The wages of a female servant are about 5l.; a good cook has three times as much.
Clothing in Seville is reasonable. English calicos, and English printed muslins, may be bought as cheap as in England.
Labour, in Seville, is generally paid by the piece; but some kind of artisans are hired by the day. A stone-mason receives 3s. 6d.; a bricklayer, 2s. 6d.; and a white-washer, no less than a dollar. This is one of the most profitable trades in Seville; for almost every respectable house is white-washed three times in the year. The consumption of meat in Seville in the year 1819, was one million, nine hundred and ninety-one thousand, three hundred and sixty lbs. A hundred years before, the consumption was nearly two millions of lbs. less. Seville has also increased in population. Forty years ago, it contained eighty thousand, two hundred and sixty persons. By the latest census, the population somewhat exceeded ninety thousand, exclusive of the religious orders, whose numbers amount to four thousand and forty,—two thousand eight hundred friars, and twelve hundred and forty nuns,—but this includes the convents beyond the walls.
A steam-boat leaves Seville every second day, for St. Lucar and Cadiz, alternately. It is a great convenience to the inhabitants of Seville, to be carried direct to Cadiz; because the journey over land from St. Lucar, is both tedious and dangerous; but as I was desirous of seeing the country, I preferred the steam-boat to St. Lucar. Between the city gate and the river side, I was obliged to pay three sets of custom-house officers, that I might escape the delay and inconvenience of having my baggage searched; and when I remonstrated the third time against the extortion, the officer candidly told me, it was all they had to depend upon. The boat started at nine; and so precise are its arrangements, that although it had not parted six yards from the shore, the master refused to take in four passengers who were running down the bank. Half a league from Seville, we passed an extensive line of Moorish walls and fortifications, crowning a height about a mile from the river; these now serve as the garden wall of the Franciscan convent, which is erected behind. The weather was, as usual, delightful, and the views from deck, were in the highest degree pleasing. The right bank of the river is covered with olive grounds, which slope upward to the adjoining elevations, covered with gardens and convents and villages. The left bank presents a constant succession of extensive orange groves; and on both sides, there is a carpet of the finest verdure. St. John’s Hill, about two leagues from Seville, is another fine object; this is the highest ground near Seville, and is a famous resort of parties of pleasure: the handsome and extensive convent of Hieronomites, and many little chapels and hermitages,—among others, the chapel of the Virgin, who insisted upon dwelling here,—crown the elevation; and a subject village straggles down the hill, and nestles at its foot. The passengers were numerous; and among them, was a fair sprinkling of friars of the Franciscan and Capuchin orders. These persons never forget that they have the reputation of poverty to support; and a contribution is accordingly always attempted, to pay their fares; and it generally succeeds. Before reaching St. Lucar, the master of the boat asked me if I wished to pay any thing for the friars; but my interrogatory in return, whether he charged them less than other passengers, prevented a repetition of the question. One passenger, however, subscribed liberally; this was a young officer, who, from the employment of king’s page, had been promoted to a commission in the army, and was on his way to join his regiment at Cadiz. Whether Ferdinand had presented his page with a purse at parting may be doubted; but the young officer produced a purse marvellously well loaded, and presented a small gold piece of the value of two dollars, to the captain of the vessel, towards the expenses of the friars. Something, I think, may be gathered from this, as to the education of those who are brought up at court. The behaviour of this king’s page afforded me much entertainment: he occupied four chairs; sitting upon one, his legs upon another, and the two others occupied by his arms. He had two soldiers to wait upon him, and their services were in constant requisition: one presented him with a cigar, another fetched a light; one he employed in polishing the hilt of his sword, the other held his watch open, while he looked into it. Sometimes he sent for his dressing-box, which was opened and held for him, while he examined its contents; and then he sent for a case of pistols, or a small portmanteau; and, in fact, made himself be served as he had served the king, his master.
