CADIZ--ITS FOUNDATION--VARIOUS NAMES--PAST PROSPERITY--MADE A FREE
PORT IN THE HOPE OF RUINING THE TRADE OF GIBRALTAR--UNJUST
RESTRICTIONS ON THE COMMERCE OF THE BRITISH FORTRESS--DESCRIPTION
OF CADIZ--ITS VAUNTED AGREMENS--SOCIETY--MONOTONOUS
LIFE--CATHEDRAL--ADMIRABLY BUILT SEA WALL--NAVAL ARSENAL OF LA
CARRACA--ROAD TO XERES--PUERTO REAL--PUERTO DE SANTA
MARIA--XERES--ITS FILTH--WINE STORES--METHOD OF PREPARING
WINE--DOUBTS OF THE ANCIENT AND DERIVATION OF THE PRESENT NAME OF
XERES--CARTHUSIAN CONVENT--GUADALETE--BATTLE OF XERES.
The date of the foundation of Cadiz is lost in the impenetrable chaos of
heathen mythology. One of the numerous conquerors, distinguished by the
general name of Hercules, who, in early ages, carried their victorious
arms to the remotest extremities of Europe, appears to have erected a
temple at the westernmost point of the rocky ledge on which Cadiz now
stands; and round this temple, doubtless, a town gradually sprung up.
But the place came only to be known and distinguished by the name
_Gadira_, when the commercial enterprise of the Phoenicians led them
to make a settlement on this defensible island; and the foundation of
the temple dedicated to Hercules, which Strabo describes as situated at
the eastern extremity of the same island, "where it is separated from
the continent by a strait only about a stadium in width," is ascribed to
Pygmalion, nearly nine centuries before the Christian era.
Gadira, or Gades, to which the name now became corrupted, was the first
town of Spain forcibly occupied by the Carthagenians, who, throwing off
the mask of friendship, took possession of it about the year B.C. 240.
It was the last place that afforded them a refuge in the war which
shortly followed with the Romans, into whose hands it fell, B.C. 203.
From the Romans it afterwards received the name of Augusta Julia,
probably from its adherence to the cause of Cæsar, who restored to the
temple of Hercules the treasures of which it had been plundered during
the civil wars that had previously distracted the country. But its old
name, altered apparently to its present orthography by the Moors, seems
always to have prevailed.
Under the Moslems, Cadiz does not appear to have enjoyed any very great
consideration; and it was wrested from them without difficulty by San
Fernando, soon after the capture of Seville.
On the discovery of America, Cadiz became, next to Seville (which was
endowed with peculiar privileges), the richest city of Spain. Its
imports at that time amounted annually to eleven millions sterling. But
since the loss of the American colonies, its prosperity has been rapidly
declining; and some years back, when the intestine troubles of Spain
rendered it impossible for her to afford protection to her commerce, the
trade of Cadiz may be said to have ceased.
A _fillip_ was, however, given to its commerce, for it would be absurd
to call it an attempt to restore it--about nine years since, by making
it a free port. But this apparently liberal act, not having been
accompanied by any reduction of the duties imposed on foreign produce
introduced for consumption into the country, was merely a disgraceful
contrivance on the part of the king and his ministers to obtain money.
On the promulgation of the edict constituting Cadiz a free port, it
became at once an entrepôt for the produce of all nations; the goods
brought to it being subjected only to a trifling charge for landing, &c.
The proceeds of this pitiful tax went to the coffers of the
municipality, which had paid the king handsomely for the "act of grace"
bestowed upon the city; and no source of revenue was opened to the
public treasury by the grant of this special privilege, since the goods
landed at Cadiz could only be carried into the interior of the country
on payment of duties that amounted to an absolute prohibition of them,
and they were, consequently, introduced surreptitiously by bribing the
city authorities and custom-house officers; who, in their turn, paid
large sums for their respective situations to the ministers of the
crown!
Such is the way in which the commercial concerns of Spain are conducted.
