Part of the original cloister of the monastery is still standing, the northern front. Nine delicate and richly sculptured Romanesque arches and two keystones of the vaulting are still in their place; they rest upon piers ornamented with pairs of slender columns whose capitals are decorated with sculptured foliage, very full and natural, and every one different. The bases of the columns rest upon plinths. This remnant of the cloister is considered to be one of the most perfect bits of mediæval architecture in Galicia. The rest of it is modern, and dates from about the end of the eighteenth century. In the north-east angle is a fine granite sarcophagus of another prior, whose recumbent statue in full sacerdotal robes has both hands holding a book upon his breast; it dates from the year 1368.
The monastery, which was entirely rebuilt in the eighteenth century, is now the home of the parish priest, as the church is now the parish church of Sar. The Churrigueresque belfry was put up when the original façade of the church was spoiled by the addition of the elliptical arches. My guide pointed out to me two slender columns, evidently part of the old cloister, which are now placed on either side of the rectory door. He also showed me, in the church, an old wooden bench, eaten with age, with the Arms of the Inquisition stamped upon it, a cross with a palm leaf on its right and a sword on its left.
A hospital, chiefly for canons afflicted with elephantiasis, Hospital de San Lazaro, was founded in connection with this monastery in 1149, and had dwelling-houses attached to it, sustentari possint elefantiosi canonici.[178] The prior of Sar was expected to take the inmates of this hospital under his spiritual care. There is in Santiago to this day a special hospital for that class of disease, and it attracts patients from all parts of the province. I have heard it remarked that on this account visitors should be careful in their selection of inns and boarding-houses.
CHAPTER XIII
LA CORUÑA
Sir John Moore—The province of Coruña—The town of Coruña—By sea to Coruña—Our steamer—The other passengers—A dangerous harbour—Fear of stowaways—Glass-covered galleries—Beggars—The Customs—No fireplaces—Our drive to the ramparts—The Lion and the Unicorn—A British hero—Borrow and the tomb of Sir John Moore—The gardens of San Carlos—Moore’s lack of confidence in himself—His reputation as a general—Wellington’s opinion of him—“The Burial of Sir John Moore”—Situation of Coruña—The cemetery—The tower of Hercules—Originally erected by Phœnicians—Its outer staircase—Sir Francis Drake—A Spanish heroine—In honour of Maria Pita—The chief industry—An ice factory—Sardines—Corpulence of Spanish ladies—Chocolate factories—How the poor live—A home for the aged—Tobacco factories—The streets of Coruña—A fashionable summer resort—One of the best harbours in Europe
WHO has not heard of Coruña, and the “Burial of Sir John Moore”?
The province of Coruña—or La Coruña, as it is usually called—covers 7902 square kilometres, and its population in the year 1905 amounted to 683,915 souls. Coruña is the dampest province in the whole of Spain, and it has more misty days in the year than any other part; but, on the other hand, it is never troubled with those dry hot winds that cross to Spain from Africa: it is decidedly healthy, and its women and children have very beautiful complexions.
The town of Coruña, with its 50,000 inhabitants, is situated on a diminutive peninsula at the point of the angle which forms the north-west corner of Spain, and the distance between it and Madrid is 830 kilometres. Coruña is one of the oldest towns in Spain. Orosius wrote about it in the fifth century, calling it Brigantia. He related that it had a very high tower built for looking out over the sea as far as Britain.[179] It was to Coruña that Julius Cæsar brought his fleet from Cadiz, and it was the natives of Coruña who were so terribly frightened at the sight of that fleet, having never seen anything like it before. The name of Brigantia is derived from the Celtic word Briga, which we have already discussed in these pages.
Both English and German passenger steamers constantly touch at the ports of Coruña and Vigo on their way to Lisbon and South America, and the sea route to Galicia is by far the shortest and quickest for English travellers.
We left Southampton just before midnight on January 10, boarding the Hamburg-American liner of 11,000 tons, the König Fredrick August, with the aid of a steam tender. The night was pitchy dark, and the only lights visible after we had left the shore were those that shone from the deck and port-holes of the König Fredrick August. Many of the best boats running between Europe and South America are German, and there is no doubt that Germany has begun to take, during recent years, a very lively interest in the development of Argentina and her sister Republics. Germans are wresting from the hands of enervated and self-satisfied Englishmen the trade of which we once thought we had the monopoly by divine right, and it is chiefly by German vessels that Spaniards are emigrating in shoals from their native land to Buenos Ayres, to Uruguay, and to Chili. I do not think I entered a single town in Galicia upon the walls of which I did not see placards denoting the speedy departure of some German liner from Europe to South America.