ISO AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF FRANCIS ARAGO. 



for my triangulation the Spnuisli border kingdoms of Catalonia, Valen- 

 cia, and Aragon. The inhabitants of these three provinces detested 

 each other cordially, and nothing less than the bond of a common hatred 

 was necessary to make them act sinniltaneonsly against France. Such 

 was their animosity in 1807 that I could scarcely make use at the same 

 time of Catalonians, Aragons, and Valencians, when I moved with my 

 instruments from one station to another. The Valencians in particular 

 were treated by the Catalonians as a light, trifling, inconsistent people. 

 Thej" were in the habit of saying to me, " Uii cl rcino de Valencia la came 

 es vcrdura, lavcrdura agua, lo,s homhrcs mugerefiy las mugeres «ac?<;/," which 

 may be translated thus: ''In the kingdom of Valencia meat is a vege- 

 table, vegetables are water, men are women, and women nothing." 



On the other hand, the Valencians, speaking of the Aragons, used to 

 call them '■'■ schurosP 



Having asked of a herdsman of this province who had brought some 

 goats near to one of my stations what was the origin of this denomina- 

 tion, at which his compatriots showed themselves so offended: 



"I do not know," said he, smiling cunningly at me, "whether I dare 

 answer you." " Go on, go on," I said to him, " I can hear anj-thing 

 without being angry." " Well, the word schuros means that, to our great 

 shame, we have sometimes been governed by French kings. The sov- 

 ereign, before assuming power, was bouiid to promise under oath to 

 respect our freedom, and to articulate in a loud voice the solemn words 

 lo Juro! As he did not know how to pronounce the J, he said scluiro. 

 Are you satisfied, senor '?" I answered him, " Yes, yes ; I see that vanity 

 and pride are not dead in this country." 



Since I have just spoken ot a shepherd. I will say that in Spain the 

 class of individuals of both sexes destined to look after herds appeared 

 to me always less further removed than in France from the pictures 

 wiiich the ancient poets have left us of the shepherds and shepherdesses 

 in their pastoral poetry. The songs by which they endeavor to while 

 away the tedium of their monotonous life are more remarkable in their 

 form and substance than in the other European nations to which I have 

 had access. I never recollect without surprise that, being on a mountain 

 situated at the junction-point of the kingdoms of Valencia, Aragon, and 

 Catalonia, I was all at once overtaken by a violent storm, which forced 

 me to take refuge in my tent, and to remain there squatting on the 

 ground. When the storm was over and I came out from my letreat, I 

 heard, to my great astonishment, on an isolated peak which looked down 

 upon my station, a shepherdess, who was singing a song, of which I only 

 recollect these eight lines, which will give an idea of the rest : 



A los qno amor no sabcn 

 Ofreces las dulzuras 



Y a mi las auiargiiras 

 Que s'o lo que cs amar. 



