The Coolidge examiner., 1932-06-03

| She believes that "wOman'S place is
in the home" or possibly, as a con-
cession to the march of the times,
in the factory, but not in the field,
and there she refuses to go.
Quite as remarkable, the alpar-
gata, the rope-sOled canvas sandaI
of Spain and the rest of the Bale
aries, is practically extinct here.
Whether it is that Minorca, prOduc-
ing a large proportion of the fine
shoes sold in Spain, excludes this
humble footwear from a feeling OF
local pride, or whatever the reason,
the fact remains that Minorca wears
shoes
The Balearics are rich in relics,
from the days of the prehistoric in
habitants of the Mediterranean
countries on down to modern times.
Castles, churches, palaces, forts,
and watch-tOwers are seen so fire.
quently that they become almost
matters Of course. In MinOrca
there are still standing more than
| 200 of the talayots, taulas and
naus-stOne structures generally
supposed to have been used in con-
nection with prehistoric religious
ceremonials and the burial of the
| dead-and the cliffs and mountains
are literally honeycombed with
caves.
Within twenty minutes walk of
Maaon there is fairly well-pre-
served talayot, a truncated cone
of huge stones, probably 40 feet in
diameter and % feet in height, with
| large taula near by. Surround
ing the talayot and marking an
/ other age in Minorcan history, are
the walls of a fort built probably
of the stones of the talayot.
The surrounding fields are strewD
with fragments of pottery from
prehistoric times on down through
and Arabic occupations, and the
high stone walls over which one
scrambles to reach the charmed
hilltop are capped with other frag-
ments laboriously picked from the
fields by the island farmers.
The deepest thrill for the visitor
! to Minorca is to be found in it's pre-
| historic caves. A talayot, taula, or
nau is an awe-inspiring sight when
one realizes what it stands for, but
| it has not the instantaneous effect
on the Imagination made by one of
| those cave homes.
The Cove Caves.
The Calas COvas, or Cove Caves,
comprise a group in one of the
many coves that indent the Minor
can shore, and certainly better
| location from a dramatic standpoint
could not have been selected by the
cavemen. The cove is a wild, wind
| ing cash in the shore, descending
sharply from the interior tableIand
| to the sea.
The approach to the caves is
! along a narrow path hedged by a
matted scrub growth and by frag-
] ments of the cove walls, which dur
ing the ages have become dislodged
| and have crashed to the valley. AT
the water level these walls are
high. jagged, and precipitous; the
sea beats and snaps at them and
the place itself compels awe. Wild
deeds are plainly indicated. Add,
| then, to all this the effect of some
forty black apertures extending
from the water line to the tops of
the cliffs-all made by man when
the human forehead was lower and
human life more precarious than il
| is now.
1t is a meager imagination, in
deed, that does not Immediately
] people the cove with small, active
men, wide between the cheekbOneS
and as agile as monkeys. We can
conjure up the picture and see
them leaping among the crags to
their eerie homes, chattering and
pickering and certainly ready to
make t most unpleasant for for
eign invaders such as ourselves.
Palma, the principal city of Ma
iOrca. is snugly situated at the CEN
trail point of a magnificent horse
shoe bay. Like all other waters of
these remarkable islands, the Bay
of Palma could supply half the col
ors of an artists palette. The
left-hand prong of the horseshoe
shore. as one steams toward the
city. was the scene Of the first fight
ing betweenn Don Jaime l, the Con-
queror, and the defending Moors in
1929 A. D., and it is on this prong
that Palma's fashionable tourist
section has sprung up, with stately
Bellver castle, built by Jaime III,
overlooking it from the top of a
handsome wooded hill.
Palma itself is a country village
Of 100000 people and of consider
able commercial Importance.