Below St. John’s Hill, the banks of the Guadalquivir become flat, and are covered with immense herds of horses. The country is here entirely pasture land, but the grass is coarse, and the soil apparently wet and poor. Scarcely any houses are to be seen, excepting where an orange grove, breaking the monotony of the view, fringes the river; and the house of the proprietor is generally embowered in his orangery. At every orange grove, there is a wheel and buckets to raise water from the river, and carry it to the trees. The horses and cattle had generally selected these shady spots, to shelter themselves from the sun; and standing, or lying in the river, they gave a character of picturesqueness to the landscape, which it would not otherwise have possessed. About six leagues below Seville, the banks again rise; and villages, and churches, and convents are scattered upon the heights which rise about a mile from the river; but soon after this, every elevation disappears, and the Guadalquivir flows through a boundless level, covered with scanty herbage, scattered with numerous herds of horses and cattle, and dotted here and there with long mud houses, meant as a shelter to the animals, from the noonday heats. I observed here for the first time in my life, that delusion of which I had often heard—leading the traveller of the desert to expect a lake, where there is only burning sand. The whole interior of the plain appeared like an immense sea; I distinctly saw the shadows of trees and houses seemingly in the water; but this was entirely a delusion;—the interior of the plain is sand, partially covered with very coarse grass. This plain stretches more than two leagues upon either side of the river, and it was with no small satisfaction, that I saw before me, though still far distant, the spires and buildings of St. Lucar. Owing to the state of the tide, however, we could not proceed so far as St. Lucar, but stopped at Bonanza, which is a league short of it. It was now nearly eight o’clock, and quite dark, excepting the star-light, and it became a question whether, and how to proceed. It had been announced that next morning at seven o’clock, an escort would leave St. Lucar for Port St. Mary; for, in this neighbourhood, an escort is considered necessary; and my object, therefore, was to reach St. Lucar: but I had heard such bad reports of this part of the road, and the men who offered to conduct me to St. Lucar had so much the appearance of rogues, that I hesitated to put myself under their guidance, especially as the other passengers seemed to consider it the safer plan to remain at Bonanza. Two merchants of Cadiz, however, who wished to transact business at St. Lucar that night, proposed to me to join them, after they had applied in vain to most of the other passengers,—the king’s page among the rest,—who, with his two soldiers, declined running any risk. I agreed to accompany them, and we hired two caleches and set out,—mine in front, that, as the merchants said, they might be able to keep an eye upon me and my driver. There is no road from Bonanza to St. Lucar; there is only a track among wild sand-hills, along the side of the river,—here at least a mile broad,—and there is not a single habitation the whole way. The driver walked at the head of the horse, leading it sometimes through deep sand,—oftener knee-deep in water; and the wild desolate country, seen beneath the star-light,—the uncertain and dangerous road,—and the low rush of the wide river, altogether contributed to give a character of great impressiveness to the scene. Coming suddenly upon a deep creek, I was startled by the bright glare of torches illuminating the barren shore, and falling upon a circle of strange-looking men, some seated, some standing upon the sand, close to the water; they were hauling a boat upon the beach, and the guide told me they were contrabandisters,—a very suspicious crew to meet at such an hour, and in such a place. “Buenas Noches Señores,” passed between us,—“Vayan ustedes con Dios,”—“Go with God,” and we passed on; and soon after we descried the lights of St. Lucar, where we arrived about half-past nine. A good supper,—rum and hot-water, and a fresh lemon, were soon placed upon the table, and sound sleep succeeded.
Next morning at seven, I was seated in my caleche, anxious to reach Cadiz. It was a curious scene that presented itself,—upwards of twenty caleches were assembled, some from St. Lucar, some from Xeres, but the greater number, with the steam-boat passengers who had arrived the same morning, from Bonanza,—and all united for common security, and to take advantage of the escort. We set off soon after seven, the caleches following each other in a line, and five men armed with guns and sabres on horseback, galloping to and fro; but generally two in front, two in the rear, and one reconnoitring; and in this order we wound among the wild hills that lie between St. Lucar and Port St. Mary. At a small venta half way, all the travellers were obliged to stop, that the caleches might not be too far separated from each other; and again resuming close order, we continued our journey. It appears extraordinary that an armed escort should be considered necessary on a short journey like this,—every day taken by travellers from Seville and Cadiz; and yet it seems improbable that the Steam-boat Company should put itself to the expense of maintaining and paying five mounted and armed men, unless they considered an escort absolutely necessary. The country between St. Lucar and Port St. Mary is wild, and for the most part uncultivated; some part of it is, however, under tillage; and in one field I noticed no fewer than twenty-four ploughs at work, each with a pair of oxen. The uncultivated land is covered with furze and aromatic plants; and the aloe and prickly pear grow spontaneously in great luxuriance and abundance. We arrived at Port St. Mary about mid-day, and immediately encountered the scene of confusion invariably found wherever there is a much frequented ferry. Scores of caleche-men, who wished us to go round by land to Cadiz, vociferated their offers in our ears, swearing by all the saints, that it was impossible to cross the bar; boatmen, in as great numbers, swore, by their own peculiar saints, that there was no necessity to go by land, and that they could carry us safely over the bar: and tempted by the hope of dining in Cadiz, which I saw across the bay, not a league distant, I entrusted myself to the boatmen. The passage, till we crossed the bar, was tedious; but when this difficulty was overcome, we bounded merrily over the waves. The city is extremely imposing from the bay; it appears to stand upon an island, which it entirely covers with an irregular line of white buildings and ramparts; but upon looking more narrowly, a long, and almost invisible line is seen to connect it with the main land. The wind blew fresh; and the bay was animated by innumerable boats, scudding in every direction, looking, with their great white sails, like enormous sea fowl cleaving the waves. We dropped under the quay about two o’clock, and I immediately made my way to the Posada Inglesa,—an hotel equalled by none that I had seen since leaving England.
