Part 33

Some comfortable quarters are fitted up for the use of the governor during the heat of summer. The polite and civil colonel of the governor’s staff conducted me in his cabriolet with the aid of an extra mule, nearly to the summit. I have received, by the by, many marks of courtesy from the commandant of the marine as well as other Spanish officers in Barcelona, to whom I was recommended, notwithstanding that our national character has suffered through the acts of the filibusters in the island of Cuba. The houses and the streets of the city are clean, and the population industrious; the hotels are poor. The chief branches of industry are those of the _zapateros_, or shoemakers, whose work is exported to Havana, and the abundant supply of olive oil for the manufactories in the suburbs, of the famous castile soap. The exportation of wine, dried fruit, and almonds, is also very considerable. The language of the country is the Mallorquin, a _patois_ of the Arab, Spanish, and French languages; the common people do not speak the Castilian. One of the finest estates is that of the Conde de Monte Negro, about three hours’ drive from town. The Cardinal Monte Negro, now deceased, while at Rome made a famous collection of antique statues, and founded a museum on his estate, which is surrounded by valleys of orange, almond, and olive trees, with vineyards upon amphitheatred walled patches of earth extending up the mountain side, and affording the most changeable and picturesque views imaginable.

The little town of Soler, some five leagues distant, on the north side of the island, with a population of eight thousand, is almost entirely dependent upon the culture of the orange. The high mountain over which one crosses is unproductive, but the valleys are extremely fertile, and the scenery is varied. The roads are indifferent; their zigzag windings and tropical views bring to mind the mountains of Caraccas, and the heights of Brazil, and although I rode behind a mule, in a rude sort of gig without springs, with low cover to protect me from the sun’s rays, not sufficiently elevated to wear a hat, my driver perched upon a rude box at the tail of the mule, with a cudgel in hand, now yelling hideously expecting to increase his speed, then jumping down in disgust at the obstinacy of the animal, and trudging along on foot, I felt fully compensated by the magnificent prospect in the distance, and a growing appetite for even a Spanish dinner, tinctured with oil and garlic. My driver attempted to describe the objects about us in Spanish, but finding himself embarrassed, he branched off in his own jargon, presuming that I understood him perfectly.

I had ridden through orange groves on horseback in the West Indies, plucking the fruit in passing, but I was not prepared for a league square of orange trees loaded with their golden crop, the branches extending over the walls, uniting and forming an arcade across the narrow streets on entering the town. Soler is situated about two miles from the port, along the banks of a mountain torrent, the sides of which are strewed with fallen oranges.

This is the fruit season, and many small vessels are employed in carrying cargoes to Marseilles, and other ports in France and Spain. Those that are picked by hand and delivered on board, are worth two rials vellon, say ten cents per hundred; such as fall from the trees, detached by the wind, are worth the same price for _five hundred_. I was struck with the fine faces of the children, and the Arabic type and complexion of the women. The people are poor but industrious, and their wants are few. They have bread, some meats, _garabanzas_, a species of pea much in use, with oil and wine; the latter, of the choicest quality, is called _malvoisia_, or _alba flor_, and enjoys a high reputation in Barcelona. The little port is round as a bowl, and placid as a lake, entirely protected, and landlocked with high projecting cliffs above its narrow and bold entrance, and bears resemblance in miniature to Acapulco, on the Pacific coast. A few fishermen only reside there, and a few small orange vessels are seen.

The peasants of the country are very primitive in their costume, wearing broad-brimmed conical hats, and long pantaloons, girded about the loins, with goat skins which cover their shoulders; holes are cut in the side of the undressed hide to pass their arms through, and the entire form of the reddish-brown skin, with the tail in some instances, is suspended down the back, presenting a grotesque appearance. The women wear men’s straw hats, with handkerchiefs round the head and under the chin, and round, white, expanding collars, falling a foot in length, with a priestly look, and the groups of both sexes on foot, and mounted upon donkeys, carrying panniers loaded with charcoal, wood, and products of the soil, form a droll caravan. Their copper coins are about the size of small dress-coat button, and nine of them are given for a rial vellon, valued at five cents; and singular as it may appear, the people refuse the copper coin of the main land, while the circulation of five franc pieces is current here, as also in Spain. The old-fashioned pistareen, or peseta, is in general use. In most things they are full a century behind the age, but the light of civilization is beginning to extend here as on the main land. The climate is delightful, nature prolific, and the people in general honest, civil, and polite. I could prolong my stay with pleasure, visiting other portions of the island, but I must not, as I proceed to Valencia, which lies one hundred and fifty miles opposite, on the Spanish coast.

LXXXIV.

VALENCIA, SPAIN, _March 22, 1858_.

