You are just below them."
"What does she mean by cracking the bellotas?" demanded I of Martin
of Rivadeo.
"Did your worship never hear of the seven bellotas?" replied our
guide. "I can scarcely tell you what they are, as I have never
seen them; I believe they are seven hills which we have to cross,
and are called bellotas from some resemblance to acorns which it is
fancied they bear. I have often heard of these acorns, and am not
sorry that I have now an opportunity of seeing them, though it is
said that they are rather hard things for horses to digest."
The Asturian mountains in this part rise to a considerable
altitude. They consist for the most part of dark granite, covered
here and there with a thin layer of earth. They approach very near
to the sea, to which they slope down in broken ridges, between
which are deep and precipitous defiles, each with its rivulet, the
tribute of the hills to the salt flood. The road traverses these
defiles. There are seven of them, which are called, in the
language of the country, Las siete bellotas. Of all these, the
most terrible is the midmost, down which rolls an impetuous
torrent. At the upper end of it rises a precipitous wall of rock,
black as soot, to the height of several hundred yards; its top, as
we passed, was enveloped with a veil of bretima.