The whole affair was, in fact, a temporary expedient to raise money by
selling Cadiz permission to smuggle. At the same time, the Spanish
government--by offering foreign merchants a mart which, at first sight,
seemed more conveniently situated for disposing of their goods than
Gibraltar--hoped to give a death-blow to the commerce of the British
fortress, which it had found to thrive, in spite of all the iniquitous
restrictions imposed upon it; such, for instance, as the exaction of
duties on goods shipped from thence, double in amount to those levied on
the _same articles_, if brought from the ports of France and Italy; the
depriving even Spanish vessels, if coming from, or touching at,
Gibraltar, of all advantages in regard to the rate of duty otherwise
granted to the national flag;[29] and various other abuses, to which it
is astonishing the British government has so long quietly submitted.
The scheme, however, though successful for a time against Gibraltar, did
no permanent good to Cadiz; and the trade of the place has relapsed into
its former sickly state.
"Cadiz! sweet Cadiz," has been so extolled by modern authors, that I am
almost afraid to say what I think of it. It strikes me, that the very
favourable impression it usually makes on my countrymen is owing to its
being, in most cases, the first place they see after leaving England;
or, perchance, the first place they have seen out of England; to whose
gloomy brick-built towns its bright houses and battlements offer as
agreeable a contrast, as the picturesque costume of its inhabitants does
to the ill-cut garments of the natives of our island.
Under any circumstances, however, the first impression made by Cadiz is
favourable, unless you enter by the fish-market. The streets are
straight, tolerably well lighted, and remarkably well paved, many of
them having even the convenience of a _trottoir_. There is one handsome
square, and the houses, generally, are lofty, and those which are
inhabited are clean. But many are falling rapidly to decay, from the
diminished population and prosperity of the place.
On the other hand, the city does not contain one handsome public
building; and, if one leaves the principal thoroughfares, its boasted
cleanliness and "sweetness" turn out to be mere poetical delusions. In
fact, the vaunted _agrémens_ of the city to me were undiscoverable.
There is but one road to ride upon, one promenade to walk upon, one
sheet of water to boat upon. The Alameda, on which much hyperbolical
praise has been bestowed, is a dusty gravel walk, extending about half a
mile along the ramparts. It is lined--not shaded--with stunted trees,
and commands a fine view of the marsh-environed bay when the tide is in,
and a disagreeable effluvium from it when the tide is out; and, I must
say, that I never could perceive any more "harmony and fascination" in
the movements of the pavonizing _gaditanas_ who frequent it, than in
those of the fair promenaders of other Spanish towns. The _Plaza de San
Antonio_ is a square, situated in the heart of the city, which, paved
with large flag-stones, and lighted with lamps, may be considered a kind
of treadmill, that fashion has condemned her votaries to take an hour's
exercise in after the fatigues of the day.
The society of Cadiz is now but second rate; for it is no longer
inhabited as in bygone days, when the nobility from all parts of the
kingdom sought shelter behind its walls. At the Tertulias of the first
circle, gaming is the principal pastime, and I have been given to
understand that the play is very high. The public amusements are few.
There is a tolerable theatre, where Italian Operas are sometimes
performed; but, for the great national diversion, the bull-fight, the
inhabitants have to cross the bay to Puerto Santa Maria.
In fine, for one whose time is not fully occupied by business, I know of
few _less_ agreeable places of residence than Cadiz. The transient
visiter, who prolongs his stay beyond two days, will find time hang very
heavy on his hands; for having, in that short space, seen all the place
contains, he will be driven to wile away the tedious hours after the
usual manner of its inhabitants, viz., by devoting the morning to the
_cafés_ and billiard-rooms, the afternoon to the _siesta_, evening to
the Alameda, dusk to the Plaza San Antonio and its _Neverias_,[30] and
night to the Tertulias--for such is the life of a Spanish _man of
pleasure_!
The hospitable mansion of the British Consul General affords those who
have the good fortune to possess his acquaintance a happy relief from
this monotonous and wearisome life; and, besides meeting there the best
society the place affords, the lovers of the fine arts will derive much
gratification from the inspection of Mr. Brackenbury's picture gallery,
which contains many choice paintings of Murillo, and the best Spanish
Masters.
What few other good paintings Cadiz possesses are scattered amongst
private houses. The churches contain none of any merit. In one of the
Franciscan convents, however, is to be seen a painting that excites much
interest, as being the last which occupied the pencil of Murillo, though
it was not finished by him. Our conductor told me that a most
distinguished English nobleman had offered 500 guineas for it, but the
pious monks refused to sell it to a heretic!--Perhaps, His Grace did not
know before on what _conscientious_ grounds his liberal offer had been
declined.
