The Heat Of The Place Was Intolerable, And I Sat On
The Staircase With My Head Between My Hands, Gasping For Breath:
Soon Appeared Antonio With Vinegar And Water, Which I Drank And
Felt Relieved.
We continued in this suburb three days, during the greatest part of
which time I was stretched on the tester bed.
I once or twice
contrived to make my way into the town, but found no bookseller,
nor any person willing to undertake the charge of disposing of my
Testaments. The people were brutal, stupid, and uncivil, and I
returned to my tester bed fatigued and dispirited. Here I lay
listening from time to time to the sweet chimes which rang from the
clock of the old cathedral. The master of the house never came
near me, nor indeed, once inquired about me. Beneath the care of
Antonio, however, I speedily waxed stronger. "Mon maitre," said he
to me one evening, "I see you are better; let us quit this bad town
and worse posada to-morrow morning. Allons, mon maitre! Il est
temps de nous mettre en chemin pour Lugo et Galice."
Before proceeding, however, to narrate what befell us in this
journey to Lugo and Galicia, it will perhaps not be amiss to say a
few words concerning Astorga and its vicinity. It is a walled
town, containing about five or six thousand inhabitants, with a
cathedral and college, which last is, however, at present deserted.
It is situated on the confines, and may be called the capital of a
tract of land called the country of the Maragatos, which occupies
about three square leagues, and has for its north-western boundary
a mountain called Telleno, the loftiest of a chain of hills which
have their origin near the mouth of the river Minho, and are
connected with the immense range which constitutes the frontier of
the Asturias and Guipuscoa.
The land is ungrateful and barren, and niggardly repays the toil of
the cultivator, being for the most part rocky, with a slight
sprinkling of red brick earth.
The Maragatos are perhaps the most singular caste to be found
amongst the chequered population of Spain. They have their own
peculiar customs and dress, and never intermarry with the
Spaniards. Their name is a clue to their origin, as it signifies,
"Moorish Goths," and at the present day their garb differs but
little from that of the Moors of Barbary, as it consists of a long
tight jacket, secured at the waist by a broad girdle, loose short
trousers which terminate at the knee, and boots and gaiters. Their
heads are shaven, a slight fringe of hair being only left at the
lower part. If they wore the turban or barret, they could scarcely
be distinguished from the Moors in dress, but in lieu thereof they
wear the sombrero, or broad slouching hat of Spain. There can be
little doubt that they are a remnant of those Goths who sided with
the Moors on their invasion of Spain, and who adopted their
religion, customs, and manner of dress, which, with the exception
of the first, are still to a considerable degree retained by them.
It is, however, evident that their blood has at no time mingled
with that of the wild children of the desert, for scarcely amongst
the hills of Norway would you find figures and faces more
essentially Gothic than those of the Maragatos.
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