The Bible in Spain

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At five the next morning the mules were at the door; a lad of some
nineteen or twenty years of age attended them; he was short but
exceedingly strong built, and possessed the largest head which I
ever beheld upon mortal shoulders; neck he had none, at least I
could discern nothing which could be entitled to that name. His
features were hideously ugly, and upon addressing him I discovered
that he was an idiot. Such was my intended companion in a journey
of nearly a hundred miles, which would occupy four days, and which
lay over the most savage and ill noted track in the whole kingdom.
I took leave of my servant almost with tears, for he had always
served me with the greatest fidelity, and had exhibited an
assiduity and a wish to please which afforded me the utmost
satisfaction.

We started, my uncouth guide sitting tailor-fashion on the sumpter
mule upon the baggage. The moon had just gone down, and the
morning was pitchy dark, and, as usual, piercingly cold. He soon
entered the dismal wood, which I had already traversed, and through
which we wended our way for some time, slowly and mournfully. Not
a sound was to be heard save the trampling of the animals, not a
breath of air moved the leafless branches, no animal stirred in the
thickets, no bird, not even the owl, flew over our heads, all
seemed desolate and dead, and during my many and far wanderings, I
never experienced a greater sensation of loneliness, and a greater
desire for conversation and an exchange of ideas than then. To
speak to the idiot was useless, for though competent to show the
road, with which he was well acquainted, he had no other answer
than an uncouth laugh to any question put to him. Thus situated,
like many other persons when human comfort is not at hand, I turned
my heart to God, and began to commune with Him, the result of which
was that my mind soon became quieted and comforted.

We passed on our way uninterrupted; no thieves showed themselves,
nor indeed did we see a single individual until we arrived at
Pegoens, and from thence to Vendas Novas our fortune was the same.
I was welcomed with great kindness by the people of the hostelry of
the latter place, who were well acquainted with me on account of my
having twice passed the night under their roof. The name of the
keeper of this is, or was, Joze Dias Azido, and unlike the
generality of those of the same profession as himself in Portugal,
he is an honest man, and a stranger and foreigner who takes up his
quarters at his inn, may rest assured that he will not be most
unmercifully pillaged and cheated when the hour of reckoning shall
arrive, as he will not be charged a single re more than a native
Portuguese on a similar occasion. I paid at this place exactly one
half of the sum which was demanded from me at Arroyolos, where I
passed the ensuing night, and where the accommodation was in every
respect inferior.

At twelve next day we arrived at Monte More, and, as I was not
pressed for time, I determined upon viewing the ruins which cover
the top and middle part of the stately hill which towers above the
town. Having ordered some refreshment at the inn where we
dismounted, I ascended till I arrived at a large wall or rampart,
which, at a certain altitude embraces the whole hill. I crossed a
rude bridge of stones, which bestrides a small hollow or trench;
and passing by a large tower, entered through a portal into the
enclosed part of the hill. On the left hand stood a church, in
good preservation, and still devoted to the purposes of religion,
but which I could not enter, as the door was locked, and I saw no
one at hand to open it.

I soon found that my curiosity had led me to a most extraordinary
place, which quite beggars the scanty powers of description with
which I am gifted. I stumbled on amongst ruined walls, and at one
time found I was treading over vaults, as I suddenly started back
from a yawning orifice into which my next step, as I strolled
musing along, would have precipitated me. I proceeded for a
considerable way by the eastern wall, till I heard a tremendous
bark, and presently an immense dog, such as those which guard the
flocks in the neighbourhood against the wolves, came bounding to
attack me "with eyes that glowed and fangs that grinned." Had I
retreated, or had recourse to any other mode of defence than that
which I invariably practise under such circumstances, he would
probably have worried me; but I stooped till my chin nearly touched
my knee, and looked him full in the eyes, and as John Leyden says,
in the noblest ballad which the Land of Heather has produced:-

"The hound he yowled and back he fled,
As struck with fairy charm."

