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                          THE SPANISH SERIES


                          VALENCIA AND MURCIA




                          THE SPANISH SERIES

                     _EDITED BY ALBERT F. CALVERT_


                      GOYA
                      TOLEDO
                      MADRID
                      SEVILLE
                      MURILLO
                      CORDOVA
                      EL GRECO
                      VELAZQUEZ
                      THE PRADO
                      THE ESCORIAL
                      VALENCIA AND MURCIA
                      SCULPTURE IN SPAIN
                      ROYAL PALACES OF SPAIN
                      GRANADA AND ALHAMBRA
                      SPANISH ARMS AND ARMOUR
                      LEON, BURGOS AND SALAMANCA
                      CATALONIA AND THE BALEARIC ISLES
                      VALLADOLID, OVIEDO, SEGOVIA,
                         ZAMORA, AVILA AND ZARAGOZA




                               VALENCIA
                              AND MURCIA
                       A GLANCE AT AFRICAN SPAIN
                           BY A. F. CALVERT
                            WITH 288 PLATES


                  LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD
                  NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY: MCMXI




      THE BALLANTYNE PRESS TAVISTOCK STREET COVENT GARDEN LONDON




CONTENTS


                                                                    PAGE

THE OLD KINGDOM OF VALENCIA                                            1

SAGUNTUM AND CASTELLON                                                26

THE KINGDOM OF MURCIA                                                 33




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS


VALENCIA

TITLE                                                              PLATE

General View                                                           1

General View, looking South                                            2

View from the Puente del Mar                                           3

General View                                                           4

View from the Puente del Mar                                           5

Entrance to the Town by the Puerta de Santa Lucia                      6

The Fair at the Puerta de Santa Lucia                                  7

Puerta de Serranos                                                     8

Puerta de Cuarte                                                       9

The Market-Place                                                      10

The Puente Real                                                       11

Paseo de la Glorieta                                                  12

Paseo de la Glorieta                                                  13

Paseo de la Alameda                                                   14

Fountain of the Alameda                                               15

Plaza de la Aduana                                                    16

Plaza de Santo Domingo                                                17

Plaza de San Francisco                                                18

Plaza de Tétuan                                                       19

Plaza de la Constitucion                                              20

Calle de la Bajada de San Francisco                                   21

Calle de San Vicente                                                  22

Tros Alt                                                              23

Calle de la Bolseria y Tros Alt                                       24

General View of the Cathedral                                         25

The Cathedral: Gate of the Apostles                                   26

The Cathedral: Puerta del Palau                                       27

The Cathedral: A Door                                                 28

The Temple                                                            29

The Miguelete                                                         30

Church of Santa Catalina                                              31

Church of Santa Catalina                                              32

Church of Los Santos Juanes                                           33

Façade of San Miguel el Real                                          34

Church of Santa Cruz                                                  35

Church of Santa Cruz                                                  36

Entrance to the Church of San Andrés                                  37

The Campo-Santo                                                       38

The Campo-Santo                                                       39

The Campo-Santo                                                       40

The Audiencia, old Palace of the Cortes                               41

Royal Hall in the Audiencia, upper part                               42

Royal Hall in the Audiencia, lower part                               43

Interior Door of the Audiencia                                        44

The Exchange                                                          45

The Exchange: Detail of the Gallery                                   46

Interior of the Exchange                                              47

Interior Door of the Exchange                                         48

Colegio del Patriarca                                                 49

Courtyard in the Colegio del Patriarca                                50

Courtyard of the University                                           51

Entrance to the Civil Hospital                                        52

Gate of Mosen S’Orrell                                                53

The Custom-House                                                      54

The Archbishop’s Palace                                               55

The Bull-Ring                                                         56

Tobacco Factory                                                       57

A Private House                                                       58

Statue of King Jaime                                                  59

Statue of Ribera                                                      60

Statue of St Christopher                                              61

Palace of the Marqués de Dos Aguas                                    62

Palace of the Marqués de Dos Aguas                                    63

Portal of the Palace of the Marqués de Dos Aguas                      64

Palace of the Marqués de Ripalda                                      65

General View of Grao                                                  66

Grao Harbour                                                          67

Grao Harbour                                                          68

Grao Harbour                                                          69

Camino del Grao: Hermitage of Ave Maria                               70

A “Tartana,” or Char-à-banc                                           71

Peasants                                                              72

Peasants                                                              73

Peasants                                                              74

Types of Women                                                        75

“Tribunal des Eaux”                                                   76

Barbers on the Bridge of Serranos                                     77

Zigzag of the Cabrillas                                               78

A Road in Cabañal                                                     79

A Road in Cabañal                                                     80

The Shores of the Mediterranean                                       81

The Shores of the Mediterranean                                       82


MURVIEDRO

General View                                                          83

General View                                                          84

View from the Station                                                 85

View from the Castle                                                  86

The Castle and Town                                                   87

The Castle                                                            88

The Castle from one of the Courts                                     89

Entrance to the Castle                                                90

General View of the Roman Amphitheatre                                91

General View of the Roman Amphitheatre                                92

The Roman Amphitheatre                                                93

Interior of the Roman Amphitheatre                                    94

Principal Gate of the Roman Amphitheatre                              95

Entrance to the Roman Amphitheatre                                    96

Entrance to the Roman Amphitheatre                                    97

JATIVA

General View                                                          98

View from the Station                                                 99

The Civil Hospital                                                   100


ALICANTE

General View                                                         101

The Castle                                                           102

View from the Castle                                                 103

The Breakwater                                                       104

General View                                                         105

General View                                                         106

General View                                                         107

Paseo de los Martires                                                108

Paseo de los Martires                                                109

Paseo de los Martires                                                110

Paseo de los Martires                                                111

Paseo de Nuñez                                                       112

The Town Hall                                                        113

The Town Hall                                                        113

Monument to Quijano                                                  115

The Bull-Ring                                                        116


ELCHE

General View                                                         117

General View                                                         118

General View                                                         119

View of the Town                                                     120

Plaza Mayor                                                          121

View from the Station                                                122

The Road to Alicante                                                 123

The Road from Alicante                                               124

The Town Hall                                                        125

Church of San Juan                                                   126

Bridge over the Rambla de Elche                                      127

View from the Railway Bridge                                         128

The Canal                                                            129

Washing Linen in the Canal                                           130

A Canal                                                              131

Tower of Rapsamblanc, belonging to the Conde de
Luna                                                                 132

Castle of the Duque de Altamira, now a Prison                        133

Mill and Castle of the Duque de Altamira                             134

Castle of the Duque de Altamira                                      135

Castle and Mill                                                      136

Palms                                                                137

Country Spinners                                                     138

Casa de la Huerta                                                    139

A Country Road                                                       140

A Country House                                                      141

A Country House                                                      142

A Famous Palm                                                        143

A Palm celebrated for its Resemblance to a Column                    144

Palm Groves                                                          145

A Road                                                               146


SAX

General View                                                         147


MURCIA

General View                                                         148

View from the Tower of the Cathedral, towards the
South                                                                149

View of the Town                                                     150

General View of the Town                                             151

General View of the Town                                             152

General View of the Town                                             153

General View                                                         154

The Bridge                                                           155

The River                                                            156

The Bridge over the Segura                                           157

The River Segura                                                     158

The Fair                                                             159

The Fair                                                             160

The Market-Place                                                     161

Plaza de Santo Domingo on Market-Day                                 162

Paseo del Malecon                                                    163

Plaza de Santa Catalina                                              164

Plaza de Toros, now Plaza de San Agustin                             165

Paseo del Arenal                                                     166

Plaza de San Pedro                                                   167

Paseo de Floridablanca and Palace of the Exhibition                  168

Plaza de Santa Isabella                                              169

Calle del Puente                                                     170

Plaza de la Gloriéta                                                 171

Plaza de la Gloriéta                                                 172

The Cathedral                                                        173

General View of the Cathedral                                        174

Principal Façade of the Cathedral                                    175

Tower of the Cathedral                                               176

Side Door of the Cathedral                                           177

The Cathedral: Gate of the Apostles                                  178

The Cathedral: Chapel of the Marqués de los Velez                    179

The Cathedral: Detail of the Façade                                  180

Detail of the Cathedral                                              181

The Cathedral: Window of the Belfry                                  182

The Cathedral: Principal Nave                                        183

The Cathedral: Lateral Nave                                          184

The Cathedral: Behind the Choir                                      185

The Cathedral: Entrance to the Chapel of the Marqués
de los Velez                                                         186

The Cathedral: Chapel of the Marqués de los Velez                    187

The Cathedral: The High Altar                                        188

The Cathedral: The High Altar                                        189

The Cathedral: General View of the Choir                             190

The Cathedral: The Bishop’s Throne, in the Choir                     191

The Cathedral: Detail of the Choir Stalls                            192

The Cathedral: Detail of the Choir Stalls                            193

The Cathedral: The Sacristy                                          194

The Cathedral: Tomb of Alfonso the Wise                              195

Church of Santo Domingo                                              196

Church of Santo Domingo                                              197

Church of San Bartolomé                                              198

Façade of the Convent de la Misericordia                             199

Palace of the Marqués de Villafranca de los Velez, and
Convent of Santa Clara                                               200

The Episcopal Palace                                                 201

Casa Huerta de las Bombas                                            202

Palace of the Marqués de Almodovar                                   203

Palace of the Baron de Albalá                                        204

Palace of the Marqués de Espinardo                                   205

The “Contraste”                                                      206

Monument to Salzillo                                                 207

Roman Altar dedicated to Peace, found in Carthagena
and moved in 1594 to the Palace of the Marqués de
Espinardo                                                            208

House in the Calle Jaboneria                                         209

House of the Painter Villasis                                        210

A Balcony in the Calle Traperia                                      211

Puerta Cadenas                                                       212

Teatro de Romea                                                      213

The Bull-Ring                                                        214

The Town Hall                                                        215

The Town Hall                                                        216

Procession leaving the Church of Jesus in Holy Week--St.
Veronica                                                             217

Procession leaving the Church of Jesus in Holy Week--The
Kiss of Judas                                                        218

Procession in Holy Week. The Garden of Gethsemane                    219

Procession in Holy Week. Our Lord Falling                            220

Procession in Holy Week. The Scourging                               221

Church of Jesus. The Last Supper, by Zarzillo                        222

Pilgrimage of St. Blas                                               223

Ruins of the Arab Baths                                              224

Environs of Murcia: Convent of San Jeronimo                          225

Environs of Murcia: Hermitage of the Fuensanta                       226

Environs of Murcia: Hermitage of the Fuensanta                       227

Environs of Murcia: Hermitage of the Fuensanta                       228

Environs of Murcia: Castle of Monteagudo                             229

Paisaje de la Huerta                                                 230

Paisaje de la Huerta                                                 231

Paisaje de la Huerta                                                 232

A Cart Loaded with “Tinajas”                                         233

Harvest-Time                                                         234

Environs of Murcia: The Huerta des Capucins                          235

Environs of Murcia: The Huerta des Capucins                          236

Environs of Murcia: View from the Huerta des
Capucins                                                             237

