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NOTES OF A RESIDENCE 
 
 CANARY ISLANDS, 
 THE SOUTH OF SPAIN, AND ALGIERS ; 
 
 ILLUSTRATIVE OE 
 
 THE STATE OE EELIGION 
 
 IN THOSE COFJfTRIES. 
 
 
 BY THE 
 
 REV. THOMAS DEBARY, M.A. 
 
 LONDON: 
 FRANCIS & JOHN RIVINGTON, 
 
 ST. Paul's church yard, and waterlog place. 
 1851. 
 
LONDON : 
 GILBERT & RTVINGTON, PRINTERS, 
 
 ST. John's square. 
 
 Dc^n^ 
 
 3 
 
 ■L% 
 
^?o 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The Author of the following pages having fallen 
 
 into ill health, was recommended by his medical 
 
 adviser to spend a winter abroad ; after long 
 
 pondering where he should go, he sailed for 
 
 Madeira, and spent some months there in the 
 
 winter of 1848. Not deriving particular benefit 
 
 from the climate of Madeira, he continued his 
 
 voyage to the Canary Islands, where, having 
 
 sojourned for a time, he sailed to Cadiz. He 
 
 spent the following winter in Spain, and then 
 
 crossed the Mediterranean, paying a short visit to 
 
 the opposite countries of Morocco and Algiers. 
 
 The greater part of the work was written some 
 
 time ago ; but the Author, fearing the narrative of 
 A 2 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 his not very remarkable wanderings could have 
 little general interest, abandoned the idea of 
 publication. Yet from time to time so many- 
 questions of ecclesiastical interest turned up in 
 the course of public affairs, upon which his own 
 observations in foreign countries directly bore, 
 that he was tempted to believe afterwards, if he 
 could persuade a publisher to think the same, that 
 the publication of his notes upon the Canary 
 Islands, Spain, and Algiers, might really prove of 
 service to some in his own Church, 
 
 The Author will not disguise his attachment 
 to, and confidence in, what are commonly called 
 Church views ; that is to say, a belief in the 
 Apostolical commission of the Church of England, 
 but he must declare that he has no sympathy 
 with those who would like to see the Church of 
 England merged into the Church of Rome. Inde- 
 pendent of the corruptions of this latter Church, he 
 does not believe that Catholic unity will ever be pro- 
 moted in this manner. On the contrary, he enter- 
 tains the idea that there is nothing so likely to 
 promote it as to deny in all possible ways the 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 position of Papal Supremacy. Assertion, as is 
 often said, is not proof; and whilst the healthiest 
 part of Christendom works in defiance of this 
 supremacy, men must be in love with dried bones 
 indeed, if they can imagine spiritual life depends 
 upon union with her. The Papal empire, like other 
 empires, has had its day, and is crumbling to 
 pieces ; but the traces of so powerful an empire 
 will probably, like the Roman empire upon which 
 it is built, remain as long as the world lasts. 
 
 The Author thinks it proper to remark, that 
 nearly every thing which is said about the Roman 
 Catholics in the following pages was written before 
 the publication of Pope Pius the Ninth's Bull, 
 dividing England into Roman Catholic dioceses. 
 As a proof how accidental is the apparent coincid- 
 ence between the Author's opinions many months 
 ago, and those that have just been stirred up in 
 England of late, he will mention, that, falling in 
 with a Spanish gentleman in London the other 
 day, whom he had not seen since he was in Seville, 
 one of the first remarks that gentleman made to 
 him was, "During all this excitement, I have 
 A 8 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 often thought of your conversations with the 
 Jesuit/' The Author has, of course, disguised the 
 names of some parties, in accordance with the 
 liberty which most authors of similar works allow 
 themselves; though he has only done this in 
 some few instances, and in those from motives of 
 delicacy. 
 
 The Author is not acquainted with any popular 
 account of the Canary Islands. The old quarto 
 work of Grlass is found in some libraries ; but, 
 excepting this, there is no English work specifi- 
 cally upon these Islands, which constitute a pro- 
 vince of Spain. 
 
 Short, and, in many respects, unsatisfactory, as 
 the Author's sojourn in Algiers was, he thinks 
 the clerical reader may find some matters of 
 interest in his remarks upon that country, which 
 is indeed the ancient site of those Churches 
 which, at the end of the fourth and the beginning 
 of the fifth century were amongst the most dis- 
 tinguished in Christendom. 
 
 After the many excellent works on Spain that 
 of late years have issued from the press, par- 
 
PREFACE. Vll 
 
 ticularly should be mentioned Mr. Ford's " Hand- 
 book for Spain," the Author can only suppose that 
 his meagre remarks on the Peninsula have any 
 value as being illustrative of the impressions 
 made upon the mind of a clergyman of the 
 Church of England during a hasty run through 
 parts of that country. The Author has attempted 
 no fine writing, but has only endeavoured to 
 describe, as faithfully as he could, things and 
 people as he found them. 
 
 Horsham, April 10th, 1851. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Embark for Madeii-a — Polemics at sea — A Scotch lady's pre- 
 judices about Sunday — Machico — First appearance of Fun- 
 chal — Portuguese and Spanish towns —Beach population of 
 Funchal — The English visitors— Sympathy for the sick — 
 The late Queen Dowager and her party — The English 
 Church Service — Real cause of the dispute — Death of a 
 friend 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Satisfaction on leaving a spell-bound island — Ship companions 
 — Sight TenerifFe — Laying-to~ Aspect of the island des- 
 cribed — Nelson — An exiled Englishman — Santa Cruz de- 
 scribed — British Flags religiously preserved— Scheme to 
 recover them — The Fonda Inglesa — Climates of Funchal 
 and Santa Cruz compared — Spanish doctors on consump- 
 tion 16 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 A sketch of the history of the conquest of these islands . . 28 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The streets of Santa Cruz — ^The mantilla— The Captam-Gene- 
 ral and Louis Philippe — Start for a tour of the island — The 
 town of St. Cristobal de la Laguna — Goffio and fattening 
 brides elect — A sunset at TenerifFe — Tropical vegetation — 
 Mountain air in bed — A landmark in creation — El Padre 
 and Don Casilda — The valley of Orotava, its great beauty 
 — The dragon tree — A Catholic nursery-garden — Exquisite 
 climate of Orotava .35 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Start for Ycod by the Pumice Plains — Break of day — Character 
 of the scenery on opening the plains — Appearance of the 
 cone of the Peak on approaching it — Comparison between 
 the Peak and Vesuvius — General impressions — Mountain 
 phenomena — The descent — Ycod — Churches of Ycod, and 
 the depressed state of religion — Carnival sports — Don Fley- 
 tas — Garrichico, its volcanic aspect and curious cave — The 
 Canary bird — Return to Orotava 48 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Contrast between Spanish and German Hotel- Keepers — Port 
 Orotava— Don Martinez the Progrisista — News of the French 
 Revolution — Its effects on the inmates of La Pas — A model 
 republic — The quinta of La Rambla, and artificial gardening 
 — A perilous road — ^Volcanic developments — Unwillingness 
 to leave the vaUey — Delicate compliments to the Author . 60 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 An importation of Madeira society— Female anxiety in sight 
 seeing— The princes of Saxe-Weimer ascend the Peak — Our 
 unscientific botanical remarks— General disappointment of 
 the party, and reasons why— Climate of Santa Cruz— Deter- 
 
CONTENTS. XI 
 
 PAGE 
 
 mination to remain behind at TenerifFe— The " BrilUant" 
 returns to Madeira— The sailing circus— Father Tierney— 
 Sail for Las Palmas in Canary— Description of the town and 
 climate • 72 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The season of Lent in Las Palmas — The bishop — Spanish 
 preaching — El missionario — Episcopal zeal— Cock-fighting 
 in a convent — Cloister associations — The mate of the Ameri- 
 can bark — Aspect of the country in the interior — Processions 
 in Passion week, and their effects on different minds— Senor 
 Betincourt — Departure from the island 86 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Return to Santa Cruz — A mutiny — Mr. Sheddon of the yacht 
 *' Nancy Dawson" — Disposal of the mutineers — Departure 
 of the " Joven Temerario" — The voyage— Cape Spartel and 
 shaving — National prejudices — Boatmen of Cadiz — First 
 impressions of the town 101 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Riding in Spain, its fatigues and pleasures — The governor of 
 Gaucin murdered — Character of some of the mountain 
 clergy — Return to Cadiz — Begging clergy — Domingo Mo- 
 reno, the Bishop of Cadiz— The cathedral — Portuguese 
 ladies — Steam-boat to Seville— Cathedral — All Saints'-day . 110 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Inspection of the town from the Moorish tower the Giralda — 
 The suburb of Triana— EngUsh potters — Religious despon- 
 dency — Difficulties in the way of instructing them — The 
 three donnas — A visit to the cathedral with them — The pic- 
 tures of MuriUo — Dr. Wiseman, Obispo de Oscott . . . 125 
 
Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Funeral of Padre Facundez, a Spanish saint — Funcion of San 
 Fernando — Arrival of a Jesuit at the house where the Author 
 was li\dng — Female inconsistency — Number of Jesuits in 
 Seville — Conversation with Padre Theofilo, upon the Council 
 of Jerusalem — Married bishops — Assumption of Theofilo — 
 Taylor's " Holy Living and Dying" 138 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Author goes with the Jesuit to a funcion — Profession and 
 practice — Some account of a novena — The great funcion of 
 Seville, the Immaculate Conception — Dancing before the 
 altar — Impressions — A visit to Dean Cepero — His defence 
 of that ceremony — His pictures 149 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The walls and gates of Seville — A ride to Alcala — The Infanta 
 — Spanish industry for once — Santi Ponce and ItaUca — In- 
 teresting Roman remains —Murillo — The Real Alcazar — 
 English and Spanish gardening — Indisposition of the natives 
 to improvements — Retrograding taste of some EngUsh . .160 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Departure from Seville — Alcala — Untenanted wilderness — 
 Conversation between the Author and his servant — Arahal 
 — Traces of Moorish empire — Marchena — Dreary ride to 
 Osuna — The learned Ama — Don Juan the Dignitary — Re- 
 bera's picture 175 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 On horseback again — Perils of the road — Antequera — A well- 
 conditioned " casa particular" — Christian or Saints' names 
 — Aristocratical ignorance — Road to Malaga — Taking refuge 
 in a galera or stage-waggon — The company therein — Cha- 
 racter of the country — The venta — Arrival at Malaga . .187 
 
CONTENTS. Xll] 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Progressive state of Malaga — English at Malaga— Funeral of 
 the English consul — Spanish clergy at Malaga and Protest- 
 ant tendencies — Ignorance of the upper and lower classes — 
 Description of the town — The cathedral and the chapter— 
 Dr. Wiseman again— Learning of the clergy— Hermits of 
 Malaga— EngUsh mechanics— Toleration 195 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Algeciras— The Bay of Gibraltar— First impressions on enter- 
 ing the town — Character of the population indicative of the 
 various creeds — State of religion — The Roman Catholics — 
 The Wesleyans— INIr. Rule — Proselytising sects — Europa 
 Point — Roman Catholic chapel — Wesleyan school— Inte- 
 resting conversation with the master — Strength of Wesley- 
 
 208 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 The storm — Catholic unity — A Sunday at Gibraltar — Church 
 and State— The Military— The Cork Wood— The priest a 
 cook 222 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Bound for Tangier — Ship's company — A vision of power and 
 its effect on the Moors — Impressions on entering a 
 heathen country for the first time— Description of the town — 
 Moorish and Spanish bigotry — The Bible and the Arabian 
 Nights — Consular gardens — Progress and the "status quo" 
 — The soc or market-place — Santons — A ride to the cave of 
 Hercules — A soldier no saint 229 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 State of religion in Tangier — The Roman Catholics — Jewish 
 conversions — Priests of the Propaganda — The Roman 
 Catholic chapel — Difficulties in the way of converting a 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Mohammedan — Church or mosque building — Schools — 
 Mustapha Ducaly — Discussions with him — Synagogues — A 
 circumcision — Protestants — Jewesses — The climate . . . 248 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Dangerous voyage to Tetuan — Ash- Ash — Beauty of the 
 country —Tetuan a purely Moorish town — Solomon the Jew 
 and his house— Scripture illustrated^ — The Pascua and its 
 miseries — Tetuan women — The " nueva tropa " — The colo- 
 nel — Mihtary of Morocco — Bigotry of the Tetuaners — 
 De Blayney, the French engineer — Journey to Tangiers — 
 Origin of some Spanish customs — Face of the country — The 
 Salutation 259 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 The French consul strikes his flag at Tangier — Arrival of a 
 Wesleyan missionary of Sierra Leone — Conversion of Mo- 
 hammedans — Communication between the tribes of Africa, 
 and comparison between the people of the western coast and 
 those of Barbary — The Missionary and the Jew — The Hadjis 
 of Tangier — Arrival of pilgrims from Mecca — Bridal pro- 
 cession and funeral procession 277 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Departure from Gibraltar — Scotch Sectarianism — The Frencli 
 steamer " ficlaireur" — Estimated size of Algeria — Mers-el- 
 Keber — First appearance of Oran— Notice of its histoiy — 
 The mosque with the French sigillum — Singular appear- 
 ance of the military— Intelligence of the Arab lads — State 
 of religion — Fortune of the Mohammedan empire in the 
 Mediterranean — Abd-el-Kader and General Pehssier — Me- 
 serguin — Hot-springs near Oran — Departure 28H 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Amusing character of the ship's company — Tenes — The Eng- 
 lish commissary — Communism a la toilet — Approaching the 
 town — Barbarossa — Numerous sieges — Place de la Re- 
 publique — Fantastic character of the Algerine architecture — 
 Dress and morals of the Algerine women — Bazaars — Negro 
 women — The new cathedral — Ruthless destruction of the 
 Moorish houses by the French — Fort de I'Empereur . .312 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 The diligence to Blidah — Mustapha Pacha — Miserable state 
 of the Arabs — BoufFarick — Blidah — The hotel — A Spanish 
 lady's account of the Duke d'Aumale— A Sunday at Al- 
 giers — Night in Algiers — French and Moorish cafes . . . 328 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 M. Dupuch first bishop of Algiers — Account of the Roman 
 Catholic cultus, Protestant cultus, Jewish cultus, Moham- 
 medan cultus — The author's estimate of Mohammedanism — 
 The clergy of Algiers— St. Augustine — Ecclesiastical re- 
 mains—The Donatists the real cause of that schism — 
 Conclusion 338 
 
NOTES OF A RESIDENCE, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EMBARK FOR MADEIRA POLEMICS AT SEA— A SCOTCH LADy's 
 
 PREJUDICES ABOUT SUNDAY— MACHICO — FIRST APPEARANCE 
 OF FUNCHAL — PORTUGUESE AND SPANISH TOWNS — BEACH 
 POPULATION OF FUNCHAL ^THE ENGLISH VISITORS — SYMPA- 
 THY FOR THE SICK — THE LATE aUEEN DOWAGER AND HER 
 PARTY — THE ENGLISH CHURCH SERVICE — REAL CAUSE OF THE 
 DISPUTE — DEATH OF A FRIEND. 
 
 In the beginning of September, 184 — , I em- 
 barked with a friend on board one of the regular 
 packets for Madeira, with the intention of making 
 a few months' stay in that island. Our com- 
 panions were nearly all of them invalids, or the 
 friends of invalids ; and some of them, as circum- 
 stances proved, very far gone in the ravages of 
 that fatal disease for which so many seek the 
 climate of Madeira. It was therefore in no very 
 hopeful mood, as respected the future, that the 
 
Z MADEIRA. 
 
 majority of this company bid farewell to the 
 coast of England- 
 Few things are more wearying than polemics to 
 a sick man ; and if he has been involved in them, 
 nothing more pleasing than temporary escape from 
 them ; this was something of the feeling that I 
 experienced as we got out to sea ; but it was not 
 destined to last very long, for I was unavoidably 
 drawn into hearing at times, warm discussions 
 between two of the passengers, a lady and a gentle- 
 man, respecting the merits of Mr. Lowe, the 
 chaplain of Madeira. I knew, at that time, little 
 or nothing of the disputes respecting Mr. Lowe, 
 that have now been so often before the public ; 
 and whenever one of these discussions concerning 
 him began, I withdrew from the parties, that I 
 might not be appealed to, and left them to talk, 
 often times far into the night, which they did 
 much to the prejudice of the lady''s health. 
 
 Nevertheless, notwithstanding this caution, 
 before we had sighted Porto Santo, there were few 
 who had not become partisans ; my friend and 
 myself were pledged to Mr. Lowe ; and our ad- 
 herence, in a great measure, secured by the resolu- 
 tion we had come to of lodging in the *^ Calle de 
 San Pedro ;'' for travellers are at the mercy of cir- 
 cumstances, and this dispute ran through all the 
 English lodging-houses at Funchal. 
 
MADEIRA. 3 
 
 It is no easy work to kill time on board-ship, 
 and for tins reason, I suppose, it was, that we were 
 invited to meals five times a day, and some of the 
 party never failed to obey the summons. Nothing 
 could be more considerate and attentive than the 
 different people employed about the ship ; and 
 more than one of the sailors had a sympathizing- 
 account to give of the delicate state of his own 
 lungs. The captain himself was not one of the 
 most robust-looking men, and it was hard to 
 realize that he had weathered so many voyages 
 as he had done, according to his own account. 
 
 The piety of foreigners sometimes attracts the 
 attention of English people, yet I believe, as a 
 whole, the inhabitants of Great Britain are behind 
 those of no other country in this respect ; as we 
 were passing Porto Santo, on a beautiful Sunday 
 afternoon, a clergyman came up to me and said a 
 Scotch lady on board had desired him to prevent 
 a friend of mine from sketching on a Sabbath ; 
 for my friend, instead of eating biscuits, and sip- 
 ping wine and water, was endeavouring to convey 
 to paper a representation of the barren shores of 
 Porto Santo ; and I could offer no objection to 
 his direction. "Tell the Scotch lady, that you 
 can do nothing so ridiculous ; and that if she 
 thinks it sinful, she had better go below, where her 
 eyes will not be offended at the sight.'' 
 b2 
 
4 MADEIRA. 
 
 We now swept by Porto Santo, and discovered the 
 loom of the island of Madeira, presenting an appear- 
 ance not very dissimilar to that which it doubtless 
 did to Zargo and his crew, when they made the first 
 formal discovery in 1420. Every knot we made, 
 the lines of the mountainous island became un- 
 ravelled, until we had the long promontory of San 
 Lauren9o close ahead of us ; and soon after, under 
 the shelter of the north-eastern extremity of the 
 island, we became alive to the peculiar charm of 
 that climate, to which so many have considered 
 they owed their lives. The first town or village we 
 passed, was Machico ; it lies between high hills, 
 back in a pretty cove ; and in the poetical tra- 
 ditions of the country, derives its name from 
 Machim, an Englishman, who in the reign of Ed- 
 ward III.5 having carried off a lady named Anna 
 D'Arfit against the will of her parents, was obliged 
 to put to sea ; and after infinite reverses of fortune, 
 was wrecked on the shores of the island of Ma- 
 deira : the lady soon died of grief ; and Machim, 
 after erecting a cross, followed his bride to her un- 
 timely grave. — A pretty little story, that no doubt 
 accords well with the sentiment and poetry of 
 those unfortunate English people who are des- 
 tined to lay their own bones in this island. 
 
 We entered the bay of Funchal under what 
 might be called a tropical moon. The fair pros- 
 
MADEIRA. 5 
 
 pect was accordingly idealized, rather than con- 
 cealed, by the shades of night ; innumerable white 
 quintas sparkled in the basin of the amphitheatre ; 
 the sea looked too calm ever again to be stirred 
 into a storm ; the voices of people talking on the 
 decks of the neighbouring ships told us how still 
 was the atmosphere ; but, as if to remind us that 
 we were not altogether in fairy-land, from one of 
 these issued a grievous smell ; and we learnt the 
 next day that she had been a slaver, but was now 
 employed to carry emigants, and had been brought 
 back by government vessels from a voyage to 
 Demerara, whither she was bound, with three 
 hundred miserable emigrants on board, as they 
 had not obtained the proper permission to leave 
 the island. But for this smell we should have 
 thought the prospect before us a dream ; but as it 
 was, we were happy to seek an oblivion of the 
 senses, by retiring to rest. 
 
 As Madeira is a place so constantly visited and 
 written about, the few observations I have to 
 make upon the island shall be made in as brief a 
 way as possible. If the transporting the habits 
 and manners of the mother country pretty per- 
 fectly into the colony or settlement, be a sign of 
 good colonization, there is no doubt Madeira was 
 well colonized at the beginning. Funchal is a 
 thoroughly Portuguese town ; and, as far as size 
 b3 
 
b MADEIRA. 
 
 and importance goes, bears about the same pro- 
 portion to the other towns and villages of the 
 island, as Lisbon does to Portugal. It seems the 
 disposition of the Portuguese to congregate very 
 much in one large city or capital, and that of the 
 Spaniards to settle in' several towns; so that, I 
 imagine, if we except the Havannah, the Portu- 
 guese can show finer capitals, in proportion, than 
 their neighbours. Funchal is a very large town 
 for the size of the island, and a great part of it 
 being built on the precipitous sides of the moun- 
 tain, it shows off to the best advantage. Then 
 the numerous English residents, who have brought 
 money and taste to erect quintas with, have added 
 somewhat to the splendour of the coup d'wil. The 
 character of the Portuguese street architecture is 
 rather of the majestic, and traces of this taste are 
 manifested in some streets of Funchal. 
 
 Indubitably the most characteristic part of the 
 place is the appearance and habits of what one 
 might describe as the beach population. The 
 boats are built with keels of the canoe fashion, 
 sticking up a yard above the back and sides of 
 the boat : the boatmen are many of them of a 
 copper colour. The men who help to land the 
 wine-casks are generally naked, and I have seen 
 them contending with the most tremendous surfs. 
 The casks are brought down and removed on 
 
MADEIRA. 7 
 
 bullock-trucks, which are literally the only kind 
 of carriages on the island. The figure of the 
 driver is very much that of the Roman peasant in 
 the British Museum, wearing as he does a peculiar 
 pointed cap. A lad, almost naked, with a pro- 
 digious belly for his years, precedes the truck, 
 the image of one of those infantile bacchanals 
 that figure in the pictures of Nicholas Poussin. 
 Here too congregate men with palanquins, borri- 
 queros ; and this tribe is numerous in Madeira. 
 They are many of them smart-built young men, 
 and particularly clean in their persons ; but owing 
 to the absurd practice of following the horses, tail 
 in hand, up the tremendous hills of the mountains, 
 they are said not to be long-lived. But the most 
 picturesque class is that of the wine-carriers ; they 
 are seen sometimes, in companies of fifty or a 
 hundred, bending under the weight of a full skin, 
 as they wind down the mountain roads and 
 amidst their congenial vineyards ; or singing 
 cheerfully with the empty skin blown up dangling 
 at their backs : the rest of the native population are 
 uninteresting enough. As it is the custom of the 
 Portuguese government to send the most indifferent 
 of their regiments to Madeira, the military make 
 a poor show; nor are the clergy more distinguished 
 for those qualities that adorn the well-conditioned 
 B 4 
 
8 MADEIRA. 
 
 ecclesiastic ; and this I believe is the opinion of 
 the good bishop himself. 
 
 I cannot recollect ever having been struck with 
 the beauty of a native woman of Madeira, or it 
 might be thej were eclipsed by the numerous 
 interesting beauties from our own island. I shall 
 never forget how strongly the tropical character of 
 the scene impressed me, the first afternoon of my 
 sojourn at Madeira. The leaves of the trees in 
 the Pra^a seemed as incapable of moving as if 
 they had been cast in iron or tin. The borriqueros 
 and others moved noiselessly on the pavement in 
 white shoes, with skull caps, that terminated in a 
 pointed sort of cone. On riding into the country 
 we met interesting groups of Europeans ; it might 
 be a mounted gentleman, with a straw hat flapping 
 upon his shoulders, and a cow's tail instead of a 
 whip in his hand, to brush the flies off his horse's 
 neck, hanging over a hammock in which a delicate 
 lady would be lying, who did not look as if she 
 was long for this world. 
 
 We went up to visit two ladies who had been our 
 fellow-passengers, and who were now sojourning 
 in one of the prettiest quintas in the place. We 
 found them in a beautiful garden with walks 
 trellised with vines, and commanding exquisite 
 views of the bay of Funchal. Both these ladies 
 
MADEIRA. 9 
 
 were fair specimens of those migrating mortals, 
 who cannot stand the English climate in the 
 winter. One was a young widow with a little boy 
 of about three years old ; the other was only 
 a temporary widow, having left her husband 
 in England. The one who was least afflicted 
 had taken compassion upon her who was the 
 greatest suiferer, and had brought her to her 
 house, and as it turned out, nursed her through 
 the last stages of a decline. 
 
 There is the greatest sympathy shown at Ma- 
 deira for the sick and suffering, as long as there 
 is any hope of their recovery, and there is scarcely 
 any stage too advanced for despair ; but when the 
 grave has closed over them, they seem forgotten 
 sooner here than in any other part of the world. It 
 is hard to write of Madeira in a sober strain. It is 
 now two or three years since I was there, and the 
 recollection of the place itself, and the people one 
 met, make it an effort of mind to believe oneself 
 still in the same planet. The people appeared 
 a race of ephemerals, here to-day and gone to- 
 morrow. Their hopes and fears and loves and 
 animosities and theology altogether unlike any 
 thing one had seen before. Some American writer, 
 in illusion to the refinement of our upper classes, 
 and the squalid misery of our lower classes, has 
 compared English society in the mass, to that 
 b5 
 
1 MADEIRA. 
 
 formidable shape mentioned in Milton's Paradise 
 Lost, that 
 
 " Seemed woman to the waist and fair, 
 But ended foul in many a scaly fold, 
 Voluminous and vast :" 
 
 the English society at Madeira dragged none of 
 this scaly fold along with it. Soon after our arri- 
 val came the good Queen Adelaide, and with her 
 a string of Princes and Princesses ; then the Prince 
 of Orange brought his unfortunate brother to the 
 island, and the Duke of Palmella his wife and 
 pretty daughter, besides which were many others 
 of distinction: however, the real substratum of 
 this society are the resident merchants, whose 
 hospitality and kindness every one who has 
 ever been in Madeira extols. 
 
 One so eminent for piety as the late Queen 
 Adelaide was not likely to be indifferent to the 
 religious ferment that was prevailing in the place, 
 and many felt grieved that the Sunday of her 
 first visit to the church, should have been selected 
 for placarding the doors of the chapel with a 
 notice of the appointment of a chaplain to super- 
 sede Mr. Lowe, who had held the post for more 
 than twenty years. I pretend not to say what 
 the practices in this church might have been in 
 former years ; but I cannot conceive any body but 
 a disciple of John Knox finding fault with the 
 
MADEIRA. 1 1 
 
 service. It was conducted with the greatest pro- 
 priety; looking at it as a stranger, no horror of 
 Puseyism could suggest any thing to find fault 
 with, unless it were that Mr. Lowe's preaching 
 was more distinguished for quietness and mono- 
 tony, than for boisterous eloquence. The good 
 Queen's estimation of the chaplain was shown in 
 the distinction with which she treated him. He 
 knew every thing about the island, from the deep 
 water fishing, to the botany of Pico Rivo, and was 
 besides an admirable pianist, and one whose 
 character stood so well, that the Roman Catholic 
 bishop used to point to him as a fit person for 
 his own clergy to emulate. 
 
 I must indulge in some remarks upon this dis- 
 pute. All manner of silly reasons were assigned 
 for its origin ; as that it did not begin until Mr. 
 Lowe was married ; but it must not be denied 
 that Mr. Lowe's views on Church matters had 
 gone along with the age. He had doubtless 
 preached some strong sermons, had introduced 
 chaunts, and may have increased the commu- 
 nions, or have even placed candlesticks on the 
 communion table ; but the real cause of the nume- 
 rous Church quarrels in foreign places, where 
 our countrymen are settled, must be traced to 
 the constitution of the society. 
 
 The Scotch are greater travellers than even the 
 b6 
 
12 MADEIRA. 
 
 English, and the riches of southern climates have 
 invited them to settle in greater nmnbers in pro- 
 portion, in remote places abroad, for the purposes 
 of trade than the English. Let any one look over 
 the names of the great wine-merchants of Madeira 
 or the Spanish peninsula, to see the truth of this. 
 It accordingly happens, that the Episcopalian and 
 Presbyterian interests in these places, are often 
 pretty equally divided. But where a question of 
 a chaplain springs up, the more sensible amongst 
 the Scotch, having no real objection to Episco- 
 pacy, agree to have a chaplain of the Church 
 of England, that moreover being the religion of 
 the sovereign ; accordingly an Episcopalian clergy- 
 man is established as chaplain ; but let not that 
 chaplain suppose, that all Scotch prejudices are 
 overcome if he does, and makes no effort to con- 
 ciliate them, he is quite certain before long to 
 be involved in trouble — here Mr. Lowe failed. It is 
 surely a sign that we ourselves are deeply pre- 
 judiced, if we can make no allowance for the 
 prejudices of others ; and from frequent observa- 
 tion, I am persuaded, the most difficult thing a 
 British chaplain has to do in foreign places, is 
 to balance between the prejudices of the Presby- 
 terians and the Episcopalian ; and then, as it con- 
 stantly happens in remote places, the Euglish 
 themselves are not very well grounded in Church 
 
MADEIRA. 13 
 
 views, or very anxious to place themselves under 
 a strict system. 
 
 What could the chaplain do with a Presby- 
 terian consul, through whom passed all the official 
 communications respecting the English, to the 
 Secretary for Foreign Affairs ? The consuls are 
 all of them the agents of that high personage, 
 part of the machinery, by which he becomes 
 acquainted with the state of foreign places ; and 
 if he himself is a partisan, I know not what 
 prospect of justice the opposite party has. I 
 have no doubt this fact gave the party opposed 
 to Mr* Lowe considerable strength. 
 
 The Queen Dowager upon her first arrival, made 
 many expeditions about the island. She was 
 generally carried in a palanquin, whilst the rest of 
 her party, comprising the Duchess of Saxe-Weimar 
 and her daughters, accompanied her on horseback. 
 She herself lived in great retirement ; but the 
 family of the Duke of Saxe-Weimar went to all 
 the parties and concerts, and explored the beauties 
 of the island. The Queen had in contemplation 
 to have made a road from Funchal to Camara de 
 Lobos, a very picturesque fishing village, situated 
 a few leagues from the former place ; but the 
 Portuguese surveyors sent in such an extravagant 
 estimate, that it was abandoned. 
 
 As Madeira is so well known to the English 
 
14 MADEIRA. 
 
 for the numerous interesting and melancholy his- 
 tories connected with it, there is one that came 
 under my own observation that must be related. 
 
 I saw L for the first time in the Reading 
 
 Rooms, and I directly felt an interest in him ; he 
 was a tall young man about one-and-twenty, with 
 black hair, and a pale, although not emaciated face ; 
 his eyes had the most thorough expression of me- 
 lancholy. He was not a consumptive patient, but 
 was suffering from rheumatism of the heart ; this 
 disease, combined with high natural spirit, led 
 him to do those sort of things that the Madeira 
 doctors called imprudent. He rode the most 
 spirited horse in the island ; if a storm was 
 heaving the waves up upon the beach, instead of 
 being in bed, as he ought to have been, he was 
 down on the shore. I was thrown into the same 
 lodging-house with him ; and whilst there he re- 
 ceived intelligence of the death of his mother, oc- 
 casioned by phlebitis. His spirits sank a good deal, 
 and as I myself was suffering from depression of 
 spirits, occasioned by the close climate of Funchal, 
 I proposed to him to go to Santa Cruz, whither he 
 accompanied me with two other friends. Here 
 we occupied a vacant quinta, and spent a very 
 pleasant month. Returning one day in an open 
 boat, from an expedition w^e had been making to 
 the headland of San Lauren90, he was lying back 
 
MADEIRA. 1 5 
 
 in the vessel, when the sun began to decline, and 
 drawing the few light clouds that were in the sky- 
 around it, presented a striking sight. It was not 
 lost upon my young acquaintance, who remarked 
 that he had never been much struck with a sun- 
 set, that it had not preceded some epoch in his life, 
 and this was the finest he had ever seen. A few 
 weeks after I left him sick in bed, as I was sailing 
 for the Canary Islands, never imagining that he 
 would not speedily recover ; but, alas ! he died, as 
 I afterwards heard, a short time after my departure 
 from Madeira. 
 
 I left the island by the Brazil packet, which 
 brought out, amongst others, the unenviable 
 chaplain who succeeded Mr. Lowe, and I thus 
 happily escaped from further discussion upon this 
 unsatisfactory subject. 
 
16 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 SATISFACTION ON LEAVING A SPELL-BOUND ISLAND — SHIP COM- 
 PANIONS SIGHT TENERIFFE LAYING-TO — ASPECT OF THE 
 
 ISLAND DESCRIBED NELSON AN EXILED ENGLISHMAN — 
 
 SANTA CRUZ DESCRIBED — BRITISH FLAGS RELIGIOUSLY PRE- 
 SERVED — SCHEME TO RECOVER THEM — THE FONDA INGLESA 
 
 CLIMATES OF FUNCHAL AND SANTA CRUZ COMPARED 
 
 SPANISH DOCTORS ON CONSUMPTION. 
 
 Although there are certainly many things to 
 make Madeira one of the most interesting places 
 it is possible to imagine, I was not sorry to 
 break the spell that overhangs the place, which 
 one did immediately on putting one's foot upon 
 the deck of the Brazil packet. The magnificent 
 scenery of the central and back parts of the 
 island ; the Curral and St. Anne's ; the exquisite 
 climate — 'for those who can bear living in a hot- 
 house ; and the very interesting character of a 
 good portion of the visitors and residents, really 
 make it a very attractive place. Nay, with- 
 out intending to be romantic, it must be admitted 
 that the late Queen Dowager's visit might have 
 suggested a theme for another "faerie queene/' 
 
TENERIFFE. 1 7 
 
 considering tlie Queen herself and some of those 
 who surrounded her, although half dying when 
 living under the authority and sky of the " great 
 ladie of the greatest isle/' seemed to enter upon 
 a new existence as soon as they had landed in 
 Madeira. 
 
 The wind was blowing strongly from the north, 
 and in a few hours Madeira was little more than 
 a cloud upon the horizon. A brother clergyman 
 was my companion to the Canary Islands \ On 
 
 ^ The Canary Islands lie between 30° and 27^ N. latitude, and 
 the 13° and 18° meridians of longitude. There are seven principal 
 islands, Lancerota, Fuertaventura, Gran Canaria, Gomera, Hiero, 
 Palma, and Teneriffe, the last to be conquered, and much the most 
 important of the group. Off the coast of Fuertaventura, is a very 
 small island called Lobos, and off Lancerota other small islands, 
 called Graciosa, AUegranza, and Clara. These islands have gene- 
 rally passed for the Fortunate Islands of the ancients, albeit there 
 have not been wanting those who have affirmed Great Britain and 
 Ireland to be such ; but certainly the description given in Plutarch's 
 Life of Sertorius, applies much better to Madeira and Porto Santo 
 than to any others, for he says, " There are two in number sepa- 
 rated only by a narrow channel, and are at the distance of 400 leagues 
 from the African coast." This is an exact description of Porto 
 Santo and Madeira, as far as their relative positions are concerned. 
 The name " Canary" most probably came from " canis," for 
 Lancerota is still celebrated for a fine breed of dogs, something 
 of the Newfoundland breed. It is said that at the time of the 
 conquest, no dogs were found on the island of Gran Canaria ; 
 but if this name is considered as a generic name, this difficulty is 
 obviated. That there are dogs peculiar to the islands, I know, 
 for I have seen them ; there were some people called Canarii who 
 lived beyond Mount Atlas, 
 
18 TENERIFEE. 
 
 considering the new society into which we had 
 fallen, we had reason to think we had again re- 
 turned to the world and its enterprising inhabit- 
 ants. The captain was most healthful-looking 
 and robust, and so were all the officers under him : 
 there were on board two or three forlorn-looking 
 passengers bound for Rio Janeiro ; and they re- 
 garded our short accompanying with them evi- 
 dently as a help over the wide sea, and the dull 
 hours they expected to pass before they reached 
 their destination. They described Rio as exceed- 
 ingly beautiful, and dwelt so much upon the 
 richness of the Brazilian fruits, and of the animal 
 kingdom in these parts, that I do believe we should 
 have been persuaded to continue our voyage to 
 South America, but for the distressing qualms of 
 sea-sickness that visited us both, as the vessel 
 flew before the gale, literally jumping over the 
 rolling billows. 
 
 Our sufferings were of short duration, for so 
 strongly was the wind blowing from the north-west, 
 that within twenty-four hours of leaving Madeira 
 we could discern the loom of Teneriffe. We lay- 
 to during the night off Point Anaga, and were 
 cruelly rolled about ; but in the morning, running 
 to the south of this point, we were enabled to 
 enjoy the prospect before us in calm water. We 
 had pretty well the whole south-east side of the 
 
TENERIFFE. 19 
 
 island before us : the storm over niglit had cleared 
 the atmosphere, and the clouds which were rolling 
 over the Peak had their ridges quite clear and 
 hard, such as is generally seen when clouds that 
 have discharged themselves in a tempest, gather 
 themselves up into a dark grey bank before dis- 
 appearing below the horizon. Teneriffe, although 
 on this side presenting no teeming vineyards, like 
 those of Madeira, has more features in it almost 
 than I expected to find. From Point Anaga to 
 Santa Cruz run some very curious basaltic moun- 
 tains, covered with what appeared from the sea a 
 thin and spotty vegetation, but which on closer 
 inspection proved any thing but thin or scanty. 
 The spotty effect is produced by that most singular 
 plant, the Euphorbia Canariensis ; it looks exactly 
 like a chandelier bristling with wax tapers, and 
 has, I believe, been called at the Cape, where it 
 has also been found, the Chandelier Euphorbia. 
 
 The mountains fall suddenly just before coming 
 to the town of Santa Cruz, the capital of the 
 province, for the Canary Islands are as much a 
 province of Spain as Andalusia. Santa Cruz, 
 although clean and neat-looking from the sea, 
 is not nearly so imposing in its appearance as 
 Funchal. The land to the south of the town be- 
 gins to rise again, and continues so to do with 
 little variation, until this sort of dorsal line abuts 
 
20 TENERIFFE. 
 
 upon the lofty chain of mountains that form the base 
 of the Peak. This belt of hills appeared, in the side 
 toward us, almost precipitous, of a bright green 
 colour topped with snow, and from this snowy 
 table-land, the Peak rises up in a conical shape ; 
 thus the eye travels in a very short time from the 
 sea to the summit of a mountain nearly 12,200 
 feet high. 
 
 The appearance of Santa Cruz from the sea 
 is not very imposing ; the houses looked low after 
 those of Funchal, and the roadstead did not 
 afford the same interesting show of ships and 
 vessels as is to be seen there. A few Spanish 
 guada-cortas that were lying at anchor, looked, 
 to an eye accustomed to the English frigate, or 
 even government cutters, mean, although I be- 
 lieve the armed faluccho is an excellent vessel. 
 
 Our brig was riding just opposite the fort called 
 Passo Alto, the same I imagine that Nelson in his 
 unfortunate, and it must be admitted, unwise ex- 
 pedition against Teneriffe, desired to take, just at 
 the foot of those singular basaltic mountains before 
 mentioned. At an interval of a quarter of a mile 
 from this, the town stretches away in a long line 
 of white houses ; some way behind upon a hill is 
 the characteristic feature in Spanish scenery of a 
 long row of windmills. As soon as the health-officers 
 had visited our vessel, a boat was lowered, and we 
 
TENERIFFE. 21 
 
 passed through the waters, where that sharp con- 
 flict took place, in which our greatest naval hero 
 lost his right arm, having received a bullet-shot 
 through his right elbow, and when he had the 
 mortification of being treated with something 
 of the old-fashioned Spanish courtesy and heroism 
 by the governor, Don Juan Antonio Guterraz. 
 Poor Nelson considered himself ruined for ever ; 
 and that which was destined to be the most 
 glorious period of his life, appeared to him, at that 
 time, a blank. To an Englishman's imagination. 
 Nelson with two arms would now appear unnatural ; 
 and we are accustomed to associate with his 
 empty sleeve a deed of great heroism which, at 
 best, was a very rash sort of business. 
 
 The mole which puzzled the hero, proved to us 
 certainly incommodious, if not dangerous ; but the 
 natives have no reason to complain of this, since it 
 was the means of saving their city on that occa- 
 sion. The fear of the yellow-fever, which, it was 
 said, had been prevailing in these islands, had 
 kept people pretty clear of them for the last few 
 years ; and we were proportionably objects of 
 curiosity, and were immediately surrounded by a 
 singular-looking rabble. Notwithstanding the 
 African sun above us, the most respectable look- 
 ing part of the community had long cloth cloaks on. 
 
22 TENERIFFE. 
 
 Many wore the common Witney blankets thrown 
 over their shoulders ; a thing which would not 
 have surprised one in the Galapagos or Sandwich 
 Islands. Whilst remarking upon these peculiarities, 
 some one joined in our conversation by observ- 
 ing, " That wearing blankets is only a part of their 
 national vanity ; a Spaniard must have a carpa of 
 some sort, and those who cannot afford cloth ones, 
 will have their blankets. The carpa is probably of 
 Moorish origin, and affords a ready protection 
 against sudden chills to which people in hot cli- 
 mates are much exposed." The voice that had 
 addressed us proceeded from a thin, anxious- 
 looking individual, dressed like a worn-out beau of 
 the early part of George the Fourth's reign, but 
 of so dark a complexion that I could not suppose 
 him to be an Englishman, notwithstanding his 
 accent was perfectly English ; at length my friend 
 said, " Pray, sir, are you one of our countrymen ?'' 
 To which the other replied, " If you are Eng- 
 lishmen I am ; I am the English and Spanish 
 master at Santa Cruz." 
 
 Here was number one of a class of my country- 
 men I have met in many odd and out-of-the-way 
 parts of the world, a sort of moral failures, very 
 often belonging to the class of petty merchants ; 
 amongst whom, no doubt, are to be found as many 
 
TENERIFFE. 23 
 
 curious histories, as in any class of society, visiting 
 as they do distant and strange countries, and not 
 unseldom marrying foreign wives. 
 
 S 's friends in England were connected by 
 
 commerce with these islands ; and as a very 
 young man he was sent out here to look after 
 their interests, and began, naturally enough, by a 
 course of pleasure ; he visited from island to 
 island, from Teneriffe to Gran Canaria, and from 
 Canaria to Lancerota, and as he was soon able to 
 chatter a little Spanish, he made his way, and 
 was invited to the Spanish Tertulias, and it is not 
 wonderful he should not have escaped uninjured 
 from the fire of so many bright eyes ; he lost his 
 heart to a Spanish lady, and wedlock made him 
 what he never intended to have been when he 
 left England— an exile. The ties of a large family 
 have literally fixed him in his present position. 
 He thinks wistfully of England, and apparently 
 forgetting its insular character in comparison with 
 Teneriffe, advised me one day never to settle upon 
 an island; "for if you do,'' said he, "you will 
 never get away again.'' 
 
 Upon our meeting him, he undertook to be our 
 cicerone. Santa Cruz is the capital, and best built 
 town in the province ; here resides the governor- 
 general of this group of islands, as well as the 
 military governor of the island of Teneriffe ; for 
 
24 TENERIFFE. 
 
 each of the seven islands has a functionary of this 
 description. There were formerly three convents 
 in the town ; there is now little more than the 
 ruins of these to be seen. The population of 
 the place may be between eight and nine thousand. 
 The streets are built at right angles to each other ; 
 and in the middle of the town is a plaza, sur- 
 rounded by the most imposing buildings in the 
 place. At one end of this square is a marble 
 monument representing the apparition of the 
 Virgin to the Guanchee Kings, and at the lower 
 end a marble cross. The streets are clean and 
 narrow ; the houses low, and painted white ; the 
 windows to the houses are very peculiar. They are 
 only partially glazed. The greater part consists of 
 a sort of panelled shutter, which on being pushed 
 from the inside lifts up, and enables the inmate 
 to see and not be seen. The mystery which 
 attaches to these shutters certainly furnishes the 
 ladies of the town, who are remarkably pretty, 
 with a powerful means of flirtation. A stranger 
 has to pass a perfect battery as he walks along. 
 A shutter flies up, a face glances at the stranger, 
 and when curiosity is satisfied down drops the 
 shutter again, and the house looks as exclusive 
 as a convent. 
 
 The two churches best deserving a visit, and to 
 which our friend led us, are those of the Assump- 
 
TENERIFFE. 25 
 
 tion, and the one attached to the suppressed con- 
 vent of San Francisco. 
 
 The former, which is the parish church, is ex- 
 ceedingly interesting to an Englishman ; for here, 
 if he is so minded, he may grieve his eyes by 
 looking at the undoubted trophies of Spanish 
 prowess and English bad-luck. A couple of 
 English flags, either taken or found at the time of 
 Nelson's attack, are, I may say, religiously pre- 
 served in glass cases ; for the Spaniards, who 
 seldom fail to celebrate the achievements of their 
 arms by some function or other, are said to cele- 
 brate their victory on that occasion by an annual 
 feast. One or two crews of English men-of-war 
 have planned attacks to recover these flags ; but 
 the Tenerifiians deserve to retain them for their 
 good behaviour, and English sailors can well afford 
 to let them have them. 
 
 Thanks to the roving or mercantile character of 
 the English nation, an English hotel is to be found 
 in the most out-of-the-way parts of the world ; and 
 accordingly, after a short round, we found our- 
 selves at the " Fonda Inglesa,'' or English hotel. 
 Of course, English cleanliness or comfort is not to 
 be found here — let not the traveller or invalid look 
 for it ; but what does it really signify if daylight 
 shows through the floors of the corridors and 
 chambers of the house, or that the partially-glazed 
 
 c 
 
26 TENERIFFE. 
 
 windows do not shut close, when in mid-winter the 
 " patio'' or inner court is covered with the broad 
 leaves of the banana ? The charges at this fonda 
 or hotel are not particularly reasonable ; and yet 
 one can satisfy all one's eating, drinking, and 
 sleeping wants for a dollar a day. 
 
 In the evening we again accompanied our new 
 acquaintance in a walk round the town ; he 
 seemed very glad of fresh ears into which to pour 
 his local intelligence ; and many stories he had of 
 chance travellers and sojourners, who, like ourselves, 
 had come here for curiosity or climate. He, of course, 
 maintained the superiority of that of Teneriffe 
 over Madeira, and was not without a list of cures 
 effected by the former, that had not yielded to the 
 climate of Madeira. It seems natural that this 
 should be the case ; and it is very likely many 
 might be cured in Madeira who would not derive 
 decided benefit from a residence at Santa Cruz. 
 The climate of Teneriffe, although not so still 
 as that of Madeira, is drier. At Santa Cruz, 
 on an average, it does not rain more than six- 
 and-thirty days in a year ; at Funchal seventy- 
 one. The winter average of the thermometer is 
 the same as that of the south of Italy all the year 
 round. 
 
 The physician v/ho accompanied Cook on his 
 voyage round the world was one of the first to 
 
TENERIFFE. 27 
 
 express an opinion on tlie sanative qualities of 
 this climate. There is an obvious difference in 
 the appearance of the sky here and at Funchal ; 
 here the deep blue seems qualified by a whiteness, 
 produced, doubtless, by the dryness and heat com- 
 bined. Santa Cruz must be suffocating in the 
 summer, however agreeable in the winter ; but 
 the island affords every degree of elevation, and 
 therefore every variety of climate. At Laguna 
 the invalid might escape for a time from a marine 
 climate — a matter of importance that our medical 
 men are very apt to overlook. The Spanish 
 doctors, though proverbially bad, are in this 
 respect more observant than our own : they always 
 send their consumptive patients from the sea ; 
 and I have met many seekers of health travelling 
 about the world, who complained that the sea-air 
 often made them feel wretched, when upon going 
 inland they felt themselves much better. But the 
 climates of Teneriffe are as various as they are 
 good. 
 
 c2 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 A SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF THE CONaUEST OF THESE 
 ISLANDS. 
 
 The generic name of the ancient inhabitants of 
 these islands was Guanchees. They appear to 
 have been a particularly hardy and high-minded 
 race. Whence they came, there have been various 
 conjectures, and a difference of opinion wholly, 
 as it seems to me, uncalled for. From Teneriffe, 
 the island of Canary is seen very plainly ; and on 
 a clear day, Fuertaventura is seen from Canary ; 
 and from Fuertaventura the coast of Africa is 
 visible ; it seems, therefore, next to impossible that 
 these islands should not have been visited and 
 peopled by the Libyans ; besides which, many of 
 the customs recorded of the ancient inhabitants 
 are similar to those found in various parts of 
 Africa. In proportion as countries are little ad- 
 vanced in civilization, it is easy to trace their 
 origin or connexion one with another. It would 
 not be impossible to show a sort of fellowship 
 existing between the various races and tribes of 
 Africa, vast and mysterious as that continent is. 
 
TENERIFFE. 29 
 
 The dry and sandy character of the soil has 
 afforded facilities for a custom that seems to have 
 prevailed in every part of Africa, — namely, that 
 of living in caves. The Africans, from Ethiopia 
 to Lihya, were and still are to some extent Trog- 
 lodites, or livers in holes, and the ancient inha- 
 bitants of these islands depended almost entirely 
 upon the rocks for their habitation. The custom 
 of shaving the head is very prevalent throughout 
 Africa, which under certain circumstances the 
 Guanchees did. The disposition to embalm or 
 make mummies of the dead is another African 
 custom ; and the ancient inhabitants of these 
 islands rolled their dead in goats' skins ; the 
 preparation of -goffio or goffu, which was their 
 main support, and is still eaten by the poor people 
 of the island of Teneriffe, is similar to the cuscusu 
 eaten in Barbary and on the shores of the Gam- 
 bia. All these arguments for the fact would be 
 scarcely necessary, but that some have asserted 
 the Aborigines to have been Americans, from the 
 shape of the skull ; indeed, I have seen a state- 
 ment that the lost tribes of Israel found their way 
 here, — thus, as they so often have been, having 
 been pressed into the service of a despairing 
 antiquarian. 
 
 The two most ancient mercantile people in the 
 world were the Etrurians and the Phoenicians. It is 
 c8 
 
80 TENERIPFE. 
 
 impossible to say what places these people did not 
 visit ; it is not improbable that the relics of early 
 navigators have often misled antiquarians ; sup- 
 posing the voyages of a Cook to be buried in 
 oblivion, and after the lapse of many years, some 
 remote place where he had left knives and look- 
 ing-glasses to be visited by a modern traveller, 
 it is possible the tokens of civilization might 
 mislead the antiquarians in their researches. The 
 pottery of Etruria has, I believe, been found in 
 Madeira ; and I am quite sure that the pottery of 
 StaiFordshire has travelled into parts that English- 
 men themselves never have. The Aborigines of 
 these islands, then, were of Libyan origin. 
 
 The sentiments of the Aborigines were of an 
 heroical character ; they had orders of nobility as 
 well as kings amongst them, and any ill treat- 
 ment of women and children, was enough to 
 exclude them from the rank of nobility ; they are 
 said not to have been much given to navigation, 
 so that it is difficult to understand how they got 
 from one island to another. 
 
 The Canary Islands were re-discovered to the 
 modern world in 1834, and granted to a Spanish 
 nobleman with the title of king, by Pope Clement 
 VI., on condition that he would cause the Grospel 
 to be preached to the natives. This nobleman 
 died without taking formal possession of his king- 
 
TENERIFFE. 81 
 
 dom ; and notwithstanding one or two marauding 
 expeditions, we must put down the Norman John 
 de Betancour as the first who can lay any claims 
 to be called the conqueror of these islands. From 
 the mere passion for travel and love of adventure, 
 he started off in quest of the Fortunate Islands. 
 The first island he discovered was Lancerota, and 
 after landing with other Normans, conducted 
 himself so judiciously, that the natives simulta- 
 neously rendered obedience to him. 
 
 After making a feint upon Fuertaventura, but 
 being deterred from landing by the formidable 
 aspect of the natives, he returned to Europe, and 
 obtained from Don Henry III. a grant of the 
 Fortunate Islands, with the title of king in 1408, 
 
 On his return to Lancerota, the usual fate of 
 conquerors awaited him ; he found the garrison he 
 had left behind had misconducted itself towards 
 the natives, and was nearly all massacred. The 
 conqueror, on ascertaining the real state of things, 
 forgave the natives ; and they laid down their 
 arms, and again became his subjects. Several 
 priests having accompanied him on this second ex- 
 pedition, they were well received by the natives ; 
 and converted and baptized the king Guardarfia, 
 and many others ; and built the first church, St. 
 Marcial. 
 
 Fuertaventura, through a happy reverence paid 
 c 4 
 
32 TENERIFFE. 
 
 to two women, named Tibiatin and Tamonante, 
 wiio persuaded the king to be baptized, yielded if 
 any thing more easily than Lancerota to the arms 
 of John de Betancour. Being defeated in an at- 
 tempt made on Canaria, he sailed to Gromera, 
 where he was remarkably well received, as it is 
 supposed, because a Spanish ship had once touched 
 at this island before, and had left a priest upon it 
 to instruct the people in the Christian religion. 
 Hierro or Ferro, fell with equal ease into the 
 hands of the Spaniards ; owing, as it is said, to 
 some prophecy prevailing in the place. After 
 this, de Betancour, returning to his own country, 
 died in his seventieth year, and was buried at 
 Granville, first having obtained the consecration 
 of a bishop to the Canary Islands. 
 
 Some time after, Diego de Herrera became lord 
 of these islands by marriage ; but made many 
 vain efforts to reduce Gran Canaria, which did not 
 finally surrender for seventy-seven years after the 
 first attempt upon the island by John de Betancour ; 
 indeed the afiix of Gran was given to the island 
 in consequence of the robust character of the 
 people, and their determined resistance to the 
 pretensions of their invaders. 
 
 Alonzo Ferdinando de Lugo, one of Herrera's 
 captains, subdued Palma, and thence sailed to 
 Teneriife. Sancho Herrera had built a fort in the 
 
TENERIFFE. S3 
 
 island before, having gained permission so to do 
 in consequence of his having restored the miracu- 
 lous image of the Virgin, probably the figure-head 
 of some vessel, cast upon the shore ; but this 
 beautiful island was not really reduced until 
 Alonzo de Lugo sailed thither. The armament 
 from the island of Palma, commanded by Alonzo 
 de Lugo, arrived at the port of Anaso, May 8, 
 1498, Holy Cross day, or, as it is called in our 
 calendar, " The invention of the cross," because on 
 that day is celebrated the Empress Helena's dis- 
 covery of the true cross. After coming to a 
 parley with one of the Guanchee kings, he passed 
 without molestation as far as Orotava, where he 
 made a great booty of cattle, which whilst he was 
 driving off, the natives set upon him, and so com- 
 pletely subdued his forces, that he was compelled 
 to return with the remains of his troops to Gran 
 Canaria. After a time, he returned with large 
 reinforcements to Santa Cruz, having come to a 
 conference with the natives, and having declared 
 to them his only wish was, to teach them how to 
 worship God properly ; a great many of them con- 
 sented to become Christians, and were immediately 
 baptized. 
 
 Passing through the island to select a spot where 
 to build a city, he pitched upon the Laguna ; and 
 upon the 25th day of July, 1495, being St. Christo- 
 c 5 
 
34 TENERirFE. 
 
 pher's day, he laid the foundations of the first city, 
 called in consequence "St. Cristobal de la La- 
 guna/' The fort erected at Santa Cruz also became 
 the nucleus of what is now the most important 
 town in the island. 
 
