies. since they would
not become Bis slaves. As followers
OF his army thsy left their mountain
homes and often the tide OF battle. and.
Indeed. the trend Of history has been
turned by their boldusSs and courage.
a ieS centuries later, II Was the
HaAquss who fell upon the army of
ChAriersssRc and brought death and
dtsastsr 10 the cause Of the Franks
Bus no sooner had they established
their eislm 10 liberty With thelr north
cru nsishbors than they we're met By
the sarseens. who had crossed into
SpzIa from Africa. In overcoming
ihsse uaaurpeFs. the Basquss took 40
active par, that they were all en-
nnblsd. and now there Is bat one class
smons the Basqnes. to be a Basque Is
70 belong to the nobility. when the
late queen. Isabella. came to the
throne, the Basqges sent 20 her the fol-
lowing message Sonora. IN little
corner Of your Kingdom Is a people
gcw. living In a poor and rugged re-
Elaa: we will bs loyal to you. IL you
Ntll, as 4e beg you 10 do. respect our
fusros tpAFiiamentaJ aud the freedom
which has never been impaired"
The Basque language Is unlike any
European tongue and is, in fact, al
most unique. for IL can scarcely be
eiassed with any other Language nor Is
any other allied to Il It is highly in
aected. each word and even each letter
OF The alphabet being capable TO
change to express many different ideas.
Students OF the Basque language tell
Us that although 1t Ia hardest Of
tongues TO learn, II is the richest Of
languages. Until the fifteenth century
there WAS no written Basque SO, Of
course. the literature Is quite unim-
portant. This is a matter of much
regret for had this people written ira
diEIous OF the far away centuries they
might throw much light upon those
early days. There are three Basque
provinces, Blscay tVlEcaya), GuipriE-
Goa. and Alva Each province has It's
parliament. chosen by its own people.
and there Is also a parliament OF the
three. which decides the general policy
of the people and deals with the Span
lsh government
In the mountains there are rich
mines OF iron. lead and zinc and the
valleys are sufficiently fertile to yield
grain of various kinds. Along the sea
coast the fisheries are extensive.