Environs of Murcia: The Huerta des Capucins--Date-Gathering          238


ORIHUELA

General View                                                         239

General View from the Puerta de Murcia                               240

The River Segura                                                     241

The River Segura from the East                                       242

Door of the Church of Santiago                                       243


CARTHAGENA

General View                                                         244

A Partial View                                                       245

View from the Station                                                246

View from the High Road                                              247

View from Quitapellijos                                              248

View from the Fort of Atalaya                                        249

View from the Fort of Atalaya                                        250

View from St. Joseph’s Mill                                          251

View from St. Joseph’s Mill                                          252

View from the Fort of Galera                                         253

View from the Fort of Galera                                         254

View of the Harbour                                                  255

Santa Lucia and the Harbour                                          256

The Harbour from Santa Lucia                                         257

The Harbour from Santa Lucia                                         258

The Harbour from the Powder Magazine                                 259

The Harbour from Trincabatijos                                       260

View from the Esplanadero                                            261

The Entrance to the Harbour from Trincabatijos                       262

The Breakwater                                                       263

Entrance to the Harbour                                              264

Entrance to the Arsenal                                              265

Puerta del Mar                                                       266

Puerta de Murcia                                                     267

Plaza de las Monjas                                                  268

The Marine College                                                   269

The Bull-Ring                                                        270


ARCHENA

The Baths, from La Sierra de Verdelena                               271

General View of the Baths from the West                              272

General View of the Baths at the Entrance to the
Village                                                              273

Entrance to the Baths                                                274

The Carretera and River Segura                                       275

View of the Church                                                   276

Interior of the Church                                               277

The Church: Altar of the “Virgen de la Salud”                        278

Environs of Archena: View of Villanueva                              279

Environs of Archena: View of Blanca from the Salto del
Palomo                                                               280

Environs of Archena: View of Blanca from Bujamente                   281

Environs of Archena: Village and Gardens of Ulea
from Villanueva                                                      282

Environs of Archena: Village and Gardens of Ulea,
East Side                                                            283

Environs of Archena: Village of Ojos and Mountains                   284

Environs of Archena: The Gardens of Ojos, from the
Lovers’ Leap                                                         285

Environs of Archena: The Lovers’ Leap                                286


LORCA

General View                                                         287

View from the Railway Station                                        288




VALENCIA & MURCIA




THE OLD KINGDOM OF VALENCIA


Shut in between the barren range of the Sierra Molina on the north, and
the arid plains of Murcia to the south, the ancient Kingdom of Valencia
is one of the regions of Spain least visited by the tourist. And yet, a
flowering and fruitful Eden, it lies beneath a burning sun, its waters
trained in obedience to the hand of man. It puts forth a vegetation of
tropical luxuriance. Demeter has blessed the land. Under the soft
caressing winds that sweep up from the Mediterranean the soil yields
four or five crops in the year to the industry of the peasant. And if at
times the dreaded sirocco, charged with poisonous vapours from the
Albufera, lays the country prostrate--well, for every Paradise was
devised a snake!

The people of the province, with the exception of those of Orihuela,
speak that variety of the Romance which I may call Catalan, and which,
with local modification, is common all along the eastern coast of Spain
from the mouth of the Segura to the frontier of Rousillon. Limousin, as
it is sometimes called, is not a mere dialect, but a quite distinct
language, a survival of the old _Langue d’oc_. Probably it was spoken by
those Romanised Spaniards who were driven north of the Pyrenees by the
Arabic invasion. It would be restored by them when they reconquered this
portion of their old territory. The Christian population, before
Valencia was recovered by Jaime el Conqueridor of Aragon, spoke
Castilian or a tongue akin to it. But the Catalan of the new rulers was
stronger, and soon swept aside the common speech of the people.
Curiously enough, this same Catalan was not the language used in Aragon
itself, a fact which no doubt had a strong determining influence in the
choice of Castilian at the time of the unification of the two kingdoms.
Why Orihuela alone clung to its old Castilian tongue in despite of the
Conqueror is not clear, unless it was owing merely to the proximity of
Murcia.

In character the Valencians are superstitious, revengeful, relentless in
hate. “Ni olvido ni perdono” is their motto. They love the colour and
joy of life. Dancing and love-making are their chief delights. And yet
they are a laborious race. But their white, rather flabby appearance
proclaims them lacking in backbone and initiative. “Flesh is grass, and
grass is water. The men are women, the women--nothing!” says their own
proverb.

The fertile huerta has found its novelist in Blasco Ibañez, a native of
Valencia, who has beautifully described the languid life of the
province. A translation must necessarily lack the force and elegance of
the master’s style, but the following passages will at least enable the
reader to picture a summer in the south:

“When the vast plain awakes in the bluish light of dawn, the last of the
nightingales that have sung through the night breaks off abruptly in his
final trill, as though he had been stricken by the steely shaft of day.
Sparrows in whole coveys burst forth from the thatched roofs, and
beneath this aerial rabble preening their wings the trees shake and nod.

“One by one the murmurs of the night subside; the trickling of the
water-courses, the sighing of the reeds, the barking of the watchful
dogs, other sounds belonging to the day, grow louder and fill the
huerta, the crow of the cock is heard from every farm, and the village
bells proclaim the call to prayer borne across from the towers of
Valencia, which are yet misty in the distance. From the farmyards arises
a discordant animal concert--the neighing of horses, the bellowing of
oxen, the clucking of hens, the bleating of lambs, the grunting of
swine--the sounds produced by beasts that scent the keen odour of
vegetation in the morning breeze and are hungry for the fields.

“The sky is suffused with light, and with light life inundates the plain
and penetrates to the interior of human and animal abodes. Doors open
creaking. In the porches white figures appear, their hands clasped
behind their necks, scanning the horizon. From the stables issue towards
the city milch cows, herds of goats, manure-carts. Bells tinkle between
the dwarf trees bordering the high road, and every now and again is
heard the sharp “Arre, Aca” of the drivers.

“On the thresholds of the cottages those bound for the town exchange
greetings with those who stay in the fields. ‘Bon dia nos done Deu!’
[May God give us a good day!] ‘Bon Dia.’

“Immense is the energy, the explosion of life at midsummer, the best
season of the year, the time of harvest and abundance. Space throbs with
light and heat. The African sun rains torrents of fire on the land
already crackled and wrinkled by its burning caresses, and its golden
beams pierce the dense foliage, beneath which are hidden the canals and
trenches to save them from the all-powerful vivifying heat.

“The branches of the trees are heavy with fruit. They bend beneath the
weight of yellow grapes covered with glazed leaves. Like the pink
cheeks of a child grow the apricots amid the verdure. Children greedily
eye the luxurious burden of the fig-trees. From the gardens is wafted
the scent of jasmin, and the magnolias dispense their incense in the
burning air, laden with the perfume of cereals.

“The gleaming scythe has already sheared the land, levelling the golden
fields of wheat and the tall corn-stalks which bowed beneath their heavy
load of life. The hay forms yellow hills which reflect the colour of the
sun. The wheat is winnowed in a whirlwind of dust; in the naked fields
among the stubble sparrows hop from spot to spot in search of stray
gleanings. Everywhere are happiness and joyous labour. Waggons go
groaning down the road; children frolic in the fields and among the
sheaves, thinking of the wheaten cakes in prospect, and of the lazy
pleasant life which begins for the farmer when his barn is filled. Even
the old horses stride along more gaily, cheered by the smell of the
golden grain which will flow steadily into their mangers as the year
rolls on.

“When the harvest has levelled the panorama and cleared the great
stretches of wheat sprinkled with poppies, the plain seems vast, almost
illimitable. Farther than the eye can reach stretch its great squares of
red soil, marked off by paths and trenches. The Sunday’s rest is
rigorously observed over the whole countryside. Not a man is seen
toiling in the fields, not a beast at work on the road. Down the paths
pass old women with their mantillas drawn over their eyes, and their
little chairs hanging to their arms. In the distance resound, like the
tearing of linen, the shots fired at the swallows, which fly hither and
thither in circles. A noise seems to be produced by their wings ruffling
the crystal firmament. From the canals rises the murmur of clouds of
almost invisible flies. In a farm all painted blue, under an ancient
arbour, there is a whirlwind of gaily-coloured shawls and petticoats,
while the guitars with their drowsy rhythm and the strident cornets
accompany the measures of the Valencian ‘Jota.’

“In the village the little plaza is thronged with the field-folk. The
men are in their shirt-sleeves with black sashes and gorgeous
handkerchiefs arranged mitre-like on their heads. The old men lean on
their big Liria sticks. The young men, with sleeves turned up, display
their red nervous arms and carry mere sprigs of ash between their huge
knotted fingers.

“In the afternoon, towards the fountain along the road, bordered with
poplars which shake their silvered foliage, go groups of girls with
their pitchers on their heads. Their rhythmical movements and their
grace recall the Athenian Canephori. This procession to the well lends
to the huerta something of a Biblical character. The Fontana de la Reina
is the pride of the huerta, condemned to drink the water of wells, and
the red and dirty liquid of the canals. It is esteemed as an ancient and
valuable work. It has a square basin with walls of reddish stone. The
water is below the soil. You reach the bottom by means of six green and
slippery steps. Opposite the steps is a defaced bas-relief, probably a
Virgin attended by angels--no doubt an ex-voto of the time of the
Conquest. Laughter and chatter are not wanting round the well. The girls
cluster round, eager to fill their pitchers but in no hurry to depart.
They jostle each other on the steps, with their petticoats gathered in
between their legs, the better to lean forward and to plunge their
vessels into the basin. The surface of the water is unceasingly troubled
by the bubbles rising from the sandy bed, which is covered with weeds
waving in the current.”

The exuberant natural life pictured in these passages is not altogether
due to the bounty of nature. The scorching sun would have brought death
instead of life to Valencia without the co-operation of man. The whole
province is a triumph of irrigation. The Moors were masters of hydraulic
science. They tapped the Jucar and the Guadalaviar and drew their
waters through the Moncada and seven smaller but magnificent canals into
every corner of the land. This was the legacy they left behind when they
were so suicidally expelled. Their successors, as Mr. Richard Ford so
eloquently puts it, exercise “a magic control over water, wielding it at
their bidding”--presumably as Gilbert’s hero Ferdinando brandished the
turtle soup!

Bequeathed also directly by the Moors, the Tribunal of the Waters is the
most interesting sight of Valencia. It is independent of all law; no
Government has ever touched it; it has no written records. The court
meets every Thursday morning at eleven o’clock at the Apostles’ Gate of
the Cathedral in the capital, to try all cases and disputes in regard to
the precious water that is the life-blood of the province. There are
seven judges, one for each canal, elected by the peasantry of the
districts, and each is known by the name of his canal--Mislata, Cuarte,
and so forth. They are grave, stoutly-built men, with tanned faces and
close-cropped hair. They wear black, the colour beloved by the
comfortably situated working man all the world over; but they have not
degenerated quite so far as to discard the native handkerchief round
their polished brows, or the espadrilla, the Valencian shoe.