 This is a short account of the conquest of not a 
 very celebrated part of the world. There are 
 many stories of native heroism and superstition 
 connected with this history ; but it is not desirable 
 to swell this account, notwithstanding these cir- 
 cumstances form the subjects of national songs 
 and practices ; and the natives still point out the 
 sites of Alonzo de Lugo's defeats and conquests, 
 just as the battle-fields of more important countries, 
 and which make a much more conspicuous figure in 
 history, are shown to the stranger and traveller. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE STREETS OF SANTA CRUZ THE MANTILLA — THE CAPTAIN- 
 GENERAL AND LOUIS PHILIPPE — START FOR A TOUR OF THE 
 
 ISLAND — THE TOWN OF ST. CRISTOBAL DE LA LAGUNA 
 
 GOFFIO AND FATTENING BRIDES ELECT A SUNSET AT TENE- 
 
 RIFFE TROPICAL VEGETATION MOUNTAIN AIB IN BED — 
 
 A LANDMARK IN CREATION — EL PADRE AND DON CASILDA — 
 THE VALLEY OF OROTAVA, ITS GREAT BEAUTY — THE DRAGON 
 TREE— A CATHOLIC NURSERY-GARDEN— EXQUISITE CLIMATE 
 OF OROTAVA. 
 
 The streets of Santa Cruz were not without 
 interest or novelty to us. It is impossible to see 
 the Spanish mantilla for the first time, without 
 being charmed with the effect. For a long time 
 the ladies in these islands wore the face covered. 
 I have always thought the Spanish mantilla little 
 more than the Moorish hyack thrown back. The 
 ladies of Santa Cruz are decidedly beautiful ; the 
 hair jet black, the complexion olive, and the eyes 
 flashing, and expressive. They are almost in- 
 variably dressed in black. The men are only re- 
 markable for a bad style of European dress, and 
 the beloved carpa or cloak, or, in default of this, a 
 blanket. 
 
 c6 
 
36 TENERIFFE. 
 
 The camel is in common use here, but it is said 
 not to flourish on the island of Teneriffe. The 
 chief place of breeding being the dry and sandy 
 island of Fuertaventura ; still, to European eyes, 
 it imparts great variety to the groups of people, 
 mules, and donkeys. 
 
 On visiting the captain-general of the province, 
 he began questioning us on the probability of 
 Queen Adelaide visiting Teneriffe. He then pro- 
 ceeded to speculate on what the consequences to 
 Europe would be, if Louis Philippe were to die ; 
 little dreaming at the time that that event had 
 been anticipated by fortune ; and that the king of 
 the French had been compelled to fly from Paris 
 in disgrace. A few weeks after our conversation 
 with the captain -general, a full account reached 
 us of the tremendous political convulsions that 
 were breaking out, like bursting mines, in every 
 part of Europe. It was amusing to trace how this 
 moral earthquake was felt on different parts of the 
 Ocean. Vessels touching at Santa Cruz knew not 
 what ships they were to salute, and what not ; and 
 whether they were at war or peace with the dif- 
 ferent countries at which they arrived. 
 
 A very few days sufficed for Santa Cruz, and we 
 prepared to make a tour of the island. 
 
 Teneriffe has scarcely any associations except- 
 ing those of travellers. Here, Humboldt, Yon Buch, 
 
TENERIFFE. 37 
 
 and a host of other savans, have gratified their 
 love of nature and science. To the most super- 
 ficial observer, the island is of volcanic origin ; 
 and, if I may speculate on matters in which I am 
 not very learned, appears to have been raised to 
 its present elevation by a series of convulsions and 
 eruptions, which have gradually become more 
 limited in their action, until they have ended in 
 the existing mountain. The island has been 
 described as standing upon a submarine crater, 
 such as the Graham islands afford an example of. 
 Teneriffe has been compared to the roof of a church 
 with the peak rising up like a steeple. 
 
 It was early in February that we left Santa 
 Cruz ; a brighter sun never shone above me. 
 My friend, and companion, and our guide, chose to 
 walk ; but 1 preferred the assistance of a horse : 
 we were also accompanied by a sunny-faced lad, 
 named Christoval, and his donkey, which he very 
 affectionately called Borrico, and would allow none 
 to touch her but himself 
 
 From Santa Cruz we ascended by a very dull de- 
 scription of road, between fields of the prickly pear, 
 up to the old city of Cristobal de la Laguna, situated 
 about fourteen or fifteen hundred feet above the 
 level of the sea, at this time of the year with 
 almost an English climate, — a not unwelcome 
 relief from the burning rays of the sun that had 
 
38 TENERIFFE. 
 
 poured down upon us, as we ascended the hill. The 
 town of Cristobal de la Laguna seems almost an 
 anomaly for Teneriffe ; for it is damp, dreary, and 
 desolate-looking, with grass growing in the streets. 
 It possesses a goodly show of public buildings, and 
 is the residence of the bishop. There are two parish 
 churches : one of these is the cathedral church ; it 
 is a plain building, in the Romanesque style, with 
 a St. Sophia dome : and the ruins of several con- 
 vents. The most elegant church here is that of 
 the Conception, which possesses, in the interior, 
 some fine carved wood-work. 
 
 The Laguna, as the name imports, was once 
 upon a time a lake : I should describe it at the 
 present time a large tract of intermediate table- 
 land, partially surrounded by mountains. It is 
 very productive, and enlivened by many white 
 cottages and villas : one of these belonged to the 
 landlord of the "Fonda Inglesa,'" or English hotel, 
 at which on this occasion we breakfasted. Here 
 it delights him to cultivate a small English gar- 
 den, and regale his eyes with cabbages, and 
 radishes, and daisies, and other familiar vegetables 
 and plants. On every side of us were bright corn- 
 fields, and even the distant hills appeared to be 
 covered with vegetation. We took occasion to 
 look into the beautiful valleys of Tregueste, so 
 called after one of the Guanchee kings : these 
 
TENERIFFE. 89 
 
 valleys open to the north-west, and are deemed par- 
 ticularly healthful. Their geography is better un- 
 derstood by describing that part of the island as 
 an extensive plain, skirting the north-west coast ; 
 divided by a spur of that chain of hills that I have 
 spoken of, as in part encompassing the Laguna. 
 It was in these parts that we were invited to par- 
 take of the national dish. A very large pan, 
 filled with goffio, or goifu, looking mightily like 
 bird-lime, was placed before the swarthy family, 
 and each, as he felt disposed, plunged his fingers 
 into it, and carried away a piece of this unsavoury 
 looking stuff. It is considered very nourishing, 
 and is given with milk to fatten brides upon ; 
 it being here, and in many hot climates, the not 
 very interesting or romantic practice to try and 
 promote the good looks of females about to enter 
 into wedlock by making them as fat as possible. 
 
 Proceeding in our route for Orotava, for a long 
 way we passed through fields of maize, flax, and 
 lupin, which latter is sown here in great abun- 
 dance for manure. My mind was prepared to ad- 
 mire the beauties of Teneriffe ; accordingly, as we 
 journeyed on, I allowed myself to fall into raptures 
 at the beauty of those tints that the mountains, 
 and above all the Peak, assumed, under the influ- 
 ence of the setting sun. Clear outlines and bright 
 colours are not what an artistic eye generally 
 
40 TENERIFFE. 
 
 delights in ; yet the artist who would represent 
 tropical landscapes must be prepared for these. 
 Oil-paintings by first-rate artists, representing 
 tropical scenes, would be new and exceedingly 
 interesting ; where, instead of the familiar beech, 
 ash, elm, or hawthorn hedge, the lofty and wavy 
 palm, the broad unclustering fig-leaf, and the big 
 banana, composed the foliage to be represented 
 in the picture. The Peak, which appeared to us 
 a minute ago entirely white, now exhibited every 
 hue of purple, from pink to indigo ; and no sooner 
 had the sun vanished than the stars came out, 
 with a degree of brilliancy I had never seen 
 before. We continued stumbling along the road, 
 too intent upon the objects around us to consider 
 what peril of broken necks we stood in, until we 
 came in sight of the farm-house where we pur- 
 posed to sleep. It appeared to be surrounded by 
 high trees ; and a curious delusion here took pos- 
 session of my mind. Often at I have I stood 
 
 beneath a group of high elms, and listened at 
 sunset to the conclave of rooks overhead, as with 
 expanding and contracting gyrations they settle 
 down for the night. I seemed to hear the familiar 
 noise; and an apparition of an English summer 
 scene recurred to me. What we heard was only 
 the raven-throated frogs, croaking at the bottom 
 of one of those garden tanks that here are so ne- 
 
TENERIFFE. 41 
 
 cessarj. Naturalists have given this noisy frog 
 the name of the " musician/' 
 
 A good-looking rural couple greeted us here ; 
 and, after an exchange of civilities on the part of 
 our guide and them, they promised to do what 
 they could for us in the way of a night's lodging. 
 Accordingly, after a very humble supper, we were 
 shown into a large uncomfortable room, three 
 corners of which were occupied with our beds. 
 
 Notwithstanding our fatigues, we slept but in- 
 differently. I lay in a state of suspense and 
 torment, not wishing to break the slumbers of my 
 companion. However, notwithstanding his sleep- 
 ing, his bed seemed to creak a good deal ; and at 
 last he burst out, in a tone of agony : " Oh, dear 
 me! what shall I do?'' 
 
 "What!" rejoined I, "you are, I suppose, suf- 
 fering the same torments I myself am. What can 
 it be?" 
 
 Our guide, Mr. R , who had heard some 
 
 account, or read in Glass, some remarks about the 
 pricking sensation produced on the skin by the 
 mountain air, said, " Rest quiet ; it is only the 
 mountain air." 
 
 " Mountain air ! " said my companion. " Impos- 
 sible ! I fear it is something worse." 
 
 At which, we both jumped out of bed ; and, 
 tearing off the sheets, discovered, by the morning 
 
42 TENERIFFE. 
 
 light that was breaking through the shutters, the 
 too evident cause of our suiFerings. 
 
 I did not return to my bed ; but, throwing open 
 the door of our chamber, went out upon the sort 
 of terrace before the house. 
 
 I was taken quite aback by the prospect, as I 
 beheld the Peak quite clear from the extreme 
 summit to its ocean-washed base. It is not, in 
 outline, by any means a picturesque mountain. 
 The upper part is of the ogee shape ; yet it is an 
 object calculated to fill the mind with wonder and 
 amazement. It certainly looks like one of the 
 landmarks of the creation ; and must have filled 
 the Carthaginian navigators with great surprise 
 when they saw it, as it is probable they did, in all 
 the glories of an active volcano. Whilst contem- 
 plating this prospect, I was joined on the terrace 
 by my companion and an old priest, who was 
 likewise an inmate of the farm. He pointed out 
 to us the principal objects and villages worthy of 
 our attention and consideration. In the near- 
 ground was the tower of Mantanza de Centigo, 
 signifying " the slaughter of Centigo ;'' because it 
 was near to this spot that the forces of Alonzo de 
 Lugo received their great defeat ; somewhat lower 
 down, and nearer the sea, is the viUage of St. 
 Ursula ; further on, upon the beach, a white line 
 indicated the town of Port Orotava ; and, appa- 
 
TENERIFFE. 43 
 
 rently, immediately beyond this, rose a gigantic 
 cliff, upon the top of which the snowy Peak seemed 
 to be deposited. 
 
 Before leaving Sausal we accompanied the old 
 priest, Don Jose Garcia Valcarul, to see a friend 
 of his at Tacaronto, one Don Sebastian Casilda, 
 who had bestowed much pains in the formation of 
 a museum of local curiosities. The seal of state 
 belonging to one of the Gruanchee kings was to be 
 seen here ; and, what was more curious to us, one 
 of the mummies ; it was in a sitting posture, em- 
 balmed, and rolled, and sown over in a goat -skin. 
 
 The old priest returned to Sausal on a donkey, 
 and in the way introduced us to his neighbour, 
 the cure of Tacaronto, who took us into the 
 church, which for a country and an island church 
 is exceedingly rich ; the cause of this seems to 
 be, that many of quite the humble classes have 
 left Teneriffe for the Havannah, and have there 
 accumulated fortunes ; for the fine island of Cuba 
 is still the El Dorado of Spain ; and on returning, 
 have enriched the church of their native village. 
 
 We parted with Don Jose with mutual presents 
 and expressions of good-will; he presented me 
 with a book entitled, '' Pansamientos sobre las ver- 
 dades mas importantes de la Religion,'' which I 
 have often since looked into ; it was certainly not 
 without rhetorical truth at any rate, that Carlos 
 
44 TENERIFFE. 
 
 Quinto said, the Spanish was the only language 
 in which the Deity should be addressed, I gave 
 Don Jose an English knife ; he appeared feeble, 
 and had all the indications of a man broken in 
 constitution and declining into the grave. 
 
 "We continued our journey in the same fashion 
 as we had come. My friend with Mr. R. on foot, 
 myself mounted, and Christoval with his much- 
 cherished donkey. The pertinacity with which 
 this lad sang was quite remarkable, whilst walk- 
 ing up hills that were precipitous he would con- 
 tinue to carol. We breakfasted at St. Ursula in 
 the door-way of the posada. The church here, as 
 well as most of the few churches we had seen, 
 wore all the appearance of a fallen state of the 
 Church in general. 
 
 We now entered what may be described as the 
 Palm district of Teneriife, many of the trees were 
 very much disfigured, being tied up that the inner 
 leaves might whiten against Palm Sunday, being 
 then used to adorn the churches ; but on looking 
 up the barrancas or deep valleys, we saw forests of 
 them ; and the kind of shock, which a strange 
 vegetation when first seen gives the mind, began 
 to yield to admiration. After passing a defile 
 where the rays of the sun called for umbrellas 
 as much almost as a hail-storm in England, we 
 emerged upon that which is doubtless the grandest 
 
TENERIFFE. 45 
 
 and finest feature in the island, — the Valley of 
 Orotava ; we here perceived that the gigantic cliff 
 before alluded to, which we had noticed at Sausal, 
 surrounded the valley like the walls of an am- 
 phitheatre, or theatre, the sea-shore might be 
 regarded as the line of the stage, which would be 
 about twenty miles long. The sloping plain which 
 is thus circumscribed by the mountains and the 
 sea, is literally like a bed in a green-house ; the 
 soil is excellent, and produces every thing ; how- 
 ever, for the most part the vine covers it like a 
 net ; in the middle of the plain stands the Villa 
 of Orotava, and after having seen many cities, 
 I can recall few that present, as you approach it, 
 a more picturesque, pleasing, and singular appear- 
 ance, than this town of Orotava, surrounded as 
 it is by such remarkable natural objects ; many 
 of the buildings are built in a stately style, evi- 
 dently the creation of the best days of Spanish 
 history. Three or four miles from La Villa is the 
 port, or as it is called, Port-Orotava ; and the 
 country intervening is dotted over with quintas, 
 and various kinds of detached residences. The 
 coup d'obil is doubtless very striking, and there 
 have not been wanting travellers, who have rested 
 satisfied that this was the spot they have been 
 seeking all their lives ; and have accordingly, 
 
46 TENERIFFE. 
 
 without further to do, landed their goods, and 
 here pitched their tents for life. 
 
 In the garden of one of the palaces at Orotava, 
 stands the celebrated dragon tree ; the largest, I 
 believe, and oldest tree in the world ; five hundred 
 years ago it was seen by the first invaders of the 
 island, and was then venerated by the natives for 
 its great size and antiquity ; a great part of it now 
 has become a species of touch-wood, and it has 
 pretty well lost its characteristic features, and 
 must have undergone some diminution since it 
 was last figured. 
 
 Between the Villa Orotava and the Port, there 
 is a nursery-garden, which, I am sorry to say, was 
 in a very neglected state, as the idea of estab- 
 lishing here a garden for the purpose of naturalizing 
 plants from the West Indies or the north of Europe 
 is a very good one ; and should be maintained in 
 the true catholic and scientific spirit. When the 
 wind, called " La brisa,'' did not blow, any thing 
 more exquisite than the climate of this valley, it 
 would be impossible to imagine. It was warm, 
 so soft, and so free from any thing of an enervatin'g 
 character, that one would suppose there could 
 not exist any thing in the vegetable kingdom that 
 would not thrive here. 
 
 Here, too, the most delicate lungs, supposing 
 
TENERIFFE. 47 
 
 the constitution not otherwise exhausted, might 
 respire. But were people of delicate constitutions to 
 fly to these climates, and perpetuate their families, 
 thej may prolong the race for another generation 
 or two ; but it is to be feared, they will leave 
 their children an inheritance of suifering. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 START FOR YCOD BY THE PUMICE PLAINS — BREAK OF DAY 
 
 CHARACTER OF THE SCENERY ON OPENING THE PLAINS AP- 
 PEARANCE OF THE CONE OF THE PEAK ON APPROACHING IT 
 
 COMPARISON BETWEEN THE PEAK AND VESUVIUS 
 
 GENERAL IMPRESSIONS — MOUNTAIN PHENOMENA — THE DE- 
 SCENT — YCOD — CHURCHES OF YCOD, AND THE DEPRESSED STATE 
 OF RELIGION — CARNIVAL SPORTS — DON FLEYTAS — GARRI- 
 CHICO, ITS VOLCANIC ASPECT AND CURIOUS CAVE — THE 
 CANARY BIRD — RETURN TO OROTAVA. 
 
 Being in delicate health, and having been told it 
 was quite impossible to ascend the Peak in the 
 winter-season, I contented myself with crossing the 
 Pumice plains to Ycod. I shall not easily forget 
 the extreme dissatisfaction we felt at being com- 
 pelled to rise at three o'clock in the morning ; but 
 our two guides, both named Christoval, good- 
 naturedly, but doggedly, insisted upon us doing so. 
 The elder Christoval, who had ascended the Peak 
 many times, was a slight, good-natured, dark- 
 complexioned man, dressed entirely in blue, with a 
 pointed hat on, of the most brigand fashion, — a 
 figure, in short, such as our melodramatic-heroes 
 would give a great deal to resemble. ^'Muchacho'' 
 
TENERIFFE. 49 
 
 Christoval, that is boy Christoval, was the same 
 who had accompanied us in all our walks and rides 
 since we had been at Teneriffe. After getting 
 under weigh, we continued for some distance to 
 feel our road in the dark. After ascending about 
 two thousand feet above the Villa, we passed a 
 village, I think called Cresenta ; and then the sun 
 rose suddenly over the mountains, and revealed 
 every thing around us. A pleasant, cheerful 
 prospect it was, to see the shades of night, as it 
 were, chased down the sides of the mountain ; 
 and so, as we heard the goat-herds about, we sat 
 down, and calling them to us, we proceeded to 
 breakfast. 
 
 Shortly after this, we entered upon what the 
 physical geographers call the region of Pine Wood ; 
 and then a spot famous for honey more delicious 
 than that of Hymettus ; the savine and thyme, 
 gently moved by the exhilarating mountain air, 
 seemed to afford what might be called an apiarian 
 heaven. In a few hours we had climbed from the 
 climate of the tropics to that of Archangel ; 
 and passing the first snow, where but a week ago 
 two men had been frozen to death, we entered the 
 beginning of the Pumice plains ; and a most re- 
 markable scene it was that broke upon our sight. 
 An indescribable stillness pervaded every thing 
 about us ; plains of white sand like the desert ex- 
 
50 TENERIFFE. 
 
 tended in one direction ; and in another direction 
 we looked over hillocks and undulating ground, 
 covered with snow, excepting where the gigantic 
 broom, the cytacuse and other shrubs, stood up. In 
 parts, this tract of country was thick with shrubs, 
 and in other places it was like downs quite to the 
 base of the conical-shaped Peak. Those parts of 
 it that were not covered with snow, were of a most 
 beautiful colour. 
 
 Poets talk of secluded valleys where solitude 
 dwells ; but if she haunts some regions of the 
 earth more than others, it is such spots as 
 this that I am describing ; separate and un- 
 sympathetic, the mountain looked the very em- 
 blem of solitude, and as if it would forbid intru- 
 sion and too close inspection. The day proved 
 so fine, that we now regretted that we had not 
 brought horses sufficient for making the entire 
 ascent, as it turned out, the guide told us we 
 might have accomplished it with ease ; but as we 
 had not, we had only to imagine it ; and this was not 
 difficult to do, since we could pretty well trace the 
 path to the " Estanga de los Ingleses,'' and thence 
 to the base of the Sugar Loaf, and could imagine 
 what the prospect would have been, looking down 
 upon the sloping sides of the great cone, the 
 Malpais, and Pumice plains where we now were, 
 and the surrounding country with the sea rising to 
 
TENERIFFE. 51 
 
 the level of the eye ; and perhaps, as some have 
 said they are visible, the mountains of Madeira 
 and the shores of Africa. 
 
 Teneriffe is a Solfaterra, and if I may compare it 
 with an active volcano, I should say it presented 
 many features similar to those of Vesuvius. I 
 should have judged that where we were sitting 
 was once in a state of active eruption ; and that 
 then there was no peak as we now saw it ; but 
 that, after this had subsided, another eruption 
 broke out in the middle of the bed, and continued 
 in a state of activity for many, many years ; and 
 the present mountain was, as it were, gradually ac- 
 cumulated, — just as now, in the middle of the black 
 crater of Vesuvius, rises a small cone, from the 
 apex of which vapour and scoriae are perpetually 
 being ejected, and dropping down continually in- 
 crease the heap of the cone. 
 
 I have never yet cleared up, to my own satis- 
 faction, how far every kind of scientific knowledge 
 contributes to our happiness : it is certain the 
 pleasure of poetical sensations is rather diminished 
 by it. The pleasure we derive from contemplating 
 landscape scenery is not increased by our being 
 told that what we are so much admiring is in 
 reality owing to a violent convulsion ; or that it 
 is a mistake so to speak of nature. The peculiar 
 merit of Humboldt as a traveller, is, that he con- 
 D 2 
 
52 TENERIFFE. 
 
 templates nature througli a poetical as well as a 
 scientific medium, nor seems insensible to the 
 impressions of a pious character, that these things 
 have upon some minds. To such as him be ap- 
 plied the words of the poet: "Felix qui potuit 
 rerum cognoscere causas/' 
 
 I could have sat looking up at the white cone 
 for hours, watching the little puffs of vapour as 
 they issued from its summit, and enjoying the 
 rarefied character of the air and atmosphere. How- 
 ever, as we had no desire to spend the night there, 
 we moved on. 
 
 Scarcely had our cavalcade reached the end of 
 the plain where the descent begins, than they all 
 stood still, being amazed at the prospect before 
 them. A white woolly-looking barrier seemed to 
 divide us from the valley. I never saw so striking 
 an example of this mountain phenomenon ; it was 
 generally compact and defined, and of uniform 
 colour, excepting where a ray of light gave it 
 colour. 
 
 The character of the scenery on this side of the 
 Peak, as you descend, is very different from the 
 other. Here we found, in a very unmistakeable 
 manner, the ravaging effects of some former erup- 
 tion, and every thing about us much wilder than 
 on the side of Orotava. The descent is, in reality, 
 over vast steps of black lava, such as Hercula- 
 
TENERIFFE. 53 
 
 neum lies buried under. The first indications of 
 real vegetation we came to was a wood of fir-trees, 
 not unlike the remnants of the old Caledonian 
 forest at the foot of Loch Negar. Some way 
 below this, and after passing over a wild region 
 with considerable difficulty, we entered a wood of 
 what in England would be called exotics ; gigantic 
 arbuta, and heath-like plants waved over our 
 heads ; having an appearance very different from 
 any thing I have ever seen before. The fragrance 
 of the surrounding shrubs, and the quiet and 
 cheerful character of the path through these 
 bright forests, was a welcome change after the 
 savage grandeur from which we had just emerged. 
 On leaving the wood we looked down upon rich 
 and cultivated fields, spotted over with round 
 hills of rich red volcanic soil, well known for its 
 fertility in the grape. 
 
 We continued, at some elevation from the sea, 
 to pursue the road to Ycod, all of us considerably 
 jaded ; and although the donkey and horse ran to 
 the road-side fountains, the Christovals taught 
 them not to do so by giving them sundry hard 
 blows. That boy Christoval was yet singing as he 
 impelled his animal forward. 
 
 Ycod is prettily situated under some high hills 
 about two miles from the coast, and recalled Fun- 
 chal to our recollection. At the entrance of the 
 d3 
 
54 TENERIFFE. 
 
 town there is a fountain, at which the thirsty- 
 beasts were at last permitted to slake their thirst. 
 The Posada, or Fonda, an antiquated-looking edi- 
 fice, was as good as any we had seen in the island. 
 In the " patio," or court, were littered all the live- 
 stock, in the shape of mules and donkeys, which 
 arrived. This court was surrounded by hanging 
 galleries, into which the rooms of the house 
 opened. The staircases leading up to these gal- 
 leries were crowded with venders of dried mackerel, 
 costermongers, and such sort of people. Our 
 common room was adorned with French prints 
 illustrating the history of the Prodigal Son. 
 
 The vine is much cultivated in the neighbour- 
 hood of Ycod. Many of the landed proprietors 
 are resident upon their estates ; this gives the 
 town a life and smartness that is hardly to be 
 expected from its remote locality. Another rea- 
 son, perhaps, why Ycod possesses so good a Fonda 
 is, because, although not on the shore, it is the 
 nearest town to the point where the passage-boats 
 from Santa Cruz in Palma and St. Sebastian in 
 Gomara land their passengers. 
 
 This being Carnival time, my attention was 
 called to the state of religion amongst these 
 people. There are in Ycod two churches — San 
 Marco, and that of the suppressed convent of the 
 Augustines. The church in the morning was 
 
TENERIFFE. 55 
 
 crowded with the country people, who seemed to 
 go into it for a moment, and then rush out 
 again. From what I heard and saw, I should 
 judge nothing can be worse than the state of the 
 Church in Teneriffe ; and that, not so much from 
 the corrupt practices of the Church, as from its 
 miserably depressed condition. For a long time 
 there was a prohibition on the Bishop of Teneriife 
 against ordaining any fresh clergymen, for fear 
 the responsibility of supporting the newly-made 
 priest should fall on the government. I am not 
 an advocate of monastic establishments, and yet 
 it was almost impossible not to feel one's spirit 
 depressed whilst contemplating the numerous 
 monastic buildings in ruins. 
 
 At the village of the Rio-lejos we entered a 
 huge conventual building all tumbling to pieces, 
 where there still resided an aged nun, deter- 
 mined apparently to abide stedfast to her vows 
 and habitation, as long as the mouldering walls 
 did not fall in and bury her. In most of the 
 churches the confessional box stands as lumber ; 
 and the people, who would much like to have ser- 
 mons, hardly ever are instructed from the pulpit. 
 Some, not without a show of reason, still hold it 
 to be a question how far the Church civilizes a 
 country, and how far national misfortune and 
 prosperity determine the energy of the Church. 
 D 4 
 
56 TENERIFFE. 
 
 I cannot but Believe in Spain the two evils 
 serve to keep each other alive. The day of com- 
 mercial prosperity and political reform in Spain 
 will be the day of Church reform also ; or, if a 
 sounder system of Church polity was to be adopted, 
 I doubt not the political aspect of the country would 
 undergo much improvement ; but notwithstanding 
 what has been done at present, there is not reform, 
 but only decay. 
 
 We found our guides had given in to the 
 fooleries of the Carnival, and when summoned, 
 appeared before us with faces white with flour, 
 — this and throwing broken pots at each other's 
 heads is the prevailing sport of the season. Crowds 
 of the people were masked, and the guitars were 
 sounding merrily under the windows ; the masks, 
 I suspect, concealed little beauty ; for the women 
 here, who work harder than the men, cannot 
 boast the good looks of those on the other side 
 of the island. Whilst contemplating this scene, 
 Don Fleytas came up to us on his mule, pre- 
 pared to conduct us to Garrichico. He was a fair 
 specimen of the middle-class gentleman ; he had 
 visited the Peninsula, was bred to the law, but 
 now engaged in a lucrative business, and had 
 been interested in our favour by a friend at 
 Santa Cruz. 
 
 The scenery on the road to Garrichico is rich 
 
TENERIFFE. 57 
 
 and beautiful, but no sooner do you approach 
 the town, than the whole face of nature appears 
 changed ; blackness, such as is familiar only to 
 a dweller in coal districts, pervades every thing. 
 The town is situated immediately under a high 
 mountainous cliff; and you see, as distinctly as if 
 it were an event of yesterday, the signs of the 
 devastating torrent of lava that in 1706 poured 
 down upon this devoted " pueblo/' An old pic- 
 ture, that was taken by an artist from the sea 
 at the time of this lateral eruption of the Peak, 
 represents the red-hot lava descending in streams 
 upon the town, and the houses in flames : it is 
 evident that this eruption added somewhat to the 
 size of the island ; for streets and houses stand, 
 where the sea once washed. The Plaza, which is 
 planted with trees and adorned with a fountain, 
 was formerly the port and landing-place. The 
 volcanic river came so gradually, as we were told, 
 that the people had time to escape and to save 
 their most valuable goods : those who like to 
 see judgments in these visitations, have remarked 
 that there never was a town so full of conventual 
 buildings as Garrichico ; the nuns and monks 
 must have been literally barracked off here. The 
 convents are thicker than the colleges of Oxford, 
 although now mostly deserted and falling into 
 decay. 
 
 D 5 
 
58 TENEEIFFE. 
 
 We lunched at Don Fleytas' wine-press, and 
 then proceeded to explore a singular cave, which 
 I was exceedingly glad to get out of; for I am 
 sure if Dante had ever visited it, he would have 
 selected it as a path to the infernal regions ; we 
 traced it to the sea, and it is said to ascend up 
 to th« Pumice plains ; for once upon a time, a dog 
 was put in just where we entered and was found 
 up in the plains, in which case it is more than 
 ten thousand feet in length, and takes an ascend- 
 ing direction. As I could see no signs of limestone 
 stalactics, I conjectured it might be formed bv the 
 cooling of a bed of lava over a narrow gorge or dyke 
 in the mountain, — the intense heat of the cave I 
 thought rather a verification of this conjecture. 
 
 Having satisfied our curiosity about this moun- 
 tain, we turned our faces towards Orotava ; pass- 
 ing by a shorter and more direct road, we saw 
 little to amuse excepting one magnificent "bar- 
 ranca,'' up the sides of which flowered the myrtle 
 in great profusion ; the beautiful woods were alive 
 with goldfinches and canaries ; this bird, in a wild 
 state, is always of a greenish colour, — the pure 
 yellow plumage, which is much prized in the 
 island, is acquired by perpetual crossing ; but the 
 best singing birds are the green ones. The road 
 from Ycod Alto to Orotava continues on the 
 heights until within four miles of the town ; at 
 
TENERIFFE. 59 
 
 this point you obtain a fine view of the valley 
 from the opposite side to that whence we first 
 saw it ; wherever we came the villagers were 
 racing over the fields with their hands full of 
 flour, throwing it over whoever they came against. 
 In the town of Orotava we found processions of 
 quaint figures parading up and down the streets, 
 to the notes of the tinkling guitar, but nothing 
 was going on in the churches. The interior of 
 the principal church at Orotava is really a very 
 elegant piece of Grecian architecture. It is of 
 the Basilica shape, with two rows of Corinthian 
 columns running down the middle of the church. 
 
 j>6 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 CONTRAST BETWEEN SPANISH AND GERMAN HOTEL-KEEPERS — 
 
 PORT OROTAVA DON MARTINEZ THE PROGRISISTA— NEWS OF 
 
 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION ITS EFFECTS ON THE INMATES 
 
 OF LA PAS A MODEL REPUBLIC — THE ftUINTA OF LA RAMBLA 
 
 AND ARTIFICIAL GARDENING A PERILOUS ROAD— VOLCANIC 
 
 DEVELOPMENTS — UNWILLINGNESS TO LEAVE THE VALLEY 
 
 DELICATE COMPLIMENTS TO THE AUTHOR. 
 
 Spanish pride shows itself very decidedly in the 
 general dislike which Spaniards have to keeping 
 hotels. A German seems to glory in this employ- 
 ment, as the many thousands of English who 
 annually navigate the Rhine can testify ; but 
 whether the Spaniard considers that it reflects 
 upon his mighty affectation of hospitality, I cannot 
 say ; certain it is that Spaniards make but poor 
 landlords. Thus in the important towns of Orotava 
 and Port Orotava, the latter of which two places 
 was formerly the chief town of export in the seven 
 isles, there is nothing but one miserable Venta in 
 the former place, — and this so bad, that we left it 
 as soon as we possibly could, and went down into 
 the Port, in the hopes of meeting something 
 better. 
 
TENERIFFE. 61 
 
 Orotava and Port, on the north side of the 
 island, bear the same relation to each other as Santa 
 Cruz and St. Christoval de la Laguna do to the 
 south-eastern side. The Yilla and San Christoval 
 de la Laguna are built at about the same elevation 
 from the sea, and I should say are equally distant 
 from their respective ports. Port Orotava has a 
 somewhat desolate appearance. The grass grows 
 in the middle of many of the streets ; the beautiful 
 climate moreover was somewhat disturbed by the 
 prevalence of the " brisa'' or north-east wind, that 
 surely blows, more or less, in all parts of the world 
 to remind men that they are mortal ; and at this 
 particular time, the influenza had come over from 
 Paris to these obscure parts ! and inspired the 
 natives with as much dread, as if it had been the 
 plague or the yellow-fever. They called it "La 
 grippa." 
 
 An English merchant made interest for us ; and 
 procured us a lodging in the house of one Serior 
 Martinez, a Spanish gentleman of rather reduced 
 fortune, but ample habitation. He was literally 
 living in a palace, by himself ; a terrible progri- 
 sista and a passionate admirer of Espartero ; a 
 great conner of the little scraps of paper that 
 circulate here as newspapers, and the very centre 
 of the political circle of the place. 
 
 One evening we were sitting at our evening 
 
62 TENERIFFE. 
 
 meal with Don Martinez, wliicli consisted of milk, 
 and rice, and fruit. Martinez had just got his 
 letters from Spain, and was reading them with 
 great agitation, when he suddenly got up, and run 
 out of the room, leaving us listlessly looking out 
 upon the evening sky, and the broad leaves of the 
 banana, and thinking how very quiet and tranquil 
 every thing was, but yet a little surprised at the 
 agitation of our host. Suddenly we heard a great 
 explosion, and immediately saw the darting light 
 of rockets as they rose one after another ; and 
 Martinez returning to us, exclaimed, " Cohete ! " 
 "cohete ! '' a rocket ! a rocket ! bravo ! there is a 
 republic in France, and Louis Philippe is dead. 
 Viva La RepuhUca ! May the Republic flourish I" 
 Of course, having no respect for Spanish in- 
 telligence, we did not believe Martinez, and only 
 concluded it must be some stir amongst the Progri- 
 sistas. Martinez evidently regarded it as the 
 dawn of brighter days for Spain, although he did 
 not consider Spain was yet ripe for a republic ; 
 but he said Spain was terribly governed, and 
 that every body was a thief; nor did he spare 
 even Narvaez. 
 
 Notwithstanding our incredulity, a few days 
 sufficed to convince us that France was in a state of 
 great confusion and agitation ; and that if Louis 
 Philippe was not dead, and the Republic pro- 
 
TENERIFFE. 63 
 
 claimed, still the country was doubtless in great 
 disorder. 
 
 It was astonishing how great and wide-spread- 
 ing a panic this revolution gave rise to. People 
 here having European interests and friends, began 
 to think it would be necessary for them to return 
 to their relations, before the ground upon which 
 they stood should have changed masters, or at least 
 before the seas were covered with hostile fleets, 
 which might lay hold of them, and make them 
 prisoners for life. 
 
 Amongst other places we found this feeling ex- 
 isting at La Pas, the quinta in which our agree- 
 able friend Mr. S. resided. It showed itself 
 on the part of" Mrs. S. in anxiety about her 
 children. 
 
 Mr. S. had been driven out to Madeira by his 
 doctors on account of his health ; there he received 
 a certain amount of benefit, but after a time 
 coming on to Teneriife, he got well enough to think 
 about revisiting England ; he did so, and at the 
 same time married an excellent and intelligent 
 lady, and again returned to the island of Teneriffe. 
 Certainly nothing could appear a greater banish* 
 ment ''for a distinguished Cambridge man,'' not- 
 withstanding the fine scenery by which he was 
 surrounded, and the ever bright sky over his head ; 
 however he had lived for many years here ; long 
 
64 TENERIFFE. 
 
 enough to see two sons grown beyond the manage- 
 ment of parents ; and it was for this reason, that 
 the lady seemed anxious to make these political 
 disturbances a reason for breaking the charm 
 that had made them exiles for so long a time ; 
 however, as far as I was able to judge, these youths 
 appeared particularly advanced ; in one respect 
 I could speak of their attainments with certainty ; 
 they were admirable musicians, and whilst I sat 
 listening with the greatest pleasure to a family 
 performance, I felt only regret that this home, 
 which had somewhat of the romantic about it, was 
 very soon going to be abandoned probably for a 
 smoky street in London, and all the matter-of- 
 fact associations of our elbowing island. 
 
 " Do you not think, if these political disturbances 
 should frighten you home, you will often regret 
 this quinta, your unrivalled garden, and this sun- 
 shine and ^ La Pas' Peace ? ' 
 
 " We may often think of it, but although there 
 is some very nice Spanish society at Port, — as the 
 family of the Marquise Sauzal, — this cannot make 
 up for the English society, such as one has been 
 accustomed to • besides, there is an obvious ne- 
 cessity of being safely lodged in England, before 
 it becomes impossible to go," 
 
 " I do not believe half this story about Louis 
 Philippe^s murder ; and it is certain there cannot 
 
TENERIFFE. 65 
 
 be a safer place in the world than the Valley of 
 Orotava ; if the world is coming to an end, it is 
 only the European part of it ; I am sure this is a 
 most innocent and primitive part ; the very place 
 of all others, in these days of Republicanism, to 
 form, one would imagine, a model Republic/' 
 
 " Not so primitive, I suspect, as you would per- 
 suade us ; in the first place, religion is in a very 
 fallen and degraded state, and I suppose you will 
 not assert that this belongs to a primitive state of 
 things ; there was once in this island, nearly forty 
 ohurches, between thirty and forty monasteries 
 and nunneries, and a hundred and thirty hermit- 
 ages ; I do not say it is not a good thing that the 
 majority of these are swept away ; every Gruanchee 
 cave must have been occupied by a dreamer ; 
 but at present the reaction has gone direfully 
 the other way/' 
 
 " I suppose, in this respect, Tenerifie and all 
 Spain looks like a country that is passed away. 
 I trust that the Church of Spain is in a transition 
 state, and that she will rise from these ashes, to 
 become more really useful than before/' 
 
 In some such way as this, the party con- 
 versed at La Pas on the engrossing subject of the 
 times. 
 
 Pride and indolence are the characteristics of 
 the Spaniards, that is why Spain is utterly unfit 
 
66 TENERIFPE. 
 
 for a Republic. If one might speculate, the Canary- 
 Islands would form a nice little Republic ; for the 
 seven islands are about the size of seven English 
 counties ; their local advantages are certainly very 
 great, the people are lively and hopeful, and not 
 without mercantile enterprise and a reputation for 
 literature ; not that any one who honours the 
 ancient glory of Spain, or could wish to see so 
 very important a section of Europe as the Penin- 
 sula, maintaining any thing of its rightful influence 
 amongst other nations, could desire to rob her of 
 her few remaining colonial possessions ; for the 
 lopping off colonies is one of the indications of a 
 declining empire. Don Martinez, however, thought 
 differently : he first of all regretted they were a 
 province of Spain, and not a colony ; for if they had 
 been a colony, probably it would have been an 
 easier matter for them to have followed the exam- 
 ple of Spanish America, and have thrown off the 
 authority of the mother country, which they de- 
 clared only impoverished them. It must be ad- 
 mitted the Canarians had some reason not to be 
 quite satisfied. A continual tide of employees 
 was coming and returning from the Peninsula. 
 These men you would suppose had for their motto 
 the words, " I cannot dig, to beg I am ashamed ;'' 
 therefore I am made a placeman, that I may take 
 bribes, and get rich at the expense of the country. 
 
TENERIFFE. 67 
 
 These ^' empleados '' came from the mother 
 country, and are of course great men in the pro- 
 vince of the Canarians. I never saw the An- 
 dalucian dress in these islands, excepting on the 
 back of one of these gentlemen. 
 
 We enjoyed the society at La Pas very much, 
 and were accompanied by the accomplished pro- 
 prietor of it in two or three pleasant excursions. 
 Mr. S. showed us some of the Gfuanchee caves, 
 which are verily only fit for the monarch of birds, 
 instead of the palaces of mortal beings, which 
 many of them are said to have been — no doubt 
 selected for their inaccessible features. We like- 
 wise accompanied Mr. S. to La Rambla, a 
 famous villa or quinta, situated to the south of 
 the village where Alonzo de Lugo gained his final 
 victory. In the Lower Reolejos there is a con- 
 vent in ruins of prodigious size. 
 
 The career of Mr. S. sounded very much like 
 a fiction ; he might well say with the poet, 
 
 ** I was a stricken deer which left the herd ;" 
 
 he was a Cambridge wrangler, and had been the 
 companion of some of those who have since dis- 
 tinguished themselves in the world as Judges, 
 Bishops, or Philosophers ; doubtless if they re- 
 membered him at all, they have long since num- 
 
68 TENERIFFE. 
 
 bered him with the dead ; but all this time, he 
 has been more or less a student and votary of the 
 arts, and in point of attainments was up with 
 most of them. 
 
 On reaching the village of La Rambla, we were 
 met by the proprietor, Don Castro ; there he was 
 in true Spanish fashion, muffled up in a cloak, 
 inspiring a spectator with an involuntary shivering 
 fit. Poor man ! there was some excuse for him, 
 he was suffering from " la grippa,'' and our friend 
 approached him as if he had been a train of gun- 
 powder. He wondered we had not taken ifc, — there 
 surely is a spell in local prejudices. It did not 
 strike us as any thing very wonderful, since we 
 did not consider an ordinary cold as an epidemic. 
 Don Castro, who seemed to be on excellent terms 
 with his servants, — just such terms as a master 
 ought to be, — handed us over to the gardener, and 
 told him to show us round. The house is a sub- 
 stantial quinta, commanding a view of the mag- 
 nificent headlands that jut out into the sea be- 
 tween Sausal, on the other side the valley of 
 Orotava, and where we were. The gardens con- 
 stitute the principal object of attraction ; and in 
 the judgment of the old gardener the most inter- 
 esting thing in them was an artificial waterfall, 
 little knowing that we came from the land of arti- 
 
TENERIFFE. 69 
 
 ficial waterfalls, and that the jardin anglais is the 
 sine qua non of many of the most aspiring conti- 
 nental towns. 
 
 After gazing for a sufficient time at a narrow 
 stream of water, which, after a great deal of secret 
 labour, was made to trickle over a rock like the 
 tears of a crocodile, we turned into a grove of date 
 palms, which really did reward us for our ride ; 
 besides these magnificent trees, the feathery heads 
 of which met over us, the geranium beds on either 
 side of the walk were the handsomest I had seen 
 in the island. Flowers which will not grow on the 
 south-east of the island, on account of the excessive 
 dryness of the air, flourish here ; so that the cli- 
 mate is evidently much moister than on the Santa 
 Cruz side. Don Castro, before our leaving, intro- 
 duced us to his wife, who, barring a frightful habit 
 of spitting, was a very interesting person. 
 
 Leaving the quinta, we proceeded on to the 
 village. Dangers threatened us from above and 
 below : frightful rocks hung over our heads, and 
 precipices yawned within a few inches of our 
 horses' feet. In the way we had to encompass a 
 mass of trap rock, exactly resembling that of 
 Staffa. In no part of the world, as it seemed to 
 me, would it be possible to see so large a variety 
 of volcanic developments as in Teneriffe. The 
 smoking or steam-vomiting Peak, the beautiful 
 
70 TENERIFFE 
 
 crystallized sulphur, the obsidium, the pumice, the 
 black lava, and the trap rock, are all to be seen in 
 their natural localities in a day. As we were re- 
 turning by the aforesaid perilous road home, a boy 
 met us, and told us a man and horse had just 
 been carried away by the tide, and that it would 
 be impossible for us to pass : — this was a bit of a 
 fabrication, although the waves did break over 
 our horses, and is one of the many things that 
 have made me believe, if a traveller would be much 
 of an explorer, he must not give too ready heed to 
 the prejudices of the natives. 
 
 I could have tarried for an indefinite period in 
 the valley of Orotava, could I have persuaded my 
 companion to continue with me ; but this I failed 
 in doing ; and just at this time intelligence arrived 
 at Santa Cruz confirming Martinez's statement 
 that there was a revolution in France, and like- 
 wise informing us that a large brig had just hove 
 in sight off Point Anaga, which we conjectured 
 to be the " Brilliant,'" from Madeira. We there- 
 fore bid adieu to our kind friends in the valley, 
 and crossed the island to Santa Cruz. I recollect 
 being much amused at the nut-brown landlady of 
 an inn at which we stopped, coming up and 
 patting my cheek and stroking my hands ; and 
 when I inquired the meaning of these extra- 
 ordinary proceedings, I was told that she was 
 
TENERIFFE. 71 
 
 struck with my fairness, and wished to ascertain 
 whether I was really flesh and blood. On reach- 
 ing Santa Cruz we found our expectation verified : 
 the "Brilliant/' from Madeira, lay at anchor in 
 the roads. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 AN importation'^ OF MADEIRA SOCIETY — FEMALE ANXIETY IN 
 SIGHT SEEING— THE PRINCES OF SAXE-WEIMER ASCEND THE 
 
 PEAK — OUR UNSCIENTIFIC BOTANICAL REMARKS GENERAL 
 
 DISAPPOINTMENT OF THE PARTY, AND REASONS WHY — CLI- 
 MATE OF SANTA CRUZ — DETERMINATION TO REMAIN BEHIND 
 AT TENERIFFE — "THE BRILLIANT" RETURNS TO MADEIRA — 
 THE SAILING CIRCUS — FATHER TIERNEY — SAIL FOR LAS 
 PALMAS IN CANARY DESCRIPTION OF THE TOWN AND CLI- 
 MATE. 
 
 There is something interesting and refined about 
 Madeira society. Every shade of the upper and 
 middle classes of English society had its repre- 
 sentative the winter I spent there ; besides these 
 there were several foreigners of distinction. The 
 serious cause that brings out such numbers induces 
 also a thoughtful and religious tone of sentiment 
 in many : added to this, polemics had stirred up 
 all parties, and increased conversation and thoughts 
 upon this subject. Yet sorrow and aU things at 
 Madeira are more or less ephemeral. There is a 
 great deal of sympathy shown for invalids, but 
 when they are gone they are as if they had never 
 been. Of the professions the Church contributes 
 
TENERIFFE. 73 
 
 by far the greater number. The "Brilliant" 
 brought out in her a very fair section of this 
 society ; some forty-one or forty -two people. The 
 late Queen Dowager's sister the Duchess of Saxe 
 Weimer, and her husband the Grand Duke, also 
 their two sons and two daughters, were of the 
 party. The landlord of the "Fonda Inglesa" had 
 contrived in very good time to get rid of the 
 military governor of the island, who had occupied 
 one end of his hotel ; and it was now devoted to 
 the uses of the royal party. 
 
 There was something unreasonable in the ex- 
 pectations of some of these. The island, that had 
 not had a stranger in it for two or three years, 
 was expected to afford suitable accommodation 
 for forty in one day. The island was positively 
 taken by storm. Donkeys, mules, camels, and 
 horses, were pressed into the service of the differ- 
 ent parties. I remember one unfortunate lady, 
 in her great anxiety to see the Peak, which for 
 some good reason seemed indisposed to exhibit 
 its snowy top, was early and late in her flights to 
 different parts of the island, whence she hoped to 
 obtain this view ; and after all, I fear she had the 
 mortification to return to Madeira, without having 
 gratified this natural curiosity. 
 
 The two sons of the duke. Prince Edward of 
 Saxe-Weimer, and his brother, accompanied by 
 
 E 
 
74 TENERIFFE. 
 
 the young men who were not positively on the 
 sick-list, ascended the Peak. The more delicate of 
 the visitors remained at Santa Cruz ; and I under- 
 took the office of cicerone for these, exploring 
 the valleys and barrancas in the neighbourhood, 
 and making unscientific observations on the won- 
 derful botanical productions to be seen here. 
 
 The Euphorbia Canariensis, which I have alluded 
 to above, is a very large plant, with numerous green 
 sort of petals shooting up, like wax tapers ; it covers 
 the sides of the mountains and these valleys. 
 
 The general face of the country, in my opinion, 
 is much disfigured by the great cultivation of the 
 "cactus opuntia'' "higo tumbo,'' Nepaul plant, or 
 prickly pear, whichever people like to call it. Every 
 thing is now made to give place to this, for the 
 sake of the grub called cochineal, which buries 
 itself in the leaves of the plant ; in appearance, 
 it is very like a dried currant frosted over with 
 silver, and when crushed, affords the splendid 
 purple colour for dyeing, used in behalf of the red 
 coats of our soldiers, and sportsmen. 
 
 Formerly the orchilla weed was chiefly culti- 
 vated here ; but it seems to be now the general 
 opinion that the Canary Islands will soon engross 
 the cochineal trade ; nearly every petty merchant 
 has some interest in it ; the year before my visit to 
 the island, the crop amounted, in all the islands, to 
 
TENERIFFE. 75 
 
 as much as 404,969 lbs., showing a very great 
 increase upon the crop of former years. 
 
 Owing to the excessive dryness of the climate 
 of Santa Cruz, there is hardly such a thing to be 
 seen as a geranium. The winter average of the 
 thermometer is one or two degrees higher than 
 that of Madeira ; and I imagine hardly ever falls 
 below 60° The number of rainy days in the year 
 certainly does not exceed thirty, and sometimes 
 not twenty. 
 
 The beauties or wonders of nature can hardly be 
 enjoyed in a bustle or a crowd. The poetical 
 part of us which is excited in contemplating fine 
 scenery, is apt to be checked by the call that is 
 made upon the mind by the more engrossing 
 feelings of social life. The party returned from 
 Orotava loud in their praises of the hospitality 
 they had met with in the valley ; but not so much 
 so of its beauties, — in short, although they accom- 
 plished the ascent, they seemed disappointed. 
 I venture to say, many have enjoyed the recollec- 
 tion of the expedition more than they did the 
 reality. They were suifering from great fatigue, 
 some had been ill on the top, and others returned 
 with faces swelled and crimson ; so that altogether 
 they contemplated with pleasure returning to Ma- 
 deira, and the transported luxuries and comfort 
 that island affords. 
 
 E 2 
 
76 TENERIFFE. 
 
 For my own part, I had determined to sail from 
 TeneriiFe to Spain, but unfortunately, could not 
 persuade any to remain behind ; several very kindly 
 remonstrated with me, and would have persuaded 
 me to return to Funchal ; but the confined air of 
 Madeira Proper, as that particular locality is some- 
 times called, not really agreeing with me, and 
 being anxious to see a little more of the world, 
 I persisted in my resolution ; and after the Gfrand 
 Duke had received the authorities of the town, 
 accompanied the party to their embarkation, and, 
 not without a feeling of sadness at parting with so 
 many agreeable companions, saw the " Brilliant " 
 weigh anchor, and the sails spread one after ano- 
 ther ; the main-sail, top-sail, and top-gallant-sail, 
 and, after some anxious watching, the brig, majesti- 
 cally disappear behind the point. 
 
 At any time it is painful to part with friends 
 at a ship's side, more particularly when you are 
 left without companions on a foreign shore. I 
 returned to the Fonda in somewhat depressed 
 spirits, nor were my feelings improved by the 
 state of things I found there. For scarcely had 
 my friends quitted their temporary lodgings, when 
 they were occupied by a very different class of 
 voyagers. There sat, in the window-seat of the 
 "Sala," or dining-room of the Fonda, a very 
 strange-looking person, apparently neither strictly 
 
TENERirrE. 77 
 
 speaking a sailor or a landsman. I was told that 
 he was the captain of an American bark, which 
 had just entered the Port, bringing a company of 
 roving, rather than strolling, actors and actresses, 
 and about twenty spotted circus horses, and a 
 Portuguese clown, who was to echo the English 
 jests of an American, in bad Spanish. This cer- 
 tainly appeared one of the most extraordinary 
 speculations that was ever heard of ; nothing less 
 than Mr. Astley's embarking and following the 
 track of Captain Cook. The landlord of the Eng- 
 lish hotel of course would not forego the profits 
 of such a company, although he was asked to do 
 so ; and accordingly, after a time, a troop of the 
 performers made their appearance. Their counte- 
 nances had very much of the savage look about 
 them ; their hair black and long, their cheek- 
 bones high, and the general expression of their 
 countenances very wild and lawless. I have 
 mentioned them here, merely as illustrating the 
 extravagances into which American speculation 
 will carry men. To escape from them, I was very 
 glad to confine my society to Father Tierney. 
 
 Father Tierney was an Irishman ; he had been 
 the prior of more than one conventual building in 
 Tenerifie : by some dispensation, he was permitted 
 to keep as many horses as he liked ; and was, in 
 his time, a noted rider, and the pleasant com- 
 E 3 
 
78 TENERIPFE. 
 
 panion of all who visited these parts. It was 
 certainly to his credit, that although a great deal 
 of money had at one time and another passed 
 through his hands, he was now, since the sup- 
 pression of the convents, living on the moderate 
 stipend of sixty pounds a year, which he received 
 as chaplain of the forces. He was kind and easy 
 to a fault, and would have no eyes for faults and 
 errors of conduct which he could not but disap- 
 prove of ; and excused the misconduct of one of 
 the " empleados '' living in the hotel in a way I 
 could not agree with. 
 
 Father Tierney and I had a few very amicable 
 conversations upon the merits of our respective 
 Churches ; we neither of us had the least idea of 
 converting each other, or changing our opinions. 
 He told me some singular anecdotes of those 
 " affaires du coeur,'' to which those of his fra- 
 ternity, notwithstanding their vows, are subject ; 
 one of which I am tempted to relate. A certain emi- 
 nent priest, being appointed to a colonial bishop- 
 ric, as he went on his voyage formed so strong an 
 attachment to a lady on board the brig, that he 
 contrived to be dropped on some island, where he 
 renounced his orders, and married the lady, 
 leaving another to take his bishopric. 
 
 My beau ideal of the missionary life has always 
 been a half monastic state in which the clergy, 
 
TENERIFFE. 79 
 
 instead of the amenities of domestic life, should 
 enjoy manual labour and study of every descrip- 
 tion, literary, scientific, and theological ; if any 
 one desires to know what solitude is, let him go 
 into a foreign country alone, where the people 
 profess a different faith to his own, he will then be 
 entitled to say he knows what solitude is, but not 
 otherwise. 
 
