Spain in 1830, vol. 2

by Henry D. Inglis

From Baza, which we left as usual about sunrise, to Cullar de Baza, the country is wholly without interest; we ascended an inclined plain, bounded by snowy mountains on both sides, and almost wholly left to the hand of nature. The situation of Cullar de Baza is pleasing: it stands upon the side of a deep ravine, almost wide enough to be called a valley, which is cultivated to the utmost possible extent; and doubtless, when spring clothes with its own fresh livery, this little valley, Cullar de Baza will appear not only pleasingly, but beautifully situated. This valley, a mile long, and about a quarter of a mile broad, is the sole resource of the inhabitants.

In the neighbourhood of this town, the excavation of the earth, to form dwellings, is carried to a greater extent than in any place that I had yet seen; these present a very singular appearance in travelling below the gypsum rocks that environ the town: they are formed in galleries, one above another, and are entered by steps cut in the face of the bank. I noticed several crosses before entering, and after leaving Cullar de Baza; and it is worthy of remark, that these are more numerous in the neighbourhood of the small towns, than in the more solitary places. From this town to Chirivel, we passed over a high and very desolate country, producing nothing but the Esparto rush, and aromatic plants: upon the highest part of the ridge, Vertientes, and another small village, are situated; there, some few fields are seen under tillage, and stunted ilex is scattered over the neighbouring acclivities. At Vertientes, the muleteer mistook his path, and we were under the necessity of several times asking directions: this, is always to incur risk. It was already dusk, and no road could be more solitary than that between this village and Chirivel; the population seemed miserably poor, and many of them had seen the unprotected vehicle pass, and knew its destination. As we went forward, I noticed several fires in hollows not far distant from the road, shewing the night camp of some houseless wanderers; and I was somewhat startled when looking keenly along the road, lighted by a glorious full moon that had risen in the east, I descried the figures of two men, about two hundred yards behind us. The old muleteer seemed not quite at his ease, when I told him what I had seen, and he urged on his mule. I had little doubt that we were followed by some of the persons who had seen us pass through Vertientes; and taking from my purse of twenty dollars, a part of its contents, I slipped them, and two ounces of gold, into my boot, and put in my waistcoat pocket, a purse with only twelve dollars, which I thought sufficient for two peasants of Vertientes, although so paltry a booty might be despised by the band of Don José. Just at this time, something dark appeared before us, and presently a train of some ten or twelve mules, and three men approached. We stopped to ask them how far we were distant from Chirivel—and while the question was put and answered, I kept my eye upon the men behind, who stood still in the middle of the road. I had now less doubt than ever, of their intentions, and mentioned the ground of my increased suspicions to the muleteer, who was so persuaded of their truth, that he proposed to the men whom we had met, that one should go forward with the mules to Vertientes, and that the other two, should return with us to Chirivel, which was only about half a league distant. It is generally indifferent to a Spaniard where he passes the night; and this proposal, seconded by the promise of a few pecetas from me, secured us this seasonable addition to our party. After we set forward, the men behind followed us a little way, probably to ascertain our numbers; they then stood still; and in another quarter of an hour, they were no longer visible.

The posada at Chirivel was almost as bad as the venta at Huetor; but being nearly independent of the larder of the posada, I both drank tea and supped comfortably, with that miserable substitute for a sea-coal fire—a brasero—under the table; but I had no talisman against the fleas, and was overjoyed to find myself free from their assaults, and on the road next morning.

From Chirivel, the only road is the bed of a river, in which we travelled three leagues, till we reached Velez el Rubio. The banks of the stream, then almost dried up, are in many places precipitous; so that I had been truly told in Granada, that in wet weather it is impossible to travel to Murcia. The situation of Velez el Rubio is picturesque: a ruined castle looks down upon it, and the environs are tolerably well wooded; this improvement in the appearance of the country, continues only about a league and a half beyond the town, when every trace of cultivation is entirely lost; and a range of the most desolate hills I ever travelled through, stretches to the east; these are the hills that divide Granada from Murcia. The pass through them is twenty-two miles long; and the whole of this distance there is not a single human dwelling. It is not by a road, nor even by a path, but by the bed of a torrent that these mountains are traversed; and this bed, for the first eight miles, is not six feet wide, and is strewn with enormous rocks, which force the traveller to be a pedestrian. During the whole day, after entering these mountains, we met only one person; this was a Capuchin friar, driving his ass before him, laden with two large jars of oil, the gift of the good Catholics of Lorca, where he had been, to beg this luxury for the use of his convent at Velez el Rubio. Since there are no houses among these hills, it can scarcely be expected that there should be any cultivation; I did not see one rood of cultivated land, nor a single flock of any kind, not even a few goats. But this country, desolate as it is, has some charms of its own. Rosemary, sweet marjoram, thyme, lavender, and a thousand odoriferous and sweet smelling plants, fill the air with their fragrance, and by so pleasingly addressing one of the senses, withdraw the attention of another from the spectacle of barrenness. After ascending in the bed of one torrent two leagues, we reached the summit of the ridge, and then entered the channel of another stream, in which we descended three leagues to Puerto, our rendezvous for the night. Approaching this place, I observed several little boys herding goats, with only a shirt on, and that shirt a very ragged one. This, on the warm shores of Andalusia, or in the plain of Murcia, would excite little compassion; but here, scarcely out of the region of the Sierra Nevada, it was pitiable to see these shivering little creatures, the children no doubt of those wretched persons whose hovels I saw excavated in the bank of the river.

