JIJONA--A DAY'S WORK
It was a toss-up which would arrive first: the sun shooting its long
level rays over the mountain-top through our windows, or Tia Roger's
daughter hammering on the door with the milk, warm and frothy, in a jug.
Either the one or the other aroused us from our mattress on the
floor--for we had dispensed quite comfortably with the complications of
a bed. Possibly our night had been restless, for inadvertently I had
imported a host of fleas into the house. They had come from the garden,
from a small spot near an outhouse door, where there was a fascinating
view, and I had stood there one morning with bare legs and feet admiring
the scene. When I had returned to the house, I had noticed a strange
blackish discoloration on my ankles, and stooping had discovered to my
horror that hordes of hungry fleas were crawling up my legs. I had
jumped into a basin of water, but many had escaped. From that moment the
house was never clear of them, and our nights were sometimes disturbed.
We suspect that Père Chicot kept his rabbit skins in the outhouse.
We got out of bed either at the call of the sun or of the milk; and as
we were dressing we watched the purple and green mists of night clearing
off the valley and from the town below us. Breakfast was a simple
affair--tea and dry bread and grapes. Spanish coffee is expensive and
bad, cocoa we did not find, and butter and jam were unprocurable. For
the boiling water we could not go to the trouble of building a bonfire,
so in spite of the expense of spirit we used a methylated spirit stove.
This Jan had bought in Murcia. The shopman had ill understood Jan's
attempts to make his needs known. "Lampara para alcool"[22] had elicited
no response, but at last, driven by repeated requests with variations,
explanations, hand wavings, and so on, intelligence had brightened the
shopman's face.
"Ah, Señor," he had cried, "I understand you now. What you require is a
'little hell.'"
So the kettle sang daily over "little hell," but this morning, Tia Roger
having forgotten to purchase alcohol overnight, it looked as if we were
to breakfast on goat's milk alone. But an idea occurred to me. El Señor,
when he had transferred his major residence to Murcia, had left some
furniture and much litter in El Torre de Blay. Amongst the litter were
odd bottles which had contained toilet lotions, one was half full. Was
there not a chance then that it was alcoholic? I routed out the bottle.
The smell told me nothing. Practical experiment was the only thing.
Imagination was rewarded. "Little hell" worked as well on hair-wash as
with any other fuel.
We ate our simple breakfast at an ancient refectory table, the top hewn
from the width of a large tree, the legs curved and carved like those in
Viking pictures. Then we set to packing up paint and brushes, and the
preparing of sketch boxes. Leaving the things untidy for Tia Roger to
clear, we set off on our respective ways, I down into the old town, Jan
out across the mountains. Jijona was a maze of zigzag streets. In the
morning it was almost manless, but women went to and fro on their
household errands, and the children followed me in swarms. Standing
about in the streets were small coops, enclosing either a chicken or a
turkey, while the queer lean Egyptian cats, with rat-like tails, slunk
along the walls, vanishing like ghosts at any attempt to stroke them.
Even the kittens of a few days old spat at a proffered pat as though at
a dog. I was bound for the street near the monastery which, with its
blue-tiled roof, brought the eastern end of Jijona to a full stop.
As soon as I had settled down the questions began. They were the usual
Spanish questions such as one had heard in Verdolay, and many of the
answers I knew now by heart. But one woman behind me said something new.
"It is an English Señora. She is painting. All the English people paint,
for there have been other English here--El Señor, and his friends--and
they, too, painted. It is strange, indeed, that a whole nation should be
thus gifted. Also all the English are very rich, for they come here from
a long distance, and they paint pictures, and all that is very
expensive. Another thing that I can tell you about the English is that
they are all very tall. Every Englishman that I have seen (she had seen
four) is much taller than we Spanish are. It does not matter that I am
saying this out loud because La Doña does not understand Valenciano."
While I was working this morning there was a continual sound of
squealing pigs. Men's voices mingled with those of the pigs, urging them
to be quiet. The sound came from a high-walled enclosure to which the
entrance was an archway closed by a massive wooden door. Then along came
a goat herd leading his flock. But as soon as the herd came opposite to
this door it refused to pass it. With shouts, curses, and stones the man
urged the goats along. In little quick rushes, thus urged on, one by one
the goats dashed past the door and on down the road. But two refused the
passage perilous. They made sneezing noises of protestation, but nothing
would induce them to move. In despair the man at last had to bring all
his goats back and take them to the hills by some other route. Later I
realized that the door which these intelligent animals would not pass
was the slaughter-house.
