The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-06-09

| from being the Extreme ora, or eX-
| treme' conquest of Alonzo TX. Tnere
are steppeS in Russia, deserts in ARABIA
| and sandy wastes in Africa which re-
sembe parts of Estramadura; but no.
where else has nature, combined such
widely dissimilar features in so small q
| compass. Watered by two noble
streams-the Tagus and the Guadiana,
both of which any other people would
have rendered navigable for hundreds
of miles-the region became a flourish
ing granery under the Romans and
garden under the Moors. To this day
the gipsies speak of it as chin del
Manro,' the Land of Corn. But with
the passing of the wise and gentle Ara
bians, it went back to the original des-
ert; and bids fair to remain so, though
q ftful activity has been aroused in re-
cent years by pushing two ralldoads
through and opening up the mines OF
Almaden and Cascere9 Including us
several towns and cities, the whole pro-
vince of Estramadura-ono hundred
and ninety miles long by ninety broad
has less than seven hundred thousand
inhabitants and in a long days jour
ney you will hardly meet human crea-
ture. Everything displays the exuber-
ant vigor of the sun, yet the production
of weed and grain seems rather the ca
price of nature than the work OF man.
Lonely pastures and leagues upon
leagues of burning desert are an abso-
lutte preserve for the sportsman. Dan
gerous beasts abound, as well as all
manner of troublesome insects; While
the swampy banks of the Guadiana are
literally swarmed with wild fowl
which, by the way, should be hunted in
winter, if ever, because in summer the
region is infected with fevers and ague,
and mosquitosare unbearable. Besides
numerous birds of prey, enormous
fights of turtle-doves come over from
Barbary to breed and they coo all over
the country, in pairs, models of connu-
bal felicity. These are the same
Gloves of the west" or their direct de-
scendants, which brought ambrosia to
Jupiter, according to classical history,
and then retired to Africa to visit the
Temple Of Venus. How can any man
with spark of poetry in his soul shoot
one of these harmless pigeons? But
they do-especially Englishmen and
Americans. They come over here on
purpose and spend months in the So
called sport, enduring all manner of
hardships for the mere pleasure or
Strengthening the innocents.
1t is hard TO understand how such
territory has been allowed to relapse
into it's primeval condition. The causes
are many, including bad government,
both civil and religious. disease, war
! fare and to hereditary and hopeless la
ziness, the added curse of the mesta or
migratory system of merno sheep,
which are the true flocks of the nomad
Bedouin. The mesta began in this way:
When the Spaniards of the thirteenth
century expelled the industrious Moors
from Estranladura, they RACED the cities
and ravaged the country, massacred
most of the inha bitantS5 and drove the
rest away to die in slavery. The Con-
querors called this 'pacifieation;" but it
made a barren solitude of the once hap
py Arabian Felix Nature is extremely
prolific of weed and cacti here and soon
obiterated every trace of furrow from
vast tracts which had previously been
under highest cultivation. Only a very
small portion of II was ever recultiva
ted by the lazy soldier conquerors; and
the new population, scanty and ineffi-
cient as 1t was, persisted. almost to q
man, by the great plague Of 134S after
which whole districts were left UNI
claimed. These were termed valdios
(uncultivated), whence the Spanish
law-term--de valde, At length these
unclaimed pastures attracted the atten-
ton of highland shepherds from Leon
and CASTLE, who drove their fiocks
down to them, as to milder winter quar-
tiers, returning to their cool hills on the
approach Of scorching summer Hence.
by degrees prescriptive right of agist-
ment was claimed over these "com
mons" and the districts We're set apart
and apportioned accordingly, Both eli
mate and country suggested the system,
which is really of remotest antiquity
and not unlita that of the trattari in
the Abruzzi of Roman times Natural
ly no end of disputes arose between the
wandering shepherds and fixed cutiva-
tors, until in 1875 a compromise was eff
fected, whereby the privileges of few
of the wealthiest sheep-proprietors pre-
vailed under the peculiar jurisdiction
known as Consijo de Ia mesta. which
was suppressed about sixty years ago.
The privilege of the feudal union of no
bles and rich landed propretors, whose
origin is lost in antiquity, were abonin-
ably unjust AMI oppressive. All agricul-
tural pursuits were made impossible by
the regulation which required highways
and farms to remain unfenced near the
paths of the sheep. Even those peas
ants whose lands lay at considerable
distance from the usual track were not
secure, but We're in constant danger of
having their crops swept away in mo-
ment. If there was resistance, or re-
monstrance, it was punished as barba-
rously as treason, and the consequence
was that the farmers, growing desper-
ate, became outlaws and in turn preyed
upon the society whose iniquitous laws
had driven them from home.
The term Merino is derived from Ma
rino Quasi ultra marine), because the
original breed Of sheep was imported
from England, under Henry II; while
others derive the name from Imri, the
famous focks of Palestine. The sheep,
called trashumantes, from the ground
they went over and destroyed were d.
vided into detachments Of about ten
thousand each Their highland summer
quarters were quilted late In October for
winter ones on the warm plains-eacB
department managed by a mayoral, or