 An unmarried clergy, presided over by able 
 bishops, will of course carry out Church views 
 more actively than a secular body of men, with 
 all the various calls and ties of domestic life 
 about them ; but the man who values a national 
 prosperity and progressive intelligence, will never 
 think it can be a blessing to his country, to ex- 
 change a class of men such as those who had 
 lately been at Teneriffe, for the generally un- 
 polished, and often very narrow-minded priesthood 
 of Spain and Portugal. Father Tierney could not 
 help expressing himself charmed by the carriage 
 and intelligence of one or two of the clergymen 
 brought by the " Brilliant.'' The Portuguese clergy 
 are a most cruelly enslaved body of men. Rulers 
 would do well to remember a dishonoured clergy is 
 sure to bring low a country ; and the clergy of 
 Portugal are terribly depressed. And ill-treated, 
 as some think our Church has been of late years ; 
 E 4 
 
80 TENERIFFE. 
 
 as far as temporalities are concerned, her trials 
 have been nothing to those of the Portuguese 
 and Spanish Churches. A married priesthood in 
 Spain would doubtless work a great change in the 
 country. 
 
 Father Tierney regarded the laws of the Church 
 as settled things ; and was not without that very 
 common feeling amongst Roman Catholics, that a 
 married priesthood is altogether something ano- 
 malous and undesirable ; but we did not dispute. 
 Father Tierney had done with disputation, and 
 having made his election, was disposed to live 
 and let live ; to take things as he found them, go 
 through his offices regularly, and then spend the 
 greater part of his day in sauntering up and down 
 the corridor of the Fonda, and holding passing con- 
 versation with the different people who went to 
 and fro ; even to the American actors, and the 
 singular troop of horse marines. 
 
 This circus drew people from all parts of the 
 island, who cheerfully paid the enormous charge 
 for admittance to witness the uncommon sight, to 
 them, of men riding four or five horses at a time, 
 marked in all manner of extraordinary ways, or 
 rearing human pyramids ; as these were matters 
 that could afford little interest to one like my- 
 self, I embarked on board the "Buen Mozo," a 
 
GRAN CANAIIIA. 81 
 
 trading fallucho, that arrived from Cadiz, and 
 crossed over to the island of Gran Canaria. 
 
 There were nothing but Spaniards on board this 
 vessel ; some twenty young men, the " majos'' of 
 Teneriffe, and sporting characters, who were car- 
 rying over their " gallos Ingleses,"" or fighting cocks 
 to contest the merits of the " gallos" of Canary 
 This is the national sport ; and as much con- 
 sidered and thought of in these islands, as the bull 
 fight is in Spain. There was something open and 
 pleasing in the bearing of these young men ; but 
 they were deplorable sailors, notwithstanding the 
 vessel lay as quietly as it possibly could in the 
 trough of the sea, they were nearly all of them 
 speedily disabled. At two o'clock the following 
 morning, we anchored off the Isleta, and at day- 
 light, on ascending the deck, I found a somewhat 
 dreary prospect. The Isleta is so called not 
 because it is actually an island, but because it 
 seems as if it ought to be one ; it is joined to 
 the main land by what is little better than a 
 sand bank. Along which we had to plough 
 our way to the principal city of the island, " Las 
 Palmas.'' 
 
 The appearance of the city is peculiar as you enter 
 it ; the houses are low, flat-topped, and with such 
 enormous gurgoils to carry off the rain, that the 
 street has more the appearance of a fort, bristling 
 
82 LAS PALMAS. 
 
 with cannon, than any thing else. The poor part of 
 the population live in houses cut from the sand- 
 stone hill that overhangs the city. 
 
 The town of Las Palmas has a population of 
 about 10,000 ; it is built on either side of a 
 ravine which divides it, in the bottom of which 
 flows a narrow stream, spanned by rather an 
 elegant bridge, built by a former bishop of the 
 place. On looking up the ravine from the bridge, 
 you see many palm trees, and the whole pros- 
 pect is crowned by the pale blue Pexos ridge 
 of mountains which are 6500 feet high. The 
 valley itself is exceedingly fertile, and is so well 
 irrigated, that it produces two crops of Indian 
 corn in the year besides a crop of potatoes. 
 
 The town is well built, and there remain many 
 of the original houses built by the first conquerors 
 and settlers in the island The chief building is 
 the cathedral of St. Anne. It is important enough 
 to have called for particular notice in a European 
 country. The style is Romanesque. It has two 
 towers and a centre cupola. The interior, however, 
 that which recommends it to one's notice, on 
 account of the very lofty and spiral character of 
 the piers. It is said that the architect was an 
 Irish priest, and that he selected a species of 
 pumice stone for the purpose of building the roof ; 
 but the workmen employed on the building con- 
 
LAS PALMAS. 83 
 
 sidered the piers so unequal to bear an ordinary 
 roof upon them, that they threw down their tools 
 and refused to work, whereupon the Irish priest 
 took a chair and set himself underneath where 
 they were at work, that his own head might 
 suffer, if the columns should prove unequal to 
 bear the roof he was going to place upon them. 
 The windows are of stained glass, but without 
 any design in them. "When Canary was the only 
 see in the province, it was a very wealthy one, 
 and even now it bears the character of being one 
 of those lucrative banishments where men who 
 are afterwards to be preferred to the great cathe- 
 drals of Spain, are not unseldom sent to scrape 
 together a little money. 
 
 The most important edifice after the cathedral 
 is built upon the site of the suppressed convent 
 of Santa Clara, and comprises a reading-room, 
 coffee-room, ball-room, and theatre : into this club- 
 house, as it is, our consul introduced me, where 
 I found plenty of French and Spanish papers, but 
 very few books. A library of modern books I 
 should think was a thing quite unknown in 
 Spain. 
 
 On the north side of this building is the 
 Alemada, laid out with some pretensions, and 
 thronged every evening with the ladies of the 
 E 6 
 
84? LAS PALMAS. 
 
 place, and the cock-figliting gentlemen of the two 
 islands. 
 
 The valley in which the town is built separates 
 a little higher up, into two narrower ones affording 
 exceedingly pretty walks and rides. To the south 
 of the town between the high land and the sea, 
 stretches a tract of fertile well irrigated land 
 about a mile in breadth. The method adopted 
 in irrigating is said to be of Moorish origin, 
 and from its antiquity I should think it probably 
 was. The furrows are ploughed in semicircles, 
 so as to lead into each other; the top furrow is 
 called the " madre/' or mother, and the water 
 being turned into this, runs through all the 
 others in the piece of ground which is under 
 cultivation. 
 
 The climate of Las Palmas is quite different 
 from that of Santa Cruz. Regularly about ten 
 o'clock, although the sky has been clear before, a 
 sea-cloud comes up from the East, and tempers 
 the rays of the sun with moisture, so that 
 geraniums and succulent plants generally will 
 flourish here, which will not at Santa Cruz. The 
 number of rainy days at Las Palmas greatly ex- 
 ceeds the number of Santa Cruz, and even that 
 of Funchal in Madeira. Thus, the number of 
 •rainy days in Santa Cruz is under forty, at Las 
 
LAS PALMAS. 85 
 
 Palmas under eighty, at Madeira about seventy, 
 and at Fuertaventura, as I have been told, it 
 hardly ever rains at all. All this variety of climate 
 is produced by the accidental position of these 
 islands with respect to the ordinary course of the 
 " trade winds/' 
 
CHAPTER YIIL 
 
 THE SEASON OF LENT IN LAS PALMAS — THE BISHOP — SPANISH 
 PREACHING — EL MISSIONARIO — EPISCOPAL ZEAL — COCK- 
 FIGHTING IN A CONVENT — CLOISTER ASSOCIATIONS — THE MATE 
 OF THE AMERICAN BARK — ASPECT OF THE COUNTRY IN THE 
 INTERIOR — PROCESSIONS IN PASSION WEEK, AND THEIR 
 EFFECTS ON DIFFERENT MINDS — SENOR BETINCOURT — DEPAR- 
 TURE FROM THE ISLAND. 
 
 It was tlie season of Lent during my stay at Las 
 Palmas ; the town was accordingly kept alive by 
 matters of ecclesiastical interest, as well as by the 
 approaching struggle between the " gallos In- 
 gleses'' of the two islands of Teneriffe and Grran 
 Canaria. The bishop had been newly appointed 
 to the see, and had just arrived from the Spanish 
 peninsula, evidently with no very high opinion of 
 the state of his diocese, or the acquirements of the 
 people he had come to live amongst. However, the 
 Canarians have some very fair collegiate establish- 
 ments, and are a lively and intelligent people ; 
 and he used to address them, as they complained, 
 in too puerile terms ; and in their turn they 
 laughed at him for his pronunciation, because he 
 
LAS PALMAS. 87 
 
 was by birth a Catalonian. This was, it must be 
 admitted, as if Irishmen should laugh at a Scotch- 
 man for his pronunciation of English ; but it is 
 likewise a lesson to those preachers who are fond 
 of condescending to the understanding of their con- 
 gregations, and in order to do so frequently say 
 very trifling things : however, the bishop's zeal was 
 praiseworthy, and much needed by these islanders. 
 One day an English trader came and said to me, 
 " The bishop has been preaching and gi^dng the 
 people a considerable trimming, telling them they 
 might take example even by the heretical Eng- 
 lish, who, though not in the Catholic faith, sur- 
 passed the Spaniards in piety/' 
 
 The bishop with some justice preached against 
 cock-fighting on Sundays in Lent. Every evening 
 he preached, making the circuit of the churches 
 with his chaplain, whom they called " el missio- 
 nario,'' and who always occupied the pulpit im- 
 mediately after the bishop. He was a more elo- 
 quent and impassioned man than the bishop, and 
 preached more according to the prescribed rules 
 of Spanish preaching ; for the Spanish preacher 
 receives minute directions upon things we never 
 think about. 
 
 He is instructed in his whole carriage in the 
 pulpit ; for instance, he is told how he should 
 hold his body: it should be upright, but not 
 
88 LAS PALMAS. 
 
 SO mucli so, or so immoveably, as to give it 
 the appearance of being stuck up. The chest 
 should be slightly inclined forward, especially 
 when the preacher apostrophises the people. 
 "Nunca volvera la espalda al sacramento,'' the 
 back or shoulder should never be turned to the 
 sacrament ; since that is the same as if a preacher 
 should turn his back on the Deity. Neither 
 should he rest his elbows on the cushion of the 
 pulpit, nor turn himself from this side to that 
 " con demasiada viveza,'' — in too great a hurry, 
 but with ease and dignity. His head ought to 
 be " erguida pero sin orgullo,'' — erect, but without 
 hauteur ; and turn on its axis " lento y suave,'' — 
 softly and sweetly. His eyes are to look down on 
 the congregation with modesty, and not to be 
 fixed at one point, but to wander " indistinta- 
 mente sobre todo el auditorio,'' — without distin- 
 guishing individuals over the whole congregation. 
 The eyebrows are never to be raised completely 
 to the roots of the hair; "ni la una sin la otra," 
 — nor by any accident one without the other. A 
 smile should never appear on his lips, albeit 
 "la allegria de los santos" — the joy of the 
 saints, is not to be concealed when occasion calls 
 for it. 
 
 The bishop sometimes preached from the bal- 
 cony of his palace ; a purple cloth was thrown 
 
LAS PALMAS. 89 
 
 over the rails, and his crozier fixed in one corner. 
 It was both amusing and instructive to me to 
 observe the contending principles at work, and to 
 be a wholly impartial spectator of what I know^ to 
 be going on in every part of the world, — "the 
 Church and the world." The world coldly criti- 
 cising the efforts of the Church. The bishop 
 strove to arouse the apathetic ; he gave out that 
 the processions were to be in full force the ensuing 
 Passion Week. But how did my friends gene- 
 rally regard it ? they used to stroll into church of 
 an evening for a few minutes, and then come out, 
 pronounce him a Catalonian, and begin to talk of 
 their cock-fights. 
 
 I determined to pay the suppressed convent of the 
 Augustines, in which these exhibitions were held, 
 one visit, and see the sort of company that fre- 
 quented them. I am not one of those Protestants 
 who could rejoice to see a convent perverted to 
 these uses, and it was not without repugnance on 
 this score as well as others that I directed my foot- 
 steps to the place. When I entered the ancient 
 cloisters, the silence was as profound as in those 
 days when the building was in the occupation of 
 men under religious vows ; not that it was empty, 
 but, on the contrary, very full. In the "patio,'' or 
 quadrangle, tiers of seats were raised up round a 
 sort of large cage, and these seats were crowded with 
 
90 LAS PALMAS. 
 
 attentive spectators ; in the upper corridors or 
 cloisters I noticed some of the clergy and principal 
 civil and military officers of the place. I mounted 
 up here just in time to see the conclusion of one 
 of the fights ; the two unfortunate birds were 
 scarcely able to peck at each other any longer ; 
 one just contrived to drive the other a few paces 
 on, and then both stood still, as inanimate as if 
 they had been stuffed, excepting that pools of 
 blood began to form under the respective birds. 
 This was a signal for the backers to enter the cage, 
 smooth the feathers, and try and stimulate their 
 fighting propensities. The poor spent creatures 
 made one or two more fluttering efforts at conten- 
 tion, and then fell back lifeless. When I noticed 
 their feathers quivering, I felt disgusted, but di- 
 rectly a new and lively couple were thrown into 
 the cage, and began to strut round and crow for 
 the combat, the interest revived, so it was time to 
 leave this demoralising exhibition. 
 
 The convent of the Augustines was doomed to 
 a double profanation ; for, a week after this, an 
 awning was spread over the patio, and the Ameri- 
 can horses were exhibiting. 
 
 I well remember this circumstance, because I 
 made acquaintance with the mate of the American 
 bark in rather a singular manner ; the first Sun- 
 day that I was in the island, I found there were 
 
LAS PALMAS. 91 
 
 too many prejudices to be overcome, to assemble 
 the few Engiisb people, who had banisbed them- 
 selves here, for purposes of worship ; I therefore, 
 as a thing most in accordance with my feelings, 
 entered the cathedral ; and after gazing with 
 wonder for some time at the gigantic representa- 
 tion of St. Christoval, the ferryman, bearing 
 the infant Jesus on his shoulders, a figure found 
 in most Spanish cathedrals, I passed into the 
 cloisters. The solitude of a cloister is, to a church 
 lover, the most agreeable one can imagine. Be 
 he where he may in Christendom, he may, in 
 imagination, be speedily transported to the cloisters 
 of some favourite church in his own country. 
 Nothing could be more agreeable than these 
 cloisters. The delicious atmosphere, the splash- 
 ing of water in the middle fountain, and the train 
 of agreeable associations summoned to one's mind 
 by the character of the building : but my reverie 
 did not last long ; the sacristan made his appear- 
 ance, and bade me depart ; somewhat chagrined, 
 I returned to the Fonda to read the offices. 
 
 As I entered the principal room or Sala, I saw, 
 through an open door, a hot bath emitting steam, 
 and the head of a man hanging over the side of 
 it ; his features bespoke an utter absence of moral 
 culture ; seeing me, he addressed me in English, 
 
D2 LAS PALMAS. 
 
 and when I asked him who he was he replied, 
 " The mate of the American bark/' I could not 
 help remarking what a miserable existence he was 
 leading ; and asking him if he knew this was Sun- 
 day, he said, " No ; Sundays and other days were 
 all the same to him/' I then expressed my won- 
 der how this extraordinary speculation could pay. 
 The mate, who, it seems, was at this time under 
 the doctor's hands, was very good-natured, and re- 
 plied, " It pays very well ; every one, from the 
 least to the greatest, that was employed in it, was 
 well remunerated ; for they visited out-of-the-way 
 parts of the world, and got almost whatever prices 
 they demanded ; that in some of their voyages 
 they had been to Brazil, and that now it was their 
 intention to visit the Cape de Verd Islands, Rio, 
 and the West India Islands, so returning to 
 America/' Notwithstanding their profits, I felt 
 so great a repugnance to the concern, that I would 
 as soon have made a voyage in a slave ship, as in 
 her. I should have expected so unprofessional a 
 naval armament would have fallen victims to the 
 treacherous element, the first gale that blew ; in- 
 deed, I have heard since, that they never did 
 reach their destination ; but fell into the hands of 
 some pirates, who infest the north-west coast of 
 Africa. Whatever the mate's malady may have 
 
LAS PALMAS. 93 
 
 been, the usual Spanish remedy, hot-water and 
 bleeding, was applied to him ; and I saw no more 
 of him after this interview. 
 
 Whilst at Las Palmas, I made several excursions 
 on foot, and on horseback ; on one of these, I was 
 accompanied by the consul, who rode an " entero'' 
 of prodigious size, and with a mane so long and 
 thick, that the head of the animal looked more like 
 that of a lion than a horse. The aspect of the 
 country is very different from that of Teneriffe, 
 and as like that of Madeira. After mounting the 
 heights above Las Palmas, we rode through a 
 barrenish tract of country, until we came to a 
 place called El Barrancho de los Freyles ; here the 
 road turns suddenly, and opens a view that presents 
 a striking picture of rock, and cavern, and water, 
 with an extensive plain beyond bounded by the 
 chief mountains of the island ; from this point, 
 the whole of our ride was through vineyards, and 
 the roads we traversed were most excellent, 
 better than the most luxurious park-roads in Eng- 
 land, not I should imagine owing to any ingenuity 
 on the part of the inhabitants ; but simply to the 
 accident of the soil ; these roads and this charac- 
 ter of country, pervades an important part of the 
 country called El Monte, in the vicinity of which 
 the wealthy inhabitants of the island have their 
 quintas or country houses ; at one of these we 
 
94 LAS PALM AS. 
 
 rested, and it afforded an excellent specimen of 
 tropical rusticity. 
 
 The Englishman knows not how great a slave he 
 is to horticultural neatness, until he enters southern 
 latitudes ; then for the most part, without thinking 
 why, he is disappointed with those magnificent 
 tropical productions from which he expected to 
 derive so much pleasure. He does not know why 
 he is not positively in raptures with the garden 
 that produces the orange, citron, pepper, banana, 
 and pine-apples, together with countless flowering 
 plants : it is because they are generally associated 
 with tropical indolence ; this was not the case with 
 the '' cortejo" or quinta that Mr. H. introduced me 
 to ; every thing was nice and neat ; the oratory, 
 parlour, and wine-press, and also the orange grove 
 and flower beds. After leaving this, we rode on 
 to La Atalaya, a deep ravine, the head of which is 
 composed of a rubbley kind of stone, in which are 
 formed cavern cottages, tier above tier, so thick 
 and numerous, that the place can only be described 
 as a human warren ; the inhabitants of this singu- 
 lar " pueplo'' are dark, wild-looking people, entirely 
 occupied in forming utensils of earthenware, more 
 Etruscan than Spanish in their appearance. 
 
 Canary is the richest of all the seven islands in 
 water, an element only properly valued in such 
 places as these ; every drop of which, come how it 
 
LAS PALMAS. 95 
 
 may, from the mountains or from the sky, is col- 
 lected into tanks and reservoirs ; and where several 
 families have a claim upon it, is doled out with 
 jealous impartiality ; it is by witnessing the im- 
 mediate importance of water in a naturally arid 
 country like this, that the full tyranny of that 
 Persian monarch can he appreciated, who, shutting 
 up the gorges of the mountains, which surrounded 
 the plain where the river J. c^5 took its rise, blessed 
 or cursed the different provinces of his kingdom, as 
 they furnished him with tribute. He who should 
 possess the keys of such a reservoir would be all- 
 powerful ; for upon it depends every thing : with- 
 out water the soil produces nothing ; with it, every 
 thing. I concluded the day by dining with Mr. H., 
 and tasting some of the genuine Canary, such as 
 Falstaff and Prince Hal, Poins and Bardolph, re- 
 galed themselves with in Eastcheap ; at least 
 I was informed that some historical inquiries had 
 been made into the nature of that wine, and that 
 the conclusion arrived at was, that it exactly re- 
 sembled the vintage that was placed before me. 
 
 Another place I visited was Telde, the second 
 town in importance in the island. The road 
 thither, for some distance, is along the precipitous 
 cliff, in places of which I noticed distinctly the 
 columnar trachytic formation. After following 
 the coast for some miles, the road turns to the 
 
96 LAS PALM AS. 
 
 interior of the island, and all tliat presents itself 
 to the traveller is arid and uninteresting, until 
 opening the plain of Telde. The town did not 
 particularly charm me, although it is partially 
 surrounded by palm-trees ; the climate I should 
 judge was excellent, and indeed so it is reported 
 to be. A great deal of the surrounding country 
 is in the possession of a certain Spanish nobleman, 
 who is emphatically called the count, as he is the 
 only man of high rank in the island. He is unlike 
 most Spaniards, a traveller, and a linguist, and 
 fond of mechanics and of experimental agricul- 
 ture. Telde was fast emptying of its richer inha- 
 bitants, who were hastening to Las Palmas to keep 
 the Passion Week ; at the same time the dread of 
 returning yellow fever would soon send them back, 
 for Telde in this respect is a charmed spot. My 
 companion Mr. M., a most kind-hearted and hos- 
 pitable resident at Las Palmas, introduced me to 
 a pleasing Spanish family who were just on the 
 point of starting for the town. 
 
 The town of Las Palmas never looked very 
 dull, but I attribute this apparent gaiety to the 
 ecclesiastical bustle then going on. When the 
 churches of an evening emptied themselves, the 
 alameda was immediately filled with numerous 
 dark-haired and devout senoras. My acquaint- 
 ances of Teneriife were essentially "flaneurs" as 
 
LAS PALM AS. 97 
 
 well as "majos/" and were therefore, of course, 
 always lounging about with their Canarian anta- 
 gonists. One of these latter had spent two or 
 three years in England, and spoke English per- 
 fectly. He introduced himself to me ; his name 
 was Betancour, and he was a descendant of the 
 first invader of the island, John de Betancour, 
 who, in 1405, made an attack, and failed. Again, 
 in 1406, he made another with the same fortune ; 
 the natives of this island never having been really 
 conquered. 
 
 I found this Senor Betancour a pleasant com- 
 panion. On looking at the processions which used 
 to issue from the cathedral during Passion week, 
 I could not help appealing to him, as to whether 
 it was possible a people trained by such means 
 could be religious without being essentially idola- 
 trous ? He confessed he thought the lower orders 
 did look on those figures as something more than 
 bare representations. 
 
 During Passion week, there was a gauze cur- 
 tain drawn over the " Presbyterio,'' or that part of 
 the building which would answer to our chancel, 
 where the priests officiated ; but on Good Friday, 
 as the veil of the temple was rent in twain, this 
 curtain was removed. When the processions issued 
 out of the church, the crowd was immense ; the 
 figures were some degrees bigger than life, and 
 
 F 
 
98 LAS PALMAS. 
 
 borne aloft of the populace, who moved along, a 
 dense uncovered mass, and I suspect a jealous 
 mass likewise ; for I chanced to be standing in 
 some out-of-the-way place, some distance from the 
 procession, with my hat on, when I was recog- 
 nized, and peremptorily told to uncover, — which 
 of course I was not foolish enough to decline 
 doing. I well remember the face and figure of 
 a priest who always headed these processions ; he 
 was a good-looking man of about eight-and-twenty 
 or thirty, and as they chanted the Latin hymn, 
 there was a smile, nay, almost a look of saucy 
 triumph on his countenance, as if he knew he 
 was conducting a never-failing appeal to the feel- 
 ings of the people. 
 
 ^ Betancour gave me a clue to the feelings that 
 were most likely prevailing with the people, by 
 saying, as the figure of Mary Magdalene anoint* 
 ing the feet of Jesus passed us, no one could 
 tell when he was young, with what intense plea- 
 sure he looked forward to the processions of Pas- 
 sion week ; nor did he seem to have lost his relish, 
 for he kept leading me up and down the streets 
 so as to meet it again and again. 
 
 No doubt in Spain, these obvious relics of hea- 
 thenism retain a most powerful hold upon the 
 people. Wishing to probe my friend's feelings 
 quietly, I remarked, that last Sunday the few 
 
LAS PALMAS. 99 
 
 English here had assembled in Protestant worship. 
 He said, it was perfectly right ; but although 
 there were many things in the Protestant religion 
 he approved, and many things in his own he could 
 wish different, he should be very sorry to see in 
 Spain the same confusion of sects and religions 
 as existed in England. With this sentiment I 
 could fully concur ; a national uniformity of reli- 
 gion being a thing much to be desired. Nay, 
 politically speaking, I regard it as a consumma- 
 tion for which much of what is ordinarily called 
 prosperity might be surrendered ; supposing the 
 Church of England to retain an undisputed sway 
 upon the affections of the people, we should afford 
 the most remarkable instance in the history of the 
 world, of an isolated and united nation. 
 
 I was compelled to leave Grran Canaria in the 
 middle of Passion week. The " Joven Temerario,'' 
 a new brigantine, that traded between these islands 
 and Cadiz, made her appearance in the roads, by 
 which vessel I had settled to return to Europe. 
 
 I left the island well satisfied with the kind 
 reception I had met with from my own countrymen 
 as well as the natives ; and the comfortable ac- 
 commodation I had experienced, for three-quarters 
 of a dollar a day. The living in the island is 
 remarkably cheap ; I was told it would be impos- 
 sible to spend four hundred a year, let a man live 
 F 2 
 
100 LAS PALMAS. 
 
 in a palace, and keep as many horses as he 
 might. 
 
 I again ploughed my way along the sandy 
 promontory to the Isleta, and embarked. The 
 vessel struck me as looking crank, over-masted, 
 with very lanky spars ; however, she made good 
 way to Teneriife, where we touched before making 
 the voyage to Cadiz. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 RETURN TO SANTA CRUZ — A MUTINV — MR. SHEDDON OF THE 
 YACHT *' NANCY DAWSON" — DISPOSAL OF THE MUTINEERS — DE- 
 PARTURE OF THE " JOVEN TEMERARIO" — THE VOYAGE — CAPE 
 
 SPARTEL AND SHAVING — NATIONAL PREJUDICES BOATMEN 
 
 OF CADIZ— FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE TOWN. 
 
 A KEA-POPvT, in however remote a part of the world, 
 is seldom long without matters of interest turning 
 up. On my return to Teneriffe, I found two Eng- 
 lish vessels had arrived which were subjects of 
 conversation. 
 
 The first in importance was a very pretty yacht 
 called the "Nancy Dawson/' and carrying a pinnace, 
 out on a cruize of three years, the property of a Mr 
 Sheddon \ a gentleman who appeared in the streets 
 of Santa Cruz with a huge beard ; he was ac- 
 companied by a lady, but how related to him was 
 
 ^ Mr. Sheddon's name may probably be familiar to the reader. 
 He was the unfortunate gentleman described in some of the jour- 
 nals of the officers engaged in the last Arctic Expedition, who 
 voluntarily proceeded in search of Sir John Franklin in the " Nancy 
 Dawson." His yacht was spoken of, as being in a state of mutiny, 
 doubtless the mutineers being these very men he took with him from 
 Teneriffe — he died on the voyage. 
 
 r3 
 
102 TENEEIFFB. 
 
 not very evident. The other was a trading vessel 
 of five or six hundred tons, half a wreck, and with 
 a crew in a state of mutiny. The captain accused 
 the men of villany, the men retorted hy saying the 
 captain was a tyrant, and a bully. The captain 
 spoke most bitterly of his men, and declared that 
 he did not consider his life secure for a moment. 
 They in rejoinder affirmed the captain to be a 
 savage, who had shot one man before on board a 
 ship which he commanded ; the truth of the mat- 
 ter seemed, as usual, to lie between the contending 
 parties ; the vessel began to let in water as fast as 
 she could, i^^hen the men were ordered to the 
 pumps night and day, until they came in sight of 
 the Isle of Palma ; but the captain would not 
 make for land, as he thought, by keeping the men 
 at the pumps, he might yet accomplish the voyage. 
 The men, however, with some reason, refused to 
 pump any longer, and half of them openly mu- 
 tinied ; the vessel began to fill rapidly, and with 
 difficulty was got round to Santa Cruz. 
 
 Eight or nine of the mutineers were taken 
 under a guard of soldiers to the castle at Santa 
 Cruz ; the judgment passed upon them was not 
 very severe ; for the consul simply determined to 
 send them back to Cadiz by the very vessel in 
 which I was going ; when I learnt this it occurred 
 to me, that eight Englishmen, described as being 
 
TENERIFFE. 103 
 
 very dangerous characters, and convicted of mu- 
 tiny, would prove but indifferent company ; and, if 
 they were viciously-minded, might easily knock 
 the captain on the head, and take possession of the 
 vessel ; I therefore stated to the consul my appre- 
 hensions, but he good-naturedly assured me that 
 there was no occasion to be alarmed, that the men 
 were not so bad as they were represented to be, 
 and in short, that the captain was nearly as much 
 to blame as the men. " I am only going," he added, 
 " to send four men with you ; the Spaniards will be 
 quite strong enough to keep them in order. Mr. 
 Sheddon takes the others in his yacht to the 
 south ; but come down to the castle, and I will 
 introduce you to them.'' 
 
 On arriving at the castle, nothing could look 
 more forlorn than did these sailors ; half naked, 
 and fierce-looking, they really reminded me of 
 vultures in the Zoological gardens, as they climbed 
 upon the walls of the prison-yard, or paced back- 
 wards and forwards. 
 
 He introduced me to them as a clergyman who 
 was going to make the voyage to Cadiz, in the 
 " Joven Temerario,'' the same vessel which would 
 take them ; and desired them to consider them- 
 selves under my authority ; telling them that their 
 treatment would depend upon the character which 
 I gave them to the consul at Cadiz. I think I 
 F 4 
 
104 TENERIFFE. 
 
 have read some where of a certain Archbishop 
 Moreley, who in his youth was a buccaneer ; it 
 seemed as if there was a chance of my going a step 
 backward, and ending where his Grace began. 
 
 It was a very beautiful afternoon when Ave all 
 embarked ; the atmosphere was so clear that 
 objects twenty miles oiF, looked within reach of 
 touch ; turtles floated on the top of the cerulean 
 blue waves, which gently broke upon the sides of 
 the vessel. The Peak, which had well-nigh thrown 
 off his wdnter mantle, uncovered to give us a part- 
 ing look, and now nothing but the usual adieus 
 which are expressed on the occasion of a vessel 
 starting were to be heard. The Irish brogue of 
 Father Tierney, bidding me a good voyage, 
 mingled with Spaniards' " Adios, Sefior Capitan !'"' 
 " Adios Don Carlos \" " buen camino \" and such 
 like expressions. 
 
 There were two cabin passengers both Spaniards, 
 besides myself; with one of these I was already 
 acquainted ; he was going for the first time to 
 visit the Peninsula, and was big with expectation, 
 and vague apprehensions of the dangers of the 
 seas. 
 
 For six days, only once did we catch sight of 
 a sail off the coast of Morocco, and that was seen 
 and gone again like a falling star ; yet I never 
 wearied of looking at the sea and sky, and in- 
 
VOYAGE TO CADIZ. 105 
 
 haling the delicious breezes ; it is the having the 
 arrival to look forward to, that makes a voyage of 
 this kind so agreeable ; pleasant as the voyage 
 itself is, one has always, in addition, the hope of 
 joining friends, or visiting a new country before 
 one : the slightest circumstance becomes an inci- 
 dent ; thus for days were we amused by endeavour- 
 ing to catch two swallows, that unexpectedly came 
 fluttering about our rigging ; and at last, after 
 thinking they had bidden us good-bye for about 
 fifty times, one of them had the temerity to dive 
 into the cabin, and a moment the hatch was 
 pushed over, and the stranger captured ; he had 
 plenty of society, for there were a good many 
 canary birds and black-caps on board. 
 
 The difference between the Spanish sailor and 
 the English, as it appears to me, is, that the Spa- 
 niard does not disguise his anxiety in uncertain 
 and stormy weather ; whereas, the Englishman, 
 the more fiercely it blows, the more hardy and 
 indifferent does he appear ; I cannot say that I 
 commend him or admire him for this ; certainly 
 the sailor should always exhibit presence of mind ; 
 but the want of care in the English sailor has 
 gained him the reputation of not being the safest 
 nautical character you can entrust your life with. 
 Our captain watched the approach of a squall with 
 F 5 
 
106 VOYAGE TO CADIZ. 
 
 the greatest care, so that the sails were hauled up 
 long before the storm swept by. 
 
 The first token we had that we were approach- 
 ing the more civilized parts of the world, was the 
 sight of two large barks that were sailing directly 
 across the path of our vessel, and therefore were 
 evidently bearing down for the Straits of Gibraltar. 
 After having passed the straits several times, and 
 crossed the Gut of Gibraltar, between the coasts 
 of Spain and Africa, no less than five times, the 
 Straits of Gibraltar are become as unexciting to 
 my imagination as the Bristol Channel ; but this 
 time it was far otherwise : and all one had ever 
 read of Calpe and Abyla, or the battles of Cape 
 St. Vincent and Trafalgar, recurred more vividly 
 to the memory every knot the vessel made. When 
 we were off Cape Spartel I could not help remem- 
 bering that we were ploughing the very same 
 ocean path as that memorable fleet of Nelson's 
 did, that was returning from its pursuit of the 
 enemy to the West Indies, to win, in the end, the 
 laurels of Trafalgar ; and which Ali Bey saw from 
 the sandy shores of Morocco, as he accompanied 
 the emperor of that country on his singular 
 journey of investigation. 
 
 Upon reaching this point the captain shaved, 
 and the whole ship's company followed his ex- 
 
VOYAGE TO CADIZ. 107 
 
 ample ; for, notwithstanding my clerical character, 
 I had imitated those amongst whom I was, and 
 had acquired a small moustache and beard, which, 
 however, was exclusively for the admiration of the 
 sea-nymphs. My glass was now out, and by di- 
 recting it to the line where the sea and sky met, 
 and carrying it along, I could discern the white 
 funnels of a large steamer, and the masts of 
 several vessels — sufficient indications that we 
 were approaching scenes of European life and 
 activity. 
 
 The other passenger was a pastry-cook : he 
 poured into the willing ears of the novice many 
 stories about Cadiz, for he was a native of the 
 place. The provincial was curious about many 
 things, and was inquisitive about some particular 
 dish. I was not versed enough in the language 
 to understand what it was ; but a few days after- 
 wards, being at breakfast with him, he called for 
 the dish ; when, to my surprise, the "mozo'' brought 
 in a dish of oysters, which the provincial, having 
 tasted, called to him immediately to remove. 
 
 Once, in Canary, I expressed surprise to a poor 
 man at the number and size of the cactuses. He 
 laughed at my simplicity, supposing they abound 
 every where ; but just then a crow flew by, and 
 he cried out, " There ! you have not got such birds 
 as those in England.'' I laughed in my turn, and 
 F 6 
 
108 - CADIZ. 
 
 assured him the "sinistra cornix'' was found every 
 where. 
 
 A few more minutes, and the Cadiz light-house 
 made its appearance above the horizon, at the 
 same time almost, 
 
 " Fair Cadiz, rising o'er the dark blue sea;" 
 
 as like as Venice to a sea Cybele ; or, as the Spa- 
 niards call it, " taza de plata,'' — a cup of silver. 
 Silence began now to prevail on deck, — the 
 consequences of expectation so soon about to 
 be realized ; for I have before noticed, when on 
 a voyage, the kind of close brotherhood that 
 seems to unite every one on board during the 
 passage, gradually dissolves as the land is neared. 
 Now that we were so near the port my fellow- 
 passengers no longer cared to cram me about the 
 wonders of Spain, the fruits of Rota, or the wines 
 of Port de S. Maria, or the " fiesta'' that was al- 
 ways holden at this time of the year at Porto 
 Real. The captain, doubtless, began to think of 
 his wife ; the pastry-cook of his brother " paste- 
 leros,'" or other friends whom he expected to meet. 
 The young man, who, like myself, was on his 
 travels, was no doubt occupied with thick fancies 
 touching the mother country. I know not what 
 matter of Spanish interest was most present to 
 his mind, I believe all of us were not a little curious 
 
CADIZ. 109 
 
 to know whether the Peninsula was really in a 
 state of tranquillity or not. Soon after, two or 
 three boats, painted with big eyes at their prows 
 so as to look like dolphins, with "Sanidad'' writ- 
 ten on the sails, came scudding alongside of us. 
 The captain handed his papers to the men in one 
 of them, and we were permitted to anchor. In a 
 moment we were surrounded by the boatmen of 
 Cadiz ; and I noticed the national expression of 
 their countenances, the impression of which en- 
 tirely wore off when I became better acquainted 
 with the people generally. They all looked as 
 much alike as a flock of sheep. Pointed features, 
 dark passionate . eyes, yellow complexion ; quite 
 different from the Portuguese of Madeira or the 
 Spaniards of Canary and Teneriffe. 
 
 My first impressions of Cadiz were of the most 
 delightful nature : I was much pleased with all I 
 saw. The houses are sparkling white, and the 
 shutters bright green. The notes of singing-birds 
 rang through all the streets, so that the atmo- 
 sphere was always full of cheerful sounds ; but I 
 had scarcely entered the place before I heard 
 rumours of revolutions. There had been an 
 "emeute'' at Seville, and a few days afterwards 
 martial law was proclaimed in Cadiz. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 RIDING IN SPAIN, ITS FATIGUES AND PLEASURES THE GOVER- 
 NOR OF GAUCIN MURDERED — CHARACTER OF SOME OF THE 
 
 MOUNTAIN CLERGY RETURN TO CADIZ BEGGING CLERGY 
 
 DOMINGO MORENO, THE BISHOP OF CADIZ — THE CATHEDRAL — 
 PORTUGUESE LADIES — STEAM-BOAT TO SEVILLE — CATHEDRAL 
 ALL SAINTS'-DAY. 
 
 I MADE an expedition to Ronda fair, and very 
 cheerfully bore the fatigues of a ride, in consider- 
 ation for the luxuries of the picturesque that are 
 there to be enjpyed. " Bear up,"" said one rider 
 to another, who was nearly fainting from heat 
 and fatigue ; "remember you are laying up golden 
 recollections for the future/' This, after all, is no 
 inconsiderable part of the reward of all travelling, 
 and particularly of that in Spain. It is pleasing 
 now to think of the vintage-loving Xerez, and the 
 gay town of Ronda ; the plain of Caulina, covered 
 with alternate vineyards and olive-farms ; or those 
 dreamy haunts about the villages of El Broque and 
 Tavira, where at one time the traveller paces over 
 open lawns with distant mountains before him, or, 
 as it may be, is bending to escape the thick branches 
 
CADIZ. Ill 
 
 of the mountain oak, or, again, finds his horse's 
 feet splashing through the mountain torrent. 
 
 Although we saw many crosses, — " los milagros'' 
 of Andalucia, — we travelled with perfect safety. 
 On one occasion my companion left a bag of dollars 
 under the pillow of his bed at a "venta'' where we 
 had been compelled to sleep ; but fortunately he 
 rode back rapidly, rushed up into his room, and 
 recovered the money, before the "criada,'' or maid, 
 had disturbed the bed. Yet I have constantly 
 felt a due apprehension of the lawless character 
 of the inhabitants of Spain ; and at one town we 
 came to had good reason for so doing. We arrived, 
 after a very hot ride, at Graucin, in our way to 
 Gribraltar, and found every body out ; for the cure, 
 in company with some others, had just murdered the 
 governor. He fled to Gibraltar, but even English 
 liberality could not stand this ; so he was obliged 
 to cross the straits to Barbary, where probably he 
 may have become a Mahometan. 
 
 I have been told that some of the mountain 
 cures are not much men of peace ; and that a few 
 of them kept up a correspondence with the con- 
 trabandists. I have seen them sometimes jogging 
 along, looking as little like priests as they could 
 do. Enough so to satisfy me that secular tastes 
 are not confined to our own clergy. 
 
 The view from the road above Gaucin is one of 
 
112 CADIZ. 
 
 the most interesting in the south of Spain. In 
 the distance the traveller sees the snowy tops 
 of the Little Atlas mountains ; then the blue 
 Straits ; the abrupt and singular-shaped rock of 
 Gibraltar ; the rich and picturesque plain through 
 which the Guadiana flows ; the towers of the 
 Moorish castle of Gaucin ; and the mountains 
 rising around him. All these beauties made us 
 only anxious to press forward and see more, and 
 above all to reach the " Rock/' the existence of 
 which (however often it had been as a dream) we 
 could now no longer doubt. After another day's 
 exposure to the burning rays of the sun, we 
 reached our destination. But I shall speak of 
 Gibraltar hereafter. 
 
 After the heats of a Spanish summer I was 
 again at Cadiz, on my way to spend the winter at 
 Seville. The charm of the place had considerably 
 diminished since I first entered it from the out- 
 lying province of the Canaries ; and the accidental 
 rubs I had had against the clergy, helped to 
 confirm the impression I already entertained of 
 their unenviable condition. The second morning 
 after our arrival, whilst looking over the balcony 
 of Vasquez' hotel, opposite the ramparts, I saw a 
 priest making signs from below, and asking me 
 whether I spoke Spanish. I knew there could be 
 only one object in a priest's wishing to speak to 
 
CADIZ. 113 
 
 English travellers ; and that he was about to do 
 that, which, in all probability, he would have felt 
 ashamed to do to his own countrymen, — to beg of 
 me. However, I invited him into my apartment, 
 and found him the most incommunicative of 
 beings : all I could make out of him was that he 
 was very poor, and that he had his mother to sup- 
 port ; that he was a sort of itinerant cure, and 
 said mass at any church where he might chance 
 to pick up a duty. He did not seem to be under 
 the Bishop of Cadiz, or to have any thing to do 
 with the clergy of the place. 
 
 But a more ludicrous instance of the begging 
 propensities of the inferior clergy occurred to me 
 than this. After examining the pictures of Mu- 
 rillo in the convent of San Francisco, famous 
 thoughout Spain, — because here the great painter, 
 whilst engaged in the chief picture over the altar, 
 the marriage of St. Catherine, fell from the scaf- 
 folding, and was removed only to die at Seville, — 
 I asked the sacristan to introduce me to a priest, 
 for I wished to make some inquiries respecting a 
 history of the Spanish Church. He introduced 
 me to one between thirty and forty, who desired 
 me to call the following day. Accordingly, so I 
 did : after a very futile conversation, I bade him 
 good-day ; but I thought something appeared to 
 be running in his head, so, not liking to offer him 
 
114 CADIZ. 
 
 money direct, I took out a silver coin of some 
 value, and said, " Will you bestow this on the 
 poor, Senor?'' 
 
 He replied, " This is very little for the poor." 
 
 " WelV I rejoined, "charity is not to be mea- 
 sured." 
 
 The priest repeated, "This is very little for 
 the poor." 
 
 Thus driven to the wall, I put my hand into my 
 pocket, and pulling out half a doubloon with 
 some other money, the considerate padre ex- 
 claimed, " That will do very well ' para los pobres/ " 
 At this I could not help smiling, and assuring him 
 I was a great deal too poor a clerk myself to give 
 him "two pounds" for opening the door of his 
 cloisters ; I put some smaller coin into his hand, 
 and took my leave. 
 
 These stories exemplify the poverty-stricken 
 state of the clergy in many cases, and what now 
 may be called the national venality of the whole 
 people. But alongside of them, I must mention 
 the disinterested zeal of the bishop. Domingo 
 Moreno was then in his eightieth year, with a 
 countenance exactly such as one has ever pictured 
 that of the Spanish dignitary ; study, and the 
 Romish faith combined, has conveyed a thought- 
 ful and scholar-like impression to his face. It is 
 almost entirely through his instrumentality that 
 
CADIZ. 115 
 
 the new cathedral has been completed ; and 
 really, when it is considered how cruelly the 
 State has treated the clergy, and the popular 
 feeling against the Church, it is in no small degree 
 to his credit, that he has brought to completion 
 so great a work as that of building a cathedral. 
 As it is the greatest imprudence for one without 
 private fortune to accept a bishopric in Spain, 
 Moreno most probably was a rich man ; and it is 
 the more to his praise that he has expended his 
 fortune in this good work. 
 
 I met the bishop's nephew one day, superintend- 
 ing the building, with a roll of paper under his 
 arm ; and I asked him if any of the clergy were 
 architects, upon which he smiled, and said, " No ; 
 it was quite enough for them to look on."' ^ I un- 
 derstood the number of clergy attached to the 
 cathedral was sixteen. As to the architecture, I 
 deliver up the exterior to the castigations of the 
 critics. The western facade, which is flanked by 
 cupolas not very dissimilar to those at St. Paul's, 
 is most infelicitous and whimsical. The interior is 
 much better, and produces no displeasing impres- 
 sion upon the mind on entering. It is character- 
 ized by clustered Grecian columns, with rather a 
 disproportionately high clerestory: but let not 
 the stranger be too curious about the pictures ; 
 with the exception of one Murillo, they are sad 
 
116 CADIZ. 
 
 performances, and most of them modern ; a 
 lady amateur, amongst others, having contributed 
 some efforts of her pencil. 
 
 This building has been mainly erected within 
 the last ten or eleven years. Had I been in com- 
 pany with a member of the Camden Society, I 
 should have had to listen to the lamentations 
 over a cathedral, built in the Grecian style, instead 
 of the first, second, or third pointed. I join issue 
 with these exclusive Grothicizers. The finest 
 Christian temple in the world is not built in their 
 style ; and Christianity, as far as architecture 
 is concerned, has ever been eclectic. The early 
 Christians found churches built to their hands 
 in the ancient temples and Basilicas ; and this 
 style of building is one of the most convenient that 
 can be desired for Christian worship ; again, the 
 Moors have built inadvertently almost as many 
 churches as they have mosques ; and indeed it 
 would be difficult to prove that Gothic architec- 
 ture is not vastly indebted to the Saracens for 
 many of its most impressive features. 
 
 "Whilst at Cadiz we met a Portuguese family 
 of rank returning from Madeira to Lisbon. The 
 young ladies spoke English ; and, like most of their 
 gentle sex, they cheerfully fell into a conversa- 
 tion upon ecclesiastical subjects. Their account of 
 the Madeira clergy did not add to my favourable 
 
CADIZ. 117 
 
 impressions of them. They told me they con- 
 fessed once a year, in Lent, before receiving the 
 Holy Communion; "but/' said one of them, " a 
 great many of our ladies are very fond of con- 
 fessing/' " But/' said I, " you must be better 
 than I had imagined even any Seriora could be ; 
 if you could confess all your sins for the year at 
 one time ?" The young lady smiled, and replied, 
 "We do not confess by word of mouth, every 
 thing we have said or done wrong in the year ; 
 but our confessor, who is a very good man 
 and a nobleman, tells us, the week before con- 
 fession, to run over in our minds our past lives ; 
 so that when he asks us ' if we have repented,' 
 we can say ' yes ;' and then he will absolve us." 
 On inquiring of my fair catechumen whether she 
 approved of the dolls and images in Roman 
 Catholic countries, she shook her head, and said, 
 " No ; I don't like them at all ; they do not assist 
 my devotions, and I cannot believe all they tell 
 us about the saints ; but I dare not say so, or the 
 padre would be angry." 
 
 And now adieu to Cadiz, and the Isla de Leon. 
 We took the steamer for Seville, at that time the 
 most Catholic city in Christendom, for the Pope 
 was in exile. The most remarkable people on board 
 were some " metadors," known by a peculiar little 
 tuft of plaited hair at the back of their heads, 
 
1 1 8 CADIZ. 
 
 who were on their way to attend a bull-fight, 
 which was about to be given, although past the 
 usual season, in honour of the birth of the In- 
 fanta's child, the heir-apparent to the Spanish 
 throne. The other most distinguished personage 
 was one of our own countrymen ; this man I after- 
 wards knew a great deal of, as he was employed 
 in a famous pottery factory at Triana ; but he con- 
 ducted himself so preposterously on board, that 
 several Spaniards came up, and said to me, he is 
 " loco," that is, mad ; and as Spain is one of those 
 countries, which, unless resorted to for the sake of 
 health, seems to invite unsettled dispositions more 
 than any other, to explore its romantic beauties, 
 many of the Spaniards, not without a show of rea- 
 son, regard an " Inglese'' and " loco,'' convertible 
 terms. As to this man, he was mad : drink had 
 unhappily disordered his intellects, and on reach- 
 ing Seville, I found a body of our countrymen, 
 many of whom were in a lamentable state, suffer- 
 ing from the effects of general neglect and habitual 
 intoxication. 
 
 There is something pretty and unique about 
 the town of St. Lucar, which is at the mouth of 
 the Guadalquiver. The river up to Seville runs 
 through a dead flat, and only at one bend of it 
 does the traveller seem to be approaching the 
 distant mountains ; but then he quickly turns an 
 
SEVILLE. 119 
 
 angle, and has little to look on but the green 
 sedgy banks, and the herds of cattle that roam 
 about the wide pasturage. The '^Giralda/' or 
 tower of Seville cathedral, is visible very long 
 before approaching the town, which we did not do 
 until darkness had set in, although we left Cadiz 
 early in the forenoon. 
 
 The vessel landed us under the shade of the 
 trees of the Pasio de Christina, and we took up 
 our quarters at the house of the Seiiora Gr. 
 
 This house is a fair specimen of the Seville 
 houses. The Moorish, and consequently Eastern 
 origin of which, is seen in the open patio and flat 
 roof The gate leading into the patio or middle 
 court, is generally of very pretty open iron work, 
 and the passer-by looks in upon a court planted 
 with oranges, or when the house is small, at any 
 rate, upon a fountain. The patio is hardly 
 ever covered in winter or summer ; and as there 
 are no such things as fire-places in any of the 
 rooms ; notwithstanding the fine quality of the 
 climate, the cold, at times, is most searching. 
 The natives, who are over-heated in the summer, 
 are enabled to resist the winter cold, perhaps, 
 better than even strangers coming from the 
 north. 
 
 The day after our arrival, 1st of November, was 
 All Saints'-day ; and we consequently joined the 
 
120 " SEVILLE. 
 
 throng making for the Cathedral. First impres- 
 sions, they say, are the most valuable ; the houses 
 of the town, which are painted dazzling white, 
 struck me a& low ; and I was not without a feeling 
 of disappointment touching this glory of the whole 
 earth ; for so the good people of Seville do not 
 hesitate to call their city. 
 
 What with the " Contaduria'' or chapter house, 
 and the parish church, the cathedral is so smothered 
 with extraneous buildings, that it is almost im- 
 possible to say what the style of the building is, 
 until entering it. I entered it first from the 
 *' Patio de los Naranjos,'' a court which, notwith- 
 standing the orange trees, and the numerous 
 Moorish remains, possesses so much of the eccle- 
 siastical and academic character about it, that I 
 was forcibly reminded of the Schools at Oxford. 
 
 The effect of the interior upon the spectator, 
 from this door, is overwhelming ; particularly if 
 it so happens, as was the case upon this day, that 
 any great "funcion'' is proceeding. The naturally 
 subdued light was heightened almost to perplexity 
 upon this occasion, by the stacks of lofty wax 
 candles, which at given intervals, were burning 
 all down the principal open aisles. These lights 
 were in honour of those saints that have ever been 
 the light and glory of the Church. 
 
 The plan of the cathedral is best understood 
 
SEVILLE. 121 
 
 from the Giralda, or Moorish belfry. Thence it may 
 be seen that the main walls make a simple Latin 
 cross, including only five aisles ; but when the 
 extreme north and south aisles, which are lower, 
 and indeed only chapels, are included, the plan is 
 swelled from that of a cross to a parallelogram ; so 
 that, although the chiefroof of the building makes 
 a cross, the ground floor makes a parallelogram. 
 
 The vista of the main aisle, or what we com- 
 monly call the nave of a cathedral, like nearly all 
 the cathedrals and large churches of the Penin- 
 sula, is interrupted by the " Coro,'' which looks as 
 if it had been taken and bodily jambed between the 
 piers, much in the way some of the monuments in 
 Winchester cathedral are. Between the " Coro" 
 and the " Presbyterio,''' or that compartment in 
 which the high altar stands, the aisle is open and 
 free for the laity, excepting when any of the clergy 
 are passing from the "Coro'' into the "Presby- 
 terio.'' The " Presbyterio," or compartment in 
 which stands the " Altar Major,'' is railed off on 
 three sides, having at the back the famous 
 Gothic Retablo, containing forty-four compart- 
 ments, the design of one Dancart, and a work of 
 unrivalled beauty. At each corner of this com- 
 partment is a pulpit ; and on the present occasion 
 that on the Epistle side was occupied by an ani- 
 mated preacher, whom I could not get near, for the 
 
 G 
 
122 SEVILLE. 
 
 space between the " Core'' and the " Presbyterio'' 
 was filled with ladies ; for in the majority of the 
 Spanish churches the ladies have this place con- 
 ceded to them, and invariably sit upon the floor ; 
 but yet have so graceful a knack of thus arranging 
 themselves, that one never sees a leg, or even an 
 ankle, protruding beyond the sanctity of their 
 black dresses. Outside of this charmed spot stand 
 the men. The Infanta and the Duke de Montpen- 
 sier were seated in state within the chancel-rails ; 
 both of them looking very young, and the Infanta 
 with the interesting complexion of one just become 
 a mother : indeed, it might be said she had come 
 this day to be churched ; for she brought a thank- 
 offering of a silver statuette of San Fernando in 
 her hand. 
 
 I can give no description of the substance of 
 the preacher's sermon, but I can answer for his 
 manner ; it was most animated. He wore a cap, 
 which he removed whenever he mentioned the 
 Name of the Deity. He seemed particularly care- 
 ful to observe the rule " nunca vol vera la espalda 
 al Sacramento,'' — never turn the back or shoulder 
 on the sacrament ; for at times he turned com- 
 pletely round, and appealed to the symbols of the 
 Passion as if they had been a living thing, and 
 then threw himself forward as if he was going to 
 jump into the laps of the Sevillianos. When the 
 
SEVILLE. 1 23 
 
 organ opened its mighty voice, and the men and 
 women all bowed for the benediction, I felt con- 
 siderably impressed with the spectacle ; but as I 
 was yielding to this feeling, a Scotchman, whom I 
 had seen at Lisbon, came up to me and said, 
 "What mummery i" I fear a good deal of it was 
 mummery: but the most magnificent external wor- 
 ship need not be mummery, or God would not have 
 vouchsafed to the children of Israel so minute a 
 description of how He chose to be worshipped ; 
 nor would the Levitical priesthood have been 
 clothed in such magnificent robes : but the ques- 
 tion after all is, " Have these things, or have they 
 not, passed away f I, for one, cannot believe that 
 a return to customs as burthensome as Judaism 
 can be agreeable to the true spirit of Christianity. 
 Where are we to draw the line ? The Scotchman 
 must look upon the Church of England as a sort 
 of half-way house to the national bugbear, which 
 is Popery ; we, in common with the Church of 
 Rome, keep this day holy ; we use the same 
 Epistle and Gospel as was used upon this occasion 
 in the Cathedral at Seville (viz.. Rev. vii. and 
 Matt. v.). The " Cronica Religiosa,'" published in 
 the daily papers, tells us that Pope Gregory the 
 Third instituted this festival in the year 737 ; a 
 vigil was added to the festival in the eleventh 
 century ; the octave was instituted by Sixtus the 
 g2 
 
124 SEVILLE. 
 
 Fourteenth in 1 450. The Church, by celebrating 
 the praises of the blessed in heaven to-day, incites 
 to an imitation of their virtues. 
 
 But the sentiment of this feast is reserved for 
 the next day, called in the '* Calendario para el 
 Arzohispado de Sevilla/' " La commemoracion de 
 los fieles defuntos/' — the commemoration of the 
 faithful departed. And now observe the consis- 
 tency of these good people: every mother who 
 has lost a wild son in a quarrel, and daughters 
 who have lost their betrothed in the same way, 
 attire themselves in their best black silk dress and 
 their most richly-laced mantilla, and start off 
 to the " Paseo de Christina,'' on their way to the 
 cemetery ; the sombre promenade loses nothing 
 of its charm for the little dash of sentiment thus 
 thrown over it, and many copies of verses are cir- 
 culated on this day. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 INSPECTION OF THE TOWN FROM THE MOORISH TOWER THE 
 GIRALDA THE SUBURB OF TRIANA ENGLISH POTTERS — RELI- 
 GIOUS DESPONDENCY DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY OF INSTRUCT- 
 ING THEM— THE THREE DONNAS — A VISIT TO THE CATHEDRAL 
 WITH THEM — THE PICTURES OF MURILLO — DR. WISEMAN, 
 OBISPO DE OSCOTT. 
 