Old men, dressed in the ancient Jijona costume of black blouse and black
velvet hat with turned-up brim and pointed crown--kept on to the head by
an elastic at the back--would address me in a patois impossible to
understand. As the sketch neared completion my audience became excited.
"Ha Pintado tod'! tod'! tod'!"[23] they exclaimed. They searched the
picture for the smaller details, the strings of red peppers hanging from
the balconies especially delighted them. Indeed, they gave my pictures
titles because of some minute detail.
"What is she doing?" a new-comer exclaimed. The answer was "The fig
tree." I was astonished, because I could see no fig tree in the whole
sketch. At last one of my audience pointed to one tiny branch of green
projecting over a wall.
Jan had four directions to choose from. North and south led him across a
flattish plain seamed with deep watercourses, east and west took him
into the mountains. To the east the mountains were grey bare stone,
almost uncultivated; to the west the mountains went steeper and steeper,
ending in a high ridge, at the foot of which was a queer leprous
country, the earth spotted all over with lichens and looking as though
mouldy. Wherever he went were the terraces and almond trees; and lonely
little farms were perched high up on the slopes. Terrible little places
those farms were for the doctor, for, if any one were ill in them, there
was often no means of approach other than miles of climbing on foot. But
all across the mountains, incongruous enough in that landscape of
primitive agriculture where the plough was but a stake with an iron
spike, and where no roads were, went standards carrying wires of
electricity. On the standards, deaths'-heads were painted to scare off
the inquisitive child.
Jan had not only to contend with sun and flies. Shadow was even more
difficult to find at Jijona than at Verdolay; the almond as a shade tree
is negligible. It was hot setting out, but it was hotter coming back.
One did not delay much after half-past ten, but, whether the sketch were
finished or no, one packed up one's things and set off homeward. As one
walked one could feel the heat of the ground through the soles of the
alpagatas. There were reputed to be scorpions in the mountains, and it
was as well to be careful when taking a seat or when picking up some
painting implement dropped to the ground. But Jan never saw one. The
peasants said that if he were stung the best thing to do was to plunge
the stung part--usually a finger--into a raw egg; when the yolk had
turned black, a fresh egg was to be substituted.
We were both back in good time on this day, because we were to lunch
with the doctor and his wife. They had promised us a truly Spanish meal.
Here is the menu:
1. Smoked uncooked ham.
2. Hors d'oeuvre, olives (cured in anis and mint), pink tomatoes (a
Jijona speciality), cucumber, and orange-coloured sausage.
3. Soup.
4. A stew of chicken, potatoes and garbanzos. (Garbanzos, or chick-peas,
look something like dried nasturtium seeds. They are cooked like haricot
beans, and taste like a blend of haricot bean and lentil. They are a
very favourite Spanish vegetable.)
5. Cold fish and mayonnaise. (The mayonnaise was made from almond oil,
lemon juice and hard-boiled egg, and was extremely delicate in flavour.)
6. Fried ham and grilled tomatoes.
7. Turron and almond paste sweets.
8. Yellow melon and muscatel grapes. Brandy.
9. Iced coffee (brought in by a boy from the Casino).
The doctor's wife asked me if it were true that English people did not
like questions. I said personally we did not mind questions, but that in
England direct intimate questions were generally avoided.
"But," said the doctor's wife in amazement, "if you wish to find out
something about anybody, how do you do so? And how do you carry on
conversations?"
The meal over, we toiled slowly up again to El Torre, taking the hill in
as leisurely a manner as we could. Tia Roger's daughter was sitting on
our doorstep eating grapes. As we passed she held the bunch out to us.
"Les Gusta?"[24] she said.
"Buen aproveche," we replied.
Before their gateway, the two aged men and the one old woman sat, as
they did from morning till night, plaiting an everlasting rope of
esparto grass.
We had acquired the siesta habit, so lay down until four o'clock. Then,
as the dinner had rather disorganized our desire to paint, Jan and I
went for a walk. We clambered down through the town, passed out by the
southern entrance, across the bridge, and clambered up the hill
opposite. At a long open washing-place, women were on their knees
beating and scrubbing clothes with the Spanish soap which will not
lather; amongst them, working as hard as the rest, was a child of five
years old.
