There is something too, in the sternly simple features of the
Spanish landscape, that impresses on the soul a feeling of
sublimity. The immense plains of the Castiles and of La Mancha,
extending as far as the eye can reach, derive an interest from their
very nakedness and immensity, and possess, in some degree, the
solemn grandeur of the ocean. In ranging over these boundless
wastes, the eye catches sight here and there of a straggling herd of
cattle attended by a lonely herdsman, motionless as a statue, with his
long slender pike tapering up like a lance into the air; or, beholds a
long train of mules slowly moving along the waste like a train of
camels in the desert; or, a single horseman, armed with blunderbuss
and stiletto, and prowling over the plain. Thus the country, the
habits, the very looks of the people, have something of the Arabian
character. The general insecurity of the country is evinced in the
universal use of weapons. The herdsman in the field, the shepherd in
the plain, has his musket and his knife. The wealthy villager rarely
ventures to the market-town without his trabuco, and, perhaps, a
servant on foot with a blunderbuss on his shoulder; and the most petty
journey is undertaken with the preparation of a warlike enterprise.
The dangers of the road produce also a mode of travelling,
resembling, on a diminutive scale, the caravans of the east. The
arrieros, or carriers, congregate in convoys, and set off in large and
well-armed trains on appointed days; while additional travellers swell
their number, and contribute to their strength.
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