The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1901-02-07
occasional sail resting apparently NJ,

OCCASIONAL sail resting apparently mo.
tiOnless on it's surface of FURNISHED
blue. The picturesque city at your feet.
from which only drowsy hum ascends
to the height, is situated on the thresh.
old of narrow valley, SO that it is
completely enclosed within the noun
tains and the sea. The mountains rising
IN natural terraces close behind the
town, seem to be bare of vegetation, vet
are clothed with vineyards to their sum-
mits. Africa is dimly visible on the
southern horizon, and all around the
circuit of the harbor where ride the
ships OF the world las many as three
thousand vessels anchoring every year
In front Of Malaga, are elegant villas
set in blooming gardens, attesting the
wealth derived from this extraordinary
commerce. Spain has lost much at the
hands of Uncle Samuel, but the disas.
tiers of the recent war have rather in
creased than diminished the PROSPERITY
OF this, her second commercial city,
There are German and English and
French colonies in the place, and even
a small American community, all on
friendly terms with one another, though
each has its especial clubhouse and
reading The head of the Amer
lean colony, by the way, is Mr.. Warren
c. Bevan of Baltimore. who came here
about twenty years ago. Of course.
like all the other foreigners, he is en-
gagged in the raisin business; and to this
is added almonds wines, and palmetto
hats-all conducted under the same ex-
tensive roof and on the same floor. ex-
cept the ,wine-cellar. In this well ar
ranged and orderly place work is always
going on. Though this is not the husy
season, you may see women packing
boxes of raisins in corkdust, sorting
almonds and corking and labelling bot
ties. Both labels and bottles are made
in England-which does not speak we'll
for Mr.. Bevan's patriotic encourage
ment of home industries. The wood
for boxing the fruit and nuts is all
brought from Norway in the shape of
shingles, and the corkdust, of which
tons are used in packing, comes from
the cork forests of central Spain. The
almonds here are such as are seldom
seen in America, called the Jordan
almond" because originally brought
from the banks of that river. They
are three times as large as the ordinary
almond and of delicious flavor, and
they are all retained in Europe, being
scarce and expensive even here. The
raisins are the finest in the world-the
sun-dried Malaga grape. While Malaga
sherry and MADEIRA are not equal to
that Of Cadiz; it's muscatelle is unex
celled, having Malaga raisins mixed
with it to add ''body'' and aroma. The
palmetto hats are made by the peasant
women, in odd moments, as their sisters
in other parts of the country weave
lace. Spanish housewives in any station
are not what we would call domestic
models, and so their ''odd minutes are
many. They sit on the doorstep all
day long, and weave and gossip and
gossip and weave, making straw hats
by the hundred for few pesadas. The
merchants buy and pack them in sacks.
well weighted and pressed down, six
hundred dozen to sack. The hats go
to New York, where they are bleached
and pressed, aud sell for about 25 cents
apiece. How can exporters and mer-
chants make any profit, to say nothing
of the weavers? but there is surely
profit enough for somebody in the
raisins, though not to the consumer,
You see them lying about here on ware
house floors, bushels upon bushels of
them, comparatively valueless until
packed in cork dust, the inferior ones
under the guise of "seedless raisins, )"
put into tiny paste board boxes, which
sell at home for ten cents the pound.
A good deal of cotton is also grown
in the neighborhood of Malaga, together
with some coffee, olives, oranges, bar
ley and figs. And nowadays, since the
war has cut off free sugarcane froGo
Cuba, the cultivation of cane-original-
ly introduced by the Moors many cen
turies ago, but allowed to die out after
the discovery of the West Indies-is
again gaining ground