Impressions of Spain

Part 1

Chapter 12,096 wordsPublic domain

Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images available at The Internet Archive)

IMPRESSIONS OF SPAIN.

IMPRESSIONS OF SPAIN.

BY

ALBERT F. CALVERT, F.R.G.S.

AUTHOR OF

“_The Discovery of Australia_,” “_The Exploration of Australia_,” “_My Fourth Tour in Western Australia_,” “_The Political Value of our Colonies_,” _etc._, _etc._

LONDON:

GEORGE PHILIP & SON, LIMITED, 32, FLEET STREET.

LIVERPOOL:

PHILIP, SON & NEPHEW, 45-51, SOUTH CASTLE STREET.

_All rights reserved._

1903.

TO

SEÑOR DON SEBASTIAN BARRIS.

MY DEAR BÁRRIS,

As the pleasure and instruction I have derived from my different visits to Spain have been contributed to so largely by your unfailing kindness and invaluable counsel, so the culminating pleasure of this modest attempt to set down my impressions of your fair country lies in the privilege of inscribing the result to you. In you I shall ever feel that I have a firm and wise friend and lenient critic, and I beg you to enhance the obligation of friendship by accepting this dedication with the assurance of my regard and esteem.

ALBERT F. CALVERT.

“ROYSTON,”

SWISS COTTAGE, N.W.

PREFACE.

There is a character in current drama who devoted his whole life to the writing of a book. He called it a “pamphlet,” because he had intended it to be a pamphlet when he started on his task, but in its completed state the work filled three mighty folio volumes. Although the present volume has not attained such gargantuan proportions, it is considerably longer than I had thought to make it. It is not put forward as an exhaustive or profound study of Spain and the Spaniards, but as a simple record of impressions of people I have met and places I have visited during a series of many journeyings in different parts of that greatly interesting and much misunderstood country. These impressions were meant, in the beginning, to form a small collection of sketches and appreciations; and, although the number has increased beyond the limits of my original intentions, the design and scope of the book have not been revised or amplified. The result of this desultory system of working is a string of disconnected chapters--the first fruits of fugitive note-book jottings collected over a period of several years--rather than a concentrated and comprehensive survey of the subject as a whole.

But the system was also fraught with an unforeseen technical difficulty, as I discovered when I came to arrange my illustrations. The photographs that I acquired--sometimes singly and sometimes in batches--during my frequent visits to Spain, increased out of all proportion to the “increasing purpose” of my manuscript, and in the end I was confronted with the alternative options of leaving out a great many of my most recent and best pictures of Granada and the Alhambra, or of publishing them _en masse_ at the back of the volume.

The fact that I am even now engaged in gathering material and making notes for a work upon the Alhambra, which I hope shortly to publish, tempted me to hold these surplus illustrations in reserve. But I have hopes that the fragmentary nature of my material, and, in many cases, lack of style and finish in its transcription, may be atoned for by the variety and charm of the pictorial side of the book; and, with this desideratum in my mind, I decided to reproduce the overflow pictures in the form of an appendix.

To the many friends in Spain who have assisted me in my work, with counsel, information, practical aid, and inexhaustible hospitality, and particularly to Messrs. HAUSER and MENET, Messrs. LAURENT and CO., and Señor GARZON, the photographic artists who have supplied me with pictures beyond those I took myself, and favoured me with permission to reproduce them, I wish to tender my sincere and grateful thanks.

It may be that my personal relations with the Spanish people have been more fortunate than that of some other authors, whose books on Spain I have seen; but in a somewhat wide experience of countries and men, I have never met their equals in courtesy and true consideration to the stranger within their gates. I have encountered all sorts and conditions of men in the sunny South, the black North, and the thriving East of the kingdom, and from each and every one I have received nothing but kindness and good-will. I have written enthusiastically in the following pages about the Spaniards, for in every Spaniard I have met I feel that I have a friend.

A. F. C.

AUTHORS’ CLUB,

LONDON, S.W.,

NOVEMBER, 1903.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

ALFONSO XIII. _Frontispiece_

PORTRAITS AND PICTURES.

PAGE

THE FAMILY OF CHARLES V., BY GOYA 242

THE VELASQUEZ GALLERY IN THE MUSEUM, MADRID 243

THE DIVINE FAMILY, BY MURILLO 246

BARTOLOME ESTEBAN, BY MURILLO 247

THE DIVINE FAMILY, BY MURILLO 249

THE DIVINE SHEPHERD, BY MURILLO 250

A CONCEPTION, BY MURILLO 251

THE KING OF SPAIN--1886, 1891, 1892, 1893, 1895, 1896, 1898, 1901, 1902 255

THE KING AND HIS MOTHER 257

S. M. EL REY ALFONSO XIII. 259

S. A. INFANTA MARIA TERESA 262

S. A. LA PRINCESA DE ASTURIAS 263

S. A. R. EL INFANTE DON CARLOS 264

ANTONIO FUENTES 224

LUIS MAZZANTINI AND CUADRILLA 224

GUERRITA. _Bandillero_ 224

THE SURRENDER OF GRANADA BY BOABDIL TO FERDINAND AND ISABELLA, 1492 Appendix

VIEWS.

