Our Host Now
Demanded Whether We Were Hungry, And Upon Being Answered In The
Affirmative, Produced About A Dozen Eggs And Some Bacon.
Whilst
our supper was cooking, a long conversation ensued between my guide
and the family, but as it was carried on in Gallegan, I tried in
vain to understand it.
I believe, however, that it principally
related to witches and witchcraft, as the Estadea was frequently
mentioned. After supper I demanded where I could rest: whereupon
the host pointed to a trap-door in the roof, saying that above
there was a loft where I could sleep by myself, and have clean
straw. For curiosity's sake, I asked whether there was such a
thing as a bed in the cabin.
"No," replied the man; "nor nearer than Corcuvion. I never entered
one in my life, nor any one of my family: we sleep around the
hearth, or among the straw with the cattle."
I was too old a traveller to complain, but forthwith ascended by a
ladder into a species of loft, tolerably large and nearly empty,
where I placed my cloak beneath my head, and lay down on the
boards, which I preferred to the straw, for more reasons than one.
I heard the people below talking in Gallegan for a considerable
time, and could see the gleams of the fire through the interstices
of the floor. The voices, however, gradually died away, the fire
sank low and could no longer be distinguished. I dozed, started,
dozed again, and dropped finally into a profound sleep, from which
I was only roused by the crowing of the second cock.
CHAPTER XXX
Autumnal Morning - The World's End - Corcuvion - Duyo - The Cape - A
Whale - The Outer Bay - The Arrest - The Fisher-Magistrate - Calros
Rey - Hard of Belief - Where is your Passport? - The Beach - A Mighty
Liberal - The Handmaid - The Grand Baintham - Eccentric Book -
Hospitality.
It was a beautiful autumnal morning when we left the choza and
pursued our way to Corcuvion. I satisfied our host by presenting
him with a couple of pesetas, and he requested as a favour, that if
on our return we passed that way, and were overtaken by the night,
we would again take up our abode beneath his roof. This I
promised, at the same time determining to do my best to guard
against the contingency; as sleeping in the loft of a Gallegan hut,
though preferable to passing the night on a moor or mountain, is
anything but desirable.
So we again started at a rapid pace along rough bridle-ways and
footpaths, amidst furze and brushwood. In about an hour we
obtained a view of the sea, and directed by a lad, whom we found on
the moor employed in tending a few miserable sheep, we bent our
course to the north-west, and at length reached the brow of an
eminence, where we stopped for some time to survey the prospect
which opened before us.
It was not without reason that the Latins gave the name of
Finnisterrae to this district. We had arrived exactly at such a
place as in my boyhood I had pictured to myself as the termination
of the world, beyond which there was a wild sea, or abyss, or
chaos. I now saw far before me an immense ocean, and below me a
long and irregular line of lofty and precipitous coast. Certainly
in the whole world there is no bolder coast than the Gallegan
shore, from the debouchement of the Minho to Cape Finisterra. It
consists of a granite wall of savage mountains, for the most part
serrated at the top, and occasionally broken, where bays and firths
like those of Vigo and Pontevedra intervene, running deep into the
land. These bays and firths are invariably of an immense depth,
and sufficiently capacious to shelter the navies of the proudest
maritime nations.
There is an air of stern and savage grandeur in everything around,
which strongly captivates the imagination. This savage coast is
the first glimpse of Spain which the voyager from the north
catches, or he who has ploughed his way across the wide Atlantic:
and well does it seem to realize all his visions of this strange
land. "Yes," he exclaims, "this is indeed Spain - stern flinty
Spain - land emblematic of those spirits to which she has given
birth. From what land but that before me could have proceeded
those portentous beings, who astounded the Old World and filled the
New with horror and blood: Alba and Philip, Cortez and Pizarro:
stern colossal spectres looming through the gloom of bygone years,
like yonder granite mountains through the haze, upon the eye of the
mariner. Yes, yonder is indeed Spain; flinty, indomitable Spain;
land emblematic of its sons!"
As for myself, when I viewed that wide ocean and its savage shore,
I cried, "Such is the grave, and such are its terrific sides; those
moors and wilds, over which I have passed, are the rough and dreary
journey of life. Cheered with hope, we struggle along through all
the difficulties of moor, bog, and mountain, to arrive at - what?
The grave and its dreary sides. Oh, may hope not desert us in the
last hour: hope in the Redeemer and in God!"
We descended from the eminence, and again lost sight of the sea
amidst ravines and dingles, amongst which patches of pine were
occasionally seen. Continuing to descend, we at last came, not to
the sea, but to the extremity of a long narrow firth, where stood a
village or hamlet; whilst at a small distance, on the Western side
of the firth, appeared one considerably larger, which was indeed
almost entitled to the appellation of town. This last was
Corcuvion; the first, if I forget not, was called Ria de Silla. We
hastened on to Corcuvion, where I bade my guide make inquiries
respecting Finisterra. He entered the door of a wine-house, from
which proceeded much noise and vociferation, and presently
returned, informing me that the village of Finisterra was distant
about a league and a half.
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