differs from the former article in being of no particular use. I observe
that guide-books lay stress upon the passport as something very
important; and, no doubt, it is gratifying to possess one. There is a
subtle flattery in the personal relation, approaching familiarity, which
an instrument of this kind seems to set up on the part of government
toward the individual; there is a charming unreality, moreover, in the
description it gives of your personal appearance and the color of your
eyes, making you feel, when you read it, as if you were a character in
fiction. Following the rules, I procured a passport and put it into a
stout envelope, ready for much use and constant wear; but all that it
accomplished for me was to add a few ounces of weight to my
_impedimenta_. No one ever asked for it, and I doubt whether the
military police would have understood what it was, had they seen it. My
experience on first crossing the frontier taught me never to volunteer
useless information. Our trunks had been passed after a mere opening of
the lids and lifting of the trays, and an officer was listlessly
examining the contents of my shoulder-bag. Thinking that he was troubled
by the enigmatic nature of a few harmless opened letters which it
contained, I said, re-assuringly, as he was dropping them back into
their place, "They are only letters."
"Letters!" he repeated, with rekindled vigilance. And, taking up the
sheets again, of which he could not understand a word, he squandered
several minutes in gazing at them in an absurd pretence of profundity.
If I had insisted on unfurling my country's passport, I should probably
have been taken into custody at once, as a person innocent enough to
deserve thorough investigation. Nevertheless, a passport may be a good
thing to hold in reserve for possible contingencies. It is said also to
be of use, now and then, in securing admission to galleries and museums
on days or at hours when they are generally closed to the public; but of
this I cannot speak from experience.
_Custom-house_.--We had no great difficulty with examinations by
custom-house officers, except at Barcelona, where we arrived about one
o'clock in the morning and had to undergo a scene excessively annoying
at the time, but comical enough in the retrospect. Being desirous to
embark on the hotel omnibus in search of quarters, we hastened to the
baggage-room to claim our trunks by the registry receipt given us at
Valencia; but the "carbineer" explained that we could not have them just
then. After waiting a little, we took out keys and politely proposed to
open them for examination. This, also, he declined. I then offered him a
cigar, which he accepted in a very gracious way, giving it a slight
flourish and shake in his hand (after the usual manner), to indicate his
appreciation of the courtesy; but still he made no motion to accommodate
us in the matter we had most at heart. Some agreeable young Scotchmen,
who had joined our party, urged me to make farther demonstrations, and I
conferred with the omnibus-driver, who explained that we must wait for
some other parcels to be collected from the train before anything could
be done; accordingly, we waited. The other parcels arrived; the policy
of inaction continued. Meanwhile, several French commercial travellers,
who had journeyed hither by the same train in all the splendor of a
spurious parlor-car, chartered for their sole use, had proceeded around
the station, and now attacked the bolted doors at the front of the
baggage-room with furious poundings and loud bi-lingual ejaculations.
But even this had no effect. I therefore concluded that the object of
the "carbineer's" strategy was a bribe; and, for the first and only time
in our journey, I administered one. Getting him aside, I told him
confidentially, with all the animation proper to an entirely new idea,
that we were anxious to get our belongings examined and passed promptly,
so as to secure a resting-place some time before day, and that we should
be greatly obliged if he would assist us. At the same time I slipped two
or three _pesetas_ into his hand, which he took with the same
magnanimous tolerance he had shown on receiving the cigar. This done, he
once more relapsed into apathy. All known resources had now been
exhausted, and there was nothing to do but wait. With dismay I stood by
and saw my silver follow the cigar, swallowed up in the abyss of
official indifference that yawned before us; and to my companions, who
had just been envying me my slight knowledge of Spanish, and admiring my
tact, I became all at once a perfectly useless object, a specimen of
misguided imbecility--all owing to the dense unresponsiveness of the
inspector, whose incapacity to act assumed, by contrast with my own
fruitless energy, a resemblance to genius. The oaths and poundings of
the French battalion at the door went on gallantly all the time, but
were quite as ineffectual as my movement on the rear.
