Altogether it was an admirable scene for a
landscape painter.
The old Moorish mills, so often found on secluded streams, are
characteristic objects in Spanish landscape, and suggestive of the
perilous times of old. They are of stone, and often in the form of
towers with loopholes and battlements, capable of defence in those
warlike days when the country on both sides of the border was
subject to sudden inroad and hasty ravage, and when men had to labor
with their weapons at hand, and some place of temporary refuge.
Our next halting place was at Gandul, where were the remains of
another Moorish castle, with its ruined tower, a nestling place for
storks, and commanding a view over a vast campina or fertile plain,
with the mountains of Ronda in the distance. These castles were
strong-holds to protect the plains from the talas or forays to which
they were subject, when the fields of corn would be laid waste, the
flocks and herds swept from the vast pastures, and, together with
captive peasantry, hurried off in long cavalgadas across the borders.
At Gandul we found a tolerable posada; the good folks could not tell
us what time of day it was- the clock only struck once in the day, two
hours after noon; until that time it was guesswork. We guessed it
was full time to eat; so, alighting, we ordered a repast. While that
was in preparation we visited the palace once the residence of the
Marquis of Gandul.
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