The old Cathedral is not worth visiting. The new one, as it is called,
was commenced in the days of the city's prosperity; but the source from
whence the funds for building it were raised, failed ere it was half
finished; and there it stands, a perfect emblem of Spain herself!--a
pile of the most valuable materials, planned on a scale of excessive
magnificence, but put together without the slightest taste, and falling
to decay for want of revenue![31]
The walls of the city--excepting those of its land front, which are
remarkably well constructed, and kept in tolerable order--are in a
deplorable state of dilapidation, and in some places the sea has
undermined, and made such breaches in them, as even to threaten the
very existence of the city, should it be exposed to a tempest similar to
that which did so much mischief to it some seventy years since. This
decay is particularly observable, too, on the south side of the
fortress, where the sea-wall is exposed to the full sweep of the
Atlantic; and here the mischief has resulted chiefly from the want of
timely attention to its repairs, for the wall itself is a perfect
masterpiece of the building art. Regarding it as such, I venture to
devote a small space to its description, conceiving that a hint may be
advantageously taken therefrom in the future construction of piers,
wharfs, &c. in our own country; and I am the more induced to do so,
since so small a portion of the work remains in its pristine state, that
it already must be spoken of rather as a thing that _has been_, than one
which _is_.
The great object of the builder was to secure the foundation of his wall
from the assaults of the ocean, which, at times, breaks with excessive
violence upon this coast. For this purpose, he formed an artificial
beach, by clearing away the loose rocks which lay strewed about, and
inserting in the space thus prepared and levelled, a strong wooden
frame-work formed of cases dovetailed into and well fastened to each
other. These cases were filled with stones, and secured by numerous
piles. The surface was composed of beams of wood, placed close
together, carefully caulked, and laid so as to form an inclined plane,
at an angle of eight degrees and a half with the horizon.
This beach extended twenty-seven yards from the sea-wall; and its foot,
by resting against a kind of breakwater formed of large stones, was
saved from being exposed, vertically, to the action of the sea. The
waves, thus broke upon the artificial beach, and running up its smooth
surface without meeting the slightest resistance, expended, in a great
measure, their strength ere reaching the foot of the wall.
To avoid, however, the shock which would still have been felt by the
waves breaking against the ramparts, (especially when the sea was
unusually agitated) had the planes of the beach and wall met at an
angle, the upper portion of the surface of the artificial beach--for
about fifteen feet--was laid with large blocks of stone, and united in a
curve, or inverted arch, with the casing of the walls of the rampart;
and the waves being, by this means, conducted upwards, without
experiencing a check, spent their remaining strength in the air, and
fell back upon the wooden beach in a harmless shower of spray.
So well was the work executed, that many portions of the arch which
connected the beach with the scarped masonry of the rampart are yet
perfect, and may be seen projecting from the face of the wall, about
twenty feet above its foundation; although the beach upon which it
rested has been entirely swept away.
Another cause, besides neglect, has contributed greatly to the
destruction of this work; namely, the injudicious removal of the stones
and ledges of rock which formed the breakwater of the beach, for
erecting houses and repairing the walls of the city.
The ride round the ramparts would be an agreeable variety to the
_eternal paseo_ on the _Camino de Ercoles_,[32] but for the insufferable
odours that arise from the vast heaps of filth deposited on one part of
it. To such an extent has this nuisance reached, that, without another
river Alpheus, even the hard-working son of Jupiter (the city's reputed
founder) would find its removal no easy task.
The arsenal of the _Carracas_ is situated on the northern bank of the
Santi Petri river, about half a mile within the mouth by which that
channel communicates with the bay of Cadiz, and at a distance of two
leagues from the city, to which it has no access by land. Its plan is
laid on a magnificent scale, and it may boast of having equipped some of
the most formidable armaments that ever put to sea; but it is now one
vast ruin, hardly possessing the means of fitting out a cockboat. A
fire, that reduced the greater part of it to ashes some five and thirty
years since, furnishes the national vanity with an agreeable excuse for
its present condition.
