The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1900-05-10

prove the shining hour of waiting
with the everpresent and always
consoliDg guitar, impromptuoles and
fandangoes accompanying the music.
Beggars and cripples are out in
force wrapped in their ragged, snuff
colored cloaks, and lottery ticket
venders, too, as no Spanish scene is
complete without them. Priests un-
der shovel hats and monks in cowls
and hempen girdles pass to and fro,
and now and then some rural knight
comes galloping in, his servant fol
lowing close behind-for all the world
like "the country gentleman, Don
Quixote' and his faithful Sancho
Panza, from La Mancha, which lies
just beyond the nearest range of
hills. Particularly noticeable as part
of the varied panorama, are com
panies of young priests and students
from the converts, with their flowing
back gowns and broad brimmed
silken block hats turned up az both
sides like a sugarscoop. Some of the
students are intent upon their les
sons, coming them aloud, even in
the streets, others assuming blase,
man-of- the world airs, smoking their
cigarettes and chucking pretty
peasant girls under the chin.
Not least among the sights of Cor
dova are the time mellowed walls
that surround it-a curious combina-
tion of Gothic and Roman stone work,
patched upon the Tapia, or indistruc-
tible cement, of the Moors. The
walls enclose the same area now as
in the day of the city's greatest pros
perity, so that the abodes of less than
10000 people straggle over space that
once accommodated million. The va
cant spots thus left are either encum-
bered with ruins, or are laid out in
gardens, in which fruits and flowers
of the tropics flourish unprotected in
the open air, beside productions of
the temperate zone-apples, peaches,
pears, corn and potatoes coming to
perfection, as well as oranges, figs
and bananas.
But the royal palms are the special
glory of Cordova. Set thickly in the
gardens and plazas, Haunting their
green plumes far above the house
tops, they are the first objects that
attract the approaching travellers at
tention, and the last that he sees
when taking backward look on his
departing journey; and next to the
wonderful Mosque, they linger long
est and most pleasantly in his mem
ory. 1t is said that all the palms in
Spain are descended from one which
Prince Abd-ur-rahman |. brought
with him from the banks of the
Euphrates and planted in the garden
Of his Cordovan palace. The gentle
Arabian composed d sadly-sweet
poem to that palm-like himself an
eXile-which is yet sung and recited
in Spain, akin to that other homesick
wall, LA Galondrona, of Mexico.
Cordova is indebted to the Arabs
for the fine acQueduct that brings
pure, cold mountain water across a
deep valley to hundred public
fountains. These reservoirs are also
excellent places for observing pecu-
liar phases of folk life; and so are the
the plaZas, where the entire popula-
tion may be seen at least once every
day-the poorer classes lounging and
sleeping through then oontide heat,
the aristocrats in their rickety
coaches and laudaus at the fashion
able sunset hour. The "Pase del
Gran Capita''-so named in honor of
Gonsalvo de Cordoba, one of Ferdi-
nand's doughty knights in the siege of
Granada-is the principal promenade
of the city. During the day it is
quite deserted, except for sleeping
beggars, it's double rows of orange
trees and japanese medlars turning
up their dry leaves white with dust.
At night the scene changes as com
pletely as on the Pardro at Habana.
Bands play, innumerable gas jets
twinkle amid the shubbery, the air
is delightfully."- cool, and the blue
dome of heaven hangs its lustrous
star-lamps over all. The few noble
families who keep up a ghostly show
of antiquated state, drive pompously
to and fro, while plemian jewellers
swarm the promenade or seated at
little tables, sip horchates de chufa.
or dulce de aZahas-sweet meats
made of orange flowers and water,
essentially Cordovese in character.
Much more beautiful is the shady
Alemeda, with gardens on either side,
where the cool plash of water from
innumerable fountains mingles with
the music, and the air is heavy with
the fragrance of orange blossoms, ole
anders and roses de la Victoria, ex-
tending to the distant railway station:
and the Rivera, along the river bank
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