CHAPTER XIV.
—
XERES, AND ITS WINES.
Journey to Xeres; the Vineyards, and their Produce; Amount of Export, and Official Tables for Ten Years; average Export and Price; Increase in the Trade; the Xeres Grape; Details respecting the Manufacture of Sherry; Pale Sherry and Brown Sherry; a curious Sherry; Amontillado; Adulterated Sherries, Inferior Sherries, and Low-priced Sherries; the Xeres Cellars; Varieties in Taste of Sherries; Knowledge of the Merchants; Management of the Vineyards; Wine Houses in Xeres and in Port St. Mary; Price of Sherry in Cadiz; Port St. Mary; the Theatre, and Liberal Opinions; Strength of the Liberal Party in this Neighbourhood; Return to Cadiz by Land; Isla; the Tongue of Cadiz.
I of course proposed visiting Xeres, the famous nursery of sherries, before finally leaving Cadiz for the eastern provinces; but learning accidentally, the day I arrived in Cadiz, that two of the gentlemen to whom I carried letters, were about to leave home in a few days, I resolved to lose no time in visiting Xeres, and to defer, until my return, any inquiries respecting Cadiz and its neighbourhood. Accordingly, the morning after my arrival, I walked down to the quay, to take my place in some boat for Puerto de Santa Maria. It blew so hard, that no boat had crossed the bay that morning; and the boat that agreed to carry me across for about five times the usual fare, had no sooner cleared the harbour, that we saw the signal hoisted, declaring the port shut, owing to the dangerous state of the weather. We had a very rough and a very quick run, reaching Port St. Mary in little more than half an hour. From Port St. Mary to Xeres, it is about three leagues; and I immediately hired a caleche to carry me thither: the driver wished me to take an escort; but I had brought a light purse from Cadiz, and was resolved to risk it, rather than part with a couple of dollars. There is nothing interesting in the road between Port St. Mary and Xeres. The country is much the same as that which lies between St. Lucar and Port St. Mary,—wild, badly cultivated, and thinly peopled. Nothing occurred on the road worthy of recording; and I reached Xeres about mid-day. I was provided with letters to the three principal houses,—those of Gordon, Penmartin, and Domecq,—and immediately hastened to present myself. In place of detailing the visits which I made to the different cellars, and the information I received in different quarters, in which there would necessarily be much repetition, I shall throw together, as connectedly as I can, the results of my inquiries and observations respecting the growth, preparation, and commerce of sherries.
The vineyards of Xeres lie scattered; but supposing them to be all concentrated, they might occupy about six miles square. They are mostly planted upon slopes; and the nearest vineyard to the city, is distant from it about half a league. It is impossible to approach to any thing like precision, in estimating the produce of these vineyards; all that can be known of this, must be gathered from the amount of export; but even the export tables do not indicate the quantity produced in the vineyards of Xeres; for, besides the difficulty arising from ignorance as to the yearly accumulation or diminution of stock in the cellars of the different merchants, the wine growers import from the country lying to the right of the Guadalquivir, a quantity of wine called Moquer,—a cheap, light wine, which they mix with the Xeres before it comes into the hands of the grower: wines, so mixed, are called inferior sherries; they are quite well known to the Xeres merchants as mixed wines, and pass as low-priced sherries into the English markets, swelling the table of sherries exported from Cadiz. But although it is impossible to fix accurately the quantity of sherry produced, the export tables, of course, afford some data, and are interesting, as shewing the changes in taste and fashion, and as throwing light upon the general state of the trade.