Gatherings From Spain Part 4

[Sidenote: EXPENSES ON THE ROAD.]

The usual mode of travelling for the affluent is in the public conveyances, which are the fas.h.i.+on from being novelties and only introduced under Ferdinand VII.; previously to their being allowed at all, serious objections were started, similar to those raised by his late Holiness to the introduction of railways into the papal states; it was said that these tramontane facilities would bring in foreigners, and with them philosophy, heresy, and innovations, by which the wisdom of Spain's ancestors might be upset. These scruples were ingeniously got over by bribing the monarch with a large share of the profits. Now that the royal monopoly is broken down, many new and competing companies have sprung up; this mode of travelling is the cheapest and safest, nor is it thought at all beneath the dignity of "the best set," nay royalty itself goes by the coach. Thus the Infante Don Francisco de Paula constantly hires the whole of the diligence to convey himself and his family from Madrid to the sea-coast; and one reason gravely given for Don Enrique's not coming to marry the Queen, was that his Royal Highness could not get a place, as the dilly was booked full. The public carriages of Spain are quite as good as those of France, and the company who travel in them generally more respectable and better bred. This is partly accounted for by the expense: the fares are not very high, yet still form a serious item to the bulk of Spaniards; consequently those who travel in the public carriages in Spain are the cla.s.s who would in other countries travel per post. It must, however, be admitted that all travelling in the public conveyances of the Continent necessarily implies great discomfort to those accustomed to their own carriages; and with every possible precaution the long journeys in Spain, of three to five hundred miles at a stretch, are such as few English ladies can undergo, and are, even with men, undertakings rather of necessity than of pleasure. The mail is organized on the plan of the French malle-poste, and offers, to those who can stand the b.u.mping, shaking, and churning of continued and rapid travelling without halting, a means of locomotion which leaves nothing to be desired. The diligences also are imitations of the lumbering French model. It will be in vain to expect in them the neatness, the well-appointed turn-out, the quiet, time-keeping, and infinite facilities of the English original. These matters when pa.s.sed across the water are modified to the heroic Continental contempt for doing things in style; cheapness, which is their great principle, prefers rope-traces to those of leather, and a carter to a regular coachman; the usual foreign drags also exist, which render their slow coaches and bureaucratic absurdities so hateful to free Britons; but when one is once booked and handed over to the conductor, you arrive in due time at the journey's end. The "guards" are realities; they consist of stout, armed, most picturesque, robber-like men and no mistake, since many, before they were pardoned and pensioned, have frequently taken a purse on the Queen's highway; for the foreground of your first sketch, they are splendid fellows, and worth a score of marshals. They are provided with a complete a.r.s.enal of swords and blunderbusses, so that the c.u.mbrous machine rolling over the sea of plains looks like a man-of-war, and has been compared to a marching citadel. Again in suspicious localities a mounted escort of equally suspicious look gallops alongside, nor is the primitive practice of black mail altogether neglected: the consequence of these admirable precautions is, that the diligences are seldom or never robbed; the thing, however, is possible.

The whole of this garrisoned Noah's ark is placed under the command of the _Mayoral_ or conductor, who like all Spanish men in authority is a despot, and yet, like them, is open to the conciliatory influences of a bribe. He regulates the hours of toil and sleep, which latter--blessings, says Sancho, on the man who invented it!--is uncertain, and depends on the early or late arrival of the diligence and the state of the roads, for all that is lost of the fixed time on the road is made up for by curtailing the time allowed for repose. One of the many good effects of setting up diligences is the bettering the inns on the road; and it is a safe and general rule to travellers in Spain, whatever be their vehicle, always to inquire in every town which is the _posada_ that the diligence stops at. Persons were dispatched from Madrid to the different stations on the great lines, to fit up houses, bed-rooms, and kitchens, and provide everything for table, service; cooks were sent round to teach the innkeepers to set out and prepare a proper dinner and supper. Thus, in villages in which a few years before the use of a fork was scarcely known, a table was laid out, clean, well served, and abundant. The example set by the diligence inns has produced a beneficial effect, since they offer a model, create compet.i.tion, and suggest the existence of many comforts, which were hitherto unknown among Spaniards, whose abnegation of material enjoyments at home, and praiseworthy endurance of privations of all kinds on journeys, are quite Oriental.