It is a fact known to many people, and I believe it has been
frequently stated, that no large and fierce dog or animal of any
kind, with the exception of the bull, which shuts its eyes and
rushes blindly forward, will venture to attack an individual who
confronts it with a firm and motionless countenance. I say large
and fierce, for it is much easier to repel a bloodhound or bear of
Finland in this manner than a dunghill cur or a terrier, against
which a stick or a stone is a much more certain defence. This will
astonish no one who considers that the calm reproving glance of
reason, which allays the excesses of the mighty and courageous in
our own species, has seldom any other effect than to add to the
insolence of the feeble and foolish, who become placid as doves
upon the infliction of chastisements, which if attempted to be
applied to the former would only serve to render them more
terrible, and like gunpowder cast on a flame, cause them in mad
desperation to scatter destruction around them.

The barking of the dog brought out from a kind of alley an elderly
man, whom I supposed to be his master, and of whom I made some
inquiries respecting the place. The man was civil, and informed me
that he served as a soldier in the British army, under the "great
lord," during the Peninsular war. He said that there was a convent
of nuns a little farther on, which he would show me, and thereupon
led the way to the south-east part of the wall, where stood a large
dilapidated edifice.

We entered a dark stone apartment, at one corner of which was a
kind of window occupied by a turning table, at which articles were
received into the convent or delivered out. He rang the bell, and,
without saying a word, retired, leaving me rather perplexed; but
presently I heard, though the speaker was invisible, a soft
feminine voice demanding who I was, and what I wanted. I replied
that I was an Englishman travelling into Spain, and that passing
through Monte Moro I had ascended the hill for the purpose of
seeing the ruins. The voice then said, "I suppose you are a
military man going to fight against the king, like the rest of your
countrymen." "No," said I, "I am not a military man, but a
Christian, and I go not to shed blood but to endeavour to introduce
the gospel of Christ into a country where it is not known;"
whereupon there was a stifled titter, I then inquired if there were
any copies of the Holy Scriptures in the convent, but the friendly
voice could give me no information on that point, and I scarcely
believe that its possessor understood the purport of my question.
It informed me, that the office of lady abbess of the house was an
annual one, and that every year there was a fresh superior; on my
inquiring whether the nuns did not frequently find the time
exceedingly heavy on their hands, it stated that, when they had
nothing better to do, they employed themselves in making
cheesecakes, which were disposed of in the neighbourhood. I
thanked the voice for its communications, and walked away. Whilst
proceeding under the wall of the house towards the south-west, I
heard a fresh and louder tittering above my head, and looking up,
saw three or four windows crowded with dusky faces, and black
waving hair; these belonged to the nuns, anxious to obtain a view
of the stranger. After kissing my hand repeatedly, I moved on, and
soon arrived at the south-west end of this mountain of curiosities.
There I found the remains of a large building, which seemed to have
been originally erected in the shape of a cross. A tower at its
eastern entrance was still entire; the western side was quite in
ruins, and stood on the verge of the hill overlooking the valley,
at the bottom of which ran the stream I have spoken of on a former
occasion.

The day was intensely hot, notwithstanding the coldness of the
preceding nights; and the brilliant sun of Portugal now illumined a
landscape of entrancing beauty. Groves of cork trees covered the
farther side of the valley and the distant acclivities, exhibiting
here and there charming vistas, where various flocks of cattle were
feeding; the soft murmur of the stream, which was at intervals
chafed and broken by huge stones, ascended to my ears and filled my
mind with delicious feelings. I sat down on the broken wall and
remained gazing, and listening, and shedding tears of rapture; for,
of all the pleasures which a bountiful God permitteth his children
to enjoy, none are so dear to some hearts as the music of forests,
and streams, and the view of the beauties of his glorious creation.
An hour elapsed, and I still maintained my seat on the wall; the
past scenes of my life flitting before my eyes in airy and
fantastic array, through which every now and then peeped trees and
hills and other patches of the real landscape which I was
confronting; the sun burnt my visage, but I heeded it not; and I
believe that I should have remained till night, buried in these
reveries, which, I confess, only served to enervate the mind, and
steal many a minute which might be most profitably employed, had
not the report of the gun of a fowler in the valley, which awakened
the echoes of the woods, hills, and ruins, caused me to start on my
feet, and remember that I had to proceed three leagues before I
could reach the hostelry where I intended to pass the night.