Except that the turban has given place to the sombrero and the divan to
an ancient sofa, the proceedings of the tribunal are as patriarchal as
of old. In the plaza a crowd of litigants are collected, chattering,
gesticulating, arguing their wrongs according to the manner of their
kind all the world over. With an air of importance befitting the
occasion the Alguazil of the tribunal places the magisterial bench in
the shadow of the great Gothic portal. A light rail will keep the vulgar
at a distance. Then the peasant magistrates take their seats, and the
oldest pronounces the words, “Se abri el tribunal” (The tribunal is
open). A portentous silence falls, for any one who speaks before his
turn must pay a fine. One by one the litigants are introduced within the
railing and plead their cause bareheaded before the court. Woe to the
insolent wight that dare stand covered in its presence. The Alguazil
will tear the handkerchief from off his head, and he will also be
mulcted in a fine. Each must await the tapping of the presidential foot
before he ventures into the presence. But the severity of the discipline
does not suffice to make the fiery Valencians restrain their feelings.
At every moment there is an explosion of wrath or indignation, a heated
expostulation from one or other of the parties. The fines collected must
be a considerable sum. Out of their own wisdom the judges give their
decisions, which are almost invariably received without discontent. The
Valencians are anxious to preserve their unique tribunal from criticism
and interference, for they know that in Spain, as in other countries,
royal justice is a costly matter.

The history of Valencia for all practical purposes is that of its
capital and namesake. “Its name,” says Mr. Ford, “is fondly derived
from, or considered equivalent to, Roman, because Ρὡμη in Greek
signifies power, as Valencia does in Latin.” The principle is doubtless
excellent, but seems to be that of _lucus a non lucendo_.

When the warriors of Viriathus surrendered to Rome on the death of their
chief, Valencia was granted to them by the Consul D. Junius Brutus.
Destroyed by Pompey, it became a _colonia_ when rebuilt and the capital
of the Edetani. But the history of few Roman colonies, as it has reached
us, is of interest. The province had the usual martyrs under the
persecution of Diocletian and Decius, and was the place of banishment of
the zealot Ermengild. Proud of its haughty name, Valencia has yet
allowed itself to be taken and retaken oftener than any other city in
the world. In 413 it yielded to the Goths, and three hundred years later
with great nonchalance transferred its allegiance to the Moor. It formed
at one time part of the Khalifate; and again, one or more petty kingdoms
in itself.

Don Feodoro Lleorente speaks of “the slave kings” of Valencia. It is
certain that many of its rulers were slave adventurers from the palace
of the Khalifa, who, like the janizaries of Turkey had literally carved
their fortunes with their swords. One of these princes added the
Balearic Isles to his realms and unsuccessfully attempted the conquest
of Sardinia.

The kingdom thus founded by military adventurers was overthrown by the
most famous of that warlike brood.

The Moors had made the desert blossom like the rose. Wealth and
prosperity had been secured to the province. The Moslem paradise was
located here. Medinat-u-Tarab was its capital--the City of Mirth. The
greedy eyes of Christian neighbours were inevitably drawn to such a
region, and the break-up of the Ummeyah dynasty offered an excellent
opportunity for interference.

Valencia was split up into factions, and the King or Amir Kadir was
merely the puppet of the two opposing parties, who alternately supported
him on his tottering throne. But the Moors were a proud race and felt
themselves dishonoured in yielding homage to so weak a ruler. Headed by
Ibn Jahhaf, the people rose in revolt. Kadir fled, but was detected
under his woman’s disguise, was taken and beheaded. That strange
anomaly a Mohammedan republic was formed. A council of the leaders was
constituted with Ibn Jahhaf as President.

A people which arrogates the right to choose its ruler has ever been
considered a sort of pirate among the nations, and fair game for more
powerful States. Kadir, at the time of his deposition, had been under
the hardly disinterested protection of the Cid, who, under pretence of
avenging his _protégé’s_ death, immediately advanced on Valencia. For
some time Ibn Jahhaf, who seems to have had some of the qualities of a
great general, amused the Campeador with negotiations, while he pushed
hastily forward preparations for defence. Discovering that he was being
played with, the Cid swept through the country and threw his army round
Valencia, which for twenty months made a stubborn resistance. The city
falling at length, Jahhaf, who had become a special object of hatred to
the Conqueror, was burnt alive in the plaza. Until his death in 1097,
the Cid ruled the kingdom as absolute lord and despot. The legend runs
that Ximena, his wife, defended the city for two years after her
husband’s death. And so great was the reputation and the terror of the
Campeador that she finally won a victory over the Mussulmans and carried
him to his last resting-place at Cardeña by the stratagem of placing his
corpse fully armed upon his war-horse with his celebrated sword in his
hand.

But for two centuries longer Valencia followed the law of the Prophet.
It was finally wrested from the yoke of Islam on the memorable 28th of
September 1238, when the standard of the victorious Jaime I. of Aragon
was hoisted over the tower of Ali Bufat, and the Crescent bowed before
the Cross. The conquest in the history of Aragon ranks with the taking
of Seville in the history of Castile. Granada was the joint conquest of
both kingdoms. The way in which the Moors in these old days surrendered
their whole kingdom to the Christians, sometimes after only one battle
had been fought, stands out in dark contrast with the tenacious
resistance offered by their descendants in Algeria in modern times.
Enervated by the climate of Spain the Mussulmans of that country were
absolutely incapable of maintaining a prolonged guerilla warfare. If a
fortified capital was taken they at once handed over the whole kingdom
to the conqueror. They were not of course peculiar in this respect. The
sentiments of nationality and physical courage are characteristic far
more of the modern than of the ancient world. We have only to compare
the resistance of the Anglo-Saxons to the Normans with that of the Boers
to the British, of the French in the Hundred Years War with that of
their descendants in 1871, to realise how much more of manliness and
endurance we possess than did our ancestors. We must go back to the days
of Leonidas and Regulus to find parallels for the exploits of our own
Indian Army; to Numantia and Seguntum for parallels to Saragossa and
Gerona. National and individual self-respect withered under feudalism,
and revived only on the introduction of free institutions.

The commerce and wealth of the country now fell into the hands of the
Jews, who came over in great numbers from Aragon. For a long time the
industrious people lived, hated it is true, but unmolested, in their own
quarter of the city. But one ill-fated day a band of children, urged on
probably by some fanatic, marched against the Jewry crying that they had
come to baptize the unbelieving dogs, and that the Archdeacon of Seville
was close upon their heels. In terror the wretched people retreated to
their homes, firmly barricading themselves. Some of the Christian
children got shut up in the quarter. Like wildfire the rumour spread
through the streets that the Jews were submitting them to untold
tortures behind their barred doors. The whole populace went mad with the
rage for blood, attacked the wholly unprepared Jews, and the most
horrible scenes of massacre ensued. This was in 1391. The prosperity of
Valencia suffered its first severe blow with the barbarous expulsion of
the Moors at the command of Philip III. Another fell some time later
when, on account of its strenuous opposition to the French claim to the
Crown, Philip V. confiscated the liberties of the province and imposed
an enormous fine.

But Valencia, though fallen from its old estate, is nevertheless to-day
a thriving prosperous province; its capital is handsome and progressive.
Busy life pulsates through the streets; the _cafés_ are alive with the
hum of voices. There is little to recall the days of its allegiance to
the Prophet, and it has not retained more monuments of the past than
most other cities. From the sightseer’s point of view it is not
intensely interesting; from the stranger’s, even less convenient, since
indications of the names of the streets are few and far between. New and
splendid avenues are arising, which, in pleasant contrast to the dull
uniformity of most Continental town perspectives, contain houses
original and individual in style. You enter the town by one of two
massive castellated gates, which give a note of the mediæval picturesque
to their respective quarters. The fourteenth century Torres de Serranos
form a narrow archway flanked by two fine octagonal towers. Above, are
windows with elaborate panelling, and heavy machicolations crown the
whole building. The Torres de Cuartes, of a century later, are very
similar, but the parapet is itself borne on corbels and machicolated.
Unfortunately the walls of the city have perished.

The Cathedral, the Lonja, and the Picture Gallery exhaust the sights of
Valencia. The Cathedral was founded in 1262 on the ruins of the Great
Mosque, which in its turn had replaced the Temple of Diana. It is far
inferior to most of the great Spanish churches in beauty and interest.
Originally Gothic, it was considerably enlarged in the fifteenth
century, the height, however, being left unaltered. The principal
entrance, in the receding circular form, is an outrage, but the north
door, called the Puerta de los Apostoles, richly sculptured and
delicately moulded, exhibits the skill and industry of the fourteenth
century at its best.

Above the semicircular Puerta de Palau is an interesting series of
medallions. These represent the heads of fourteen men and women. These
are the seven knights of the Conquest and the seven fair ladies they
sought in the surrounding provinces, from whom the whole Valencian
nobility is said to be sprung. This doorway is evidently by the same
hand as the Puerta de los Infantes at Lerida. But the most striking part
of the Cathedral is the imposing Miguelete Tower. Its sculpture is
indifferent, but seen from a distance the effect is fine. It is the
great landmark of the district, and the Valencians speak of exile as
“losing sight of the Miguelete.”

The plan of the Cathedral, like most Spanish churches, is cruciform. In
1760 the interior was modernised in a manner that makes the
beauty-loving traveller long to tear his hair--or that of the
perpetrator of the “restoration.” Over-decoration is its chief defect.
The walls have been encrusted with marbles, the Gothic columns almost
concealed by Corinthian pilasters, the pointed arches rounded off. The
church may merit its surname of “La Rica,” but it has lost that
atmosphere of remote beauty that calls forth the instincts of religion
in the worshipper. During the French occupation of 1809 the magnificent
silver altar was melted down, but fortunately its protecting door panels
were uninjured. These are painted with six pictures by Francisco Pagano
and Pablo de San Leocadio, disciples of Leonardo da Vinci, and ascribed
by some to the master himself. The spurs and bridle of Jaime el
Conqueridor, presented by him on the day he took the city to his Master
of the Horse, are preserved on one of the pillars on the Gospel side.

The choir is for the most part modern, with plain and classical walnut
stalls. The rear portion, or _trascoro_, dates from the fifteenth
century, and is decorated with a fine series of Biblical scenes in
alabaster. The chapels have little of interest, except the tomb of Tomás
de Villanueva, the holy Archbishop of Valencia, in the one dedicated to
him. Over the crossing rises the fine octagonal lantern, which was built
in 1404 and restored in 1731. It was once adorned by many trophies,
among them the flags taken from the Genoese by Ramon Corveran, a famous
sea-dog of Valencia. These, however, have long since vanished.

After the Cathedral the Lonja de la Seda, or Silk Exchange, is the most
interesting sight of Valencia. Built in the Gothic style (though not of
the purest) it is one of the best specimens of civil architecture of the
Middle Ages that we have remaining. Its square tower, crenellated
chimneys, open galleries and high windows give an extremely fine effect.
The hall has spirally fluted pillars that branch out into graceful
clusters of palm-leaves. The ceiling is painted with stars and round the
walls runs the legend, “He only that shall not have deceived nor done
usury shall be worthy of eternal life,” which (let us hope) has guided
generations of merchants into the paths of commercial integrity. The
Audiencia, in good Renaissance style, is well worth a visit, where in
the Salon de Cortes the old provincial States assembled till the middle
of the eighteenth century. As a building the University is beautiful,
if it is a little backward in thought. Here Fernando VII. raised the
noble sport of _Tauromachy_, or Bull-fighting, to the dignity of a
Faculty!