[Sidenote: BEDS FOR TRAVELLERS.]

In some of the new companies every expense is calculated in the fare, to wit, journey, postilions, inns, &c., which is very convenient to the stranger, and prevents the loss of much money and temper. A chapter on the dilly is as much a standing dish in every Peninsular tour as a bullfight or a bandit adventure, for which there is a continual demand in the home-market; and no doubt in the long distances of Spain, where men and women are boxed up for three or four mortal days together (the nights not being omitted), the plot thickens, and opportunity is afforded to appreciate costume and character; the farce or tragedy may be spun out into as many acts as the journey takes days. In general the order of the course is as follows: the breakfast consists at early dawn of a cup of good stiff chocolate, which being the favourite drink of the church and allowable even on fast days, is as nutritious as delicious.

It is accompanied by a bit of roasted or fried bread, and is followed by a gla.s.s of cold water, to drink which is an axiom with all wise men who respect the efficient condition of their livers. After rumbling on, over a given number of leagues, when the pa.s.sengers get well shaken together and hungry, a regular knife and fork breakfast is provided that closely resembles the dinner or supper which is served up later in the evening; the table is plentiful, and the cookery to those who like oil and garlic excellent. Those who do not, can always fall back on the bread and eggs, which are capital; the wine is occasionally like purple blacking, and sometimes serves also as vinegar for the salad, as the oil is said to be used indifferently for lamps or stews; a bad dinner, especially if the bill be long, and the wine sour, does not sweeten the pa.s.sengers'

tempers; they become quarrelsome, and if they have the good luck, a little robber skirmish gives vent to ill-humour.

[Sidenote: THE GALERA.]

At nightfall after supper, a few hours are allowed on your part to steal whatever rest the _mayoral_ and certain _voltigeurs_, creeping and winged, will permit; the beds are plain and clean; sometimes the mattresses may be compared to sacks of walnuts, but there is no pillow so soft as fatigue; the beds are generally arranged in twos, threes, and fours, according to the size of the room. The traveller should immediately on arriving secure his, and see that it is comfortable, for those who neglect to get a good one must sleep in a bad. Generally speaking, by a little management, he may get a room to himself, or at least select his companions. There is, moreover, a real civility and politeness shown by all cla.s.ses of Spaniards, on all occasions, towards strangers and ladies; and that even failing, a small tip, "_una gratificacioncita_," given beforehand to the maid, or the waiter, seldom fails to smooth all difficulties. On these, as on all occasions in Spain, most things may be obtained by good humour, a smile, a joke, a proverb, a cigar, or a bribe, which, though last, is by no means the least resource, since it will be found to mollify the hardest heart and smooth the greatest difficulties, after civil speeches had been tried in vain, for _Dadivas quebrantan penas, y entra sin barrenas_, gifts break rocks, and penetrate without gimlets; again, _Mas ablanda dinero que palabras de Caballero_, cash softens more than a gentleman's palaver.

The mode of driving in Spain, which is so unlike our way of handling the ribbons, will be described presently.

Means of conveyance for those who cannot afford the diligence are provided by vehicles of more genuine Spanish nature and discomfort; they may be compared to the neat accommodation for man and beast which is doled out to third-cla.s.s pa.s.sengers by our monopolist railway kings, who have usurped her Majesty's highway, and fleece her lieges by virtue of act of Parliament.

First and foremost comes the _galera_, which fully justifies its name; and even those who have no value for their time or bones will, after a short trial of the rack and dislocation, exclaim,--"_que diable allais-je faire dans cette galere?_" These machines travel periodically from town to town, and form the chief public and carrier communication between most provincial cities; they are not much changed from that cla.s.sical cart, the _rheda_, into which, as we read in Juvenal, the whole family of Fabricius was conveyed. In Spain these primitive locomotives have stood still in the general advance of this age of progress, and carry us back to our James I., and Fynes Moryson's accounts of "carryers who have long covered waggons, in which they carry pa.s.sengers from city to city; but this kind of journeying is so tedious, by reason they must take waggons very early and come very late to their innes, none but women and people of inferior condition used to travel in this sort." So it is now in Spain.

[Sidenote: CARRIAGES AND CARTS.]

