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.
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