The Republican journal., 1900-05-10


table. set by the wayside. few mugs,
and goat, OF COW, tethered near,-the
tactical beverage being always ION tap"
This border-land soil is red as that of
Virginia, and the grass grows SO sparse
ly that the color of the ground shows
through. giving Sun-blighted look to
the landscape The farmers huts are
built of red clay. and their clothing is
of the undyed wool of the brown sheep
Of the Sierra Moreno. To add to the
prevailing russell hue, the one occupa-
ton of the people is the herding of
thin brown pigs on the bare brown
plains 1t is said that these hideous
swine derive their color from feeding
exclusively on the big brown beetles
which abound in the soil Fancy eating
pork tattened on bugs. You count
droves of pigs by scores. each drove in
charge of two recumbent. but Away
smoking, swine-herds.
Farther up the foothills the whole
scanty population is given over to the
raising of sheep But the tocks do not
dot the landscape with peaceful white.
as in England and America they only
intensity the prevailing reddish-brown
with restless shadings of deeper hue.
The ugly brown sheep are tended by
shepherd boys-or rather by shepherd
Il in1 a 20 al IL,
their lazy masters loaf and invite their
souls with the aid of the siesta. the
guitar, the cigarette and the garlc-pud-
ding. Farther up great tlocks of goats
browse among the cliffs and along the
Drinks OF Tavines. where it looks inn
possible for the TINY boots to find foot
hold. They are closely followed by short
skirted shepherdesses. as fearless and
sure-footed as they but the girls are
ShOd with hempen sOleS, which are not
slippery like boot-leather. and cling
better than bare toes. \ frequent
sight is that OF some rascally peasant
who one longs to beat. helping himself
along the weary upward trail 10y hold
ing fast to his donkeV's tail as the poor
little beast, always loaded To the limit
of endurance, scramhes up the zig-Zag
steps At intervals little booths are
met. built i'll recessts of the cliffs that
border the mountain pass, like cup
boards hewn out of solid rock. On a
narrow ledge, bottles of wine and goats
milk are set for sale. and overhead, in
nets, hang oranges, grapes and garlic.
Another sight, more frequent and less
agreeable. is that of wooden crosses,
and marking the scene of some poor
travellers murder by banditti
The scene grows wilder and grander
as you approach the sunset. The Sierra
Moreno divides the valley of the Quad
alQuiver from that of the Guadiana.
The railway is a fine specimen of en-
climbing along a shelf of rock overhang-
ing dizzy precipices, winding III and out
among fantastic cliffs and caverns, an
ideal lurking place for knights of the
road. At one point the train runs
through wild and savage gorge. named
Despenaperros,- Pitch the dogs over"
Doubtless the singular title was bestow-
ed in memory of some desperate but now
forgotten struggle between Moors and
Christians, i'll days when these noun
tains formed a partial barrier between
the two races.
Descending the other side of the Siei-
ia, we come at last to the desolate plains
of La Mancha, familiar to the reading
world as the region where Don Quixote
rode his raw-boned steed. While con-
fined in the prison of one of its secluded
villages, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
the greatest literary genius that Spain
ever produced. wrote his immortal satire
on the foibles of decaying age of chiv-
airy. Better than a guide-book to this
part of Spain, is copy of Don Quixote,
which you may buy in any Spanish shop
Cervantes sketched from nature with
art intensely realistic. Except in the
character of the Don himself. which no
doubt fitted those times to perfection,
every detail of the story written in the
last quarter of the sixteenth century,
can be distinctly traced and verified at
the present day. Such an accurate pen
artist of local scenes was he, and so lit
tie has the country changed in four hun
dred years, that you may easily follow
the footprints of 1.-The Knight of the
sorrowful countenance" Here is To-
basic, the home of the ''never-to-be-
enough-admired Dulcinea." Yonder is
the Venta de Quesada, where the mad
knight received the accOlade The lakes