I bent my steps to the inn, passing along a kind of rampart:
shortly before I reached the portal, which I have already
mentioned, I observed a kind of vault on my right hand, scooped out
of the side of the hill; its roof was supported by three pillars,
though part of it had given way towards the farther end, so that
the light was admitted through a chasm in the top. It might have
been intended for a chapel, a dungeon, or a cemetery, but I should
rather think for the latter; one thing I am certain of, that it was
not the work of Moorish hands, and indeed throughout my wanderings
in this place I saw nothing which reminded me of that most singular
people. The hill on which the ruins stand was doubtless originally
a strong fortress of the Moors, who, upon their first irruption
into the peninsula, seized and fortified most of the lofty and
naturally strong positions, but they had probably lost it at an
early period, so that the broken walls and edifices, which at
present cover the hill, are probably remains of the labours of the
Christians after the place had been rescued from the hands of the
terrible enemies of their faith. Monte Moro will perhaps recall
Cintra to the mind of the traveller, as it exhibits a distant
resemblance to that place; nevertheless, there is something in
Cintra wild and savage, to which Monte Moro has no pretension; its
scathed and gigantic crags are piled upon each other in a manner
which seems to menace headlong destruction to whatever is in the
neighbourhood; and the ruins which still cling to those crags seem
more like eagles' nests than the remains of the habitations even of
Moors; whereas those of Monte Moro stand comparatively at their
ease on the broad back of a hill, which, though stately and
commanding, has no crags nor precipices, and which can be ascended
on every side without much difficulty: yet I was much gratified by
my visit, and I shall wander far indeed before I forget the voice
in the dilapidated convent, the ruined walls amongst which I
strayed, and the rampart where, sunk in dreamy rapture, I sat
during a bright sunny hour at Monte Moro.

I returned to the inn, where I refreshed myself with tea and very
sweet and delicious cheesecakes, the handiwork of the nuns in the
convent above. Observing gloom and unhappiness on the countenances
of the people of the house, I inquired the reason of the hostess,
who sat almost motionless, on the hearth by the fire; whereupon she
informed me that her husband was deadly sick with a disorder which,
from her description, I supposed to be a species of cholera; she
added, that the surgeon who attended him entertained no hopes of
his recovery. I replied that it was quite in the power of God to
restore her husband in a few hours from the verge of the grave to
health and vigour, and that it was her duty to pray to that
Omnipotent Being with all fervency. I added, that if she did not
know how to pray upon such an occasion, I was ready to pray for
her, provided she would join in the spirit of the supplication. I
then offered up a short prayer in Portuguese, in which I entreated
the Lord to remove, if he thought proper, the burden of affliction
under which the family was labouring.

The woman listened attentively, with her hands devoutly clasped,
until the prayer was finished, and then gazed at me seemingly with
astonishment, but uttered no word by which I could gather that she
was pleased or displeased with what I had said. I now bade the
family farewell, and having mounted my mule, set forward to
Arroyolos.

CHAPTER VII

The Druids' Stone--The Young Spaniard--Ruffianly Soldiers--Evils of
War--Estremoz--The Brawl--Ruined Watch Tower--Glimpse of Spain--Old
Times and New.

After proceeding about a league and a half, a blast came booming
from the north, rolling before it immense clouds of dust; happily
it did not blow in our faces, or it would have been difficult to
proceed, so great was its violence. We had left the road in order
to take advantage of one of those short cuts, which, though
possible for a horse or a mule, are far too rough to permit any
species of carriage to travel along them. We were in the midst of
sands, brushwood, and huge pieces of rock, which thickly studded
the ground. These are the stones which form the sierras of Spain
and Portugal; those singular mountains which rise in naked
horridness, like the ribs of some mighty carcass from which the
flesh has been torn. Many of these stones, or rocks, grew out of
the earth, and many lay on its surface unattached, perhaps wrested
from their bed by the waters of the deluge. Whilst toiling along
these wild wastes, I observed, a little way to my left, a pile of
stones of rather a singular appearance, and rode up to it. It was
a druidical altar, and the most perfect and beautiful one of the
kind which I had ever seen. It was circular, and consisted of
stones immensely large and heavy at the bottom, which towards the
top became thinner and thinner, having been fashioned by the hand
of art to something of the shape of scollop shells. These were
surmounted by a very large flat stone, which slanted down towards
the south, where was a door. Three or four individuals might have
taken shelter within the interior, in which was growing a small
thorn tree.