_ALICANTE._

ELCHE (WOMEN WASHING) 1

ELCHE 5

THE ESPLANADE 83

ESPLANADE AND WHARF 84

THE “MARTYR’S PROMENADE” 85, 86

“ “ (HIGH ROAD) 87

VIEW OF ELCHE 88

ENTRANCE TO THE STATION, ELCHE 91

_MADRID._

IN OLD MADRID 10

ROYAL PALACE 11

A CORNER IN THE ROYAL PALACE 12

THE THRONE ROOM, ROYAL PALACE 13

THE RIVER MANZANARES 15

AVENUE OF SAN GERONIMO AND PARLIAMENT HOUSE 19

THE “PUERTA DEL SOL,” FROM THE HOTEL DE PARIS 23

THE BANK OF SPAIN 27

THE COUNSELLOR OF THE VILLAGE 31

AN ORANGE SELLER 31

A DANCER 31

FULL LIST OF LOTTERY RESULTS 31

SKETCHES IN SPAIN 35

A MILK STALL 39

THE BULL RING 41

_EL ESCORIAL._

ESCORIAL MONASTERY, THE EVANGELIST’S COURT 44

GENERAL VIEW OF THE MONASTERY 45

THE ESCORIAL LIBRARY 47

MASS BOOK OF PHILIP II., THE ESCORIAL LIBRARY 48

THE ROYAL PALACE, ARANJUEZ 49

_BARCELONA._

GENERAL VIEW 51

A NATIVE OF CATALONIA 53

THE CASCADE 55

SEÑOR BÁRRIS’S HOUSE 57

SNAPSHOT IN SEÑOR BÁRRIS’S GARDEN 59

“RAMBLA DE LAS FLORES” 61

THE COLON (COLUMBUS) PROMENADE 65

THE COLUMBUS COLUMN 67

PLAZA DEL REY 68

ARAGON STREET 69

LYRIC THEATRE 56

EXHIBITION HALL 56

PRINCIPAL THEATRE 56

THE PRIM MEMORIAL 106

_MONSERRAT._

THE MONASTERY 71

_TARRAGONA._

THE AQUEDUCT 73

GENERAL VIEW 74

_SAGUNTO._

THE ROMAN THEATRE 75

_TORTOSA._

GENERAL VIEW 76

_CASTELLON._

WINDING OF THE HIGH ROAD ON CUERVO MOUNTAIN 77

_VALENCIA._

ST. CATHERINE’S SQUARE AND TOWER 78

GENERAL VIEW 79

THE EXCHANGE 81

A VALENCIANA 82

TRINITY BRIDGE 84

GLORIETA FOUNTAIN 84

THE MEDITERRANEAN SHORE 84

BEACHING THE BOATS 84

VALENCIAN BEAUTIES 240

A TARTANA 92

_CARTHAGENA._

GENERAL VIEW 89

_MURCIA._

A NATIVE OF 92, 93

A NOON-TIME HALT 92

THE HARVEST CART 92

A CARTLOAD OF TINAJAS 92

_TOLEDO._

CHURCH OF SANTA MARIA DE LA BLANCA 95

THE VISAGRA GATE 96

THE DOOR OF THE SUN 97

THE CATHEDRAL 99

ST. MARTIN’S BRIDGE 101

CHURCH OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES, COURTYARD 102

THE CATHEDRAL, CENTRAL NAVE 102

“ EXTERIOR OF HIGH ALTAR 102

“ THE LION DOOR 102, 104

“ THE HIGH ALTAR 97

“ SEPULCHRE OF ALONSO DE CARRILLO 104

“ GENERAL VIEW OF THE CHOIR-STALLS 100

“ INTERIOR 100

CHURCH OF SAN JUAN DE LOS REYES, RETABLO 104

“ “ “ INTERIOR 104

ALCÁNTARA DOOR AND BRIDGE 98

“ GATE 98

FAÇADE OF SANTA CRUZ 98

THE CATHEDRAL 98

CONVENT OF SAN JUAN DE LA PENITENCIA Appendix

_CÓRDOVA._

BRIDGE AND CATHEDRAL 104

THE MOSQUE 106

CATHEDRAL, CHOIR STALLS 106

“ GENERAL INTERIOR VIEW 106

AT THE FOUNTAIN 162

AT THE SPRING 162

IN THE COURT OF ORANGES 140

THE MOSQUE, A CORNER IN Appendix

“ INTERIOR “

CATHEDRAL, TOWER “

_ANDALUSIA._

ANDALUSIAN GALLANTRY 160

