Evening star., 1903-11-28
THE CITY OF CORDOvA
Once the Wealthiest City Of
Europe.
CONSERVATIVE PEOPLE
HAVE OPPOSED THE PROGRESS
IVENEsS OF THE AGE.
Spain Likened to Vast Cemetery Full
of the Monuments of the
Dead.
CONSERVATIVE PEOPLE
Special Core Cspondcnce Cf The Evening Stnf al
Chicago Record Herald.

progress during the last century than any
other country. This is due to the conserVa-
tism of the masses of the people, VINO are
perfectly satisfied with their present condl-
ton. They have opposed the lntrouuctloh
of railroads and other modern neccssites,
and have successfully resisted many oil the
encroachments and innovations of the pro-
gressive element. There are in Spain cites
like Barcelona, Bilbao, Valencia ana SAN
tander which are quite up to date, but at
Salamanca, Cordova and other places 1
have told you about the quaint customs OF
the past have been preserved ana the traE-
eer can still enjoy glimpses of dead CEN
tur,es. Hence authors, artists and poets
find their greatest enjoyment in Spain, and
call it the last refuge of the picturesque
In italy in Greece, in Turkey, In Egypt,
Syria Tunis and Alsiers the commercial
and social invasion has modified and mod
el ,lized the life and habits Of the people.
YOU can see Musselmen wearing TO their
mosques rubbers that were made IN Massa.
chusetts, gloves from the PalaiS Royal OF
Paris and umbrellas from the factories IN
Nottingham, and the same spirit has broken
out in spots in Spain. i told you yesterday
that electric bulbs illuminate monuments
erected 1GOO years before the birth of Christ
by Phoenicians and Romans, who passed
the pillars of Hercules for plunder and
trade. They opened mines at HuelVa; they
made Cadiz, which was the Tarshlsh OF Sol
ON on one of the greatest ports of the
world We have here at COrdOva remains
of the work and the enterprise Of the car
thaginans from the famous city OF Dldo,
who once overcame and occupied the city
and were afterward expelled by the all
conquerinS Romans
Ancient Fame of Cordova.
Cordova was the most populous and the
most famous OF the Roman cities in Spain.
r-in
Romans built temples, palaces amphthe'
aters, aqueducts and triumohal arches
Most of them were swept away by the-Nan
dals and the Goths: who came in herds from
France and Germany. The Gothic rule pre-
vailed $50 years, until they in turn We're
driven out by an overwhelming flood from
Africa in the early years of the eighth CEN
trrv For 100 years thereafter the Saracens
possessed the land and gave Spain her
most distinctive arts, industries and archt-
lecture. They finally fled before Chris
tan ciVilZa ton which came out OF the
Pyrenees but not until for a century they
carried on a conflict for supremacy that
terminated in the surrender of the Alham-
bra and the expulsion of the Moors and the
Jews.
The Christians were iconoclasts; they
were worse than the Vandals, for they de-
stroyed and defaced the most impos ng
monuments of their predecessors. because
they had been defiled by the touch of the
infidels. The kings even issued an edict
forbidding the use of Saracenic designs n
art and architecture. They either marred
destroyed nearly every one of the mar
vels of maeniticence which celebrated
by early Arabic writers. The irrigation
works OF the Moors. VIII ch made the Plains
produce in abundance. We're neglected and
abandoned, and their fertile fields are now
scarcely cultivated. Oshea, one of the
abest writer's on Spain, shows that in
one district adjoining Cordoba, where iS4,
2;;S fanegas of land We're cultivated by the
.t,It it-nt tod h,y
the Spaniards, and where the yield once
averaged t2...CG0 yearly, it now averages
only 4.oDJ: and in another district, Which
under the khalfate yielded half a million
fanegaS OF corn each year, the present re-
turns are merely nominal.
This accounts for the poverty and decay
of the old G ties Of Spain, but of course the
tourists profit thereby, for their antiquities
the more striking. Each of the old towns
has its indiVidu alty. its peculiar charac.
istics and features, so that one who seeks
new sensations IS. sratified at almost every
stopping place.
From Madrid to Cordova
The Journey from Madrid to Cordova car
ries YOU through a most uninteresting coun-
try, treeless, stony and bleak, parched with
the sun. swept by the winds and mostly un-
cultivated. l have already explained to
you. The amount of land lying idle in
whole kingdom if it were properly cultivat-
ed There are few places of interest on the
way, the only one worth noting being lit
tie town bearing the pompous name of Ar
gamasilla de Alba. which is familiar TO all
readers of The Adventures of the Immortal
FL Hdalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha"
This is the place where Cervantes was
thrown into prison. and while he was in
confinement began to write the story, maxi
ing his hero native of the town which
treated him so badly. One of the finest edi-
ticns of his works was printed in that very
prison, which has been printing office for
many years 1t is said that the people Of
the place are so proud of the distinction
that they declare that the eccentric old
knight and even Sancho PanZa We're real
individuals. and several families claim de-
scent from him who has been called the
cleverest of fools and the wisest of luna
ties
some celebrated lead and copper mines be-
longing to the crown which have produced
enormously in centuries passed, but are no |
longer worked because, with their antiQuat-
ed machinery and obsolete processes, the |
cost of production is greater than the value |
of the product. And still a little farther |
along are the ruins of the ancient castle of |
Almodovar, where King Don Pedro the |
Cruel kept his treasures. and 1t is declared |
that he often had much as seventy mil |
lions of ducats In gold stored away in |
vaults which are still shown to those who |
take the trouble to go there.
The Most Unhealthy City of Spain.
The climate Of Cordova is very bad. 1t |
is said to be the most unhealthful city in |
Spain, which is due to cutting down all |
the trees and to the stoppage of the drains |
and the irrigating bitches which have over |
flowed the low lands in the neighborhood |
and turned them into swamps. Friends in |
Madrid cautioned us against staying here !
for any time for fear we would catch a |
fever. In the days of the Moors it was con-
sidered the most perfect paradise on earth
and later the Andausian nobility made il
a favorite residence and resort but two
centuries ago it sank into a dull, ill-pro-
vided city of "reminiscences; the palaces
of the once rich and powerful noblesse are |
vacant; the grass grows from the creyices
Of the pavemente Of their patioe and the