 The stranger wishing to understand the town of 
 Seville, very sooa finds his way to the top of the 
 Giralda, so called from the gyrating propensities 
 of the vane, or bronze figure of Faith, fourteen 
 feet high, which surmounts it. Thence he will per- 
 ceive that the town is nearly circular, and that 
 the Gruadalquiver, making a violent bend as it 
 approaches Seville, washes the western side of the 
 semicircle. The city is entirely surrounded by 
 Moorish walls ; and considering the many centuries 
 which have elapsed since St. Ferdinand, in 1248, 
 conquered it from the Moors, retains in a mar- 
 vellous degree the character of a Moorish city. 
 The Moorish city is invariably surrounded by cas- 
 tellated walls, such as those of Seville, having but 
 one external feature, a piece of smooth turf land, 
 g3 
 
] 26 SEVILLE. 
 
 called the " Soc/' or market-place. There is to the 
 east of Seville a piece of ground exactly of this 
 description, called the Sitio de la Feria, and was 
 doubtless the " Soc/' or market-place of the Moor- 
 ish Seville. 
 
 The only bridge across the river is the ancient 
 Puente de Barcas. The Puente Nuevo is a mis- 
 nomer altogether, for it is not yet a bridge, nor 
 if it were would it now be very new. The Sevil- 
 lians have been years attempting to get a stone 
 bridge over their comparatively narrow river ; and 
 there the half-finished structure remains, just op- 
 posite to the Puerta de Triana. On the opposite 
 side of the river is the suburb of Triana, interest- 
 ing to me for reasons which I shall afterwards 
 recount. About a league from Triana, a low chain 
 of sandy hills stops the vision, the only features on 
 these are the towers of Santi-Ponce and Italica in 
 one direction, and those of St. Juan de Aznalfa- 
 rache in the other. Many miles over the plain 
 rise the mountains of the Sierra Morena, to the 
 north. It is not a very fine view. Seville is not 
 large, being only about half the size of the parish 
 of Mary-le-bone. It is situated in a dead flat ; the 
 houses are low. There appears little to interest ; 
 yet, I never met any one who had spent a month 
 at Seville who has not spoken of it with delight. 
 I know no city that grows more upon a resident 
 
SEVILLE. 127 
 
 than Seville ; and I wonder at myself whilst con- 
 fessing there is no foreign town where I could 
 more cheerfully locate myself for life, than at Se- 
 ville. The walks by the river truly deserve the ap- 
 pellation which one enjoys, the Delicias de Aijona ; 
 — they are delightful places for meditation, dream- 
 ing, or the more common purposes for which they 
 are used, — of pouring out those promises which in 
 Spain are too often made to be broken. Then 
 the few amusements that the dull but ever cheer- 
 ful Spain delights in, are here to be enjoyed in 
 perfection,— the religious funcions, the plaza de 
 Toros, and the pictures of Murillo, and the " dolce 
 far niente." 
 
 The village of Triana, on the western side of 
 the river, has from the earliest times been famous 
 for pottery and immorality. It was described to me 
 by a Spanish clergyman as containing " ningunos 
 Christianos, ni Catholicos ni Prostestantes, pero 
 solamente gitanos,'' — " no Christians, neither Ca- 
 tholics nor Protestants, only heathens or gipsies." 
 Here, too, lived the patron Santas of Seville, Jus- 
 tina and Rufina, who fell martyrs in 287 ; these 
 were potters by trade, and have gained an addi- 
 tional celebrity in the eyes of the Spaniards, since 
 Murillo has made them the subject of his pencil. 
 If the Spanish clergyman's account of Triana be 
 accurate, times have returned to what they were 
 G 4 
 
128 SEVILLE. 
 
 when Seville was a Roman city ; for tlie majority 
 of the inhabitants are engaged in like employ- 
 ment, and amongst them many of our country- 
 men. 
 
 An Englishman, a Mr. Pitman, has converted 
 the suppressed convent of the Catuja into a pot- 
 tery manufactory, and brought out many Eng- 
 lishmen to assist at the trade. The convent, 
 once one of the most celebrated in Spain, is 
 situated amidst orange groves, which skirt the 
 Gruadalquiver ; and on a late occasion, when the 
 Infanta visited it, a pretty summer house was 
 erected overhanging the river. Here the spec- 
 tator may appreciate the full flatness of Seville 
 and its vicinity. I was walking over these pre- 
 mises one morning in company with some Spanish 
 ladies, when one of the Englishmen recognized 
 me and my calling, and asked to be permitted to 
 call upon me, for he had long prayed that some 
 minister might pass that way, and God had now 
 sent him one. Of course I was too happy of an 
 opportunity to be of assistance to any of my 
 countrymen. Accordingly a few nights after- 
 wards he visited me in my sitting-room, wherein 
 hung an enormous crucifix. 
 
 As soon as this man's tongue was loosed, he 
 began to pour out an extraordinary tale of all his 
 doings and misdoings. It seems that these Eng- 
 
SEVILLE. 129 
 
 lishmen had received high wages, and had had wine 
 supplied them cheaply ; and as they had neither 
 religion nor any superior class of people to watch 
 over them, and guide them, they really did deserve 
 to be ranked with the abhorrence of the Spanish 
 priest, viz., the gipsies. Two of them had fairly 
 impaired their understandings. One of them told 
 me so complicated a story of adventures and 
 miracles that had been wrought in his case, that I 
 began to wonder in myself, whether or not I was 
 really in the land of the living. How he had 
 parted with his wife ; how in the midst of a deep 
 carousal, he heard a voice shouting in his ear that 
 made him jump up, and rush from the vent a ; 
 how he lay ill and insensible for six months in a 
 hut ; how, on one occasion, he was watching a pot 
 boiling, and all of a sudden, blood and water 
 streamed out of it, and reminded him of Christ ; 
 how he rushed into the cathedral, wandered up 
 and down the dismal aisles, and at last fell to 
 praying before the images. He said " he knew it 
 was wrong to pray before these images, and yet 
 they awakened in him religious thoughts/' He 
 said " the Spaniards of his class called him a 
 Jew ; but he rejoined, he was a better Christian 
 than they." He was accompanied by the cap- 
 tain of a small schooner, loading with oranges, 
 a Wesleyan, and evidently a man who had seen 
 G 5 
 
130 SEVILLE. 
 
 the state into which some of these workmen had 
 fallen, and had tried to give a proper direc- 
 tion to the unsettled state of this man's mind ; 
 but I could see the very crucifix which hung 
 over my head, and which I would certainly much 
 rather had not been there, acted prejudiciously 
 upon the Wesleyan. He spoke very bitterlj^ of the 
 Spaniards, and said that very morning a dead 
 body, with the throat cut, had been floating under 
 his vessel's bows ; but in this, he only fell into 
 one of two extremes that most Englishmen fall 
 into, — that of either regarding with contempt every 
 country but their own, or the reverse of this. A 
 few days after, I went, by appointment, with some 
 Spanish ladies to christen some children. The 
 ladies professed themselves pleased and edified with 
 the ceremony ; not, of course, that they had any 
 idea of renouncing their own faith, or I any desire 
 to convert them. The unfortunate children, who 
 spoke neither Spanish or English, interested me 
 the most ; and it was quite impossible to resist 
 the appeal of one of them, whom I met alone on 
 the river bank, " Englishman, give me money.'' 
 The vice-consul of Seville is a Roman Catholic ; 
 although we met sometimes on a Sunday, I 
 was thwarted in every effort I made to render 
 them any permanent service. 
 
 Amongst others, the man whom I had met on 
 
SEVILLE. 131 
 
 the steamer coming from Cadiz, and wlio had 
 been described to me as " loco/' turned up. The 
 excesses of this man had, unfortunately, made him 
 too well deserving of that term. At times I saw 
 these men afterwards ; but I shall make no more 
 mention of them at present. 
 
 Our landlady very soon showed us the principal 
 sights of Seville. She inHsted into our party three 
 Spanish ladies, Donna Blanca, Donna Aqueila, and 
 Donna Ana. One of whom, although she still 
 bore her maiden name, was said to be married. 
 I do not believe she was ; for she had the marble 
 look of a nun ; and all three were of that class of 
 Spanish ladies of which there are several, con- 
 sistently religious and chaste. I heard it over 
 and over again said in Seville, that there were 
 some most pure, holy, and excellent Spanish ladies, 
 not unworthy to be the countrywomen of the 
 great Santa Theresa. I am inclined to regard the 
 Spanish women as generally most true to the true, 
 and only not true when those in whom they trust 
 -fail them ; and always devout, in a manner. 
 
 These three ladies accompanied us to the cathe- 
 dral. On entering the chapel to the right, as you 
 come into the cathedral from the west, we began 
 to examine a picture of San Lauriano, carrying his 
 head in his hand after martyrdom. One of our 
 party, upon regarding this, could hardly suppress 
 g6 
 
132 SEVILLE. 
 
 a laugh, and remarked to one of the ladies, 
 " Senora I can you believe in this extravagance V 
 The lady did not even deign to smile, but looked 
 very serious ; and one of the others, however, I 
 believe not really the most devout, came forward, 
 and said, deliberately, " Why should we not believe 
 it ? All things are possible with God : it is not a 
 bit more wonderful that He should make a flower 
 spring from a seed, than that one of His saints 
 should glorify Him by walking with his head in 
 his hand." 
 
 Not being an admirer of crude Gothicisms, 
 quaintly executed decorations, because made at a 
 time or in a country when able artificers could not 
 be procured ; one of the most agreeable features, 
 to me, about Seville Cathedral is, that it was built 
 when Spain was at her zenith ; and that which is 
 truly good and excellent about it, whether we 
 consider its decorations or the general style of its 
 architecture so much preponderates, that it de- 
 serves to be called a school of the Sister Arts. In 
 this respect it is to Spain what St. Peter's is to 
 Italy. It is 431 feet long, by 31 5 broad, and in its 
 highest part 171 feet. 
 
 The forest of piers, breaking the vistas, which 
 are to be seen in a seven-aisled church of such 
 proportions, impresses the mind with that happy, 
 confused idea of grandeur and magnificence, that 
 
SEVILLE. 133 
 
 it is, at once, the ambition and success of the 
 artist to accomplish ; and although there are 
 nearly a hundred windows in it, the light is of the 
 most subdued description. The eye, after wander- 
 ing over this glorious assemblage of lights and lines, 
 mounts over the top of the " coro,'' which occupies 
 so large a space in the middle aisle, and culminates 
 at last upon a crimson velvet banner, which, em- 
 blazoned with a crucifix, hangs over the " Respaldo 
 del Altar,"' and proclaims at once to the honour 
 of whom the building is dedicated. Amongst some 
 of the first objects of interest which delight the 
 stranger, is the stone that covers the remains of 
 Fenando, son of Christopher Columbus ; the vessels 
 engraved upon it resemble greatly in shape the 
 Chinese Junk ; and the adventures of that vessel 
 are really a sort of commentary upon the voyages 
 of Christopher Columbus, and Vasco da Gama. 
 
 Of Murillo's numerous pictures, which adorn 
 several of the capillas, that which represents the 
 infant Saviour appearing to St. Francis charmed me 
 the most ; yet I am one of those who think that a 
 year or two in the schools of Rome, Venice, or 
 Bologna, would not have rendered the pencil of 
 the great Spanish artist less effective. In this 
 picture the infant Saviour is represented sur- 
 rounded with the usual orange-coloured halo of 
 Murillo, descending into the open arms of the 
 
184 SEVILLE. 
 
 expectant saint, who is kneeling at the foot of an 
 altar, the upper part of which is lost in the flood 
 of light surrounding the Saviour. 
 
 The ladies with us procured us the sight of 
 many things in the ^'^ Segrario,'' of vast interest. 
 A cross presented by Christopher Columbus, made 
 of the first gold that came from America, much 
 interested us ; also a golden heart, in which the 
 blessed sacrament is carried to the Archbishop, 
 when he is ill or dying. The vestments, too, are 
 worth seeing, if only to form a conception of the 
 wealth that may be expended upon the decora- 
 tions of a dress. There was a suit, worn during 
 the festival of the Immaculate Conception, which 
 must have taxed invention to the utmost to have 
 devised and been wrought by a hand, one would 
 imagine, animated with the same desire of obey- 
 ing the commands of God as if it had been 
 making Aaron's embroidered coat\ I was also 
 much struck with a candlestick called, I believe, 
 "el tenebrario," which, likewise, recalled to me 
 the description of the golden candlestick men- 
 tioned in Exodus. In fact, since my residence 
 in Seville, I had been constantly reminded of 
 Judaism in certain of the ceremonies ; although 
 I shall have to mention some which exceed any 
 thing that Judaism ever countenanced, and ap- 
 
 1 Exod. xxviii. 39. 
 
SEVILLE. 135 
 
 pear to go to the very extreme of ceremonial ex- 
 travagance. In the place where these "reliquia" 
 are kept is a famous picture, representing the 
 Descent from the Cross ; and more famous, as one 
 of the ladies told us, for Murillo's saying respecting 
 it, than any thing else. He used to watch there 
 for hours, as he said, " until they had taken down 
 the Saviour.'^ 
 
 I could not but look with interest, in the Chapel 
 of the Wall, upon a rude piece of wall, upon which 
 is represented the Virgin ; which the Moors, at 
 the time the city was besieged by San Ferdinand, 
 could not efface, do what they would. Although 
 they cut at it with pick-axes, it remained unin- 
 jured ; and although they tried to paint over it, 
 the paint would not lay. This chapel is adorned, 
 moreover, with veritable Moorish flags. Here the 
 Infanta's silver statuette of San Ferdinand was 
 deposited. 
 
 Although it is sometimes said that comparisons 
 are odious, I know no way of conveying an accu- 
 rate impression respecting any place so well as by 
 means of comparison. The only cathedral it oc- 
 curred to me with which to compare Seville was 
 that of Milan. Milan is not pure Gothic, it is true, 
 and Seville is ; yet there is some affinity between 
 them in point of size, and evident determination 
 on the part of the originators of both to spare no 
 
136 SEVILLE. 
 
 expense in the erection of a temple, worthy, in 
 their ideas, of the worship to which it was to be 
 devoted. Adjoining the cathedral, and, indeed, 
 leading out of it, is the Capilla Real ; which I 
 allude to, because here I noticed, hanging against 
 the railings of one of the chapels, a notice from 
 Dr. Wiseman, '' Obispo de Oscott,'' in which he 
 granted certain indulgences to such of the faithful 
 as might repeat a certain number of Pater nosters 
 and Ave Marias before the image exhibited in the 
 chapel. 
 
 I shall not enlarge upon the other places we 
 visited this morning in our walk, as La Lonja, a 
 handsome building, immediately to the south of 
 the cathedral, in which are the Spanish archives of 
 South America. This building would afford an ex- 
 cellent model for a club-house ; its most striking 
 feature is the staircase. Equally unnecessary is 
 it to dwell upon "la fabrica de tabacos," where 
 tobacco, snuff, and cigars, are accommodated in 
 a palace, and four or five thousand people made 
 very unhealthy in the cause of smoke ; nor, as 
 Englishmen are not very likely to gain many 
 hints 'in gunnery and artillery from the Spaniards, 
 is there any occasion to dwell upon the " fabrica 
 des canones ;"' or the " fabrica de capsulas," where, 
 by the bye, we met the Duke de Montpensier, with 
 several oJBScers, examining a new invention for the 
 
SEVILLE. 137 
 
 purpose of facilitating the formation of caps. He 
 is a tall, thin, youthful-looking man, without 
 whiskers, but with a small pointed sandy-coloured 
 beard, and limbs that at present do not seem very 
 compactly set together. The Infanta was very 
 popular ; and, on her account, the duke was also 
 said to be. However, he deserved it for his own 
 sake, for he had made every effort to ingratiate 
 himself in the favour of the Spaniards ; and, by 
 this time, had pretty well mastered the language. 
 Our day concluded with a small party, where 
 the strangers met, not to eat or to drink, but to 
 play on the guitar, and to hear others do the 
 same. The guitar was passed from one to the 
 other ; and even the silent, nun-like Donna 
 Blanca consented, at last, to perform upon the 
 national instrument. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 FUNERAL OF PADRE FACUNDEZ, A SPANISH SAINT — FUNCION 
 OF SAN FERNANDO — ARRIVAL OF A JESUIT AT THE HOUSE 
 
 WHERE THE AUTHOR WAS LIVING— FEMALE INCONSISTENCY 
 
 NUMBER OF JESUITS IN SEVILLE — CONVERSATION WITH PADRE 
 
 THEOFILO, UPON THE COUNCIL OF JERUSALEM MARRIED 
 
 BISHOPS ASSUMPTION OF THEOFILO TAYLOR's ** HOLY LIV- 
 ING AND DYING." 
 
 It is quite a business in Seville to attend the dif- 
 ferent religious ceremonies ; whether il be the 
 case or no, as the traveller will constantly hear 
 that there is very little real religion in Spain, 
 there are still abundant remains of Hispanico- 
 catholic ceremonial. I think one of the most 
 amusing ceremonies which occurred in the winter 
 of '49, was the funeral of Padre Facundez, who 
 was carried to the church of San Pedro Alcantara. 
 The whole city was out upon this occasion. The 
 Gefe Politico and the town authorities attended ; 
 for all Seville acknowledged that Padre Facundez 
 was a veritable saint. The coffin, which was pre- 
 ceded by the parish cross and the charity chil- 
 dren, was covered with gold lace ; then followed 
 behind the Alcalde, Corrigidor, and a body of 
 
SEVILLE. 139 
 
 soldiers. I saw the old man lying in his coffin 
 in the church ; he looked healthy, and hy no 
 means wasted by disease or extravagant fasting, 
 hut calm and placid. He is said to have worked 
 many miracles, the last of which was not the very 
 extraordinary one of foretelling the hour of his 
 death. He was dressed in an ecclesiastical dress 
 with his feet and head bare. Padre Facundez 
 was the theme of conversation all the evening ; 
 and I was struck with the earnest manner in which 
 I heard a young man speaking of his miraculous 
 powers. The shop windows were also filled with 
 representations of this saint. 
 
 The day following occurred one of the most popu- 
 lar of the Seville funcions, — that commemorative of 
 San Ferdinand. Immediately behind the "retablo'' 
 of the " altar major," is a large semicircular apsed 
 chapel, in which is preserved the body of the con- 
 queror of Seville. On this occasion the Gefe Politico, 
 attended by an escort of military, carried the sword 
 of the hero from this chapel, and deposited it on 
 the " altar major.'' Mass is said on this occasion, 
 and an eulogistic oration delivered upon the sword. 
 I knew the priest who preached on this festival. 
 He was not considered to have done justice to 
 the noble theme, although I can answer to his 
 having apostrophized " la espada de San Fernan- 
 do" to an excess ; and to his having told the Sevil- 
 
140 SEVILLE. 
 
 lianos that that sword had procured to them the 
 most delightful and blessed place in all the world. 
 
 Whilst examining the sacred body of San Fer- 
 dinand, a priest, who was not officiating, brushed 
 by me, jumped the altar rails, and nearly dis- 
 lodged the officiating priest from his place ; but 
 it was well he did so, for one of the numerous 
 candles which surrounded an image of the Virgin 
 had fallen upon her dress ; in one minute more, 
 she, if not the chapel, would have been in a con- 
 flagration. 
 
 Ferdinand the Third, El Santo, was the son 
 of Berenguela, daughter of the King of Castile, 
 Alfonso the Eighth, and wife to Don Alfonso 
 the Ninth, king of Leon. On this day, mass 
 is celebrated in the cathedral in three chapels 
 at the same time. Soldiers were posted close to 
 the altar on which was deposited the magnificent 
 sarcophagus containing the remains of the royal 
 saint. When the sermon was over, the clergy 
 adored the host, and then the procession was 
 formed for carrying back the sword to the place 
 whence it was taken. The Captain-general carried 
 the banner of San Ferdinand, and the Gefe Poli- 
 tico the sword. The soldiers formed in the chapel, 
 leaving a passage from the entrance to the altar 
 for the procession to pass along. The instant the 
 banner crossed the threshold of the chapel the 
 
SEVILLE. 141 
 
 military band struck up the national anthem, the 
 magnificent organ accompanying it. The officiat- 
 ing priest took the banner from the Captain-gene- 
 ral, drew down the blind over the sarcophagus, 
 and thus terminated the ceremony. 
 
 I own to a sympathy with clergymen wherever 
 I go. I know that we are all more or less em- 
 barked in the same cause, and that we, as it were, 
 live within a charmed circle, or, as some people 
 would like to call it, a narrow-minded system ; and 
 it was not altogether without satisfaction that I saw 
 the arrival at the house where I was lodging of a 
 priest, by no means of the jovial, easy kind, that 
 I had before been introduced to. Padre Theofilo 
 looked like one of those active spirits in the Church 
 which move about the world, to agitate extreme 
 Church matters. His exterior was not very pre- 
 possessing. He had the approved ghostly com- 
 plexion, piercing eyes, and a long neck that was 
 almost bare. He hardly looked at me, but sate 
 down impatiently to supper, and was soon after 
 visited by a young man, between a " majo'' and a 
 muleteer. Leaving them to their own company, 
 I strolled out with the lady of the house and 
 Don . 
 
 Both began to abuse the new-comer, in their 
 
 own way ; Don called him a rude, coarse 
 
 fellow ; the Seiiora, informing me he was a Jesuit, 
 
142 SEVILLE. 
 
 denounced the order. Carlos the Third never did 
 a wiser thing than when he expelled them ; it 
 was a complete coup d'etat, and almost accom- 
 plished in four-and-twenty hours. She said her 
 father had quarrelled with her mother because the 
 latter had allowed one of these gentlemen to get 
 a footing in their house in such a way that he 
 could not get rid of him. " They completely over- 
 ruled the houses," said she ; " they get into fami- 
 lies, so that people not only cannot call their souls 
 their own, but they cannot even call their houses 
 or the food placed upon their tables their own. 
 All she hoped was that Padre Theofilo was not 
 going to stop long." The reader may imagine 
 my surprise on entering the lady's work-room 
 in the evening to see the Senora crying, with 
 a letter in her hand, and the Padre standing by, 
 and she declaring that he was welcome to her 
 house, not as a lodger, but as the particular friend 
 of her dear cousin Don Alguen. 
 
 Theofilo was not slow in accepting the use of 
 the Seiiora's house that was thus placed at his 
 disposal, and I could not forbear smiling at the 
 inconsistency of the lady ; but I was not sorry of 
 the opportunity thus afforded me of conversing 
 with this disciple of Loyola. Upon my first in- 
 quiries about the Spanish Church, he pretended 
 great ignorance, telling me he had been ten years 
 
SEVILLE. 143 
 
 in Rome, and was only just returned from that 
 city. His zeal for his Church and evident intelli- 
 gence was much more pleasing in my eyes, than 
 the stolid ignorance or incommunicativeness of 
 some of the clergy whom I had encountered. He 
 seemed, moreover, better informed on the state of 
 the Church of England than any I had before met. 
 This could hardly excite surprise, when it is known, 
 as he informed me, that, next to Belgium, perhaps 
 more of their order are to be found in the great 
 towns of England than any where else. He did 
 not disguise his hope that England might be con- 
 verted ; " bring that little island back again to the 
 Pope, and we have conquered the world." He 
 lamented Grregory the Sixteenth, and said he was 
 a much safer Pope than the present one. Pius 
 the Ninth was a great deal too much of a liberal 
 for him ; and as to Spain, it was in a deplorable 
 state, as far as religion was concerned. The clergy 
 were becoming more and more nationalists and 
 less Catholic. 
 
 " Padre Theofilo," said I, " how comes it that 
 there are any of your body again in Spain V 
 
 " Oh ! " said he, " there are very few of us, and 
 we are not allowed to have any cures. There 
 are sixteen Jesuits in Seville, employed as reli- 
 gious instructors in seminaries, and as occasional 
 preachers.'' 
 
144 SEVILLE. 
 
 " As to your wishes about England/' I said, " I 
 hope and believe they never will be fulfilled. It 
 is more than likely that as Rome, from being the 
 mistress of the world, became the mother of 
 Churches, the Church of England will, in her turn, 
 impress her likeness upon the isles of the Pacific 
 and elsewhere ; it has never yet been shown that 
 the Church of Rome is not destructive of national 
 prosperity ; on the contrary, national prosperity 
 has ever accompanied the Church of England ; 
 and you know we, in England, hold the Papal 
 Supremacy as a fiction.'' 
 
 In the course of the argument we got upon the 
 
 ij council of Jerusalem, recJorded in the fifteenth 
 
 chapter of the Acts of the holy Apostles, when he 
 maintained, that St. Peter was president of the 
 
 I! meeting, because he spoke first, before St. James 
 
 or St. Paul. I remarked that this argument was 
 
 jl I new to me, for I thought even Roman Catholics 
 
 li admitted that St. James presided at this council. 
 
 Padre Theofilo admitted that St. James was a 
 cousin of our Lord, and bishop of Jerusalem ; but 
 for all this he did not preside at this council. I 
 took down a Spanish Testament, and explained 
 to him, as well as I could, that it appeared to me, 
 that this was a large assemblage of the Christians 
 at Jerusalem, wherein, after there had been much 
 talking, St. Peter, as a principal man, got up and 
 
SEVILLE. 145 
 
 delivered his opinion. St. Barnabas and St. Paul 
 confirmed this opinion, by their testimony as to 
 the miracles wrought amongst the Gentiles, that 
 St. James summed up the debate, and gave sen- 
 tence as a judge, saying, ^^ For lo qual yo juzgo 
 que no se inquiete d los Gentiles que se convierten 
 a Dios." But Theofilo would not admit this ; but 
 replied, that St. Peter acted like the president of 
 the Cortes. He became furiously excited ; his 
 face, as it generally did on these occasions, grew 
 paler than was its wont, and he said, " There ! I 
 will argue with you when you can speak Spanish 
 better than you now do.'' 
 
 During the month I spent in the house with 
 Padre Theofilo, I had many brushes with him, 
 and, although excellent friends in general, upon 
 these occasions he was furious, and seemed to 
 lose all command over himself On one occasion I 
 was anxious to find out what his sentiments were 
 respecting the distribution of the Scriptures in 
 vSpain ; so I proposed to give the lady of the house a 
 Spanish Bible. Theofilo turned pale with wrath, and 
 said if I did, he would take it from her, and use it 
 for a purpose that I cannot disgrace my pen by 
 writing. I told him his language was both im- 
 pious and coarse, and he seemed for a moment 
 abashed. Another time I was mentioning to a 
 Mexican gentleman, that the Bishop of G 's 
 
 H 
 
146 SEVILLE. 
 
 daugliters were good Greek scholars, when I was 
 interrupted by Padre Theofilo bursting into a 
 loud, satirical laugh, " A bishop with daughters ! 
 pooh ! who ever heard of such a thing V 
 
 " Nay, Don Theofilo," I rejoined, " one of your 
 own bishops, St. Pacian, bishop of Barcelona, was 
 a married man ; and so was St. Cyprian ; and it 
 would be a very good thing if a few more had 
 been.'' 
 
 Here the Senora came to my aid, and declared 
 she wished every priest in Spain was married ; it 
 would be much better if they were, said she. 
 Unfortunate lady ! she drew upon her head the full 
 indignation of the Padre : " "Woman ! you argue 
 with your elbows, and not with your head/' said 
 he. " I have received the confessions of hundreds 
 of priests, who have declared to me their trials, 
 and yet they do not commit sin." 
 
 The lady looked incredulous, as much as to say. 
 That is all very well, Padre, but we should have 
 fewer nephews in Spain if this were the case. 
 Most men accommodate their philosophy to their 
 fortunes ; I was therefore content that the Padre 
 should enjoy his laugh about the bishop's daugh- 
 ters. There is no question an unmarried clergy 
 are the most powerful ; but when men, in order to 
 protect the virtue of their wives and daughters, 
 enforce concubinage upon the clergy, which was the 
 
SEVILLE. 147 
 
 case in Switzerland before the Reformation, need 
 any thing more be said upon the subject ? Unmar- 
 ried men are naturally more cosmopolitan and 
 Catholic in their feelings ; but a wise monarch, who 
 does not want to be bored with an " imperium in 
 imperio,'' will take very good care to encourage 
 the marriage of the clergy. There is no one 
 thing that would change the character of Spain so 
 much as this. 
 
 Padre Theofilo considered himself the father 
 confessor of the family. If any strangers came, 
 he immediately took them under his protection, 
 and guarded them against my perverting them. 
 One lady particularly desired him one day to save 
 my soul, which he assured her he would endeavour 
 to do. Another lady, in the middle rank of life, after 
 regarding me with undisguised wonder, asked 
 me " if I ate pork ?" Thus ignorant, I fear, are the 
 majority of the Spaniards about every thing that 
 is not constantly under their eyes. They never 
 read, nor trouble themselves much about the rest 
 of the world ; and comparatively few travel. It 
 would not be difficult to show, that the little life 
 they have comes by way of Cuba and America ; 
 like men who distinguish themselves greatly when 
 young, and never do any thing afterwards^ the 
 Spaniards repose upon the laurels of former years. 
 
 Don Theofilo had the ladies with him rather 
 h2 
 
] 48 SEVILLE. 
 
 than the gentlemen ; these, including the "mozo/' 
 or man-servant, generally contrived to growl out an 
 expression of disapprobation against him, when 
 his back was turned ; for when he said grace at 
 dinner, he spread out his arms over the table in 
 an impatient, authoritative manner, as if we were 
 indebted to him for our meals. On one occasion 
 I was reasoning with him at the dinner table, 
 when he jumped up, ran round, and kneeling on 
 one knee by my side, with his hand nearly thrust 
 into my face, enforced his opinions, until the party 
 laughed at him for being on his knees to Don 
 Tomas. On another occasion, he took up my Tay- 
 lor's " Holy Living and Dying,'" which had been 
 my only companion in many a solitary moment. 
 I remarked it was a favourite book of devotion, 
 when he cast his eyes to the foot of the page, 
 where it was opened, and pointing to the names 
 of Seneca and Lucan, he said, ^'profanes! pro- 
 fanes I" — I wish I could have given him Alex- 
 ander Knox's essay on the use of profane authors 
 in illustrating the truth of Revelation ! 
 
CHAPTER XIIL 
 
 THE AUTHOR GOES WITH THE JESUIT TO A FUNCION PROFESSION 
 
 AND PRACTICE SOME ACCOUNT OP A NOVENA— THE GREAT 
 
 FUNCION OF SEVILLE, THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION — DANC- 
 ING BEFORE THE ALTAR — IMPRESSIONS — A VISIT TO DEAN 
 CEPERO — HIS DEFENCE OF THAT CEREMONY — HIS PICTURES. 
 
 On St. Andrew's day, Don Theofilo and I went 
 to church together at San Andres, a small church 
 situated in the street in which we were residing. 
 There is a good deal of tawdry finery about it, 
 but it is entirely void of architectural grace or 
 beauty. 
 
 The church was very much crowded on this oc- 
 casion ; several musicians at the west end were 
 engaged in playing exceedingly pretty operatic 
 music, quite unecclesiastical in its character, and 
 with much of which I was familiar. The ladies, 
 as usual, were spread about upon the floor in rich 
 profusion. Two things in the ceremony of the 
 day might be remarked. — The clergy, who were at 
 the west end of the church, instead, as is cus- 
 tomary, of going up to the altar to kiss the ele- 
 ments, had them brought down to them, in small 
 h3 
 
150 SEVILLE. 
 
 boxes, by two youths in minor orders. The banns 
 of marriage were published at the conclusion of 
 the service, exactly in the same terms as those in 
 which they are published in our churches. 
 
 The sermon was preached with a good deal of 
 animation, and elicited audible expressions of 
 approbation from the congregation ; but on con- 
 sulting my friend the Jesuit on the merits of the 
 discourse, he shook his head and said, " It had 
 too much of the modern philosophy and ration- 
 alism for him.'" 
 
 I had entered the boarding-house where I was 
 on the best recommendation it was in my power 
 to procure ; and yet I had reason afterwards to 
 doubt whether my choice had been a wise one. 
 When we returned from church to dinner, we 
 found the Senora had invited two females from 
 another house to dine; so that our party con- 
 sisted of a Spanish general, a man of the highest 
 character, the lady of the house, the Jesuit, 
 these other ladies, and myself Our landlady 
 was separated from her husband, as therefore I 
 could not think so highly of any of the ladies as I 
 should have wished to have done, I was curious 
 to know how all these funcions and ceremonies 
 affected them ; I therefore turned the conversa- 
 tion on the fiesta of the day, and asked the Senora 
 some leading questions. She began by avowing 
 
SEVILLE. 151 
 
 her great attacliment to every thing connected 
 with her religion ; she told me she went to Mass 
 every day before I was up, and received the Holy 
 Communion twenty times a year, and confessed 
 before receiving it each time. 
 
 The other females, whose intimacy with some of 
 our own countrymen stamped their character, could 
 not measure the delight they felt in hearing ser- 
 mons. Alas ! what a commentary was here upon 
 " practice and profession I" In the evening I went 
 with this party to San Nicholas, where a novena 
 was being conducted. One has travelled to little 
 purpose, if one has not learned to rub against all 
 kinds of society without taking much of one's 
 tone from them. "We therefore all proceeded to 
 San Nicholas, taking the road down the Calle de la 
 Cuna, and through the Plaza Pescaderia and the 
 Plaza Isidore. The church was blazing with lights, 
 and crowded to suffocation ; and, with its marble 
 columns and flowers, had a very gay effect. 
 
 A " novena'" is a period of nine days preceding 
 the saint's day to which it relates ; during which 
 interval there is a particular service every night, 
 concluding with a prayer to the saint, and a ser- 
 mon. In the novena of St. Raphael the first 
 night's prayer implores "the patronage of the 
 saint, and that he will present the prayers of the 
 faithful before the divine throne, and their souls 
 H 4 
 
152 SEVILLE. 
 
 when released from the flesh." The prayer of the 
 second day implores the angel or saint " to assist 
 the minister of religion in the salvation of souls ; 
 that they may attain to eternity, and with them 
 for ever love God." The third prays the saint 
 or angel "to make them that they may hear 
 the voice of divine grace, and overcome sin 
 in the flesh." The fourth prays the archangel 
 " to overcome in them the foul fiend." The fifth 
 implores the archangel " to forgive them their 
 debts, and to recover for them their lost grace." 
 The sixth implores the archangel " to give them 
 perseverance in prayer, and constancy in good 
 works ; and, this life ended, that their souls may 
 be crowned in glory." The seventh prays the 
 archangel "that, united, they may ofl'er prayers 
 to him which he may present to the Deity." The 
 eighth prays the archangel, as patron of those 
 who are obedient to parents, " to obtain from God 
 this virtue and future glory." The ninth desires 
 the angel or saint " to present all their supplica- 
 tions to the Deity ; and to consider their needs in 
 this life, and to give them glory in another." 
 
 The novenas and octaves are quite accidental, 
 and depend principally upon the chance liberality 
 of individuals. The same saint who is honoured 
 this year by a thousand lights, and nine or eight 
 days of special prayers and sermons, may the 
 
SEVILLE. 15S 
 
 next year be without a single light burning on his 
 altar. This is called the cultus of saints. The 
 splendour of the novena depends upon the sum 
 given for it : when it is a large sum, of course the 
 best musicians and preachers are obtained to 
 grace the festival. The form of prayer, &c., used 
 on these occasions, is drawn up by some clergyman 
 in authority, or the bishop. 
 
 Whilst on the subject of festivals, I must notice 
 the most extraordinary one of all, — that of "La 
 Purisima Conception de Nostra Senora, patrona de 
 Espana y de sus Tndias" Scenic ingenuity seems 
 in this to have been strained quite as far as pro- 
 priety can countenance. Over-night the bells all 
 over the city tune up ; the G-iralda sparkles with 
 lights, being illuminated on this occasion ; and 
 fitful bursts of noise announce the approaching 
 jubilee. On entering the cathedral in the morn- 
 ing, I found the lofty piers surrounding the coro 
 hung with crimson velvet, and the clergy officiating 
 in cerulean blue, the Queen of Heaven's own 
 colour ; and, as it has been stated, made use of 
 only in Seville. The Mass and sermon of the 
 morning was followed by a gorgeous spectacle in 
 the evening. At the very top of the rotable was a 
 magnificent silver crown : just under it, and literally 
 crowned by it, was a precious box, called a viril, 
 in which was deposited the Host. This was the 
 h5 
 
154 SEVILLE. 
 
 climax, and was surrounded by a silver halo ; 
 immediately under it stood an enchanting figure 
 of the Virgin ; and on each side of her, a little 
 lower, were the silver figures of San Isidore and 
 San Leandro. Beneath these the reliquia, Colum- 
 bus's cross, and a multitude of sacred odds and 
 ends. Rows of enormous candles were burning 
 before all this splendour. I accompanied Padre 
 Theofilo in the evening to this ceremony. The enor- 
 mous organ pealed forth directly the Archbishop 
 entered the cathedral. He immediately came up 
 to the altar major ; and, bowing before it, retired 
 to his chair in the core. The lauds were then 
 chanted. A dignitary, with a black train dragging 
 on the ground, some fifty yards in length, then 
 proceeded up the altar steps, and burnt incense 
 before the blessed Virgin : youths in minor orders 
 carried the incense into the core. Then the Arch- 
 bishop, followed by his clergy, came from the coro 
 into the presbyterio, or chapel of the high altar, 
 and took up his position, on his knees, in one 
 corner of the chapel ; whilst in the opposite were 
 arranged musicians. Before the altar were placed 
 the choristers, dressed in silk stockings, blue silk 
 or satin breeches, with vests of the same, and hats 
 or caps adorned with large feathers. The music 
 struck up ; the boys, wearing this costume of 
 Philip the Third, chanted antiphonally a hymn to 
 
SEVILLE. 155 
 
 the Virgin. They then began to dance, singing 
 at the same time : at last, putting their plumed 
 caps on their heads, they accompanied themselves 
 with their castanets. 
 
 During the whole of this ceremony, the Arch- 
 bishop, habited as a Cardinal ^ was on his knees, 
 looking up at the viril containing the Host ; whilst 
 a gauze curtain, fitted to the rim of the crown, 
 was being gradually drawn over that which hun- 
 dreds present regarded as nothing more nor less 
 than Deity itself The Archbishop's countenance 
 all this time appeared most grave. 
 
 The Jesuit turned to me and said, " This, which 
 makes you laugh, makes me cry." He wronged 
 me here ; on the contrary, I was myself melted at 
 the spectacle. After the Archbishop had given 
 the blessing, Theofilo took me to the celebrated 
 image of the Virgin carved by Juan Martinez 
 Montanes. The expression in Theofilo's face 
 was not pleasing; there was a look of admira- 
 tion which recalled a story I had heard, respect- 
 ing a veneration paid to the Virgin better 
 adapted to the goddess of the Zidonians. I 
 throw it out as a speculation, whether the 
 adoration of the Virgin could ever rise to any 
 
 ^ I think I must have been misled about the dress of the Arch- 
 bishop ; for this very Archbishop's name occurred in the batch of 
 Cardinals made when Dr. Wiseman was. 
 
 H 6 
 
156 SEVILLE. 
 
 height amongst a very moral people. After having 
 seen Christianity working in many different coun- 
 tries, it is hard not to believe that indigenous 
 prejudices are represented in the particular cus- 
 toms of individual churches. By these alone any 
 one might take a map of the world, and trace 
 upon it the ancient empire of Rome ; and, re- 
 membering the empire of Venus, it is only in this 
 way one can account for the blasphemous venera- 
 tion paid to the mother of our Lord. 
 
 May I be pardoned if I wrong my Spanish 
 friend? — but the expression of his countenance, 
 as he extolled the very exquisite face of this 
 figure, to say the least, had more of Platonic than 
 divine love about it. 
 
 This extraordinary fashion of dancing before the 
 altar was continued every evening of the octave. 
 On endeavouring to find out its origin, all I could 
 ascertain was, that it was introduced before the 
 time of Isabella and Ferdinand. The custom 
 originated at the Feast of Corpus ; but as whatever 
 Urban the Fourth conceded to that festival, 
 Sixtus the Fourth allowed to that of the Concep- 
 tion ; this famous dance went along with other 
 things. At one time it was a sort of Saturnalia, 
 and the dance was continued out of doors by all 
 the worst characters of Seville, including the 
 gipsies and muleteers. 
 
SEVILLE. 157 
 
 A few days after this, I was taken by a lady to 
 call upon the Dean Cepero. Being a man of ex- 
 ceedingly good taste in the arts, it was a pleas- 
 ing circumstance to find him residing in the house 
 formerly belonging to Murillo, and in which that 
 great and original painter died. As you enter, on 
 one of the columns surrounding the patio, there is 
 a picture of Murillo, and a small slab underneath 
 stating the above fact. It is the pleasantest house 
 I know in Seville. The corridors are glazed, and 
 the walls of all the rooms and passages well 
 covered with pictures ; the windows look over the 
 " sitio de la Feria." Whilst casting my eye round 
 the principal room, " El Dean," the Dean himself, 
 came in. He is a man who has experienced all 
 kinds of adventures of a political nature, and is 
 now said to be between seventy and eighty years 
 old, hale, active, and eloquent. 
 
 He entered the room with a cigarette between 
 his fingers, and had a blue dressing-gown on over 
 his cassock, with the cross of Isabella the Catholic 
 dangling from his side ; and as he ran rather 
 than walked about, he hummed and sung in a 
 cheerful, pleasant sort of manner. I drew his 
 attention to the haile, or dance at the cathedral, 
 and expressed my wonder at the whole cere- 
 mony. 
 
 He ran away, and returned with a small oil 
 
158 SEVILLE. 
 
 painting in each hand, one representing a chorister 
 habited for the dance on the festival of the Im- 
 maculate Conception ; the other, representing 
 one in red, habited for the dance on Corpus 
 Christi. "There have,'' said he, "been several 
 efforts to suppress it, but the popes have always 
 overruled in its favour ; for did not David dance 
 before the ark when it was brought up from the 
 house of Obed-Edom? It is a ceremony 'muy 
 poetica, muy pilosophica, y muy religiosa,' — very 
 poetical, philosophical, and religious/' "Pray, 
 Senor Dean," said I, " used there not formerly to 
 be a dance of gipsies, and all manner of strange 
 people V 
 
 " Seiior ! Senor !" rejoined the Dean, " Madre 
 de Dies ! what can you be thinking of ? — no, no, 
 no/' 
 
 However, whether he affected to misunderstand 
 me I will not say; but it is pretty certain there 
 was, as I have stated above. 
 
 The Dean showed me the only undoubted 
 Valasquez in Seville, — a meagre representation of 
 three white rabbits. I saw nothing about the 
 Dean that might not be found, as far as manners 
 were concerned, in a dean of our own Church. 
 Our English dean's house might be a trifle sprucer, 
 and there might, or might not, be a drawing-room 
 in the occupation of well-instructed ladies. 
 
SEVILLE. 159 
 
 I believe the Dean's collection of pictures is 
 accounted the best private collection in Seville ; 
 but I candidly own I saw little to charm rae. 
 When we ran through many galleries, we become 
 fastidious, and are not satisfied with a question- 
 able Murillo. 
 
CHAPTER XI Y. 
 
 THE WALLS AND GATES OF SEVILLE — A RIDE TO ALCALA THE 
 
 INFANTA — SPANISH INDUSTRY FOR ONCE SANTI PONCE AND 
 
 ITALICA — INTERESTING ROMAN REMAINS MURILLO — THE 
 
 REAL ALCAZAR— ENGLISH AND SPANISH GARDENING — INDIS- 
 POSITION OF THE NATIVES TO IMPROVEMENTS— RETROGRADING 
 TASTE OF SOME ENGLISH. 
 
 I SHOULD do injustice to some of the most agree- 
 able recollections I have of Spain, if I were to say 
 nothing about those walls which surround the 
 town of Seville, and are baked brown with 
 the Andalucian sun of many hundred years. 
 That a rude wall, indifferently battlemented, 
 should afford so much pleasure seems singular; 
 but we are so constituted that as we fall into a 
 reverie before the walls of Kenilworth Castle, and 
 think of Queen Elizabeth, and a train of worthies 
 of her age ; these walls call up to one's mind, 
 times and people who have never taken any more 
 definite shape than is suited to the realms of 
 the imagination. 
 
 The city is entirely surrounded by walls, with 
 fifteen gates. Let the artist, with his colours wet, 
 
SEVILLE. 161 
 
 and ready for use, stroll out of the puerta de la 
 Barqueta, and lie may make as pretty a terrace- 
 picture with the landing-place, and the rich 
 brown walls, as he can desire. Passing the 
 puerta de San Juan, he will come to an avenue of 
 low trees, which cast a scanty, clear shadow upon 
 the thirsty soil, and break the line of small square 
 towers. The puerta Real is to be remembered, 
 which comes next, not for any particular beauty 
 it possesses, but because it is in the immediate 
 vicinity of the " Museo," where is the largest col- 
 lection of the Sevillian school of painting. There 
 is nothing very interesting between this gate, and 
 that of Triana ; but the road from this latter gate- 
 way to the Puente de Barcas is a scene of per- 
 petual life and gaiety. The great tide of people 
 from the country, muleteers, majos, and priests pour 
 in and out of this gate ; and here the eye meets 
 with a never-ending variety of figures. The 
 vicinity of the next gate, the puerta del Arenal, 
 always appeared to me infested with bull-fighters, 
 and such a fraternity as might be supposed to 
 take interest in the neighbouring Plaza de Toros. 
 Passing the Tore del Oro, and keeping the bank 
 of the river, we leave the walls of the city, and 
 enter that delightful region I have before alluded 
 to, where the lover of indolence and sunny reveries 
 may find very agreeable trifling. 
 
162 SEVILLE. 
 
 This river-side of the city is the gay side, and it 
 was basking under these walls more particularly, 
 that I first became alive to the peculiar charm of 
 these mementos of the days of Moorish empire. 
 It was a long time before I felt any inclination to 
 leave these walls ; but at last I rode with a Mexi- 
 can gentleman to Alcala de Guadaira. The road 
 is over as flat a country as it is well possible to 
 conceive ; on the one side there are nothing but 
 olive-farms, and on the other, open country be- 
 studded with palmetta. However, on nearing the 
 town the face of the country changes, and the 
 road winds amongst moderately-sized hills, and 
 the small river enlivens the prospect, the most 
 conspicuous object of which is the old castle. 
 This old castle is a place of great celebrity ; the 
 ruins are very extensive, as we afterwards found, 
 and the views from it of Seville on the one 
 side, and the K,onda mountains on the other, are 
 very striking. At one corner of the castle we 
 espied the ro^^al flag hoisted — an intimation to us 
 that the Infanta, who was on her way back from 
 a ploughing-match of six hundred yoke of oxen, 
 in the vicinity of Osuna, was breakfasting there. 
 
 We found the somewhat humble town or village 
 full of life and gaiety. The unglazed windows 
 and doorways hung with coloured curtains, flags 
 hanging from the churches and balconies, and 
 
SEVILLE. ] 63 
 
 the travelling cavalcade of the Infanta occupying 
 the principal street. The Infanta herself was at 
 Mass in the small church which stands within 
 the keep of the castle. Let not the reader sup- 
 pose the cavalcade was such as used to be seen 
 before the time of railroads on the road between 
 London and Windsor. The first carriage was 
 a tolerable attempt at a coach ; the next was a 
 char-a-banc, drawn by four long-eared mules ; 
 and, as may be supposed, delightfully characteristic. 
 We hastened through the throng of dark, sunny, 
 handsome, half-gipsy faces, that lined the steep 
 ascent to the castle, and reached the gateway just 
 as a troop of little girls in white, carrying garlands, 
 made their appearance preceding the Infanta, 
 who followed leaning on the Duke de Montpensier's 
 arm ; behind them came the most perfect speci-* 
 men of a Spanish nurse one could desire to see, 
 carrying the precious baby in her arms, guarded 
 by four soldiers with bayonets. The Infanta 
 looked interesting, but withal pale, and delicate, 
 and very young, as did her husband, a tall, thin 
 youth with a pointed, sandy-coloured beard. The 
 Infanta might very easily have awakened a feeling 
 of loyal tenderness in the breasts of the Spaniards ; 
 there was something at once so confiding and un- 
 pretending about her whole carriage. 
 
 Alcala is famous for its biscuit bread, and its 
 
164 SEVILLE. 
 
 salubrity. The Guadaira, which winds under the 
 walls of the castle, and through a sheltered brush- 
 wood-grown valley, turns many mills, and has on 
 its banks the ruins of some of Moorish origin. 
 The principal modern mill was the property of a 
 particular friend of my companion : for once I was 
 reminded in Spain of English cleanliness, indus- 
 try, and enterprise ; this might be a little owing 
 to the sort of holiday dresses of the women em- 
 ployed in cleaning the corn, and the other work- 
 men, including the intelligent Basque who showed 
 us round, as they were all expecting a visit from 
 the Infanta. 
 
 The sojourner at Seville will not fail to take a 
 gallop over the swampy plain to Santi-Ponce, the 
 ancient Italica, and the birth-place of Trajan, 
 Adrian, and Theodosius. It is a very interesting 
 spot, on account of its monastic as well as classical 
 associations. The ruins of the convent of San 
 Geronimo will afford pleasure to the lover of the 
 j)icturesque, and the ruins of the ancient city to 
 the antiquarian. As this place was no doubt 
 in the occupation of the Moors, it affords a double 
 crop of antiquities. The Roman remains are very 
 extensive, including an amphitheatre, a temple, 
 and several baths, or private houses. The grass- 
 grown caverns or dens, where once the beasts 
 were lodged previous to the show, are in the occu- 
 
SEVILLE. 165 
 
 pation for the most part of gipsies, wlio prowl 
 about the ruins, begging of the chance visitors ; 
 and it is hard to refuse any thing to the fine, 
 handsome faces that thus address you. They 
 gather the coins which are found in great num- 
 bers ; a handful of which I procured for a trifle, 
 containing some Moorish ones, not much more 
 distinguished for design or elegance, than the rude, 
 ungainly bits of metal called coin, current at the 
 present time in Barbary. 
 
 The amphitheatre of the ancient Romans, and 
 the Spanish Plaza de Toros, are built very much 
 upon the same model, excepting that the modern 
 structure can seldom boast the magnificent dis- 
 plays of architectural skill which are to be seen in 
 the Colosseum or Les Arenes, at Nismes. Doubt- 
 less, as Spanish civilization progresses — for, if 
 Spain is to be compared to France and England, 
 we must speak in this manner — the bull-fight will 
 ultimately become traditional ; notwithstanding 
 that, at the present time, the Spaniards are one 
 and all enthusiastic upon this subject. 
 
 From the slight acclivity on which Santi- Ponce 
 stands, the eye ranges over the vast plain through 
 which winds the Guadalquiver, broken by the 
 towers of Seville, and backed by the pale blue 
 mountains of Antiquera and Ronda. There is a 
 chain of low sandy hills, a sort of continuation of 
 
166 SEVILLE. 
 
 that on wliicli the convent stands ; keeping these 
 for some little distance to the south, you come to 
 the convent of San Juan de Aznalfarache, another 
 favourite point to ride or walk to from Seville. It 
 stands amidst olive-farms, and is remarkable for 
 nothing but the excellent view it commands of 
 the city of Seville. The river winds close under 
 the precipice on which it stands ; and just opposite 
 are the extensive orange-groves of Don Lucas 
 Beck, an Englishman by extraction. He has a 
 son, who was educated at Oscott, a very favourite 
 seminary with those half-Spanish, half-English 
 merchants who have adopted the religion of the 
 country in which their fortunes have been cast, 
 and are anxious to give their children what they 
 consider the good things of the respective coun- 
 tries. 
 
 Although it is not my intention to describe all 
 the pictures of Murillo in Seville, or, indeed, to 
 attempt any thing like a critique upon Spanish 
 art, some allusion must be made to the pictures in 
 '' La Caradad,'' and the " Museo,'' lest it should be 
 supposed that a traveller, who presumed to inflict 
 his notes upon the public, was insensible to these 
 treasures. La Caradad is a sort of alms-house, 
 and one of the few buildings without the city 
 walls ; and in the chapel belonging to the Charity 
 are some of Murillo's most famous pictures, and 
 
SEVILLE. 167 
 
 painted by him for the places they occupy. The 
 principal of these is "La Sid'' Thirst, Moses 
 striking the rock in Horeb. It is a very long 
 and large picture, and certainly shows a wider 
 range of artistic power than any painting of 
 Murillo's with which I am acquainted ; for the 
 most conspicuous object in the picture is a large 
 white horse with a boy upon it, which, although 
 not displaying quite the animal-painting skill of 
 our Landseer, is highly creditable to an artist who 
 is not, that I am aware, at all remarkable for this 
 line of painting. The rest of the picture is full of 
 life and interest, and will suggest the motive 
 principle of the crowd. The companion-picture to 
 this, upon the opposite side of the chapel, is called 
 " pan y peces,"' and represents our Saviour feeding 
 the four thousand with the seven loaves and a few 
 small fishes. This picture I humbly think a bit of 
 a failure ; the colouring is cold, and the grouping 
 formal. Our Saviour looks like a schoolmaster 
 hearing a vast class to read. The other most re- 
 markable picture is " San Juan de Dies \' though 
 rich and deep in colour, I don't like the face of 
 the saint : there is neither beauty nor piety in it. 
 The most characteristic pictures of Murillo are 
 in the Museo, in a most disgracefully-neglected 
 state, and almost tumbling out of their frames ; 
 but here is as fine a collection of saints and 
 
168 SEVILLE. 
 
 Virgins as the most enthusiastic Roman Catholic 
 can desire. The saints, more than the Virgins, 
 are not sufficiently idealized. This is the crown- 
 ing grace of the painter of high subjects, and here 
 it is that Murillo falls immeasurably short of 
 Raphael. The elevated sentiments that are sup- 
 posed to occupy the heart of the real saint should 
 not be hidden under a well-conditioned, good- 
 natured, easy-going monk. What can be done in 
 this high walk, let those judge who have studied 
 the picture of St. Cecilia at Bologna. It is the 
 most wonderful achievement of art that was ever 
 painted, and, by long looking at it, the spectator 
 seems to catch somewhat of the temper of the 
 principal figures in the picture, and with them to 
 expect the response of the heavenly choristers. 
 
 Of the fifteen or sixteen pictures that are here 
 preserved of Murillo's, the chief, incontestably, is 
 the " Santo Tomas.'' The episcopally-clad figure 
 belongs to the high school of painting ; so is there 
 one of the Conceptions that has my entire ap- 
 probation. 
 