I gazed with reverence and awe upon the pile where the first
colonies of Europe offered their worship to the unknown God. The
temples of the mighty and skilful Roman, comparatively of modern
date, have crumbled to dust in its neighbourhood. The churches of
the Arian Goth, his successor in power, have sunk beneath the
earth, and are not to be found; and the mosques of the Moor, the
conqueror of the Goth, where and what are they? Upon the rock,
masses of hoary and vanishing ruin. Not so the Druids' stone;
there it stands on the hill of winds, as strong and as freshly new
as the day, perhaps thirty centuries back, when it was first
raised, by means which are a mystery. Earthquakes have heaved it,
but its copestone has not fallen; rain floods have deluged it, but
failed to sweep it from its station; the burning sun has flashed
upon it, but neither split nor crumbled it; and time, stern old
time, has rubbed it with his iron tooth, and with what effect let
those who view it declare. There it stands, and he who wishes to
study the literature, the learning, and the history of the ancient
Celt and Cymbrian, may gaze on its broad covering, and glean from
that blank stone the whole known amount. The Roman has left behind
him his deathless writings, his history, and his songs; the Goth
his liturgy, his traditions, and the germs of noble institutions;
the Moor his chivalry, his discoveries in medicine, and the
foundations of modern commerce; and where is the memorial of the
Druidic races? Yonder: that pile of eternal stone!

We arrived at Arroyolos about seven at night. I took possession of
a large two-bedded room, and, as I was preparing to sit down to
supper, the hostess came to inquire whether I had any objection to
receive a young Spaniard for the night. She said he had just
arrived with a train of muleteers, and that she had no other room
in which she could lodge him. I replied that I was willing, and in
about half an hour he made his appearance, having first supped with
his companions. He was a very gentlemanly, good-looking lad of
seventeen. He addressed me in his native language, and, finding
that I understood him, he commenced talking with astonishing
volubility. In the space of five minutes he informed me that,
having a desire to see the world, he had run away from his friends,
who were people of opulence at Madrid, and that he did not intend
to return until he had travelled through various countries. I told
him that if what he said was true, he had done a very wicked and
foolish action; wicked, because he must have overwhelmed those with
grief whom he was bound to honour and love, and foolish, inasmuch
as he was going to expose himself to inconceivable miseries and
hardships, which would shortly cause him to rue the step he had
taken; that he would be only welcome in foreign countries so long
as he had money to spend, and when he had none, he would be
repulsed as a vagabond, and would perhaps be allowed to perish of
hunger. He replied that he had a considerable sum of money with
him, no less than a hundred dollars, which would last him a long
time, and that when it was spent he should perhaps be able to
obtain more. "Your hundred dollars," said I, "will scarcely last
you three months in the country in which you are, even if it be not
stolen from you; and you may as well hope to gather money on the
tops of the mountains as expect to procure more by honourable
means." But he had not yet sufficiently drank of the cup of
experience to attend much to what I said, and I soon after changed
the subject. About five next morning he came to my bedside to take
leave, as his muleteers were preparing to depart. I gave him the
usual Spanish valediction (Vaya usted con Dios), and saw no more of
him.

At nine, after having paid a most exorbitant sum for slight
accommodation, I started from Arroyolos, which is a town or large
village situated on very elevated ground, and discernible afar off.
It can boast of the remains of a large ancient and seemingly
Moorish castle, which stands on a hill on the left as you take the
road to Estremoz.

About a mile from Arroyolos I overtook a train of carts escorted by
a number of Portuguese soldiers, conveying stores and ammunition
into Spain. Six or seven of these soldiers marched a considerable
way in front; they were villainous looking ruffians upon whose
livid and ghastly countenances were written murder, and all the
other crimes which the decalogue forbids. As I passed by, one of
them, with a harsh, croaking voice, commenced cursing all
foreigners. "There," said he, "is this Frenchman riding on
horseback" (I was on a mule), "with a man" (the idiot) "to take
care of him, and all because he is rich; whilst I, who am a poor
soldier, am obliged to tramp on foot. I could find it in my heart
to shoot him dead, for in what respect is he better than I? But he
is a foreigner, and the devil helps foreigners and hates the
Portuguese." He continued shouting his remarks until I got about
forty yards in advance, when I commenced laughing; but it would
have been more prudent in me to have held my peace, for the next
moment, with bang--bang, two bullets, well aimed, came whizzing
past my ears. A small river lay just before me, though the bridge
was a considerable way on my left. I spurred my animal through it,
closely followed by my terrified guide, and commenced galloping
along a sandy plain on the other side, and so escaped with my life.