_BURGOS._

THE CATHEDRAL, FROM THE CASTLE 109

_SEGOVIA._

A GENERAL VIEW 113

A NATIVE 114

_AVILA._

VIEW OF 115

_CIUDAD-REAL._

GENERAL VIEW 116

_CUENCA._

THE VALLEY OF THE JUCAR 117

VIEW FROM SAN JUAN HILL 119

VIEW OF CUENCA 120

_GRANADA._

VIEW FROM THE “BARRANCO DE LA ZORRA” (THE FOX’S HOLE) 125

THE WINE DOOR 127

ENTRANCE TO THE COURT OF LIONS 128

THE INFANTAS’ TOWER 131

EL GENERALIFFE 133

“ “ THE ACEQUIA COURT, FROM MAIN ENTRANCE 134

LA ALCAICERIA 135

VIEW OF ALBAYCIN 137

COURTYARD OF AN ARAB HOUSE 139

THE GENERALIFFE 2

THE LADIES’ TOWER, THE ALHAMBRA 15

THE GIPSY QUARTERS 15

A STREET IN GRANADA 14

ARAB SILK MARKET 14

SHOWING THE ALHAMBRA AND THE SIERRA NEVADA 128

THE SACRISTY OF THE CARTUJA CONVENT 120

THE COLUMBUS MEMORIAL 140

GROUP OF GYPSIES 140

TRANSEPT AND HIGH ALTAR, CATHEDRAL 122

_THE ALHAMBRA._

THE COURT OF LIONS 130, 132

HALL OF AMBASSADORS 132

THE FAVOURITE’S BALCONY 132

THE COURT OF LIONS, A LITTLE TEMPLE IN “

“ “ A PEEP INTO “

“ “ LITTLE EASTERN TEMPLE IN “

“ “ FOUNTAIN IN “

HALL OF THE COURT OF JUSTICE AND COURT OF LIONS “

INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE “

THE CAPTIVE’S TOWER “

THE SULTAN’S BATH “

THE DRESSING ROOM “

HALL OF THE TWO SISTERS “

HALL OF THE COURT OF JUSTICE “

THE DOOR OF JUSTICE “

THE CAPTIVE AND CADID TOWERS “

WASHINGTON IRVING HOTEL “

ENTRANCES TO THE ALHAMBRA “

THE COURT OF MYRTLES 132 “

“ “ GALLERY IN “

PALACE OF CHARLES V. “

“ “ ROMAN COURT “

THE ALHAMBRA AND THE SIERRA NEVADA “

THE ROYAL CHAPEL, CATHEDRAL “

EL GENERALIFFE, THE ACEQUIA COURT “

“ “ CYPRUS COURT “

“ “ GALLERY IN THE ACEQUIA COURT “

“ “ A CORNER OF THE ACEQUIA COURT “

_SEVILLE._

GENERAL VIEW, FROM THE TOP OF THE “GIRALDA,” LOOKING EAST 143

DANCING BOYS, CATHEDRAL 145

THE TOWER OF THE GOLD 146

GIRLS’ COURT IN THE ALCÁZAR 148

CATHEDRAL 149

ENTRANCE TO THE ALCÁZAR 150

THE ALCÁZAR, AMBASSADOR’S HALL 151, 158

“ A DOORWAY IN 152

CIGAR MAKERS 154

A SEVILLIAN 155

THE “SEVILLANAS” DANCE 156

CATHEDRAL, EXTERIOR 146

“ FIFTEENTH CENTURY GRATING 152

THE ALCÁZAR, GARDENS 148, 150

“ SULTANA’S QUARTERS 158

“ INTERCOLUMNIATION, WHERE DON FADRIQUE WAS ASSASSINATED 158

“ THE COURT OF DOLLS 152

SAN FERNANDO SQUARE 150

A SEVILLIAN PATIO 162

A STREET 152

GALLERY OF PILATE’S HOUSE 152

_CADIZ._

VIEW FROM THE TAVIRA TOWER 165

VIEW FROM SAN CARLOS BATTERY 168

_MÁLAGA._

VIEW FROM THE “FAROLA PROMENADE” 169

VIEW FROM THE “GIBRALFARO” 173

_RONDA._

THE GORGE 176

GENERAL VIEW, WITH THE MOORISH BRIDGE OF THE “TAGO DE RONDA” 177

_HENDAYE._

GENERAL VIEW 181

_IRUN._

GENERAL VIEW 182