Finally, just when we were reduced to despair, the guard roused himself
from his meditations, rushed to the door, unbolted it to the impatient
assailants, and passed everything in the room without the slightest
examination.
The whole affair remains to this day an enigma; and, as such, one is
forced to accept every trouble of this kind in the Peninsula. But, as I
have said, matters went smoothly enough in other places. Every important
town, I believe, collects its imposts even on articles brought into
market from the surrounding country; and at Seville we paid the hotel
interpreter twenty cents as the nominal duty on our personal belongings.
I have not the slightest doubt that this sum went to swell his own
private revenue; at all events, no such tariff was insisted upon, or
even suggested, elsewhere. The only rule that can be given is to await
the action of customs officials without heat, and, while avoiding undue
eagerness to show that you carry nothing dutiable, hold yourself in
readiness to unlock and exhibit whatever you have. In case a fine should
be exacted, ask for a receipt for the amount; and, if it seems to be
excessive, the American or British consul or commercial agent may
afterward be appealed to.
_Extra Baggage_.--One point of importance in this connection is
generally overlooked. Only about sixty pounds' weight of luggage is
allowed to each traveller; all trunks are carefully weighed at every
station of departure, and every pound over the above amount is charged
for. Hence, unless a light trunk is selected, and the quantity of
personal effects carefully reduced to the least that is practicable, the
expense of a tour in Spain will be appreciably increased by the item of
extra baggage alone. Baggage of all kinds is registered, and a receipt
given by which it may be identified at the point of destination. It is
important, however, to get to the station at least half an hour before
the time for leaving, since this process of weighing and registering,
like that of selling or stamping tickets, is conducted with extreme
deliberation, and cannot be hastened in any way. On diligence routes the
allowance for baggage is only forty-four pounds (twenty kilograms). A
good precaution, in order to guard against unfair weighing, is to get
one's trunk or trunks properly weighed before starting, and keep a
memorandum of the result.
_Tickets, etc_.--It is unadvisable to travel in any but first-class
carriages on the Spanish railroads; and the fare for these is somewhat
high. But a very great saving may be made, if the journey be begun from
Paris, by purchasing _billets circulaires_ (circular or round-trip
tickets), which--with a limitation of two months, as to time--enable the
tourist to go from Paris either to San Sebastian, on the Bay of Biscay,
or Barcelona, on the Mediterranean, and from either of those points to
take in succession all the cities and towns which it is worth while to
visit. A ticket of this kind costs only about ninety dollars, whereas
the usual fare from Paris to Madrid alone is nearly or quite forty
dollars. The _billets circulaires_ may be obtained at a certain central
ticket-office in the Rue St. Honoré, at Paris, to which the inquirer at
either of the great Southern railroads--that is, the Paris-Lyons and the
Orleans lines--will be directed. The list of places at which one is
permitted to stop, on this round-trip system, is very extensive, and a
coupon for each part of the route is provided. It must be observed,
however, that when once the trip is begun the holder cannot return upon
his traces, unless a coupon for that purpose be included, without paying
the regular fare. He must continue in the general direction taken at the
start--entering Spain at one of its northern corners, and coming out at
the opposite northern corner, after having described a sort of
elliptical course through the various points to be visited. And this is,
in fact, the most convenient course to take. It is also prescribed that
at the first frontier station, and at every station from which the
holder afterward starts, he shall show the ticket and have it stamped.
Occasionally, conductors on the trains displayed a tendency to make us
pay something additional; but this was merely an attempt at imposition,
and we always refused to comply. Should the holder of one of these
tickets have a similar experience, and be unable to make the conductor
comprehend, the best thing to do is quietly to persist in not paying,
and, if necessary, have the proper explanation made at the end of the
day's trip.