 Amongst the novelties of Seville is the " Real 
 Alcazar,'' now occupied by the Duke and Duchess 
 of Montpensier, the time-honoured palace of 
 Pagan, Mahometan, and Christian princes. The 
 principal entrance has been lately restored in all 
 the glories of paint and gold. This fa9ade, if it 
 
SEVILLE. 1 69 
 
 strikes all travellers alike, will remind the stranger 
 too much of a Chinese summer-house not to afford 
 him a slight disappointment ; directly, however, 
 you come near, and begin to examine the soffits 
 and architraves of the doors and windows, you are 
 struck with the ingenious devices and elegant 
 decorations. The glory of these Moorish palaces 
 is the interior courts or patios ; these are really 
 many of them most elegant and palatial ; but, as 
 far as extent of building is concerned, and objects 
 of vertii, we have twenty Alcazars in every county 
 in England. The names of Ferdinand and Isa- 
 bella, Charles V. and Pedro the Cruel, give the 
 place some interesting historical associations. 
 The gardens are truly delightful -r— no lawns. 
 Lawns belong to England and English colonies, 
 and are amongst her most delightful peculiarities, 
 and awaken, in an especial manner, the admiration 
 of the foreigner. I remember travelling some 
 distance with a Spaniard in England, and every 
 even-rolled lawn we rode by threw him into 
 ecstasies ; but these gardens of the Alcazar are 
 the laboured efforts of the cinque cento gardeners. 
 Some of the devices are not altogether such as 
 delight even one who is fully alive to the charms 
 of terraced gardens and box -sown borders. A 
 large portion of the garden is occupied with a bed 
 of thick, stubborn box, cut into the heraldic 
 
1 70 SEVILLE. 
 
 bearings of Charles V. The gravel-walks are 
 sown with secret fountains ; and the unwary 
 visitor treads on mines of water ; so that when 
 love or politics are drawing the promenaders too 
 close to each other, any one in the secret has 
 only to touch a spring, and a hundred jets of 
 water spring out of the path, and send the loungers 
 flying to the right and left. "The days of prac- 
 tical jokes have gone by," said an old Oxford tutor 
 to a wicked pupil, who had been endeavouring to 
 water him through the ceiling : I suppose these 
 expensive jests would not be tolerated in a formal 
 garden in our country of proprieties. Not the 
 least charm of these gardens is due to the delicious 
 climate, that no money can purchase. Touching 
 gardens, there are two kinds — the close one, such 
 as this, which contains no view, and is effectually 
 shut out from every kind of intrusion ; and the 
 one that embraces shrubberies, and points, and 
 prospects. Both are delightful in their way : the 
 one is adapted to meditation : here the recluse 
 may pace for hours, book in hand, only pausing at 
 times to cull a flower ; the other I could imagine 
 better adapted to those gay assemblages that the 
 artist Wateau so much delighted to paint. Singu- 
 lar, that the external world is so great an enemy 
 to the imagination. I have heard say, that most 
 great writers, like Buffon, whose study was as 
 
SEVILLE. ] 71 
 
 repulsive as bare plaster walls and high windows 
 could make it, can write best on rush-bottom 
 chairs and in dingy rooms. I had no sooner 
 entered this garden than I felt the world of 
 reality give place to that of the imagination ; but 
 this would not ever have*been the case had there 
 been but a gap in the wall through which I might 
 have obtained a peep of the country or any of the 
 streets. 
 
 It was not without considerable regret that I 
 contemplated leaving Seville : yet I wondered at 
 myself Seville is certainly a dull town, in our 
 acceptation of the term : in short, Spain generally 
 is a dull country ; .it is not only backward, it is in 
 reality stagnant. The slight attempts at hospita- 
 lity that I saw were of the most frugal kind ; 
 the idea of sitting down a dozen guests to a 
 sumptuous dinner with all kinds of expensive 
 wines, must be something quite unintelligible to 
 the Spaniard. I do not believe what we under- 
 stand by a dinner party is ever given amongst 
 the upper part of the middle classes. It is true, 
 the Spaniard offers you his house and every thing 
 he has ; but woe be to the man who takes him at 
 his word. He will have to pay for it. The vine- 
 dresser, sitting under the cactus hedge, halloos 
 out to you as you are riding by, if he is at his 
 meal, and invites you to the feast, and doubt- 
 I 2 
 
1 72 SEVILLE. 
 
 less he would share it with you ; but he seldom 
 contemplates such a catastrophe, and the hospi- 
 table invitation which delights the stranger is 
 hardly heard by the insensible ear of a native. 
 Dinner giving is the privilege of the rich: even 
 in England the poor seldom entertain each other. 
 Although they meet a good deal in Spain, it is 
 the fashion for people to eat at home, and come 
 together to chat and play the guitar. I heard in 
 Seville some excellent private performers on the 
 piano ; but one told me the Spaniards were quite 
 unable to make these instruments themselves ; 
 that at Madrid, the English pianos had been over 
 and over again taken to pieces with a view to 
 constructing others, but without success. The 
 indolent Spaniard, of course, desired to accom- 
 plish a great deal at little cost, or he would have 
 sent out some one to learn the craft in England. 
 " Let us alone,'' he cries ; " why are we to be 
 urged on against our wills and natures V Of this 
 disposition my Spanish acquaintance, Greneral H., 
 was constantly complaining. He had plans for 
 canals and railroads on his table, and was always 
 translating English tracts, and devising schemes 
 for the progress of his countrymen, which only 
 made him exceedingly unpopular. The most 
 learned and reverend canons shook their broad- 
 brimmed hats when he proposed a rail -road 
 
SEVILLE. 173 
 
 through the valley of the Quadelquiver, and asked 
 him what was to become of the muleteers ? Cer- 
 tainly the artists would lose more than the mule- 
 teers ; for these latter, instead of their picturesque 
 jackets, would be obliged to wear green or brown 
 frock coats, and laced collars to their coats. 
 
 It was not, however, without success, that the 
 general, when gefe-politico, had sought to establish 
 a Normal school. Here I found imported many 
 English school ways ; texts of Scripture, and wise 
 sayings,— 
 
 " Severe to censure ; earnest to advise, — " 
 
 hung upon the walls of the school-room. The 
 school is located in one of the suppressed con- 
 vents ; this is one of the least objectional pur- 
 poses to which these religious houses, as they are 
 called, can be devoted. By-the-bye, nothing fills 
 a Spaniard with greater surprise, than to hear an 
 Englishman regretting the suppression of the 
 convents. What can he be dreaming about ! " don^t 
 you owe all your prosperity, which is making so 
 much noise throughout the world, to your rejec- 
 tion of this system of chartered indolence? and 
 now you reproach us for having taken one of the 
 first steps towards the abolition of sloth and 
 bigotry.'" That there is a disposition amongst 
 many people in England of the present day to 
 I 3 
 
] 74 SEVILLE. 
 
 return to a state of things that the more back- 
 ward nations of Europe are beginning to think 
 is a great hindrance to their advancement, morally 
 and politically, is too plain ; and is greatly to be 
 regretted. We compare the state of England, in 
 all respects, whether in matters secular or eccle- 
 siastical, with such countries as Spain and Por- 
 tugal : it seems little short of wickedness, to wish 
 to return to that which has produced such fruits 
 as the superstition and bigotry of the Spaniards 
 has done. Where they do not believe the most 
 palpable absurdities, such as men carrying their 
 heads in their hands, and living without food for 
 twenty years, they are, very many, believers in 
 nothing. 
 
 I fear this spirit has been engendered in some 
 minds from a foolish love of individuality, and 
 dislike to think with the masses amongst whom 
 God has cast their lot. A residence in such a 
 sleepy country as the Peninsula dignifies one's own 
 Church and country in one's eyes, and quite lays to 
 rest the romantic notions that the fables about 
 Ignatius Loyola or Francis Xavier are apt to 
 awaken in some. To compare the things our 
 Church is doing, with what this famous Spanish 
 Church is about, is most instructive. Spain is 
 wishing to take a leaf out of our book, and we are 
 simple enough to want to take one out of her's. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 DEPARTURE FROM SEVILLE ALCALA UNTENANTED WILDER- 
 NESS — CONVERSATION BETWEEN THE AUTHOR AND HIS SER- 
 VANT — ARAHAL TRACES OF MOORISH EMPIRE —MARCHENA 
 
 —DREARY RIDE TO OSUNA— THE LEARNED AM A — DON JUAN 
 THE DIGNITARY — REBERA's PICTURE. 
 
 Having resolved to ride to Malaga, I procured two 
 horses, and persuaded the man-servant of the 
 house where I was living to bear me company on 
 
 the road. "We left the Calle D laden up to the 
 
 eyes with mantas and alforjas, amidst a volley of 
 good wishes for the safe accomplishment of our 
 journey. As I rode down the Calle de la Cuna, 
 and out at the Puerta de Carmona, — what with 
 the excitement of packing, and my anxiety, in my 
 Anglo-Hispanico dress, to escape the laughs and 
 criticisms of the wits of the university who hang 
 about the corners of the Calle de la Campania, — 
 I could not take a deliberate farewell of a place 
 that had altogether afforded me so much pleasure. 
 Although the middle of December, the day was 
 " hermosissima,^' as Manuel called it ; clear, bright, 
 exhilarating weather ; the distant mountains look - 
 I 4 
 
176 ANDALUCIA. 
 
 ing exquisite. I never thought the Cruz del 
 Campo an interesting object before ; but it had 
 put on a take-leave smile. We were soon jogging 
 on in the middle of the large plain which lies 
 between this cross and the immediate vicinity of 
 Alcala. I was under some anxiety about my 
 worldly goods ; for I had divided my money into 
 two parts, and dispatched half in a portmanteau, 
 and the rest I carried under my belt. The journey 
 to Osuna was considered perfectly safe, but be- 
 tween that town and Antequera dangers were to 
 be apprehended. But, as fear is said to kill more 
 people in Cairo, when the plague visits that city, 
 than the malady itself, the constant talk about 
 robbers and " mala gente'' in Spain, leads the ima- 
 gination to picture every strange figure that joins 
 one in the road to be a " Senor Rolando " at least. 
 Some such reflections as these nearly occasioned 
 me a bad accident ; for, before we were a league 
 and a half from Seville, a smart fellow, on an 
 active mule, with a long gun slung at his back, 
 and a more pointed crown to his hat than is 
 usually worn in this part of Andalucia, joined 
 himself to Manuel, and fell into conversation with 
 him respecting his master and his movements, I 
 dropped behind, and, calling Manuel, instructed 
 him to tell nobody any thing about either ; and, 
 whilst expostulating with him, a "galera/' that 
 
ANDALUCIA. 177 
 
 was passing, drawn by a very long train of mules, 
 started into a gallop, and, knocking against my 
 horse, threw him into the ditch, without, however, 
 unseating me ; but I took the hint, and never 
 troubled myself any more about " ladrones '" or 
 " mala gent^ ;'' and although I have repeatedly 
 heard of robberies, and seen hundreds of way-side 
 crosses, I am quite incredulous upon the subject 
 of banditti. 
 
 From the castle walls at Alcala I took that 
 farewell of Seville I had been unable to do before. 
 The old folk of the place were enjoying the last 
 rays of the sun, which, lengthening the shadows, 
 made the view in all directions appear to the 
 greatest advantage ; and it was with reluctance I 
 returned to the posada, one of the best in Anda- 
 lucia. 
 
 Hence to Arahal the country is rather wild 
 than beautiful. For miles and miles we rode on 
 without meeting a human being, and scarcely a 
 token of human existence. At vast intervals 
 might be seen a small low white building, called 
 a cortejo, or farm. Once, it is true, in the midst 
 of an interminable plain, we met a yoke of twenty- 
 six oxen ploughing, but we were soon lost in the 
 solitude. Nature looked spell-bound ; it was dis- 
 agreeable to break the charm. At length I heard 
 i5 
 
178 ANDALUCIA. 
 
 Manuel exclaiming, "Muj flaco y muy endeble!'' 
 as he laid on upon his horse, which, in a few more 
 moments, went down on his knees, and threw him 
 gently over his head. I therefore proposed, as 
 horses and men were going to sleep together, that 
 we should sit down and recruit ourselves and 
 them, before proceeding on the journey. Manuel 
 assented to this proposition very readily, and then 
 began to ask many questions respecting ''Lon- 
 dres ;" what its size was, whether there were any 
 churches in it, &;c. To which I could only reply, 
 " Why, Manuel, if you were to add all the cities 
 of Andalucia together, I do not suppose you could 
 make one London, or half a London. Beside 
 which, 'Londres' is not England ; and villages and 
 towns are thicker in England than cortejos are in 
 Spain. There are many parts of England where 
 you may drive for miles through consecutive 
 villages, scarcely half a mile apart ; — now your 
 Spanish towns never have what we call suburbs. 
 As to churches, a stranger in London might hunt 
 long without finding one. We have such build- 
 ings ; but we generally make them as small and 
 ugly as we can, and put them as much as possible 
 out of sight." 
 
 "Ah, Maria!'' rejoined Manuel, "I should like 
 vastly to go with you to Londres.'* 
 
ANDALUCIA. 1 79 
 
 " I am not rich enough to take you, Manuel." 
 " Si, Sefior ; but I should be willing to travel in 
 any part of the world with you/' 
 
 We now remounted; and, after jogging along 
 for another league or two, passing nothing save a 
 cromlech, of rather a peculiar character, we espied 
 the white and sparkling town of Arahal. Nothing 
 could exceed the bright, white, clean look of every 
 house in the place. The windows were painted a 
 pale green ; but I fear it was all outside show, for 
 we were compelled to be satisfied with very indif- 
 ferent accommodation, excepting that the coarse 
 sheets of our short beds were white and clean. 
 The church at Arahal is nothing very remarkable. 
 I was accosted by the cure, with two or three 
 substantial-looking proprietors, the sort of mag- 
 nates of the place. The cure had been in Pro- 
 vence, and spoke a little French ; but, although 
 an easy man in his manners, he gave me the idea 
 of one who had long laid aside his books, if he 
 had ever made much use of them ; but it was 
 pleasing to observe the intimacy which prevailed 
 between the priest and the people. It is matter 
 of regret there is not more of .this in our own 
 country. The principal man . of the party gave 
 me a most pressing invitation to his house ; but, 
 being indisposed, I declined ; and he only shrugged 
 his shoulders, as much as to say, " If you don't 
 I 6 
 
180 ANDALUCIA. 
 
 know when you have a good offer made you, I 
 compassionate you." 
 
 The town of Arahal is soon seen, consisting of 
 little more than one long street of uniformly 
 white houses. The meadows to the south com- 
 mand a pretty view of the mountains. The church 
 is in the Romanesque style ; the whole place ap- 
 peared to be sleeping in the profound repose of 
 Spanish provincialism. We proceeded the following 
 day through a country very similar to that which 
 we had ridden through the day before ; composed of 
 slightly undulating tracts of corn land, not hedged 
 off like the garden farms of England. A ride of 
 two leagues brought us to the town of Marchena ; 
 a city, that for its external appearance might have 
 belonged to the East. The many centuries which 
 have elapsed since it was in the hands of the 
 Moors, have had a marvellous little effect upon it. 
 It is situated upon an eminence, and looks exactly 
 like a fortress. I was struck, as we rode through 
 the town, at the immense number of old women 
 we saw sitting in the gutters. This is a most 
 characteristic^ Moorish custom. Many of them 
 also wore the hyack, only allowing their eyes to be 
 visible ; whole towns and villages in this part of 
 Andalucia are composed of people directly de- 
 scended from Moors and Jews. The terrors of the 
 inquisition converted the old Moorish population 
 
ANDALUCIA. 181 
 
 in many parts. The traces of the Saracen occupa- 
 tion will never be obliterated from Spain ; so fresh 
 in these days are they, that it is often hard to 
 realize that one is in an European counti^y. 
 
 We did not stop in the town of March ena ; but, 
 after making a purchase of some bread, again 
 entered a waving ocean of green corn. The same 
 kind of green solitude surrounded us as before ; 
 no living being did we meet for miles and miles, 
 nor indeed scarcely a sign of man^s handicraft, 
 excepting an occasional low-wooden cross, which 
 we never passed without Manuel bursting into a 
 laugh, and shouting out, " Milagros ! " miracles ! 
 
 " Do you apprehend these robbers at all, 
 Manuel V I said. 
 
 " No, Senor, not at all.'' 
 
 " Were you ev^r stopped V 
 
 " Si Seiior, once : they took all I had in my 
 pockets, and then let me go. But there is no fear 
 of their stopping us. We are not worth a gun 
 between us ; they would not think we were worth 
 a dollar between us either.'' 
 
 " In my few travels, Manuel, I have always 
 trusted to God rather than firearms, or I should 
 have had my throat cut long ago." 
 
 I had not even told Manuel how many doubloons 
 I had in my pocket, lest his fidelity should be cor- 
 rupted. 
 
182 ANDALUCIA. 
 
 This was a very tantalizing ride ; the town of 
 Osuna was visible for many leagues before we 
 arrived at it. The country as we approached was 
 slightly more enclosed, and possessed some features 
 of the picturesque ; and when within a mile of the 
 town, instead of riding through open tracts of corn 
 land, we had olive farms and vineyards lining the 
 road. Osuna is built upon what appears from the 
 Marchena road, a pyramidal hill. On the apex of 
 this hill there is a fine church. As we rode into 
 the town we passed by a forlorn-looking alameda ; 
 and, after mounting the hill, entered the plaza, or 
 market place. The Fonda to which we had been 
 directed was of so repulsive a description, that I 
 immediately rode away from it, and pitched, at 
 last, if possible, upon a worse one. I had letters of 
 introduction to some of the principal people here, 
 so I did not despair of amending my mistake. 
 
 Osuna is a purely provincial town. The streets 
 were suificiently alive with people, and all habited 
 in the fashion of Andalucia ; and what, to my eye, 
 appeared an exaggerated style of that picturesque 
 costume. As soon as I had found a stable for the 
 horses, I started off to seek the gentleman to 
 whom I had letters of introduction. I knocked at 
 his door, and inquired of the " moza,'' or maid, if 
 Don Casernes was at home. 
 
 " No, Seiior ; but the Ama (his mother) is/' 
 
ANDALUCIA. 183 
 
 I presented my letter, and desired her to give 
 it to the Ama ; she said, " It is no good my giving 
 it to the Ama, Senor, for the Ama cannot read/' 
 
 " "What ! '' I ejaculated, " do you tell me that 
 Senor Don Casernes' mother can't read ? '' 
 
 "No, Seiior ; the ladies of Osuna and Antequera 
 all do not learn to read." 
 
 Truly, the token of high-breeding in Spain is to 
 be as much behind the age as possible. I desired 
 my letter, however, to be given to the unlettered 
 Ama ; and after walking about the town for some 
 time, I stumbled upon Don Casernes hunting for 
 me. I stated to him my grievance about the 
 Posada, and he took me to a "casa particular,'' 
 where, after some conversation with the lady of 
 the house, it was agreed I was to come into her 
 house that evening. Casernes then took me round 
 to every body of mark in the place, and introduced 
 me to them ; whether to show them to me, or me 
 to them, I cannot sa}^ The first person he took 
 me to was the principal of the newly established 
 university of Osuna, Don Juan, as they called him. 
 I was greatly charmed with Don Juan, who ap- 
 peared to me a man fit to be a dignitary of any 
 Church ; and by far the best-mannered man of 
 all those whom I met at Osuna. Don Juan was 
 sitting in a very nice, comfortable room, with a 
 levy of clergy and others awaiting in an adjoining 
 
184 ANDALUCIA. 
 
 apartment. After a few common-places, knowing 
 the picture-hunting propensities of the English, he 
 began to talk to me about pictures, and told me, 
 in the evening, he would take me to the church 
 of the college, and show me some fine pictures by 
 Rebera or Spanioletto. Casernes then took me 
 to his sister, who was sitting with her feet on a 
 brass pan filled with live coals, and enveloped 
 in a large shawl. She did nothing but show her 
 white teeth, and ask her brother questions about 
 me, and the distinguished gentleman who had in- 
 troduced me to her brother's notice. The next 
 person we knocked up was a doctor, as he was 
 described to me, of the university of Seville, a 
 man "bien instruydo." He was very gracious, 
 confirming my own impression, that a well-bred 
 Spaniard is a very gentlemanlike sort of person. 
 We left the " well instructed doctor '' of the 
 university of Seville, to inspect a charity for the 
 distribution of corn amongst the poor. This 
 charity was founded by a priest, whose picture 
 adorns the sala of the committee. Casernes then 
 left me at the door of my Posada, saying, " I have 
 now run you through the town ; come to me in 
 the evening, and we will accompany Don Juan to 
 the church.'' 
 
 My man and myself then started off to take 
 possession of our lodgings in the " casa particular.'' 
 
ANDALUCIA. ] 85 
 
 We knocked at the door: no answer was given. 
 We knocked again ; and at last one of those learned 
 Amas put her head out of the window, and said, 
 "What is it, Senores T' 
 
 Manuel replied, " It is the Inglese/' 
 
 The Ama rejoined, " Alas ! Seiior, my daughter 
 Encamacion has gone to a neighbouring village, 
 and carried the key with her/' 
 
 I could only say, vexed as I was, " I see what 
 this is, Manuel ; a poor scheme to get rid of us, so 
 we must return to the Posada." 
 
 Don Juan professed to be very much disturbed 
 at our ill-success with the lady of the ^' casa parti- 
 cular," and did at last find out for us a tolerable 
 Posada. 
 
 I accompanied to the church Don Juan and 
 another good specimen of the well-conditioned 
 Spanish priest, full of drollery, and not unlike an 
 old college tutor of my acquaintance. He was 
 one of the family chaplains of the ducal family, 
 which have their burial place here. 
 
 The style of the college church is mixed. Don 
 Juan took me to the great picture of Rebera, — 
 the Crucifixion— and expatiated with a good deal 
 of warmth upon its beauties ; fresh from Murillo : 
 the character of the Italian school struck me very 
 forcibly in this Hispanico Italian painter. " Ob- 
 serve," said Don Juan, " the expression of peni- 
 
186 ANDALUCia. 
 
 tence in the Magdalene ; of love in St. John ; of 
 soijow in the mother/' It is certainly a very fine 
 picture, and I did not like it less because the 
 Italian school was visible. After admiring the 
 proportions of the church, we descended into the 
 vaults of the family of Osuna, which are very ex- 
 tensive, elaborately decorated, and full of ghastly 
 symbols of the king of terrors. The chapel in 
 which daily masses are said for the departed souls 
 of the Osuna family is very beautifully worked. 
 
 The college of Osuna adjoining the church is 
 small. It fell with the destruction of monasteries, 
 but has lately been revived. At present there 
 are but few students. Don Juan told me, there 
 were not sufficient priests for the needs of the 
 town of Osuna. The people were bad attendants 
 at church, excepting on great festivals. At Osuna 
 they had not a single Jesuit. The churches and 
 convents of Osuna are very picturesque, being all 
 of the richest brown colour, but every thing at 
 Osuna is of the burnt sienna hue. The churches 
 are brown, the people are brown, and their clothes 
 are brown. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 ON HORSEBACK AGAIN—PERILS OF THE ROAD— ANTEQUERA — 
 A WELL-CONDITIONED " CASA PARTICULAR" — CHRISTIAN OR 
 
 saint's names ARISTOCRATICAL IGNORANCE — ROAD TO 
 
 MAT.AGA TAKING REFUGE IN A GALERA OR STAGE WAGGON 
 
 THE COMPANY THEREIN — CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY 
 
 THE VENT A ARRIVAL AT MALAGA. 
 
 Don Juan and Casernes were very anxious that I 
 should keep company with the galera, or stage- 
 waggon, to Antequera ; for they told me I was 
 going a most dangerous road. I parted from 
 them with a mingled feeling of regard and con- 
 tempt. It was the first time where I should have 
 very much appreciated any real hospitality. The 
 Spaniard puts his house at your disposition when 
 he knows you do not want it : because he does not 
 understand giving any one bed and board. With all 
 their cold manners, the hospitality of the English 
 far exceeds that of any other people in Europe. A 
 Spaniard will give you his time ; an Englishman 
 his beef, and bread, and bed. 
 
 A violent levant ine wind swept the town of 
 Osuna and the neighbouring country the morning 
 
188 ANDALUCIA. 
 
 I Started for Antequera, whicli added considerably 
 to the fatigue attending this long ride. The 
 country, after leaving Osuna, for the two first 
 leagues was prettier than any thing I had passed 
 through yet ; although not by any means rising 
 into the grand or sublime. The round, downy 
 sort of hills reminded me of some parts of 
 Somersetshire ; but, excepting this variety in the 
 scenery, it was the same untenanted wilderness 
 that we had been already journeying through. 
 Perera is a miserable, cut-throat looking place, 
 and is said to harbour nothing but robbers and 
 banditti. Here we fell in with some soldiers 
 escorting women and children ; but it was much 
 too slow an escort for us, so we jogged on, Manuel 
 confessedly keeping his weather-eye open ; but we 
 seemed to be passing through a more uninhabited 
 wilderness, if possible, than that through which 
 we had already come. We now entered the spurs 
 of those mountains that cumulate round the 
 Sierra Nevada, and present a never-ending va- 
 riety of lines and shadows for the pencil; but, 
 notwithstanding the beauties of nature that were 
 thus developed, I began to feel intensely wea- 
 ried with the ride, although, in humble imi- 
 tation of the muleteers, I varied my position in 
 all conceivable ways upon my horse ; not dis- 
 daining to face the tail, as I made a tack to the 
 
ANDALUCIA. 189 
 
 larboard side of the animal. We stopped a few 
 minutes at a straggling village called Mollina ; 
 which Manuel jocosely remarked to the man who 
 gave us water was " mas grande que Sevilla/' After 
 leaving this place, we entered one of those charm- 
 ing vegas, that, like grassy lakes, abound in these 
 mountains. For two leagues we had the welcome 
 sight of Antequera before us, perched upon a 
 green hill itself, that seemed nestling amongst 
 threatening mountains, behind which the sun had 
 just dropped. As we rode through the olive 
 groves up into the town, our long silence was 
 pleasantly broken by the notes of four or five 
 guitars, and we stumbled against a troop of 
 merry-making marriage people, who were issuing 
 from the imposing-looking streets of Antequera. 
 
 The streets of Antequera are more stately than 
 those of Seville ; or, in fact, of any Spanish town 
 with which I am acquainted. There are in it 
 many palatial-looking buildings, and it is said to 
 be very bigoted and aristocratical. It is tho- 
 roughly national ; and gave me the idea of a town 
 that might have been built many centuries ago, 
 stocked with inhabitants, and then cut off from 
 the rest of the world ; where family feuds, love, 
 and the most extravagant superstition were left 
 to ferment. We rode up to an admirable " casa 
 particular,'' and were immediately received by the 
 
190 ANDALUCIA. 
 
 good Senora. As Antequera is in the mountains, 
 the houses, most of them, possess that which 
 never fails to delight the eye of an Englishman — 
 large and ample fireplaces. After the fatigues of 
 the journey I felt great satisfaction at sitting in an 
 arm-chair, by a wood fire, such as one might meet 
 with in one of our bettermost farm-houses, caress- 
 ing two or three large dogs, which were burning their 
 noses in the ashes, and conversing with a good- 
 natured landlord, with a pipe in his mouth, and a 
 couple of fair daughters. These damsels had coal- 
 black hair, clear, healthy, rich complexions, and 
 teeth of ivory, and those pleasing manners which 
 belong to nearly all the ladies of their country. 
 
 When they found out that I was an Englishman, 
 they began recounting their experience of English 
 travellers. The last was a very great lord, who 
 travelled with riding-horses, and four or five 
 cal^sas, or cabs — most inconceivably awkward 
 vehicles. He was not very young ; but there had 
 been a very difierent " Inglese," " muy delicado,'' 
 very delicate, with light, curly hair — "con una 
 boca hermosa "' — with a beautiful mouth. At last 
 I confessed to being a '' curb,'' and was not dis- 
 pleased to find that I was not the less thought of 
 for this. I expressed my wonder at their calling 
 their maid-servant " Encarnacion ;" one of them 
 replied, " Oh, it is a very common name for a maid 
 
ANDALUCIA. 191 
 
 in Antequera ; our man-servant is named " Trini- 
 dad :'' and tell us, Sefior, what your saint's name 
 is?" 
 
 I replied, " A very homely one — Tomas/' 
 
 " Don Tomasito ! '' cried one ; " you escaped a 
 great danger to-day in coming from Osuna — the 
 galera has been stopped and robbed three times 
 lately/' 
 
 For the evening I forgot all my fatigues in this 
 pleasant party ; but the following day I felt 
 miserable. I walked about the town, and mar- 
 velled at the immense number of crosses stuck 
 about the walls, particularly at the corners of streets, 
 indicating where men had been murdered. The 
 names of the victims were written underneath. It 
 was really quite alarming, and led one to suppose 
 that every man carried a stiletto under his "capa.'' 
 
 The ruins of the ancient castle have been 
 converted into a fort ; the keep is still adorned 
 with part of a Moorish tower, where the traveller 
 enjoys a fine view of the Vega ; the abrupt rock 
 called " The Lover's Leap ;'' the many church 
 towers ; and the long, straight, and regularly-built 
 streets of the town. 
 
 The following day I left Antequera. I had to 
 cross the mountains, and descend to the blue 
 margin of the Mediterranean. Scarcely had Ma- 
 nuel and I mounted the winding road as high 
 
192 ANDALUCIA. 
 
 as the tops of the houses, when fog, and wind, and 
 vapour swept through the gullies of the hills, and a 
 heavy rain began to descend. Fortunately, the 
 galera came by ; so I gave my horse to Manuel, 
 and got into this vehicle, worse by many degrees 
 than any stage-waggon that traversed the roads in 
 the days of Roderick Random. There were two 
 passengers besides — a gentleman who, like myself, 
 had given his horse to his servant, and turned 
 in to escape the rain ; and an old fat curfe. 
 What may not man come to ? The waggon rocked 
 backwards and forwards like a ship at sea, and, 
 horrible to relate, it had the same elFect upon this 
 Spanish cabbalero. He was terribly sick ; and my 
 clothes only escaped by my manta suffering, which 
 I had thrown over my legs. The cur^ did not 
 seem the least disconcerted by this catastrophe ; 
 but lay smoking paper cigar after paper cigar, 
 and, with a dry smile on his face, asking me 
 questions about Londres ; whilst I plied him, in 
 return, with questions touching his own brother- 
 hood. As soon as the fog broke, I remounted my 
 horse ; glad to escape from the fumes of tobacco, 
 and that which was worse than tobacco. 
 
 The mountainous country through which we 
 were passing was wholly obscured, so that I lost 
 the cream of the journey ; but it is very rarely a 
 traveller is not disappointed in passing through 
 
ANDALUCIA. 193 
 
 such a country as this. A novice crossing the 
 Alps expects, when he has got to the summit of 
 the Simplon, to look down as if from the top of a 
 wall upon the whole of Italy, from Domo d'Osala to 
 Campania ; instead of winding gradually amongst 
 hills and valleys, and not seeing the plains of 
 Lombardy until he has entered them — so of these 
 mountains, which separate the great plains of An- 
 dalucia from the borders of the Mediterranean. 
 After nightfall, I entered the gal era again, and 
 continued jolting along until nearly ten o'clock, 
 when we all got out at a venta where we resolved to 
 sleep. This was the most repulsive resting-place 
 into which I ever had the fortune to fall ; the 
 beds were merely bags of hay ; the windows, 
 broken boards. Where the Amo and his servant, 
 the priest and Manuel, disposed of themselves, I 
 could not tell ; but they got into some hole or 
 other, and there lay until the morning, when the 
 priest got up at four, and said Mass in one of the 
 rooms. There was no food of any kind to be had ; 
 and, but for a fowl which we had brought from 
 Antequera, we must have kept a long fast. 
 Right glad was I to be again on the road to 
 Malaga. 
 
 The scenery hence to Malaga was charming. 
 The character of the vegetation tropical; the 
 grape ; the palm ; the fig ; the orange, and such 
 
 K 
 
194 ANDALUCIA. 
 
 like trees, recalled the teeming valleys of Madeira, 
 and was no disagreeable change after the fog and 
 mist of the mountains, through which we had 
 journied the preceding day. But the rain again 
 descended in torrents, and we entered Malaga, 
 completely wet to the skin — alighted at the hotel 
 d'Orient ; and, agreeably to the vicissitudes of a 
 traveller^'s life, I took possession of apartments 
 just vacated by the Prince of Bavaria. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 PROGRESSIVE STATE OF MALAGA — ENGLISH AT MALAGA FUNE- 
 RAL OF THE ENGLISH CONSUL SPANISH CLERGY AT MALAGA 
 
 AND PROTESTANT TENDENCIES— IGNORANCE OF THE UPPER 
 
 AND LOWER CLASSES DESCRIPTION OF THE TOWN — THE 
 
 CATHEDRAL AND THE CHAPTER DR. WISEMAN AGAIN — 
 
 LEARNING OF THE CLERGY HERMITS OF MALAGA— ENGLISH 
 
 MECHANICS —TOLERATION. 
 
 It is easy to understand why General H., who 
 is always regretting the backward state of his 
 country, should prefer Malaga to Seville ; but a 
 foreigner, wishing to become acquainted with a 
 strange country, will certainly feel he has left the 
 nationality of Spain behind, when he arrives at 
 Malaga. In Malaga, he will see comparatively 
 little of the Andalucian costume ; he will see more 
 than one tall, red-brick chimney, unpoetical im- 
 portation from laborious England ; he will not 
 unfrequently hear his own language, not only 
 from the mouths of Englishmen, but from 
 Spaniards also ; in short, he will perceive that 
 progress has really, at Malaga, got a foot on the 
 shores of Spain. 
 
 I found the magnificent " Fonda de la Alameda'' 
 K 2 
 
196 MALAGA. 
 
 filled with my countrymen and countrywomen ; 
 and a table d'hote of some thirty people, without 
 a single Spaniard present. Besides the Fonda, 
 there were other places, occupied by English 
 families ; with some of whom I had left England 
 in company, and others •! had seen at Seville. 
 Rather a gloom had been cast over this community 
 of our countrymen, by the death of Mr. Mark, the 
 father of the present, and himself formerly the 
 consul here ; a man deservedly respected by 
 those of all sides in politics, and all varieties of 
 religion. It was, of course, my duty to read the 
 service of our Church over his remains. A lady 
 kindly manufactured me a surplice, so that I was 
 enabled to do all things in order. 
 
 Malaga is the warmest winter residence in 
 Europe ; it looks to the south-east, and is more 
 or less surrounded by mountains on all sides. 
 Half a league from the town on the Velez Malaga 
 road, and just hanging over the Mediterranean, is 
 the British Cemetery, the first of the kind in- 
 closed in the Spanish dominions ; and this was 
 accomplished by the estimable gentleman I was 
 called upon to bury. On the premises is a sort of 
 temple lodge, which might have been converted 
 into an excellent chapel ; but the Spanish au- 
 thorities interdicted it. It was singular, that 
 although the cemetery afibrded sufficient evidence 
 
MALAGA. 197 
 
 of mortality, no one in it had ever been buried 
 by a clergyman of our Church, until I officiated at 
 the interment of the indefatigable originator of 
 it. I was told that the Spaniards had never seen 
 a surplice before, and that they would take fright 
 at it ; but I was resolved, as far as I was con- 
 cerned, this worthy son of the Church should be 
 properly honoured in his funeral. 
 
 The Spaniards are fond of attending funerals ; 
 and upon this occasion, half the town of Malaga 
 turned out : the body was borne by the several 
 consuls in their consular dresses : and behind 
 them followed a train of three or four hundred 
 respectably-dressed people, and amongst them 
 one or two priests. I met the cavalcade at the 
 limits of the procession ; and proceeded with the 
 service until the conclusion, not only without in- 
 terruption, but with the greatest attention on the 
 part of all present, 
 
 A sermon I had heard in the cathedral had led 
 me to suppose the clergy of Malaga were any 
 thing but a very tolerant set. The preacher, who 
 was very animated, inveighed against the Pro- 
 testants with as much ardour as a youthful divine 
 in our own Church, who thinks he is going to do that 
 which was never done before, and conquer all silly 
 and crabbed tempers, is apt to direct his discourses 
 at the Dissenters in his parish. There might have 
 K 3 
 
198 MALAGA. 
 
 been a reason for this : if a general liberty of con- 
 science should ever prevail in Spain, it will first 
 have prevailed by sufferance in her ports ; such as 
 Malaga, Barcelona, and Cadiz; probably, this is 
 the opinion of the priests ; and naturally enough 
 do they try all they can to stem this evil tendency, 
 as they regard it. 
 
 The bishop of Malaga, who is a suffragan to the 
 archbishop of Granada, is a very old, infirm man, 
 though reputed to be good. The see, before his 
 appointment, had stood vacant for some time ; 
 for no one could be found rich enough to take it ; 
 in the present uncertain state of Church property 
 it is quite impossible for a man without private 
 means to accept a bishopric. Accordingly, at 
 Malaga the funcions are few ; and the churches 
 not nearly so well attended as at Seville. In the 
 mean time, the Protestant tendencies of those 
 who are horrified at some of the extravagances of 
 Popery, and are anxious to see rather a more 
 rational state of things than that which exists at 
 present, find their way to Malaga. I have before 
 me now some letters of a Spanish professor of 
 Granada, addressed to an Englishman in Malaga, 
 which abound in very vehement expressions of 
 dissatisfaction with many matters ecclesiastical. 
 He says, " The immorality, and superstition 
 amongst the high and lower orders (particularly 
 
MALAGA. 199 
 
 in tlie towns in the interior) is truly appalling/' 
 He says the whole machinery of public education 
 is in a most neglected and ill-managed state. 
 The wide-spreading indifference, not to call it 
 infidelity in religious matters, is attempted to be 
 arrested by the invention of miracles, and the 
 creation of new saints. He then goes on to say. 
 
 " A new santa (Santa Filomena), whose printed 
 life I might send you, has just been imported from 
 Rome ; altars have been raised to her in several 
 churches ; novenas, processions, and fiestas set on 
 foot. This new idol, which was recommended by 
 Christina from Rome, has already worked the 
 most wonderful miracles at Granada, and probably 
 elsewhere. So fashionable and so popular has 
 become la dichosa santa, that most all the female 
 children born within the last fourteen months 
 have received her name." This writer goes on 
 stating the military parade which had been ordered 
 in honour of Santa Filomena ; and concludes by 
 expressing a wish that zealous Protestants would 
 avail themselves of the travelling propensities of 
 the contrabandistas, and circulate, by their hands, 
 the Bible in Spain. He adds, that he had found 
 the Prayer Book of the Church of England in the 
 hands of a canon of Grranada, and another in 
 those of a physician, who both commended the 
 book highly. 
 
 K 4 
 
200 MALAGA. 
 
 I fear this is no exaggerated statement of the 
 ignorance and superstition of the highest and lowest 
 orders in Spain. Some Englishmen, who are fond 
 of seeing the foibles of their own country-people, 
 and will not allow them that superior morality 
 that others claim for them, declare the Spa- 
 niards are quite as moral as the English. This 
 I do not believe. 1 was conversing upon this 
 very matter one day with an Englishman in the 
 fonda at Malaga, when my eye chanced to fall on 
 the following statistics. 
 
 A resume of the marriages, births, and deaths 
 occurring in the town of Malaga, in the months of 
 September, October, November, and December : 
 
 MARRIAGES. 
 
 Bachelors with Spinsters 149 
 
 Bachelors with Widows 7 
 
 Widowers with Spinsters 11 
 
 Widowers with Widows 5 
 
 172 
 BIRTHS. 
 
 LEGITIMATE CHILDREN. NATURAL CHILDREN. 
 
 Males 369 Males 80 
 
 Females 352 Females 66 
 
 DEATHS. 
 
 Single males, including children from one to five years . . 1 84 
 
 Single females, including children from one to five years . 165 
 
 Married males 84 
 
 Married females 40 
 
 Widowers 40 
 
 Widows 63 
 
MALAGA. 201 
 
 It is to be hoped the illegitimate children are 
 not quite in this proportion in England ; but if 
 one is to credit the gossip of Seville and other 
 places, the immorality of Spain is most to be 
 looked for in the married state. 
 
 Malaga, in many respects, reminded me of Ma- 
 deira ; resorted to for its excellent climate by a 
 few English, who amused themselves much in the 
 same manner as the visitors to the Atlantic island 
 were wont to do. The features of the town are few. 
 The Alameda runs from the harbour north, and so 
 comes against the bed of the river Guadalmedia, 
 that I never saw otherwise than dry. This bed of a 
 river is crossed .by two or three primitive bridges ; 
 and, creating a division in the city, causes the 
 existence of the not very common thing in Spain, 
 suburbs. On either side of the Alameda are lofty 
 houses, chiefly in the occupation of wealthy mer- 
 chants of Malaga. On the shores of the Mediter- 
 ranean you bask in the never-failing sunshine, 
 and are regaled with the abounding odours of 
 geranium. The valleys or barrancas which open 
 to the sea are filled with a tropical vegetation ; and 
 in some of these, particularly in the Malaga Valez 
 road, the lover of still heat may enjoy himself to 
 his heart's content. 
 
 Malaga was the part of the kingdom of Granada 
 of Phoenician origin ; it is full of interesting asso- 
 K 5 
 
202 MALAGA. 
 
 ciations to the learned. After having been some 
 seven or eight centuries in the hands of the Moors, 
 it was captured, without conditions, by King Fer- 
 dinand in 1487, which led directly to the con- 
 quest of Granada. The whole of the Moorish 
 population was enslaved, and all the mosques 
 purified and converted into churches. 
 
 The present cathedral is built on the site of the 
 ancient large mosque. It is in the Romanesque 
 style, but in bad taste ; with a sort of clerestory 
 with round-headed windows, which have a very 
 ugly effect. The interior is poor, and quite void 
 of interest ; arranged, as all the large Peninsular 
 churches with which I am acquainted are, with 
 the coro in the middle aisles. I never saw a 
 tolerable congregation in the cathedral at Malaga. 
 The number of the clergy I understood to be 
 small ; notwithstanding there is a seminary for 
 their education in the town. 
 
 I was somewhat amused, in walking over this 
 seminary with a priest, at a mistake he fell intO; 
 I was pointing out a portrait to a lady of our party, 
 and remarking that the countenance bore a strong 
 resemblance to the Bishop of London, when the 
 priest remarked, "Un buen sujeto?'' "Si,'" I 
 rejoined, " el obispo de Londres.'' He then told 
 us he had been at Malaga ; at last I found out it 
 was the ubiquitous Dr. Wiseman, Bishop of Oscott 
 
MALAGA. 203 
 
 at Seville, who had been amongst the Malaga 
 clergy as the Bishop of Birmingham. I told him 
 I also had been introduced to Dr. Wiseman, and I 
 knew him to be a man of great ability ; but I 
 could not answer for his being " un buen sujeto/' 
 There is not much to see in this seminary. The 
 students, like those in the English college at 
 Lisbon, have to pass through a twelve years' course 
 of study ; but still they turned out very few clergy. 
 I asked him if there were many of the clergy in 
 Malaga who understood Greek? He shook his 
 head, and replied, " There was but one in the 
 town of Malaga.^' From what I could make out, 
 it seems to be the practice of the students in 
 theology to learn by heart a great many sermons, 
 so that they may have no difficulty, when called 
 upon to preach, to pour out a powerful harangue. 
 As sermons are not read or printed in Spain to the 
 extent they are in England, the Spanish preachers 
 might do that with impunity which we could 
 scarcely do in England. 
 
 There are several other schools and charitable 
 institutions in Malaga ; of the latter class the 
 largest and most important is the '^Asilo para 
 pobres y expositos." This, like most of the insti- 
 tutions I have seen in Spain, is rather good in 
 intention than in execution. The children are put 
 out to nurse almost as soon as they are left at the 
 K 6 
 
204 MALAGA. 
 
 house, and if they survive this period, they return 
 to continue their education. Every description of 
 human infirmity finds shelter here ; in some pro- 
 portion, the old, and the young, and the halt, and 
 the blind, &;c. The " Hermanas de la Caradad," 
 Sisters of Charity, who showed us round, were 
 dressed as nuns, although they are not necessarily 
 such. They were very lady-like and well-spoken 
 women. The practice of giving a religious cha- 
 racter to the public nurses of the sick and infirm, 
 is certainly one of the happiest features in the 
 Roman Catholic system. In the every-day appeals 
 that must be made upon the Christian graces in 
 hospital life, if people are not religiously trained 
 they must grow very callous. These " Hermanas 
 de la Caradad '' hear Mass every day, and profess 
 to like their employment. They contrasted much 
 with the nurses I have seen stumbling up and 
 down the stairs of the London hospitals ; or the 
 marvellous body which used to superintend the 
 Marylebone workhouse. 
 
 Another religious community that interested 
 me at Malaga was a company of hermits, who 
 have their habitation, called the hermitage, up in 
 a sort of sierra, about a league from the town of 
 Malaga, commanding a magnificent panoramic 
 view of the surrounding mountains, and the town 
 of Malaga. There were three of these old gentle- 
 
MALAGA. 205 
 
 men, dressed in flowing robes, with long white 
 beards and faces, which looked as if the j had indeed 
 been exposed to storm and tempest for a century. 
 They were none of them in orders, and apparently 
 sufficiently ignorant. Their chapel was a perfect 
 doll-house, adorned with ill-done representations 
 of all the most extravagant acts of sainted 
 heroism. They told me a priest came up and said 
 Mass to them on saints' days, and that they prayed 
 in consort only three times a day. The sight of 
 these three old fellows creeping about their rich 
 mountain valley ought to have inspired one with a 
 love of a life of contemplation, but I cannot say it 
 had that effect on any of our party. Whilst in 
 these parts a traveller should continue his walk 
 for half a league to the east, to the ruins of the 
 " Convento de los Angelos.'' It is the most pictu- 
 resque spot in the vicinity of Malaga, and affords 
 an interesting view of the Moorish castle and the 
 Alcazaba, which together make so great a fea- 
 ture in the town. He may make a round, and 
 return home by the Spanish cemetery, which 
 affords an evidence that the Spaniards are at least 
 ahead of the English in one respect. It is a very 
 pretty thing, and makes even death look cheerful. 
 Half-way between Malaga and Molinos, there is 
 a large iron-foundry with a chimney that must 
 have gladdened Mr. Cobden's eyes when he visited 
 
206 MALAGA. 
 
 these parts. I mention it because, whenever one 
 sees such a building, one smells the blood of an 
 Englishman. It is enough to see smoke, or any in- 
 dications of vulcanic labour, to be sure our energetic 
 countrymen are not far off. There are several 
 attached to this foundry. I reckoned the English 
 residents of Malaga to amount to about one hun- 
 dred ; and, very much owing, I believe, to the 
 instrumentality of the consul's family, they were 
 altogether as well-conducted as our forlorn country- 
 men of Seville were ill-conducted. Many attended 
 the prayers at the consul's house every Sunday, and 
 received my visits with gratitude ; and, although 
 their religious views were tinctured with the Cal- 
 vinistic extravagances of Scotch theology — many 
 of them being of Scotch origin — they were very- 
 desirous of having a clergyman of the Church of 
 England as a chaplain amongst them, which I am 
 happy to say they now have. The Spaniards 
 could witness the destruction or suppression of 
 their convents, the expulsion of the Jesuits, the 
 disgrace and infamous treatment of many of the 
 clergy, and at the same time enact the most 
 stringent measures against any interference with 
 the Roman Catholic Church, and declare " that the 
 Spaniard who should publicly apostatize from the 
 Roman Catholic Apostolical religion should be pu- 
 nished with the sentence of perpetual alienation/' 
 
MALAGA. 207 
 
 From this spirit it has happened, that Spain has 
 refused to foreign Protestants the undisturbed 
 exercise of their religion within her dominions, 
 longer than the Papal States themselves. So that 
 in a commercial town, like the Havana, far 
 removed from the mother country, the British 
 residents, after having subscribed a large sum of 
 money for the erection of a Protestant Episcopal 
 place of worship, could not obtain permission from 
 the Spanish government to build ; and notwith- 
 standing the existence of a treaty between the two 
 countries, signed as far back as 1 783 at Versailles, 
 upon the subject of granting British subjects 
 proper burial-grounds, the late consul had to con- 
 tend for years with frequent objections and dis- 
 appointments, before he procured a full and legal 
 permission to inclose the first Protestant burial- 
 ground in Spain. 
 
 The Bishop of Gibraltar has consecrated it ; 
 not without the approbation of the most sensible 
 amongst the Spaniards themselves. The next 
 thing to obtain is a legal recognition of the posi- 
 tion of the chaplain, who is now officiating at 
 Malaga. I may add here, besides the British 
 residents in Malaga, between four and five hundred 
 British travellers visit the town every year, and 
 about eight or nine hundred seamen. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 ALGECIRAS — THE BAY OF GIBRALTAR FIRST IMPRESSIONS ON 
 
 ENTERING THE TOWN CHARACTER OF THE POPULATION IN- 
 DICATIVE OF THE VARIOUS CREEDS — STATE OF RELIGION — THE 
 ROMAN CATHOLICS THE WESLEY ANS — MR, RULE — PROSELYT- 
 ISING SECTS— EUROPA POINT — ROMAN CATHOLIC CHAPEL — 
 WESLEY AN SCHOOL —INTERESTING CONVERSATION WITH THE 
 MASTER — STRENGTH OF WESLEYANISM. 
 
 As the Spring came on the English party at 
 Malaga broke up. It was not without consider- 
 able regret that I quitted a place that had many 
 things about it to make it agreeable. The warmth 
 and beauty of the climate in January was very 
 striking ; and no sooner had the vessel in which I 
 embarked for Gibraltar left the bay, than I 
 felt that this spot enjoyed a local genialness of 
 climate not common to every place in the same 
 latitude. 
 
 At five o'clock in the morning we were olf 
 Algeciras, where I spent the morning. It is a 
 completely Spanish town ; and, notwithstanding it 
 is situated immediately opposite to Gibraltar, it is 
 thoroughly national in all respects ; so that the 
 transition from the customs of one country to those 
 
GIBRALTAR, 209 
 
 of another is sufficiently striking to the traveller 
 who crosses in an hour or so from one town to the 
 other. The view of the Ronda mountains and the 
 Rock is exquisite from Algeciras. I crossed in a 
 small steamer that plies between the two places, 
 and was addressed as *' capitan " by a skipper, 
 and told that Sir Charles Napier had just sailed 
 with a regiment to chastise the Riffians. 
 
 As I had been in Gibraltar before, I did not ex- 
 perience that extreme curiosity which every Eng- 
 lishman naturally feels on visiting this celebrated 
 English possession. From one's very playground- 
 days Gribraltar has always been associated in the 
 mind with British prowess. 
 
 The first thing that attracts the attention in the 
 crowded streets is the motley character of the 
 population. Strings of Jews, with black caps and 
 loose frocks ; turbaned Turks, Moors, merchants, 
 contrabandistas, majos, amuse the eye ; then 
 suddenly the fife and drum announce to the 
 gaping stranger the approach of a regiment of 
 red-coats ; and down they come, neat, clean, most 
 invincible in their aspects : a contrast to the ram- 
 shackling troops he has been used to see in Portu- 
 gal or Spain. Every man appears anxious to excel 
 his neighbours in order and exactness in his 
 march. Then there are sailors of every stamp, 
 from men-of-war's men, admirals, and captains, to 
 
210 GIBRALTAR. 
 
 the skipper of smuggling falucca, travellers, and 
 merchants ; and, agreeably to the old saying, 
 " Quot homines tot sententise,'' the creeds of this 
 chequered population are nearly as numerous as 
 the classes of the people. 
 
 In Spain the whole population is professedly 
 Roman Catholic. At the time of the conquests of 
 Ferdinand and Isabella, it used to be Roman Catho- 
 lic, Mohammedan, or Jewish ; but now, in Gribraltar, 
 in addition to these three religions, we have Pro- 
 testant Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and Wesleyan. 
 But — to return to first impressions — the stranger 
 feels a senseofbeingamongst essential incongruities- 
 Houses built in the English style, with miserable 
 little windows ; when you enter them you find 
 them fitted up, not with England's later improve- 
 ments, but as England used to be some thirty 
 years ago ; and, as you have an Andalucian sun 
 still over your head, you begin to question whether 
 you would not forego the English comforts for the 
 sake of the more appropriate habitations of the 
 Spaniards themselves. 
 
 By far the best place to understand Gibraltar 
 from is the Flag Staff, whence you see not only the 
 Rock, but all the surrounding country lying in a 
 mass at your feet. The Rock, both in shape and 
 colour, is very like a huge chameleon basking on 
 the sandy shore of Spain ; for the neutral ground 
 
GIBRALTAR. 211 
 
 which connects it with the main land is as flat as 
 the sea itself, and nearly entirely composed of 
 sand. Here is the cricket -ground ; the large, 
 melancholy-looking town burial-place ; and, just 
 rising beyond the lines, the huge sand-hiU called 
 the Queen of Spain's Chair, where, it is related. 
 Her Catholic Majesty upon one occasion took her 
 seat, and declared she would not leave it, until she 
 saw the flag of Spain hoisted on the Rock, instead 
 of that of Grreat Britain. The good-natured 
 governor, not liking to keep a delicate woman 
 sitting on a sand-hill, it is to be presumed, 
 lowered the British standard, and hoisted that of 
 Spain ; when the queen, considering her credit 
 saved in this manner, descended from her shifting 
 throne, and went about her business. From this 
 point the eye travels on to the Ronda mountains, 
 San Roque — one of those towns that was swelled 
 to its present importance by fugitives from Gib- 
 raltar, when the heretics seized upon that citadel. 
 Between San Roque and the bay are the ruins of 
 the ancient Cateia, the first Phoenician settlement 
 in Spain, if not the ancient Tarshish, and the port 
 where probably the invading fleets of the ancient 
 Carthaginians rode secure. Algeciras, immediately 
 opposite the Rock, is another town that has risen 
 to its present importance mainly since the British 
 have had possession of Gibraltar. The day I was 
 
212 GIBRALTAR. 
 
 at the flag-staff the general prospect was charm- 
 ing. The sea alone was very lovely ; calm enough, 
 but varying in its colour with every cloud that 
 floated past. The bay was enlivened by a fleet of 
 boats from the men-of-war which were at that time 
 lying at anchor, under the command of Sir Charles 
 Napier. 
 
 The northern end of the rock bristles with 
 cannon and gun-holes, like the stern of a three- 
 decker ; and here is situated the main part of the 
 town, with the two cathedrals, the convent or 
 governor's house, library, Wesleyan chapel, &c. 
 The beautiful Alameda intervenes between the 
 northern and southern portions of the town — would 
 that the indolent natives would learn from this 
 garden, what paradises a little care and industry 
 would furnish them with ! Rosia Bay is a great 
 place of residence, and in this vicinity there is a 
 Roman Catholic chapel of ease, and a Wesleyan 
 school-room, where preaching sometimes goes on. 
 The flats at Europa Point have little to interest a 
 clerical traveller ; he will probably think there is 
 more speculation in the long row of white slabs, 
 distinguished by Hebrew inscriptions, that marks 
 the burial-ground of the despised Jews. Gibraltar 
 is computed to be about three miles long and one 
 broad. The flag-staff stands, I should judge, 
 nearer in the middle of the long-ways of the rock 
 
GIBRALTAR. 213 
 
 than of the breadth. The east side is almost quite 
 precipitous: immense banks of white sandy-looking 
 depositions run down into the sea. When up here 
 several of the rock-eagles floated by us ; but we 
 did not catch sight of any of the famous Gibraltar 
 monkeys. 
 
 The state of religion, when I was at Gibraltar, 
 was most disheartening. I shall proceed to give 
 a sketch of it. When Gibraltar fell into the 
 hands of the English in 1704, the Spanish popu- 
 lation, considering the place given up to the 
 powers of darkness, and judging the toleration of 
 the new-comers by their own, nearly all decamped; 
 leaving the spiritual wants of those who remained 
 to the care of a single priest. Had the English 
 Church taken a stand here even at the period of 
 the long siege, a very different state of things 
 would have existed than that which now does. 
 There is no place where the consequences of 
 neglect are more distinctly seen. As soon as 
 warlike proceedings subsided, a heterogeneous 
 population, composed of all manner of indifibrent 
 characters, drained back into Gibraltar; mixed 
 marriages took place ; and thus a race of people 
 sprung up, who might with little difficulty have 
 been ^secured to our Church ; instead of which, what 
 is the state of religion in Gibraltar at present ? 
 