This _galera_ is a long cart without springs; the sides are lined with matting, while beneath hangs a loose open net, as under the calesinas of Naples, in which lies and barks a horrid dog, who keeps a Cerberus watch over iron pots and sieves, and such like gipsey utensils, and who is never to be conciliated. These _galeras_ are of all sizes; but if a _galera_ should be a larger sort of vehicle than is wanted, then a "_tartana_" a sort of covered tilted cart, which is very common in Valencia, and which is so called from a small Mediterranean craft of the same name, will be found convenient.

The packing and departure of the _galera_, when hired by a family who remove their goods, is a thing of Spain; the heavy luggage is stowed in first, and beds and mattresses spread on the top, on which the family repose in admired disorder. The _galera_ is much used by the "poor students" of Spain, a cla.s.s unique of its kind, and full of rags and impudence; their adventures have the credit of being rich and picturesque, and recall some of the accounts of "waggon incidents" in 'Roderick Random,' and Smollett's novels.

Civilization, as connected with the wheel, is still at a low ebb in Spain, notwithstanding the numerous political revolutions. Except in a few great towns, the quiz vehicles remind us of those caricatures at which one laughed so heartily in Paris in 1814; and in Madrid, even down to Ferdinand VII.'s decease, the _Prado_--its rotten row--was filled with antediluvian carriages--grotesque coachmen and footmen to match, which with us would be put into the British Museum; they are now, alas for painters and authors! worn out, and replaced by poor French imitations of good English originals.

[Sidenote: THE COCHE DE COLLERAS.]

As the genuine older Spanish ones were built in remote ages, and before the invention of folding steps, the ascent and descent were facilitated by a three-legged footstool, which dangled, strapped up near the door, as appears in the hieroglyphics of Egypt 4000 years ago; a pair of long-eared fat mules, with hides and tails fantastically cut, was driven by a superannuated postilion in formidable jackboots, and not less formidable c.o.c.ked hat of oil-cloth. In these, how often have we seen Spanish grandees with pedigrees as old-fas.h.i.+oned, gravely taking the air and dust! These slow coaches of old Spain have been rapidly sketched by the clever young American; such are the ups and downs of nations and vehicles. Spain for having discovered America has in return become her b.u.t.t; she cannot go a-head; so the great dust of Alexander may stop a bung-hole, and we too join in the laugh and forget that our ancestors--see Beaumont and Fletcher's 'Maid of the Inn'--talked of "_hurrying_ on featherbeds that move upon four-wheel Spanish _caroches_."

While on these wheel subjects it may be observed that the carts and other machines of Spanish rural locomotion and husbandry have not escaped better; when not Oriental they are Roman; rude in form and material, they are always odd, picturesque, and inconvenient. The peasant, for the most part, scratches the earth with a plough modelled after that invented by Triptolemus, beats out his corn as described by Homer, and carries his harvest home in strict obedience to the rules in the Georgics. The iron work is iniquitous, but both sides of the Pyrenees are centuries behind England; there, absurd tariffs prohibit the importation of our cheap and good work in order to encourage their own bad and dear wares--thus poverty and ignorance are perpetuated.

The carts in the north-west provinces are the unchanged _plaustra_, with solid wheels, the Roman _tympana_ which consist of mere circles of wood, without spokes or axles, much like mill-stones or Parmesan cheeses, and precisely such as the old Egyptians used, as is seen in hieroglyphics, and no doubt much resembling those sent by Joseph for his father, which are still used by the Affghans and other unadvanced coachmakers. The whole wheel turns round together with a piteous creaking; the drivers, whose leathern ears are as blunt as their edgeless teeth, delight in this excruciating _Chirrio_, Arabice _charrar_, to make a _noise_, which they call music, and delight in, because it is cheap and plays to them of itself; they, moreover, think it frightens wolves, bears, and the devil himself, as Don Quixote says, which it well may, for the wheel of Ixion, although d.a.m.ned in h.e.l.l, never whined more piteously. The doleful sounds, however, serve like our waggoners' lively bells, as warnings to other drivers, who, in narrow paths and gorges of rocks, where two carriages cannot pa.s.s, have this notice given them, and draw aside until the coast is clear.