Journeys by steamer are not included in this arrangement; but we got our
steamer tickets at Malaga remarkably cheap, and in the following manner:
Two boats of rival lines were to start in the same direction on the same
day, and the interpreter, or _valet de place_, attached to our _fonda_,
volunteered to take advantage of this circumstance by playing one
company off against the other, and thus beating them down from the
regular price. So he summoned a dim-eyed and dilapidated man, whilom of
the mariners' calling, to act as an intermediary. This personage was to
go to the office of the boat on which we wanted to embark, and tell them
that we thought of sailing by the other line (which had, in fact, been
the case), but that if we could obtain passage at a price that he named,
we would take their steamer; in short, that here was a fine chance of
capturing two passengers from the opposition. The sum which we handed to
our dim-eyed emissary was seventy-five francs; but, while he was absent
upon his errand of diplomacy, the interpreter figured out that we ought
to have given him eighteen more, and we quite commiserated the poor
negotiator for having gone off with an insufficient supply of cash.
Imagine our astonishment when he returned and, instead of asking for the
additional amount which we had counted out all ready for him, laid
before us a shining gold piece of twenty-five francs which he had not
expended! Deciding to improve upon his instructions, he had paid only
fifty francs for the two passages. We certainly were amazed, but the
interpreter was still more so; for he had evidently expected his
colleague to say nothing about having saved the twenty-five francs, but
to pocket that and eighteen besides for their joint credit (or
_dis_credit) account. He controlled his emotions by a heroic effort; but
the complicated play of stupefaction at his agent's honesty, of bitter
chagrin at the loss involved, and of pretended delight at our remarkable
success, was highly interesting to witness. I have always regretted that
some old Italian medallist could not have been at hand to mould the
exquisite conflict of expression which his face presented at that
moment, and render it permanent in a bronze bass-relief. As it was, we
gave each man a bonus of five francs, and then had paid for our tickets
only about half the established rate.
_Personal Safety_.--Risk of bodily peril from the attacks of bandits, on
the accustomed lines of travel in Spain, need no longer be feared. The
formidable pillagers who once gathered toll along all the highways and
by-ways have been suppressed by the Civil Guards, or military police, a
very trustworthy and thorough organization, which really seems to be the
most (and is, perhaps, the sole) efficient thing about the government of
the kingdom. Of these Guards there are now twenty thousand foot and five
thousand horse distributed throughout the country, keeping it constantly
under patrol, in companies, squads and pairs, never appearing singly;
and where there are only two of them, they walk twelve paces apart on
lonely roads, to avoid simultaneous surprise. They are armed with
rifles, swords, and revolvers, and are drawn from the pick of the royal
army. Some time since there occurred a case in which two of these men
murdered a traveller in a solitary place for the sake of a few thousand
francs he was known to have with him; but the crime was witnessed by a
shepherd lad in concealment, and they were swiftly brought to trial and
executed. This instance is so exceptional as to make it almost an
injustice even to mention it; for, as a rule, perfect dependence may be
placed on the Guards, who are governed by military law and possess a
great _esprit de corps_. A strong group of them is posted in every city;
at every railroad station, no matter how small, there are two members of
the force on duty, and two more usually accompany each train. The result
of all these precautions is that one may take his seat in a Spanish
railroad-carriage absolutely with less fear of robbery or violence than
he might reasonably feel in England or America. The only instance of
banditti pillaging a railroad-train that is known to have occurred while
I was in Spain, was that of the James brothers in Missouri, whose
outrages upon travellers, in our peaceful and fortunate Republic, were
reported to us by cable, while we were struggling through the imaginary
perils of a perfect police system in a country that knows not the
subtleties of American institutions. And, while we were thus proceeding
upon our way, an atrocious murder was committed in a carriage of the
London and Brighton Railway, which was not the first of its kind to set
the English public shivering with dread and horror.
