Evening star., 1937-04-18
BILBAO ENERGETIC,
PROSPEROUS CITY
Siesta Not on Schedule of
Basque Capital, Thorn
in Francois Side.

Most Of the war news out OF Spain
has described fighting around Madrid
or scattered engagements along the
southern front" near Cordoba and
Malaga. But there is also north
ern front"-a thin crescent encircling
q section OF beautiful seacoast and
rugged mountains along the Bay Of
Biscay.
This tiny spearhead has been .
thorn In the side Of Gen. frances
rebel forces since the war began last
July. While it has aided the Madrid
regime by threatening the rebel rear,
1t has also set up its own autonomous
government, called ''the Basque Re-
public" with the seaport Of Balbao as
its capital.
Bilbao is just the opposite to what
popular fancy imagines the typical
Spanish town to BE-" says a bulletin
from the National Geographic So
ciety here. "The city is energetic,
smoky and prosperous, and the siesta
has no place in the Bilbaoan daily
schedule. Spanish is secondary
language, for most Bilbaoans speak
Basque-a strange tongue that Is said
to be absolutely unrelated to any
other European language.
No Stranger to Noise.
while the sooming Of war planes,
the distant rumble Of artillery nre
and the chattering OF machine guns
in the hills are oninous sounds to
Bilbao residents, the city is no stran-
ger to noise. In normal times this
Pittsburgh Of Spain hears the whis-
Ting OF trains, the raucous sirens Of
steamers coming up the River Ner-
Won and the rattle and roar of iron
foundries and ship-building yards
from early morning until late at
night.
Despite its 'un-Spanish' atmos-
phere, however, Bilbao has its dat-
toned church bells, its cries Of street
venders and the inevitable early
morning clatter OF blinds and shutters
Al homes come to life and shops open
for. business that one hears nearly
everywhere on the Iberian Peninsula.
There are two early morning in
cadents in Bilbao that apparently are
unique. One begins when the oil
lamps OF the anguleros are put out.
Anguleros are fishermen who since
midnight have been catching angulas,
or little white, almost transparent
worms (perhaps it would be better to
call them tiny eels), only inches
long. Tramping home with lamps
in hand and long handled nets over
their shoulders, the anguleros are
picturesque sight. When a batch of
tho eel is fried in olive oil and
served in an earthenware dish, with
the oil still popping when brought
to the table, gourmets proclaim them
to be among the worlds delicacies.
This rare titbit inhabits the River
Nervion and is caught along the stone
walls Of Bilbao's quays, being lured
into the nets by the hshermens oil
lamps.
Woman Stevedores.
Another distinctive feature Of Bill
boa's civic life is the woman steve
dore, whose chatter and cries echo
along the water front at dawn. Bill
bao owes much OF its importance as
port to the heavy outward-bound
trafic In iron ore from nearby mines
and the heavy imports Of coal to fur
nish fuel for many Basque industries.
Modern machinery now handles
most Of the iron ore, but woman work.
ers still unload some Of the coal car
riers by hand or, perhaps to be more
explicit, by head. A continuous line
OF hare-footed "stevedorettes,' to coin
. word, move up one gangplank with
bushel basket in hand and down an
other to the coal dumps on shore
with a heaping basketful Of coal bal
anced on their heads.
When these toilers gather, shortly
before daybreak, to begin work, there
Is = great row and ado about pre-
ferred places in the line. some gang
planks being slightly nearer to the
coal heaps than others.
The iron deposits which are the
source Of most Of Bilbaos wealth lie
back in the hills. Most Of them are
worked with British capital The old
English words bilbo, for cutlass, and
bilboes, for iron fetters, indicate that
the town has long had trade relations
with Its neighbor to the north. In
addition to its mining and metal
Mrgic Industries, the city also exports
wine, -four, paper, glass and hides.
Bilbao lies miles up the River
Nervion from the open sea, but its
quays can be reached by ocean
steamers"