CHAPTER. VII 
“OUR LADY OF THE DEW” 
THE PILGRIMAGE TO THE SHRINE OF NUESTRA SENORA DEL ROCIO 
Pincrimaces by the pious to distant shrines are a well-known 
phase in the faith both of the Moslem and of the Romish Church, 
and require no definition by us; but one that is yearly performed 
to a tiny and isolated shrine not a dozen miles from our 
shooting-lodge of Dofiana deserves description. 
First as to its origin. Twelve hundred years ago when Arab 
conquerors overran Spain much treasure of the churches, with 
many sacred emblems, relics, etc., were hurriedly concealed in 
places of safety. But not unnaturally, since Moorish domina- 
tion extended over 700 years, all trace or record of such 
hiding-places had long been lost, and it was merely by chance 
and one by one that, after the Reconquest, the hidden treasures 
were rediscovered. 
The story of the recovery of our Lady of the Dew is related 
to have occurred in this wise. A shepherd tending his flocks 
in the neighbourhood of Almonte was induced by the strangely 
excited barking of his dog to force a way into the dense thickets 
known as La Rocina de la Madre (a wooded swamp, famous as 
a breeding-place of the smaller herons, egrets, and ibises), in the 
midst of which the dog led him to an ancient hollowed tree. 
Here, half-hidden in the cavernous trunk, the shepherd espied 
the figure of “a Virgin of rare beauty and of exquisite carving,” 
clothed in a tunic of what had been white linen, but now stained 
dull green through centuries of exposure to the weather and 
dew (rocio). 
Overjoyed, the shepherd, bearing the Virgin on his shoulders, 
set out for Almonte, distant three leagues; but being overcome 
by fatigue and the weight of his burden, he lay down to rest by 
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