I am in the ancient city of Valencia, surrounded by many antique buildings and relics of Moorish architecture peculiar to the south of Spain. The city contains a population of sixty thousand, and has a fine old cathedral, from the tower of which is seen to advantage the verdure of the valley in the extreme distance, irrigated by water drawn from a mountain torrent which passes near the city, and which at this season presents little but a gravelly bed. The mulberry is cultivated largely, and the production of silk and velvet is the most important branch of industry. There are many churches adorned with fine old paintings by the Spanish masters. The ceilings of two large saloons in the _Casa de la Ciudad_, or City Hall, are of heavy timbers, about a foot apart, and ornamented with an infinity of carved allegorical figures of most exquisite workmanship, in a high state of preservation; they belong to the thirteenth century, and differ from anything I have ever seen before. Notwithstanding the foreign and civil wars, the code of laws of that period, written on parchment and illuminated with the most precious designs and colors, is almost as perfect as when written. The city library, of four thousand volumes, has also some of these gems of antiquity, the labor of a lifetime, executed in the calm and quiet cloister of the monk, free from the cares and anxieties of the world. Aside from museums, churches, paintings, statues, and Moorish architecture, my time has been employed in visiting the public institutions of the city, and the manufacturing establishments peculiar to the country.

The Presidio, or state prison, which has two thousand convicts, each of whom has his occupation in the different departments, reminded me of Sing Sing, with this exception: that here almost all branches of industry are prosecuted, and often to the detriment of the poor free mechanic, which is not the case with us. The most interesting portion of their employments is the weaving of velvets of rich colors. The manufacture of our staple cotton enters largely into the production of common cloth; basket-work, shoe-making, blacksmithing, and the making of chairs and furniture are important branches, also. The kitchen department, and the extreme cleanliness of the whole institution, refute the charge of filthiness, so frequently alleged against the Spanish race. Not a soldier is employed; the prisoners stand sentinel over each other. No cells are used; the mattresses are rolled up and suspended according to number, to be spread in large airy halls. The obstreperous and unruly wear chains; they seem to be easily governed, although many hard subjects are found among them. The hospital is an immense establishment, covering a large extent of surface; it comprises three departments, for the infirm, the reception of new-born infants, and the lunatic asylum, and contains in all some six hundred persons of both sexes. The sick are in charge of sisters of charity, whose devotion is well known. I can scarcely say what is most painful in this establishment--the groans of the sick and suffering, the pitiful cries of the new-born and abandoned infants, or the wild ravings of the maniacs. Certainly sympathy is excited, and our moral nature is exercised, but we experience a sensible relief in escaping the inclosure of so much concentrated misery. The same system is practised here as was until recently in Paris; the poor or culpable mother puts her charge upon the revolving wheel, which places it in the hands of the nurses, for whom there is one large apartment; there are forty of these nurses, each one in charge of three suspended cradles rocking upon a pivot from the walls. The arrangements are perfect, but the pitiful cries of one hundred and twenty infants of tender ages induced me to pass hastily to the apartment of the larger children; I saw groups of them at table, of the ages of two years and upwards; they appeared happy and joyous.

The insane were classed according to their malady, in different departments; there were some fifty at dinner when we entered, who behaved well. In the next apartment, containing about twenty, we were addressed by one who had in hand a bowl of pottage, and who, in the most eloquent and appealing language, complained loudly of barbarous and despotic treatment, and want of nourishment; the keeper replied in reproachful terms, when a combat commenced between them which threatened to compromise our safety, as the maniac got the advantage of our guide, who escaped with the blood trickling down his scratched figure. We pacified the surrounding group with presents of cigars, which they sought for eagerly; in the next department they were the most violent, and were placed in chains, with their arms strapped and rendered powerless; they begged lamentably to be released from captivity. Iron cages still exist in the prison, but the use of them is now abandoned; not so in Egypt, where I saw the poor maniacs in cells like wild beasts, in a state of nudity, with collars about their necks, attached by a chain, and climbing the iron bars.

The article of tobacco in Spain is a government monopoly, and various manufacturers of cigars and snuff are found in the principal cities; the _estancos_, or shops for their sale, are appointed throughout the kingdom, producing a net revenue, under the best administration of affairs, of nine millions of dollars per annum. The establishment here is an immense solid stone structure, resembling a palace, three stories high, and employing three thousand eight hundred female operatives in making cigars, and two hundred men in cutting smoking tobacco. The director informed me that they had orders ahead to the value of sixty thousand dollars, and had not hands sufficient to supply them. Every department of the upper stories is occupied with females, there being from six to eight at each table; these tables are placed in double rows on each side of halls some three hundred feet in length, of a quadrangular form; the centre of the edifice is an open court. They commence at seven A.M., and leave at six P.M., bringing their simple repast with them in the morning. The basement is occupied as store rooms, in which are found all the different qualities of Havana and Philippine tobacco, not forgetting eleven mammoth hogsheads of one thousand pounds each, which I recognised readily as the staple of Kentucky and Virginia. I once visited the factory at Seville, where eighteen hundred females are employed, and thought it an extraordinary sight; but I was astonished to see such masses of the tender sex as were here, and the amount of work they performed.

