Galicia, the Switzerland of Spain

by Annette M. B. Meakin

I have not exhausted my subject; it is too wide to be exhausted in a work six times the size of the present work. I have touched on too many points of interest to be able to do full justice to any: history, both ancient and mediæval, geography, architecture, archæology, natural history, ethnography, ethnology, climatology, literature, and many other branches of knowledge have had their share of my attention; yet, as I glance through what I have written, I am painfully conscious of how much has been omitted. I intended, amongst other things, to add a long chapter on the mineral wealth of Galicia, and another on the customs of the Gallegan peasants; but time and space fail me. With regard, however, to the mineral wealth of the country, to the character of its women, to the martial spirit of its men, and to the reputed stupidity of the Gallegans, I should like to add a few words to what has already been said.

The greater part of the mineral wealth of Galicia has never been exploited since the days of the Romans. From the train window, as I was passing through the province of Lugo, I saw the place where the Romans diverted the course of a Gallegan river that they might more easily attain the gold which lay hidden below its flowing waters. Morales—an eye-witness in the reign of Philip II.—stated that the Miño had gold in its sand, and that the bishop of Tuy showed him a nugget of purest gold as large as a chick-pea, and that the Count of Monterrey had let a part of this river which flowed through his estate for twenty ducados a year to people who searched for gold in its sand.

Both Justin and Silius Italicus mention the rich veins of gold in Gallegan soil. Justin speaks also of the abundance of lead, copper, and iron. Molina mentions the abundance of tin that in his day was extracted annually from Gallegan mines, and he adds in a note that gold-mines were once worked there. I have already alluded to a tradition current in Ireland, that the ancient Irish obtained their gold from Spain, and it is more than probable that the torques in the Dublin Museum, as well as those I have described, were made of Gallegan gold.

It is an interesting fact that nearly all the Visigothic coins that have been found are pure gold; this is another indication that gold was once plentiful in Galicia. Even in our day, poor women can earn three and four pesetas a day by sifting sand of the river Sil for gold. I have described the golden torques in Señor Cicerone’s museum—all of massive gold—and these we know were found buried in various spots in Galicia. Whence came the gold of which these were made? “This,” says Señor Villa-Amil, “is Galicia’s secret.” At present no one knows the whereabouts of any gold-mine in Galicia, but that is no proof that gold is not there.

Silius Italicus said that this province was so rich in veins of gold that nuggets of the precious metal were often turned up by the plough, and it was this fact which led him to speak of Galicia as Dives Callaecia.

Galicia is rich in medicinal springs, and her waters have been used to cure diseases from time immemorial. I have mentioned the remains of Roman baths (thermæ) at Bande (near Celanova) and at Lugo. It was from the Greeks that the Romans learned the value of medicinal waters, and they made wide use of them until the declining days of their greatness, when bathing came to be looked on as injurious and effeminate, and the old bathing establishments were allowed to go to ruin. In the ninth century, under Charlemagne, baths came once more into fashion, and new ones were established. In the fifteenth century a good deal was written about the curative powers of mineral waters, especially in Spain. Galicia has more of these springs than almost any part of Spain, and her climate is the most temperate: the sea, bounding her on two sides, modifies the heat of summer, so that in the hottest months the thermometer never stands higher than 20° Reamur; in the months of December, January, and February it does not often go below five and six degrees. As for the geological formation of the ground, it consists of layers of granite and gneiss for the most part, and of gneiss and mica in the neighbourhood of Coruña, Ferrol, and Betanzos; round Santiago, Sobrado, and Mellid there are found remarkable groups of amphibiolite and diorite, while serpentine (of a greenish colour) is also abundant. Slate is found in many varieties, and near Mondoñedo there are fossilised shells, including petrified bivalves. Quartz is very frequent. The alluvial soil near the rivers in the low-lying valleys is covered with water in winter.

Lugo has sulphur springs on the banks of the Miño; the bathing establishment is built with a patio and galleries round four separate springs, and there is hotel accommodation for a large number of visitors; these baths are considered to be the best in Galicia. Borrow, who visited them in 1836, wrote that they were “built over warm springs that flow into the river. Notwithstanding their ruinous condition, they were crowded with sick.... The patients exhibited a strange spectacle, as, wrapped in flannel gowns much resembling shrouds, they lay immersed in the tepid waters amongst disjointed stones and overhung with steam and reek.” The water smells strongly of sulphur, and on coming in contact with the air acquires a milky appearance. Its iodine has wonderfully healing properties in cases of scrofula, glandular swellings, and dyspepsia, also in cases of muscular rheumatism. As I have said elsewhere, Pliny wrote about these baths, and part of the Roman buildings may still be seen.

Another place where there are baths is Carballo, in the province of Coruña; here the older springs are sulfuro-sodico, and the new sulfuro-calcico, although all are close together. On the little island of Toja, near Villagarcia, there are some mineral springs which are now being exploited by a company; they are visited by sufferers from skin diseases, but chiefly during the month of July. The season only lasts a few weeks, and during that period a doctor resides on the island and superintends the bathing establishment. At Caldas de Reyes, fifteen kilometres from Pontevedra, there are also hot sulphur springs, and I have already spoken at length of the Hot Springs at Orense. Galicia has innumerable iron springs. In 1878, Señor Varela Paga published tables showing that the waters of Galicia were richer by far in medicinal properties than the best of those in France, and he added that the mineral springs of this province were, without doubt, of immense importance, and that the two things wanting to place them amongst the most renowned curative resorts in Europe were good ways of communication and good hydropathic establishments.

The most modern of all the hydropathic establishments in Galicia is that of Mondariz, situated a few miles to the south of Pontevedra in the valley of Mondariz. Patients go there to drink the waters of two widely renowned springs called respectively Gandara and Troncoso; their waters are considered particularly beneficial in cases of dyspepsia (now looked upon rather as a symptom than a disease) and other stomach troubles.[306] The establishment for the reception of guests is very large, and the prices are in proportion to its grandeur. Lady visitors are requested to wear no hats except when attending Mass. The scenery of the surrounding mountains and valleys is very beautiful, and there are some exquisite drives, one being to Castello Mos, the mediæval castle which I have described in my chapter on Pontevedra.

And now a last word about the Gallegan women. I have said that the women of Galicia work in the fields like men, and that most of the agricultural labour is necessarily performed by them, seeing that the men emigrate in such numbers. It is interesting in this connection to note that Justin wrote of the women of ancient Galicia, as not only having the care of all domestic matters, but also cultivating the fields while their men-folk gave themselves to the pursuits of war. “Their travail,” says Ford, “was not simply agricultural, for, according to Strabo (III. 250), they merely stepped aside out of the furrows to be brought to bed, if such a term may be used, returning back to their other labours just as if they had only laid an egg. The men were worthy of such Amazons.” But Ford overlooked the fact that it was of the people of Galicia that Strabo was writing when he said that it was customary for the husband to retire to his bed for a short period as soon as his child was born. Aguiar draws attention to this extraordinary practice in his History of Galicia. This writer also remarks that the proverb so common all over Spain, to the effect that he who is unfortunate and needs assistance should “seek his Gallegan mother,” was another indication of the Celtic origin of the Gallegans, the Celts having always held their women in honour.[307]