ON VITICULTURE IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. 827 



have assigned to them a large barn-like room on the 

 ground-floor of the casa de riuas, destitute of any sem- 

 blance of furniture or fittings. In this they cook their 

 puclteros, smoke infinite cigarettes, and when times are 

 peaceful, wind up the day with a few touches on the guitar 

 and weird Andalucian melodies ; but during the troublous 

 periods of anarchy and discontent so frequent in un- 

 happy Spain, politics supplant music and tierce discus- 

 sions rage far into the night. Well do we remember the 

 violence of these disputes during the memo iiegra fever, 

 and earlier, in the spring of 1872, when living at a 

 vineyard with only a floor between us and the peasant 

 politicians. Amidst the babel of contending voices one 

 heard perpetually bandied about the names of Zorilla, 

 Castelar, Sagasta, and others of the haute politique of 

 Spain. The lot of the Spanish labourer is none of the 

 happiest, certainl}' ; but it may be doubted if they will 

 mend it by argument and wordy warfare any more than 

 by force. Poor fellows ! they are the raw material which 

 the high-falutin' scoundrels who promote rebellions by 

 popular " cries " and pronuneiamentofi use for their own 

 ends, and then abandon to the bullets of puardas civiles 

 or the sabres of the cavalry. But, good times or bad, 

 the guitar or the revolutionary rag — whichever it may be 

 — are at length laid aside, they stretch themselves in rows 

 on their grass-woven mats, like sardines in a keg, and in 

 sleep the troubled spirits are at rest. 



The vineyards, some of which (especially those in the 

 Canaleja, Badalejo, and Caulina districts) have pedigrees 

 that can be traced back for upwards of six hundred years, 

 are mostly interspersed with tields of corn and groves of 

 olive-trees, and intersected by sandy roads bordered with 

 hedges of cane and cactus. Occasional avenues lead to 

 picturesque villas embowered in flowering shrubs and 

 trees, among which the adelfa, or rose-laurel, the acacia, 

 eucalyptus and cypress are conspicuous. The hill-tops 

 are generally crowned with snow-white casas de vinas, and 

 among the vines there rise little huts of esparto called 

 hien-te-veos, perched on four tall aloe-poles. These are 



