116 



WILD SPAIN. 



CHAPTEE X. 



BBIGANDAGE IN SPAIN. 



SKETCHES OF TWO B.OBBEB-TYPES. 



I. VlZCO EL BOEJE. 



The existence of the brigand, it would appear, is desir- 

 able in order to cast a glamour of heroism over the 

 adventures of travellers in foreign lands. Many Penin- 

 sular tourists mention encounters with "brigands," and 

 according to some books on Spanish travel, their authors 

 were frequently experiencing hair-breadth escapes from 

 these gentry, who were, of course, bristling as to their 

 persons with deadly weapons — as is, in fact, nearly every 

 harmless peasant or goatherd one may meet in the wilds. 

 The tendency to overcolour is, perhaps, natural to imagi- 

 native writers ; but it is a mistake to rush to the other 

 extreme, and to deny in toto the survival of this fra- 

 ternity in modern Spain. 



In his " Gatherings from Spain " — one of the best books 

 ever written — Ford draws a picture of Spanish brigandage, 

 actual and imaginary, and diagnoses the whole status of 

 these " men of the road," as it existed in his day, with a 

 knowledge and terseness that cannot be excelled. And 

 although Ford wrote fifty years ago, yet his remarks stand 

 substantially correct at the present day ; the only change of 

 importance being that measure of reclamation which half a 

 century of equal laws has succeeded in effecting in the 

 prowling gitano or gypsy, in Ford's day a lawless pariah, 

 the curse of rural Spain. 