Even the diligence now appears to be as safe as the rail-carriage. But
it should be clearly understood that, when one goes off the beaten track
and attempts horseback journeys, he exposes himself to quite other
conditions, which it is absurd to expect the police to control. An
acquaintance tells me that he has made excursions of some length in the
saddle, in Spain, meeting nothing but courtesy and good-will; but he
took care to have his pistol-holsters well filled and in plain sight. To
travel on horseback without an armed and trusty native guide (who should
be well paid, and treated with tact and cordiality) is certainly not the
most prudent thing that can be done; but solitary pedestrianism is mere
foolhardiness. A young French journalist of promise, known to be of good
habits, had been loitering alone about Pamplona a short time before the
date of my trip, and was one morning found murdered outside of the
walls. While I was in the South, too, as I afterward learned, an
Englishman, who was concluding a brief foot-tour in the North, attempted
to make his way in the evening from San Sebastian to Irun, on the
frontier: he was captured by bandits, kept imprisoned for a week in a
lonely hut, and doubtless narrowly missed coming to his death. His own
account of his escape gives a vivid idea of the treatment that may be
expected from the rural population by anybody who gets into a similar
predicament.
"I resolved," he says, "to strive for liberty. Having worked out a
stone, which I found rather loose in the wall near me, and having taken
advantage of the darkness of my corner, I gnawed asunder the cord that
bound me. I made for the door, which opened into the other apartment,
and there being but one guard left over me--the others being off on some
expedition--I watched for an opportunity. Presently it was afforded me.
As the fellow sat with his back toward me, resting his head upon his
hands, I stole forward, holding my stone in readiness, and with one blow
laid him on the floor. Then, snatching up a knife from the table, I ran
out, and after wandering among the mountains most of the night found
myself at daybreak on the high-way, my feet cut with the stones and my
strength gone. I fainted. On coming round I attempted in vain to rise,
when, two men coming along with a bullock-cart, I asked for help. All
they did was to prod me with their goads and march on. The laborers were
now returning to their work in the fields, and seeing my attempt to
regain my feet, several of them pelted me with clods. I had little
strength left, but at last I managed to get on my feet, and having
rested a while to regain my strength, I staggered along to the town and
waited upon the English vice-consul, who kindly provided me with food
and clothes, after which I accompanied him before the governor of the
province, to make my statement." The Spanish Government do not
acknowledge responsibility for proceedings of this kind on the part of
their people; hence it is doubtful whether in such a case the victim,
after all his peril and suffering, can even recover the value of what
has been stolen from him. But it is perfectly, easy to keep out of the
way of such adventures.
In the Hotel de los Siete Suelos, at Granada, it is true that the
night-porter used to strap around his meagre waist, when he went on
duty, a great swashbuckler's sword, as if some bloody nocturnal
incursion were impending. But whatever the danger was that threatened,
it never befell: the door of the hotel always remained wide open, and
our bellicose porter regularly went to sleep soundly on a bench beside
it, with his weapon dangling ingloriously over his legs. No one ever
seemed to think of using keys for their hotel rooms except in Madrid;
and so far as any likelihood of theft was concerned, this confidence
seemed to be well justified. Many articles that might have roused the
cupidity of unambitious thieves, and could easily have been taken, were
left by my companion and myself lying about our unlocked apartments, but
we sustained no loss.
_Language_.--One cannot travel to the best advantage in Spain without
having at least a moderate knowledge of French; or, still better, of
Spanish. Railroad employés, customs officers, guards, and inn-keepers
there, as a rule, understand only their native tongue. Now and then one
will be found who has command of a very few French words; but this is
quite the exception, and even when it occurs, is not of much use. At the
hotels in all places frequented by foreigners there are interpreters,
who conduct transactions between traveller and landlord, and act as
guides to places of public interest. For services of this kind they must
be paid seven or eight francs a day, certainly not more, and in the
smaller towns less will suffice. These interpreters always speak a
little French; but their English is a decidedly variable quantity. Of
course, people constantly make their way through the kingdom on the
resources of English alone; but it is obvious that in so doing they must
miss a great many opportunities for curious or instructive observation;
and even in viewing the regulation sights the want of an easy medium of
communication will often cause interesting details to be omitted. The
possibility of employing a courier for the whole journey remains open;
but that is a very expensive expedient, and greatly hampers one's
freedom. Enough Spanish for the ordinary needs of the way can be learned
in a month's study, by any one who has an aptitude for languages.