The road from Cadiz to Port St. Mary's is very circuitous, and offers
little to interest any persons but military men and salt-refiners. I
will, therefore, pass rapidly over it--which its condition enables me to
do--merely observing that, from the branching off of the Chaussée to
Chiclana at the _Portazgo_, it makes a wide sweep round the salt marshes
at the head of the bay of Cadiz, to gain _Puerto Real_ (eighteen miles
from Cadiz); and then leaving the peninsula of the _Trocadero_ on the
left, in four miles reaches a long wooden bridge over the
Guadalete--here called the river San Pedro. Two miles further on it
crosses another stream by a similar means; and this second river, which
is connected with the Guadalete by a canal, has become the principal
channel of communication between Xeres and the bay of Cadiz.
A road now turns off to the right to Xeres; another, on the left, to
Puerto Santa Maria; and that which continues straight on proceeds to San
Lucar, on the Guadalquivír.
Puerto Real is a large but decayed town, possessing but little
trade,[33] and no manufactories. Its environs, however, are
fertile--enabling it to contend with Port St. Mary's in supplying the
Cadiz market with fruit and vegetables;--and a good crop of hay might
even be taken from its streets after the autumnal rains!--The population
is estimated at 12,000 souls.
Puerto Santa Maria is a yet larger town than Puerto Real, and is
computed to contain 18,000 inhabitants. It is situated within the mouth
and extending along the right bank of the river, into which the
Guadalete has been partly turned. The entrance to the harbour is
obstructed by a sand bank, which is impassable at low tide; and at
times, when the wind is strong from the S. W., this bar interrupts
altogether the water communication with Cadiz.[34]
The distance between the two places, across the bay, is but five miles;
by the causeway, twenty-four.
The main street of Puerto Santa Maria is of great length, wide, and
rather handsome; and the place has, altogether, a very thriving look;
for which it is indebted, as well to the great share it enjoys of the
Xeres wine trade,[35] as to the fruitfulness of its fields and orchards.
The country, to some considerable extent round the town, is perfectly
flat; and the soil (a dark alluvial deposit,) is rich, and highly
cultivated; it is, in fact, the market-garden of Cadiz, the inhabitants
of which place would die of scurvy, if cut off for six months from the
lemon-groves of Port St. Mary.
The position of Puerto Santa Maria seems to correspond pretty well with
that of the Portus Gaditanus of Antoninus, viz., 14 miles from the
Puente Zuazo, (_Pons_;) the difference being only that between English
and Roman miles. But, besides that there is every appearance of the
Guadalete having altered its course, and consequently swept away all
traces of the Roman port, (or yet more ancient one of _Menesthes_,
according to Strabo,) a fertile soil is, of all things, the most
inimical to the _preservation_ of _ruins_; for gardeners will have no
respect for old stones when they stand in the way of cabbage-plants. It
would, therefore, be vain to look for any vestiges of the ancient town,
in the vicinity of the modern one.
To proceed to Xeres, we must retrace our steps, along the chaussée to
Cadiz, for about a mile; when, leaving the two roads branching off to
Puerto Real and San Lucar on the right and left, our way continues
straight on, traverses a cultivated plain for another mile, and then
ascends a rather steep ridge, distinguished in this flat country by the
name of _Sierra de Xeres_, though scarcely 500 feet high.
The view from the summit of this ridge is, nevertheless, remarkably
fine. It embraces the whole extent of the bay of Cadiz; the bright towns
which stand upon its margin; the curiously intersected country that cuts
them off from each other; and the winding courses of the Guadalete and
Santi Petri.
The slope of the hill is very gradual on the side facing Xeres, and the
view is tame in comparison with that in the opposite direction. The
road, which traverses a country covered with corn and olives, is
_carriageable_ throughout; but there is a better route, which turns the
Sierra to the eastward, keeping nearer the marshes of the Guadalete. The
distance from Puerto Santa Maria to Xeres, by the direct road, is nine
miles; by the post route, ten.
