APPENDIX. 381 



a great deal of pleasure from tlie bull fights which were to take 

 place on the occasion of the King's visit, then near at hand. At 

 first I thought I should like to see what " the national amusement " 

 was like, but after conversing with an English friend who had 

 recently witnessed one, I altered my mind ; the successive disem- 

 bowelling of a dozen horses is not a sight that the average Amer- 

 ican appreciates, and this, with the ultimate slaughtering of the 

 bull, with a little more than the usual risk to the butcher, is all 

 there is of it. It is to be hoped that, with the onward march of 

 intelligence and civilization, such spectacles will soon cease to be 

 esteemed amusements, even in Spain. 



The Spaniards are a handsome race, the women especially so, 

 and their natural beauty is much enhanced by the graceful man- 

 tilla or head-dress which is almost universally worn. I think I 

 never saw so many beautiful women in the same space of time as 

 I did during the month I was in Spain. 



Spanish architecture is peculiar, the houses being usually built 

 around a square, open court, which is planted with dwarf trees 

 and often beautifully ornamented with flowers ; the door or pas- 

 sage-way to the street is usually closed with only an elaborately 

 wrought open iron-work door, if I may be allowed the expression, 

 which admits a current of air, and, at the same time, affords pas- 

 sers-by a glimpse of charming interiors, and windows with similar 

 guards are almost always left open to admit the air. Walls are 

 usually brilliantly whitewashed, which imparts a dazzling whiteness 

 to everything that is extremely trying to the eyes, and makes a 

 Spanish city often look cleaner than it smells. 



Spanish currency is " a delusion and a snare," at least to a 

 stranger ; nominally the unit of value is the " real " (about five 

 cents), but really there is no such coin, and the stranger has to 

 make his way among a bewildering maze of "cuartos," "pesetas," 

 " duros," etc., which strongly try both his temper and his math- 

 ematical abilities. 



In Spain everybody smokes, even the ladies " taking a hand " 

 at it, and it is no uncommon thing to see a pretty woman, after 

 dinner, pull out a cigarette and request a light from her next 

 neighbor ; in railway cars, diligences (stage-coaches), etc., it is not 

 even considered necessary to ask ladies if they object, and, indeed, 



