The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-05-06
WANDERINGS IN spain
Trips Through the DesOlate Plains
of La Mancha.
Springs Transcendcnt Beauty in the
Wales of Andalusia-A Profusion OF
Vineyards as Far the Eye Can
Rest-Tbe Land of Don Quixote's
FabIcd GIories.

have gone direct 10 loIeuo NiIbou
change of cars by the regula
line between Cordova and Madrid had no
vagrant fancy led US this roundabout va
on the trail of Don Quixote. Probably III
orthodox tourist would have visited Gre
NADIA next after the Calph capital, as
was only a few hours distant in the south
eastern corner of the same province. bu
we decided to reserve that greatest sho'
place for a last tid-bit of our desultor,
wanderings in Spain on the way back L
the Mediterranean coast.
Having left Cordova very early in tn
morning on a train that creeps slowl
through beautiful Andalusia toward tn
dark Sierra Moreno, you feel 'the JOY o
living as seldom before. Spanish train
never do more than creep at a pace whicl
an active person might easily Outrun on hi
own two legs; but you bless their slow
ness when turning your back on Southern
Spain. Nature is at her very best il
spring attire-birds singing, peoples ant
daisies Haunting in the fields amid q
multitude of other brilliant flowers. -planta-
tions of roses filling the air with fragrance,
and poisoning creepers rioting over every
house wall and hedge row. I he dark,
glossy green and golden fruit of lemon
and orange orchards, alternate with the
familiar foliage of peach, pear, and apple
trees, now past their blooming time,
while here and there a royal palm lifts
its plumed head high above all in truly
regal pride. Cacti and prickly pears, used
everywhere as fencing for fields and gar
dens, grow wild in dense masses along the
railway embankments, oyerrun by gor-
geous nasturtiums. All the country roads
are guarded by Spanish bayonets," brist-
ling with formidable spikes, and gigantic
aloes. the highly decorative plant Of Spain.
with its base of long, sword-like leaves. its
tall. slender trunk rising twenty or thirty
feet, and its broad candeiabrum of GRIM
son blooms. Green meadows and low hills
are covered with cork trees, and for miles
the country is clothed with olive groves
as with robes of monkish grey. gradually
giving way to isolated trees Of aged aud
solemn aspect. Most of these olive orch
ards that cluster around Cordova and form
such 4 prominent feature of Southern
Spain are very ancient-many of them
planted long before the Pilgrim Fathers
sought America. Everybody has heard of
the monster olive tree near Nice, which
is said TO be more than a thousand years
Old. whose trunk is twenty-three feet in
circumference at the height of a mans
head, and whose yield in its prime was
600 pounds of oil per annum
have no doubt that its counterpart
could be found many times over in Anda-
lusia, barring the inevitable exaggeration
OF a watering place tradition. Each or
chard HIS its guard, who tends it care
fully the year round occupying a grass
lnAfrhRn he ~,
time and sort of burrow, or cave. in
winter. During the harvest season a watch
is kept up all night, as well as by day.
Tor an expert thief-and there are many
IN Spain-mfght easily strip an entire
orchard in a few hours A single yigor-
Gus shake dislodges every ripened berry
from the branches, which may be noise
lessly loaded into the panniers of waiting
donkeys. As harvest time approaches the
owe trees exchange their melancholy grey
Tor brighter garb. The ripening fruit va
ries in tint from vivid green to gay reds
and lovely puppies. while the willow leaf
foliage, always restless and quivering, as
sumes tender, shimmering tint which
can best be described as moonlight green
or greenish silver-if one can imagine
what such color might be. The crop is
mainly harvested by young women; and
then the somb.e orchard Is picnic
ground all day long, for Spanish girls
turn all their labors into merrymakipg.
The aged trunks form an admirable back
ground for the rainbow hues of peasant
costumes, and the air is musical with
snatches OF song and the tinkle of donkey
peiIs, while the oyerseer, stretched on a
grassy bank in the sun, finds double en-
loyment in his interminable cigarettes
ana the power of controlling the drudgery
of others.
Nearing the northern border of Andalu-
STA you find the whole country covered
with vineyards far as the eye can see.
1his is the famous Val de Pinas region.
which gives its name to one of the best.
though comm9nest, wines of Spain. II is
rleher in color than claret, with more body
and sweetness-somewhat resembling tho
grape juice made in New Ter
sey and extensively used throughout the
United States (much adulterated) for com
munion purposes. Val de Pinas is of
course, fermented, but the natives always
mix water with it and rarely drink too
much, though wineskin full, holding a
quart or more. costs only cents Water
costs as much in most parts of SPAIN but
the poorest peasant who cannot afford
water enough TO wash his face in, buys II
10 adulterate his wine. Drunkenness is
not Spanish vice. though In every peas
ant S bag the wineskin keeps constant COM
pany with the garlic pot At every stop-
ping place of the train female water
carriers, each with an Arab alcarazza
poised lightly on her head approach the
car windows and deal out tepid water to
ready customers at the moderate price of a
penny per gill. Innumerable small VIII
lagos, each empowered In green, are scat
tered along the Andalusian levels Their
only visible business appears to be con-
Quoted exclusively by women, at open-air
restaurants, to supply passing travellers
with drinks OF fresh milk. Each restau-
rant consists OF rude bench. or table. set
by the wayside. few mugs and goat, or
COW. tethered near-the lacteal beverage
being always ION tap" This borderland
soil red. and the grass grows SO sparse
ly that the color Of the ground shows
through, giving a sun blighted look to the
landscape. The farmers huts are built
OF red clay. and their clothing is of the W.
dyed wool OF the brown sheep Of the Sierra
Morena. To add to the prevailing russell
hue, the one occupation of the people is the
herding of thin, brown pigs on the bare
brown plains. 1t is said tina. these hide
GUS swine derive their color from feeding
exclusively on the big brown leetIes
which abound In the soil. Fancy eating
pork fattened on bugsi You count droves 70
pigs by scores, each drove in charge Of two
recumbent. but always smoking, swine
herds
Farther up the foothills, the whole scan
~ population is given over to the raising
OF sheep. But the hocks do not dot the
landscape with peaceful white. as In Eng
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