Xeres is situated in the lap of two rounded hillocks, which shelter it
to the east and west; and it covers a considerable extent of ground. The
city, properly so called, is embraced by an old crenated Moorish wall,
which, though enclosing a labyrinth of narrow, ill-built, and worse
drained streets, is of no great circuit, and is so intermixed with the
houses of the suburbs, as to be visible only here and there. The limits
of the ancient town are well defined, however, by the numerous gateways
still standing, and which, from the augmented size of the place, appear
to be scattered about it without any object. Some of the old buildings
and narrow streets are very sketchy, and the number of gables and
chimneys cannot fail to strike one who has been long accustomed to the
flat-roofed cities of Andalusia.
The principal merchants of the place reside mostly in the suburbs;
where, besides having greater space for their necessarily extensive
premises, their wine stores are better situated for ventilation; a very
important auxiliary in bringing the juice of the grape to a due state of
perfection. The numerous clean and lofty stores, interspersed with
commodious and well-built houses, gardens, greenhouses, &c., give the
suburbs an agreeable, refreshing appearance. But it is needful to walk
the streets with nose in air, and eyes fixed on things above; for,
though much wider, and consequently more freely exposed to the action of
the sun and air, than those of the circumvallated city, they are yet
more filthy, and quite as nauseating. Now and then, indeed, a generous
brown sherry odour salutes the third sense, counteracting, in some
degree, the unwholesome effects of the noxious cloacal miasms. But the
bad scents prevail in the proportion of ten to one; and, like the
far-famed distilling city of Cologne, Xeres seems to have bottled up,
and hermetically sealed, all its sweets for exportation.
The population of the place is enormous--being estimated at no less
than 50,000 souls. But the amount is subject to great variations,
dependant on the recentness of the last endemic fever, generated in its
pestiferous gutters. The inhabitants are all, more or less, connected
with the wine trade--which is the only thing thought of or talked of in
the place.
The store-houses are all above ground. They are immense buildings,
having lofty roofs supported on arches, springing from rows of slender
columns; and their walls are pierced with numerous windows, to admit of
a thorough circulation of air. Some are so large as to be capable of
containing 4000 butts, and are cool, even in the most sultry weather.
The exhalations are, nevertheless, rather _overcoming_, even unaided by
the numerous _samples_, of which one is tempted to make trial. The
number of butts annually made, or, more correctly speaking, _collected_,
at Xeres, amounts to 30,000. Of this number, one half is exported to
England, and includes the produce of nearly all the choicest vineyards
of Xeres; for, in selecting their wines for shipment, the Xeres houses
carefully avoid mixing their first-growth wines with those of lighter
quality, collected from the vineyards of Moguer, San Lucar, and Puerto
Real; or even with such as are produced on their own inferior grounds.
The remaining 15,000 butts are in part consumed in the country; where a
light wine, having what is called a _Manzanilla_[36] flavour, is
preferred--or sold to the shippers from other places, where they are
generally mixed with inferior wines.
The total number of butts shipped, annually, from the different ports
round the bay of Cadiz, may be taken at the following average--
From Xeres 15,000 almost all to England.
" Puerto Santa Maria 12,000 chiefly to England and the
United States.
{ principally to the Habana,
" Chiclana 3,000{ the Ports of Mexico, and
" Puerto Real 500{ Buenos Ayres.
-------
Total 30,500
-------
But, besides the above, a prodigious quantity of wine finds its way to
England from Moguer and San Lucar, which one never hears of but under
the common denomination of Sherry.
Most of the principal merchants are growers, as well as venders of wine;
which, with foreign houses, renders it necessary that one partner of the
firm, at least, should be a Roman Catholic; for "_heretics_" cannot hold
lands in Spain. Those who are growers have a decided advantage over such
as merely make up wines; for the latter are liable to have the produce
of the inferior vineyards of San Lucar, Moguer, and other places, mixed
up by the grower of whom they purchase. All Sherries, however, are
_manufactured_; for, it would be almost as difficult to get an unmixed
butt of wine from a Xeres merchant, as a direct answer from a quaker.
But there is no concealment in this mixing process; and it is even quite
necessary, in order to keep up the stock of old wines, which, otherwise,
would soon be consumed.
These are kept in huge casks--not much inferior in size to the great ton
of Heidelberg--called "_Madre_"[37] butts; and some of these old ladies
contain wine that is 120 years of age. It must, however, be confessed,
that the plan adopted in keeping them up, partakes somewhat of the
nature of "_une imposture delicate_;" since, whenever a gallon of wine
is taken from the 120 year old butt, it is replaced by a like quantity
from the next in seniority, and so on with the rest; so that even the
very oldest wines in the store are daily undergoing a mixing process.
