October, 1920 
FOREST AND STREAM 
539 
DOCTOR HENSHALL VISITS SPAIN 
IN 1887 THE CHAMPION OF THE BLACK BASS LAID ASIDE HIS FISHING ROD AND JOUR- 
NEYED TO FAR FAMED GRANADA WHERE SOME INTERESTING SIGHTS WERE RECORDED 
C ADIZ is probably the oldest city in 
Europe. It is built on a peninsula 
that juts out from the mainland, or 
rather from an island, and is entirely 
enclosed with a stone wall which rises 
from the sea on all sides. As we ap- 
proached the city on a clear, lovely morn- 
ing during the last week in January, 
in 1887, it presented a remarkably 
bright appearance with its shining gran- 
ite walls and ramparts, and its tall white 
houses crowned with terraces and over- 
hanging turrets. The isthmus connect- 
ing the city with the island is very nar- 
row, and between the island and the 
mainland is a beautiful bay and a fine 
harbor with safe anchorage. A singular 
and prominent feature on the island was 
a group of immense pyramids of salt, 
glittering and shining in the morning 
sun. We learned afterward that the salt 
is produced by natural evaporation in 
narrow channels and trenches. 
We were glad to step ashore after our 
long passage, and went at once to our 
hotel. While dressing for breakfast my 
curiosity was aroused by a loud voice in 
the street, and looking out of the win- 
dow I saw on an opposite corner the 
stand of a vender of fruits, cakes and 
dulces who was pacing to and fro in 
front of his stand crying “Integridad! 
Integridad!” in a loud and rasping voice. 
Passing school children occasionally 
made small purchases. Presently I heard 
a violent altercation, and looking out saw 
a man upbraiding and accusing the ven- 
der of giving short change to a boy who 
was weeping bitterly, and holding an 
orange in his hand. When the matter 
had been satisfactorily settled, the man 
resumed his walk and continued to an- 
nounce his integrity and honesty. The 
aggrieved boy, watching his chance slyly 
snatched an orange from the stand and 
rapidly disappeared around the corner, 
notwithstanding that the vender still 
continued to cry “integridad!” 
The houses of Cadiz are very tall and 
the streets very narrow, but well-paved 
and clean. Among the few public build- 
ings was a grand and imposing cathe- 
dral with some fine statues and a few 
good pictures, especially the altar piece, 
by Murillo, the renowned Spanish paint- 
er. Among the parks, Alameda square 
is the most popular resort of the citi- 
zens, especially when there is music. 
There were several theatres; at the larg- 
est an excellent company was producing 
Italian grand opera. During our stay 
of a week in Cadiz there was a different 
opera each night, with a different prima 
donna and tenor for each one. We were 
present on four evenings and heard La 
Favorita, II Trovitore, La Traviata and 
Ria’oletto, all of which were well-rend- 
ered, all the singers being good and the 
chorus full and strong. On our , ship 
there was an opera singer and his wife 
EIGHTEENTH PAPER 
in the second cabin who sat on the deck 
all day playing lotta. Much to our sur- 
prise this artist appeared as the tenor 
in Rigoletto, and seemed to be a great 
favorite. Although the company was an 
unusually large one, and the singers un- 
usually fine, the price of admittance was 
only about fifty cents! Think of it! The 
secret of this, however, was that the com- 
pany was endowed by the Government. 
There was a fine, shady promenade or 
the walls of the city, which was frequent- 
ed every afternoon by the fair sex and 
their attendant squires. It was a daily 
reminder of the Easter parade on Fifth 
Avenue in New York and Michigan Ave-. 
nue in Chicago. The ladies of Cadiz as 
well as a majority of the women of An- 
dalusia, are the handsomest in Europe. 
The doubter has only to visit the prome- 
nade on the walls on any pleasant after- 
noon to be convinced. 
