The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-02-04
CHATEAUX EN- ESPAGNE
A GLIMPSE OF PALOS, THE PLACE
WHENCE COLUMBUS SAILED.
Cadiz a City of Surprises-A study I'm
Blue and white-FOunded Centu-
ries Before Christ Was Born.
correspondence Of the indianapolis Journal


ing the Spanish tour in the straight and
narrow way of the orthodox guide-book,
but according to the vagrant fancies of
our own sweet will as to routes and de-
tails. On the principle that one does not
travel far to find familiar things, We ig-
nored the comfortable but commonplace
steamers of England and Germany, and
took passage at Lisbon on the little Por-
tuguese coaster, whose jabbering ofstrange
tongues, unguessable menu and piratical
looking crew-each swarthy villain with a
knife stuck in his belt, la opera bouffe-
promised plenty of "the spice of life"
Thus we sailed down the Tagus and out
to sea, hugging the coast all the way down
the peninsula, in full view of the dark
Sierra do Caldeirao, but stopping nowhere
till after the sharp corner of Cabo do Sac
Vicente was rounded; thence due east,
along the province of Algarve, calling at
many small ports to take on wine, fish.
oil, olives and other articles of Portuguese
and Spanish trade. From Lagos, near the
cape, to the Guadiana river-which forms
the boundary line between Spain and Por-
tugal, narrow gauge railway follows the
shore. connecting the coast villages like
the beads on a rosary. We religiousy
went ashore at each port of call, although
there is little in them to tempt the trav-
eler. All present the same general fea-
lures; sandy beach. fronted with ware
houses, lighters and fishing craft; one or
two struggling streets, lined with
whitewashed, tile-roofed casas; greedy
customs officials and understood, wasp
wasted military attaches, brave in
buff blue and green; comfortable
looking padres, under shovel-shaped
chapeaux, and half-naked urchins with
wonderfully brilliant eyes; brawny fish
er women, in blue kirtles and huge felt
hats, with bare feet and legs, AMI enormous
golden hoops in their ears; Sontcnted beg
gars. lounging in the sun, who put on a
piteous expression while whining their ap-
peals, Amor senior de Santissma Vergin,"
but take rebuff as cheerfully as reward
| and call on the saints to bless you all the
same. AS everywhere else in Portugal, the
| omnipresent lottery ticket vender is abroad
in the land, no hamlet beng SO poverty
stricken that ii has not scores of them,
males and females, selling halves, quar-
tiers, even eighths of tickets, and finding
ready purchasers. Indeed, the poorer the
people, the more anxious they seem TO buy.
for is not the time-honored saying true,
tomorrow the wheel goes round?" Who
knows but some twirl of Fortunes finger
Will place the grand prize in the hand of
springs eternal In the human breast"
therefore, everybody invests from the
padre. under his shovel hat, to the cheer
full beggar lolling in the sun.
PORTUGUESE CHARACTERISTICS
So beautifully hospitable are the Portu-
gese people-particularly those who occupy
that golden mean of station between the
proud but impoverished nobility and the
illiterate peasantry-that the stranger who
is lettering away an hour or two. while his
steamer discharges or takes on cargo, Is
sure OF being invited into somebody's home,
to rest under the shade of the corridor and
refresh himself with a cooling draught of
wine or orangeade. He will be treated with
all the courtesy accorded to an expected
guest, and when he departs there will be
cordial handshakes and fervent commend
lngs to the care of the saints
King Carlos's too-contented subjects noay
De shiftiess and unprogressive but there
Is very much to be said in their favor
Perhaps theirs is the truest philosophv-no
Kicking against the pricks of environment,
out accepting with tranquil happiness
Whatever the gods bestow. Rest is i'm sea
and sky and earth and air-the hoary rest
OF centuries, with peace and modest plen-
"; AT their back doors are mountains and
valleys green the whole year through un-
railing In rich yield of fruit and grain: i'm
mont or them the sea- teeming with food
free for the taking. Scarcely Comprehend.
ing now greater wealth might be desirable,
they wonder why any human being should
worry and strive; and as for him or her
who hurries-Sacre Jesu! there must he
something radically wrong about so nm
reasonable a person. To be sure, an Amer
wit ~
would easily accomplish in half a day more
IMAM gang OF Portuguese farmers can do
in a week, but the former misses alto.
sether the charming picturesqueness of
pastoral lie. During the last thousan nd
| years Portugal has made not a single i'm
provement in any implement or utensil
Ground is still scratched with plows of the
hrst pattern made by mana sharpened
root or the crotch of a tree-and IL is
| dragged by oxen hitched tandem. in traces
or braided straw. A dozen men women
and children consider themselves indis-
| pensible 10 the filling of each short furrow.
| the BEAM goading the oxen, amid tremen-
dous shouting and excitement, and when a
Few feet OF soil have been thus turned
over all sit down in the shadow of the
| nowery nedge, TO enjoy a well-earned
| siesta. Why should they hurry when sum
| mer never ends. and seed time and harvest
come alike at the will of the planter?
| All American cereals grow with remark
onlc iuAui IdHSS III southern PORTUGAL. They
| are cut with the short, curved sickle. fol-
lowed by the cleaners, as in the DAYS of
Ruth in the field of Boaz. Corn is pulled
mot CUT, the leaves preserved for fodder
| the stalks munched by goats and donkeys
| and the cobs, after Smelling, used for fuel.
| Every farm has its EZRA, or threshing floor
| a circular heap of pumiced stone, rain
| soaked and beaten hard as granite. Upon
| this the wheat and barley are piled and
over them blind-folded cows and oxen are
| driven to anu fro until the treading has
| released the kernels. In the entire PENN
| sula there is no other method of threshing
| grain. The straw is then lifted off the
| EZRA with wooden forks and a rag hoisted
| on a stick to find the direction of the
wind. This ascertained, the women and
| girls range the selves along the windward
| side of the EZRA and toss the grain into the
4 air until the chaff is blown away
| Another Portuguese institution that NAV
| have been borrowed from Moses's time is
! the nora, waterwheel. You see it every
| where along the country roadsides. with
| blndfolded oxen marching round and
| through stone troughs to fill the fountains
| and feed the irrigating bitches.
| FIRST GLIMPSE OF SPAIN.
Late in the afternoon we crossed the
Rubicon of the Guadiana and left old Por.
tugal behind. So it happened that in the
glory of Spanish sunset 1 caught the
| first glimpse of the longed for land OF
my Chateau en- Espagne, cherished since
childhood-the only bit of real estate ever
owned. In cloud pictures against the sun.
| set sky, its shining towers arose com
plete
with battlements high in the hush of the