 There is said to be a population of 15,000 or 
 
214 GIBRALTAR. 
 
 20,000 people ; of these, exclusive of the military, 
 not 2000 are reckoned to be Protestants, but, of 
 course, counting these, there are several thousand 
 Protestants resident on the Rock. I state this be- 
 cause our rulers, in making what allowances they 
 have done for the Church of Gribraltar, have always 
 reasoned as if the military chaplain was more than 
 sufficient for the spiritual requirements of the mili- 
 tary. But to proceed in order in our examination 
 of the actual condition of religion in 1849, the Ro- 
 man Catholics did not think about establishing a 
 bishopric at Gibraltar, until there was a rumour 
 of a Protestant bishop being appointed : then they 
 forestalled us, and appointed Dr. Hughes the Vicar 
 Apostolic and Titular Bishop of Heliopolis, to exer- 
 cise episcopal functions at Gibraltar, in 1840. The 
 real Bishop of Gibraltar, Dr. Tomlinson, was not 
 appointed until 1842. The present Roman Ca- 
 tholic bishop is a man with Irish papistic zeal, 
 somewhat inflamed by an Andalucian sun. He is 
 indefatigable, not only in retaining his own people, 
 but, if he could any how manage it without incur- 
 ring a government prohibition, he would make con- 
 verts amongst the military. He had eleven priests 
 beside himself to help him in the duties of the 
 place. 
 
 Whilst walking about Gibraltar, I soon stumbled 
 against the repulsive-looking Wesley an chapel, or, as 
 
GIBRALTAR. 215 
 
 it is assumptively called, "Lamision protestante ;'' 
 so, with the excuse of asking for some tracts for a 
 lady at Malaga, I knocked at the door, and in- 
 quired for the minister. A remarkably kind, 
 shining-faced old gentleman came forth, and ex- 
 tended his hand to me as if we had been friends 
 all our lives. After some preliminary conversa- 
 tion, he told me that he was more particularly the 
 minister of the English congregation ; that he was 
 associated in the mission with another gentleman, 
 whose province it particularly was to look after 
 the Spaniards. He went away, and soon after 
 returned with a good-looking young man, with 
 flaxen hair and blue eyes, so very modest in his 
 address, that it quite disarmed me of any hos- 
 tility I might have felt for the abettor of schism. 
 He told me, beside the chapel and girls' school 
 adjoining the house in which we were, they had 
 another establishment at the other end of the 
 Rock, chiefly devoted to the instruction of Spanish 
 children. The following conversation took place. 
 
 Self. — " Pray have you Mr. Rule's memoir of his 
 mission in Spain V 
 
 Young Wesleyan. — " No : Mr. Rule was very ac- 
 tive, but the Spanish mission has at present fallen 
 to the ground. We had a young man lately at 
 Algeciras, but the Spaniards made it too hot for 
 him." 
 
216 GIBRALTAR. 
 
 Old Wesley an. — "I believe, Sir, the priests are 
 to blame. They are designing men, who purposely 
 keep the people in darkness.'' 
 
 Self. — "I have met several Roman Catholic 
 priests, and I cannot but feel, in judging of them, 
 we should make allowances for the school of theo- 
 logy in which they have been trained. Supposing 
 a man were to disapprove ever so much certain 
 things in the system in which he is placed ; unless 
 he were a second Luther, how is he to work a 
 reformation?'' 
 
 Young Wesleyan. — "The force of education is 
 very strong." 
 
 Self. — "To change the subject, pray is your 
 mission entirely supported by members of the con- 
 nexion on the Rock ?" 
 
 Old Wesleyan. — " No, Sir ; it ought to be, but 
 it is not. We look to the parent Society for our 
 main support, and we receive from that as much 
 as 800^. a year." 
 
 Self — " Are you on good terms with the clergy 
 of the Church of England here ?" 
 
 Old Wesleyan. — " Pretty well. There was for- 
 merly some collision respecting the schools ; but, 
 as our work is distinct, we see little of each 
 other." 
 
 Young Wesleyan. — " Not as much as we ought 
 to do. We ought to be on more friendly terms." 
 
GIBRALTAR. 217 
 
 Self. — "How can you expect to be on more 
 friendly terms with a body tbat you so systemati- 
 cally oppose V 
 
 Old Wesley an. — " The Wesleyans are the best 
 friends the Church of England has/' 
 
 Self. — " I cannot see it ; your predecessor, 
 Mr. Rule, in his book, which I have read, says 
 something of this kind : ' There is the Roman 
 Catholic Bishop — of course Christianity cannot be 
 taught by him ; and as to the Protestant Bishop 
 and his set, little better is to be expected from 
 them/ — Is this the language of a friend V 
 
 This Mr. Rule was described to me, with truth, 
 I fear, as a little "firebrand, saturated with sectarian 
 bigotry, and puffed up with his knowledge of the 
 Spanish. He took the field against Spain gene- 
 rally. He and his emissaries opened a large 
 school at Cadiz, and another at San Roque ; and 
 at last raised the indignation of t}ie clergy, who 
 instigated the authorities to proceed against them. 
 The English consul felt that he was not justified 
 in throwing the shield of English protection over 
 them, so that they were obliged to return to the 
 Rock, and thank Providence that they had not 
 suffered very severe treatment. Of course, all this 
 was glory to them ; but I should like to ask such 
 missionaries, what we in England should think of 
 a body of Spaniards coming and telling our people, 
 
 L 
 
218 GIBRALTAR. 
 
 in broken English, they were all going to perdition, 
 and that they knew not what Christianity was ? 
 A country calling itself Christian, however far 
 gone in idolatry, or overburdened with super- 
 stitions, is not to be treated by any denomination 
 of Christians as if it were heathen. It really is 
 something frightful, when one considers the prose- 
 lytizing efforts of all denominations of Christians. 
 The Church of Rome pours money and Jesuits into 
 England in the hope of converting that little 
 island. The Protestants of England return this 
 zeal for conversion with interest, and try to over- 
 run Spain and such countries with Protestant 
 publications. The Russian Church makes war 
 against the Church of Rome in Poland. Many 
 Roman Catholics I met, in the course of my 
 travels, spoke with much toleration of the Pro- 
 testants, and seemed to think we were all tending, 
 though through much contention, to ultimate union. 
 I do not think the sensible part of the Roman 
 Catholics suppose this union is to be effected by 
 their Church conquering all others; but that 
 imperceptibly the wounds that have been made in 
 different parts of the body will be drawn together. 
 After bidding good-bye to the Wesleyans, I 
 continued my walk to the south end of the Rock, 
 to inspect the Roman Catholic establishment 
 there. This consists of a chapel and a school, con- 
 
GIBRALTAR. 219 
 
 taining about sixty-five children, boys and girls, and 
 a very pleasant residence for the priest, and a sort 
 of upper chamber for the bishop, when he visits 
 this end of his diocese. The priest was an Irish- 
 man, and received me with a much less open hand 
 than the Wesleyan. The school appeared to me 
 sufficiently good. At the time I was there, there 
 was only one boy of English parents in it ; and, 
 what appears to me very strange, the master 
 informed me there have been Protestant children 
 there, to whom he taught the Protestant catechism. 
 The chapel is little more than a large room, capable 
 of containing about two hundred children. There 
 is Mass every day at half-past seven o'clock, and 
 during Lent a sermon every evening in Spanish or 
 English. 
 
 I likewise went to the Wesleyan school-room at 
 this end of the Rock. It is large, spacious, airy 
 clean, and, as far as external appearance goes, by 
 far the nicest school in Gibraltar. Altogether, I 
 understand that the Methodists in Gribraltar have 
 upwards of three hundred scholars ; for, besides 
 the two schools I have seen, they have an adult 
 school. I had a long conversation with the 
 master, who had been a soldier, and formerly 
 clerk to the chaplain, became a Methodist, and 
 fell into regimental difficulties, and was at last 
 compelled to purchase his discharge ; and he then 
 L 2 
 
\ 
 
 220 GIBRALTAR. 
 
 took the post of schoolmaster here. He looked 
 like a man who had been through a great deal of 
 trouble of one kind and another. He complained 
 that, though a man might be converted in the 
 Church of England, there was nothing to assist 
 him in his spiritual growth, or retain him where 
 he was. The poor Church of England, that every 
 enthusiast quarrels with, would hardly have stood, 
 one may imagine, in any country but England ; but 
 when I think of the many and crowded churches, 
 the excellent lives of some of her members, and 
 the general learning of her ministers, I feel satisfied 
 that she is as pre-eminent over other Churches as 
 the country at large is over other nations. Those 
 who have forsaken her always seem to feel like 
 people who have forsaken a good but cold mother. 
 The schoolmaster told me that one of the best 
 things the Wesleyans had done was to establish a 
 reading-room at that end of the Rock for the 
 soldiers: here they met in quiet, and read and 
 talked; and were not driven by necessity to the 
 canteens to drink. I thought myself this was a 
 good hint both for our own clergy and commanders 
 of regiments. When there was no Methodist minister 
 who could speak Spanish, he took it upon himself, 
 and preached in that language. The power that Me- 
 thodism has over some minds is very astonishing. 
 It seems to have the greatest effect upon dissipated 
 
GIBRALTAR. 221 
 
 men of the lower orders ; which may or may not 
 confirm the sentiment of the junior Wesley an 
 minister, who said he believed that "Wesleyanism 
 would last as long as there were souls to be 
 awakened which the Church of England could not 
 awake ; but why should not the Church of Eng- 
 land be efficacious in calling such men as these to 
 repentance ? 
 
 l3 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE STORM CATHOLIC UNITY A SUNDAY AT GIBRALTAR 
 
 CHURCH AND STATE — THE MILITARY THE CORK WOOD THE 
 
 PRIEST A COOK. 
 
 I NEVER remember being so forcibly impressed 
 with, the idea of how much we are under the in- 
 fluence of the changes of weather, as I was whilst 
 at Gribraltar. I suppose it was owing to the 
 sudden transition from excessive dryness to great 
 moisture. I was sitting in my room, which com- 
 manded an excellent view of the bay, one evening ; 
 when I was seized with a most painful sensation 
 of melancholy. I endeavoured to overcome it by 
 taking up first a light book, and then a serious 
 one ; but it was no good, I could not succeed. In 
 a short time there broke over Gibraltar one of the 
 most tremendous tempests I ever witnessed. The 
 next day I met an acquaintance, who told me of 
 his sensations which preceded the storm, and 
 which far exceeded my own. I found the beau- 
 tiful Alameda converted into a wilderness, and 
 some of the finest trees torn up by the roots. 
 
GIBRALTAR. 228 
 
 It is in reality, as well as in the regions of 
 imagination, that our most sunny visions are des- 
 tined to receive a shock and interruption; though, 
 perhaps, we are in a healthier state after this is over 
 than we were before : simply because we are nearer 
 to the truth. There is not, to an ardent mind 
 imbued with theological sentiments, a more agree- 
 able dream than that which seems embodied in 
 the expression of Catholic unity ; a thing which 
 we must ever desire, but in seeking which we 
 must take care how we give up a reality for a 
 shadow. 
 
 I remember, when first taking Orders, settling 
 in a village in the Grloucestershire hills, falling 
 into the current of Church opinion, and thinking 
 much about this. The word Catholic was a sort 
 of resuscitated word in every one's mouth. The 
 clerks in banking-houses called circular notes, 
 Catholic notes ; because they were available for 
 every country in the world. I had had eight years 
 of theological experience ; and was now sitting 
 and looking at the lovely bay of Gibraltar, 
 where, if I had sat eight years ago, I should 
 have been spared much trouble. It was Sunday 
 morning. Over-head might be heard the footsteps 
 of the presbyterian minister, preparing for the Sun- 
 day duties. He was an eloquent man, and so popu- 
 lar that he emptied the Wesleyan chapel, and drew 
 l4 
 
•224 GIBRALTAR. 
 
 off some of our own people who had Scotch con- 
 nexions ; and whose inconsistency has found coun- 
 tenance of late years from some in high quarters. 
 The two cathedrals were just below ; sorry edifices, 
 both of them. The Roman Catholic has a tower, 
 and the bells were ringing from it ; but not a note 
 of calling to prayers came from the uninteresting- 
 looking edifice called the English cathedral. It is 
 built in the Moorish style ; for what reason it is 
 not very easy to say. 
 
 Proceeding on my way to church, in company 
 with an officer, we passed another; who, to the ques- 
 tion of my friend, " Where are you off to?'' replied, 
 
 " To hear Mr. , the Free Church preacher.'' 
 
 We next passed three soldiers ; a look of inquiry 
 elicited the fact that they were bound to the Wes- 
 leyan chapel. Passing down to the ramparts, we 
 heard, issuing from a large gloomy-looking build- 
 ing a nasal chant ; this was the largest of the five 
 Jewish synagogues that are in Gribraltar. Looking 
 up a street, we saw soldiers pacing before the 
 Roman Catholic cathedral. We were soon after 
 brushed by the flowing robes of half-a-dozen auda- 
 cious-looking Moors. At last, however, we landed 
 safely in our own cathedral, where we found no 
 great number of worshippers. 
 
 There was a good deal of propriety about every 
 thing we saw ; but, I am constrained to say, little 
 
GIBRALTAR. 225 
 
 life. The prayers were read by a gentleman who 
 had once been a priest and a professor in the 
 Spanish Church : he acquitted himself very tole- 
 rably. The sermon of the preacher was a quiet, 
 sensible discourse, but a congregation such as is 
 likely to assemble at the cathedral in Gibraltar 
 must be held together by stronger materials. 
 There is, literally, no Church feeling in Gibraltar ; 
 and the English population here is so consti^ 
 tuted that, without some popular attractions — 
 bad as the phrase is, and sad as the confession 
 may be — it seems very difficult for a clergyman to 
 retain a hold upon his flock. In the afternoon 
 the chaplain attached to the hulks preached. In 
 the evening the Spanish gentleman reads the 
 prayers of the Church of England in Spanish, and 
 reads also a Spanish sermon. He used formerly 
 to preach extemporaneously, but some complaints 
 were made about his attacking with too much 
 ardour that cause which he had abandoned, and 
 he was afterwards recommended to preach written 
 sermons. This was a very great mistake ; but 
 only characteristic of the cautious nature of our 
 Church discipline. To oblige a Spanish preacher 
 to preach from a book is to rob him of all power 
 at once ; this is cutting the locks of the Church. 
 The night I was at the church the congregation 
 was under ten. 
 
 l5 
 
226 GIBRALTAR. 
 
 In these days of architectural knowledge, the 
 church would be considered a failure. It is in an 
 unfortunate style. There are two aisles divided by 
 columns from the nave, and these columns are 
 crowned with horse-shoe arches ; the consequence 
 of this arrangement is, that the voice is very much 
 broken. At the east end there are stalls and an 
 episcopal cathedra. There was a talk of erecting 
 a campanile ; for the church has been long without 
 any bell at all. The Saints' days, and the Wed- 
 nesdays and Fridays in Lent, are observed here. 
 
 In that school, which was attached to the 
 cathedral exclusively, there were, altogether, about 
 150 children. The majority of the boys were 
 Spaniards, but they repeated equally well the 
 catechism in the Spanish and English languages. 
 Notwithstanding the occasional help rendered to 
 the Archdeacon of Gibraltar by the chaplain to 
 the hulks, when I was on the Rock, there was a 
 decided want of clergymen of the Church of Eng- 
 land. It seems the poor Church of England at 
 Gibraltar, as well as every where else, suiFers from 
 her proximity to her bigger, although not older 
 
 * Dr. Tomlinson, the Bishop of Gibraltar, had not been in the 
 ** Rock" for some time when I was there ; it is fair to mention, 
 that I was told his visits had always been productive of good and 
 peace-making. I have since heard that he resides there more than 
 he used to do, and that Church affairs are in a much more satisfac- 
 tory state than they were. 
 
GIBRALTAR. 227 
 
 sister, the State. I think I am right in my sta- 
 tistics, in saying there is <£*30,000 drawn from 
 the Rock, which I presume goes into the colo- 
 nial chest, amongst other things the pew rents 
 of the cathedral. The Church is then given the 
 sum of £4iOO a year, whilst the other part of the 
 civil list is something quite extravagant ; judges, 
 and attorney-generals, receiving their thousands, 
 or eight hundreds a year. In addition to what 
 they can collect, the Wesleyans are enriched with 
 <£^800 a year from England ; whereas, the Church 
 of England had not more than half of this sum, 
 and was crippled in her resources, because she 
 was prohibited from making the most she could of 
 what she already had. It is quite difficult to un- 
 derstand on what principle this system is adopted 
 by the State. I had no opportunity of visiting 
 those schools which are exclusively under the care 
 of the military chaplain. 
 
 Gibraltar is said to be a favourite garrison with 
 the military ; and there are many things to make 
 it so, to those who do not spend the entire day in 
 idleness and dissipation. The garrison library is 
 excellent ; the climate generally pleasant and 
 healthful ; and the points of attraction to those 
 fond of scenery and the picturesque, many and 
 great. 
 
 The favourite point to ride to is the Cork Wood. 
 l6 
 
228 GIBRALTAR. 
 
 Many of the trees are very fine, and gnarled ; and 
 the wood presents many exquisite vistas of green 
 and chequered shade. I made one expedition to 
 this spot, and merely allude to it, because of the 
 circumstance of our having put up our horses in 
 the chambers of an untenanted convent, and had 
 them tendered by a priest, not a monk or hermit, 
 who likewise cooked us some eggs and bacon. I 
 do not relate this as being derogatory to the priest, 
 but as exemplifying the degraded state into which 
 the Spanish Church has been brought. He was a 
 young man, and did not seem at all displeased 
 with his occupation. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 BOUND FOR TANGIER SHIP's COMPANY — A VISION OF POWER 
 
 AND ITS EFFECT ON THE MOORS - IMPRESSIONS ON ENTERING A 
 HEATHEN COUNTRY FOR THE FIRST TIME — DESCRIPTION OF 
 THE TOWN — MOORISH AND SPANISH BIGOTRY— THE BIBLE AND 
 THE ARABIAN NIGHTS— CONSULAR GARDENS — PROGRESS AND 
 
 THE ** STATUS GUO" THE SOC OR MARKET-PLACE SANTONS 
 
 — A RIDE TO THE CAVE OF HERCULES — A SOLDIER NO SAINT. 
 
 There are several boats which run periodically 
 between Gribraltar and Tangier, for the purpose of 
 carrying the letters of the different consuls ; but 
 excepting these, there are no regular means of 
 transit ; and as I was disappointed of a lift in one 
 of the government steamers which I had hoped had 
 been going, I was compelled to take my passage 
 in one of them. Accordingly, the following day 
 at dawn, I was alongside of the Spanish " correo/' 
 or Consular falucca. She was freighted chiefly 
 with empty poultry-baskets, besides her human 
 cargo, composed of Moors and Jews. Before I got 
 on board, I noticed in the stern of the boat, a 
 pale-looking, sorrowful man, in European clothes, 
 who directly saluted me in English ; this was 
 
230 TANGIER. 
 
 a travelling Jew, whose countenance may be fa- 
 miliar to dwellers in every part of the world. The 
 travelling Jew looks sagacious and chastened ; 
 when not cunning and obsequious, he really looks 
 as if some of that sorrow, which he refused to place 
 upon the willing Saviour, adhered to him more 
 than to the rest of mankind. There were besides 
 this Jew, fifteen others ; but these were dressed 
 in the "jelab,'' a kind of frock or smock with a 
 hood to it, and wore a small black cap, which 
 throughout Barbary, distinguishes the Jew from 
 the turbaned Turk or Moor : two of these latter 
 formed part of our company ; and besides them, 
 there was an old Jewish woman, and the French 
 consul's secretary, or rather, as I afterwards found, 
 his cook. The countenances of the Moors were all 
 defiance and lordliness, and upon the slightest 
 provocation, they dealt their blows upon the 
 Jews. 
 
 These Barbary Jews look upon an Englishman, 
 who has the appearance of one travelling for his 
 pleasure, with double interest, as one belonging to 
 a nation which dictates its own terms to their 
 masters ; and every member of which is supposed 
 to enjoy abundant resources. Countenances ob- 
 sequiously looking up to you, at last attract your 
 curiosity, if not interest ; many of them are cer- 
 tainly handsome, and far more intellectual than 
 
TANGIER. 231 
 
 their oppressors ; but partly owing to their dress, 
 and the manner in which they laid about the 
 deck, wrapped up in their frocks, at no moment 
 ever betraying a thought of resistance or fierce- 
 ness, one could hardly suppose they were any 
 thing but women. 
 
 Our voyage, which ought only to have occupied 
 four hours, promised to be a long one ; for it was 
 several hours before we had even left Europa Point 
 behind. The sailors and the French cook amused 
 themselves by carnival sports, covering each other 
 with flour and tar ; the French cook wore a 
 cloth cloak made in the fashion of the jelab ; and 
 in the course of the struggles occasioned by their 
 sport, the sailors tied a rope round his waist, and 
 immediately exclaimed, " Monge ! '' " Monge ! '' a 
 monk ! a monk ! and indeed it strikes the eye 
 that there does exist the greatest possible affinity 
 between the dress adopted by the mendicant orders, 
 particularly that worn by the followers of St. 
 Francis of Assisi, and that of these Barbary Jews 
 and Moors ; whether we are to trace it to the 
 fact of the early Egyptian monks and hermits 
 having adopted the dress of the common people 
 of the East, or suppose that that Mohammedan em- 
 pire, which once overran Europe, left this fashion 
 of dress with other things behind, when it retired 
 to the opposite shores of the Mediterranean. 
 
232 TANGIER. 
 
 The report of a salute, which we heard, as we 
 got into the Gut, (called so from the narrowness of 
 the passage,) told me that Sir Charles Napier was 
 on the move home ; shortly after the fleet made 
 its appearance, the Sidon towing out the St. Vin- 
 cent, the Regnard and Plumper, which are screw 
 steamers, following at assigned intervals. The 
 Jews and Turks were both delighted and wonder- 
 struck at this exhibition of a naval power ; they 
 eagerly hung over the sides of the boat, and when 
 they were not silent, the word " machina'' in- 
 formed me the screw steamers were the theme of 
 their comments. Nor could any one be surprised 
 that such savages as the Moors should be over- 
 awed at this demonstration of skill and power. 
 The two screw steamers, with every sail close reefed, 
 and scarcely a puiF of smoke escaping from their 
 small, and almost hidden funnels, appeared to 
 move through the water literally by magic, no 
 locomotive agent being visible. " Has he gone 
 to England?'' said one of the Moors to me in 
 Spanish ; but as our quarrel with Morocco had 
 not been settled in the most satisfactory manner, I 
 feigned ignorance as to the destination of the St. 
 Vincent, and her companions. The captain of our 
 boat would not attempt crossing until the next 
 morning, when we were carried over with the 
 current without any sail set. 
 
TANGIER. 238 
 
 It is remarkable how soon the human mind 
 reconciles itself to new scenes, customs, and peo- 
 ple, and loses first impressions. I was now, for 
 the first time, about to enter a place where the 
 Christian religion holds no sway ; I was therefore 
 careful to note my own impressions. The town of 
 Tangier from the sea,, although sufiiciently unat- 
 tractive in its architecture, has something pleasing 
 about it. It is situated at the head of a large bay, 
 on rising though not mountainous ground, a white 
 wall of fortification covers it from the sea, from 
 which, however, the towers of the two principal 
 mosques, and the consular houses, are seen rising 
 above the wall : to the east is a tract of country 
 characteristically sandy ; to the west is a series of 
 moderately high headlands, which terminate in 
 the Atlantic at Cape Spartel, that promontory 
 that indicates the mouth of the Mediterranean 
 to navigators from the south-west. The beach 
 was lined with vagabond Jews and Arabs, who 
 plunged into the water for the purpose of carrying 
 the passengers ashore. We were met by the 
 captain of the port, a very fine, commanding 
 looking individual, who has a sort of alcove just 
 without the Sea Gate of the town, between which 
 and the sea-shore he spends the best part of his 
 life : although what in England we call a working 
 man, his post must be very much of a sinecure ; 
 
284 TANGIER. 
 
 for I believe the Emperor of Morocco does not 
 possess a single vessel, the few feluccas I ever saw- 
 in the Bay of Tangier being strangers. 
 
 On passing through the Grate I was in a new 
 world, of this there could be no mistake ; dresses, 
 houses, associations, familiar to those who sur- 
 rounded me from their infancy, were to me per- 
 fectly new, strange, and such as I had formed 
 no definite conception of I cannot recollect ever 
 having been so sensible of surprise at any thing I 
 have ever before witnessed ; although after a short 
 time, human society wearing in these parts one of 
 the simplest aspects, the scene became familiar, 
 and one was led to feel the intrinsic dulness 
 of the Moorish life. The town of Tangier is 
 divided into two parts by the main street, which 
 rises from the Sea Gate to the Country Gate at 
 the opposite end. In each of these divisions is a 
 large mosque ; and on the heights crowning the 
 west division of the town, is the Alcasaba, or 
 Castle. The white wall of fortification noticed 
 from the sea, surrounds the town. Notwithstand- 
 ing the surprise experienced by the traveller, the 
 conclusion he soon arrives at is, that the wor- 
 thy emperor's subjects are decidedly barbarians. 
 The houses, which are very small, are always 
 painted white ; and indeed, in general, the place 
 has very much the appearance of such a city as 
 
TANGIER. 285 
 
 a cliild would erect with a pack of cards; the 
 shops are so small, which line either side of the 
 main street, that the seller of wares can only 
 manage to lodge himself, tailor-fashion, in one 
 corner, and there remain on peril of throwing 
 every thing down should he move about with 
 the least disposition to activity. The apertures of 
 these shops are generally shaded by a projecting 
 wooden blind. At the foot of the walls of the 
 houses, and literally in the gutter, it is the custom 
 of the Moors, particularly on market-days, to sit 
 in rows. This is a thoroughly Moorish custom, and 
 I doubt not of great antiquity ; for at Marchena 
 in Spain, which with Tariifa, on the opposite side 
 of the Gut, retains more than any other city in 
 Spain, Moorish customs ; this was one which I par- 
 ticularly remember noticing. 
 
 What with the forbidding aspect of the buildings, 
 the turbans, and flowing robes of the Moors, the 
 muffled faces of the women, the squalid smocks and 
 jelabs of the Jews and Arabs, or country people, I 
 felt so impatient at the signs of barbarism, that I 
 could not help offering up a desire, as I walked to 
 the Fonda, that the time might not be far distant, 
 when the prejudices that excluded them from 
 European civilization, should give way to a know- 
 ledge of the truth ; but I myself> as I found, was 
 
236 TANGIER. 
 
 also under some prejudice. After depositing my 
 baggage at the Fonda, I prepared to make a more 
 deliberate survey of this, to me, most curious 
 place. 
 
 A country constituted like Morocco, and posi- 
 tively within a morning's sail of a quasi English 
 town, presents, of course, many startling features 
 of interest to an Englishman, whose birthright 
 attaches him to a nation which has passed through 
 a greater number of progressive stages of civiliza- 
 tion than any place in the world. We must go 
 back to a period almost prior to the arrival of St. 
 Augustine, during Saxon heathenism, to find in 
 our own annals a state of civilization parallel to 
 that at present existing in Morocco. Yet there is 
 no reason to be deduced from the natural aspect 
 of the country, why there should not be the most 
 delightful regions of cultivation, or excellent roads 
 in these parts ; of which I do not think the em- 
 peror can boast one. The natives of this part of 
 the world cannot plead the desert, or excessive 
 heat, or excessive aridity : it must all be laid to 
 the charge of Mohammedan bigotry, alone an evi- 
 dence of its earthly origin. The Farkah, or court 
 preacher, delights to enlarge upon the sinfulness 
 of cultivating the Christian. The less the good 
 Mohammedan has to do with a Christian the better, 
 
TANGIER. 237 
 
 unless it be to fulfil the injunction of the Prophet: 
 " When ye encounter unbelievers, strike off their 
 heads until ye have made a great slaughter 
 amongst them/' 
 
 "When I learnt that this was the case, I could 
 not help feeling how unlikely religious persecution 
 of any kind is to conduct us to the truth. Scarcely 
 a month back I had heard a Spanish preacher at 
 Malaga inveighing in very bitter terms against 
 the Protestants, and appealing to the Catholic 
 spirit of the Spaniards to keep them sound. Was 
 it an unjust reflection to make, that, in proportion 
 as a country proscribes, it will be backward in the 
 scale of nations? Spain, the most bigoted, is 
 also the most behind the other countries of 
 Europe. Notwithstanding my strong sympathies 
 with the Church of England, I rejoiced that I 
 belonged to a country where no man was perse- 
 cuted for conscience' sake ; and where the only 
 restrictive laws which existed, were enacted and 
 persevered in, in the fairest spirit of self-defence ; 
 and against those who tell us our own is not our 
 own, and who would again bring us into bondage. 
 
 The Bible and the Arabian Nights are allowed 
 to be the keys to the condition of most Eastern or 
 Mohammedan countries, and I found every thing 
 to confirm this opinion. Immediately on turning 
 into the principal street of Tangier, I met one of 
 
288 TANGIER. 
 
 those auctioneers or criers so often introduced 
 into the Arabian Nights. He carried on his head 
 a bale of cotton goods, and other articles in each 
 hand ; and ran up and down the street, bellowing 
 out the value of his goods to the Moors sitting in 
 the gutter, and stopping where he saw a likely 
 purchaser, that he might afford him an opportu- 
 nity of inspecting his wares. Another time I 
 saw this same crier with a young black slave, 
 dragging him up and down the street, and oifering 
 him for sale. 
 
 After observing this crier, we continued our 
 walk up the street, and passing through the 
 Country Gate, we came into the " soc,'' where the 
 country-people hold their market upon Mondays 
 and Thursdays. Here are people not only from 
 all parts of the kingdom, but from many distant 
 regions of Africa. Blacks from the interior, some 
 of whom have found their way from the petty 
 kingdoms about the Gambia ; and one, who was 
 hawking about cakes, when he heard that I was 
 an Englishman, wished me to take some of his 
 sugary merchandise ^^sin denero'' — without money, 
 for we English were gentlemen ; a sentiment 
 which, I conjectured, he had not improbably 
 picked up from having heard of our efforts to 
 suppress the traffic in his countrymen. 
 
 More or less bordering upon this market-ground 
 
TANaiEn: 289 
 
 are the gardens of the consuls ; and some of them 
 are very pretty and very extensive. We entered 
 the Danish consul's garden, which includes an 
 orange grove, a small olive farm, and vineyard. 
 Here, too, besides every variety of shrub, are some 
 forest trees, growing with considerable luxuriance ; 
 a house stands in the middle of it, which is fre- 
 quented by the family in the summer. It was 
 quite a wilderness, for but little neatness was 
 displayed in the flower borders. After leaving 
 this garden, and skirting some of the other con- 
 sular gardens, we crossed over to the opposite side 
 of the valley, and came up upon a beautiful turfy 
 terrace, called Marchan ; and here we drew breath, 
 and looked at the interesting view before us. To 
 the west is the Atlantic ; moving the eye along 
 the horizon, the first object that breaks the line is 
 Cape Trafalgar ; the next prominent object is 
 Tariffa, with its fine old castle and light-house, 
 the most southerly point of Europe. Next comes 
 the headland that opens Gibraltar Bay ; and be- 
 hind this, rendered flat by many an aerial tint, 
 rises the singularly-shaped rock of Gibraltar ; the 
 white buildings on Europa Point just glimmering 
 into view. There is English enterprise and valour, 
 and English bustle and prejudice, fermenting as 
 elsewhere, whilst here the world has stood still 
 since the patriarchs. The eye, leaving the Rock, 
 
240 TANGIER. 
 
 falls on a narrow reach of the Mediterranean, and 
 then encounters the ragged brow of Apes' Hill, 
 and soon afterwards some snowy mountains, a 
 lower chain of the Atlas, close to Tetuan ; and 
 under these, are numerous lines of hills, and 
 tracts of intervening country, as far as the eye 
 could judge covered with abundant vegetation. 
 We returned to the town through the Alcasaba, or 
 Castle, in the precincts of which the tents of the 
 Bedouin Arabs are generally to be seen. 
 
 In this short walk round the town, there were 
 two insignificant buildings which attracted my 
 attention ; the one is called Emsala, or Place of 
 Preaching. It is little more than a long wall, 
 with three or four niches in it, in the centre one 
 of which the priest stands, with a large copy of 
 the Koran ; whilst another, ascending a few steps 
 to the left of this, harangues the people on the 
 virtues of the Prophet, and the sin of cultivating 
 familiarity with infidels. The emsala is only used, 
 however, on certain high Moorish occasions. The 
 other building noticed was a small white hut, 
 which stood in the soc ; and is a specimen of a 
 class of which there are many in and about Tan- 
 gier. They are resting-places of the santons, or 
 saints ; and of the veneration in which they are 
 held I had some proof; for, curiously inspecting 
 one of these, in a place where I thought I might 
 
TANGIER. 241 
 
 escape observation, I was angrily scolded by a 
 Moor who chanced to turn the corner. A Chris- 
 tian, it is said, may not enter one of these on pain 
 of death, and they afford a sanctuary for any one 
 against the sword of "the avenger of blood;"' bear- 
 ing, in this respect, an analogy to the cities of 
 refuge enjoined by Moses, and appointed by 
 Joshua. These rests, or graves of saints, are very 
 thick in some places ; and no wonder, for the 
 living specimens of these santons are numerous. 
 They are the most importunate beggars ; and well 
 calculated, by their appearance, to impose upon 
 their countrymen, and indeed upon any one but 
 the Jew, who takes out the ill-treatment he re- 
 ceives from the Moor in a deep intellectual con- 
 tempt for all that belongs to Mohammedanism. 
 
 I had abundant proofs of this spirit existing 
 among the Jews the first day I was in Tangier. I 
 had been walking up the street with a Moor, who 
 had crossed over from Gibraltar with me in the 
 Spanish " correo,'' and who had just warned me to 
 be on my guard against the Jews, when I was 
 joined by another tall old Moor, who had on a 
 white shirt with the white capuchin cloak over it, 
 the hood of which shaded his pale wrinkled face 
 and long white beard, and in his hand he carried 
 a white staff. Having bid adieu to my former 
 acquaintance, I began to regard this venerable 
 
242 TANGIER 
 
 personage with some interest, when a Jew joined 
 me on the other side ; and the following short but 
 significant conversation took place. 
 
 Moor. — " Seiior, denero, dame denero/' — Sir, 
 money, give me money, 
 
 ^e^y:_"Perche, hombre ?"— Why, friend? 
 
 Moor. — " Yo soy nn santo/' — I am a saint. 
 
 Self. — Si ; pero un santo puede vivar sin de- 
 nero.'' — Yes ; but a saint can live without money. 
 
 Jew, — Monsieur, ne donnez pas ; cet homme est 
 une grande bete."*' 
 
 ^e;/:-_«Vraiment.'' 
 
 Jew. — " Toutes les saintes ici sent betes, ou 
 insenses." — All the saints here are beasts, or mad. 
 
 Thus warned, I parted with this ghostly-looking 
 saint, and soon after saw him in the market, 
 walking round to the different vendors of bread, 
 cheese, peas, &c., and helping himself, here to a 
 handful of peas, and here to a piece of bread, as 
 he felt disposed. I was informed this was a privilege 
 enjoyed by those who are esteemed saints ; and 
 that all those who can claim a difficult-to-be- 
 disproved alliance with the family of the Prophet 
 are saints by inheritance. Those who are " captus 
 mente '' are likewise beloved of heaven, and have 
 the privilege of picking and stealing with im- 
 punity. 
 
 My inquiries led me to the conclusion that a 
 
TANGIER, 243 
 
 very small section of Morocco will afford the 
 traveller a tolerably just idea of the whole coun- 
 try. The same mixture of Moors and Jews in 
 very much the same proportion is found every 
 where ; and so with regard to the face of nature, 
 owing to the great quantity of moisture that falls 
 in the whole of Barbary, there can be little lack of 
 vegetation any where. I shall, therefore, for the 
 amusement of the reader, describe from my Jour- 
 nal a ride I made one morning to Cape Spartel, 
 the nearest point of any interest to Tangier. As 
 a rule, it may be said, beyond the walls of a 
 Moorish city a stranger cannot walk without the 
 probability of suffering from the over-zeal of some 
 obscure Arab. The first thing to be done, there- 
 fore, in making any sort of expedition, is to pro- 
 cure a soldier whose life is to answer for your life 
 in case of accidents : this is simple and summary, 
 and so far it is good. In this ride I was accom- 
 panied by my landlady's nephew, Baruch, a nice, 
 intelligent youth, who spoke the Arabic in use 
 here, and who chose a soldier for our companion 
 whom he could trust, who in due time made his 
 appearance, with his turban, long gun, and 
 bayonet. Soon after came a grey horse and a 
 mule, which the captain of the port was glad to let 
 for hire. I mounted the steed, and Baruch the 
 mule. The figure of the barb is not at all unfa- 
 M 2 
 
244 TANGIER. 
 
 miliar to the English eye : it is seen often enough 
 in Rotten-row^ for the English, if they gained no 
 other advantage by the possession of Tangier, 
 gained this, that they were enabled to improve the 
 breed of horses. The points of the barb are its 
 long and springy legs, and its small flat head. 
 One, like myself, no great judge of horseflesh, 
 would remark upon the agreeable paces of the 
 Barbary horses. 
 
 On leaving Tangier, as long as we were in the 
 vicinity of the consular gardens, we rode through 
 a sort of sandy lanes, but very soon emerged upon 
 the grassy, heathy, undulating country, over which 
 the eye ranges for miles and miles without being 
 able to trace any symptom of formal eflbrts at 
 civilization, or scarcely cultivation ; now and then 
 the bridle-path conducts into woods of thick and 
 towering brushwood, intermingled with which are 
 many noble specimens of the heath andgum schistus, 
 the flowers of which latter plant quite overspread 
 the wood. These woods are kept low by the Moors 
 themselves, who distrust each other so much that 
 they dare not leave too thick a cover for the 
 robbers. Here, too, wild boars abound, none of 
 which I had the good fortune to see, or the ill 
 fortune to feel. After passing these woods, and 
 gaining a ridge of low hills ahead of us, we looked 
 down upon the Atlantic ; between us and the sea 
 
TANGIER. 245 
 
 was a fine tract of lawn-like land, covered with the 
 arhutus and palmetta. The sea appears shut out 
 from this low country by a long ridge of deep, 
 sandy shore, that stretches from Cape Spartel to 
 the west as far as the eye can follow. Cape 
 Spartel is not a very striking promontory, but at 
 the foot of it is a certain cave of some classical 
 repute, called the cave of Hercules, towards which 
 we rode. On descending the low ridge, we entered 
 a hamlet, a wretched-looking place, consisting of a 
 collection of huts, which looked like large hurdles 
 placed together tent-fashion, and resting on the 
 ground without walls : an aloe-hedge enclosed the 
 small community. A pack of curs flew out upon 
 us, and several of the men and children made 
 their appearance, having nothing on but the coarse 
 smock, with the hood to it as a covering. 
 
 The cave, which was the ostensible object of our 
 ride, is of no great extent, and does not present 
 any very remarkable features. There were many 
 Moors in it cutting out millstones, a purpose for 
 which I understood it was used by the Romans. 
 The substance of these millstones appeared like 
 conglomerate. We returned by a difierent route to 
 Tangier, which, though less open than that by 
 which we had come, afforded no great variety of 
 scenery. 
 
 M 8 
 
246 TANGIER. 
 
 The mounted soldier, who, with a pedestrian 
 Jew, accompanied me in this ride, possessed a 
 good expression of countenance, and, had my 
 experience of the Moors ended with him, I should 
 have formed a favourable opinion of their general 
 character. Through means of Baruch, I had an 
 opportunity of testing the prejudices of this sol- 
 dier. The low corn-lands which we passed on our 
 return were covered with cranes, and I asked the 
 soldier to shoot one ; this he declined doing, 
 because he said the crane was a sacred bird ; for, 
 " There was once an unjust judge, who sate in a 
 judgment-hall approached by stairs, and who took 
 bribes from those who came before him, and caused 
 the stairs to be soaped ; so that when the party 
 that had refrained from bribery came up the stairs 
 he slipped down backwards, and broke his neck. 
 God, to punish this unjust judge, transformed him 
 into a crane, and condemned him to follow the 
 plougher, and clear the newly-opened furrows from 
 the worms and slugs." However, notwithstanding 
 his veneration for the crane, he permitted Baruch 
 to slaughter one. He said a soldier could not be 
 a saint, because, if he was, he could not capture a 
 culprit ; for, if the latter appealed to him as a 
 saint, he must protect him against the hand of 
 justice. On approaching Tangier, he threw himself 
 
TANGIER. 247 
 
 back in his saddle, and, putting his horse to its 
 speed, discharged his musket as he rode along. 
 We entered the Soco with a string of camels, which 
 were being driven in for the evening to the cara- 
 vansary that abuts upon the country-gate of the 
 town. 
 
 M 4 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 STATE OF RELIGION IN TANGIER — THE ROMAN CATHOLICS 
 
 JEWISH CONVERSIONS — PRIESTS OF THE PROPAGANDA— THE 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHAPEL — DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY OF 
 CONVERTING A MOHAMMEDAN — CHURCH OR MOSQUE BUILDING 
 
 — SCHOOLS— MUSTAPHA DUCALY — DISCUSSION WITH HIM 
 
 SYNAGOGUES — A CIRCUMCISION PROTESTANTS — JEWESSES 
 
 THE CLIMATE. 
 
 I SHALL now make some remarks upon that sub- 
 ject which has always been the chief object of in- 
 terest to me in my wanderings, — the prospects of 
 Christianity in this part of the world. The Por- 
 tuguese are said to have constituted Tangier a 
 bishopric ; but the traces of episcopacy are not 
 very discernible. There is a small Roman Catholic 
 chapel here for the accommodation of the numerous 
 consular families professing the Roman Catholic 
 faith. To this chapel are attached two priests, 
 both Spaniards ; but placed here, as one of them in- 
 formed me, by the " Propaganda.'' The senior one 
 has been stationed here many years, and if not 
 dead, is approaching his ninetieth year ; the other 
 may reckon about half this term of existence. 
 
TANGIER. 249 
 
 There , may be in this place of Roman Catholics 
 about two or three hundred. 
 
 If by a mission is to be understood a community 
 necessarily devoted to the task of conversion, it 
 is a misnomer to call this a mission, for hardly any 
 thing is done in this vy^ay. The junior priest told 
 me the Jews occasionally profess themselves con- 
 verted ; but it is always with a view to some tem- 
 poral advantage He said they had not made a 
 single conversion among the Mohammedans, nor 
 do they try to make any. 
 
 I could not but feel interested in the aged 
 priest, when I looked at him, with his venerable 
 white hair streaming over his shoulders, as he sat 
 in the patio, or middle court of the house, and 
 thought how many years he had passed among 
 these barbarians to such little profit : if this man 
 was ever zealous, how great a check was here to 
 missionary ardour ! But the Romanists have cer- 
 tainly not shown their wonted wisdom at Tan- 
 gier, and not having the ground disputed by other 
 Christians do not seem to have been studious 
 about converting the Mussulmans. 
 
 The chapel is considerably decorated, and cru- 
 cifixes and pictures, as is well known, are the 
 abomination of Mohammedanism. Mohammed's 
 great success as the founder of a religion, may be 
 attributed to the simplicity of the creed with which 
 M 5 
 
250 TANGIER. 
 
 he started. Arabia was overrun with diversities 
 of creeds and idolatry ; he denounced idolatry, 
 and asserted the unity of God. These, like all 
 simple truths, are points readily comprehended, 
 and obstinately maintained ; for when a Mohamme- 
 dan is taxed with the falsehoods, absurdities, and 
 plagiarisms contained in the Koran, he can fall 
 back upon Abraham, and quote him as a teacher of 
 similar truths ; and it requires no little ingenuity 
 to lead him to embrace a more complicated faith. 
 Upon points so simple as these, it seems singular 
 that so monstrous a fabrication as Mohammedanism 
 should have been raised. In dealing with Moham- 
 medans, or attempting to convert them, I know of 
 no other way of proceeding than first of all to satisfy 
 them, that we have some common ground of 
 sympathy. Thus the unity of the Godhead forms 
 the first step in this argument ; the iniquity and 
 peril of idolatry may form the second ; the recog- 
 nition of the patriarchs, particularly Abraham, 
 may form the next. The acceptance of Christ 
 as a prophet, may be improved into the admission 
 of Him as a mediator. I do not think the belief 
 in a mediator, strictly speaking, is any part of a 
 Mohammedan's faith. It is wrong to suppose 
 that the Mussulmans regard Mohammed at all in 
 this light. I have asked if this were the case 
 several times, and have been as often told, that 
 
TANGIER. 251 
 
 they do not, further than they may admit any 
 holy person to have the power of praying for 
 them. The younger priest spoke to me in very 
 desponding terms of the whole subject of conver- 
 sion ; and I should judge that all idea of it had 
 been long abandoned by the mission, and that 
 they only thought of discharging the duties of 
 the chapel. 
 
 Church-building (for the Arabic word for 
 mosque corresponds to our "church,'' and the 
 Latin " ecclesia'') was quite the order of the day 
 during my stay at Tangier ; and it was one of my 
 amusements to inspect the turbaned and frocked 
 bricklayers handling the trowel on the summit of 
 a new tower upon which they were at work. The 
 style of architecture is similar, although much 
 debased, to that which characterises the Moorish 
 buildings in Seville. Besides this new mosque there 
 are two others, and several schools, which enjoy a 
 semi-sanctity, where the noise of the scholars 
 learning the Koran, recalled to one's mind very 
 forcibly a village school in England on a Catechism 
 afternoon ; albeit the reception a stranger ex- 
 perienced on showing his face at the door had 
 nothing of Christianity about it. Pedagogue and 
 scholars alike vehemently shook their hands and 
 fists at him, and, with the true bitterness of 
 M 6 
 
252 TANGIEE. 
 
 bigotry, gave him to understand he had better 
 go on. 
 
 Through the kindness and hospitality of Mr. 
 Drummond Hay, Her Majesty's Charge d' Affaires, 
 whose abilities are so well known to the public, 
 I had an opportunity of conversing with one of 
 the most intelligent and influential of the Moors, 
 Mustapha Ducaly, for a Moor was a man of vast 
 enterprise ; he had actually been in London ; he 
 had brought out English workmen with a view of 
 working an antimony mine, in the vicinity of 
 Apes' Hill. After expressing approbation of some 
 points in the Koran, Ducaly said it was natural I 
 should think as I did, for Mohammed believed in 
 Christ, and indeed the Mohammedans had a title to 
 enjoy the blessings of both dispensations ; but it 
 was shown that belief in the one utterly cancelled 
 the other. When it was urged that the existing 
 state of the world was a confirmation of Chris- 
 tianity, as it was a refutation of Mohammedanism, 
 he said there was a time when the Mohammedan 
 empire was the greatest in the world ; but it was 
 shown that this empire and influence came and 
 went like a tidal wave, and that the vaunted 
 civilization of the Moors would bear very little 
 comparison with the existing state of England or 
 France. Ducaly said the English people were 
 
TANGIER. 253 
 
 great because they had good hearts, and not 
 from the influence of Christianity ; that they were 
 inconsistent, and did not observe that strict mo- 
 rality which was enjoined by Christ ; that Moham- 
 med better knew human nature than Christ, and, 
 therefore, wisely gave them greater liberty, how- 
 ever he was disposed to approve of the English 
 custom of choosing a wife rather than the Moorish 
 one of taking one upon the choice of another, 
 which led to frequent divorces ; that young men 
 were mated before they had beards ; and that 
 old maids and bachelors were scarcely known in 
 Morocco. Ducaly was anxious to become a free- 
 mason, but doubted whether he could consistently 
 with his profession as a Mohammedan. 
 
 There are four insignificant synagogues in 
 Tangier. In one of these I saw an aged Jew, 
 wearing the Frank dress, instructing about twenty 
 young men, who wore the national dress, from 
 some Talmudic writings, how they were to prepare 
 for observing the approaching " Pascua," or pass- 
 over. In another, I witnessed the not very pleasing 
 sight of a circumcision ; had I been an artist, 
 and anxious to obtain any hints for a picture on 
 any passage in the life of our Saviour, I should 
 have studied the exceedingly picturesque assem- 
 blage of faces and dresses, gathered together on 
 this occasion, in preference to the galleries at 
 
254 TANGIER. 
 
 Bologna and Florence ; an exact copy of the scene 
 could not have failed to have produced a fine 
 picture. The mother was present, but took no 
 part in the ceremony : throughout the service they 
 sang psalms ; the operation was instantaneous ; and 
 after its performance, myrtle twigs were thrown 
 in amongst the company to smell, whilst a cup 
 of wine was handed round to the more important 
 people who were present. Few of the Jewish 
 infants ever die from this ceremony ; whereas, 
 many of the young Moors, as they undergo the 
 ordinance at a much later period of life, and are 
 more roughly handled, die from it. The descend- 
 ants of Isaac and Ishmael, retaining in this respect, 
 in a remarkable manner, their characteristics. 
 
 There are, I suppose, three or four Protest- 
 ant families in Tangier. Mr. Hay systematically 
 reads the Church Service at his house on a Sun- 
 day, which is open for any who please to avail 
 themselves of this opportunity of joining in the 
 prayers of their country. But I have noticed here, 
 as in other places, a sort of jealousy in this 
 matter, and not many avail themselves of the 
 advantage afforded them by this excellent custom. 
 Mr. Hay justly remarked, in a land where every 
 thing has a religious meaning or import, he was 
 not likely to improve his influence amongst the 
 natives, by showing a contempt for sacred things. 
 
TANGIER. 255 
 
 Indeed, bad as the moral effects of the Jewish and 
 Mohammedan religions are, it must strike every 
 traveller that the people are under the influence 
 of religion, such as it is, much more than they 
 seem to be in the great towns of England. For 
 six days in the week, doubtless, the subject of 
 religion is scarcely brought to the notice of the 
 manufacturing masses ; even in London, how few 
 and far between are the churches at the west-end ! 
 and how little there is to set a stranger thinking 
 on this subject, who should walk from the top of 
 Oxford-street to Snow-hill ! New Oxford-street 
 has opened a" few miserable looking churches to 
 view, but scarcely would a stranger see any thing 
 worthy the name of a church, until he came in 
 view of Newgate, and then over that sombre 
 building, he would see the dome of St. Paul's and 
 perhaps begin to think about public worship. 
 
 In this little place three sabbaths are marked, 
 the sixth, seventh, and first days of the week ; for 
 Mohammed enjoined the sixth day to be devoted 
 more particularly to the honour and service of 
 God; and on the Friday the square red flag of 
 the Moors is generally seen waving over the seve- 
 ral mosques ; this is the day on which the mufti 
 preaches in the mosque, and the gates of the city 
 are closed during the service. Then the Mued- 
 den's voice, which is heard in the morning at 
 
256 TANGIER. . 
 
 dawn, telling the people it is better to pray than 
 to sleep, and at night repeating the same thing, 
 does not leave the mind for any time to forget 
 the duties of religion. 
 
 It is a common thing whilst dawdling in the 
 market-place, or street, to see a stir among the 
 people, and on turning round, to find preparations 
 making for the bastinado. On one of these occa- 
 sions I saw the governor sitting in the doorway of 
 his house, dealing summary justice on a youth for 
 stealing, who lay on the ground with his legs tied, 
 and a soldier at each arm, whilst two others laid on 
 upon his back like smiths with their hammers 
 upon an anvil j during the first fifty blows he 
 bellowed considerably, but afterwards was quite 
 silent. On another occasion, there was a poor 
 woman beaten until she expired, for having been 
 found in a Christian's house. 
 
 To European eyes, the treatment of the women 
 is the most barbarous feature in their social 
 economy. I will leave it to others to determine, 
 whether the Moorish accusation be just or not, 
 that European gallantry reverses the order of 
 nature, and that it is ridiculous ; but any notions 
 that can lead to such disfigurement of the human 
 form as meets one's eye in the streets of Morocco, 
 can scarcely be right. You can with difficulty 
 credit that the bundles of clothes you see sitting 
 
• TANGIER. 257 
 
 about tlie streets, are really women. The whole 
 figure is enveloped in a coarse brown material, 
 something like brown-holland ; and when the face 
 is not bandaged over, the wearer holds this dress 
 up to the eyes, and then puts on a rough straw 
 hat with a brim at least a yard broad, which 
 seems completely to bury the poor creatures, 
 whom custom has made the slaves of such a 
 fashion. Sometimes the young women would 
 let fall the dress, and look up and display suffi- 
 ciently bright eyes and teeth. 
 
 The Jewesses reverse this order of things, and 
 exhibit their charms very openly. They never 
 seem so happy as when they can get a party to 
 inspect their jewels and dresses and pretty faces. 
 But however much an artistic eye may delight in 
 the exquisite complexion, exact oval of the face, 
 and regularity of the features, the absence of 
 individuality in the expression of their counte- 
 nances, and the ungainly figures which they early 
 become from eating cuscusu, prevents their beauty 
 from being very engaging. 
 
 But we will now turn from these domestic and 
 national habits of the people to make a remark 
 upon the climate. In this part of Barbary it is 
 not very wholesome, the combination of heat, and 
 at times excessive moisture, render it any thing 
 but beneficial to European constitutions predis- 
 
258 TANGIER. • 
 
 posed to consumption ; scarcely any of the con- 
 suls' ladies appeared to me to enjoy good health. 
 The heavy rains that fell during my stay in the 
 place, gave me a taste of the debilitating nature 
 of the climate, and quite prevented me from seeing 
 so much of the neighbouring country as I wished 
 to have done. I was bent on visiting Tetuan, 
 and, as usual, the natives sounding the alarm, 
 and declaring we had to cross rivers, and owing 
 to the rain it was impossible to do so, I resolved 
 to return to Gibraltar, and sail thence : I had 
 the good fortune to meet a companion in my 
 voyage back, who agreed to accompany me in any 
 further travels in these parts. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 DANGEROUS VOYAGE TO TETUAN — ASH- ASH BEAUTY OF THE 
 
 COUNTRY TETUAN A PURELY MOORISH TOWN — SOLOMON THE 
 
 JEW AND HIS HOUSE — SCRIPTURE ILLUSTRATED — THE PASCUA 
 
 AND ITS MISERIES — TETUAN WOMEN — THE " NUEVA TROPA" 
 
 THE COLONEL — MILITARY OF MOROCCO — BIGOTRY OF THE 
 TETUANERS — DB BLAYNEY, THE FRENCH ENGINEER — JOURNEY 
 
 TO TANGIERS — ORIGIN OF SOME SPANISH CUSTOMS FACE OF 
 
 THE COUNTRY — TpE SALUTATION. 
 
 It was some time after the sunset gun had fired, 
 that I was pulling oiF to the "Wave/" a small 
 English trading schooner, the captain of which 
 had agreed to give us a passage to Tetuan. An 
 unwonted gloom and darkness hung over Gibral- 
 tar, and heavy, broken, and scatterj clouds were 
 covering the sky. When I got on board the crank 
 vessel in which I was to cross, and found the cap- 
 tain had never been on the African coast before, 
 and that the ship's company consisted only of 
 himself, two men and two boys, and his wretched 
 wife, not half sufficient hands to work the vessel, 
 I was very anxious that my friend, who had some 
 knowledge of nautical matters, should be punctual 
 to his promise of joining me from the New Mole. 
 
