MURCIA, SPAIN, _March 29, 1853_.
Leaving Valencia, by steamer, we arrived at Alicant the morning of
Palm Sunday. The city contains some twenty-five or thirty thousand
inhabitants; has a small artificial harbor, a tolerable roadstead, and
is the seat of considerable commerce. It is well protected by a fort
on the summit of a volcanic rock, of a dull grey color. The houses are
clean and well built; but they suffer here from drought, having had
but little rain for several years, and large numbers of the peasantry
have emigrated to Algiers. The cathedral was crowded with groups of
men, women, and children, bearing palm-branches, artificially braided,
and fancifully ornamented with ribbons and sugar-plums, with which
they paraded in the procession to the sounds of violins and bugles.
The priests, in full church-robes, followed by the multitude bearing
torches, passed out of the church, making a circuit, and returning
knocked for admittance at the closed doors, which were finally opened
to the triumphant group, a symbol of the entrance of Christ into
Jerusalem. The huertas, or valleys, in the distance, irrigated by
artificial means, are rich and fertile, and produce olives, grapes, and
a succession of crops. The palmtree flourishes in certain localities,
and the fresh dates are not to be despised. From Alicant I proceeded to
Carthagena by steamer, some hundred miles. Carthagena is in a decayed
state, for the want of commerce; still it is the best port of Spain on
the Mediterranean. King Charles III. made it a naval establishment;
the fortifications, bulwarks, hospitals, arsenals, and ropewalks, are
upon a magnificent scale, and well worth a visit; but it has a dull,
inanimate appearance, only a few naval vessels being there; the trade
is mostly with English craft, bringing coal for the foundries in the
neighborhood, and taking cargoes of lead in return. The mining of
lead and copper is a very important branch in this portion of Spain.
I visited some works which are extensively carried on by English
capitalists, but I thought the lead ore which I once saw in Galena,
Illinois, was superior in quality. There is a Presidio, or government
prison, at Carthagena, which contained one thousand two hundred
persons, employed like those described in Valencia. Large numbers were
engaged in braiding Esparto, a species of mountain grass, which is
made use of for sacking, carpeting, and various purposes. Not a little
amusing was it to see groups of male convicts engaged in the unmanly
employment of knitting fancy stockings for ladies.
From Carthagena I came to the capital of the old kingdom of Murcia
by diligence, a distance of about thirty miles, and arrived in time
to witness the principal ceremony of the Holy Week. The road passed
through a dull and uninteresting country, traversing a grey volcanic
region for a considerable distance across the mountain, without
vegetation, when the fruitful valley of Murcia appeared of a sudden,
not unlike an oasis in the desert. The irrigated valley is prolific
in orange, lemon, mulberry, and other trees. The city contains forty
thousand inhabitants; it is very quiet, being the residence of many
aristocratic families, as may be seen from the armorial bearings on
the fronts of the houses. The streets are narrow, and the buildings
fancifully painted. There is an air of ease and comfort about the male
peasantry, with their gay striped mantles, and the fancy embroidered
drapery of the women, in groups on festival occasions, fills up the
picture. The public walks, here, are very agreeable. The view of the
Vega, or valley, from the Cathedral dome, and the circular city, with
its blue flat roofs and cane pigeon-houses, is charming, as also the
prospect of the country in the distance, with its drooping palm trees
and flowery fields and gardens. The cathedral rises in divisions not
unlike a spyglass drawn out, and surmounted by a dome.
The Holy Week has just drawn to a close. Having passed several of
these festivals in Jerusalem, Rome, Havana, and Lima, I was anxious to
witness the religious ceremonies, here, and compare them with those
of the countries I have named. I find they outstrip the latter in the
detail, but are less grand and impressive. The people pride themselves
on the rich wood carvings of one Francisco Larcillo, who lived in the
last century, and whose work is found in the churches, also in the
figures which form part of the procession, and which are admirably
executed. It was curious to watch the country people, of both sexes,
in their gay Spanish costumes, crowding the streets to see the figures
personifying the acts and sufferings of Christ; the Saviour being
represented to the life, supporting the weight of a heavy cross, the
wood-work of which was covered with tortoise-shell, and tipped with
gold, his hair streaming at full length, and the blood trickling from
the wounds of the golden crown of thorns. The platform rested upon the
shoulders of twelve men, who were provided with crutches with which to
rest themselves at the stations. The figures of Mary, the mother of
Jesus, Mary Magdalen, and St. Peter, with the keys, were upon similar
platforms, covered with silks and satins, tinsel and gold, with a
profusion of artificial and natural flowers. Among the number is Christ
and the Twelve Apostles surrounding the table of the last supper,
which is abundantly supplied with meats, fruits, and confectionery,
very tastefully arranged. The almost naked and bleeding form of Christ
submitting to the flagellation, is represented by the hideous figure
of a monster who has fallen from exhaustion, while others are drawn
to take the cords that bind him to the stake. The immense procession
is headed by bands of music, the priesthood in full regalia, the
military and civil officers, followed by a company of Nazarenes in
armor, with lances, who go through a sham fight, the whole succeeded
by the military, and as many as five hundred persons, bare-footed, of
all ages and sizes, dressed in white cotton cloth hoods and skirts,
their loins girded with cords. The hoods or masks contain two holes for
sight. The persons who wear these masks support a black crucifix of
some weight upon their shoulders. The streets are crowded to excess,
and the balconies are filled with sparkling-eyed senoritas and groups
of friends. The anxiety of the crowd to get a peep at the procession,
with the confusion, made it more a festival or jubilee than a religious
ceremony. The night procession with torches, after the crucifixion,
with the lifeless and mutilated body of Christ, surrounded by his
weeping mother and the attending groups, was more quiet, and more
solemn and imposing. High mass was numerously attended in the Cathedral
on the morning of the Resurrection, when at ten o’clock the bells of
the city churches thundered forth the glad tidings that the Saviour had
risen, and induced many to huzza it. I had to take refuge in a shop
for a half hour from the merciless peltings of those on the house-tops
and in the balconies, who threw ashes, sand, and earthen missiles, not
unlike the Brazilian wax-balls of lemon size, filled with water, only
more difficult to dispose of. It was a temporary diversion, and was
taken in good part: but some funny scenes and dirty faces were the
consequence.
Having visited on a former occasion all the southern cities of Spain,
and having now completed the eastern coast on the Mediterranean, I must
turn my face towards Madrid, and have a fatiguing ride for upwards of
two hundred miles, in heavy lumbering diligences, over rough roads,
with miserable Posadas, or inns. The roads are now considered tolerably
safe, being protected by civil guards, who have arrested and shot many
of the highwaymen.
I shall take Aranjuez, the Versailles of the Spanish court, en route to
Madrid.