It is thus perfectly idle, when a customer writes for a "ten-year old"
butt of sherry, to expect to receive a wine which was grown that number
of years previously. He will get a most excellent wine, however, which
will, probably, be prepared for him in the following
manner:--Three-fourths of the butt will consist of a three or four year
old wine, to which a few gallons of _Pajarete_, or _Amontillado_,[38]
will be added, to give the particular flavour or colour required; and
the remainder will be made up of various proportions of old wines, of
different vintages: a dash of brandy being added, to preserve it from
sea-sickness during the voyage.
To calculate the age of this mixture appears, at first sight, to involve
a laborious arithmetical operation. But it is very simply done, by
striking an average in the following manner:--The _fond_, we will
suppose, is a four-years' old wine, with which figure we must,
therefore, commence our calculations. To flavour and give age to this
foundation, the hundred and twenty years' old "_madre_" is made to
contribute a gallon, which, being about the hundreth part of the
proposed butt, diffuses a year's maturity into the composition. The
centiginarian stock-butt next furnishes a quantity, which in the same
way adds another year to its age. The next in seniority supplies a
proportion equivalent to a space of two years; and a fourth adds a
similar period to its existence. So that, without going further, we have
4+1+1+2+2=10, as clear as the sun at noon-day, or a demonstration in
Euclid.
This may appear very like "_bishoping_," or putting marks in a horse's
mouth to conceal his real age. But the intention, _in the case of the
wine_, is by no means fraudulent, but simply to distribute more equally
the good things of this life, by furnishing the public with an excellent
composition, which is within the reach of many; for, if this were not
done, the consequence would be, that the Xeres merchant would have a
small quantity of wine in his stores, which, from its extreme age, would
be so valuable, that few persons would be found to purchase it, and a
large stock of inferior wines, which would be driven out of the market
by the produce of other countries.
The quality of the wine depends, therefore, upon the quantity and age of
the various _madre_ butts from which it has been flavoured; and the
taste is varied from dry to sweet, and the colour from pale to brown, by
the greater or less admixture of _Pajarete_, _Amontillado_, and _boiled_
sherry. I do not think that the custom of adding boiled wine obtains
generally, for it is a very expensive method of giving age. It is,
however, a very effectual mode, and one that is considered equivalent to
a voyage across the Atlantic, at the very least.
I have heard of an extensive manufacturer (not of wine) in our own
country, who had rather improved on this plan of giving premature old
age to his wines. He called one of the steam-engines of his factory
_Bencoolen_, and another _Mobile_; and, slinging his butts of Sherry and
Madeira to the great levers of the machinery, gave them the benefit of a
ship's motion, as well as a tropical temperature, without their quitting
his premises; and, after a certain number of weeks' oscillation, he
passed them off as "East and West India _particular_."
The sweet wines of Xeres are, perhaps, the finest in the world. That
known as _Pajarete_ is the most abundantly made, but the _Pedro Ximenes_
is of superior flavour. There is also a sweet wine flavoured with
cherries, which is very delicious.
The light dry Sherries are also very pleasant in their pure state, but
they require to be mixed with brandy and other wines, to keep long, or
to ship for the foreign market. Those, therefore, who purchase _cheap
Sherry_ in England may be assured that it has become a _light_ wine
since its departure from Spain.
The number of _winehouses_ at Xeres is quite extraordinary. Of these, as
many, I think, as five-and-twenty export almost exclusively to England.
The merchants are extremely hospitable; they live in very good style,
and are particularly choice of the wines that appear at their tables.
The Spanish antiquaries have by no means settled to their satisfaction
what Roman city stood on the site of modern Xeres. The common opinion
seems to be, that it occupies the place of _Asta Regia_, mentioned by
Pliny as one of the towns within the marshes of the Guadalquivír.
Florez, however, labours to prove that it agrees better with _Asido_.
But I do not think his arguments get over the difficulty arising from
the expression "_in mediterraneo_," applied to that city; which agrees
better with _Medina Sidonia_ than Xeres, the latter being close upon the
flats of the Guadalquivír, whereas the other is decidedly _inland_ with
reference to them.