The entire process of the silk manufacture, from the opening of the cocoon to the making of stuffs for ladies’ robes, is an interesting study. One large and well regulated factory that I visited employs from two hundred and fifty to three hundred females. In the upper story of this building are seen one hundred and twenty girls, placed in rooms sixty feet long, with a permanently set kettle in brick-work, and pipes of hot and cold water supplied by the engine pumps. The cocoons are put into the warm water and circulated with small brush brooms; the silk attaches itself to the fibres, and by motive power is drawn off on reeling machines. The worm is dislodged from the cocoon, and the silk completely drawn off; it then passes into the hands of the spinners, and thence to the weavers, and finally appears as the choice fabric of Valencia.

The manufacture of porcelain of various designs and colors, is curious for one not familiar with the method. The preparation is made from ground clay, moulded as in our brick and pottery works, then kiln-dried for fifteen hours, then passed through a composition of liquids, which is immediately absorbed, and which whitens it; it then goes into the hands of the artist, who designs with a brush the different figures and colors; it is then dried in kilns with faggots, for sixty hours. The principal trade is in squares for floors and staircases. Tiles for the domes of churches are also made of different colors. Valencia has a miserable harbor, which is now undergoing reconstruction; the roadstead is bad and dangerous, and it is at times impossible to land or embark, on account of the breakers. On landing from the steamer, which came from Barcelona, and which lay a mile distant from the shore, escaping from the surf on one side, we were beset by a clamorous horde of tartana drivers, each determined to have his portion of the spoils. The luggage has to be carried and examined at the custom-house, and thence transported from the village of Groan to Valencia, a distance of three miles.

The tartana is an odd-looking and hard riding vehicle; it is the carriage of the country for all classes. I can only compare it to a butcher’s cart without springs; it has a baggage-wagon top, seats suspended lengthwise, slightly raised from the axle, with heavy netting for the bottom, and steps in the rear; the driver has his seat on the shafts. The wealthy manage to fit them up with springs, and have them cushioned inside, with glass windows fore and aft, and tastefully painted; they are large enough for a family, and the captivating glances from the flashing eyes of the dark-browed senoritas, peeping from the openings, compensated in some degree for the ill-looking conveyance.

LXXXV.

MURCIA, SPAIN, _March 29, 1853_.

Leaving Valencia, by steamer, we arrived at Alicant the morning of Palm Sunday. The city contains some twenty-five or thirty thousand inhabitants; has a small artificial harbor, a tolerable roadstead, and is the seat of considerable commerce. It is well protected by a fort on the summit of a volcanic rock, of a dull grey color. The houses are clean and well built; but they suffer here from drought, having had but little rain for several years, and large numbers of the peasantry have emigrated to Algiers. The cathedral was crowded with groups of men, women, and children, bearing palm-branches, artificially braided, and fancifully ornamented with ribbons and sugar-plums, with which they paraded in the procession to the sounds of violins and bugles. The priests, in full church-robes, followed by the multitude bearing torches, passed out of the church, making a circuit, and returning knocked for admittance at the closed doors, which were finally opened to the triumphant group, a symbol of the entrance of Christ into Jerusalem. The huertas, or valleys, in the distance, irrigated by artificial means, are rich and fertile, and produce olives, grapes, and a succession of crops. The palmtree flourishes in certain localities, and the fresh dates are not to be despised. From Alicant I proceeded to Carthagena by steamer, some hundred miles. Carthagena is in a decayed state, for the want of commerce; still it is the best port of Spain on the Mediterranean. King Charles III. made it a naval establishment; the fortifications, bulwarks, hospitals, arsenals, and ropewalks, are upon a magnificent scale, and well worth a visit; but it has a dull, inanimate appearance, only a few naval vessels being there; the trade is mostly with English craft, bringing coal for the foundries in the neighborhood, and taking cargoes of lead in return. The mining of lead and copper is a very important branch in this portion of Spain. I visited some works which are extensively carried on by English capitalists, but I thought the lead ore which I once saw in Galena, Illinois, was superior in quality. There is a Presidio, or government prison, at Carthagena, which contained one thousand two hundred persons, employed like those described in Valencia. Large numbers were engaged in braiding Esparto, a species of mountain grass, which is made use of for sacking, carpeting, and various purposes. Not a little amusing was it to see groups of male convicts engaged in the unmanly employment of knitting fancy stockings for ladies.