We have reserved some details and the mode of driving for the _coche de colleras_, the _caroche_ of horse-collars, which is the real coach of Spain, and in which we have made many a pleasant trip; it too is doomed to be scheduled away, for Spaniards are descending from these coaches and six to a chariot and pair, and by degrees beautifully less, to a fly.

[Sidenote: THE COCHE DE COLLERAS.]

Mails and diligences, we have said, are only established on the princ.i.p.al high roads connected with Madrid: there are but few local coaches which run from one provincial town to another, where the necessity of frequent and certain intercommunication is little called for. In the other provinces, where these modern conveniences have not been introduced, the earlier mode of travelling is the only resource left to families of children, women, and invalids, who are unable to perform the journey on horseback. This is the _festina lente_, or voiturier system; and from its long continuance in Italy and Spain, in spite of all the improvements adopted in other countries, it would appear to have something congenial and peculiarly fitted to the habits and wants of those cognate nations of the south, who have a Gotho-Oriental dislike to be hurried--_no corre priesa_, there is plenty of time. _Sie haben zeit genug._

[Sidenote: THE MAYORAL.]

The Spanish vetturino, or "_Calesero_," is to be found, as in Italy, standing for hire in particular and well-known places in every princ.i.p.al town. There is not much necessity for hunting for _him_; he has the Italian instinctive perception of a stranger and traveller, and the same importunity in volunteering himself, his cattle, and carriage, for any part of Spain. The man, however, and his equipage are peculiarly Spanish; his carriage and his team have undergone little change during the last two centuries, and are the representatives of the former ones of Europe; they resemble those vehicles once used in England, which may still be seen in the old prints of country-houses by Kip; or, as regards France, in the pictures of Louis XIV.'s journeys and campaigns by Vandermeulen. They are the remnant of the once universal "coach and six," in which according to Pope, who was not infallible, British fair were to delight for ever. The "_coche de colleras_" is a huge c.u.mbrous machine, built after the fas.h.i.+on of a reduced lord mayor's coach, or some of the equipages of the old cardinals at Rome. It is ornamented with rude sculpture, gilding, and painting of glaring colour, but the modern pea-jacket and round hat spoil the picture which requires pa.s.sengers dressed in brocade and full-bottomed wigs; the fore-wheels are very low, the hind ones very high, and both remarkably narrow in the tire; remember when they stick in the mud, and the drivers call upon Santiago, to push the vehicle out _backwards_, as the more you draw it forwards the deeper you get into the mire. The pole sticks out like the bowsprit of a s.h.i.+p, and contains as much wood and iron work as would go to a small waggon. The interior is lined with gay silk and gaudy plush, adorned with lace and embroidery, with doors that open indifferently and windows that do not shut well; latterly the general poverty and _prose_ of transpyrenean civilization has effaced much of these ornate nationalities, both in coach and drivers; better roads and lighter vehicles require fewer horses, which were absolutely necessary formerly to drag the heavy concern through heavier ways.

[Sidenote: THE ZAGAL.]

[Sidenote: DRIVING IN SPAIN.]

The luggage is piled up behind, or stowed away in a front boot. The management of driving this vehicle is conducted by two persons. The master is called the "_mayoral_;" his helper or cad the "_mozo_," or, more properly, "_el zagal_," from the Arabic, "a strong active youth."

The costume is peculiar, and is based on that of Andalucia, which sets the fas.h.i.+on all over the Peninsula, in all matters regarding bull-fighting, horse-dealing, robbing, smuggling, and so forth. He wears on his head a gay-coloured silk handkerchief, tied in such a manner that the tails hang down behind; over this remnant of the Moorish turban he places a high-peaked sugarloaf-shaped hat with broad brims; his jaunty jacket is made either of black sheepskin, studded with silver tags and filigree b.u.t.tons, or of brown cloth, with the back, arms, and particularly the elbows, welted and tricked out with flowers and vases, cut in patches of different-coloured cloth and much embroidered. When the jacket is not worn, it is usually hung over the left shoulder, after the hussar fas.h.i.+on. The waistcoat is made of rich fancy silk; the breeches of blue or green velvet plush, ornamented with stripes and filigree b.u.t.tons, and tied at the knee with silken cords and ta.s.sels; the neck is left open, and the s.h.i.+rt collar turned down, and a gaudy neck-handkerchief is worn, oftener pa.s.sed through a ring than tied in a knot; his waist is girt with a red sash, or with one of a bright yellow.