The smaller churches are interesting enough, but not striking, and the
visitor will do well to prefer the almost deserted Picture Gallery.
Until the name of Velasquez dwarfed that of every other Spanish artist,
Valencia boasted a school of painting second to none in the country.
Ribalta, Juanes, Ribera, Espinosa, and Orrente all lived and loved and
painted in the old kingdom. The story of Ribalta is romantic. The son of
a ploughman, he deemed himself on the high road to fortune when he
entered a Valencian studio as a pupil. But alas! the black eyes and
pretty figure of his master’s daughter proved more alluring than canvas
virgins. Ribalta was dismissed the studio in disgrace. He wandered
towards Italy, the land of promise, and studied under the brothers
Carracci. Some years later he returned. His mistress was in possession
of the studio, her father having gone out. A wooden and lifeless Madonna
stood on an easel. Ribalta seized a brush and painted furiously until
sunset, and when the artist returned a masterpiece was awaiting him.
Astonishment, admiration, tears, and gratitude--no artist could forbid
his daughter’s _fiançailles_ with a man of genius. Ribalta afterwards
devoted his whole life to the adornment of the churches of his native
kingdom.

But Valencia is hardly less distinguished for its theatre than for its
painting. Here at the end of the sixteenth century was founded the
celebrated society of “Nocturnes” which welcomed the youth of Lope de
Vega. Guillen de Castro was its head, a man of wit and honourable
family, whose adventurous life ended in the gutter. He is best known as
the author of _Las Mocedades del Cid_, a tedious drama with a fine
heroic touch, whence Corneille drew his inspiration.

Leaving Valencia we run southward as far as Alcira without a stop. Here
we cross the Jucar, which strikes terror into the hearts of the
townsfolk. Rising in the rainy season with terrible rapidity, with
constant shiftings of its channel, it sweeps over the countryside,
swallowing up whole villages in its destructive, impetuous course. When
the sky grows black and the river starts to rise, the panic-stricken
inhabitants run to the churches and seize the images. Then with frenzied
prayers to the _Pare San Bernard_, they dip the holy forehead in the
water, hoping to stay the onrush of the torrent. But the inundated
country to-day will in a few years bear heavy rice crops and luxuriant
orchards. The swampy unhealthy lagoon, the Albufera (which gave its
name to one of Napoleon’s marshals) is becoming filled up with the
_débris_ brought down from the mountains. Soon it, too, will be a
fertile huerta. Meanwhile, trees are being planted on the rugged
hill-side, a wise measure which it is hoped will check the violence of
the floods and the denudation of the arid soil.

Jativa will be our next stopping-place. Like most of the towns in this
country it is rich in historic interest. Past cottages, embosomed in
palm-and orange-trees, you climb up to the hill where the old and new
castles stand side by side. Here in 1284 the Infantes de la Cerda,
rightful heirs to the throne, were confined by their Uncle Sancho el
Bravo. Here too the Duke of Calabria, heir of Naples, languished for ten
years after having trusted himself to the honour of Gonzalo de Cordoba,
who betrayed him. This was one of the three deeds of which Gonzalo is
said to have repented at the last. Indeed the castle of Jativa seems to
have greatly troubled his death-bed, for we learn that the second of
these three misdeeds was the imprisonment in the same place of the
infamous Cæsar Borgia. The Borgias--those super-men of the
Renaissance--had their origin in the neighbourhood of Jativa, which also
boasts itself the birthplace of the artist Ribera.

The smaller coast towns of Alicante attract the weary traveller by their
beautifully sounding names: Benidorm, Villajoyosa--what pleasant chords
they strike in the imagination! But time is short. You think of them
regretfully and hurry towards the capital. But first, if the month is
April, you must turn aside for a flying visit to Alcoy, where every year
a mediæval joust takes place to the glory of Saint George (the city’s
patron saint) and the discomfiture of the Moors. This is to celebrate
the taking of the town from the Moors by Jaime el Conqueridor in 1253.

Alicante, the largest town in the province of that name, and the second
in the Kingdom of Valencia, is as dull as most thriving commercial
centres. Its broad white quays are thronged with a busy bustling
humanity. Touches of vivid colour in the dress of the women, who are
labouring like navvies, a burning sun overhead, and the blue of the
Mediterranean, make a not unpleasing picture. Behind the town towers an
enormous rock--a second Gibraltar--crowned by the old castle of Santa
Barbara. A deep fissure in the rock recalls the stubborn siege of 1707,
when the English General and all his garrison were blown to pieces by a
mine.

Southwards still, to Elche, the City of Palms, or, less poetically, “The
Frying-pan!” A mist of heat seems to hang over the little
Oriental-looking town. Not even in the palm groves that shut out the
desert can you avoid it. These magnificent trees (it has been estimated
that there are 80,000 in the belt that encircles the town) provide
practically all the palms used by the Christian churches in Passion
Week. In the shade of their avenues flourish the laurel, the rose, and
the geranium; beyond, extend crops of lucerne and wheat, watered by the
carefully regulated Vinalapo.

But though Elche makes an agreeable impression on travellers, in Spain
it is chiefly celebrated for its Passion or Mystery Play, the only one
of its kind in the kingdom. Elche is under the special protection of Our
Lady of the Assumption, who sent her miraculous image over the seas
along with the words and music of the opera inscribed _Soy para Elche_
(I am for Elche). To this image, supposed to have been found in 1370 by
a coastguard named Canto, many houses and palm plantations round the
city belong. They are all marked with a crown and the initials M.V. The
image is said to have been carved by St. Luke, but hardly reflects
credit on his skill. However, the miracles it performs seem highly
satisfactory, judging by the magnificent jewels and garments that have
been presented by the faithful.

The opera is presented on August 13 and 14, the eve and the feast of the
Assumption. In a country where the sister of Cervantes was allowed to
install a theatre in her convent and herself play the leading _rôles_,
you are not surprised to find that the representation takes place in the
church, which is, however, for the occasion, carefully stripped of
sacred images.

The scenery, as in mediæval days, is simple. There is a little cave for
the Garden of Gethsemane, a plain coffin for the Holy Sepulchre. Angels
playing harps on a blue cloth stretched across the roof betoken the
celestial regions. Hence, by an ingenious arrangement of ropes and
pulleys, angels will presently come down to take the Virgin up to
heaven. Apostles and saints, their names legibly inscribed on cardboard
haloes, the holy angels and the Trinity itself have all their appointed
parts. The Virgin is a small boy of eleven. Unfortunately that touch of
vulgarity which seems inseparable from modern Continental Catholicism
liberally decorates the angels with well-greased hair, vivid sashes, and
paper flowers of startling hues. However, the crowded audience is not
critical and very real emotion at times interrupts the continuous
chatter and shaking of fans. There seems something singularly human in a
religion so all-embracing.

Orihuela, in its fertile plain, rendered independent of rain by the
waters of the Segura, will be our last stopping-place in the southern
portion of the kingdom. Here the Goths made a last resistance under
Theodomir. Orihuela is the only city in the district where Castilian is
spoken. Its square towers and domes shaded with palms are decidedly
Oriental in appearance. A visit to the Cathedral shows some beautiful
choir-stalls of carved mahogany, but the interior of the building has
been hopelessly barbarised. There is little else to detain us here, so
we take train again for Valencia and the north.




SAGUNTUM AND CASTELLON


Leaving the city of Valencia, the traveller journeys northwards through
one of the most luxuriant garden-plains of southern Europe. Groves of
olive, almond, and orange trees crowd thick upon each other, their
almost monotonous fruitfulness broken only by an occasional graceful
cluster of stately palms. Soon there comes in sight a hill crowned with
an irregular line of battlemented walls. Its silhouette is warm against
the sky-line. This is Saguntum, famed in story.

You pass out of the station and on your left rise up the eastern slopes
of the Saguntine hill. At its feet are huddled the dark green tiled
roofs of the village, from among which the little church of San Salvador
detaches its quadrangular tower, proudly conscious that (in the eye of
its worshippers at least) it is the oldest Christian foundation in the
whole of Spain. Tiny cottages gleam white in the dark places of the
rocks, between thickets of aloes and prickly-pear. And far above, the
reddish walls of the castle with its huge square towers stretch in
slanting belts along the summit of the hill, keeping watch over the
ever-retreating sea that has so often been studded with the ships of
enemies.

To the right, coaches from Teruel and Segorbe lumber along a white
ribbon of road, smothered in clouds of dust. Clambering up the fence of
masonry that separates populace and passengers a dozen Saguntine youths,
burnt by the sun, with eyes like sloes and jet-black hair, hail you in
eager tones. They thrust towards you sinewy arms holding cups of milk or
wine and plates of savoury meats, with branches of oranges or wands
garlanded with fruits and sweet-smelling flowers.

But it is a silent town, Saguntum (or Murviedro as it is generally
called), and seems to brood on memories of the past. Founded in 1389
B.C. by the Greeks of Zacynthus, it has been held in turn by
Carthaginian and Roman, by Goth, Moor, and Spaniard. Its place in
history is unique. The story of its famous siege has repeatedly been
told.

It is the year 219 B.C.--the eve of the Second Punic War. Hannibal,
having sworn war to the death on Rome, is gathering his forces for a
crushing blow. The wealth of Saguntum attracts him; impoverished by the
loss of Sicily, its position as frontier town appeals to him as a
strategist; as the ally of Rome it draws his hatred. Suddenly a force
of a hundred and fifty thousand Carthaginian soldiers is hurled against
the town; battering-rams thunder at the gates; huge catapults scatter
death among the startled townsfolk. Then begins a struggle that can be
compared only with Numantia in ancient or Saragossa in modern times.
Force and cunning have met their match in desperate heroism.

The siege lasted for eight months. Rome was appealed to, but her
Ambassadors were not allowed to land. They turned to Carthage and
entered the Senate House. “I bring you peace or war,” cried Valerius
Flaccus; “choose which you will have!” and resounding cries of “War!
War!” initiated one of the fiercest struggles of antiquity. But though
fighting against a common enemy, Rome deserted her Spanish ally.

A city beseiged is a city doomed. Saguntum could hold out no longer.
Hannibal named his terms--life and two garments to each individual.
Arms, wealth, and Fatherland must all be given up, and the inhabitants
must drift to whatever part of the world the conqueror decreed.

Immediately, by order of the Senate, a scaffold was erected in the
public square. All the wealth from the public treasury was flung upon
it. Private citizens added their treasures to the holocaust, and with
the courage of despair flung themselves into the flames. Then a shout
arose from the walls; one of the towers had fallen and the attacking
army swarmed over the ramparts to wholesale massacre. Such is Livy’s
account, but it is probably an overstatement. For though the
Carthaginians, being a Semitic race, were capable of any cruelty,
history records that the first act of the Scipios, on rebuilding the
town four years later, was to buy back the exiled inhabitants.

Two thousand years later Saguntum was once again the theatre of war,
when in 1808 it was attacked and taken by Marshal Suchet. But Napoleon’s
success was as ephemeral as Hannibal’s. The French violet could not take
root in the granite of Spain.

The present castle is principally Moorish, though some traces of the old
Saguntine walls can be distinguished. It is probable that the keep
described by Livy occupied the site of the present citadel. There are
some old Moorish cisterns to which the girls of the village climb in the
evening with water-jars on their shoulders.

A little lower down the hill lies the ancient Roman amphitheatre, the
most nearly perfect of its kind that exists to-day, not even excepting
those of Italy. The separate entrances that Roman ceremony required for
knights and magistrates, for women and for the common people, can still
be recognised in spite of the depredations of Suchet and the
Philistines. Its thirty-three tiers of bluish grey pebbles, cemented
cunningly together to look like huge blocks of stone, rise with the
sloping hill-side. The theatregoer of Murviedro had little to complain
of in the old days. If the play was tedious, he could turn his eye to
the beautiful scenery that lay before him. His lot was enviable beside
the Londoner’s.