These fellows, with the look of banditti, were in no respect
better; and the traveller who should meet them in a solitary place
would have little reason to bless his good fortune. One of the
carriers (all of whom were Spaniards from the neighbourhood of
Badajoz, and had been despatched into Portugal for the purpose of
conveying the stores), whom I afterwards met in the aforesaid town,
informed me that the whole party were equally bad, and that he and
his companions had been plundered by them of various articles, and
threatened with death if they attempted to complain. How frightful
to figure to oneself an army of such beings in a foreign land, sent
thither either to invade or defend; and yet Spain, at the time I am
writing this, is looking forward to armed assistance from Portugal.
May the Lord in his mercy grant that the soldiers who proceed to
her assistance may be of a different stamp: and yet, from the lax
state of discipline which exists in the Portuguese army, in
comparison with that of England and France, I am afraid that the
inoffensive population of the disturbed provinces will say that
wolves have been summoned to chase away foxes from the sheepfold.
O! may I live to see the day when soldiery will no longer be
tolerated in any civilized, or at least Christian, country!

I pursued my route to Estremoz, passing by Monte Moro Novo, which
is a tall dusky hill, surmounted by an ancient edifice, probably
Moorish. The country was dreary and deserted, but offering here
and there a valley studded with cork trees and azinheiras. After
midday the wind, which during the night and morning had much
abated, again blew with such violence as nearly to deprive me of my
senses, though it was still in our rear.

I was heartily glad when, on ascending a rising ground, at about
four o'clock, I saw Estremoz on its hill at something less than a
league's distance. Here the view became wildly interesting; the
sun was sinking in the midst of red and stormy clouds, and its rays
were reflected on the dun walls of the lofty town to which we were
wending. Nor far distant to the south-west rose Serra Dorso, which
I had seen from Evora, and which is the most beautiful mountain in
the Alemtejo. My idiot guide turned his uncouth visage towards it,
and becoming suddenly inspired, opened his mouth for the first time
during the day, I might almost say since we had left Aldea Gallega,
and began to tell me what rare hunting was to be obtained in that
mountain. He likewise described with great minuteness a wonderful
dog, which was kept in the neighbourhood for the purpose of
catching the wolves and wild boars, and for which the proprietor
had refused twenty moidores.

At length we reached Estremoz, and took up our quarters at the
principal inn, which looks upon a large plain or market-place
occupying the centre of the town, and which is so extensive that I
should think ten thousand soldiers at least might perform their
evolutions there with case.

The cold was far too terrible to permit me to remain in the chamber
to which I had been conducted; I therefore went down to a kind of
kitchen on one side of the arched passage, which led under the
house to the yard and stables. A tremendous withering blast poured
through this passage, like the water through the flush of a mill.
A large cork tree was blazing in the kitchen beneath a spacious
chimney; and around it were gathered a noisy crew of peasants and
farmers from the neighbourhood, and three or four Spanish smugglers
from the frontier. I with difficulty obtained a place amongst
them, as a Portuguese or a Spaniard will seldom make way for a
stranger, till called upon or pushed aside, but prefers gazing upon
him with an expression which seems to say, I know what you want,
but I prefer remaining where I am.

I now first began to observe an alteration in the language spoken;
it had become less sibilant, and more guttural; and, when
addressing each other, the speakers used the Spanish title of
courtesy usted, or your worthiness, instead of the Portuguese high
flowing vossem se, or your lordship. This is the result of
constant communication with the natives of Spain, who never
condescend to speak Portuguese, even when in Portugal, but persist
in the use of their own beautiful language, which, perhaps, at some
future period, the Portuguese will generally adopt. This would
greatly facilitate the union of the two countries, hitherto kept
asunder by the natural waywardness of mankind.