_PASAJES._

VIEW OF THE TOWN 183

_GUIPÚZCOA._

PASAJES DE SAN JUAN 184

_SAN SEBASTIAN._

CONCHA PROMENADE 185

_BILBAO._

SUBURBS 186

GENERAL VIEW 187

VIZCAYA BRIDGE 189

OLD BILBAO 190

THE ARENAL PROMENADE 191

THE ORCONERO IRON ORE COMPANY’S WHARF IN LUCHANA 193

_GALICIA._

A NATIVE 195

NATIVES 196

VIEWS IN GALICIA 199

_PONTEVEDRA._

GENERAL VIEW OF REDONDELA 197

GENERAL VIEW 201

_CORUÑA._

GENERAL VIEW TAKEN FROM THE OLD TOWN 200

_VIGO._

VIEW FROM THE CASTLE 205

_GIJON._

THE WHARF 207

_SANTANDER._

THE PORT 208

GENERAL VIEW 209

_LEÓN._

THE CATHEDRAL 210

CLOISTER IN CATHEDRAL 211

THE CATHEDRAL CHOIR STALLS 211

VIEW TAKEN FROM THE CEMETERY 212

_SALAMANCA._

GENERAL VIEW 213

VIEW OF THE COLLEGE, FROM THE IRLANDESES 214

_ZARAGOZA._

“INDEPENDENCIA” PROMENADE 215

PILAR CHURCH 217

A FLEMISH DANCE 218

THE BOUQUET--THE DAWN OF ST. JOHN’S DAY 160

_NUEVALOS._

AT NUEVALOS 218

_THE CORONATION OF ALFONSO XIII., 1902._

THE KING’S CARRIAGE 264

ARRIVAL AT THE CONGRESS 264

PROCESSION OF THE CORONATION BULL-FIGHT 264

_LINARES._

GENERAL VIEW 340

_PONFERRADA._

VIEW OF THE CASTLE 340

_BULL-FIGHTING._

THE PROCESSION 221

ENTRANCE OF THE BULL 223

THE PICADOR 227

AT CLOSE QUARTERS 230

A TURN WITH HIS BACK TO THE BULL 233

FIXING THE BANDERILLAS 235

THE MATADOR 237

THE FINAL STROKE 239

ENTERTAINING THE BULL-FIGHTERS 160

BULL-FIGHTERS AT THE TAVERN 240

A PICADOR 240

MINING VIEWS.

_BILBAO._

THE UNION MINE 270

ORCONERA IRON ORE COMPANY 278

ORCONERA COMPANY’S WORKINGS 281

THE RAILWAY SYSTEM 283

TRANSPORT OF ORE, ARCOCHA 285

LOS ALTOS HORNOS DEL DISIERTO 287

_RIO TINTO._

TERMINUS OF THE MINE RAILWAY 271

THE CANAL SYSTEM 272

SAN DIONISIO SHAFT 306

MINES 288

THE LAGO CUTTING 289, 292

THE FRAMES 291

THE CUTTINGS 293

_HUELVA._

PORTION OF WORKS, AND SAN FERNANDO VILLAGE 276

CEMENTATION VATS 277

HEAD OF THE SAINTE-BARBE SHAFT 305

_ALMERIA._

THE PORT OF ALMERIA 294

WASHING FOR ALLUVIAL TIN 296

A TRENCH IN TIN ORE 299

_AGUILAS._

THE RAILWAY 321

THE CASTLE AND HARBOUR 324

_PÁRAMO._

THE OLD GOLD WORKINGS 303

GENERAL VIEW 334

ALLUVIAL GOLD WASHING 335

_ESCURIAL._

PORTION OF BUILDINGS 309

A CUTTING 310, 317

“DOLORES,” “JAIME,” AND MAIN SHAFT 311, 313

GALAPAGAR SMELTING WORKS 313

ENGINE HOUSE AND BLACKSMITH’S SHOP 315

SNAPSHOT SHOWING CUTTING 318

_HUÉRCAL._

BÁRRIS CUTTING 320

THE CHURCH 322

HEAPS OF COPPER ORE 325

_BADAJOZ._

LAS PALMAS BRIDGE 338

MAPS.

GENERAL MAP OF SPAIN 1

RAILWAY MAP OF SPAIN 267

MINING MAP OF SPAIN 273

MAP SHOWING ALLUVIAL GOLD DISTRICT IN NORTH-WEST SPAIN 301

CONTENTS.

PAGE

INTRODUCTORY 1

MADRID 10