The plain that now separates Murviedro from the sea is rich in ruins of
a bygone age. Desultory excavations have yielded some results. In 1795 a
magnificent mosaic was discovered representing Bacchus astride a tiger
in the midst of revellers, which, unfortunately, has since been lost.
For the antiquary with money at his back and method in his brain a rich
and interesting harvest lies waiting.

Leaving Saguntum we continue northwards past the picturesque old castle
of Almenara; past Nules, famous for its mineral springs; past Burriana,
whose oranges you have eaten in every country of Europe; and the train
steams at length into Castellon de la Plana. To the eye this city is
uninteresting enough, but the imagination is touched by the recital of
its history.

A league to the north of the town the barren mountains of the Desierta
rise from an arid plain. Here can be seen some crumbling grey walls and
a hermitage in honour of St. Mary Magdalena. The walls mark the site of
the old town captured in 1233 by Jaime I. of Aragon. A few years later
the inhabitants petitioned the King’s lieutenant for leave to remove
their town to the fertile plain on the coast where it now stands. Not
only was this granted but considerable privileges were bestowed on the
enterprising city.

Every year on the third Sunday in Lent this event is commemorated by the
Feast of Las Gayates. Clergy and laity alike, bearing green reeds,
proceed in pilgrimage to the hermitage, where a solemn service is
celebrated. A gay crowd invades the hill. They sing; they dance; they
shout; they eat and drink. After this sylvan feast, they troop back to
the town. At nightfall a second procession sets out, in which are
represented with all edifying accompaniments the worldly pomps and
repentance of the Magdalene. Raised up among a myriad flashing lanterns
the “Gayata,” which gives its name to the festival and recalls the
removal of the city, is borne along with song and dance.

More than once has Castellon fought bravely in defence of its liberties.
A very strenuous resistance was offered to Pedro IV. when the women
fought side by side with the men upon the walls. One of the amazon
warriors killed a relative of the attacking General, Don Pedro de Boil,
and was hanged in the market-place on the fall of the city, along with
the other rebel leaders. Considering the part that Spanish women have
played in the history of their country, it is curious to remember that
voluptuous indolence is supposed to entirely sum up their character. The
War of the Brotherhood, that great popular rising, gave three more
martyrs to Castellon. It is not, therefore, surprising to find that this
city to-day stands, in the province to which it gives its name, for
democratic tendencies. So Morella on its rocky throne, the stronghold of
the ferocious Carlist chief, Cabrera, stands for aristocratic
militarism; and Segorbe, lying in the shadow of the magnificent
monastery of Valdecristo, for the ecclesiastical element and clerical
control.




THE KINGDOM OF MURCIA


The ancient Kingdom of Murcia, which lies to the south of Valencia,
includes the two modern provinces of Murcia and Albacete. It is a wild,
fierce region, where the sun’s heat scorches all vegetation from off the
hill-sides. Deep and terrible chasms yawn between the rugged mountains;
there are sharp and rocky peaks that seem to have been thrown up by
sudden upheavals of the earth, and at their feet lie great stretches of
tawny desert recalling the burning expanse of the Sahara. The shadow of
long-continued drought often broods over the whole kingdom. But yet the
district watered by the Segura is an earthly paradise--in spring all
flowers, in autumn all fruit. Mingling with the carob-tree and
broad-leaved palm glistens the gold of oranges, and luxuriant vines give
pleasant promise of a sparkling harvest.

But nature has not thus blessed the land of her own free will. She
needed coaxing and much wooing by the cunning Arabs. A wonderful system
of irrigation prevails, and science has harnessed fast the wayward
rivers. The greatest treasure of the Murcian, water, is sold by auction
to the highest bidder. M. Jean Brunhés, in a lately published work,
gives some very curious and interesting details relating to this
singular system.

The volume of the Monegre is divided into old and new water, the former
belonging of right to the ancient riparian proprietors, the latter to
the owners of the locks and reservoirs. A very vicious system prevails
at Lorca. There, a private company has obtained all rights in the water
of Guadalentin, subject to the condition of supplying the old
proprietors of the adjoining lands with 500 litres per second every day.
Only in rainy seasons, when the company’s barrage is swept away by the
torrent (as it usually is some five or six times in the year), does the
water become public property. When this happens the company is not
allowed to make the barrage any stronger when it is rebuilt. In seasons
of drought the owners are masters of the situation, and are able to
recoup themselves for the losses thus incurred by forcing up prices to a
figure absolutely ruinous to all but the richest cultivators. There is
only one palliation to this system, that the bidder who has bought the
first lot can buy as many of the lots following as he may desire at the
same figure. Notwithstanding this poor concession it would seem that the
principle of private ownership has been pushed a little too far in this
part of the world.

Here is M. Brunhés’ account of the water auction at Lorca:

“The sale takes place in a badly lit hall with naked walls, on a level
with the street, with which it communicates by an immense door almost
its own breadth. This door remains open during the sale, and the crowd
of bidders stand partly in the street. The hall has no floor; you stand
on the bare ground. Opposite the door at the end of the hall is a
railed-off daïs, entered by a side door, and without any direct
communication with the public side. On the daïs the secretaries are
seated at a large table covered by a threadbare green cloth. Behind the
table are five arm-chairs. In one is seated the presiding officer (a
civil engineer who must own no land in the Vega). On a stool is
stationed the crier.

“At eight o’clock in the morning, at a sign from the presiding officer,
the crier pronounces these words in a singing monotonous voice, and
without any pause between the two phrases: ‘In honour of the Holy
Sacrament of the Altar, who buys the first lot of Sotellana?’
Immediately shouts go up, ‘Eight, nine, or ten reales!’ One voice
overpowers the other, wide mouths vociferate loudly, necks are strained,
muscles grow tense with excitement. The bidders press and crush each
other against the iron railing, for the one nearest has the best chance
of being heard. The presiding officer listens and follows the frantic
shouting with sovereign calm. Suddenly, with a quick gesture, he
designates the highest bidder. At once the clamour ceases. Amid absolute
silence the man indicated calls out his name, which the clerks write
down.

“The men are hatless. Some wear black or dark-coloured handkerchiefs
bound round their heads, but all hold their broad-brimmed hats in their
hands. No one smokes or talks till the bidding recommences, and even
those in the street are silent and bareheaded. It is easy to see that
all are peasants. Heads are closely cropped; here are no beards or
moustaches, no one wears a collar, and most carry a cloak other than the
aristocratic _capa_ on the shoulders or arm. It is a curious and
impressive sight enough these bronzed physiognomies, animated by one
desire to obtain, as cheaply as may be, possession of the supreme good,
water.”

Such is the province of Murcia in the twentieth century. When vegetation
depended only on the sun and very infrequent rain, the land can have
been very little better than an arid wilderness. And yet its possession
has from the earliest times been a matter of keen dispute. To the early
inhabitants have always been ascribed those simple guileless virtues
with which the eighteenth century endowed the noble savage. Like the
high-souled inhabitants of More’s “Utopia,” they used the gold and
silver, in which their mountains abounded, for the meanest articles of
domestic use. But this admirable custom seems unfortunately to have been
based on mere ignorance of the value of their treasures.

More sophisticated were the Phœnicians, who scented the precious metals
from afar, and here, as everywhere, established their commercial
centres. Next, the Greeks swooped down and planted colonies, rivalry
between the two races precipitating the fierce conflict between their
respective allies, the Carthaginians and the Romans. New Carthage, or
Cartagena, was founded by Hasdrubal; his son made it the starting-place
of his famous march to Rome. The city made a brave resistance to Scipio,
and its fall marked the downfall of the Carthaginian in Spain.

As an outpost of the Roman Empire this district was one of the first
abandoned to the attacks of the barbarians. Under the Visigoths it
became a duchy with the name of Aurariola, which offered so determined a
resistance to the Mussulman that it was enabled to retain its
independence, subject merely to the Khalifa as suzerain. Here, as in so
many Iberian sieges, the women played no small part. Dressed as men,
they paraded the walls of the city: and by this stratagem enabled Duke
Theodomir to obtain such favourable terms.

Perpetuating the memory of this Duke, the province lasted under the name
of Todmir some sixty-eight years as a self-governing State. But the last
governors allied themselves with Charlemagne. Arab invaders poured in,
who soon swamped the Christian population and Todmir was completely
absorbed into the Moslem Empire.

A new capital, Murcia, was founded, that soon rivalled Toledo and
Cordoba as a manufactory of arms. After undergoing the usual
vicissitudes of Moorish States, it was taken in 1266 by Jaime el
Conqueridor, and handed over to his son-in-law, the King of Castile. For
two hundred years it endured the attacks of the Moors of Granada, acting
meanwhile as a buffer to the Christian kingdom.

Murcia to-day seems a survival of the Middle Ages. The legend goes that
Adam returning to earth recognised the province as the only relic of the
world he left. The Murcians are a conservative people, clinging to the
beliefs and ideas of their forefathers, untouched by the march of
thought. Religion is the changeless background of their lives, and often
its picturesque ceremonies completely hold the stage. One of the most
interesting of their religious festivals is the Passion Procession held
on Good Friday. According to tradition this has continued without
interruption since 1603, except in the year 1809 only, when it was
forbidden by the Government.

Organised by the Confraternity of Jesus, the great feature of the
procession is the magnificent series of carved groups (known as _pasos_)
representing scenes from the Biblical narrative. These are the work of
the great master Salzillo, who is said to have carved no fewer than 1792
wooden figures in his long life of seventy-six years. During the
eighteenth century the Trades Guilds of Murcia gave special support to
the Confraternity. They are accordingly granted the privilege of
carrying the different _pasos_ in the procession. Thus the “Kiss of
Judas” is borne by the bakers; Santa Veronica by the weavers; while the
tailors carry the gigantic group of the Last Supper. The bearers, all
alike clad in purple, carry lighted candles and musical instruments.
Their hoods shroud their heads, the eyes alone being visible through
slits; a knotted rope girdles the waist, and stockings of coarse white
wool, instead of the bare feet demanded by the original statute,
acknowledge the claims of the twentieth century.

It is six o’clock on Good Friday morning. The streets are thronged with
eager sightseers; heads are devoutly bared and many a plain wooden
cross is displayed to mark the sympathy of the crowd. A band of mounted
gendarmes clears the way. The standard-bearer chants to the populace
that “This is done in remembrance of the Passion of Our Lord Jesus
Christ.” Smothered in flowers the first five _pasos_ are borne along.
Then to the sound of drum and trumpet, with the ringing of bells and the
blare of bugles, Our Father Jesus passes, enveloped in a cloud of
flaming candles, accompanied by the Holy Brotherhood. The remaining
_pasos_ follow close, the clergy and the representatives of King and
Bishop bringing up the rear.

The _pasos_ themselves will repay inspection. Though abounding in
ludicrous anachronisms, often in flabby sentiment, they are beautifully
carved and superbly mounted. It is said that £1000 was offered by an
enthusiastic German for the uplifted arm of St. Peter in the “Kiss of
Judas.”

