212 A CASTILIAN'S OPINION OF GRENADA.

among bare, bleak mountains. I got out to walk, and was joined by a passenger from another compartment of the diligence. He was a Castilian, who had lived thirty years in Grenada, engaged in trade, and, as I inferred, successfully. "Grenada," he said, "is declining, but it is the fault of the inhabitants. These Andalusians like only to be amused, and there is no contempt like the contempt they have for money. All that they earn they must get rid of; a workman who has a dollar in his pocket will do nothing till it is fooled away. It is therefore that the Grenadans are poor,

and their city in decay."

"But what will you say of Malaga ?" I asked. "Malaga, you must admit, is thriving."

"It is the Castilians," he replied, "who have made it the prosperous city it is. It was a poor place enough till the Castilian merchants saw the advantages of its situation and settled there." And then he went on to enumerate the eminent Castilian merchants who had built up, as he said, the prosperity of Malaga, until the diligence, overtaking us on a piece of level road, put an end to his eulogy of Castilian enterprise, by an intimation that it was time to take his seat within.

At Colmenar, where we stopped to breakfast, the beggars came about us in such numbers that we could with difficulty get in and out of the carriage, and were obliged to poke Here a passenger joined us, who spoke of the distemper which of late years destroys the grape. This year, he said, the fruit had suffered more from

them out of our way.

ARRIVAL AT MALAGA.

213

the mildew than in any previous season; and if no remedy was found, the culture of the vine must be abandoned. I looked round on the almost boundless mountain side, planted with low vines almost trailing on the earth, and thought what a change would occur in the pursuits of the people when these should be uprooted. "That vineyard," pursued he, pointing to a field by the wayside, "is mine; in good years it has yielded twelve hundred arrobas of wine; last I had but a hundred. It is true, I am in part compenyear sated by the higher price; for the same quantity of must, that formerly brought me three reals, now brings me twentyYou see, however, that on the whole, I lose seri

ously."

We were now descending the mountains towards Malaga, and began to be sensible of its more genial climate. A bright sunshine lay on the red hills, and though the wind blew with great strength, there was in it no harshness or chilliness. We reached Malaga, submitted to an examination of the shirts, night-gowns and slippers we carried with us, and were allowed to take them to an hotel.

Our visit to Malaga was ended. Cadiz and Seville, and the rock of Gibraltar, we had not seen, as we had hoped to do, including a possible excursion to Cordova; but travelling in Spain, even by passing in steamers from port to port on the coast, is slow, and we found that if we proceeded further, it would take more time than we could spare from our intended visit to Italy. A steamer from Rouen, bound to Marseilles by way of Oran and Algiers, made its appearance

214 STEAMERS PROCEEDING FROM MALAGA.

at Malaga. After some comparison of the advantages of coming this way instead of proceeding to Marseilles by any of the lines which touch at Alicante, Valencia, and Barcelona, we decided in favor of the African route, and took passage in the steamer Normandie, which brought us hither.

CLIMATE OF MALAGA.

215

LETTER XX.

A VOYAGE TO THE AFRICAN COAST-ORAN.

ALGIERS, December 20, 1857.

It was a beautiful evening when we went on board of the steamer Normandie, anchored in the port of Malaga; the sea as smooth as a mirror, and the sky in the west flushed with an amber light, which gave its own tinge to every object lying below it. It was not without regret that we found ourselves about to leave the agreeable climate of Malaga, without the hope of finding any thing like it in the countries to which we were going. "This is our winter weather," the residents of the place would say to us, when we spoke of the serenity and genial softness of the season. In fact, winter in Malaga has nothing of that dreary dampness or of those keen winds which make so many days unpleasant in other parts of the south of Europe. From the bleak north wind it is shielded by mountains; and it welcomes rather than dreads the sirocco or south wind. In Africa the hot and dry breath of the sirocco parches the soil and withers its vegetation; in passing over to Italy it loads itself with all the vapors of the Mediterranean; it drenches Naples with rain and involves

216

DEPARTURE

FOR

AFRICA.

Leghorn in clouds; but on Malaga it blows genially, bringing in gentle showers. There is just enough of sea between the Spanish coast and Africa to take off its fatal dryness, and to make it a temperate sea wind, instead of the burning wind of the desert. "In fact, we have hardly cold enough in winter," said a gentleman who had lived at Malaga for several years, "to brace us for the heats of summer; and one of the maladies of the country, occasioned by this softness of the climate, is an enlargement of the blood-vessels of the skin-the appearance of varicose veins on the limbs, which often make it necessary to wear an elastic bandage or stocking." I have no doubt, for my part, that the winter climate in Malaga is one of the most equable in every respect, and most friendly to the health of invalids, in the world.

It was five o'clock in the afternoon when we went on board of the steamer Normandie, which had the reputation of being an excellent sea-boat, commanded by an obliging and experienced captain; but it was not till a little past nine that we raised anchor and ploughed our way out of the port. At eleven o'clock the sky was bright with stars, and the ocean sleeping in a perfect calm, and I had betaken myself to my berth for the night, when a shock was felt which jarred the vessel from stem to stern, followed by a hurried trampling of feet on the deck above me, a stormy rattling of ropes, and loud shouts. Of course everybody was immediately on deck, and it was found that by some gross stupidity, on one side or the other, we had struck a steamer coming into port, amidships, opening a breach in her side which let in the sea,