The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1901-01-03

bic floor. 1t is interesting to note the
primitive but effective manner in which
these streets are cleaned. Two lines of
men, reaching from wall to wall are
formed at one end of street. The first
row is provided with hoes, the second
with baskets, into which the swee pings
are collected: and when the baskets are
| full, their contents are dumped into
waiting carts-all rapidly and thorough
| ly done. The baskets are hand made
of esparto, a coarse grass that grows
everywhere along the Mediterranean
and is adapted to a variety of uses,
such as the manufacture of ropes, hats,
mats, etc. The baskets are flexible as
bags, and serve all the purposes of
ing you see countrymen coming to
market laden with esparto baskets full
of produce-a dozen baskets to man,
| slung all over him, on poles carried on
the shoulders. on their heads, in their
hands, forming a load that would stag
ger donkey. Fish are peddled from
shallow esparto baskets; ores and heavy
substances are carried in deeper ones;
cars and ships are loaded by means of
them in lieu of elevators or wheel-bar-
rows.
The Ebro-a wide but shallow stream,
lined with olive-groves and white villas
is crossed at Saragossa by a six-century-
old bridge. Its foundations, which appear
to be swarming with people like an ant
hill, were originally intended for the
use of sentinels but are now the habi-
tations of ''squatter' families of fisher
men. On the river bank near the bridge
set close together, are two mighty ca
| thedralS: for in this land of inconSist-
encIes, Madrid, the capital, has no ca
thedral at all. while CadiZ and SaragoSsa
enjoy the rare distinction of possessing
two apiece, In Saragossa's pair of ca
thedrals mass is impartially celebra-
ted on alternate Sundays. The oldest
of the two, La Seo,' is a very ancient
and sombre pile, Gothic, with some
traces of Moorish arabesques in walls
and ceiling. When it's beginnings were
laid, nobody knows; but it certainly
antedates the year 300, when Christ
ian Bishop otliciated in it. When the
Berbers came, they turned the cathe-
dral into mosque: and after several
centuries of moslem worship, it was
reconsecrated by the Christians, in the
year 11l9 The Moorish pavement is
wonderfully beautiful of choicest mar
bles laid in rays, diverging from the
bases of the immense pillars that sup
port the roof. There are no side Win
dows, only small, round apertures high
up in the walls, and light filters in
through faded red curtains. The finest
of its many chapels is dedicated to Ped
TO Arbues, Grand 1nquisitor of Aragon,
who in few months became renown-
ed for merciless cruelty. The Inquisi-
ton commenced business in this city
by" disciplinlng the wealthy merchants,
which also included confiScatiOn of their
property. The merchants, while will
ing that Jews and other hereticS should
be purged of their heresies by fire, seri-
ously objected to figuring in auto-de-fe
themselves; and after sundry unheed-
ed petitions, they banded themselves
together to remove" Arbues. The
Grand Inquisitor suspected the plot and
wore armor constantly; but it did not
save him. One night, while at prayer
in the cathedral, two of the conspira-
tors stabbed him to the heart, with the
fatal dexterity peculiar to their country
men. Even from his grave, Arbues
stretched forth a cruel hand. For COM
persons were roasted alive, the majority
having their right hands cut off before
being burned while those who, under
false promise Of pardon, betrayed their
companions, were considerably burned
first and mutilated afterwards The
InquiSitor was canOniZed and is now
one of the most invoked Saints in the
Spanish calendar. His tomb, placed
where he fell, is of black and white
marble, with effigies of Moors in the ag-
onies of torture at the corners statue
of himself above. He is represented as
kneeling ON mass of snowy clouds
and ascending to Heaven as fast as two
stout angels can carry him.
In striking contrast to sombre. and
historical La SEQ, in which all the Kings
of Aragon were crowned and anointed,
is the other cathedral - named Gel
Pillar" because it contains the indenti-
cal pillar on which the Virgin descend
ed from Heaven to visit st. James, the
Apostle, who is said to have preached
the Gospel in Saragossa less than forty
years after crucifxion. 1t is like a
Russian church, with two great domes
and twelve smaller Ones-all covered