260 TETUAN. 
 
 Whilst looking along the sea in that direction, sud- 
 denly I espied the man-of-war boat just under our 
 prow, bringing my friend A. — from the New Mole. 
 I have noticed this circumstance, because the man- 
 ner in which small boats escape notice, though 
 within range of vision, even in calm waters, is 
 often remarkable. We were carried out of Gibral- 
 tar Bay with a steady wind, but lay the greater 
 part of the night under Apes' Hill, not being able 
 to do any thing ; and directly we shifted the posi- 
 tion we came in for the full benefit of the gale 
 which was blowing from the west ; and our cap- 
 tain, not without reason, was under some appre- 
 hension for his vessel. However, we fortunately 
 got round Ceuta Point ; and then, although, the 
 vessel heeled over as much as a vessel could do 
 without capsizing, we ran an even course into the 
 turbid bay of Tetuan. The question now was, how 
 to get on shore. We lowered a boat and made 
 for what appeared the moutb of the river, but 
 soon found the keel of the boat dragging in the 
 sand, A Moor, perceiving our danger from the 
 shore, beckoned us to keep to the north, and we 
 with difficulty crossed the lower part of the sand- 
 bank, and entered the channel of the river Martin. 
 At this part stands a large, square, handsome 
 tower, intended for a fort, but possessing no 
 military preparations. On casting the eye round, 
 
TETUAN. 261 
 
 the prospect is very striking ; several lines of hills 
 and mountains terminate upon a plain somewhat 
 of a crescent shape, having the bay of Tetuan as 
 the concave side. Six or eight miles from the sea 
 the white houses of Tetuan, built upon a green 
 knoll, are visible. The old Moor directed us to 
 go to the Custom-house, two miles up the river ; 
 whither we walked over the somewhat swampy 
 grass. This Custom-house is called Martin ; in a 
 small recess or chamber of which Ash-Ash, the 
 governor of Tetuan, was smoking his pipe. This 
 Ash-Ash was the son of the former governor Ash- 
 Ash, and it would seem as if the governorship 
 were a kind of hereditary honour. There was 
 something particularly refined and high-bred in 
 his appearance. He aifected a little kindness 
 towards the English, and has condescended to 
 receive and read an Arabic Bible presented to him 
 by some of our countrymen. 
 
 The scene around this Custom-house was highly 
 novel and picturesque : the Bedouins, the Riffians, 
 people of Sus and Taphalet, with Jews and soldiers 
 in authority, left the eye no lack of amusement. 
 The Riffian is distinguished by the long tuft of 
 hair that is allowed to grow on one side of the 
 crown of his head, which is otherwise shaved, and 
 which sometimes reaches down to his girdle ; the 
 soldier, by his turban and flowing robes, and the 
 
262 TETUAN. 
 
 fine cast of his features and rich complexion. 
 After some slight inspection and examination, by 
 the help of a Jew and some indifferent horses we 
 proceeded, across the vega, under guidance of a 
 soldier, to Tetuan. The discharged clouds of the 
 storm of the preceding night, opening, revealed 
 how near we were to the snowy mountains. We 
 entered the town at the Jews' quarter, and rode 
 to the Spanish fonda, which is kept by a Jew 
 named Soloman. 
 
 Tetuan is a purely Moorish town, and does not 
 possess a single indication of European influence. 
 Like Tangier, it is entirely surrounded by a cas- 
 tellated wall, and has an Alcasaba, or castle, of 
 some importance, and several mosques with square 
 towers. The sloping sides of the hill on which 
 the city is built are laid out in gardens. Not- 
 withstanding the city is built comparatively on 
 rising ground, it may be described as situated in 
 a defile ; for mountains hang over it on all sides. 
 The peculiar feature of the town is its marked 
 division into two parts ; the Jews' quarter and 
 the Moors' quarter. A strong gate divides the 
 two cities ; and on certain occasions this gate is 
 kept by Moorish soldiers, and the ordinary Jewish 
 rabble is not suffered to pass into the Moorish 
 quarter. 
 
 Soloman's house was in the heart of the Jewish 
 
TETUAN, 268 
 
 city, and it was the Pascua, or Passover, when we 
 were there ; so that we were made to feel as well 
 as to see somewhat of the burdens of Judaism. 
 The Jew's house is built in the style of the Moors, 
 and this fashion of building always makes a dull- 
 looking-street ; but in proportion as the house is 
 cold and forbidding in its outside appearance, it 
 is interesting and animating within. Every room 
 opens into the patio, or court, upstairs as well as 
 downstairs ; and whilst we were writing in our room 
 upstairs, we looked down into the other rooms and 
 the patio, which were crowded with the different 
 members of a Jewish family. There were no less 
 than six females, of all ages, dressed in the gor- 
 geous and voluptuous robes of the Barbary Jewess. 
 Their earrings were literally small hoops of pearls 
 and precious stones ; and the vests, which fall open 
 and expose the bosom, were covered with gold 
 filigree ; but both men and women were scru- 
 pulously clean on these high occasions. Soloman 
 never made his appearance at the door without 
 my thinking it must be Sunday, for one in his 
 class of life to be so exquisitely clean. 
 
 In taking a walk, it is always a question whe- 
 ther one shall ascend to the house-top or go into 
 the street, for it would be possible to traverse the 
 whole city on the roofs of the houses. It is un- 
 fortunate that the obvious elucidation this affords 
 
264 TETUAN. 
 
 to many Scripture passages, should not have been 
 noticed in our translation \ In walking along the 
 house-tops you may pass by the square openings of 
 the patio of each house, and nothing could be easier 
 than to let down into any of these a small couch 
 with a sick man upon it. As in hot weather 
 blinds are sometimes drawn over these openings, 
 and vines trained over them, probably the word 
 opv^avTBQ, which occurs in the second chapter of St. 
 Mark, in reference to this subject, may relate to 
 the breaking through this temporary kind of roof, 
 for there can be no doubt the houses of ancient 
 Judaea were built entirely upon this model. 
 
 On looking down into the streets of the Jewish 
 town, nothing could exceed the Sabbatarian cha- 
 racter of the scene. Every thing like a window 
 was closed ; no horses, mules, or wheel-vehicles of 
 any description were to be seen ; no sellers or 
 criers were to be heard in the streets. In short, 
 nothing was going on, although there were many 
 men in the streets ; but these were not conversing 
 in crowds, but leaning in rows with their backs 
 against the walls of the houses, doing nothing, and 
 apparently saying little. They were all dressed 
 very nicely. 
 
 We ourselves were not, however, disposed to 
 
 1 Mark ii. 4. Luke v. 19. 
 
TETUAN. 265 
 
 keep the Jewish " Pascua ;'' and, therefore, pro- 
 curing a guide, we issued out of the Jewish citj 
 into the Moorish. No sooner had we passed the 
 gate and entered the great square of Tetuan, than 
 we found a life and hustle that contrasted strangely 
 with the lifeless city out of which we had just 
 come. Here we had an opportunity of inspecting 
 the various shops and artificers, the " fahricas '' of 
 swords, guns, and pistols, mats, and devices in 
 coloured woods, slippers, &c. "We found ahundant 
 evidences of activity and industry in the various 
 low shops surrounding the square. 
 
 The women dress differently here to what they 
 do in Tangier ; here, besides the hyack, they wear 
 a piece of white cloth bound tightly over the 
 features, so that they cannot, if they would, drop 
 the veil, to gratify the curiosity of a traveller. 
 The effect of this custom, I understand, is to give 
 the complexion a pale and saddened appearance ; 
 and thus the absurd jealousy of the Moor brings 
 its own punishment with it, by diminishing that 
 beauty which is so highly prized. The dress of 
 the Tetuan women is not only ugly, but positively 
 repulsive. 
 
 If I had been seeking any additional signs of 
 the backward state of the Moors, I could not have 
 been better satisfied of this than I was in witness- 
 ing the exercises of a company of foot-soldiers. 
 
266 TETUAN. 
 
 called the " nueva tropa/' or " new regiment/' and 
 doubtless considered something very choice. One 
 of the most feeble efforts of scenic military 
 representations would convey a just idea of the 
 soldier-like character and discipline of the " nueva 
 tropa/' The colonel very politely asked us into 
 the court where they were exercising, and placed 
 chairs for us by his own, whilst we had to retain 
 a calm and sober look before an exhibition that 
 was truly ludicrous. 
 
 The " nueva tropa '' were arranged before the 
 colonel, who sat with his arms hanging over the 
 back of a chair, training them in the use of the 
 fife and drum. The colonel, who wore a magnifi- 
 cent gold-braided jacket and white muslin drawers, 
 was exceedingly animated in directing the mu- 
 sicians, jumping off his seat, and impatiently 
 dashing his hand down to mark the time, when the 
 drummers did not beat time as he intended them. 
 The rude melody concluded with a desperate 
 flourish of drums and fifes, during which the 
 officers rose and saluted, and we also made our 
 bows, and thanked the colonel for this military 
 treat. In the afternoon, the " nueva tropa " were 
 going through their evolutions in the great square, 
 and then our friend the colonel was strutting at 
 the head of the regiment, and kicking his toes 
 into the air to prevent his slippers from falling 
 
TETUAN. 267 
 
 off; whilst the whole square was lined with the 
 Tetuaners, who sat as usual in the gutters, de- 
 lighting in the exhibition. An old Moor asked me 
 if the music was such as we had at Gibraltar ; but 
 I could only give him the equivocal answer of the 
 Oxford examiner, when a man told him Aspasia 
 was married to Marc Antony — " Not exactly/' 
 
 As far as I could form any opinion, the chief 
 military power in Morocco is the cavalry ; and this 
 is a species of yeomanry cavalry, under the com- 
 mand of the several governors or bashaws of 
 provinces. I understood that when Mr. Hay went 
 up to Morocco, before he reached the capital he 
 was accompanied by a force amounting to nearly 
 10,000 of these horse-soldiers, the governors of the 
 several provinces through which he passed swell- 
 ing the tide by a contribution of soldiers. 
 
 The Tetuaners, if not more bigoted than the 
 people of Tangier, are less accustomed to fo- 
 reigners. Accordingly, in our walk one afternoon, 
 we had an amusing instance afforded us of the 
 intolerance of the people. We were passing a 
 mosque, and our Jewish guide had forgotten to 
 take off his shoes, when twenty voices behind 
 bellowed from the shops, " Thou rascal, take thy 
 slippers off ;'' and, as we turned an inquiring look 
 at the enraged slipper-makers, they hallooed to us, 
 " And you, too, off with your shoes, you infidels." 
 n2 
 
268 TETUAN. 
 
 The Jew obeyed instantaneously, but we could 
 hardly forbear laughing at such excessive impu- 
 dence. What would these Tetuan slipper-makers 
 have said, if they had seen us, a week or two 
 afterwards, walking into the penetralia of a 
 mosque, and ascending with our profane feet and 
 Frank shoes the stairs of a minaret ? 
 
 Our unfortunate consul — for certainly any man 
 placed as he is must be considered unfortunate — 
 introduced us to a Frenchman, the only other 
 European but himself dwelling in Tetuan. This 
 was a certain M. Bertram de Blagny, an engineer 
 employed by a company of Moors to superintend 
 the works of some copper-mines in the neighbour- 
 hood. He was very glad to get us to accompany 
 him to the scene of his labours, and we were not 
 sorry for an opportunity of seeing a little of the 
 country. Accordingly, we issued out of the town 
 by the gate through which we had first entered the 
 town, and, after riding a league, crossed the river 
 Martin, and continued our ride some way to the 
 east. The mountains are of the most picturesque 
 shape, and present almost from their bases that 
 granitic appearance which characterizes the upper 
 Alps. The country of the valley is fertile enough ; 
 and on some very beautiful rising ground, ten or 
 twelve miles from Tetuan, the mining operations 
 are carried on. De Blagny had already sunk 
 
TETUAN. 269 
 
 several shafts, and turned out some fine specimens 
 of the ore. Having admired some of his devices 
 for keeping the proper direction of the shafts, we 
 left him to give some further directions to his 
 workmen ; mj friend took out his pencil to sketch, 
 and I sat down by one of the old soldiers, and 
 abandoned myself to the pleasure of contemplating 
 the exquisite line of country before us. Whence 
 is it that these accidental piles of mountains, that 
 broad plain with cloud shadows flying across it, 
 and that blue sea that washes into the bay, should 
 be capable of dispossessing the mind of all anxiety, 
 and filling it with real pleasure ? But, indeed, 
 what are the eccentricities of material nature, 
 whether in the heaven above or in the earth 
 beneath, that God has not made subservient to 
 the pleasure of man ? Whilst thus stretched upon 
 the ground and thinking, I turned to the old 
 soldier, and said to him in Spanish, " Soldier, you 
 look to be an old man : how many years may you 
 have enjoyed?'' 
 
 Soldier. — " Seventy— rather say seventy-five.'' 
 Self. — "Do the Moors of Tetuan live to a great 
 age?" 
 
 Soldier. — "Yes, some ; to fifty, seventy, even a 
 hundred ; there are plenty of them, men and 
 women both, a hundred years old." 
 n8 
 
270 TETUAN. 
 
 Self. — "I suppose this is owing to their not 
 drinking wine?'' 
 
 Soldier. — " Oh, Seiior ! I can assure you I drink 
 wine, vino, rom, and aquadente, when I get 
 them/' 
 
 Self. -^'' You have been to Gibraltar ?'' 
 
 Soldier. — " Yes ; I have been at Gibraltar, Al- 
 geciras, and Cadiz/' 
 
 Self — " Ah, Gibraltar is the ruin of all religious 
 principles. Does the emperor drink wine and 
 rum?" 
 
 Soldier. — " Muley-Abd-er-Rahman, the sheriiF, 
 drinks wine, not brandy." 
 
 Self. — " As you make nothing of drinking, per- 
 haps you eat pork V 
 
 Soldier.—" No, no, no ; Christians eat pork, but 
 not Moors.'' 
 
 Self—"y^h.jr 
 
 Soldier.—'' It is sinful/' 
 
 iS'e?/:— "Why is it sinful ?" 
 
 Soldier. — " It is forbidden." 
 
 Self — " This is verily to strain at a gnat, and 
 swallow a camel ; and how many wives have 
 you?" 
 
 Soldier, — " One ; one is enough for any man. 
 I have three children." 
 
 Self — " But the king — how many has he ?" 
 
TETUAN. 271 
 
 Soldier. — " Oh, many/' 
 
 Self. — " How many sons ? '' 
 
 Soldier,— ''"^hirij:' 
 
 Self. — " Then he judges the land like Jair, who 
 had thirty sons, who rode on thirty ass-colts. — 
 And how many daughters has the sheriff?" 
 
 Soldier.—'' Twenty." 
 
 The next questions I put to the soldier, related 
 to the population of Tetuan ; but I should question 
 his accuracy on this head ; he said there were 
 twenty thousand Jews, thirty thousand Moors, 
 and five thousand black slaves. This old Arab, 
 for such I understood the majority of the soldiers 
 to be, was evidently a wet Mohammedan ; he knew 
 little of the Koran, and was unable to read, 
 although he said the other soldier who had accom- 
 panied us was a good Koran man, and otherwise 
 a proficient scholar. 
 
 I was not long enough in the country to become 
 familiar with the difi'erent races ; but even work- 
 ing on these mines there were several distinguish- 
 able by the character of their countenances and 
 complexion. The Moor does not deserve the ap- 
 pellation of sooty ; generally speaking, the dark 
 brown of the Moor, has nothing of the negro black 
 about it ; yet I particularly remember noticing 
 on this occasion, a man of prodigious muscular 
 strength, of a pale Indian-ink complexion, and yet 
 N 4 
 
272 TETUAN. 
 
 without negro features. Some wliicli I think 
 were Birbers, with their shorn heads, and project- 
 ing ears, presented rather a crampt development 
 of the intellectual faculties ; and on the other 
 hand nothing could be finer than the countenance 
 of one of the proprietors of the mine, Sidi Ismael, 
 who entertained us with coffee and cigars in one 
 of those huts of which the villages are composed. 
 We mounted our horses, and scampered back to 
 Tetuan. 
 
 I have before remarked how oppressive the 
 Jewish ceremonials are ; during our stay at Tetuan 
 we could get no bread, only the Tortones, or Pascua 
 biscuits ; one day we could hardly get any dinner, 
 but were entertained instead, by being invited to 
 a sham supper ; for the Jewish women sat for 
 many hours before a table, upon which, was 
 spread milk, eggs, honey, beans, fish, cuscusoo* 
 uncooked, and therefore not intended to be eaten. 
 The chamber in which they were sitting, was 
 hung with numerous glass lamps : in the bottom 
 of each of these was a dollar submerged in the 
 oil. The walls of the chamber were hung with 
 Moorish matting ; and whilst some of the women 
 were sitting upon the floor, others had betaken 
 themselves to their slumbers on the neighbouring 
 couches. 
 
 1 Cuscusoo or cuscusu. 
 
TETUAN. 273 
 
 Having taken our leave of De Blagny, who 
 deplored bitterly the accident that made him an 
 exile in these parts, we returned to Tangier. We 
 left our Fonda with a troop of garrulous Jews at 
 our heels, passed the gate leading from the Jews' 
 Quarter into the large square of Tetuan. There 
 was a small " gratificacion" to be given to the 
 soldiers at this gate ; and when we had passed by 
 the "soc,'' or market, and came to the country gate, 
 there was another " gratificacion" to be given to 
 another soldier. In addition to our escort, there 
 were two Jews, who accompanied us the whole 
 way. An old Jew, who had much taxed us for 
 money, followed us out of this last gate, and came 
 up to me with his hand outstretched, as I thought 
 begging ; and being wearied beyond my patience, 
 I raised my hand, in imitation of the Moors, as if 
 to strike at him ; but finding I had mistaken his 
 intention, I put out my hand to him, he touched 
 my fingers, and I pressed my own hand to my 
 lips, the usual token of esteem ; he appeared well 
 satisfied, and our cavalcade proceeded on its w^ay. 
 
 After leaving the town, we came on a pretty 
 plain, green and fertile, surrounded by a succession 
 of sloping hills, in the sides of which are many 
 deep caves, where the Moors construct their pot- 
 tery. For several miles the country is exceedingly 
 beautiful ; and owing to the recent rains, every 
 N 5 
 
274 TETUAN. 
 
 thing looked as green as a Grloucestersliire valley. 
 After passing the mountainous region, you enter 
 a wild, heathy country ; in parts of which, are 
 dotted about small olive groves ; many of the trees 
 present signs of great antiquity ; and where the 
 grassy hillocks are scored by brooks, there are 
 generally several of these trees ; together with 
 gigantic rhododendrons, and plants of this class. 
 We rode through vast tracts of this kind of country, 
 now and then keeping the plain, and again cross- 
 ing green hills. The few villages which we passed, 
 were similar to that I have already described ; 
 huts composed of hurdles with entrances to them, 
 in the true Moorish fashion, as low as they could 
 be, and such as would oblige a man of six feet to 
 bend considerably, if not to go down upon his 
 knees^ in order to enter. The country people we 
 met were similar to those we had seen in the 
 market-places of Tangier and Tetuan, excepting 
 that the women took no trouble to conceal their 
 weather-beaten features. After passing through 
 a long and picturesque olive grove, we came upon 
 the Fondack, which we had long been desiring, 
 when we rested for a few hours before accomplish- 
 ing the remainder of our ride. 
 
 This Fondack (the origin of the Spanish " f onda '') 
 is a somewhat inhospitable place of reception, and 
 affords nothing more than a shelter from incle- 
 
TETUAN. 275 
 
 ment weather. It is a square, white building, 
 containing simply a litter yard for camels and 
 horses, surrounded by a colonnade. On the top of 
 which we stretched a mat, and rested. The 
 Moorish soldier, Hamet, was one of those happily 
 constituted bodies, that appears to lose nothing of 
 the nourishing qualities of the food it takes in ; 
 and as we all sat round the matting to lunch, 
 Jews, Turks, and Christians, I was amused at the 
 condescending manner in which he broke bread 
 with the Christian, and made a hearty meal. He 
 inquired of the Jew the nature of every article 
 which was offered to him, and after devouring it 
 with great gusto, let his hand swing from his 
 knees, on which his elbows rested, as if they an- 
 ticipated more employment in the agreeable oiSce 
 of conveying food to his mouth. Verily the union 
 between the Jew and Moor is marvellous : they 
 are quite indispensable to each other ; apart neither 
 of them can be considered to make up a man : the 
 one from his bigotry, the other from his effeminate 
 weakness ; and therefore they mix on a sort of un- 
 equal terms of equality. 
 
 The country for the remainder of our journey was 
 of the most uninteresting character. Sulky clouds 
 hung over the landscape, which was mostly com- 
 posed of green corn meadows ; and as we rode one 
 ahead of each other (another custom bequeathed 
 N 6 
 
276 TETUAN. 
 
 to the Spaniards by the Moors), we could not in- 
 dulge in much conversation. I resigned myself to 
 the quiet contemplation of animate and inanimate 
 nature, and to a train of ideas I imagined to be 
 compatible with the people of the country : here I 
 noticed the notes of the cuckoo, and the vast num- 
 ber of hoopoes that crossed my path, and every bird 
 in Barbary has a personal history attached to it. 
 The unjust judge in the person of the crane I con- 
 stantly saw, or the feathered tyrant of the Atlas ; 
 for these parts are rich in ornithological treasures, 
 including eagles, vultures, merops, or bee- eaters, 
 thrushes, flame-coloured cranes, and many other 
 beautiful birds. However, the weariest road has 
 its end, our soldier at last gave the signal that 
 we were at Tangier by spurring his steed forward, 
 and discharging his musket. We turned into the 
 smooth sands of Tangier bay, where we met the 
 French consul and his wife riding, whom our 
 soldier immediately galloped up to, and having 
 touched the consul's finger, pressed his hand to 
 his mouth. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE FRENCH CONSUL STRIKES HIS FLAG AT TANGIER ARRIVAL 
 
 OF A WESLEYAN MISSIONARY OF SIERRA LEONE — CONVERSION 
 
 OF MOHAMMEDANS COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE TRIBES 
 
 OF AFRICA, AND COMPARISON BETWEEN THE PEOPLE OF THE 
 
 WESTERN COAST AND THOSE OF BARBARY THE MISSIONARY 
 
 AND THE JEW THE HADJIS OF TANGIER ARRIVAL OF PIL- 
 GRIMS FROM MECCA BRIDAL PROCESSION AND FUNERAL 
 
 PROCESSION. 
 
 "We found a little agitation amongst the Europeans 
 at Tangier, for tlie French consul, M. R — , had 
 managed to pick a quarrel with the Moors, and 
 had struck his flag, refusing to hoist it again until 
 a salute of twenty-one guns had been fired. I 
 had my own opinion upon this matter, which 
 subsequent events fully confirmed. M. R — was 
 in some mysterious way mixed up with the 
 Mussulmans, and is said to have had a Moham- 
 medan sera in his existence, and to have been 
 nearly allied to Abd-el-Kadir ; since then, however, 
 revolutions in all parts of the world have occurred, 
 and all this immediately upon the cessation of 
 African hostilities by the capture of that Arab 
 chief. This has led many of the leading politicians 
 
278 TANGIER. 
 
 of France to consider that safety at home, is to be 
 found in action abroad ; and that it is as neces- 
 sary for the French nation to have a battle-field, 
 as it is for them to have a National Assembly. 
 
 I was hailed by two or three of my Moorish 
 acquaintances from their resting-places in their 
 shops or the gutter, by the appellation of " fraile," 
 literally "friar," for they had found out that I 
 was a clergyman ; however, another teacher had 
 arrived from Gibraltar, in the person of the Wes- 
 leyan minister, once a missionary at Sierra Leone, 
 who, before his return to England (having been 
 recalled), had come to see whether there was any 
 opening for a Wesleyan mission in this part of 
 the world. I was not sorry of the opportunity 
 which this meeting afforded me, of eliciting some 
 curious facts, respecting this geographical enigma, 
 the mysterious continent of Africa. 
 
 I told this gentleman I thought he was likely 
 to have very poor success at Tangier, and like- 
 wise what the Roman Catholic priest had told me, 
 to a question which I put to him ; he said that 
 he had converted a few Mohammedans on the 
 western coast of Africa, but then he admitted 
 these were very different from the Moors of Bar- 
 bary, and were, if Mussulmans at all, altogether 
 of a very lax school They became members of 
 the adult Wesleyan school, and by the study of 
 
TANGIER. 279 
 
 the Scriptures, gradually carae to see that those 
 sacred writings were of much more intrinsic value 
 than the Koran. 
 
 For my own part I told Mr. D., I thought it 
 would be quite impossible to persuade any of the 
 Moors of Tangier either to come, or to suffer 
 their children to attend a school kept by the 
 Christians ; the few observations I had made 
 during my short acquaintance with a Mohammedan 
 country, led me to believe that no extensive con- 
 version or voluntary embracing of Christianity on 
 the part of Mohammedans was to be looked for ; 
 and that as their empire had been gained by 
 physical conquest, so the present aspect of the 
 world seemed to foretel to us, in what manner it 
 would gradually decrease ; more civilized and 
 energetic nations would occupy their territories, 
 and then events might follow similar to those 
 that had occurred in Spain, the races would be- 
 come amalgamated, and the conquerors would 
 increase as the conquered decreased. Since I 
 had been here, I had heard of Jewish women 
 becoming Mohammedans, that they might become 
 the wives of the Moors, and Christian deserters 
 from Ceuta becoming Mohammedans and rene- 
 gades, but I had not met with a single case of one 
 bred in the tenets of the " false prophet," abandon- 
 ing his original faith for Christianity. 
 
280 TANGIER. 
 
 Mr. D. talked of the Wesleyans having 5000 
 converts at Sierra Leone ; but then he said that 
 the majority of the inhabitants on the western 
 coast are either pagans or heathens, and these 
 are, of course, much more open to persuasion than 
 either the Mohammedans or Jews that swarm 
 throughout Morocco ; beside which, the slave- 
 trade has proved the best of all softeners of the 
 benighted negro heart. Sold often by the petty 
 sovereigns of those countries in which they have 
 had the ill fortune to be born, the negroes are 
 hurried down in large bands to the place of em- 
 barkation, having not unseldom seen their num- 
 bers decimated, to supply them with the means of 
 prolonging their own miserable existence. If 
 they are in luck's way, the slaver in which they 
 are being carried to America is captured by an 
 English vessel, and they are carried back to Sierra 
 Leone, liberated, and protected ; and when it is 
 proposed to them to embrace Christianity, what 
 is more natural than that they should say, " The 
 religion which induces our deliverers to act in so 
 benevolent a manner must be true ; we need no 
 further reason for embracing the Christian reli- 
 gion.'' Nor is there any reason why conversions 
 thus effected should be either unlasting, or of little 
 benefit to the general cause of Christianity. If 
 our religion has by any accident found its way 
 
TANGIER. 281 
 
 into tlie heart of Africa, it is probably through 
 this agency. I am under the impression that a 
 not by any means ungeneral communication takes 
 place between all the tribes of Africa ; so that 
 there may be more intelligence existing amongst 
 the inhabitants of this unexplored country than 
 we imagine. A curious confirmation of this oc- 
 curred to Mr. D., who, when he went into the 
 market-place, saw a woman marked as the natives 
 of western Africa are ; and, in consequence, ad- 
 dressed her in the Mandingo language, a very rude, 
 poor, and imperfect dialect, but which the woman 
 understood, and replied to him with many ex- 
 pressions of delight. The reed snuif-boxes, which 
 all the Moors use, and peculiar painted pens, are 
 just the same, he told us, as those the inhabitants 
 of the shores of the Gambia employ. So of the 
 national dish, cuscusoo, which we had one day for 
 dinner ; he had eaten it, prepared somewhat dif- 
 ferently, at Sierra Leone ; and I myself had par- 
 taken of the same kind of preparation in the 
 Canary Islands. 
 
 The Wesleyans at Gibraltar have amongst their 
 quasi teachers a young Jew, whose father lives at 
 Tangier ; and I met the father one day in the 
 street with the Wesleyan missionary, who was 
 trying what he could make of him. The Jew was 
 thin, handsome, aged, and cunning in his appear- 
 
282 TANGIER. 
 
 ance ; the Wesleyan missionary was robust, with 
 unctuous good-nature beaming from every corner 
 of bis sbining countenance. I know not what 
 impression tbe Jew may have made upon the 
 follower of Wesley ; but I looked upon him as one 
 whose only religion was in his Jewish habit ; and 
 who was as likely to be converted as Calpe and 
 Abyla were to change places. Like most people 
 who are not very familiar with a foreign language, 
 he thought talking fast was talking well; and so he 
 strung his answers together to our various ques- 
 tions in this queer fashion : 
 
 " Oh, Sir, Englishmen are good men ; their 
 hearts are good. It is not Christianity that makes 
 them good. Jews, Mohammedans, and Christians 
 believe in the same God. Jews, Mohammedans, 
 and Christians believe in the resurrection of the 
 body. The Jew believes in neither Christ nor 
 Mahomet, but Jehovah only. The Jew believes 
 in the transmigration of souls. There are many 
 Barbary Jews in London who do as we do here, 
 and observe the same days, Passover, Pentecost, 
 great feast of tents or tabernacles.'^ 
 
 How common is that fault of the human heart, 
 a want of such hearty faith as knows not even what 
 it is to question any part of the revealed Word ; yet 
 I could not but marvel at the miracle of Jewish 
 dispersion, and the verification of the prediction, 
 
TANGIER. 288 
 
 that the Jew should be " a servant of servants/' 
 The prophecies made to the two sons of Abraham 
 are remarkable : in Isaac Abraham's seed is to 
 be blessed, but the Scripture says, " And also of 
 the son of the bondwoman will I make a nation, 
 because he is thy seed/' It is in Isaac that 
 Abraham's seed is to prove a blessing to the world. 
 The Jew, forfeiting this great blessing, is the slave 
 of Ishmael's descendants ; whilst the blessing has 
 passed to those who embraced the Grospel. 
 
 I think the "Wesley an missionary returned to 
 the Rock with no very encouraging thoughts of 
 converting the inhabitants of the "little Mecca," 
 as I have even heard Tangier called, — such stern 
 Mohammedans are the inhabitants of this part of 
 Morocco. 
 
 Another great proof of this is to be found in 
 the almost universal prefix of Hadji to the names 
 of the Moors of Tangier. When one was standing 
 in the market-place, this title, descriptive of one 
 who has made the pilgrimage to Mecca, was per- 
 petually ringing in one's ears. The morning pre- 
 vious to our final departure from the town we 
 witnessed the arrival of a ship's cargo of returning 
 pilgrims. They had been absent a year, the usual 
 time it takes to perform this act of Mohammedan 
 devotion. The sight was not without interest : 
 our friend the captain of the port drew a rope 
 
284 TANGIER. 
 
 across the beacli, to prevent any communication 
 taking place between the newly-arrived pilgrims 
 and tlieir wives and children, who were expect- 
 ing them, until they had undergone some kind of 
 medical inspection. The women stood crowded 
 together upon a heap of stones, and whenever 
 they could distinguish, in the ragged and wan 
 pilgrims that jumped from the boat, a husband or 
 son, they set up that singular shrieking call, 
 expressive of delight, that I believe is common to 
 most Arab women. A lad who was standing near 
 to me, recognizing his father, dashed under the 
 rope, and was almost in his arms, when the wary 
 captain of the port caught him by the tips of his 
 fingers, and hurled him back again, bellowing and 
 crying with disappointment. 
 
 The town was alive this afternoon with pro- 
 cessions ; one was of a bridal character, at which 
 a ghostly band carried bales of silk handkerchiefs, 
 jars of honey, sacks of corn, rows of candles, shoes, 
 and a young ox, as presents for the bride. Another 
 was the reverse of this, being a funeral ; I heard a 
 wild, plaintive chant in the vicinity of the prin- 
 cipal mosque, and in a few moments after the 
 rude trough in which the body, rolled in a hyak, 
 was laid, passed me, carried on the shoulders of 
 four or six men — other idlers fell into the pro- 
 cession, and as they marched or rather rushed up 
 
TANGIER. 285 
 
 the street, they chanted antiphonally verses from 
 the Koran, or reiterated the brief confession of 
 their faith. 
 
 " Allah Ackbah Mohammed 
 La Maha il Allah ! 
 Mohammed Resoul Allah ! 
 ResoulAUahM" 
 
 the tone of, what a cold-hearted person might 
 call, fanatical devotion, in which the mourners 
 sang, touched a chord, that nothing I had yet seen 
 in the Mohammedan religion had done — here was 
 certainly faith and devotion in its way ; but still, 
 perhaps, it was only to be compared to that of 
 that multitude, who for the space of two hours did 
 nothing but reiterate their faith, " Great is Diana 
 of the Ephesians/' 
 
 After visiting the Roman ruins, that lie within 
 a league of the town, we took our farewell of our 
 friends previous to sailing on the following day 
 for Gibraltar. 
 
 ^ This is an attempt to describe the sound of the chant in 
 words. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 DEPARTURE FROM GIBRALTAR SCOTCH SECTARIANISM THE 
 
 FRENCH STEAMER *' ECLAIREUR" — ESTIMATED SIZE OF ALGE- 
 RIA — MERS-EL-KEBER FIRST APPEARANCE OF ORAN NOTICE 
 
 OF ITS HISTORY— THE MOSaUE WITH THE FRENCH SIGILLUM- 
 SINGULAR APPEARANCE OF THE MILITARY — INTELLIGENCE OF 
 THE ARAB LADS — STATE OF RELIGION — FORTUNE OF THE MO- 
 HAMMEDAN EMPIRE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN — ABD-EL-KADIR 
 
 AND GENERAL PELISSIER MESERGUIN HOT-SPRINGS NEAR 
 
 ORAN — DEPARTURE. 
 
 Like the virtues of the dying, the charms of a 
 place we are leaving for good, strike us more 
 forcibly than they do at other times. It was so 
 with the Bay of Gribraltar, as we sailed out of it 
 for Oran, on board the " Eclaireur/' one of the 
 seven steamers of war, which the French employ 
 to carry letters, and occasionally passengers, 
 between the different ports of northern Africa. 
 
 There is not a more delightful spot in the 
 Mediterranean, than the Alameda at Gribraltar; 
 British industry, and southern climate, combine to 
 make it all that a garden should be ; yet I was 
 not sorry that I was about to forget sectarian 
 discord in the contemplation of a country in 
 which I had no personal stake. I was favoured 
 
ORAN. 287 
 
 witli a visit from the " Free ChurcV minister, the 
 night previous to my departure, which only con- 
 firmed the opinion I already entertained, that as 
 Knox was the personation of sectarianism, the 
 Scotch in general, notwithstanding their clever- 
 ness, and even superiority in many things, are 
 almost incapable of understanding what is im- 
 plied in the word Catholicity. It would be hard to 
 exaggerate the tone of severity, in which I found 
 many of these abroad speaking of the Roman 
 Catholics. It .seemed as if it would have been an 
 unwelcome discovery on their parts, to have found 
 that after all there did exist a real appreciation of 
 the doctrine of the atonement, with the Spaniards ; 
 and what was still more to be deplored, their views 
 hardly seemed to be so general, as to contemplate 
 Protestantism in antagonism with Romanism — it 
 was in reality Scotland against the world ; for in 
 that region alone, is true Christianity understood. 
 I was now directing my course to the land of 
 St. Augustine, a writer catholic from the general 
 appreciation of his writings in all ages ; a name 
 indeed little revered in Scotland ; yet, if we must 
 give in to hero-worship, how much more deserving 
 our sympathies than the harsh-minded founders of 
 Scotch Presbyterianism ? Some men write for the 
 human race, others only for sections of the human 
 race : of the former was the bishop of Hippo ; at 
 
288 1 ORAN. 
 
 least if it is not ostentatious to speak upon a slight 
 knowledge of his works, lie seems to have ex- 
 perienced largely, and to have felt warmly, and to 
 have inherited from his mother Monica, some 
 portion of that lovely Christian temper that shone 
 in her. 
 
 The National Anthem was playing on board the 
 " Queen'' man-of-war, as we steamed by Europa 
 Point, and rounded the Rock, of which we had a 
 noble view from the south. The Frenchmen 
 looked up at her bristling crest, with an inquiring 
 speculative expression upon their faces, as if^ they 
 would discover some weak point ; but we had no 
 occasion to look otherwise than modest, feeling 
 conscious that the Rock was not an unapt emblem 
 of the British constitution, that never means to 
 fall to pieces at the bidding of the foes without 
 her. For some way, we were very much land- 
 locked ; what with the formidable promontories, 
 that are called the Pillars of Hercules, and the 
 mountainous coast of Barbary, the shores of the 
 Riff country are savage as the inhabitants. It was 
 intensely hot on deck, yet the eye reposed with 
 delight upon the fields of snow which still covered 
 the heights of the Sierra Nevada, the last land we 
 saw, for we had soon lost sight of that on the 
 coast of Morocco. 
 
 The "Eclaireur'' was a vessel of two hundred horse 
 
ORAN. 289 
 
 power, and in good order ; it was commanded by 
 a lieutenant, M. Brouzet, whom we found gentle- 
 manly and civil, and, as we inferred from conversa- 
 tion, a royalist. Indeed, one would have expected 
 to find the majority of the sailors royalists : 
 the Republic is a hard task-master ; and, amongst 
 other annoyances, has converted sailors and ships 
 once belonging to the Royal Navy, into mere 
 merchant vessels. M. Brouzet evidently felt thjs, 
 and declined receiving our fares ; so that but for 
 the assistance of our consul at Oran, and impor- 
 tunity on our parts, we should involuntarily have 
 defrauded the exchequer. 
 
 There were on board this ship sixty-five sailors, 
 twenty marines, and eight officers ; and, as far as 
 we could judge, every thing was conducted in 
 perfect order ; for the silence which prevailed on 
 board was quite remarkable. Some of the officers 
 spoke in enthusiastic terms of the city of Algiers, 
 and declared they, preferred it before any town of 
 France after Paris. 
 
 Algeria is calculated by the French themselves 
 to be equal in square miles to four-fifths of 
 France. It comprises what the Arabs have called 
 the Tell, or land capable of growing com ; and is 
 bordered on the north by the Mediterranean, on 
 the west by the frontiers of the kingdom of Mo- 
 rocco, on the south by the little Atlas, and on 
 
 o 
 
290 ORAN. 
 
 the east by Tunis. The River Mullooiah, which in 
 ancient geography separated Mauritania Tingi- 
 tana from Mauritania Csesariensis, is not the 
 boundary line between Morocco and Algiers ; but 
 it is a line less clearly defined than this, and lying 
 considerably to the east ; so that the modern 
 kingdom of Morocco contains the whole of Mauri- 
 tania Tingitana, and a part of Mauritania Cse- 
 sariensis. 
 
 The coast, as we approached the frontier from 
 the sea, though not by any means flat or insipid, 
 presented rather a uniform appearance, varied by 
 the accident of a few small islands which are better 
 known in ancient geography than modern. Right 
 ahead of us we had two remarkable promontories. 
 Cape Falcon and Cape Carbon, the western and 
 eastern boundaries of the Grulf of Oran, in the 
 further corner of which we could just discern with 
 a glass the white houses of the town ; and shortly 
 after we entered the port of Mers-el-Keber, fondly 
 compared by the French to Gribraltar, and, doubt- 
 less, one of the largest and most commodious har- 
 bours, not only of Algeria, but of the whole Medi- 
 terranean. 
 
 A high, barren mountain overhangs the small 
 port-town. A handsome fort, built in part by the 
 Spaniards, looking north-east, commands the 
 roadstead. The houses are chiefly of Moorish 
 
ORAN. 29 1 
 
 origin, fitted with windows, and some few of them 
 covered with the gabled roof of European houses. 
 The barren mountain, although not entirely unlike 
 Gibraltar, is not a detached rock, but rather part 
 of a chain of hills that skirts the bottom of the 
 Gulf of Oran. At the foot of this high, encircling- 
 land runs an excellent modern road, uniting the 
 port Mers-el-Keber and the town of Oran, which 
 are situated, as it were, at either corner of the 
 Gulf 
 
 The custom-house officers gave us a great deal 
 of trouble ; and this, with the circumstance of 
 three or four omnibus-conducteurs pressing us to 
 enter their vehicles, in order to make the journey 
 to the town, contrasted strangely with the yet road- 
 less, wheel-less adjoining country, which we had 
 lately visited, and almost dispelled the thought 
 that we were still in Africa. There was the barb, 
 that we had only seen (dirty and neglected, it is 
 true) in the green bridle-roads of the adjoining 
 country, fretting with the collar, and kicking up 
 the clouds of dust, as if we had been whirling 
 along to Epsom-races, instead of traversing a 
 territory so lately in the occupation of the Be- 
 douin. The half-Frank, half- Arab, or Jew-dress 
 that occasionally passed us on the road, likewise 
 told us that we were in a transition country. 
 After racing along some few miles (6 kil. Fr.), we 
 o2 
 
292 OEAN. 
 
 passed under a small tunnel, and suddenly came 
 upon the town, which lies in a sort of cul de 
 sac, or is built up from the shores of a small bay 
 or cove. Within the larger Gulf is the bay of 
 Oran. The town, although not by any means one 
 which consorts with my ideas of the picturesque, 
 has considerable feature about it. It is built on the 
 two sides of a small stream, called by the Arabs 
 Oued-el-Rahoui, and is overhung on the west by 
 the mountain of St. Croix, so called from one of 
 the numerous forts or castles which appertain to 
 this place. The plain, from the top of the eastern 
 bank of the obscure rivulet, stretches away, 
 beyond the walls of the town, for several leagues 
 of open country, once famous for its great fer- 
 tility. 
 
 The town seen from one horn of the cove, the 
 Fort de la Moune, before the present stately 
 French hospital had been built, might with some 
 aptness have been compared to a troop of Arab 
 horse-soldiers pouring over the sides of a ravine. 
 
 The short-sighted policy of the African Moslems 
 has always drawn upon them their ultimate mis- 
 fortunes. It seems, in the days of Ferdinand and 
 Isabella, the port of Oran, which was celebrated 
 for its wealth and commerce, dispatched many 
 piratical vessels to the coast of Spain. Ximenes 
 instigated Ferdinand to retaliate ; and accordingly 
 
ORAN. 293 
 
 an armament was sent to the coast of Africa, and 
 Mers-el-Keber was captured, 1505. Not satisfied 
 with this, Ximenes, when past seventy, landed in 
 Africa himself, and conducted in person the siege 
 of Oran. The Spaniards scaled the ridge of the 
 sierra which surrounds the Gulf, and, after much 
 fighting, Navarro, the general in command, gained 
 the day over the enemy ; the fleet entered the 
 cove, and the Moslems, enclosed from below and 
 above by the Spaniards, of course were soon 
 compelled to- surrender the town. The spoil on 
 this occasion is said to have amounted to half a 
 million of gold ducats. Ximenes saw in this con- 
 quest the promise of great victories to the Catholic 
 cause ; but his afiairs in Spain and his infirm 
 health obliged him to return to Europe, after 
 having left ample funds to his captains to settle 
 the Spanish residents. "We, in England, can 
 scarcely understand now the tremendous desire 
 that Churchmen in those days entertained to pro- 
 mote the triumph of the Cross over the Crescent. 
 I do believe it was this alone that actuated Xi- 
 menes in his celebrated expedition against Oran. 
 
 The Spaniards built magnificently ; and now 
 the traveller may see many remnants of the 
 Spanish plateresque style of architecture built 
 into the walls ; but they did not attempt to colo- 
 nize, that is to say, to extend their dominions 
 3 
 
294 ORAN. 
 
 inland, or to cultivate intercourse with the na- 
 tives ; and, notwithstanding they were in a land 
 literally flowing with milk and honey, they de- 
 pended upon Spain for the necessaries of life. In 
 1 708, Oran was lost by the Spaniards, but reco- 
 vered in 1732. In 1790, when the star of Spain 
 was on the wane, an earthquake happily dislodged 
 them, and gave them an excuse for abandoning 
 what, through mismanagement, might be justly 
 called an unprofitable possession ; upon which the 
 Turks occupied the town, and built other forts 
 and castles. Henceforth the Bey of Oran was 
 compelled to have his residence here ; but it never 
 recovered its former celebrity, and was finally occu- 
 pied by the French in 1831. When I add that 
 the present population consists of 13,000 Euro- 
 peans, 6000 Mohammedans, and 1000 Jews, the 
 reader will be able to form some notion of the 
 strange and motley character of the place and 
 people. 
 
 As we made our way through this strange popu- 
 lation, my companion pointed out to me the 
 evidence of our being in republican France, not- 
 withstanding we were on the shores of Africa. 
 This was a lofty "tree of liberty.'' Shortly after 
 passing this, I remarked a still more striking 
 evidence of this fact, in looking through a gateway 
 which led into the cloisters of a dishonoured mosque. 
 
ORAN. 295 
 
 Over tlie door of the mosque this inscription was 
 painted, in large and conspicuous letters, 
 
 REPUBLiaUE FRAN9AISE, 
 
 LIBERTE, EGALITE, FRATERNITE, 
 
 PROPRIETE NATIONAL. 
 
 I felt for the Arabs. They must have swelled 
 with secret indignation ; and there a line of them 
 were, wrapped up in their loose, dusty-coloured 
 garments and corded head-gear, squatting in the 
 dust, or lying along upon the ground at the foot 
 of the walls, looking the picture of obstinate and 
 irreconcileable misfortune ; prepared, if needs must, 
 to be buried under the crumbling walls of their 
 house of prayer. 
 
 There are some four hotels, and half a dozen 
 cafes in Oran. We entered the first we could 
 meet with, the Hotel de France, and were shown 
 into the sal-a-manger, a very large room with 
 several lofty French windows ; and filled, for the 
 most part, with the military ofiicers attached to 
 the regiments quartered in the town. Our eyes 
 being used to the compact and neatly-dressed 
 British soldier at Gibraltar, and the inexperienced 
 countenances and beardless chins of the very 
 youthful ofiicers, who were in command of the 
 regiments stationed at that garrison when we 
 were there, were not easily reconciled to the 
 rough, weather-beaten, bearded faces of the heroes 
 4 
 
296 ORAK 
 
 of the African campaigns, or tlie outlandish, fashion 
 of their garments. I allude especially to the 
 officers attached to the regiment called the 
 Chasseurs d'Afrique ; their trousers were of a 
 bright brickdust colour, made very large and bulgy 
 about the hips, but coming small down, and fasten- 
 ing close under the boot ; their jackets of cerulean 
 blue, laced according to their rank with silver ; 
 and their shakot a very unbecoming little sugar- 
 loafed cap, not fit, one would suppose, to cover a 
 man's head from a summer sun in Siberia instead 
 of Africa. When I saw these same soldiers out of 
 doors, the admirable horses, on which the majority 
 of them were mounted, acted as a sort of counter- 
 poise to the bad taste displayed in their uniform ; 
 and I was fain to admit that their appearance was 
 sprightly and military. The regimentals worn 
 by the " Legion etrangere,'' although an African 
 troop \ are more European and sensible, in charac- 
 ter, than that of the Chasseurs, whilst that of the 
 " Spahis'' surpasses this latter in its eccentricity. 
 
 As soon as we turned into the streets we were 
 surrounded by Arab lads chattering French, with 
 a facility which any might envy ; and indeed they 
 are noted for the rapidity with which they acquire 
 the language of their conquerors. The Jews 
 
 1 The Foreign Legion is composed of adventurers from nearly 
 all the European countries but England. 
 
ORAN. 297 
 
 had an expression of countenance, strikingly dif- 
 ferent from that of their countrymen of Morocco. 
 The yoke that has heen lodged upon the shoulders 
 of the Arab, seems to have been taken from those 
 of the Jew ; and he looks here to be awakening 
 into the character of a man. That sneaking, 
 effeminate bearing, which first arrested my atten- 
 tion in the Barbary Jew, certainly did not strike 
 me so forcibly here, although there was nothing 
 about them even now which should make one feel 
 that the weapons of war would not be ill placed in 
 the hands of the Jew. 
 
 One of these immediately came up to me, and 
 inquired into the state of affairs at Tangier. 
 
 " Has not the French consul struck his flag ? 
 Where is he? Are they fighting? What is he 
 going to do ? " 
 
 Another told me, that ten thousand troops were 
 looked for immediately from Marseilles or Toulon, 
 as here at Oran, they were in expectation of hos- 
 tilities on the Frontier. 
 
 I confess I had been, all along, disposed to think 
 that the quarrel at Tangier had more to do with 
 political feelings at Paris, than the settlement of 
 petty differences with the Moors, who are only 
 powerful in their helplessness. 
 
 As soon as we could rid ourselves of these 
 curious people we went down into the valley, on 
 5 
 
298 oiiAK 
 
 the sides of which the greater part of the town 
 stands. Here many stately buildings catch the 
 eye, — the towers of the modern churches, as well 
 as the octagonal minarets, appertaining to the 
 mosques, and surpassing every thing in import- 
 ance, the gigantic French hospital. After finding 
 with some difficulty the insignificant stream, the 
 Oued-el-Rahoui, about which much talk is made, 
 we followed it up some little way by an excellent 
 road, which, surmounting the eastern bank, joins 
 at the eastern suburbs of the town the main road 
 to Meserguin and Tlemcen ; on either side of the 
 close valley are gardens, abounding in vegetation, 
 including amongst their productions, the banana 
 and palm. Crossing the main road, and keeping on 
 a little way to the east, we entered what is called 
 the Negro Village, or what I should rather denomi- 
 nate Arab Oran, in contradistinction to French 
 Oran. This village, the blacks say, is exactly like 
 the towns of the interior ; and if we may indeed 
 from this one form an idea of all, we ml^y rest 
 satisfied that no very glorious cities are to be 
 met with in the undiscovered parts of Africa. 
 
 This village is built in the most debased style of 
 Moorish architecture. The houses, which are all 
 square, can none of them be more than six or 
 seven feet high ; so that one would judge the 
 Berber Arabs, who are many of them tall, gaunt 
 
ORAN. 299 
 
 men, could scarcely stand upright in their habita- 
 tion. Besides these mud or stone buildings, 
 many of the broad grass-grown streets are graced 
 by rows of huts, and even dingy-coloured tents ; 
 alongside of which are picqueted their much ne- 
 glected horses. Between this village, and the walls 
 of Oran, the French have erected a handsome 
 caravansary ; but the natives, not unnaturally, 
 refuse to make any use of it ; and it is, therefore, 
 just at present, standing unoccupied 
 
 Passing into the town by the south-east gate, 
 we found the small church of St. Honore, once a 
 mosque, and in style a minute Cordova. It was 
 stamped, externally, like the great mosque still 
 devoted to the Mohammedan religion ; with the Re- 
 publican inscription, " Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite, 
 Propriete National." There was nothing of an in- 
 teresting nature to be seen in the church, ex- 
 cepting the regulated price of sittings, which was 
 five sous on an ordinary day, and ten when the 
 bishop preached. 
 
 Our consul, Mr. Butler, of whose attention and 
 politeness I cannot speak too highly, introduced 
 me to M. Andre, Pasteur de TOratoire. I am 
 not bound to sympathise with every minister of 
 religion who is a Protestant. There was an untidy, 
 negligent air about the pasteur and his help- 
 mate, that did not impress one favourably, and a 
 6 
 
300 ORAJT. 
 
 Calvinistic and iinromantic expression of counten- 
 ance which jarred somewhat against one's taste ; 
 but probably he had been surprised in his neg- 
 ligence, and hence was short in his manner. He 
 told me there were a thousand Protestants at 
 Oran, but his own congregation amounted to no 
 more than two hundred. He had been at Oran five 
 years, and described the place as very immoral ; 
 and, indeed, considering the character of the popu- 
 lation, it could hardly be otherwise. 
 
 The French, having fought with the natives for 
 some ten or twelve years, and having gained many 
 great and important victories, and constructed 
 fine roads, and in part built magnificently, at last 
 discovered that, to gain the respect of the Arabs, 
 they must at least not be without a show of 
 religion. Accordingly, in 1840, I believe, Algiers 
 was erected into a bishopric. The new bishop, 
 M. Dupuch, whose diocese contained within its 
 limits many of the ancient African bishoprics, and 
 amongst them that of St. Augustine, entered with 
 true missionary zeal into this new and most inte- 
 resting field of evangelization. Many of the 
 services of his clergy were felt and recognized by 
 the French government. They entered the camp 
 of Abd-el-Kader, and obliged some of the African 
 generals to acknowledge that in the progress of 
 subjugation the stole may effect some victories 
 
ORAN. 301 
 
 that the sword cannot. " Singular thing/' remarks 
 M. St. Marc Girardin, " of all our establishments 
 in Algiers, the strongest and most efficacious is 
 the bishopric ! It is that which has best shown 
 to the Arabs that we wish to found in Africa a 
 durable power, and that we have the means of 
 attaining it \'' The consequence has been, that 
 tlie Cross now surmounts vast numbers of the 
 ancient mosques ; and precisely the same trans- 
 mutation seejns to be going on as must have 
 taken place, a few centuries ago, in Spain. 
 
 At Oran there are eight priests, including a 
 vicar-general for the province, and, doubtless, 
 comparatively speaking, they are more in their 
 element than the good pasteur; for the simple 
 reason, that the majority of the Europeans are 
 Spaniards, lukewarm as many of them at present 
 are, the most devoted of Catholics. In other 
 parts of Algeria the Protestants are almost as 
 thick as the Roman Catholics. Whilst upon the 
 subject of religion, I must not omit to mention my 
 introduction to Amed-ben-Caid-Omar, the mufti, 
 a man of graceful manners, and conversant, in a 
 degree, with the French ; but apparently not 
 taking the slightest interest in matters beyond his 
 province. 
 
 He good-naturedly conducted us into the large 
 1 Revue des Deux Mondes, 1841. 
 
802 ORAN. 
 
 mosque which I have before noticed. There was 
 little enough to see, beyond a profusion of rude 
 columns. In the centre there is an octagonal 
 compartment, projecting into which is a sort of 
 gallery, supported by wooden columns ; and oppo- 
 site to this gallery on the eastern wall is arranged 
 a desk and pulpit, exactly as they are in a presby- 
 terian place of worship. The floor was covered 
 with mats ; but the whole building bore signs of 
 sad neglect and decay. A few devout Mussulmans 
 were engaged in their devotions. One sat upon 
 his heels, with his knees almost touching the 
 eastern wall ; another was standing with his arms 
 in an attitude of devotion, and his face perti- 
 naciously directed towards Mecca. We then fol- 
 lowed the mufti up the minaret, whence, five times 
 a day, he told us, the mueddin summons to prayer. 
 Here there was literally nothing but the worn steps 
 of a tower staircase to interest the traveller. The 
 view from the top was striking and animated. 
 There was the mountain of St. Croix overhanging 
 the little cove ; 
 
 " qui plurimus urbi 
 Imminet, adversasque adspectat desuper arces ;" 
 
 there were the busy throngs of the people on the 
 shores, and all the usual tokens of a rising colony ; 
 
 " pars ducere muros, 
 Molirique arcem, et manibus subvolvere saxa ;" 
 
ORAN. 303 
 
 the scaiFolding was still about the French hospital. 
 
 *' Hie alta theatris, 
 Fundamenta locant alii, immanesque columnas, 
 Rupibus exciduat, scenis decora alta futuris." 
 