In the posada at Puerto, I found very civil people, but nothing to eat. They made me a blazing fire of rosemary and the husks of Indian corn—another of the many uses to which this valuable plant is put—they shewed me a good mattress, and the luxury of a bedstead, and they found a peasant to accompany me to the market to buy something for supper. A fowl was procured without difficulty; and this, stewed with rice, and followed by some excellent wine, might have pleased a more fastidious taste than mine. I had also the luxury of the prickly pear; I bought three dozen for 2d., and found them delicious.

We left Puerto half an hour before sunrise: a rapid descent was carrying us from the regions of cold, into the sunny vale of Lorca, and the transition was equally striking and agreeable. It was now the 2d day of December, but the air was like that of a June morning in England; and as the mist rose from the lower grounds, and disclosed the vale of Lorca, smiling beneath the rays of the new risen sun, the earth, as well as the air, seemed to own the dominion of summer. As we descended into the vale, the change from the high lands, both in the temperature of the air, and in the appearance of every thing around, became more striking: the fields were covered with wheat, fresh and green; olives, and other trees had regained their natural height: and aloes were again seen by the way side. The whole of the vale of Lorca is under cultivation: to the traveller who arrives by way of the snowy Sierra, it appears a paradise; and the situation of Lorca, close under the mountains that bound it on the left, and the fine old castle hanging over it, add greatly to the beauty of the picture.

The best posada in Lorca I found worse than might have been expected in a city containing twenty-five thousand inhabitants; and it was so dirty,—certainly not a common fault in the posadas—that I breakfasted in the yard. It chanced to be market-day at Lorca; and immediately after I had breakfasted, I strolled through the town, and into the market-place. Here I found many things new to me; for, as I have observed before, the provinces of Spain differ greatly from each other in dress, usages, &c. All the women wore a large square white woollen shawl, thrown over the head like a mantilla; the men were seen with short white drawers, untied at the knees, and reaching about two inches lower; they had no stockings; upon their feet were sandals, made of rope; and in place of the smart Spanish hat, they wore tapering black caps, fitting close to the head, with a small rim turned up all round: others, from the higher countries, were enveloped in blankets, generally of gaudy colours,—some of them nearly approaching to tartan. All sorts of things were exposed for sale: I saw an immense quantity of dried and shell fruits; cloths and calicos of Catalunian manufactory; shoes, especially rope sandals; quantities of the Esparto rush, and baskets made of it; beads, rosaries, images, and trinkets; and, in short, every thing that one either eats, or wears in the province of Murcia. In a street in the neighbourhood of the market-place, the pig market was held. I never saw a finer shew; for nowhere in the world, is the pig to be found in so great perfection as in Spain—fed, as it is, in the woods, upon the ilex nut. I asked the price of an enormous animal, weighing one hundred and eighty-five lbs., and found it to be two hundred and forty reals (about 2l. 8s.); for a sucking-pig, they asked fourteen reals. In Lorca, there is little beef; mutton sells at twelve quartos; a fowl costs 1s. 8d., a hare 10d., bread 1½d. per lb. The price of labour in the vale of Lorca, is five reals, nearly 1s.

I walked into the cathedral, but saw nothing worthy of notice, except proofs of the liberality of the Archbishop of Carthagena, who has published so great a number of indulgences, that the Catholics of Lorca and other places in his diocese, may pray themselves out of purgatory before they get into it. I saw one indulgence of forty days for every paternoster, and an ave, said before the shrine of St. Francis; and another of forty days for an ave, and a paternoster, said to St. Jago, St. Anthony of Padua, St. Domingo, and St. Nicholas: but I saw nobody taking advantage of these indulgences. The cathedral contains some tolerable pictures by pupils of Murillo.

I left Lorca about mid-day, passing through a very spacious paseo, surrounded by gardens; and after fording the river Gudalentin, and traversing a long suburb, the road skirted the range of hills which bounds the vale on the left; and about a league distant from Lorca, we began to ascend, leaving the vale and fertility behind, and passing through an uncultivated and unpeopled tract of land, to the village of Totana. Here I was again greeted with the sight of orange trees, the first I had seen since leaving Granada; and magnificent aloes and prickly pear, shewed what the land is susceptible of. But the village seemed very miserable; great part of it was in ruins, and most of the children I saw, were clothed—if clothed it can be called—in ragged shirts. Yet, this miserable village supports a convent of monks, of the order of St. Jago. I saw one of their number walking in the neighbourhood of the village, and might have pitied his forlorn situation, but that I knew the minds of most friars to be devoid of those feelings which would render a lot like his, intolerable to a man of refined and cultivated understanding.

In this wretched place the price of labour is only two reals, less than 5d. Beef is rarely seen, but when brought to market, it is sold at only five quartos per lb., about 1½d.; mutton sells at eight and nine quartos; and pork at twelve; but the pork is excellent.