132

THE LITTLE DOCTOR.

CHAPTER XVII.

Womankind in general, and Dolores in particularCarlist spies-Lance the Arriero-His appearance -Departure of the Arriereria-Don Quixote and Sancho Panza-José Lance-Road along the shore of the Mediterranean-The Cueva del RomanoSnowy Mountains-Velez-Fertility of the surrounding country-Variety of productions-The Castle at Velez-The Posada.

Grenada, March, 1838.

ONE morning I started off early and (as usual) alone, to reconnoitre an iron-foundry near Malaga, worked by Englishmen, (those Vulcans of modern times,) and although the details in my journal occupy two or three pages, I shall omit them, and return to breakfast at the Fonda with my brother officer and the little Spanish doctor Pinsiano. Now the little doctor was, like myself, rather smitten

with our fair hostess, the Señora Dolores, who played the coquette with us both, as well as if she had been brought up in Paris or London. But I have everywhere observed that woman is the same over the whole world; the same love of admiration exists as much in the beautiful Hindoo girl, gracefully leaning over her pitcher at the well, or the hideous Hottentot Venus treading out grapes at Constantia, as in the artificial though lovely flowers of the saloons of London and Paris, or in the dark-eyed, half Andalusian half Moorish beauty superintending the affairs of the Cuatro Naciones at Malaga. It may be thought that this tirade against womankind originated in the little flirt bestowing more of her smiles on the doctor than on myself; she was, on the contrary, this morning, all condescension, and on my taking up, after breakfast, my usual station at the foot of her throne, and ascertaining that her fierce looking husband was not near with his long clasp knife, I put a rose-bud in her hair, complimented her on her looks, and asked her what was the matter; for she appeared uncommonly mysterious.

134

PERILS OF SKETCHING.

"Ah! Amingo," said she, "I fear you have got yourself into a sad scrape; but, thank God, the times of the Inquisition are over." I did not half like this prelude, and after pressing her a good deal to say what was the matter, she, under promise of the greatest secrecy, related to me that my friend and myself had incurred the suspicions of the police; that the questions I was always asking, my sketching, etc., had marked us for Carlist spies; and she concluded by recommending us to make our exit as soon as possible.

However, as a retreat of this kind did not exactly suit us, I mentioned the circumstance to the British consul; who relieved our apprehensions of being put in durance vile as spies, as he said he was satisfied of our identity as British officers, but he recommended me not in future to attract more notice than I could help, by sketching, as, particularly up the country, the people have a great aversion to this species of amusement, imagining that it can be for no other than a sinister purpose. *

* In the dislike to see strangers "mapear," as the lower orders call sketching, may be traced the remains of

As time was slipping fast over our heads, in the course of this day we engaged ovrselves with an arriero, or muleteer, to give us conveyance and escort to Granda for the reasonable sum of four dollars each, the distance being nearly eighty miles. Lance, the arriero in question, was a noble specimen of the fine class of men to which he belongs, and which has so often been celebrated both in prose and verse; indeed, the Spanish muleteer is a character in himself, peculiar in his dress, customs, and bearing. Lance was the first I had seen, and I was much struck with his manners and appearance; the former were frank and soldier-like (if I may so express myself), the latter was one of the most picturesque you can imagine; his broad sombrero overshadowed a set of handsome, manly features, browned by the suns of some forty summers; his neck, of the same colour as his face, was bare, a slight silk neckcloth loosely fastened round it,

Moorish superstition. To this day there is nothing a Moor dislikes so much as having his portrait taken; he considers that the "evil eye" is thereby inevitably set on him.

and hid under a handsomely-worked waistcoat, over which was a well-made jacket of brown cloth, loaded with embroidery and silver buttons, whilst a pair of blue velvet in-. expressibles, buttoning down to the knee with silver studs, and kept up with the broad red faja, or sash, were terminated by a pair of wellmade bottinas, or high gaiters, of untanned leather. When I add that he was upwards of six feet high, and well-proportioned, he may easily be pictured, resting on his long carbine, as being what was formerly quaintly called a pretty fellow, a good man and strong. I mentioned the bottinas, and cannot pass by the subject without remarking that these are the very pith and marrow of dandyism amongst the lower orders in Andalusia. They are manufactured of brown leather, often very highly and expensively worked and flowered, and are made to fit tight at the ankle and knee, whilst the part opposite the calf being left unbuttoned and swelling out, gives the idea of a tremendously muscular leg, and has certainly a graceful and "negligée" appearance.

We were engaged all the morning of the