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ANDUJAR.

LETTER XXXIX.

ROBBERS OF ANDUJAR--STERILITY

OF THE TABLE LAND

OF SPAIN-SUFFERINGS OF THE PEASANTRY-THEIR MANNER OF LIVING-ENTRY OF THE QUEEN MOTHER INTO THE CAPITAL-PREPARATIONS TO RECEIVE HER.

Madrid, March.

Ar the close of our second day's journey from Seville, we felt that we were fast leaving behind us the lovely south of Spain-sweet Andalusia, land of the chivalric Moor, whence "Afric's echoes thrilled with Moorish matrons' wail." It had taken us longer to perform the diurnal quantum of our journey, and was dark when our heavy diligence lumbered into the court-yard of the inn at Andujar. The dinner was on the table; and the hungry inmates of a diligence just arrived from Madrid were already doing their "devoir" at the board, and our keen appetites induced us unceremoniously to join. I cannot say that the viands were rendered more palatable by the conversation which seemed to enliven all; the subject was the late robbery of the diligence (mentioned in my last,) a few miles from this place, at a point which we had yet to pass. But we had little time to devote to sleep, and were warned to separate and make the most of it.

"A sleep without dreams, after a rough day

Of toil, is what we envy most; and yet"

I will wager something that brigands and robbers played their parts before the "mind's eye" of some of the sleepers in the inn of Andujar that night. But it did not prevent sleep

altogether, as I can answer from the reluctance as well as difficulty with which I roused myself at the midnight call of our mayoral. Once in the diligence, and wide awake, we had nought to do but lie in wait for the robbers, as we feared they were doing for us.

We had been progressing about an hour, when, at halfpast one in the morning, I fancied I could see a bright light glimmering in the fields, while yet a far way off. I watched it silently; my husband being apparently in a deep sleep. As we came nearer, the light increased in size and brightness, and I could soon see that it was a large bonfire a little distance on the road, on our right. With my excited fancy, I readily made this out to be a signal of the robbers, and I held my breath with fear, but still had presence of mind to endeavor to remove such personal ornaments as I had about me, and to put them in some place more secure. We went rolling, rolling on, yet it seemed as if we made no progress. At last we reached it, passed it, and were safe; yet it was some time ere my breath came naturally.

My feelings had scarcely subsided to a calm, when-oh, horror!-I espied another light. It was on the opposite side, about the same distance from the road; and this I supposed the answer to the signal, and that at this spot we were to meet our fate. My fears you may be sure were increased ten-fold, and my feelings I will not attempt to describe. Minutes seemed hours again, till we left this fire also behind us, and our peril was over.

All this time I had remained perfectly still, and supposed my husband unconscious of all; but the next day, when I began to relate my past experience of the night, I found he had been as wide awake as myself, having the same suspicions of the lights, and taking the same precautions with his valuables. And his belief still is, that the lights were what we thought them—the banditti's signals; but that, through

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ASCENT OF THE SIERRA.

some misunderstanding or misadventure on their part, their plans failed, and we escaped.

We met, this and the day before, a number of mounted patrol, who had been sent out since the robbery to guard the road; but when one reflects upon the real necessity of their being there, it takes from the fancied security which their well-mounted and armed appearance at first sight gives.

We woke from a broken and unrefreshing sleep, and looked out upon a landscape that was desolate and drear in comparison with that through which we had been journeying; and there was nought to relieve the eye save where "the dark sierras rose in craggy pride." We breakfasted at La Carolina; and here commenced an ascent of the Sierra Morena. The distant mountains of Castile were cov ered with snow, the wind blew a perfect hurricane, and the rain came furiously at times, adding to the gloom of the utter barrenness of the country; and, making up for our wakeful night, we slept away the day.

We rested at night at Val de Pènas, a most unpromising town in appearance, containing about three thousand inhabbitants and actually without a pane of glass in the place! It is celebrated for the excellence of its wines, and nowhere have we tasted so bad. At midnight we were again roused, and continued all night our winding way up the "Morena's dusky height," suffering severely from excessive cold. The country, during this our last day's ride, was desolate in the extreme; the people of the villages seemed miserably poor, the face of the country barren, and so utterly devoid of tree or shrub as to afford nothing for fuel, so that the poor creatures must suffer immeasurably from cold.

In the afternoon we passed through a village where the inhabitants live like rabbits or swallows in the earth, having their habitations in the side of the hills around, composed of a clay or tuffa soil; and those who presented themselves to

THE QUEEN-MOTHER.

347

solicit charity, while we were changing horses, were the most deformed and miserable looking human beings we have yet encountered, exceeding even the poverty-stricken Irish or Italians.

It is a little singular, that in no part of Spain did we see a solitary windmill, till having attained the table-land of the Sierra Morena, and entered upon old Castile--when we saw numbers of them swinging their giant arms, seeming to challenge and defy all crack-brained errant-knights; one could not help thinking of that unfortunate wight, the knight of La Mancha.

All the centre of Spain is occupied by a high table-land, a dreary desert waste, barren of everything like vegetation, and perfectly denuded of trees. On this barren upland plain, Madrid is placed, and cold and dreary is the situation; with the snowy peaks of Toledo enclosing it, relieved only by the blue sky around. We reached it on the fifth morning, after a journey of four successive days and nights, and despite our fatigue, and the desolation of the country through which we travelled, Madrid appeared truly vegal and magnificent, perhaps the more so from contrast. We crossed the river Guadalaxara, which at this time had little or no water, by a bridge that is massive, magnificent and stupendous; the means certainly more than the necessity in this case. We learned at Araguez that the Queen-Mother slept at that place the night previous, the young Queen coming thus far to meet and welcome her royal mother, whom she had not seen for nearly four years. They arrived at Madrid Saturday evening, we Sunday morning, so that we had all the benefit of the decorations and gala scenes got up to honor majesty. We passed through a beautifully decorated arch, outside of which was an amphitheatre of seats with an awning of rich silks and velvets, where were stationed the dignitaries and nobility of the city, to receive and welcome

348

FOUNTAINS MADRID.

the royal cortège, and whom all the people came out to see. Passing through the arch, we entered upon the Prada or Alameda, which has at one end a fountain representing Neptune standing in a car drawn by sea-horses, and at the other end a female figure sitting in a chariot drawn by lions; in the centre is an obelisk with a statue on the top; four other statues are on either side, each pouring forth their quota of limpid water. There are, beside, four lesser fountains, very pretty and graceful; and near by is an obelisk, erected to the memory of the three hundred Spaniards shot by order of Murat, for rebellion and massacre of the French, while they had possession of Madrid.

In my next, I will give you a description of Madrid in gala dress.