CHAPTER XXXVII.

SYMPATHY WITH TRADITIONS AND SUPERSTITIONS-FRESHNESS OF SPANISH LIFE-PECULIAR INSTITUTIONS-CHEAPNESS OF LIVING-MY DEPARTURE.

I BELIEVE if I had remained much longer in Spain, I should have become infected with a belief in the superstitions of the peasantry. For every thing respires romance there. Particularly in Grenada, where the Moors lingered longest, and impressed most deeply upon the soil their poetic fancies and fervid temperament. The soft languor of the atmosphere predisposes the mind to a dreamy voluptuousness where, on indulgence, the ideal seems to assume the breathing form of the actual.

Most current and most earnest of all the popular traditions is the one that, on the eve of St. John, unlocks the gates of the subterranean cave, wherein the rest of the year Boabdil and his Moorish retinue are held enthralled, and sends them forth with many an emblazoned banner and gorgeous equipage, with richly dressed cavaliers and knights in gallant armor, with cymbal and trumpet, and all the pomp of war, to revisit the scenes of their former glories. And many a peasant with horror-stricken countenance will tell you how, belated on the mountains past the witching hour of night, he has seen the gorgeous cavalcade, with banner and pennon displayed, sweep down the mountain

444

PECULIAR INSTITUTIONS.

side. Other superstitions hardly less romantic, gain equal credence, and engross the popular ear. Hearing these continually, and finding them mostly believed in, you begin from sympathy to accord them at first ready entertainment, and then partial credence. Had I passed the eve of St. John on the Sierra del Sol, with the multitude of both sexes, I too should have been fully prepared for the pageantry of the Moorish king.

Beside the popular traditions and legends, the novel manners, picturesque individuality, and national customs impress a stranger deeply. Now in Paris we find every thing better than any where else—but little or nothing to which we have been unaccustomed. The difference is not one of kind, but degree. In Spain, on the contrary, every thing strikes us as fresh, original, peculiar. There are spectacles and institutions, costumes, and habits of life, different from all we had previously seen or understood; these we much affect after a while, and quit with reluctance. Indeed, I feel a greater desire to revisit the Andalusias than any country of which I have had experience. I liked the people; I liked the bailes; I liked the corridas de toros; I liked the olla podrida; I liked the insouciance, the devil-may-care sort of habits; I liked the majos, contrabandistas, and picaros generally. Indeed, I liked every thing but the pulgas.

Living in the Andalusias is not dear. At the best hotels the board per day is only seven and a half pesètas-a dollar and a half; and this includes as much vin ordinaire for your dinner as you wish. The table too is good, and the cooking not indifferent.

It is unnecessary, however, for me to dwell upon the agreeabilities of a sojourn in these favored regions. The previous pages have revealed in full my sentiments on the subject. Nothing, indeed, could have prevailed

SPAIN EVACUATED.

445

upon me to leave but the hope of a speedy return. In that hope I still live.

I took the steamer at Malaga for Marseilles, late in June, stopping at Carthagena, famous in the olden time, at, Valencia, the home of the Cid, and at Barcelona, the busiest city in all of Spain; and crossing the Gulf of Lyons, quietly and speedily arrived at my destination, full of grateful souvenirs.

THE END.

A LIST OF NEW BOOKS,

PUBLISHED BY

HARPER & BROTHERS.

Squier's Central America.

Notes on Central America; particularly the States of Honduras and San Salvador: their Geography, Topography, Climate, Population, Resources, Productions, &c., &c., and the proposed Interoceanic Railway. By E. G. SQUIER, formerly Ghargé d'Af faires of the United States to the Republics of Central America. With Original Maps and Illustrations. 8vo, Muslin, $2 00.

Napoleon at St. Helena;

Or, Interesting Anecdotes and Remarkable Conversations of the Emperor during the Five and a Half Years of his Captivity. Collected from the Memorials of Las Casas, O'Meara, Montholon, Antommarchi, and others. By JOHN S. C. ABBOTT. With Illustrations. 8vo, Muslin, $2 50.

Helps's Spanish Conquest.

The Spanish Conquest in America, and its Relation to the History of Slavery, and to the Government of Colonies. By ARTHUR HELPS. Large 12mo, Muslin. (In press.)

Loomis's Arithmetic.

A Treatise on Arithmetic, Theoretical and Practical. By ELIAS LOOMIS, LL.D. 12mo, Sheep.

Barton's Grammar.

An Outline of the General Principles of Grammar. With a Brief Exposition of the Chief Idiomatic Peculiarities of the English Language. To which Questions have been added. Edited and Enlarged by the Rev. J. GRAEFF Barton, A.M., Professor of the English Language and Literature in the New York Free Academy. 16mo, Muslin, 37 cents.

Ewbank's Brazil.

Life in Brazil; or, a Journal of a Visit to the Land of the Cocoa and the Palm. With an Appendix, containing Illustrations of Ancient South American Arts, in Recently Discovered Implements and Products of Domestic Industry, and Works in Stone, Pottery, Gold, Silver, Bronze, &c. By THOMAS EWBANK. With over 100 Illustrations. 8vo, Muslin, $2 00.