The first group of the Last Supper is of enormous size, requiring no
fewer than twenty-four bearers during the procession. Among the tailors
of the city there is keen competition for this honour, for the splendid
collation that is offered by the pious to the lifeless feasters is later
sold by auction for the benefit of the bearers. The price it fetches is
no small one, for it is regarded as true _pain béni_, bringing
happiness to those who eat. The Agony in the Garden is reputed of
supernatural design and is known as “The Pearl of Salzillo.” The Angel
Gabriel is considered unrivalled, and the legend goes that the Duke of
Wellington bid £80,000 for this one figure. The figures are
magnificently clothed, the sword and crown of Jesus being set down in
the accounts of the brotherhood at £200 and £120 respectively. Perhaps
the finest of the groups is that which comes last--our Lady of Dolours,
whose expression of supreme sorrow has rarely been equalled whether by
chisel or brush. It is said that the sculptor copied it from the
countenance of his own daughter, to whom, with this end in view, he had
deliberately presented a forged letter announcing the suicide of her
betrothed. The _pasos_ are deposited in the Ermita de Jesus, where they
can be seen by the traveller.

In the town of Murcia itself the influence of the Cross has almost
completely banished the Crescent. Gone is the Alcazar, where the Amirs
mimicked the State of Cordoba and Toledo; gone is the mosque, where
thousands of turbaned heads bowed daily towards Mecca. But in the centre
of the city is one of those squares found in every southern and eastern
city, which in Spain is always named after the Constitution, in Italy
after Victor Emmanuel, and in France after the Republic. To cross it in
the afternoon would mean sudden death, for Murcia is one of the hottest
corners of Europe. But later a gentle breeze springs up and the citizens
troop out to meet with friends upon the Malecon and admire the charming
view of the Segura valley, which, as M. Brunhés has said, is “an
admirable zone of model agricultural establishment.” This fertile huerta
bespeaks industry as great as that of the Swiss or Scottish peasant, for
the worship of sloth with which Mr. O’Shea charges the Murcian people is
groundless and unjust.

A visit to the Cathedral will exhaust the architectural sights of
Murcia. Even this is not of first-class interest. Dating in parts from
1386 and Gothic in style, the west front is Churrigueresque, though
fortunately not in the most florid style of that unhappy architect. The
earthquake of 1829 and a fire in the middle of the last century have
greatly damaged the interior, but the general effect is sufficiently
striking. The choir-stalls of carved walnut are very beautiful, but the
reredos is poor. The eighth wonder of the world, in the opinion of the
inhabitants, is the little Velez Chapel modelled on the Constable’s
Chapel at Burgos, but parts of it, according to Don Rodrigo Amador de
los Rios, show the painful caprices and aberrations which announce the
death agony of a powerful art. Just beyond the Junteron Chapel, with
its wealth of beautifully sculptured figures and designs in the most
exuberant Renaissance style, is the urn where the city carefully guards
the internal organs of Alfonso the Learned--a gruesome legacy but one
greatly valued.

Much older than Murcia, the old Visigothic capital Carthagena has
preserved even fewer monuments of antiquity, though it has not lost the
military character first impressed upon it by its founder Hasdrubal. For
this is the first arsenal of Spain and perhaps its strongest fortress.
Its splendid sheltered harbour is defended by powerful forts and
formidable batteries. Their fire has not always been directed upon the
enemies of Spain. For many months in 1873 over them waved the red flag
of the Intransigents, the extreme communistic republicans, who,
simultaneously with the Carlists of the north, threatened to ruin
Castelar’s Government at Madrid. The acquisition of the great national
arsenal without firing a shot was, of course, of the utmost advantage to
the determined revolutionaries. The garrison, in addition to the
enthusiastic population, included several revolted battalions of regular
troops under General Contreras.

Against this terrible stronghold of the Revolution, General Martinez
Campos advanced with an army from Madrid, with orders to reduce the
place with the utmost despatch. This was easier said than done. Supplies
were lacking; the advantage in artillery lay entirely with the besieged.
The Carlists effected diversions in favour of the Intransigents--an odd
coalition. Meanwhile three of the revolutionary vessels were seized by a
Prussian squadron as pirates--an utterly unjustifiable interference with
the domestic affairs of another State. The Prussians and Italians
exacted, moreover, a war indemnity of 50,000 pesetas from the Cantonal
Junta, which body became a prey to internal dissensions. One of its
members was assassinated. Taking advantage of these embarrassments of
the besieged the republican troops redoubled their efforts. Señor
Castelar came down from Madrid to assume the supreme command, and
Martinez Campos was superseded by General Lopez Dominguez. An incessant
bombardment was kept up, the besieged responding shell by shell. In
January the frigate _Tetuan_ was burnt to the water’s edge, and a day or
two later the explosion of the magazine destroyed hundreds of the
garrison. The end was near. The city had for half a year defied almost
the whole kingdom and withstood the covert attacks of foreign Powers.
The Government troops forced their way into wretched, blood-drenched
Carthagena; Galvez, Contreras, and the leaders of the cantonal movement
escaped by sea in the ironclad _Numancia_, which far exceeded the
Government vessels in speed, and took refuge in Algeria. Thus collapsed
a movement which was, after the Commune of Paris, the most determined
organised attempt ever made to subvert the existing constitution of
European society.

I have given at some length this chapter in the history of Carthagena,
partly because the town has little interest of itself, and partly
because these events though so recent and significant are ignored by
most writers of travel books. Out of so much evil good came at last, for
these well-nigh fatal disorders opened the eyes of the Spaniards to the
instability of the Madrid Government and formed the prelude to the reign
of peace inaugurated by the accession to the throne of King Alfonso XII.

Boasting less than most Spanish provinces of sights that appeal only to
the casual tourist, Murcia is interesting as a region of perpetual
struggle and bloodshed; of struggle against nature, of struggles between
differing religions, and of the deadly internecine feuds of race and
race.

[Illustration: PLATE 1

VALENCIA: GENERAL VIEW]

[Illustration: PLATE 2

VALENCIA: GENERAL VIEW, LOOKING SOUTH]

[Illustration: PLATE 3

VALENCIA: VIEW FROM THE PUENTE DEL MAR]

[Illustration: PLATE 4

VALENCIA: GENERAL VIEW]

[Illustration: PLATE 5

VALENCIA: VIEW FROM THE PUENTE DEL MAR]

[Illustration: PLATE 6

VALENCIA: ENTRANCE TO THE TOWN BY THE PUERTA DE SANTA LUCIA]

[Illustration: PLATE 7

VALENCIA: THE FAIR AT THE PUERTA DE SANTA LUCIA]

[Illustration: PLATE 8

VALENCIA: PUERTA DE SERRANOS]

[Illustration: PLATE 9

VALENCIA: PUERTA DE CUARTE]

[Illustration: PLATE 10

VALENCIA: THE MARKET-PLACE]

[Illustration: PLATE 11

VALENCIA: THE PUENTE REAL]

[Illustration: PLATE 12

VALENCIA: PASEO DE LA GLORIETA]

[Illustration: PLATE 13

VALENCIA: PASEO DE LA GLORIETA]

[Illustration: PLATE 14

VALENCIA: PASEO DE LA ALAMEDA]

[Illustration: PLATE 15

VALENCIA: FOUNTAIN OF THE ALAMEDA]

[Illustration: PLATE 16

VALENCIA: PLAZA DE LA ADUANA]

[Illustration: PLATE 17

VALENCIA: PLAZA DE SANTO DOMINGO]

[Illustration: PLATE 18

VALENCIA: PLAZA DE SAN FRANCISCO]

[Illustration: PLATE 19

VALENCIA: PLAZA DE TÉTUAN]

[Illustration: PLATE 20

VALENCIA: PLAZA DE LA CONSTITUCION]

[Illustration: PLATE 21

VALENCIA: CALLE DE LA BAJADA DE SAN FRANCISCO]

[Illustration: PLATE 22

VALENCIA: CALLE DE SAN VICENTE]

[Illustration: PLATE 23

VALENCIA: TROS ALT]

[Illustration: PLATE 24

VALENCIA: CALLE DE LA BOLSERIA Y TROS ALT]

[Illustration: PLATE 25

VALENCIA: GENERAL VIEW OF THE CATHEDRAL]

[Illustration: PLATE 26

VALENCIA CATHEDRAL: GATE OF THE APOSTLES]

[Illustration: PLATE 27

VALENCIA: THE CATHEDRAL, PUERTA DEL PALAU]

[Illustration: PLATE 28

VALENCIA CATHEDRAL: A DOOR]

[Illustration: PLATE 29

VALENCIA: THE TEMPLE]

[Illustration: PLATE 30

VALENCIA: THE MIGUELETE]

[Illustration: PLATE 31

VALENCIA: CHURCH OF SANTA CATALINA]

[Illustration: PLATE 32

VALENCIA: CHURCH OF SANTA CATALINA]

[Illustration: PLATE 33

VALENCIA: CHURCH OF LOS SANTOS JUANES]

[Illustration: PLATE 34

VALENCIA: FAÇADE OF SAN MIGUEL EL REAL]

[Illustration: PLATE 35

VALENCIA: CHURCH OF SANTA CRUZ]

[Illustration: PLATE 36

VALENCIA: CHURCH OF SANTA CRUZ]

[Illustration: PLATE 37

VALENCIA: ENTRANCE TO THE CHURCH OF SAN ANDRÉS]

[Illustration: PLATE 38

VALENCIA: THE CAMPO-SANTO]

[Illustration: PLATE 39

VALENCIA: THE CAMPO-SANTO]

[Illustration: PLATE 40

VALENCIA: THE CAMPO-SANTO]

[Illustration: PLATE 41

VALENCIA: THE AUDIENCIA, OLD PALACE OF THE CORTES]

[Illustration: PLATE 42

VALENCIA: ROYAL HALL IN THE AUDIENCIA, UPPER PART]

[Illustration: PLATE 43

VALENCIA: ROYAL HALL IN THE AUDIENCIA, LOWER PART]

[Illustration: PLATE 44

VALENCIA: INTERIOR DOOR OF THE AUDIENCIA]

[Illustration: PLATE 45

VALENCIA: THE EXCHANGE]

[Illustration: PLATE 46

VALENCIA: THE EXCHANGE. DETAIL OF THE GALLERY]

[Illustration: PLATE 47

VALENCIA: INTERIOR OF THE EXCHANGE]

[Illustration: PLATE 48

VALENCIA: INTERIOR DOOR OF THE EXCHANGE]

[Illustration: PLATE 49

VALENCIA: COLEGIO DEL PATRIARCA]

[Illustration: PLATE 50

VALENCIA: COURTYARD IN THE COLEGIO DEL PATRIARCA]

[Illustration: PLATE 51

VALENCIA: COURTYARD OF THE UNIVERSITY]

[Illustration: PLATE 52

VALENCIA: ENTRANCE TO THE CIVIL HOSPITAL]

[Illustration: PLATE 53

VALENCIA: GATE OF MOSEN S’ORRELL]

[Illustration: PLATE 54

VALENCIA: THE CUSTOM-HOUSE]

[Illustration: PLATE 55

VALENCIA: THE ARCHBISHOP’S PALACE]

[Illustration: PLATE 56

VALENCIA: THE BULL-RING]

[Illustration: PLATE 57

VALENCIA: TOBACCO FACTORY]

[Illustration: PLATE 58

VALENCIA: A PRIVATE HOUSE]

[Illustration: PLATE 59

VALENCIA: STATUE OF KING JAIME]

[Illustration: PLATE 60

VALENCIA: STATUE OF RIBERA]