W E left Cadiz and the sea behind us 
as we took the train for Seville, 
about a hundred miles eastward, 
in the heart of Andalusia, the most 
charming portion of Spain. After tra- 
veling about an hour, or fifteen miles, we 
stopped for a few minutes at Xeres, or 
Jer’es. The English corrupted this name 
into Sherries, and finally to Sherry, the 
name of the wine that made Xeres fam- 
ous. The making of sherry wine is 
the chief industry of the city, and Xerea 
has the same connection with sherry that 
Bordeaux has with claret or Rheims with 
champagne. The wine is made from 
white grapes, the vineyards covering a 
valley of some ten miles in extent, lying 
between the Gaudalquiver and Guada- 
lette rivers. 
There are many shades and grades of 
sherry wine, the prices, at that time, 
ranging from a dollar per bottle to 
twenty cents a gallon! The population of 
Xeres was something more than sixty 
thousand, considerably less than that of 
Cadiz. We saw several flocks of wild 
geese flying northward, and a flock of 
storks flying along the river. As soon 
as the train stopped most of the passen- 
gers made a break for the wine shops 
and quickly returned with a bottle or 
two of the famous wine. As the station 
master rang his hand-bell as a signal 
for starting the train a belated indi- 
vidual, who had halted to take a good 
swig from his bottle, tripped as he ran 
and the bottle was smashed on a stone, 
and the disembodied spirits soaked into 
the ground that gave them birth! 
The journey from Xeres to Seville, 
about eighty miles by rail, was rather in- 
teresting; vineyards and olive orchards 
interspersed with barren hills and rocky 
slopes, but nowhere could be seen leafy 
woods or sequestered vales. Seville, the 
capital of Andalusia, is a walled city 
situated on a wide plain on the banks of 
the Guadalquiver, and has a population 
of more than 150,000. It is celebrated, 
as Byron says, for women and oranges, 
both being alike bitter and sweet. Many 
years ago, before the advent of oranges 
from Florida and California, most of our 
oranges came from Seville. The climate 
is delightful, even in winter, much like 
that of Cairo, Egypt. It is said that 
there is hardly a day in the year when 
the sun does not shine. The streets are 
very narrow, with scarcely room for one 
vehicle to pass another. 
Seville is the most desirable residence 
city in Spain. The houses are tall and 
well built, with balconies at the windows. 
The grill work of the light iron doors and 
gates is both artistic and beautiful. 
Morals, however, are at a rather low 
ebb. It is said that it is a reproach for 
a married woman not to possess a cor- 
tijo, or gallant, or a senorita not to have 
several lovers. Perhaps the lovely cli- 
mate is responsible for this by animat- 
ing the ladies with its voluptuous soft- 
ness. They seem to care for nothing but 
bull-fights, the theatre, dancing and 
cards. The principal promenade is along 
the Guadalquiver river. It is charac- 
terized by charming walks and drives 
amid beautiful gardens of plants and 
flowers. The walks are shaded with 
bowers and ornamental trees, and here 
the beauty and fashion of the city as- 
semble to do their flirting and courting, 
and with every breath inhale the fra- 
grance of roses and orange blossoms. 
The most remarkable and interesting 
public building is the Alcazar, the resi- 
dence of former Moorish and Christian 
Kings. It is a fine specimen of Moslem 
architecture. There are numerous arch- 
es opening into the grand patio. In this 
court, in the palmy days of the Moorish 
regime, one hundred virgins were an- 
nually introduced as wives for the reign- 
ing monarch. Toward the end of the 
year, however, he married them off to his 
officers to make room for the next crop. 
T HE cathedral of Seville is one of the 
largest and most magnificent in 
Spain. It has nine entrances and five 
naves, hundreds of columns and graceful 
pillars, and probably a hundred painted 
windows. It contains forty chapels, each 
containing a world of wealth. There are 
numerous excellent pictures by Murillo 
and other masters. Adjoining the cathe- 
dral is the campanile,, or bell-tower, 
called Giralda, about three hundred feet 
high, with the renowned weather-cock on 
top. Madison Square Garden’s tower 
in New York is fashioned like it. An 
interesting sight is Pilate’s House, sup- 
posed to be a facsimile of the house of 
Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem. The patio 
has a number of beautiful pillars and 
arches of Saracen architecture. On the 
stairway of the second story, in a small 
