Let me not lead my reader to suppose, however, that I dislike to see stately temples raised for the worship of our Creator. On the contrary, the lofty towers, high vaulted aisles, and gorgeous windows of many of our Christian churches are well calculated to predispose the mind to devotion; since, wonderful as they are, considered as works of man, how contemptible do they appear, compared with the mighty works of our Maker! and, viewed in this light, they cannot but impress us with a sense of His power and our utter insignificance.
With such feelings I have ever regarded the splendid cathedrals of Antwerp, Cöln, Rheims, Ratisbon, Vienna, &c., which are amongst the number of those that remain to this day in a more or less unfinished state, though, in other respects, they are some of the finest specimens of Gothic architecture extant.
The cathedral of Malaga is of noble proportions, but of a heavy, over-ornamented, composite style of architecture; and it is disfigured in an extraordinary degree with gilt chapels, carved saints, and votive offerings. It contains little worthy of notice besides the carved wood-work of the seats in the choir, the jewels, dresses, &c., in the Tesoreria[124], and one good painting by Alonzo Cano, in the chapel of the Rosario.
The tower of the cathedral is 300 feet in height, and commands a fine view, though not equal to that obtained from the Gibralfaro, since this latter includes the whole city, as well as the extensive plain of the Guadaljorce, and the various ranges of mountains that stretch along the Mediterranean shore between Monda and Marbella.
Immediately under the Alcazaba stands an immense and rather handsome edifice, built not many years since for a custom-house; but, meeting with few customers in that line of business, it has recently been converted into a Royal cigar manufactory, and is now in a thriving condition.
Previous to the establishment of this assistant, the Royal manufactory of Seville had imposed on it the impossible task of supplying cigars and snuff for the whole of Spain; and even now, with such additional means of production, the demand is ten times greater than the two factories have the power of furnishing, as the following statement will, I think, pretty clearly show.
The manufactory of Malaga employs 700 persons (women and children) in making cigars. A good pair of hands at the work may furnish three hundred a day; but (as the children cannot make half that number), taking the average at two hundred, gives a daily supply of 140,000. The manufactory of Seville employs 1,000 men and 1,600 women. These 2,600 persons may be calculated as furnishing, on an average, 250 each per diem; or, altogether, 650,000. Add to this number the 140,000 made at Malaga, and we have 790,000 as the “total of the whole” manufactured daily in Spain. But, as there are but six working days in the week, and seven smoking—indeed the lungs ought to be calculated as doing double work in Spain on Sundays and Saints’ days, whilst the hands are quite idle—we must reduce that amount by one seventh, to obtain the average number of cigars furnished for each day’s consumption throughout the year, which amounts therefore but to 677,143.
Now, taking the population of the country at 11,000,000 of souls, and supposing (which is a moderate computation) that but one million and a half of that number are consumers of tobacco, it is evident that Spain, with her present means, can supply her smokers with but seven sixteenths of a cigar per ora, per diem; and, consequently, as my proposition advanced, with less than one tenth part of the demand.
It follows, as a corollary, that great encouragement is given to the pernicious habits of smuggling and smoking papelitos[125].
The persons employed in the manufacture of cigars are paid at the rate of one real vellon for fifty, which enables even a first-rate maker to earn but fifteen pence a day. The best cigars are made entirely of Habana tobacco, and are sold at the factory at the rate of thirty reales vellon a hundred, or about three farthings, English, each. The second quality, composed of mixed tobaccoes, (that is, the interior of Habana leaf, and the outside of Virginia) cost eighteen reales vellon per hundred, or something under a half-penny each.