 Nothing could be more appropriate than these 
 words, even had the scene not been upon the 
 shores of Africa ; for there was the threatening 
 mountain, the growing port, the hewing of stone, 
 and a population busy as a hive of bees. We 
 chanced to be at Oran upon a great fete-day ; 
 thus we had an opportunity of seeing every phase 
 of this singular population. 
 
 The day began with a review. Greneral Gudin's 
 staff had a brilliant and striking appearance ; and, 
 although some of the troops that passed before 
 him looked irregular, and, to my eye, somewhat 
 like our yeomanry corps, the impression left on my 
 mind was, that there was plenty of fighting stuff 
 in the province of Oran. The most singular troop 
 is that of the " Spahis.'' It is a compound of the 
 Indigenes and Frenchmen ; and is an attempt, on 
 the part of the French, to reorganize and employ 
 in their own service a body of men very celebrated 
 in the history of the Barbary States. Notwith- 
 standing the Frenchmen intermingled with the 
 natives, and wore the Mohammedan dress, it was 
 quite ludicrous ; for in an instant the infidel eye, 
 
304 ORAN. 
 
 contrasting with the sulky, foreign, absent counte- 
 nance of the Arab, betrayed their country. 
 
 We adjourned from the review to the new church 
 of St. Louis, to hear a '' Te Deum ;" here we found 
 the African heroes in great force. The authorities 
 of the place occupied a post immediately before 
 the altar ; then came a body of women — a few 
 with bonnets, but the majority wearing the man- 
 tilla ; yet, I thought, had they been without this 
 badge of their country, I should have known them 
 to have been Spanish women, so marked a differ- 
 ence was there to be discerned in their behaviour 
 and that of the French. The Spanish women are 
 all of them constitutionally devotees : they are 
 more faithful in religion than love, because man is 
 more fickle than the Power they worship. Whilst 
 in church it is very seldom they look about them ; 
 they sit, apparently intent and fully occupied with 
 the ceremony, or whatever it may be, that has 
 called them to church. The soldiers on duty, 
 officers as well as men, wore their caps ; and the 
 word of command was given with as much sang 
 froid as if we had been in the field. 
 
 The church of St. Louis is strikingly plain ; 
 there is not a single image in it ; nothing but a 
 crucifix, painted the colour of the wall, and fixed 
 immediately opposite the pulpit. The officiating 
 priest wore a large beard and moustache, nor could 
 
ORAN. 305 
 
 I discover tliat the razor had ever touched the 
 crown of his head. These peculiarities are, doubt- 
 less, all of them concessions made in consideration 
 of Mohammedan prejudices. A mufti without his 
 beard would be regarded like a soldier without his 
 sword amongst the Mohammedans ; therefore the 
 French priests in Algeria, nearly all of them, wear 
 this appendage ; following, in this respect, the 
 example of the Spaniards at Lima, who have a 
 chapel for the natives, where our Saviour, the 
 Virgin, and all the saints are represented as being 
 black. 
 
 Most cordially do I approve of the wisdom of 
 the French clergy in throwing aside those stum- 
 bling-blocks to so many besides Mohammedans, — 
 waxen dolls, and preposterous and childish figures. 
 And, to draw a reasonable conclusion from the 
 antipathy of the Mohammedans to any approach 
 to idolatry, does not the fact of the Arab, the 
 most imaginative of beings, the quickest in. his 
 feelings, and most dogged in his faith, show us 
 very plainly, that people in southern climates as 
 well as northern can be kept stedfast in their faith 
 without the aid of pictorial representations, or wax 
 dolls and marble statues ? 
 
 The other amusements of the day consisted in 
 dances amongst the negroes, running in sacks, and 
 such other entertainments as would have consti- 
 
806 ORAN. 
 
 tuted a Windsor revel in the days of George the 
 Third. 
 
 Had I first travelled through North Africa 
 before landing in Spain, I should immediately 
 have traced the origin of many of the customs of 
 that country that are wholly unlike any thing I 
 have noticed in other parts of Europe. The traces 
 of the Moorish empire are much deeper than even 
 the Spaniards themselves are aware of Whilst I 
 was looking at a party of negroes dancing for the 
 entertainment of the French officers, disgusting to 
 my eyes as the exhibition was, I thought I could 
 trace in it the origin of the Spanish bolero. The 
 huge iron castanets worn by the negroes are, it is 
 true, abandoned for those of box-wood by the 
 Spanish girl; and as a certain monotonous har- 
 mony seems necessary to inspire the dancers, the 
 Spaniards strum the guitar whilst the negroes 
 make use of a small drum. 
 
 The pirouetting of these negroes was astonish- 
 ing, yet without an iota of grace in it ; they 
 seemed emulous in degrading themselves, so only 
 that they could please the officers, who were much 
 entertained with the exhibition. 
 
 Whilst calling on General Gudin, to thank him 
 for some civilities he had shown us, the conversa- 
 tion fell upon the behaviour of the French consul 
 at Tangier. The general spoke with a good deal 
 
ORAN. 807 
 
 of indignation about M. R — 's conduct. When 
 I insinuated that it was probable that France 
 would occupy Morocco sooner or later, the general 
 said that France had quite enough to do, at pre- 
 sent, to strengthen her present possessions, and 
 settle the numerous colonies which had been 
 planted in Algiers ; but he admitted, in the 
 course of events, and in the cause of civilization, 
 France would in all probability become master of 
 that kingdom.. 
 
 The more moderate amongst the French have ex- 
 pressed a wish that, as they have Spain as a neigh- 
 bour in Europe, so they might also have her in Africa. 
 But, alas! Spain wishes nothing more than to be left 
 alone. She lives in past glories, past achievements ; 
 and certainly just now has neither power or inclina- 
 tion to extend her dominions in Morocco. It was 
 during the reign of Louis Philippe that Algiers 
 became what it is : it may or may not have crossed 
 his mind, at the time of the Spanish marriages^ 
 that, if he could unite in a common band of in- 
 terest France, Spain, Morocco, and Algiers, the 
 western half of the Mediterranean would have 
 been French. French writers have long since cut 
 up the Mohammedan empire, as far as the Mediter- 
 ranean is concerned ; and the Christian philoso- 
 pher, if not even the politician, must agree to many 
 of the conclusions at which they have arrived ; for 
 
308 ORAN. 
 
 the latter should consider whether adhesion to 
 the Koran can exist, in spite of a state of civiliza- 
 tion and an acquaintance with physical sciences 
 such as is exhibited in the northern states of Eu- 
 rope ; in spite of adhesion to the Bible, and faith in 
 Christianity. If — which I think he will be disposed 
 to admit — these two things cannot go together, he 
 will not dread the possibility of Russia occupying 
 Constantinople, Wallacliia, and Moldavia ; Austria, 
 Croatian Turkey ; England, a territorial passage 
 through Syria to her Indian empire ; France and 
 Spain, the greater part of Northern Africa. 
 
 One day, during our short sojourn at Oran, we 
 took a carriage and drove a few miles into the 
 interior, to a town called Meserguin. The road 
 for the most part was excellent ; the country very 
 open and green, but with no great show of culti- 
 vation. After crossing a low hill, we descended 
 into the valley of the large salt lake^ Sibkhah. 
 The prospect was monotonous, but not without 
 interest ; on the other side of the lake Sibkhah, 
 the end of which it was impossible to see, are the 
 mountains of Beni-Amer, a parasitic chain of the 
 Little Atlas. The town or village of Meserguin 
 stands a mile from the lake. Here the colonists 
 and conquerors are obviously treading upon the 
 toes of the Arabs. The sloping and gable-roofed 
 houses of the Frenchmen look as if they were 
 
ORAN. 309 
 
 pushing back the Arab huts and rows of brown 
 tents. A few gardens, the result of French indus- 
 try, varj the monotonous character of the vegeta- 
 tion. 
 
 We were directed to visit one of these, belonging 
 to Colonel Montauban, into whose hands Abd-el- 
 Kader surrendered himself We found the colonel 
 himself walking in his delicious parterre ; he 
 obligingly pointed out to us those productions of 
 the most value. Here was nearly as great a variety 
 of trees and flowers as is to be seen in a garden at 
 Madeira : oranges, lemons, mulberries, and other 
 trees, and all kinds of flowers. 
 
 The colonel told us, before the French revolution 
 broke out, there were thirty thousand troops in 
 tbe province of Oran ; but now they were much 
 reduced in number. General Pelissier, the com- 
 mandant of the province, had, he informed us, 
 gone on an expedition into the desert. 
 
 It was at Sidi-Brahim, the other side of the 
 lake, that Abd-el-Kader surrendered himself to 
 Colonel Montauban ; on the stipulation acceded 
 to by the general, De Lamoriciere, that he should 
 be allowed to pass to Alexandria or Acre with his 
 family ; but this he never was permitted to do. 
 
 The commencement of his career was very 
 similar to that of the Sherif Hassan, who founded 
 the existing dynasty of Morocco. He preached 
 
810 OEAN. 
 
 the Holy War with the Koran in his hand, and 
 claimed a descent which he could ill prove ; so 
 that, notwithstanding that great incentive to 
 union, the hatred men bear to an invading enemy, 
 his claims were perpetually being disputed by those 
 amongst whom he lived. The only act of very 
 great cruelty recorded against the emir, was done 
 in retaliation for that famous deed of cruelty 
 which Greneral Pelissier perpetrated, when he 
 caused lighted fagots to be thrust into the cave 
 in which some of the enemy, with their wives and 
 children and cattle, had taken refuge. During 
 some sort of cessation from hostilities, the emir 
 invited some French soldiers to an entertainment. 
 They were distributed into several tents, furnished 
 with combustible matter, and at night the tents 
 were fired, and nearly three hundred soldiers 
 perished in the flames. 
 
 The province of Oran, although the least at- 
 tractive, in respect of its scenery, of any of the 
 French provinces, possesses the most healthful 
 climate ; and this little village of Meserguin is 
 even distinguished in the province of Oran for its 
 fine, dry, wholesome atmosphere. I attribute this 
 to the circumstance of its being placed some dis- 
 tance from the mountains. In the vicinity of 
 Oran are many mineral and hot springs ; one 
 there we went to see, situated between the town 
 
GRAN. 311 
 
 and the port, Mers-el-Keber. It was so liot that 
 we could not bear our hands in it. A few sickly 
 people hanging over it attested its beneficial ef- 
 fects upon themselves, — if these ghostly advertise- 
 ments are to be taken for any thing. But they 
 generally appear to me like the patients of San- 
 grado, who grew better till the day of their death, 
 and only 'died at last from not having drunk suffi- 
 cient water. 
 
 We soon found it impossible to see half the 
 objects of interest in this part of the world in the 
 short time we had to spare. It was wdth much 
 regret that I left unvisited the town Tlemcen, said 
 to contain many Roman and Byzantine remains ; 
 but the vessel had arrived in which we purposed 
 to continue our voyage to Algiers, and we were 
 therefore compelled to bid adieu to Oran. 
 
 At six o'clock we embarked on board "Le 
 Meteore,'' a spar-decked vessel of 160-horse power. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 AMUSING CHARACTER OF THE SHIP's COMPANY TENES — THE 
 
 ENGLISH COMMISSARY— COMMUNISM ALA TOILET — APPROACH- 
 ING THE TOWN BARBAROSSA — NUMEROUS SIEGES PLACE DE 
 
 LA REPUBLIQUE FANTASTIC CHARACTER OF THE ALGERTNE 
 
 ARCHITECTURE — DRESS AND MORALS OF THE ALGERINE WOMEN 
 BAZAARS NEGRO WOMEN THE NEW CATHEDRAL — RUTH- 
 LESS DESTRUCTION OF THE MOORISH HOUSES BY THE FRENCH 
 FORT l'eMPEREUR. 
 
 It was an exquisite night the night we left Oran ; 
 the deck of the vessel, too, was one of the finest 
 I ever saw for promenading ; and various and sin- 
 gular were the groups of people on the deck ; emi- 
 gres, political refugees, with their long moustache 
 and shapeless white felt hats ; colonists of the 
 first, second, and third classes : those who can 
 afford blue spectacles, and a spirited barb to take 
 them to their farms. Here a bearded priest, or a 
 soeur de charite with her white wove-bonnet and 
 rosary, and several mothers with their squalling 
 children ; for there are few grey hairs amongst 
 the colonists : they are generally found to belong 
 to that vast class of people, who marry without 
 having sufficient to live upon, as they have been 
 
TENES. 31 3 
 
 accustomed to live ; and with love to console 
 them in their hardships, venture upon a visit to 
 Algeria. We slept hetween decks, where were 
 arranged fifty or sixty berths, — a common bed- 
 room, which afforded us an unwelcome opportunity 
 of witnessing the maternal solicitude in some of 
 these spreading families. 
 
 The unfortunate officers seemed sadly put to it 
 to keep up the independent air of gentlemen ; and 
 yet not to be rude to the crowd of passengers. 
 There were seven of them, and we messed with 
 some in the wardroom ; some were Republicans, 
 and others Royalists ; and in the opinions of these 
 latter, we did not fail to lend our hearty con- 
 currence ; but the state of their captain's heart 
 seemed to occupy their attention more than any 
 thing else ; for he stood in danger of a lady on 
 board, and was at times so far gone, that if there 
 had not been others to look after the ship, we 
 should certainly have foundered off the rocky 
 coast of Tenes ; as it was, we were detained two 
 hours in the little bay, because the lady could not 
 dine when the vessel was in motion. I did not 
 much care for this, for Tenes is very prettily 
 situated on the site of the ancient Cartenna, and 
 is a sort of port to the new town of Orleansville. 
 
 The coast had hitherto appeared uninteresting 
 enough ; but immediately about Tenes, the country 
 
3] 4 TENES. 
 
 is mountainous and picturesque. There is a bold 
 headland immediately to the east of the town ; 
 the houses of which straggle up a sort of sand- 
 stone cliff, the upper part receding into a green 
 valley behind which appeared hills, covered with 
 vegetation. Tones has arisen to its present im- 
 portance in an incredibly short time, which some 
 attribute to its vicinity to the iron and copper 
 mines ; and already has its cafes, baths, and 
 church, and all the usual appliances of French 
 comfort ; here, of course, we dropped some of our 
 passengers, and took up others going to the 
 capital. 
 
 It is of course most desirable to have the means 
 of succouring the sick ready at hand ; but it 
 struck me in looking at the gigantic hospital, the 
 counter part of that of Oran, that faces the sea at 
 Tones, that there is something ominous in these 
 great medical preparations. The climate, though 
 generally compared to that of Provenge, is, I 
 suspect, very different, and requires on the part 
 of the emigrants a great deal of care : it is really 
 much warmer than that of Proven9e ; but owing 
 to its aspect, and the heavy falls of rain, it may 
 not feel, or even the glass may not show, so great 
 a difference as from its latitude might be ex- 
 pected. 
 
 When the fair enchantress had satisfied the 
 
TENES. 815 
 
 cravings of nature, we steamed past the bluif 
 headland I have noticed. The coast hence to 
 Algiers is uniformly mountainous ; many were the 
 rising settlements we passed ; and so much life 
 did there appear in all w^e saw, that I could not 
 help feeling as if France had crossed the Mediter- 
 ranean. 
 
 Whilst standing in the bow of the vessel, and 
 looking at a mass of Jews or Arabs, that with 
 their dirty dresses looked like a coil of snakes 
 hybernating, I heard some one talking French in 
 an accent I could not mistake ; and, on turning 
 round, found one of our ubiquitous countrymen. 
 There is a thoughtful and ingenuous look generally 
 in an Englishman's countenance, however he may 
 have rough-hewn his fortunes. It was so with 
 this man, who appeared to be naturalized in 
 Algeria. I told him my calling, because I have 
 generally found it a means of drawing out men 
 situated as this man was : he told me he had 
 spent seven years between Spain and French 
 Africa ; and that he was at the famous battle of 
 Islay ; he attributed the loss of it on the part of the 
 Moors to the rashness of the emperor of Morocco's 
 son ; he himself was then engaged in supplying pro- 
 visions to the French army ; since when, as he said, 
 the progress of civilization, or rather colonization, 
 had been wonderfully rapid. The French revolu- 
 p 2 
 
316 TBNES. 
 
 tion had produced a temporary stagnation in 
 every thing ; and a great increase of bankruptcies 
 in Algiers. As far as he had been able to judge, 
 religious opinion in Algiers was very much the 
 same as it was in the south of France; a few 
 professed to value the acquisition solely on reli- 
 gious grounds, and as a means of restoring a very 
 important province to the fold of the Church 
 again. 
 
 After passing another night of communism little 
 agreeable to our tastes, where the priests and soeur 
 de charite lay down in berths just behind ours, 
 and two colonial matrons in berths at our feet, 
 on ascending the deck we perceived in the morn- 
 ing that we were approaching Algiers ; we kept 
 passing a series of swelling hills, which rise almost 
 at parts into the proportion of mountains, they 
 were dotted over from their crests to their bases, 
 with the sparkling white " maisons du campaign,"' 
 and were green with numerous and carefully 
 planted gardens : over the edge, so to speak, of 
 the most eastern of these hills, we saw the thick 
 piles of houses belonging to the town ; and shortly 
 after opening the Bay, we had the city before us. 
 It is situated at the western extremity of a vast 
 bay, possessing every element of the picturesque : 
 one branch of the Little Atlas seems just in this 
 locality to expand itself, and spread around and 
 
ALGIERS. 817 
 
 about the bay its gradually diminishing arms ; 
 these green knolls ^ extend quite round the bay, 
 and are covered with houses, and beyond them 
 are the imposing mountains of Djurjura, seldom 
 without snow upon their summits. The town 
 itself looks like a marble hive, the houses appear- 
 ing more thickly set together, as they rise from 
 the sea ; the upper part of the city is Moorish, 
 the lower part European. 
 
 I seldom find myself before a strange city with- 
 out a crowd of pleasing associations entering my 
 mind. On the present occasion I felt few of these ; 
 for I shared with most of my countrymen an utter 
 indifference about Algiers, and should never have 
 come here but with the hope of seeing the land of 
 St. Augustine's ministrations. Yet Algiers may 
 be said to represent a very important epoch in the 
 history of the Mediterranean. It was the lair of 
 the most dreaded of corsairs ; and, in the fifteenth, 
 sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries, few were the 
 captains of merchant-vessels that did not hold 
 their breath if they were driven within sight of its 
 towers. The natural disposition of the Algerines 
 to piracy was confirmed and carried to an unheard- 
 of extent, when, in an evil hour, they invited 
 Barbarossa the Rover to fight their battles with 
 
 1 These are called the Sahel hills. 
 
 p 3 
 
318 ALGIERS. 
 
 Spain for them ; this pirate, as most of my readers 
 know, was a Turk, who lived by his wits, as they 
 say, and gradually accumulated a fleet of galleys 
 and barks, which was the terror of the Mediter- 
 ranean. As he was a Mohammedan, the Algerians 
 did not hesitate to invite him to join them against 
 the Christians. He came, and repaid himself for 
 his trouble by making himself master of the place ; 
 and he it was who introduced the Turks into this 
 part of Barbary, and so led to the territory becom- 
 ing a tributary of the P9rte, which it continued to 
 be until the French occupation, and still is, in the 
 eyes of the English government ; for, if I mis- 
 take not, we have never recognized the conquests 
 of the French. 
 
 The atrocities of the Algerines have brought 
 against them successively the Spaniards, the 
 French, and English. The most disastrous event 
 in the reign of Charles the Fifth was his attempt 
 upon Algiers, when his whole armament was 
 destroyed by a frightful tempest. In the reign of 
 Louis the Fourteenth, Du Quesne thrice bombarded 
 Algiers ; but this did not put an end to the 
 depredations of the corsairs, or prevent them from 
 committing outrages upon the Christians with 
 whom they came in contact. In 1816, Lord 
 Exmouth appeared before the town with a formi- 
 dable fleet, and obliged Dey Omar to sign a treaty, 
 
ALGIERS. 819 
 
 in whicli he engaged to deliver up all Europeans 
 without ransom, and never again to subject the 
 Christians to slavery ; and, at last, notwithstanding 
 all these warnings, having given some fresh offence 
 to the French, an expedition was dispatched from 
 Toulon in 1830, which, pursuing not a very dis- 
 similar line of tactics to that which was adopted 
 by Charles the Fifth ; although he landed to the 
 east of the city, and the French to the west, they 
 finally subdued the place; and by so doing, 
 doubtless, whatever politicians may think, ren- 
 dered a service to humanity. 
 
 On landing, our baggage was instantly seized 
 upon by Maltese porters, speaking a lingua franqa 
 indeed, in which it was hard to say whether 
 French, Italian, or English had the precedence. 
 These porters led us through a gateway which I 
 presume to have been in former years the Duan 
 gate leading to the mole built by the son of 
 Barbarossa ; we soon entered a broad and hand- 
 some street, the greater part of the east side of 
 which was occupied by a magnificent mosque, 
 having a fine colonnade, supported by marble 
 columns that abut on the gutters of the street. 
 This street brought us to the Place de la Re- 
 publique, as fine a square as is to be seen in 
 any city with which I am acquainted. The east 
 and west sides, and part of the north side, are 
 p 4 
 
820 ALGIERS. 
 
 built in a style handsomer, but much resembling 
 our Italian Opera House, or, rather, the Rue de 
 Rivoli at Paris ; the southern side is occupied by 
 the picturesque remains of one of the Dey's 
 palaces. The greater part of the north side of 
 this fine square is adorned with an open stone 
 parapet, over which the " flaneurs '' of the place 
 like to lean and look down upon the crowded 
 harbour, the bay, and distant mountains of Djur- 
 jura. Nearly in the middle of this square — for I 
 may as well complete the description of it — is an 
 equestrian statue of the youthful Due d'Orleans, 
 upon the pedestal of which is engraved — 
 
 l'armee 
 
 ET 
 
 POPULATION d'aLGERIE 
 
 AU DUG d'oRLEANS, 
 
 PRINCE ROYAL. 
 
 1842. 
 
 Planted opposite to this memorial of royalty 
 and loyalty is a tree of liberty. The square, too, 
 which in those days was the Place Royal, now 
 bears the name of the Republic. The Place is 
 planted with some healthy- looking mulberry-trees, 
 a species of tree that flourishes more than com- 
 monly well in Algeria. Beneath the noble colon- 
 nades are cafes and shops, similar to those seen in 
 the Palais Royal. It was at one of these that we 
 took up our quarters. 
 
ALGIERS. 321 
 
 I have never been in an English colony, unless 
 we should consider Gribraltar to be one ; I there- 
 fore can form no notion to what degree of splen- 
 dour our colonial capitals may have grown ; but, 
 as the French are generally considered bad colo- 
 nists, I cannot forbear communicating my impres- 
 sions in respect of this fair architectural creation. 
 In less than twenty years the country has been 
 conquered, and the capital made a rival of Paris ; 
 for so completely has the bottom part of the city 
 been modernized, that when you keep to the main 
 streets of the lower city, if you did not cast your 
 eyes upon the queer heap of buildings, which 
 look as if they were going to fall into the sea, you 
 quite forget that you are still amongst the Moors ; 
 and you are disposed to think the French have 
 rendered this African province deserving the com- 
 pliment that was paid to it, after Sallust and other 
 Romans of note had lived in it, — that it was so 
 agreeable, and resembled in many respects so 
 much the mother country, that no Roman might 
 henceforth "be banished there. I cannot see what 
 a Frenchman has in his mother country that he 
 may not find here. 
 
 The two principal streets leading out of this 
 
 square, conducting to the east and west gates of 
 
 the city, the Bab Azoun and the Bab-el-Oued, are 
 
 built with arcades, and are exceedingly handsome ; 
 
 p 5 
 
822 ALGIERS. 
 
 but no sooner do you leave these fair new parts of 
 the city, and begin to mount up into the old town, 
 than you are lost in a maze of alleys and narrow 
 streets, built in a most fantastic style of archi- 
 tecture. 
 
 My natural instinct, on arriving in a new place, 
 is to walk round it until I can find an eminence 
 whence I may study the geography of the land in 
 which I am sojourning. Accordingly, we walked 
 down the Bab-Azoun ; we continued, by a winding 
 road, to mount up near the summit of the city, 
 and came up upon a space just without the upper 
 gates, before the Caserne d'Orleans. Here were 
 crowds of French soldiers and Moorish lads gamb- 
 ling; the Moors eagerly staking their chances 
 against the soldiers ; slightly removed from them, 
 a company of Arabs, with their dark tents pitched 
 in a circle, with looks of bitter and undisguised 
 disgust upon their faces. We returned to the 
 Place de la Republique, down through the heart of 
 the city. The streets are very narrow ; the houses 
 infinitely higher than those of Tetuan, consisting 
 of three or four stories, each story projecting over 
 the other, supported by poles, so that the upper 
 stories almost touch and exclude the blue sky. 
 The doorways of the houses are many of them of 
 marble, and elaborately carved in some places. 
 Parts of some of the streets are arched over ; and 
 
ALGIERS. 323 
 
 the strange effect of this labyrinth is by no means 
 lessened by the mysterious muffled figures that 
 one sees darting up broad stone staircases, or 
 winding causeways. 
 
 The women dress here differently from those of 
 Morocco, and in a much more picturesque fashion. 
 They wear short petticoats, and trousers fastened 
 round the ankle ; but are well masked and 
 covered up. Even the Moorish women, however 
 abandoned, are by French enactments obliged to 
 continue the national dress ; because, the French 
 say, if they wish their own laws and customs to 
 be respected, they must make the natives respect 
 their own. Accordingly, though we heard some 
 sad accounts of the depravity of the Moorish 
 women, when they had once thrown off their 
 national prejudices, we never saw any otherwise 
 than closely masked. 
 
 The dress of the Turk is much gayer than that 
 of the Moor: the majority of the tradesmen in 
 the upper town appeared to belong to this class. 
 They occupied shops of the most diminutive de- 
 scription, in which it would be quite impossible 
 for any one to stand upright. Even when sitting 
 cross-legged upon the floor of these shops, their 
 heads almost touched the tops ; but in the lower 
 part of the town there are bazaars, the principal 
 one of which, is not at all unlike our Lowther 
 p 6 
 
324 ALGIERS. 
 
 Arcade. The scene in this bazaar or arcade, into 
 which my friend and myself entered, was charac- 
 teristic enough. The Jewish shopmen stood at 
 their doors, importuning one to buy their commo- 
 dities, whilst the indolent Moors were playing 
 chess and draughts all the day long. Another 
 class of traders are the black women, sellers of 
 bread ; they are uniformly dressed in a coarse 
 blue striped habiHment, and are generally sitting 
 in rows outside the bazaars, or near the gates. 
 They chatter incessantly, and occasionally make 
 such ugly faces, that it is painful to look at them. 
 These negroes and the Jews are cheerful, and 
 evidently do not share in the sense of oppression 
 that the Arabs experience. 
 
 Near to this bazaar the stone-masons were at 
 work upon the new cathedral. It is built in what 
 may be called the barbaric style ; but, notwith- 
 standing the Moorish character of the architecture, 
 it is altogether a very imposing structure. The 
 north-west facade is composed of a centre, flanked 
 by two minaret towers, and adds greatly to the 
 general effect of the town. That which has 
 hitherto been called the cathedral is a mosque 
 converted into a church, and possessing nothing 
 about it to interest the traveller very much. 
 Before the building of this new cathedral the 
 Protestants were better off than the Romanists : 
 
ALGIERS. 325 
 
 their principal chapel is a handsome modern 
 building, with a Grecian fa9ade. 
 
 These were the different buildings which arrested 
 our attention in the course of a morning's walk. 
 The French, we understood, had pulled down 
 many fine Moorish houses in the progress of their 
 works, and were now beginning to regret having 
 done so, and to seek for the remaining ones, even 
 at exorbitant prices. Amongst the finest still 
 untouched is that belonging to the British con- 
 sulate : here we were taken up to what in former 
 times was a treasure-chamber, and shown a hole 
 which seemed to go down into a deep well, into 
 which it was said the unhappy negroes who had 
 brought up the treasures were thrown, that they 
 might not divulge the secret of their master. The 
 patio of this building is a most elegant specimen 
 of the Turco-Moorish architecture. The walls are 
 covered with encaustic tiles. If I am not under a 
 great mistake, this was the house occupied by the 
 traveller Bruce, who, previous to his Ethiopian 
 rambles, was consul at Algiers. 
 
 The object of our morning's walk was to have 
 reached the Fort of the Emperor — Fort TEmpe- 
 reur — which we failed in doing : however, a day 
 or two after we contrived to accomplish this. It 
 is about half a league to the south-east of the 
 city, and on a sufiicient eminence to command the 
 
326 ALGIERS. 
 
 highest parts of that pyramidal pile of buildings. 
 When the Emperor Charles the Fifth undertook 
 the subjugation of Algiers, he landed his troops 
 at Cape Matifon ; and, marching a party of them 
 up this eminence, erected a fort, which has ever 
 since borne the name of the Fort TEmpereur. 
 Hence he completely commanded the city ; and, 
 but for the terrible storm that swept his camp, 
 must have accomplished what the French did in 
 1830. They landed their troops at Sidi Feruch, 
 about the same distance from Algiers on the west 
 side, as Cape Matifon on the east ; and, coming 
 over the mountains to an eminence that slightly 
 commands Fort TEmpereur, they silenced that 
 fort ; and then, advancing upon it, gained posses- 
 sion of it, and so had the city at their mercy. 
 
 The fort is extensive, and the view from it 
 magnificent. Between this fort and the town, or 
 the Caserne d'Orleans, fortifications of a highly 
 interesting but most expensive character are still 
 being proceeded with. The soldiers in the fort 
 said the Arabs were not the least reconciled to 
 the French domination, and would pretty quickly, 
 if they could, recover their former possessions. 
 I presume these new fortifications are intended to 
 guard against others pursuing the same line of 
 tactics, on any future attack upon the city, which 
 they themselves adopted. I can well believe that 
 
ALGIERS. 327 
 
 tlie Arabs are most liostile to the existing powers 
 of Algiers. I never remember seeing men in 
 whose countenances the tiger-heart was more con- 
 spicuous than in those of the Kabyle Arabs, some 
 of whom were generally to be seen standing in 
 knots at the obscure corners of the streets. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 THE DILIGENCE TO BLIDAH — MUSTAPHA PACHA MISERABLE 
 
 STATE OF THE ARABS — BOUFFARICK— BLIDAH THE HOTEL — 
 
 A SPANISH lady's ACCOUNT OF THE DUKE d'aUMALE — A 
 SUNDAY AT ALGIERS — NIGHT IN ALGIERS — FRENCH AND 
 MOORISH CAFES. 
 
 Hurried as our visit to Algiers was, we contrived 
 to make an excursion to Blidah, called by some of 
 the Frencli themselves the Versailles of Algiers. 
 Early one morning we proceeded to the "Bureau des 
 Diligences," situated in the Place de la Republique. 
 As I was jumping into that thoroughly European 
 conveyance, a diligence, and at the same time 
 forgetting I was not in France, I was startled by 
 the apparition of six Moorish women who were 
 seated inside, looking very much like so many 
 corpses in their winding-sheets, bandaged as they 
 were close up to the eyes ; they were under the 
 protection of one sulky-looking Moor ; and I had 
 received too great a shock to envy him his 
 ghostly charge ; so jumping out again, I pushed 
 myself into the coupe. 
 
 We left the city by the Bab-Azoun, and wound 
 
ALGIERS. 329 
 
 our way through that beautiful tract of country 
 called Mustapha Pacha. Skirting the sea margin 
 there is a rich but narrow plain, which is limited 
 on the land side by the grassy limbs of the little 
 Atlas mountains, which here, as it were, fall into 
 the Sahel hills. These are covered with villas 
 and farm-houses, embosomed many of them in 
 woods of olives, fig-trees, and mulberries, with 
 plantations of the cotton plant ; beyond them, in 
 the distance to the east, are to be seen the snowy 
 mountains of Djurjura ; so that altogether this 
 view is one of great beauty. After crossing the 
 hill through defiles overhung with forest-trees, 
 we continued to be surrounded by most agreeable 
 prospects, and we might easily have imagined our- 
 selves to be in one of the favoured parts of 
 Devonshire. 
 
 We had for our companion in the coupe a 
 Frenchman, important in size if in nothing else ; 
 he was one of the upper class of colonists, and had 
 been fifteen years in Algeria, and expressed his 
 admiration at the progress which the French had 
 made in the important work of civilization. He 
 seemed well contented with these African pos- 
 sessions, spoke harshly of the men ; but extolled 
 the beauty of the females ; he said that since 
 the restraint exercised by the Moors over the 
 women had been checked by the French conquest. 
 
330 ALGIERS. 
 
 many of them had rushed into every excess. 
 As we entered the village of Birkadem, I ob- 
 served a knot of miserable Arabs grouped toge- 
 ther or lying in the dust as usual in a sort of 
 no-man's-land. I asked the colonist what they 
 lived upon ? he said, " If they chose they might 
 eurn four or five sous a day, which was enough for 
 them.'' I felt hurt at the manner in which he 
 spoke of the Arabs ; and just as we left the village 
 we passed three of them in their ragged frocks, 
 chained together, and driven before a couple of 
 mounted soldiers. I have sometimes thought the 
 low characters of London a very painful spectacle 
 of moral degradation ; but I did not know how 
 nearly like a wild beast a human being may look 
 until I saw these men. The colonist eagerly 
 thrust his head out of the window of the coupe, 
 and with a broad grin upon his countenance, asked 
 the soldiers what the " betes" had been doing ; 
 and on being informed that they had committed 
 some depredation, he expressed a good deal of 
 savage delight at their capture : indeed the fate 
 of the conquered is the same all over the world ; 
 it is only when there is some just and merciful 
 sovereign overruling the excesses of the con- 
 querors, that the natives experience any thing 
 like compassion and consideration ; and it is very 
 much to the credit of the sons of Louis Philippe, 
 
ALGIEHS. 331 
 
 that when in Algeria, they were all of them dis- 
 tinguished by a disposition to check cruelty towards 
 the Arabs, and if possible, by building them 
 mosques and caravansaries, to conciliate them ; 
 the Due d'xiumale was particularly distinguished 
 for this excellent disposition. 
 
 Our road continued along the plain of Metidja, 
 like all the French roads with which I am acquaint- 
 ed, provokingly straight. In many places we were 
 given to understand that we bordered upon the 
 old Roman road, which joined all their African 
 provinces together. On either side of us appeared 
 to extend interminable green plains, affording 
 evidences of a rank if not luxurious vegetation, 
 whilst ahead of us were the mountains ; the pas- 
 sage of which would have introduced us to the 
 little desert : underneath these hills is the village 
 of Bouffarick, in the vicinity of which great 
 agricultural efforts have been made to reclaim the 
 swampy land, which rendered the neighbourhood 
 unhealthy, and this has been crowned with success ; 
 for there are now here extensive mulberry planta- 
 tions, and this is accounted one of the most fertile 
 districts in Algeria ; here resides a Pasteur, 
 as well as a Cure, so I presume the colonists in 
 these parts are composed of pretty equal numbers 
 of Protestants and Roman Catholics. The road 
 here turns, and running parallel with the moun- 
 
SS2 BLIDAH. 
 
 tains over a dead flat, by the hamlet of Beni 
 Mered, where there is an obelisk commemora- 
 tive of some French exploit, conducts into the 
 town of Blidah. 
 
 Blidah on a bright day must doubtless be a very 
 charming place ; but I regret to say that during the 
 whole time of our sojourn there, it was enveloped 
 in a thick rainy fog ; we could just see the bot- 
 toms of the mountains almost tumbling into the 
 great square, and the teeming orange gardens, 
 and groves of other fruit trees, which distil 
 fragrance throughout the neighbourhood. It is 
 said before tlie French army came to Blidah, this 
 district was literally covered with a forest of orange 
 and lemon trees. The buildings of the old town 
 are mean in the extreme, even more obscure than 
 those of Tetuan, yet the Spaniards are said once 
 to have occupied the town ; but most probably 
 for a very short time. The French, however, have 
 not been idle. We were set down at the " Hotel 
 de Regence," which had quite the air of a suburban 
 hotel, such as might be met with at Versailles or 
 Richmond. The windows commanded the prin- 
 cipal square, three sides of which are surrounded 
 by colonnades, built in the style of those at 
 Algiers. 
 
 We sat down in a breakfast-room paved with 
 encaustic tiles, and filled with little tables at 
 
BLIDAH. 833 
 
 wliicli sat officers and colonists of the first class 
 reading the papers, and ever and anon bursting 
 into animated conversations, and apparently ready 
 to throw the rolls at each other's heads, because 
 they could not all agree whether Louis Napoleon 
 had violated the constitution in sending an ex- 
 pedition to Rome ; a fact which, I believe, a dis- 
 passionate person could entertain no doubt about. 
 After a breakfast of Parisian cooking, we saun- 
 tered out, exclaiming, " Considering that we are 
 forty miles from the sea that washes the shores of 
 inhospitable Northern Africa, we have no good 
 reason to be dissatisfied with French enterprise/' 
 Under the cover of umbrellas we inspected the 
 town as well as we could. We entered the church, 
 which occupies one side of the great square : it 
 was formerly a mosque ; the old tower is sur- 
 mounted by a modern cupola, crowned with a 
 cross. M. Dupuch, in his first visitation, super- 
 intended the hoisting of this cross, when the 
 Mareschal Valee devoted the building to the 
 Roman Catholic worship. Six Arabs carried the 
 cross from the foundry in Blidah, and the French 
 soldiers hoisted it up, and fixed it, by the torch- 
 light of the Arabs. The interior is dark and 
 gloomy, very low, with five aisles and a flat roof 
 composed of pole beams. Had I been transplanted 
 
384 BLIDAH. 
 
 blindfold from England into this mosque, I should 
 merely have remarked, " This is an old Norman 
 church/' There were no figures in the church, 
 — only a few small prints. The officiating clergy, 
 as elsewhere, wore long beards ; a custom which I 
 have understood they have only adopted since the 
 Revolution ; and which they excuse, when any 
 objection is raised to it, by quoting Isa. chap. L, 
 and saying our Saviour wore a beard. There can 
 be no real objection to the custom ; it elongates 
 the face, and gives a venerable appearance to the 
 countenance, and was worn by the most famous 
 prelates of our own Church. The town of Bli- 
 dah contains a population of about seven thousand, 
 and has six new-built gates. 
 
 Our journey back to Algiers was amusing. I 
 sat by an old Spanish lady, who did her best to 
 entertain me. She said the Arabs and Moors 
 delighted greatly in the diligences, and whenever 
 they could they availed themselves of an oppor- 
 tunity to ride in one. The reader may form some 
 idea of the extent of the traffic on these newly- 
 made roads, when I mention, thai in one place 
 where we changed horses, I counted four diligences 
 at a meet. The Spanish lady told me there were 
 a very great number of her coiratrymen settled 
 in Algiers. As we entered the district of Mus- 
 
ALGIERS. 835 
 
 taplia Pacha, she began pointing out the villas of 
 most note : " That was where the Due d'Aumale 
 lived ; he was greatly beloved. Oh, Seiior ! the 
 Revolution has ruined Algiers ; it has done no 
 good. The duke was very charitable, but the poor 
 now are greatly neglected/' 
 
 " And pray, Senora," said my friend, " whose is 
 that large white villa ?"i 
 
 " It is a boarding-school for young ladies/' 
 "Are there many convents in Algiers V 
 " Not many. M. Dupuch, first Bishop of Al- 
 giers, laid the first stone of a monastery of the 
 brothers of La Trappe, upon the field of battle 
 near Sidi Feruch, where the French first landed. 
 There may be others, but I know nothing about 
 them.'' 
 
 The Sunday at Algiers is spent yery much as 
 it is in Paris. Music and promenading in the 
 Jardin Marengo, — so called from a colonel, who 
 has converted this, which was once the scene of 
 Algerine atrocities, into a very pretty pleasure- 
 garden. There is a fountain in the middle, the 
 coping round which is marked with the places 
 where the hatchet or sword of the executioner 
 alighted, after having severed the head of the 
 Christian slave ; for here are said to have been 
 many thousand Christian slaves murdered. There 
 
336 ALGIERS. 
 
 is here, also, a marble column dedicated to Napo- 
 leon. The French have never lost the idea of 
 universal empire which the great hero inspired ; 
 and, in reference to these African provinces parti- 
 cularly, are very fond of comparing themselves to 
 the Romans ; and doubtless would be very glad 
 to persuade themselves, if they could, that the 
 map of France should some day coincide with that 
 of the old Roman empire. I thought the men 
 who were promenading in the Jardin de Marengo 
 had rather a ruffianly appearance. 
 
 Perhaps the time to judge of the real character 
 of the population of Algiers, is at night. Not- 
 withstanding the signs of order and prosperity in 
 the day-time, the orgies that seem to be held in 
 every town of any size in Algeria, afford abundant 
 evidences that France has transplanted the vices 
 as well as the energies of the mother country. 
 At night the cafes are crowded ; young women 
 sing to the frequenters of them ; and in one, into 
 which I glanced, were boys with crowns on, and 
 feathers, collecting sous. I should judge these 
 cafes, which appeared very numerous, were very 
 demoralizing places. The sarpe sort of thing 
 might have been seen at Oran : and always might 
 be seen, stealing a glance through the blinds or 
 shutters, some of the wild and dirty-looking 
 
ALGIERS. 837 
 
 Arabs. The Arab is a degraded being ; and tlie 
 vices of the conquerors have been imitated by 
 the Moors. The quiet Moorish cafe is now made 
 attractive, as I was informed, by the introduction 
 of negro dancers. The shades of night drove the 
 bees out of the hive ; and the streets always at 
 this time were crowded. 
 
CHAPTER XXVIL 
 
 M. DUPUCH FIRST BISHOP OF ALGIERS— ACCOUNT OF THE RO- 
 MAN CATHOLIC CVLTVS, PROTESTANT CULTUS, JEWISH CULTUS, 
 MOHAMMEDAN CULTUS— Tli% AUTHOR's ESTIMATE OF MOHAM- 
 MEDANISM—THE CLERGY OF ALGIERS-ST. AUGUSTINE— EC 
 CLESIASTICAL REMAINS -THE DONATISTS, THE REAL CAUSE 
 OF THAT SCHISM CONCLUSION. 
 
 I SUPPOSE, like most places noted for a low state of 
 morals, Algiers has some quiet devout people. 
 French Protestants generally bear this character ; 
 and of these there are a good many spread about 
 in the colony. The first Bishop of Algiers, too, 
 M. Dupuch, was deservedly prized for his ac- 
 tivity, and, with several other of the French 
 clergy, was animated with a real desire to restore 
 the African churches to somewhat of their former 
 life; or, rather, to re-evangelize the dioceses of 
 St. Augustine and St. Cyprian. I shall now en- 
 deavour to give the reader some idea of religious 
 matters in Algiers. I have before remarked, that 
 all the places of worship in the colony, of whatever 
 description, bear the Republican seal upon them 
 — "Propriete National." The Roman Catholic, 
 Protestant, and Jewish cultus, are under the 
 
ALGIERS. 339 
 
 supervision of the Minister of Religion for the 
 colony, whoever that may be ; but the Mussulman 
 cultus is under the Minister of "War. The 
 mosques before the conquest possessed their reve- 
 nues just as our churches might ; but the tyran- 
 nical system of centralization has induced the 
 French authorities to sweep all these revenues 
 into the national or colonial chest, as it is called, 
 and to pay the- Mohammedan authorities directly 
 from the Grovernment. The Mohammedan popu- 
 lation having fallen off to a great extent, there 
 has been, as might have been expected, a very 
 great reduction of mosques. There are now only 
 four principal ones ; the chief of these, it is said, 
 was designed by a Christian slave, who, although 
 he pretended to have designed a mosque, in reality 
 planned a church, knowing that Algiers must^ 
 sooner or later, fall into the hands of the Chris- 
 tians. This mosque, however, has not yet been 
 devoted to Christian purposes. Besides these 
 principal ones, there are fifteen secondary 
 mosques ; but these, I understand, are altogether 
 of a different class to the four principal mosques, 
 and are frequented by Mohammedans chiefly, if 
 not only, in the great fasting month of Ramadan. 
 The organization of the Mohammedan cultus on at 
 all a large scale is a most elaborate affair, con- 
 sisting of— - 
 
 Q 2 
 
340 ALGIERS. 
 
 1. The Khrethhib, or Preacher, whose functions 
 are fulfilled by one of the Muftis, chiefs of religion 
 and justice. 
 
 2. Imans, The officiating Ministers, whose duty 
 it is to direct the prayers and other parts of 
 worship. 
 
 3. The Bach-heuzah, Chief of the Heuzabins. 
 
 4. The Heuzabins, Readers of the Koran. 
 
 5. A class of Readers of edifying books, such 
 as the life of the Prophet, Maxims, fcc, for the 
 instruction of the faithful. 
 
 6. The Mouderress, Doctors or Professors in 
 Theology. 
 
 7. The Hondours, Aspirants to higher minis- 
 terial functions. 
 
 8. The Mouaggats, charged with indicating the 
 hours of prayer to the Mueddins. 
 
 9. The Mueddins, charged with calling the 
 faithful to prayers, from the towers of the 
 mosques. 
 
 ] 0. The Chaals and Kennas, The Sweepers and 
 Cleaners of the mosques \ 
 
 The Muftis and Cadis, the first and second 
 classes of functionaries, religious and judicial, are 
 appointed by the Grovernor-Greneral of Algiers. I 
 am sorry to say, the French have had very little 
 success amongst the natives in converting them ; 
 
 ^ These names are all taken from French authorities. 
 
ALGIERS. 34 1 
 
 and, as far as I could judge, their own impression 
 is, that Mohammedanism must either he crushed 
 by conquest, or gradually wear out. I know it 
 has often been the custom of travellers to fall into 
 raptures about the effects or beauties of Moham- 
 medanism. It has not been my fortune to be 
 impressed in this manner. We must applaud 
 Mohammed for having opposed himself to the folly 
 of idolatry, and, of course, for those elements of 
 greatness which he must have had ever to have 
 become what he was ; but so little did it strike 
 me that the Christians had any thing to covet in 
 Mohammedanism, that I am conscious of having 
 sympathized more than ever with the Crusaders 
 since my visit to Africa. Romantic Moorish tales 
 have excused, in the eyes of many, what is, after 
 all, a half-barbarous state. The Mohammedan 
 religion must paralyze the human mind ; but 
 Christianity has as certainly opened it. The one 
 has proved no hindrance to the progress of know- 
 ledge and science ; the other has certainly acted 
 as a dead-weight upon all knowledge. The Sara- 
 cenic architecture is often pointed to as an evi- 
 dence of extraordinary taste ; but Saracenic archi- 
 tecture, although striking and beautiful in its effect 
 for interiors, is, after all, barbaric. The eclectic 
 spirit of Christianity has adopted it, and improved 
 upon it immeasurably. Gothic architecture has, 
 Q 3 
 
842 ALGIERS. 
 
 in all probability, gathered somewhat from Sara- 
 cenic architecture ; and Gothic architecture is 
 surely not wholly unindebted to the East for 
 many of its beauties ; but, as a style, it is im- 
 measurably beyond the other in those features 
 that show an educated taste. The Moorish archi- 
 tecture often struck me as looking pagoda-like, 
 and fit to be classed with those fantastic styles of 
 building we consider well enough for summer- 
 houses and such buildings, but not adapted to resi- 
 dences — I speak particularly of the exteriors. The 
 Moorish patio is indeed very elegant ; but is 
 this equal to the impluvium of Athens or 
 Pompeii ? 
 
 There are a good many clergy in Algiers. 
 When we were there, M. Louis Antoine Augustin 
 Pavy was the bishop ; and I suppose upwards 
 of twenty priests of one kind and another assist 
 him in the labours of the place. The revolution, 
 although it makes the clergy more than ever the 
 slaves of the State, has acted rather favourably on 
 their temporal circumstances at present : but this 
 is not by any means to be depended upon ; " the 
 least move in the political world at Paris,'' said 
 one of them to me, " may make our position worse 
 than it was before the revolution." I thought I 
 discerned in the treatment of the clergy a natural 
 feeling that they were a necessary part of the 
 
ALGIERS. 843 
 
 body politic, and an absence of that disagreeable 
 suspicious way of looking upon tbem, that is seen 
 in so many places. Since the most rationalistic in- 
 dividual cannot question, that people are born, 
 marry, and die, and that all nations mark these 
 events by some religious signs and tokens, the 
 clergy have their place even in the Republican 
 system of the -French ; but there has always ap- 
 peared to exist in Algiers, on the part of the 
 military authorities and others, a feeling that the 
 clergy were most important coadjutors in the work 
 of colonizing and civilizing their newly acquired 
 territories ; and they always made it their busi- 
 ness not only to countenance, but to encourage by 
 their own presence the various undertakings of 
 the bishop, 
 
 I lament, that I have it not in my power to 
 give so full an account of the ancient churches of 
 this part of Africa, as I am persuaded might be 
 collected. Many Christian churches throughout 
 the provinces have been discovered, and priests 
 appointed to them, and workmen employed in the 
 holy work of restoring these monuments of one of 
 the most famous churches in the Christian annals. 
 At Bona (Hippo Regius) I was told exist the 
 ruins of the Basilica in which St. Augustine 
 preached. There is also said to be a rude statue of 
 the great light of the fourth and fifth centuries. 
 
 I have never ceased lamenting^ that circum- 
 
344 ALGIERS. 
 
 stances prevented my visiting this spot, as interest- 
 ing to the eyes of a churchman of the English 
 Church, as it could be to those of a Roman Ca- 
 tholic ; for the English have been a good deal 
 taught by St. Augustine, without being aware of 
 it. There is no ancient writer so universally ap- 
 pealed to by our great English divines, as the 
 Bishop of Hippo. 
 
 Apart from the discharge of his ministerial 
 duties, St. Augustine was chiefly engaged in works 
 on the Pelagian controversy ; and in endeavours 
 to reclaim to the Catholic Church, the large and 
 important section of the African community, which 
 had partaken of the Donatist schism. This party 
 had now existed in Africa for many years, and as 
 its position with respect to the Church Catholic 
 has sometimes been compared to that of the 
 Church of England with respect to the Roman 
 Catholic Church, I shall venture some remarks 
 upon it. 
 
 The Donatist schism is one of those passages 
 in Church history, of which there are many, which 
 is best to be understood by considering first of 
 all, matters wholly unconnected with the Church. 
 What has ever been the constitution of the popula- 
 tion of northern Africa ? It has never been entirely 
 without hordes of wandering tribes, which at the 
 various periods of its history, have been sometimes 
 more and sometimes less amalgamated with the 
 
ALGIERS. 345 
 
 different people, whicli from time to time have 
 colonized these shores. The earliest and most im- 
 portant of these were, as every one knows, the 
 Phoenicians; and of the several Phoenician colonies, 
 that of Carthage the chief, which in time grew to 
 such importance that she became the mother of 
 other colonies, and did what she could to en- 
 courage marriages between the natives and her 
 own people : hence arose a mixed population, and 
 a mixed language, the Liby-Phoenician ; but still 
 vast hordes of the aborigines never acknowledged 
 the authority of the Carthaginians ; upon this 
 state of things, supervened the Roman conquests, 
 the Latin colonies, and of course, in process of 
 time, the authority of the emperors ; for it was 
 over a portion of this territory that Caesar ap- 
 pointed the historian Sallust, a governor. We 
 know that on the day of Pentecost when the Holy 
 Ghost descended on the Apostles, there were not 
 wanting in that company which witnessed the 
 miracle, dwellers in parts of Libya about Cyrene ; 
 and Christianity found its way into Africa almost 
 simultaneously with its establishment in other 
 parts of the Roman empire. The reception of it 
 was not confined to those who spoke the Latin, or 
 to those who spoke the Liby-Phoenician, it spread 
 more or less amongst all these different people and 
 tribes. But the descendants of the Carthaginians 
 and the Liby- Phoenicians were always jealous 
 
346 ALGIERS. 
 
 of their Roman conquerors, jealous of their cus- 
 toms, language, and authority. 
 
 In the early ages of the Church, national preju- 
 dices were merged in the more imperative bond of 
 Christian unity ; but, as the Church increased in 
 power and universality, the old jealousies of tribes 
 and races began to re-appear in Church quarrels ; 
 and it so happened, in Africa, that some of the 
 clergy could not speak Latin, and others could 
 not speak Phoenician ; and, even in Augustine's 
 time, it was his fluency in the Latin language 
 that hastened his ordination by the Bishop of 
 Hippo, who did not speak that language with 
 ease. Now, it was owing to this particular con- 
 stitution of the African population that, I believe, 
 the Donatists' schism had its origin The facts 
 of the case were these : — 
 
 Csecilianus, Archdeacon of Carthage, on the 
 death of his diocesan, was consecrated Bishop of 
 Carthage in his stead, by some of the African 
 bishops, without waiting for the consent of the 
 Numidian bishops. These, in consequence, assem- 
 bled in council, and, accusing Csecilianus of having, 
 at a time of persecution, acted a double part, by 
 assisting some of the Lnperial officers in their 
 investigations, deposed him, and appointed one 
 Majorinus in his place. Their sentence was not 
 generally received; and this leading to a great 
 dispute in the African Church, it was referred to 
 
ALGIERS. 847 
 
 Constantine, wlio laid it as a case before bishops 
 wholly unconnected with the African Church, who 
 unanimously determined in favour of the consecra- 
 tion of Caecilianus. The Donatists had agreed to 
 abide by the decision of the Emperor, but they did 
 not do so ; and the Emperor, in consequence, 
 having used some severity towards them, their 
 hostility towards the other section of the African 
 Church only increased ; and in process of time arose 
 the Circumcelliones, who were in reality a species 
 of banditti. They had acquired the name of 
 Donatists from one of the Numidian bishops, 
 named Donatus — the first to write in their de- 
 fence. As they became more sectarian in their 
 character, they became more strict in their disci- 
 pline, that from an outward show of apparent 
 sanctity they might seem the truer of the con- 
 tending parties. 
 
 The probability is, that amongst the Donatists 
 there were more of Phoenician origin than Latin, 
 and more of Liby- Phoenician than Phoenician; 
 and the presumption is, that the Circumcelliones 
 were connected with the marauding hordes that 
 have always, more or less, mixed with the popula- 
 tion of those shores, and naturally sympathized 
 with that party in the Church which was the 
 nearest connected with themselves, and most 
 hostile to the Roman domination. And what 
 
848 ALGIERS. 
 
 supports this view is, that the Doratists readily 
 embraced the cause of Grenseric, when he invaded 
 those territories. There is nothing, too, in all 
 this, contradictory to the fact, that many of the 
 Donatists were good enough living people, and 
 horrified at the excesses of the Circumcelliones. 
 
 If this be a correct account of this famous 
 schism, it must be admitted there is nothing, nor 
 ever could be any thing in the whole history of 
 the Church of England that should bear the least 
 resemblance to it. The nearest parallel is to be 
 found in the history of the Puritans, or the Cove- 
 nanters of Scotland. Such a state of things might 
 happen in Cape Colony, supposing the natives to 
 become partially converted ; or it might again 
 happen in this very country, now in possession of 
 
 the French. 
 
 * * * * * 
 
 We crossed the Mediterranean from Algiers in 
 a small coasting steamer, passing between the 
 mountainous island of Majorca and the flat shores 
 of Minorca, and entered the port of Marseilles, just 
 as some of the huge French steam-frigates were 
 leaving it, crowded with soldiers, for the siege of 
 Rome. 
 
 THE END. 
 Gilbert & Rivington, Printers, St. John's Square, London. 
 
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