This "_faja_,"[3] a _sine qua non_, is the old Roman zona; it serves also for a purse, "girds the loins," and keeps up a warmth over the abdomen, which is highly beneficial in hot climates, and wards off any tendency to irritable colic; in the sash is stuck the "_navaja_," the knife, which is part and parcel of a Spaniard, and behind the "_zagal_"

usually places his stick. The richly embroidered gaiters are left open at the outside to show a handsome stocking; the shoes are yellow, like those of our cricketers, and are generally made of untanned calfskin, which being the colour of dust require no cleaning. The _caleseros_ on the eastern coast wear the Valencian stocking, which has no feet to it--being open at bottom, it is likened by wags to a Spaniard's purse; instead of top boots they wear the ancient Roman sandals, made of the _esparto_ rush, with hempen soles, which are called "_alpargatas_,"

Arabice _Alpalgah_. The "_zagal_" follows the fas.h.i.+on in dress of the "_mayoral_," as nearly as his means will permit him. He is the servant of all-work, and must be ready on every occasion; nor can any one who has ever seen the hard and incessant toil which these men undergo, justly accuse them of being indolent--a reproach which has been cast somewhat indiscriminately on all the lower cla.s.ses of Spain; he runs by the side of the carriage, picks up stones to pelt the mules, ties and unties knots, and pours forth a volley of blows and oaths from the moment of starting to that of arrival. He sometimes is indulged with a ride by the side of the mayoral on the box, when he always uses the tail of the hind mule to pull himself up into his seat. The harnessing the six animals is a difficult operation; first the tackle of ropes is laid out on the ground, then each beast is brought into his portion of the rigging. The start is always an important ceremony, and, as our royal mail used to do in the country, brings out all the idlers in the vicinity. When the team is harnessed, the mayoral gets all his skeins of ropes into his hand, the "_zagal_" his sash full of stones, the helpers at the venta their sticks; at a given signal all fire a volley of oaths and blows at the team, which, once in motion, away it goes, pitching over ruts deep as routine prejudices, with its pole dipping and rising like a s.h.i.+p in a rolling sea, and continues at a brisk pace, performing from twenty-five to thirty miles a-day. The hours of starting are early, in order to avoid the mid-day heat; in these matters the Spanish customs are pretty much the same with the Italian; the _calesero_ is always the best judge of the hours of departure and these minor details, which vary according to circ.u.mstances.

Whenever a particularly bad bit of road occurs, notice is given to the team by calling over their names, and by crying out "_arre, arre_,"

gee-up, which is varied with "_firme, firme_," steady, boy, steady! The names of the animals are always fine-sounding and polysyllabic; the accent is laid on the last syllable, which is always dwelt on and lengthened out with a particular emphasis--_Capitana-a_--_Bandolera-a_--_Generala-a_--_Valerosa-a_.

All this vocal driving is performed at the top of the voice, and, indeed, next to scaring away crows in a field, must be considered the best possible practice for the lungs. The team often exceeds six in number, and never is less; the proportion of females predominates: there is generally one male mule making the seventh, who is called "_el macho_," the male par excellence, like the Grand Turk, or a substantive in a speech in Cortes, which seldom has less than half a dozen epithets: he invariably comes in for the largest share of abuse and ill usage, which, indeed, he deserves the most, as the male mule is infinitely more stubborn and viciously inclined than the female. Sometimes there is a horse of the Rosinante breed; he is called "_el cavallo_," or rather, as it is p.r.o.nounced, "_el caval yo-o_." The horse is always the best used of the team; to be a rider, "_caballero_," is the Spaniard's synonym for gentleman; and it is their correct mode of addressing each other, and is banded gravely among the lower orders, who never have crossed any quadruped save a mule or a jacka.s.s.

[Sidenote: SWEARING.]

