[11] Astorga = Asturica Augusta.
[12] Literally the “House of Purification,” i.e. the Great Mosque of Córdova.
[13] There is something of the same flavour about the inscription on the Gates of the Hospital del Rey at Burgos; “Blessed is the man that provideth for the sick and needy, St James (!) shall deliver him in the time of trouble.”
[14] The fate most dreaded by the Spanish prisoners in the Moorish wars.
[15] Borrow stigmatises Betánzos as a filthy and evil-smelling pest-house. But then his horse broke down there. So much depends upon the point of view!
“Who would not give a foot of ground
For all the Devils in Hell.”
—Ballad of Lord Willoughby.
[18] A cant term for knifing. The Neapolitan had a standing feud with Spain.
[19] The proverb is still quite current. A carrier of whom we inquired the distance to Zamora oracularly answered that “It could never be gained in an hour.”