APPENDIX. 391 



the fact that grocers handle a great variety of articles from many 

 different countries, and, besides, are usually self-made men, who 

 have been deeply absorbed in the struggle for a livelihood, and 

 have had their noses kept, as it were, so close to the business 

 grindstone that they have never had much chance to investigate 

 the pedigree of the articles in which they deal. A trip around 

 the world, such as I have taken, teaches a man something about 

 these things, and also geography, toleration, and his own unimpor- 

 tance in the great planet we live on. I have learnt something 

 during my trip in all of these respects, and I trust that in the 

 future I shall be not only a better merchant, but also a better 

 citizen than before. 



One of the things in which I had professed to be somewhat of a 

 connoisseur was sherry wine, but, when I came to Spain, I found 

 nearly everything about it new and interesting. Jerez, or Xeres, 

 from whence the name sherry is derived, the great centre of this 

 trade, is situated about thirty miles in the interior from Cadiz, 

 the shipping port, and here, within a limited district, perhaps ten 

 miles square, of hUly, rolling country, are grown the grapes from 

 which the true sherry is made. I say true sherry, because a very 

 large quantity of wine is yearly put upon the market, which is 

 grown, not only in other districts in Spain, but is also manipula- 

 ted into sherry at Hamburg from common German wines, and at 

 Cette, in France, from the common white wines of that country. 

 Some coloring, sweetening and flavoring matter, together with a 

 little alcohol, added to the light wines of these countries, makes 

 a tolerable imitation of the poorer qualities of Jerez wines, and 

 vast quantities of this stuff are yearly put upon the English mar- 

 ket, a considerable proportion also finding its way to America. 

 Some very good wines are grown in other districts in Spain, 

 which find their way to Jerez, and are sold as wines of Jerez 

 growth. Some of these are excellent wines, perhaps equal, or 

 superior in quality, to some of those gi-own within the Jerez dis- 

 trict, for there is a considerable difference in the wines grown in 

 Jerez proper. As a rule, the wine produced on the plains in the 

 immediate vicinity of the town is of quite ordinary quality, 

 while that grown upon the outlying hills, which have a white, 

 chalky soil, known as "albariza," is of the finest quality. When 