The driving a _coche de colleras_ is quite a science of itself, and is observed in conducting _diligences_; it amuses the Spanish "_majo_" or fancy-man as much as coach-driving does the fancy-man of England; the great art lies not in handling the ribbons, but in the proper modulation of the voice, since the cattle are always addressed individually by their names; the first syllables are p.r.o.nounced very rapidly; the "_macho_," the male mule, who is the most abused, is the only one who is not addressed by any names beyond that of his s.e.x: the word is repeated with a voluble iteration; in order to make the two syllables longer, they are strung together thus, _macho--macho--macho--macho-o_: they begin in semiquavers, flowing on crescendo to a semibreve or breve, so the four words are compounded into one polysyllable. The horse, _caballo_, is simply called so; he has no particular name of his own, which the female mules are never without, and which they perfectly know--indeed, the owners will say that they understand them, and all bad language, as well as Christian women, "_como Cristianas_;" and, to do the beasts justice, they seem more shocked and discomfited thereby than the bipeds who profess the same creed. If the animal called to does not answer by p.r.i.c.king up her ears, or by quickening her pace, the threat of "_la vara_," the stick, is added--the last argument of Spanish drivers, men in office, and schoolmasters, with whom there is no sort of reason equal to that of the bastinado, "_no hay tal razon, como la del baston_." It operates on the timorous more than "unadorned eloquence."

The Moors thought so highly of the bastinado, that they held the stick to be a special gift from Allah to the faithful. It holds good, _a priori_ and _a posteriori_, to mule and boy, "_al hijo y mulo, para el culo_;" and if the "_macho_" be in fault, and he is generally punished to encourage the others, some abuse is added to blows, such as "_que perro-o_," "what a dog!" or some unhandsome allusion to his mother, which is followed by throwing a stone at the leaders, for no whip could reach them from the coach-box. When any particular mule's name is called, if her companion be the next one to be abused, she is seldom addressed by her name, but is spoken to as "_a la otra-a_," "_aquella otra-a_," "Now for that other one," which from long a.s.sociation is expected and acknowledged. The team obeys the voice and is in admirable command. Few things are more entertaining than driving them, especially over bad roads; but it requires much practice in Spanish speaking and swearing.

[Sidenote: SPANISH OATHS.]

[Sidenote: HINTS FOR HIRING.]

Among the many commandments that are always broken in Spain, that of "swear not at all" is not the least. "Our army swore l.u.s.tily in Flanders," said Uncle Toby. But few nations can surpa.s.s the Spaniards in the language of vituperation: it is limited only by the extent of their anatomical, geographical, astronomical, and religious knowledge; it is so plentifully bestowed on their animals--"un muletier a ce jeu vaut trois rois"--that oaths and imprecations seem to be considered as the only language the mute creation can comprehend; and as actions are generally suited to the words, the combination is remarkably effective.

As much of the traveller's time on the road must be pa.s.sed among beasts and muleteers, who are not unlike them, some knowledge of their sayings and doings is of great use: to be able to talk to them in their own lingo, to take an interest in them and in their animals, never fails to please; "_Por vida del demonio, mas sabe Usia que nosotros_;" "by the life of the devil, your honour knows more than we," is a common form of compliment. When once equality is established, the master mind soon becomes the real master of the rest. The great oath of Spain, which ought never to be written or p.r.o.nounced, practically forms the foundation of the language of the lower orders; it is a most ancient remnant of the phallic abjuration of the evil eye, the dreaded fascination which still perplexes the minds of Orientals, and is not banished from Spanish and Neapolitan superst.i.tions.[4] The word terminates in _ajo_, on which great stress is laid: the _j_ is p.r.o.nounced with a most Arabic, guttural aspiration. The word _ajo_ means also garlic, which is quite as often in Spanish mouths, and is exactly what Hotspur liked, a "mouth-filling oath," energetic and Michael Angelesque. The pun has been extended to onions: thus, "_ajos y cebollas_" means oaths and imprecations. The sting of the oath is in the "_ajo_;" all women and quiet men, who do not wish to be particularly objurgatory, but merely to enforce and give a little additional vigour, un soupcon d'ail, or a shotting to their discourse, drop the offensive "_ajo_," and say "_car_," "_carai_," "_caramba_." The Spanish oath is used as a verb, as a substantive, as an adjective, just as it suits the grammar or the wrath of the utterer. It is equivalent also to a certain place and the person who lives there. "_Vaya Usted al C--ajo_" is the worst form of the angry "_Vaya Usted al demonio_," or "_a los infiernos_," and is a whimsical mixture of courtesy and transportation.

