In this primitive
way is the commerce of the country carried on. The muleteer is the
general medium of traffic, and the legitimate traverser of the land,
crossing the peninsula from the Pyrenees and the Asturias to the
Alpuxarras, the Serrania de Ronda, and even to the gates of Gibraltar.
He lives frugally and hardily: his alforjas of coarse cloth hold his
scanty stock of provisions; a leathern bottle, hanging at his
saddle-bow, contains wine or water, for a supply across barren
mountains and thirsty plains; a mule-cloth spread upon the ground is
his bed at night, and his pack-saddle his pillow. His low, but
clean-limbed and sinewy form betokens strength; his complexion is dark
and sunburnt; his eye resolute, but quiet in its expression, except
when kindled by sudden emotion; his demeanor is frank, manly, and
courteous, and he never passes you without a grave salutation: "Dios
guarde a usted!" "Va usted con Dios, Caballero!" ("God guard you!"
"God be with you, Cavalier!")
As these men have often their whole fortune at stake upon the burden
of their mules, they have their weapons at hand, slung to their
saddles, and ready to be snatched out for desperate defence; but their
united numbers render them secure against petty bands of marauders,
and the solitary bandolero, armed to the teeth, and mounted on his
Andalusian steed, hovers about them, like a pirate about a merchant
convoy, without daring to assault.
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