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ATALAYAS-THE CONVENT-THE PINE.

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his straw hut. Along the verge of the horizon was a chain of mountains, upon whose dark surface gleamed many white villages, and at regular intervals rose up the atalayas, erected by Hannibal. They were used to transmit intelligence of the approach of an enemy, and clouds of smoke by day and fire by night were the signals used. Pliny speaks of them as the "terror of pirates," and Charles the Fifth deemed them so useful, he caused them to be repaired. They are built of a composition called tapia, which time hardens into solid stone. We passed the mouth of the Rio Tinto, upon which stands the convent where Columbus, an outcast and wanderer, received charity from the kind prior, who interceded with Isabella, and thus forwarded the plans of the great discoverer. Ere Columbus sailed, he made a pilgrimage to the convent, and received the blessing of the aged monk.

As the day wore on, we came to plains of verdant grass, dotted here and there with a curious tree called the pine. It is without branches on the trunk, but at the top they spread out precisely like an umbrella. Advancing higher up the stream, we saw occasionally a small village, half hidden amid the orange trees, and by the margin of the river, a strip of yellow sand, upon which the young peasants were walking. As I looked upon them, how freshly to my mind arose the pretty little poem of "Fidelity," written long years ago by a Spanish author:

"One eve of beauty, when the sun
Was on the stream of Guadalquivir,
To gold converting, one by one,
The ripples of that mighty river,
Beside me on the bank was seated

A Seville girl with dark brown hair,

And eyes that might the world have cheated

A wild, bright, wicked, diamond pair.

"She stooped, and wrote upon the sand,
Just as the loving sun was going,

With such a fair, white, shining hand,
I could have sworn 'twas silver flowing:
Her words were three, and not one more.
What could Juanita's motto be?

The Syren wrote upon the shore,
'Death, not Inconstancy !'

"And then her two large, languid eyes
So fell on mine, that, devil take me!
I could have fired the world with sighs,
And was the fool she chose to make me.
St. Francis would have been deceived
With such an eye and such a hand;
But one week more! and I believed
As much the woman as the sand."

Just as the Giralda, the great tower of the cathedral, came in sight, we made a turn in the river, and found ourselves passing between groves, or rather forests of orange trees, laden with the golden-hued fruit. Never, even in tropical lands, had we seen such immense trees. There were multitudes of men, women, and children gathering the oranges, and placing them in piles like mimic mountains. Along the bank were sloops and schooners, into which sailors. were shovelling the fruit as they do "coals at Newcastle." Then we came to the olive groves, sober and subdued like a pretty widow in half-mourning. The trees are planted in long lines, and every hill and small eminence was decked with them, as though they wore a coronet.

We anchored just near Las Delicias (the Delights), the public walk of the Sevillianos. Fancy could scarcely picture a more lovely scene than that which met our eyes in the soft light of that exquisite evening. The paseo is appropriately named. It is indeed the abode of delight, and ex

PLEASANT WELCOME.

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tends one mile along the Guadalquivir. There are avenues of orange trees, and gardens of flowers, bowers of roses, arbors of jessamine, and sparkling fountains. Through it passes a carriage-road, where many elegant equipages were driving, and noble and gallant cavalleros prancing along on their fine steeds of the true Andalucian blood. There were crowds of persons of every variety of station and dress. The women wore the graceful mantilla of silk or lace, and the men had great cloaks almost like the Roman toga. One end of the cape they adroitly cast over the mouth, when they first leave a room and encounter the cold air.

We landed, and ascended the bank through a dense crowd of people. But it was not like the throngs of other cities; as we approached, they all made way for us, taking off their caps and hats in the most graceful manner, and bowing to us. Thus we entered "proud Seville." Our bonnets were evidently curiosities to them, and told at once we were English or Americans, and therefore strangers; and in no part of the world are strangers more kindly treated than in Spain. Ah! how often in our wanderings there did we meet the warm and cordial greeting of those who only knew us to be from a foreign land! How many pleasant attentions encircled us! How many gratifying incidents attended our sojourn! And these came not only from those of high position in society, but from the peasants, and lower classes of people chance threw us among.

The beauty and the animation of Las Delicias were so inviting, we lingered there until it was deep night; then taking a carriage, drove rapidly through the narrow streets to the Fonda de Paris, where we have a charming apartment, with frescoed ceiling, looking out upon La Plaza de la Magdelena. And now to sleep, and return in dreams to my own dear home.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

"Fair is proud Seville; let her country boast
Her strength, her wealth, her site of ancient days."

March 8th.-Seville is truly an interesting city, and we passed several days there in the most delightful manner. Although founded in the time of the Phoenicians, it only be came famous in the reign of Julius Cæsar, who gave it all his patronage, and called it "Little Rome." When the Moors captured it, they destroyed the Roman houses, and with the materials built up dwellings after their own graceful and peculiar style. Thus Seville remains more purely Moorish in architecture than any other town in Spain.

Our first visit, of course, was to the cathedral. In 1163 Abu Yusuf erected on the great square a noble mosque, which was pulled down two hundred years afterwards, and the present vast Gothic structure built up in its place. The nave only needs a few feet to make it as high as that of St. Peter's at Rome. The oblong form of the ancient mosque has been retained. Its length is four hundred and fifty feet, and its width three hundred. There are seven aisles, and ninety windows of stained glass, of the most remarkable brilliancy of color. At mid-day, when the sunlight streamed through them, the effect was glorious. The bright rays,

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tinged with rainbow hues, stole into every dark nook of the edifice, gilding with beauty the sculptured features of a saint, or irradiating the dim outline of the sacred picture. The altar mayor (the great altar) is superb. All the events in the life of our Holy Saviour, from his birth to his death, are carved in oak. In the rear are the organ and the coro. The pipes of the organ are like a great forest of bamboo canes. Along the front of this grand altar (said to be the largest carving in oak known to the world), were kneeling quite a number of the Sevillanas, as motionless as statues, with their eyes. upon the image of the Virgin. They did not even manifest woman's curiosity, by turning to look at us as we passed them. In the centre of the church is the tomb of Fernando Colon, the son of Columbus. His body is beneath the marble pavement, upon which are carved caravals. There is an epitaph containing these words: "To Castile and Léon, Colon gave a new world." From this many have contended Columbus was buried there.

The custodia is wrought from floor to dome by D'Arfe (the Cellini of Spain). There are two pictures of saints by Murillo, and a "Descent from the Cross" by Juan Campana. It was a painting so loved by Murillo, that he was wont to stand for hours before it, waiting, as he said, for Christ to come down. When dying, he begged to be buried beneath its shadow. In the custodia are kept the treasures of the church. They are of immense value, and are of diamonds, pearls, rubies, and other jewels. We saw the cross made with the first gold brought from America by Columbus. Precious relics are encased in vases composed entirely of the most costly stones, and the regalia used at certain seasons of religious solemnity is rich and massive beyond description; all of the pure metal, and set with diamonds. When the great "stream of gold" flowed in from newly-found America,

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