The medals of Asido, Florez describes as having sometimes a bull, and at
others a "fish of the _tunny_ kind," upon them. Now this latter emblem
is, most certainly, more applicable to Medina Sidonia than Xeres, since
no fish of the "tunny kind" ever could have frequented the shallow muddy
stream of the Guadalete. And though the city of Medina Sidonia is
situated on the summit of a high hill, sixteen miles from the sea, yet
we may take it for granted that its jurisdiction extended as far as the
coast, to the eastward of the Isla de Leon; since it does not appear
that any town of note intervened between Cadiz and Besaro, or Besippone.
The same author derives the name Xeres from the Persian _Zeiraz_
(Schiras); supposing it may have been so called from that having been
the country of the Moslem chief who captured Regia.
The word assimilates with our mode of pronouncing the name of the
existing town; and the wine of Schiraz was not less esteemed of old
amongst the easterns, than Sherry is now by us, and appears ever to have
been by the ancients; for tradition ascribes to Bacchus the foundation
of Nebrissa, in the vicinity of Xeres. May not, therefore, the celebrity
of its vineyards have led the Arabs to call the town Schiraz, or Xeres,
rather than the country of the chief who conquered it?
Xeres was captured from the Moors by San Fernando, and, becoming
thenceforth one of the bulwarks of the Christian frontier, changed its
name from _Xeres Sidonia_ to _Xeres de la Frontera_, by which it
continues to be distinguished from others.
The Guadalete does not approach within a mile and a half of Xeres. This
river is the Chryssus of the Romans; and the Spaniards, ever prone to
boast of the ancient celebrity of their country, maintain it to be the
mythological Lethe of yet more remote times. On its right bank (about
three miles on the road to Medina Sidonia) stands a Carthusian convent
of some note. The pious founders of this edifice--as indeed was their
wont--located themselves in a most enviable situation. The "_elisios
xerexanos prados_" were spread out before them, covered with fat beeves,
and herds of high caste horses, belonging to the order. The perfume of
the surrounding orange-groves penetrated to the innermost recesses of
this house of prayer and penance. The juice of the luscious grape, and
the oil of the purple olives that grew upon the sunny bank whereon it
stands, found their way, with as little obstruction, into its cells and
cellars. But still, with this Canaan in their possession, these austere
disciples of St. Bruno affected to despise the things of this world, and
held not communion with their fellow-creatures!
The edifice is fast falling to decay; the brotherhood is reduced to a
score of decrepit old men; and--what alone is to be regretted--the
celebrated breed of horses has become extinct.
The Guadalete winds through the valley overlooked by the _Cartuja_,[39]
and is crossed by a stone bridge of five arches. On gaining the southern
bank of the river, roads branch off in all directions. That to the
left--keeping up the valley--proceeds to Paterna (sixteen miles from
Xeres), and _Alcalà de los Gazules_ (twenty-five miles). Another,
continuing straight on, goes to Medina Sidonia (eighteen miles); and a
third, that presents itself to the right, is directed across the country
to Chiclana, reducing the distance to that place from twenty-six miles
(by the post-road) to sixteen.
About four miles below the bridge are some store-houses, a wharf, and
ferry, called _El Portal_, from whence the river is navigable to Port
St. Mary's. _El Portal_ may be considered the port of Xeres, to which
place (distant about three miles) there is a good wheel-road.
The fatal battle which gave Spain up to the dominion of the Saracens
(A.D. 714) was fought on the southern bank of the Guadalete, about five
miles from Xeres, on the road to Paterna. The robes and "horned helmet"
of Roderick, which he is supposed to have thrown off to facilitate his
escape, were found on the bank of the river, where a small chapel,
dedicated to Our Lady of _Leyna_, now stands. The sanguinary fight is
stated--with the customary Spanish exaggeration--to have lasted eight
days! and then only to have been decided in favour of the Mohammedans by
treason.
But however much we may admire the valour displayed by the Gothic
monarch, in thus obstinately defending his crown, yet the rashness he
was guilty of, in drawing up his forces on such a field (in a country
abounding in strong positions, where the enemy's superiority of numbers
would not have availed them), proves him to have been as little fitted
to command an army as to govern a kingdom.