Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-30
IN LOVELY ANDALUS|A
The Home Of Spanish Heroes
Of Romance and Drama.
THE CITY OF SEVILLE
SOURCE OF THE WEALTH OF AN
c1EN4 TYRE.
Region That Furnished the Precious
Metal Used in Building the
Temple of Solomon.
BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.

BY WILLIAM E. CURTIS.
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star and
Chicago Record-Herald.
SEVILLE, November 20, 1903.
Leaving Cordova for the south, ana
crossing the Guadalquiver river on a long
bridge, we came into a country much diner-
ent from any we had seen before in Spain,
and with the change in the appearance, the
disposition and the habits of the people.
While the Castilian who dwells in central
and northern Spain is the ideal OF pride,
the Andalusian is the human embodiment
of sentiment. He has dreamy, gentle,
hopeful, joyous way that makes him an
appropriate hero for Spanish romance and
Drama and from this part of the Kingdom
have come the most attractive characters
in Spanish history.
These characteristics are traced to tie
Moors. Half the world, in the vocabulary
of south SPAIN are derived from the Arabic,
and the other half from Latin. The con-
yersation of the people and their literature
are magnificent IN oriental metaphor and
eXaggeration. Their northern nelghbors
say that the natives of Seville and other
cities in the south accept fancy for fact and
see everything through m lgnlfying glasses.
And their speech abounds in SuperlatVes.
Instead of saying may you be happy,
the Andalusian will wish you mill on
years OF happiness, lnStedu VI ouSiiHS you
a thousand thanks, he tenders you mil
lion, and in the most ordinary conversation
between strangers, or between shopkeep-
ers and their customers, the Iorms OF
speech are so ceremonious and effuSive as
to be amusing. If you admire an object 1t
is Immediately presented to you.
Even the highwayman, in the times when
before the splendid corps of carbiners mad
exterminated that profession, used to oner
the most grandiose compliments to his VIC
tins. He would humbly PROSTATE himself
at their feet; he would declare himself their
abject slave, while he was searching Their
pockets for valuables, and after stripping
them of everything they had he would pray
to God to bless them upon the remainder OF
their journey. While most of this Is Anda-
lusian buncombe, yet the people are gener-
tives. And, while from a practical stand
point our plain-spoken Yankees would con-
slider true Andalusan gentleman a mag
nificent liar, he is nevertheless most
courteous, oblging and hospitable gentle
man, and he means nearly one-fourth of
what he says.
The people have been subjected to the in
fluence of several alien races and have abb
sorbed the most agreeable and perhaps the
most fantastic features of each. The same
redundance and grace, the same exaggera-
ton and establishment found in their char
acter and conversation is expressed In their
architecture and their art. Their music,
their dancing, their wit. their poetry is
favored with the oriental. The fantastic
and complicated tracery that appears upon
the walls of the Alhambra and the AlcaZar
is but another form of expressing the emo
tons of the Andalusian soul, and they are
inspired by the natural wealth of the land,
the beauty of the scenery and the charm of
the climate, which is perhaps the most de-
lightful in the world. A proverb says that
1.-The lark never ceases to sing"
An old German saying Is that he whom
God loves has house in Seville while a
frequently quoted Spanish proverb tells us
that The who has not seen Seville has not
seen marvels." The country itself is La
TERRA de Maria SantiSsima," the land of
the Holy Virgin, and Is supposed to be
under her special favor and protection.
The Loveliest Part of Spain.
1t is the loveliest part of Spain. The sum-
mer is not very hot and the winter has sell
dom a sunless day. Roses blossom through
out the entire winter; the dead walls are
covered with morning glories and other
climbing plants, brilliant with bloom In De-
cember and January, and in the spring Sc
Vile and the surrounding country is per-
haps the most beautiful in all Europe,
eoualing southern Italy, and never suffer-
ing from the chilly winds that often make
the Riviera miserable.
AS | have already told you, the northern
mart of Spain is cold, treeless and dreary
and during the winter time that section Is
often insufferable. Andalusia is just the re-
verse; the greater part of 1t Is only three
or four feet above the level of the sea, and
numerous salt lakes remind US that at no
very distant geological period the entire ter
ritory lay under the ocean. 1t is protected
from the east winds by the Sierra Nevada
range of mountains, the highest elevation in
Spain, and the west and south winds which
generally prevail soften and moisten the
atmosphere.
GENTS and the largest river in Spain ex-
cent the F,bro flows through a profusfon of
olive and orange groves and its never.
failing waters furnish irrigation for one or
tbe most fertile districts between the equa-
~ and the arctic circle All OF the staples
nj the temperate zone and those OF the
semi-tropic thrive beyond comparison, Wmle
the influence of the sun, the richness OF the
soil and the moisture of the atmosphere
couse the natural vegetation to grow with
a luxluiance not seen outside of the tropics
AS you come down from Cordova INTO
the lower levels you seem to enter an en-
tirely different country, where every acre
that is not planted to crops is carpeted
with flowers Scarlet peoples and white
narcissus glitter in the fields. and vloiets,
asphodels and more modest wild flowers
hide under the great hedges of cactus and
nrickly pears like those you see in Mexico.
indeed. the landscape is quite similar to
that of the eastern slope of Mexico in the
subtropical region. You can see the same
fields of sugar cane and cotton. but they
grow no coffee here. although the climate
is similar to that in which it thrives best
in Central and South America
The railway tram passes through numeT-
Gus whitewashed villages surrounded by
immense olive orchards, orange groves and
rich vineyards the soil between the rows Of
trees being planted to crops. This country
has been cultivated almost as long as the
valley of the Nile, and, unlike that, is not
replenished annually by the overflow of a
great river Nor are fertilizers used to any
extent Nature seems inexhaustible. The
olive trees bear for a thousand years with
out replanting, and the orange and lemon
trees for century,; while the grapevines,
where they enter the ground, are often as
large as the body of an ordinary man and
have borne fruit for generation after gem
Grafton The fields produce with equal
abundance. although the implements used
by the farmers are. antiquated and usually
homemade and the surface of the soil is
merely scratched by the crooked stick they
use for plow, Yet everything seems to
grow. and If plot of ground is neglected
1t reminds the farmer of It's power of nro-
duction by clothing itself with blanket of
flowers. -.
The Tarshish of the Bible,
This region was the Tarshish of the Bible,
the source from which the wealth of Tyre
was derived. and from 1t came the gold,
silver. copper and iron that were used In
the construction of Solomon's temple In
the earliest times 1t was settled by people
fr1,,, ttx, aact Woo &c boeora III, -;<.t