Reeds grow in quantities near Padron, and the gathering and selling of them forms the principal occupation of whole villages. A kind of rough waterproof worn by the labourers in rainy weather is manufactured from reeds; and rush hats are also worn. The villagers of Laino have a refrain which they sing when they go rush-gathering:—
“Ellas eran de Laino,
Ellas de Laino son.
Collen hoshuncos no prado
Vamos vender a Padron.”
Which is in English:—
“These are from Laino,
From Laino do they come.
We gather them in the meadows,
And sell them at Padron.”
A well-made reed hat is considered rather a luxury; it costs upwards of a pound, and is only worn by the well-to-do peasants.
The pimiento dulce (capsicum), or sweet red pepper, grows to perfection in all the valleys. There are three crops in the year: small green pimientos are gathered in May, large green ones in July, and large red ones in August. The pimiento is a favourite ingredient in Spanish cooking, and it is also served as a salad to cold meat.
There are flowers out of doors all the year round. Not only is the camellia brilliant with white and red blooms in December and January, but high hedges of wild geraniums are also in bloom, and sweet-scented violets abound in the woods in January. In March and April the hoop-petticoat narcissus carpets meadows as profusely as the wild hyacinth does with us. I have seen it both a delicate creamy white and a brilliant yellow. Many of the wild flowers are much the same as those of our own Devonshire hedges and meadows, but I noticed a number that I had never seen in England; and there is no doubt that were an English botanist to devote the months of March, April, and May to the wild flowers of Galicia, he would be amply rewarded for his trouble, and feel the additional satisfaction that is always derived from the consciousness of being the first in the field.
CHAPTER XXVII
DIVES CALLAECIA
The dignity of human beings—Mineral wealth of Galicia—Gold in the sand—Ancient authorities—Ireland and Spanish gold—Visigothic coins—Galicia’s secret—Turned up by the plough—Medicinal springs—Mineral waters—Climate never extreme—The baths at Lugo—Borrow’s account—An island hydropathic establishment—Hot springs—Galicia as a health resort—Mondariz—Women in the fields—Amazons—Martial zeal—Wellington and the Gallegan soldiers—“The inimitable Gallegans”—Another word about their reputed stupidity—Great men—Making a list—Fare thee well
“WHATEVER withdraws us from the power of our senses,” said Samuel Johnson, “whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of human beings.” We cannot study the past of a spot so full of human interest as Galicia without some gain; we cannot study the physical beauties of the Spanish Switzerland without being transported for a time to those mountains and valleys that the Gallegans love so passionately, to those limpid streams and those beautiful rias. The mind needs change of air just as the body, and a few hours spent in that distant corner of Spain will, I trust, have been as refreshing to the mind of the reader as a few months spent in travelling and studying them were to the writer of this volume.