"Your Grace may go to the devil, or to the infernal regions!"

Thus these imprecatory vegetables retain in Spain their old Egyptian flavour and mystical charm; as on the Nile, according to Pliny, onions and garlic were wors.h.i.+pped as adjuratory divinities. The Spaniards have also added most of the gloomy northern Gothic oaths, which are imprecatory, to the Oriental, which are grossly sensual. Enough of this.

The traveller who has much to do with Spanish mules and a.s.ses, biped or quadruped, will need no hand-book to teach him the sixty-five or more "_serments espaignols_" on which Mons. de Brantome wrote a treatise.

More becoming will it be to the English gentleman to swear not at all; a reasonable indulgence in _Caramba_ is all that can be permitted; the custom is more honoured in the breach than in the observance, and bad luck seldom deserts the house of the imprecator. "_En la casa del que jura, no falta desaventura._"

[Sidenote: HINTS FOR HIRING.]

Previously to hiring one of these "coaches of collars," which is rather an expensive amus.e.m.e.nt, every possible precaution should be taken in clearly and minutely specifying everything to be done, and the price; the Spanish "_caleseros_" rival their Italian colleagues in that untruth, roguery, and dishonesty, which seem everywhere to combine readily with jockeys.h.i.+p, and distinguishes those who handle the whip, "do jobbings," and conduct mortals by horses; the fee to be given to the drivers should never be included in the bargain, as the keeping this important item open and dependent on the good behaviour of the future recipients offers a sure check over master and man, and other road-cla.s.ses. In justice, however, to this cla.s.s of Spaniards, it may be said that on the whole they are civil, good-humoured, and hard-working, and, from not having been accustomed to either the screw bargaining or alternate extravagance of the English travellers in Italy, are as tolerably fair in their transactions as can be expected from human nature brought in constant contact with four-legged and four-wheeled temptations. They offer to the artist an endless subject of the picturesque; everything connected with them is full of form, colour, and originality. They can do nothing, whether sitting, driving, sleeping, or eating, that does not make a picture; the same may be said of their animals and their habits and harness; those who draw will never find the midday halt long enough for the infinite variety of subject and scenery to which their travelling equipage and attendants form the most peculiar and appropriate foreground: while our modern poetasters will consider them quite as worthy of being sung in immortal verse as the Cambridge carrier Hobson, who was Milton's choice.

[Sidenote: THE ANDALUCIAN HORSE.]

CHAPTER VII.

Spanish Horses--Mules--a.s.ses--Muleteers--Maragatos.

We now proceed to Spanish quadrupeds, having placed the wheel-carriages before the horses. That of Andalucia takes precedence of all; he fetches the highest price, and the Spaniards in general value no other breed; they consider his configuration and qualities as perfect, and in some respects they are right, for no horse is more elegant or more easy in his motions, none are more gentle or docile, none are more quick in acquiring showy accomplishments, or in performing feats of Astleyan agility; he has very little in common with the English blood-horse; his mane is soft and silky, and is frequently plaited with gay ribbons; his tail is of great length, and left in all the proportions of nature, not cropped and docked, by which Voltaire was so much offended:--

"Fiers et bizarres Anglais, qui des memes ciseaux Coupez la tete aux rois, et la queue aux chevaux."

[Sidenote: OTHER SPANISH HORSES.]

It often trails to the very ground, while the animal has perfect command over it, las.h.i.+ng it on every side as a gentleman switches his cane; therefore, when on a journey, it is usual to double and tie it up, after the fas.h.i.+on of the ancient pig-tails of our sailors. The Andalucian horse is round in his quarters, though inclined to be small in the barrel; he is broad-chested, and always carries his head high, especially when going a good pace; his length of leg adds to his height, which sometimes reaches to sixteen hands; he never, however, stretches out with the long graceful sweep of the English thorough-bred; his action is apt to be loose and shambling, and he is given to _dis.h.i.+ng_ with the feet. The pace is, notwithstanding, perfectly delightful. From being very long in the pastern, the motion is broken as it were by the springs of a carriage; their pace is the peculiar "_paso Castellano_,"