Traimition SIiuHcm 7 



watchers against Himij^ffleis. With the liasijiu' diMtiiot^i of Sfmin f!a|(<iii ui>« 

 (leliglitexl. He writes: 



"Kvcry net of tlu! |M'i)|)li< wiut oi'i;;iiiiil — their ifMt, tlifir iiii|ili<iiient«, tlioir way i>f >u-(tiii(( u> 

 work. I ltH)k«l into inaiiy shops — such iis tinkfn*', hliicksmitliH', pottj-rs', and ho ffi), <.i..| 

 cnnid to the coiu-hision, Kpcukitig vory broadly, timt if uny of thi'ir [iatl<iniM worr . I 



into Kn^'hiiid, or that if any of ours were made to replat-o theim, tlm cliangt* would invol . .; .i.-. i.i..,i 

 incongruity, and Itvul to <|Ut>«tionahle itnprovemunt. Another Huhjitct which struck ni« at one*", 

 and with which up to tho last nioninnt of my stay in Hfiain, I l>ocani(' no Icsm charmed, w.i 

 gract'ful, Kupplc and decorous movement of every Spanish woman'. It wa« a iiMistanl pi' 

 to mo to waU'h their walk, tlieir dresa, and their manner, iis it is a <'onstJinl jar !■. 

 of iieauty to see tiie vulgar gait, ugly outlines, mean faei-s, liati millinery and ill .. 

 of the vast majority of the female (lopulation that one iMuwes in an Knglish thorouglifaie. 



Cjaltoii coiitra.sts the pea.suiitry, esj)eoially the Ba.s(jue peasaiitiy ' •'' '-' i, 

 with the iiit'eiiurity of phy-sitjue, uiaiiiier and a(l(hes.s of the upper <■. ,f 



Madrid society, and with conditions in Enghuid, where he tells us that "the 

 higher chts.ses, speaking generally, have the higher make of Ixxly and mind 

 and by far tlie nobler six^ial tone." But the pejusstntry in almost every land, 

 if it has been long on the soil, appears to the visitor harmonious and even 

 l)eautiful tiiink only of the Italian, the Austrian, the U|)land Rjulen and 

 the Norwegian tillers of the earth, each admirable in their own way and each 

 suited by centuries of selection to their own environment. The grace of an 

 autochthonous pea.santry, the suitability of their dwellings to their climate, 

 of tiieir clutbing to their habits, and their artefacts to their domestic and agri- 

 cultural needs, impresses us in the same way as the grace of a wild animal, 

 ada])ted in every nistinct and habitude to its native haunts, impresses us if 

 we observe it unawares in its own surnnmdiners. 



The reader of (Jalton's paper will realise how he Wius beginning in 1860 

 to turn his thoughts more to man, and this also may be read between the 

 lines of the account he gives of the public baby-dandle in Logrono: 



"In the afternoon, the military were paraded, and the bands played in tho 8«|uare. (>f 

 courstyall the .spare population went to see them; hut what amu.se<i us especially, was the part 

 tiiken by the nurses and the children, Ixith here and at Vittoria. They came in hundreds, 

 scattered among tho crowd. Tho instant the mu.sic Ix-gan, every nurse elevatc<l her charge, 

 sitting on her hand, at half-arm's length into the air, and they all kept time to the music by 

 tossing the babies in unison, and slowly rotating them, in azitnulh (to s|>flak astronomically) at 

 each successive toss. The bjibies looked pvssive and nither bore<l, but the energy and enthusiasm 

 of the nurses was glorious. At each great bang of the drummers a vast flight of babieH was 

 simultaneously projected to the utmost arms' length. It wiis ludicmus beyond expn>8sion." 

 {V.T. 1860, p. 436.') 



Another feature of this travel paper is Galton's increased interest in 

 meteorology and generally in climate. There is even a touch of it in his 

 description of the corona during the eclip.se: he is inclined to treat the 



.\rctic tnivellets, sleeping bags had not up to tli;it date l>e«!n nse<l bj- Alpine climlx'rs. and 

 Ualton at a diinier of the Eugli.sh .\lpine Club was toasted lus the gre«t««t 'l>agman' in Kurope. 

 .l/emonV», p. 190. 



' In a letter to his mother (.July 19, 1860) Gallon writes: "I cannot tell you how T enjoy 

 Spain. TIh> people are so civil and nice and ••(/•an. Italy won't bear comjwrison on • f 



cleanliness with Sj»iin. Everybody is happy and graceful and well-to-<lo." This letter •• in 



account of the eclipse and a rather brilliant pt^n and ink drawing of the corona. 