[Illustration: PLATE 61

VALENCIA: STATUE OF ST. CHRISTOPHER]

[Illustration: PLATE 62

VALENCIA: PALACE OF THE MARQUÉS DE DOS AGUAS]

[Illustration: PLATE 63

VALENCIA: PALACE OF THE MARQUÉS DE DOS AGUAS]

[Illustration: PLATE 64

VALENCIA: PORTAL OF THE PALACE OF THE MARQUÉS DE DOS AGUAS]

[Illustration: PLATE 65

VALENCIA: PALACE OF THE MARQUES DE RIPALDA]

[Illustration: PLATE 66

GENERAL VIEW OF GRAO]

[Illustration: PLATE 67

GRAO HARBOUR]

[Illustration: PLATE 68

GRAO HARBOUR]

[Illustration: PLATE 69

GRAO HARBOUR]

[Illustration: PLATE 70

CAMINO DEL GRAO: HERMITAGE OF AVE MARIA]

[Illustration: PLATE 71

VALENCIA: A “TARTANA,” OR CHAR-À-BANC]

[Illustration: PLATE 72

VALENCIA: PEASANTS]

[Illustration: PLATE 73

VALENCIA: PEASANTS]

[Illustration: PLATE 74

VALENCIA: PEASANTS]

[Illustration: PLATE 75

VALENCIA: TYPES OF WOMEN]

[Illustration: PLATE 76

VALENCIA: TRIBUNAL DES EAUX]

[Illustration: PLATE 77

VALENCIA: BARBERS ON THE BRIDGE OF SERRANOS]

[Illustration: PLATE 78

VALENCIA: ZIGZAG OF THE CABRILLAS]

[Illustration: PLATE 79

ENVIRONS OF VALENCIA: A ROAD IN CABAÑAL]

[Illustration: PLATE 80

ENVIRONS OF VALENCIA: A ROAD IN CABAÑAL]

[Illustration: PLATE 81

VALENCIA: THE SHORES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN]

[Illustration: PLATE 82

VALENCIA: THE SHORES OF THE MEDITERRANEAN]

[Illustration: PLATE 83

MURVIEDRO: GENERAL VIEW]

[Illustration: PLATE 84

MURVIEDRO: GENERAL VIEW]

[Illustration: PLATE 85

MURVIEDRO: VIEW FROM THE STATION]

[Illustration: PLATE 86

MURVIEDRO: VIEW FROM THE CASTLE]

[Illustration: PLATE 87

MURVIEDRO: THE CASTLE AND TOWN]

[Illustration: PLATE 88

MURVIEDRO: THE CASTLE]

[Illustration: PLATE 89

MURVIEDRO: THE CASTLE FROM ONE OF THE COURTS]

[Illustration: PLATE 90

MURVIEDRO: ENTRANCE TO THE CASTLE]

[Illustration: PLATE 91

MURVIEDRO: GENERAL VIEW OF THE ROMAN AMPHITHEATRE]

[Illustration: PLATE 92

MURVIEDRO: GENERAL VIEW OF THE ROMAN AMPHITHEATRE]

[Illustration: PLATE 93

MURVIEDRO: THE ROMAN AMPHITHEATRE]

[Illustration: PLATE 94

MURVIEDRO: INTERIOR OF THE ROMAN AMPHITHEATRE]

[Illustration: PLATE 95

MURVIEDRO: PRINCIPAL GATE OF THE ROMAN AMPHITHEATRE]

[Illustration: PLATE 96

MURVIEDRO: ENTRANCE TO THE ROMAN AMPHITHEATRE]

[Illustration: PLATE 97

MURVIEDRO: ENTRANCE TO THE ROMAN AMPHITHEATRE]

[Illustration: PLATE 98

JATIVA: GENERAL VIEW]

[Illustration: PLATE 99

JATIVA: VIEW FROM THE STATION]

[Illustration: PLATE 100

JATIVA: THE CIVIL HOSPITAL]

[Illustration: PLATE 101

ALICANTE: GENERAL VIEW]

[Illustration: PLATE 102

ALICANTE: THE CASTLE]

[Illustration: PLATE 103

ALICANTE: VIEW FROM THE CASTLE]

[Illustration: PLATE 104

ALICANTE: THE BREAKWATER]

[Illustration: PLATE 105

ALICANTE: GENERAL VIEW]

[Illustration: PLATE 106

ALICANTE: GENERAL VIEW]

[Illustration: PLATE 107

ALICANTE: GENERAL VIEW]

[Illustration: PLATE 108

ALICANTE: PASEO DE LOS MARTIRES]

[Illustration: PLATE 109

ALICANTE: PASEO DE LOS MARTIRES]

[Illustration: PLATE 110

ALICANTE: PASEO DE LOS MARTIRES]

[Illustration: PLATE 111

ALICANTE: PASEO DE LOS MARTIRES]

[Illustration: PLATE 112

ALICANTE: PASEO DE NUÑEZ]

[Illustration: PLATE 113

ALICANTE: THE TOWN HALL]

[Illustration: PLATE 114

ALICANTE: THE TOWN HALL]

[Illustration: PLATE 115

ALICANTE: MONUMENT TO QUIJANO]

[Illustration: PLATE 116

ALICANTE: THE BULL-RING]

[Illustration: PLATE 117

ELCHE: GENERAL VIEW]

[Illustration: PLATE 118

ELCHE: GENERAL VIEW]

[Illustration: PLATE 119

ELCHE: GENERAL VIEW]

[Illustration: PLATE 120

ELCHE: VIEW OF THE TOWN]

[Illustration: PLATE 121

ELCHE: PLAZA MAYOR]

[Illustration: PLATE 122

ELCHE: VIEW FROM THE STATION]

[Illustration: PLATE 123

ELCHE: THE ROAD TO ALICANTE]

[Illustration: PLATE 124

ELCHE: THE ROAD FROM ALICANTE]

[Illustration: PLATE 125

ELCHE: THE TOWN HALL]

[Illustration: PLATE 126

ELCHE: CHURCH OF SAN JUAN]

[Illustration: PLATE 127

ELCHE: BRIDGE OVER THE RAMBLA DE ELCHE]

[Illustration: PLATE 128

ELCHE: VIEW FROM THE RAILWAY BRIDGE]

[Illustration: PLATE 129

ELCHE: THE CANAL]

[Illustration: PLATE 130

ELCHE: WASHING LINEN IN THE CANAL]

[Illustration: PLATE 131

ELCHE: A CANAL]

[Illustration: PLATE 132

ELCHE: TOWER OF RAPSAMBLANC, BELONGING TO THE CONDE DE LUNA]

[Illustration: PLATE 133

ELCHE: CASTLE OF THE DUQUE DE ALTAMIRA, NOW A PRISON]

[Illustration: PLATE 134

ELCHE: MILL AND CASTLE OF THE DUQUE DE ALTAMIRA]

[Illustration: PLATE 135

ELCHE: CASTLE OF THE DUQUE DE ALTAMIRA]

[Illustration: PLATE 136

ELCHE: CASTLE AND MILL]

[Illustration: PLATE 137

ELCHE: PALMS]

[Illustration: PLATE 138

ELCHE: COUNTRY SPINNERS]

[Illustration: PLATE 139

ELCHE: CASA DE LA HUERTA]

[Illustration: PLATE 140

ELCHE: A COUNTRY ROAD]

[Illustration: PLATE 141

ELCHE: A COUNTRY HOUSE]

[Illustration: PLATE 142

ELCHE: A COUNTRY HOUSE]

[Illustration: PLATE 143

ELCHE: A FAMOUS PALM]

[Illustration: PLATE 144

ELCHE: A PALM CELEBRATED FOR ITS RESEMBLANCE TO A COLUMN]

[Illustration: PLATE 145

ELCHE: PALM GROVES]

[Illustration: PLATE 146

ELCHE: A ROAD]

[Illustration: PLATE 147

SAX: GENERAL VIEW]

[Illustration: PLATE 148

MURCIA: GENERAL VIEW]

[Illustration: PLATE 149

MURCIA: VIEW FROM THE TOWER OF THE CATHEDRAL, TOWARDS THE SOUTH]

[Illustration: PLATE 150

MURCIA: VIEW OF THE TOWN]

[Illustration: PLATE 151

MURCIA: GENERAL VIEW OF THE TOWN]

[Illustration: PLATE 152

MURCIA: GENERAL VIEW OF THE TOWN]

[Illustration: PLATE 153

MURCIA: GENERAL VIEW OF THE TOWN]

[Illustration: PLATE 154

MURCIA: GENERAL VIEW]

[Illustration: PLATE 155

MURCIA: THE BRIDGE]

[Illustration: PLATE 156

MURCIA: THE RIVER]

[Illustration: PLATE 157

MURCIA: THE BRIDGE OVER THE SEGURA]

[Illustration: PLATE 158

MURCIA: THE RIVER SEGURA]

[Illustration: PLATE 159

MURCIA: THE FAIR]

[Illustration: PLATE 160

MURCIA: THE FAIR]

[Illustration: PLATE 161

MURCIA: THE MARKET-PLACE]

[Illustration: PLATE 162

MURCIA: PLAZA DE SANTO DOMINGO ON MARKET-DAY]

[Illustration: PLATE 163

MURCIA: PASEO DEL MALECON]

[Illustration: PLATE 164

MURCIA: PLAZA DE SANTA CATALINA]

[Illustration: PLATE 165

MURCIA: PLAZA DE TOROS, NOW PLAZA DE SAN AUGUSTIN]

[Illustration: PLATE 166

MURCIA: PASEO DEL ARENAL]

[Illustration: PLATE 167

MURCIA: PLAZA DE SAN PEDRO]

[Illustration: PLATE 168

MURCIA: PASEO DE FLORIDABLANCA AND PALACE OF THE EXHIBITION]

[Illustration: PLATE 169

MURCIA: PLAZA DE SANTA ISABELLA]

[Illustration: PLATE 170

MURCIA: CALLE DEL PUENTE]

[Illustration: PLATE 171

MURCIA: PLAZA DE LA GLORIÉTA]

[Illustration: PLATE 172

MURCIA: PLAZA DE LA GLORIÉTA]

[Illustration: PLATE 173

MURCIA: THE CATHEDRAL]

[Illustration: PLATE 174

MURCIA: GENERAL VIEW OF THE CATHEDRAL]

[Illustration: PLATE 175

MURCIA: PRINCIPAL FAÇADE OF THE CATHEDRAL]

[Illustration: PLATE 176

MURCIA: TOWER OF THE CATHEDRAL]

[Illustration: PLATE 177

MURCIA: SIDE DOOR OF THE CATHEDRAL]

[Illustration: PLATE 178

MURCIA CATHEDRAL: GATE OF THE APOSTLES]

[Illustration: PLATE 179

MURCIA CATHEDRAL: CHAPEL OF THE MARQUÉS DE LOS VELEZ]

[Illustration: PLATE 180

MURCIA CATHEDRAL: DETAIL OF THE FAÇADE]

[Illustration: PLATE 181

MURCIA: DETAIL OF THE CATHEDRAL]

[Illustration: PLATE 182

MURCIA CATHEDRAL: WINDOW OF THE BELFRY]

[Illustration: PLATE 183

MURCIA CATHEDRAL: PRINCIPAL NAVE]

[Illustration: PLATE 184

MURCIA CATHEDRAL: LATERAL NAVE]