We skirted the line between the mountains, and the flat and plain for
about two miles, then Jan took a path leading away from the mountains.
We came out into the most fantastic scenery of its kind I have ever
seen. In the winter the torrential rains burst on the mountains and the
water rushing down had scooped deep clefts in the earth of the plain.
The ground itself appeared to be in layers of various colours, and these
layers falling in one above the other had striped the sides of the deep
canyon purple, blue, white, orange and red. The water had cut out of the
clayey earth a hundred fantastic shapes--I have seen photographs of the
Grand Canyon of Colorado, this was like them on a small scale; at one
place the clay was harder and the water dripping down had carved the
cliff-side like great organ pipes or like the columns of an Egyptian
temple. In the deep bottoms of the canyon were vine terraces; and
further down flat, irrigated fields of tomatoes, of herbage or of
vegetables. Little farm-houses sheltered under the mud cliffs, and on
the circular threshing floors almonds and red peppers were spread out
to dry in the sun. In one place a man had scooped his dwelling out of
the cliff-side. These cave dwellings are common enough. At Verdolay was
a whole colony of them, and the cavemen were reputed to be thieves and
vagabonds, and the members were despised by the peasants proper. At the
end of the ravine or barranca we came to a many-arched bridge which
towered high above our heads, and clambering up by a zigzag track found
ourselves on the Alicante road.
In appearance this country is very deceptive. It appears arid, almost
desolate, but the mountains are covered with almond trees, which for all
their scanty foliage bear valuable crops, while the plain hides its
richness in ravines a hundred feet or more below the level of its
surface.
We arrived home to find a stranger dressed in black clothes, but with an
official cap on his head, sitting on a stone seat before our door. He
was reading a book, and as we came up he bowed and said that he hoped
his presence was not distasteful to us. We, of course, in the fashion of
Spanish courtesy, put our whole home at his disposal, and invited him
indoors. He demurred in the correct fashion, but on a second invitation
came in with us. In the long entrada Père Chicot was looking out through
the back door and shaking his head at the garden.
"There's another tree dying," he said. "All the trees are dying, and the
vines won't bear. You can't do anything without water."
"But is there no water at all?" we asked.
"Ay," replied Père Chicot, "there used to be the right to two hours of
water once a fortnight. But the owners sold it. They wanted money and it
was worth many hundreds of pesetas."
Our visitor was very interested in the house, for he confided in us
that there was a housing shortage in Jijona, like that in the rest of
the world. He was chief of the municipal officers, dust-cart,
water-supply, electric light and so on. He had just come from Toledo,
and the only place he could find in Jijona was not nearly large enough
for his family.
"This would just suit me," he said, peering into room after room, "seven
rooms; and they say that St. Sebastian used to live here. Did you know
that?"
His eye was attracted by the guitar of El Señor, which we had brought
with us.
"And you an afficionado of the guitar," he exclaimed. "I, too, have
played in my time."
We pressed him to play.
"No, no; indeed I would like to, but I may not. You see, my wife's
father died a week ago, and it would seem very wicked if I were to play,
or to sing."
Jan played him a farouka which he had learned from Blas.
"It seems a good guitar," said the man.
He picked it up, and fingered the chords. Then he went to the door and
peered round it to see if Père Chicot had gone home.
"I might sing you something if you won't tell any one," said the chief
of the municipal officers. "But I will sing it in a very low voice, so
that it will be less disrespectful to my wife's father."
He sang, in a hoarse unmusical whisper, a guajiras.
"I like the guajiras and also the tango," said he. "You see, I did my
military duty in Cuba, and I learned many over there."
Here are three of the songs he sang:
"I will never marry,
For as a bachelor I am gay,
I have money to spend,
I live like a general all day.
And if I come to marry,
Though I may be rich,
I shall have to lower my crest,
Like 'Barrabas' the cock,
But the bachelor is
Like God painted by Peter."
"On a serene night
The sad lament was heard
Of a poor soldier, wounded
And covered with blood and sand.
For the ambulances were full,
And the Red Cross doctors were busy.
At the sight of his oozing blood
The brave soldier prayed
That death should overtake him,
For no one could assist him."