Italian will by no means take the place of it, although some
acquaintance with that language may facilitate the study of Spanish; the
fact being kept in mind, however, that the guttural character of Spanish
is quite alien to the genius of Italian speech, and comes more naturally
to one who knows German. If the tourist have time enough at his
disposal, it is well to take quarters somewhere in a _casa de
huespedes_, or boarding-house, for two or three weeks, in order to
become familiar with the vernacular.
_Manners_.--There is a superstition that, if you will only keep taking
off your hat and presenting complimentary cigars, you will meet with
marvels of courteous response, and accomplish nearly everything you want
to, in Spain. But the voyager who relies implicitly on this attractive
theory will often suffer disappointment. It will do no harm for him to
cool his brow by a free indulgence in cap-doffing; and to make presents
of the wretched government cigars commonly in use will be found a
pleasanter task than smoking them. In fact, a failure to observe these
solemn ceremonies places him in the position of a churlish and
disfavored person. But, on the other hand, polite attentions of this
kind are often enough met by a lethargic dignity and inertia that are
far from gratifying. Under such circumstances, let the tourist remember
and apply that prerequisite which I began with mentioning--good-humored
patience. I found my companions by the rail or at _tables d'hóte_
sometimes considerate and agreeable, at others quite the reverse, and
disposed to ignore the existence of foreigners as something beneath
notice. I remember once, when Velveteen and I, obliged to change cars,
had barely time, before the train was to move again, to spring into a
compartment pointed out by the conductor, we found there a well-dressed
but gross Spaniard, of the wealthy or noble class, who had had the
section marked _reservado_, and the curtains carefully drawn. He sprang
up from his nap with a snort, and glared angrily at the intruders, then
burst into a storm of rage and expostulation, most of which he
discharged out of window at the conductor: but, finding that he could
get no satisfaction in that way, he subsided into sullen disdain, paying
no attention to my "_Buenas dias_" ("Good-day"), and making his
dissatisfaction prominent by impatient gestures and mutterings from time
to time. Owing to the cost of baggage transport, too, the natives
generally carry a large number of bundles, bags, and miniature trunks in
the first-class as well as other carriages--thus avoiding any fee--so
that it is often difficult to find a place for packages, or to pass in
and out; and those who thus usurp the room are apt to look with cynical
indifference at the perplexities of the latest comer, whom they leave to
shift for himself as well as he can. Nevertheless, it is an almost
universal custom that any one who produces a lunch during the ride,
offers it to all the chance company in the compartment before partaking
of it himself. It is a point of politeness not to accept such an
invitation, but it must be extended just the same as if this were not
the case. In one respect the Spaniards are extremely polite--that is, in
showing strangers the way from point to point. Frequently, the first man
of whom you inquire how to get back to your hotel, or elsewhere, will
insist upon accompanying you the whole distance, in order to make sure
that you do not go wrong; and this although it may lie entirely out of
his own direction. Such a favor becomes a very important and desirable
one in the tortuous streets of most Spanish towns.
Among themselves the rule is that all ranks and classes should treat
each other with respect, meeting on terms of a grave but not familiar
equality: hence they expect a similar mode of address from strangers.
When all the conditions are fulfilled, their courtesy is of the
magnificent order--it is serious, composed, and dignified. Each
individual seems to be living on a pedestal; he bows, or makes a
flowing gesture, and you get an exact idea what it would be like to have
the Apollo Belvedere receive you as a host, or a Jupiter Tonans give you
an amicable salutation.