The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-05-05
THRO' THE HEART OF SPAIN
ON THE 1RAIL OF DON OUIXOTE- LA MANCHA'S DNSOLATE PLAINS

Tobasco, the Home ofthe "NeveI-to-be-
 Enough Admired DuIeinea." - The
 Wind-MiIls, the Wine Shops, the Inn, ,
 the Well, All as Cervantes Described
 Them-By Railway Over the Sierra
 Especial Correspondence of the Journal
 and Courier.l
 Merida, Spain, April 3.-We might
 have gone direct to Toledo, without a change of cars, by the regular line be- tween Cordova and Madrid, had not va grant fancy led us this roundabout way
 on the trail of Don QuiXote. Probably the orthodox tourist would have visited Grenada next after the Caliph Capital, as it is only few hours distant, in the southeastern corner of the same pro vince; but we decided to reserve that greatest show-place for a last tid-blt or our desultory wanderings in Spain, on the way back to the Mediterranean coast
 Having left Cordova very early in the morning, on a train that creeps through beautiful Andalusa toward the dark Sl- erra Morena, you feel "the joy of liv- ing as seldom before. Spanish trains never do more than creep, at a pace which an active person might easily put-run on his own legs; but you bless their slowness when turning your back on southern Spain. Nature is at her very best in spring attire-birds singing, peoples and doisies Haunting in the fields amid a multitude of other bril- liant flowers, plantations of roses hll- ing the air with fragrance, and blossom ing creepers rioting over every house wall and hedge-row. The dark, glossy green and golden fruit of lemon and or ange orchards alternate with the fa- miliar foliage of peach, pear and apple trees, now past their blossoming time; while here and there royal palm llfts its plumed head high above all in truly regal pride. Cacti and prickly pears used everywhere as fencing for fields and gardens, grow wild in dense mass es along the railway entertainments, bverrun by gorgeous nasturtiums. All the country roads are guarded by sSpanish bayonets'' bristling with for midable spikes and gigantic aloes, the highly decorative plant of Spain, with its base of long, sword-lil1e leaves, its tall, slender trunk rising twenty or thirty feet, and its broad candeabrum of crimson 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 gray, gradually giving way to isolated trees of aged and solemn as pect Most of these olive orchards that cluster around Cordova and form such a prominent feature of southern Spain are very ancient-many of them plant ed long before the Pilgrim Fathers sought America. Everybody has heard of the monster olive-tree near Nice which is said to be more than thou sand years old whose trunk is twenty three feet in circumference at the height of mans head, and, whose yield in its prime was five hundred pounds of oil per annum! I have no doubt that it's counterpart could be found many times over in Andalusia- barring the inevitable exaggeration of a watering-place tradition. Each or chard has its guard, who tends 1t care fully the year around, occupying a grass matched rut under the trees in summertime and a sort of burroW or cave in winter. During the harvest season a watch is kept up all night, as well as by day, for an expert thief-and there are many in Spain-might easily strip an entire orchard in a few hours. "A single vigorous shake dislodges every ripened berry from the branches, which | may be noiseessly loaded into the pam niers of waiting donkeys. As harvest | time approaches the olive trees eX- change their melancholy gray for brighter barb The ripening fruit varies | in tint from vivid green to gay reds and lovely purples. while the willow leaf foliage always restless and quiv | ering, assumes a tender, shimme mering l tint which can best be described as | moonlight green, or greenish silver-if | you can imagine what such color might be. The crop is mainly harvest ed by young women and then the som bre orchard is a picnic ground all day | long, for Spanish girls turn all their la bors into merry-making. The aged | trunks form an admirable background | for the rainbow hues of peasant cos tunes, and the air is musical with | snatches of song and the tinkle of don key-bells; while the overseer, stretched on grassy bank in the sun, finds dou ble enjoyment in his interminable cigar cites and the power of controlling the drudgery of others.
 Nearing the northern border of Anda- 1usia, you find the whole country cov- cred with vineyards far as the eye can See This is the famous Val de Pinas region, which gives it's name to one of the best though commonest wines in Spain It is richer in color than claret with more body and sweetness-some- what resembling the unfermented grape-juice made in New Jersey and extensively used throughout the United States (much adulterated), for commun- ion purposes Valde de Pinas is of course fermented, but the natives al- ways mix water with it and rarely drink too much though a wine-skin full, holding a quart or more, costs only four cents. Water costs sa much in most parts of Spain; but the poorest peasant who cannot afford water enough to wsah his face in, buys 1t to adulterate his wine. Drunkenness is not a Spanish vice, though in every .I peasants bag the wine-skin keeps con- stant company with the garlic-pot. At every stopping-pace of the train, fe-