On entering Madrid by the gate of Toledo, or the Place de la Cenada,
where the market is held, nothing is more striking than the confused
mass of people from the country and provinces. There a Castilian draws
around him with dignity the folds of his ample cloak, like a Roman
senator in his toga. Here a cowherd from La Mancha, with his long goad
in his hand, clad in a kilt of ox-skin, whose antique shape bears some
resemblance to the tunic worn by the Roman and Gothic warriors. Farther
on may be seen men with their hair confined in long nets of silk. Others
wearing a kind of short brown vest, striped with blue and red, conveying
the idea of Moorish garb. The men who wear this dress come from
Andalusia.
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