[Illustration: PLATE 185

MURCIA CATHEDRAL: BEHIND THE CHOIR]

[Illustration: PLATE 186

MURCIA CATHEDRAL: ENTRANCE TO THE CHAPEL OF THE MARQUÉS DE LOS VELEZ]

[Illustration: PLATE 187

MURCIA CATHEDRAL: CHAPEL OF THE MARQUÉS DE LOS VELEZ]

[Illustration: PLATE 188

MURCIA CATHEDRAL: THE HIGH ALTAR]

[Illustration: PLATE 189

MURCIA CATHEDRAL: THE HIGH ALTAR]

[Illustration: PLATE 190

MURCIA CATHEDRAL: GENERAL VIEW OF THE CHOIR]

[Illustration: PLATE 191

MURCIA CATHEDRAL: THE BISHOP’S THRONE, IN THE CHOIR]

[Illustration: PLATE 192

MURCIA CATHEDRAL: DETAIL OF THE CHOIR STALLS]

[Illustration: PLATE 193

MURCIA CATHEDRAL: DETAIL OF THE CHOIR STALLS]

[Illustration: PLATE 194

MURCIA CATHEDRAL: THE SACRISTY]

[Illustration: PLATE 195

MURCIA CATHEDRAL: TOMB OF ALFONSO THE WISE]

[Illustration: PLATE 196

MURCIA: CHURCH OF SANTO DOMINGO]

[Illustration: PLATE 197

MURCIA: CHURCH OF SANTO DOMINGO]

[Illustration: PLATE 198

MURCIA: CHURCH OF SAN BARTOLOMÉ]

[Illustration: PLATE 199

MURCIA: FAÇADE OF THE CONVENT DE LA MISERICORDIA]

[Illustration: PLATE 200

MURCIA: PALACE OF THE MARQUÉS DE VILLAFRANCA DE LOS VELEZ AND CONVENT OF
SANTA CLARA]

[Illustration: PLATE 201

MURCIA: THE EPISCOPAL PALACE]

[Illustration: PLATE 202

MURCIA: CASA HUERTA DE LAS BOMBAS]

[Illustration: PLATE 203

MURCIA: PALACE OF THE MARQUÉS DE ALMODOVAR]

[Illustration: PLATE 204

MURCIA: PALACE OF THE BARON DE ALBALA]

[Illustration: PLATE 205

MURCIA: PALACE OF THE MARQUÉS DE ESPINARDO]

[Illustration: PLATE 206

MURCIA: THE “CONTRASTE”]

[Illustration: PLATE 207

MURCIA: MONUMENT TO SALZILLO]

[Illustration: PLATE 208

MURCIA: ROMAN ALTAR DEDICATED TO PEACE, FOUND IN CARTHAGENA AND MOVED IN
1594 TO THE PALACE OF THE MARQUÉS DE ESPINARDO]

[Illustration: PLATE 209

MURCIA: HOUSE IN THE CALLE JABONERIA]

[Illustration: PLATE 210

MURCIA: HOUSE OF THE PAINTER VILLASIS]

[Illustration: PLATE 211

MURCIA: A BALCONY IN THE CALLE TRAPERIA]

[Illustration: PLATE 212

MURCIA: PUERTA CADENAS]

[Illustration: PLATE 213

MURCIA: TEATRO DE ROMEA]

[Illustration: PLATE 214

MURCIA: THE BULL RING]

[Illustration: PLATE 215

MURCIA: THE TOWN HALL]

[Illustration: PLATE 216

MURCIA: THE TOWN HALL]

[Illustration: PLATE 217

MURCIA: PROCESSION LEAVING THE CHURCH OF JESUS IN HOLY WEEK ST.
VERONICA]

[Illustration: PLATE 218

MURCIA: PROCESSION LEAVING THE CHURCH OF JESUS IN HOLY WEEK

THE KISS OF JUDAS]

[Illustration: PLATE 219

MURCIA: PROCESSION IN HOLY WEEK. THE GARDEN OF GETHSEMANE]

[Illustration: PLATE 220

MURCIA: PROCESSION IN HOLY WEEK. OUR LORD FALLING]

[Illustration: PLATE 221

MURCIA: PROCESSION IN HOLY WEEK. THE SCOURGING]

[Illustration: PLATE 222

MURCIA: CHURCH OF JESUS THE LAST SUPPER, BY ZARZILLO]

[Illustration: PLATE 223

MURCIA: PILGRIMAGE OF ST. BLAS]

[Illustration: PLATE 224

MURCIA: RUINS OF THE ARAB BATHS]

[Illustration: PLATE 225

ENVIRONS OF MURCIA: CONVENT OF SAN JERONIMO]

[Illustration: PLATE 226

ENVIRONS OF MURCIA: HERMITAGE OF THE FUENSANTA]

[Illustration: PLATE 227

ENVIRONS OF MURCIA: HERMITAGE OF THE FUENSANTA]

[Illustration: PLATE 228

ENVIRONS OF MURCIA: HERMITAGE OF THE FUENSANTA]

[Illustration: PLATE 229

ENVIRONS OF MURCIA: CASTLE OF MONTEAGUDO]

[Illustration: PLATE 230

MURCIA: PAISAJE DE LA HUERTA]

[Illustration: PLATE 231

MURCIA: PAISAJE DE LA HUERTA]

[Illustration: PLATE 232

MURCIA: PAISAJE DE LA HUERTA]

[Illustration: PLATE 233

MURCIA: A CART LOADED WITH “TINAJAS”]

[Illustration: PLATE 234

MURCIA: HARVEST-TIME]

[Illustration: PLATE 235

ENVIRONS OF MURCIA: THE HUERTA DES CAPUCINS]

[Illustration: PLATE 236

ENVIRONS OF MURCIA: THE HUERTA DES CAPUCINS]

[Illustration: PLATE 237

ENVIRONS OF MURCIA: VIEW FROM THE HUERTA DES CAPUCINS]

[Illustration: PLATE 238

ENVIRONS OF MURCIA: THE HUERTA DES CAPUCINS, DATE-GATHERING]

[Illustration: PLATE 239

ORIHUELA: GENERAL VIEW]

[Illustration: PLATE 240

ORIHUELA: GENERAL VIEW FROM THE PUERTA DE MURCIA]

[Illustration: PLATE 241

ORIHUELA: THE RIVER SEGURA]

[Illustration: PLATE 242

ORIHUELA: THE RIVER SEGURA FROM THE EAST]

[Illustration: PLATE 243

ORIHUELA: DOOR OF THE CHURCH OF SANTIAGO]

[Illustration: PLATE 244

CARTHAGENA: GENERAL VIEW]

[Illustration: PLATE 245

CARTHAGENA: A PARTIAL VIEW.]

[Illustration: PLATE 246

CARTHAGENA: VIEW FROM THE STATION]

[Illustration: PLATE 247

CARTHAGENA: VIEW FROM THE HIGH ROAD]

[Illustration: PLATE 248

CARTHAGENA: VIEW FROM QUITAPELLIJOS]

[Illustration: PLATE 249

CARTHAGENA: VIEW FROM THE FORT OF ATALAYA]

[Illustration: PLATE 250

CARTHAGENA: VIEW FROM THE FORT OF ATALAYA]

[Illustration: PLATE 251

CARTHAGENA: VIEW FROM ST. JOSEPH’S MILL]

[Illustration: PLATE 252

CARTHAGENA: VIEW FROM ST. JOSEPH’S MILL]

[Illustration: PLATE 253

CARTHAGENA: VIEW FROM THE FORT OF GALERA]

[Illustration: PLATE 254

CARTHAGENA: VIEW FROM THE FORT OF GALERA]

[Illustration: PLATE 255

CARTHAGENA: VIEW OF THE HARBOUR]

[Illustration: PLATE 256

CARTHAGENA: SANTA LUCIA AND THE HARBOUR]

[Illustration: PLATE 257

CARTHAGENA: THE HARBOUR FROM SANTA LUCIA]

[Illustration: PLATE 258

CARTHAGENA: THE HARBOUR FROM SANTA LUCIA]

[Illustration: PLATE 259

CARTHAGENA: THE HARBOUR FROM THE POWDER MAGAZINE]

[Illustration: PLATE 260

CARTHAGENA: THE HARBOUR FROM TRINCABATIJOS]

[Illustration: PLATE 261

CARTHAGENA: VIEW FROM THE ESPLANADERO]

[Illustration: PLATE 262

CARTHAGENA: THE ENTRANCE TO THE HARBOUR FROM TRINCABATIJOS]

[Illustration: PLATE 263

CARTHAGENA: THE BREAKWATER]

[Illustration: PLATE 264

CARTHAGENA: ENTRANCE TO THE HARBOUR]

[Illustration: PLATE 265

CARTHAGENA: ENTRANCE TO THE ARSENAL]

[Illustration: PLATE 266

CARTHAGENA: PUERTA DEL MAR]

[Illustration: PLATE 267

CARTHAGENA: PUERTA DE MURCIA]

[Illustration: PLATE 268

CARTHAGENA: PLAZA DE LAS MONJAS]

[Illustration: PLATE 269

CARTHAGENA: THE MARINE COLLEGE]

[Illustration: PLATE 270

CARTHAGENA: THE BULL-RING]

[Illustration: PLATE 271

ARCHENA: THE BATHS, FROM LA SIERRA DE VERDELENA]

[Illustration: PLATE 272

ARCHENA: GENERAL VIEW OF THE BATHS FROM THE WEST]

[Illustration: PLATE 273

ARCHENA: GENERAL VIEW OF THE BATHS AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE VILLAGE]

[Illustration: PLATE 274

ARCHENA: ENTRANCE TO THE BATHS]

[Illustration: PLATE 275

ARCHENA: THE CARRETERA AND RIVER SEGURA]

[Illustration: PLATE 276

ARCHENA: VIEW OF THE CHURCH]

[Illustration: PLATE 277

ARCHENA: INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH]

[Illustration: PLATE 278

ARCHENA: THE CHURCH: ALTAR OF THE “VIRGEN DE LA SALUD”]

[Illustration: PLATE 279

ENVIRONS OF ARCHENA: VIEW OF VILLANUEVA]

[Illustration: PLATE 280

ENVIRONS OF ARCHENA: VIEW OF BLANCA FROM THE SALTO DEL PALOMO]

[Illustration: PLATE 281

ENVIRONS OF ARCHENA: VIEW OF BLANCA FROM BUJAMENTE]

[Illustration: PLATE 282

ENVIRONS OF ARCHENA: VILLAGE AND GARDENS OF ULEA FROM VILLANUEVA]

[Illustration: PLATE 283

ENVIRONS OF ARCHENA: VILLAGE AND GARDENS OF ULEA, EAST SIDE]

[Illustration: PLATE 284

ENVIRONS OF ARCHENA: VILLAGE OF OJOS AND MOUNTAINS]

[Illustration: PLATE 285

ENVIRONS OF ARCHENA: THE GARDENS OF OJOS, FROM THE LOVERS’ LEAP]

[Illustration: PLATE 286

ENVIRONS OF ARCHENA: THE LOVERS’ LEAP]

[Illustration: PLATE 287

LORCA: GENERAL VIEW]

[Illustration: PLATE 288

LORCA: VIEW FROM THE RAILWAY STATION]





End of Project Gutenberg's Valencia and Murcia, by Albert F. Calvert