From Carthagena I came to the capital of the old kingdom of Murcia by diligence, a distance of about thirty miles, and arrived in time to witness the principal ceremony of the Holy Week. The road passed through a dull and uninteresting country, traversing a grey volcanic region for a considerable distance across the mountain, without vegetation, when the fruitful valley of Murcia appeared of a sudden, not unlike an oasis in the desert. The irrigated valley is prolific in orange, lemon, mulberry, and other trees. The city contains forty thousand inhabitants; it is very quiet, being the residence of many aristocratic families, as may be seen from the armorial bearings on the fronts of the houses. The streets are narrow, and the buildings fancifully painted. There is an air of ease and comfort about the male peasantry, with their gay striped mantles, and the fancy embroidered drapery of the women, in groups on festival occasions, fills up the picture. The public walks, here, are very agreeable. The view of the Vega, or valley, from the Cathedral dome, and the circular city, with its blue flat roofs and cane pigeon-houses, is charming, as also the prospect of the country in the distance, with its drooping palm trees and flowery fields and gardens. The cathedral rises in divisions not unlike a spyglass drawn out, and surmounted by a dome.

The Holy Week has just drawn to a close. Having passed several of these festivals in Jerusalem, Rome, Havana, and Lima, I was anxious to witness the religious ceremonies, here, and compare them with those of the countries I have named. I find they outstrip the latter in the detail, but are less grand and impressive. The people pride themselves on the rich wood carvings of one Francisco Larcillo, who lived in the last century, and whose work is found in the churches, also in the figures which form part of the procession, and which are admirably executed. It was curious to watch the country people, of both sexes, in their gay Spanish costumes, crowding the streets to see the figures personifying the acts and sufferings of Christ; the Saviour being represented to the life, supporting the weight of a heavy cross, the wood-work of which was covered with tortoise-shell, and tipped with gold, his hair streaming at full length, and the blood trickling from the wounds of the golden crown of thorns. The platform rested upon the shoulders of twelve men, who were provided with crutches with which to rest themselves at the stations. The figures of Mary, the mother of Jesus, Mary Magdalen, and St. Peter, with the keys, were upon similar platforms, covered with silks and satins, tinsel and gold, with a profusion of artificial and natural flowers. Among the number is Christ and the Twelve Apostles surrounding the table of the last supper, which is abundantly supplied with meats, fruits, and confectionery, very tastefully arranged. The almost naked and bleeding form of Christ submitting to the flagellation, is represented by the hideous figure of a monster who has fallen from exhaustion, while others are drawn to take the cords that bind him to the stake. The immense procession is headed by bands of music, the priesthood in full regalia, the military and civil officers, followed by a company of Nazarenes in armor, with lances, who go through a sham fight, the whole succeeded by the military, and as many as five hundred persons, bare-footed, of all ages and sizes, dressed in white cotton cloth hoods and skirts, their loins girded with cords. The hoods or masks contain two holes for sight. The persons who wear these masks support a black crucifix of some weight upon their shoulders. The streets are crowded to excess, and the balconies are filled with sparkling-eyed senoritas and groups of friends. The anxiety of the crowd to get a peep at the procession, with the confusion, made it more a festival or jubilee than a religious ceremony. The night procession with torches, after the crucifixion, with the lifeless and mutilated body of Christ, surrounded by his weeping mother and the attending groups, was more quiet, and more solemn and imposing. High mass was numerously attended in the Cathedral on the morning of the Resurrection, when at ten o’clock the bells of the city churches thundered forth the glad tidings that the Saviour had risen, and induced many to huzza it. I had to take refuge in a shop for a half hour from the merciless peltings of those on the house-tops and in the balconies, who threw ashes, sand, and earthen missiles, not unlike the Brazilian wax-balls of lemon size, filled with water, only more difficult to dispose of. It was a temporary diversion, and was taken in good part: but some funny scenes and dirty faces were the consequence.

Having visited on a former occasion all the southern cities of Spain, and having now completed the eastern coast on the Mediterranean, I must turn my face towards Madrid, and have a fatiguing ride for upwards of two hundred miles, in heavy lumbering diligences, over rough roads, with miserable Posadas, or inns. The roads are now considered tolerably safe, being protected by civil guards, who have arrested and shot many of the highwaymen.

I shall take Aranjuez, the Versailles of the Spanish court, en route to Madrid.

LXXXVI.

MADRID, _April 15, 1853_.