ANDALUCIA. 11 



next morning to bring in the meat, nothing was found 

 remaining except the horns and the hoofs ! On another 



occasion, when driving tandem into the town of P , we 



met, face to face, a novillo or three-year-old bull which, 

 according to a custom of tauromachian Spain, was being 

 baited in the public streets. We only escaped by driving 

 across the shrubberies and flower-beds of the Alameda. 

 In the former case we received the thanks of the munici- 

 pality : in the other, were condemned to pay a fine ! * 



Another ride was saddened by finding on the wayside 

 the body of a murdered man ; his mule stood patiently by, 

 and there we left them in the gloom of gathering night. 

 On all the bye-ways of Spain, and along the bridle-paths 

 ■of the sierras, one sees little memorial tablets or rude 

 wooden crosses, bearing silent witness to such deeds of 

 violence, according to Spanish custom : — . 



" Below there in the dusky pass 

 Was wrought a murder dread, 

 The murdered fell upon the grass, 

 Away the murderer fled."f 



On more than one occasion our armed hunting-ex- 

 peditions in the wilds have been mistaken — not perhaps 

 without reason, so far as external appearances go — for a 

 gang of mala gente; and their sudden appearance has struck 

 dire dismay in the breasts of peaceful peasants and arrieros, 

 with convoys of corn-laden donkeys, till reassured by the 

 brazen voice of Bias or Antonio — " Ole, amigos ! Aqui no 

 hay memo negra, ni blanca tampoco ! " — which we give in 



* An amusing little instance of Spanish justice arose out of this; — 

 Having refused to pay the fine, no further steps were taken for its 

 recovery, nor to uphold the majesty of the law, until, long afterwards, 

 the mulcted man's purse was stolen from his pocket in the bull-ring 



a,t P . On his appearing to prosecute the thief, whose guilt was 



clearly proved, the Alcalde declined to restore the money, quietly 

 pocketing the purse with the remark, " I think, Seiior Caballero, this 

 will just about settle the account between us ! " This casual way of 

 administering justice was amusing enough, and consoled one for the 

 feeling of having been " bested." 



j There is an excellent description of one of these tragic scenes in 

 Borrow (Zincali, i., pp. 48, 49). 