"At breakfast one morning
A wise man said, sighing,
That women in weeping
Are false as are traitors.
This has oft been ignored.
But I've seen and I know
That the tears of a woman,
As down they are falling,
Make naught but deception
For the man who supports her."
As he went on he began to forget his father-in-law, and in a short while
he was bawling indecent tangos at the top of his voice. He showed no
signs of departure, so I began to prepare for supper. I lit the bonfire
which Tia Roger had laid in the wide hearth-place, placed over it a
three-legged trivet of iron and on the trivet our huge saucepan full to
the brim with olive oil. We then made use of a Spanish custom. We asked
him to supper with us. This he was forced by Spanish custom to refuse,
and as we did not repeat the invitation he had to make his
compliments--which he did with the greatest courtesy--and go home.
After supper, as our bread supply was short, we felt our way down the
hill in the dark and down the staircases of streets to the shop of
Manuel Garcia. Garcia and his wife sold bread at one fat dog cheaper
than the other shops. The bread was quite as good as any other, it had a
very white powdery kind of consistency, baked in flat loaves with a very
hard, anæmic crust. The Garcias had showed us one of the economical
devices which were in current use. We had for some days bought candles
at this shop, but Mrs. Garcia said:
"Why do you spend all this money on candles? Here is a thing much
better, and much cheaper. You first pour water into a cup or bowl until
half-way up, then fill to the top with olive oil. Float one of these on
the top of the oil, and set fire to it. There you have a light at half
the cost of candles."
The box she handed to us was full of pieces of cork through which a wick
had been thrust. On the top of the box was the name of the device
"little-lamps-little-boats" and a picture of the Virgin. We stepped back
in our illumination to the most ancient of methods--the old Roman
conquerors of Spain must have illuminated their villas in this way.
"Little-lamps-little-boats" had probably given light to the halls of the
Saracen castle which now was but a few crumbling masses of slowly
disintegrating cement. It was curious to think that one-half of Jijona
was lit by electric light, the other by this antique device, and that
there was practically nothing between. Mrs. Garcia had urged us to the
stewing of garbanzos.
The Garcias were go-ahead Spaniards. Starting from very small origins,
they had begun a small turron factory in a back room. Not content with
making turron alone, they had peddled it all over the Balearic Isles.
Gradually they had prospered, and the whole upper part of the house was
now factory, the entrance to the factory being higher up the hill in a
back street. Yet they remained simple people, sitting, in the evenings,
on their doorstep gossiping, while the flaxen-haired daughter, sixteen
years old, painted with a toothpick dipped in dye eyes and noses on
sugar pigs and cats.
"We had a hard time at first," said Mrs. Garcia. "In Majorca the people
were very jealous of us, and often very rude. They would tell us to go
back to our own district; they used to laugh at our speech, though God
knows they can't speak proper Spanish themselves."
This inter-district jealousy seems characteristic of Spain. The man from
Toledo laughed at the Jijona people; the people of Jijona called those
of Murcia "gipsies"; the people of Murcia say that the Jijona folk are
mere uncultivated mountaineers; Catalan and Castilian are in
semi-enmity. Each person that one spoke to lauded the beauties and the
food of his own district at the expense of other places. All about
Jijona they would have nothing but malegueñas and Valencian jotas. The
other varieties of Spanish music they were not interested in.
But the Garcias were progressive people. They had made a success of
their Balearic venture, and now had a stall in the market of Alicante.
This was kept by a sister-in-law. Garcia and his wife were making
preparations to go to the great fair at Albacete. The shop was full of
large bales done up in straw matting, boxes and crates of sweets and of
turron. They would go by road, for it was cheaper, and only about a
hundred miles away.
"That is a queer town," said Garcia. "There are gates to the walls, and
at a certain hour they shut the gates, and if you are outside you stay
outside till the morning."
Mrs. Garcia wanted me to paint her portrait. If she would have posed to
me in the ordinary, peasant, workaday dress I would have done it with
pleasure. But she had a fine fashionable modern silk dress of black and
she wanted to pose in this. I managed to put off the proposal until the
time of her departure was too close. She went away unsatisfied.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 22: Spirit lamp.]
[Footnote 23: "She has painted everything, everything, everything!"]
[Footnote 24: "Would you like them?"]