Antequera

“ From Antequera the army set out on its journey through the mountains, more than three thousand horse and a thousand foot with the banners of Seville, Cordova, Jerez, and other principal cities of Andalusia, waving in their midst. Rarely had more famous names graced a military enterprise: the Master of Santiago, hero of the Portuguese war; the Marquis of Cadiz, victor of Alhama, with some five more of the warlike house of Ponce de Leon ”

“ No doubt there are many people in the position of our Alcalde who live as elegantly as he does, but it is a great exception to find oneself invited to take one’s place as a guest at their table; and his hospitality, the beauty of the town, the glorious mountain views all round, the wealth of wild flowers on the hills, and the many remains of ancient buildings, all combined to mark Antequera with a white stone in my friend’s and my memories. ”

“ Woollen fabrics are manufactured, and the sugar industry established in 1890 employs several thousand hands; but the majority of the inhabitants are occupied by the trade in grain, fruit, wine and oil. Marble is quarried; and at El Torcal, 6 m. south, there is a very curious labyrinth of red marble rocks. Antequera was captured from the Moors in 1410, and became until 1492 one of the most important outposts of the Christian power in Spain. ”

“ The fort of Ucubis, stated by Hirtius to have been destroyed by Cæsar, we may suppose stood on the side of the mountains overlooking the Salsus or Guadaljorce, towards Antequera; and it does not seem improbable that that city is the Soricaria mentioned by the same historian; for Anticaria, though noticed in the Itinerary of Antoninus, is not amongst the cities of Bœtica enumerated by Pliny.
Teba was taken from the Moors by Alphonso XI., A.D. 1340. The inhabitants are a savage-looking tribe, and boast of having kept the French at bay during the whole period of the “war of independence.” ”

“ On the right soon appears the Sierra de Abdalajis.
87 M. Antequera (1346 ft.; Fonda de la Castaña and others) , the Roman Anticaria, lies picturesquely at the N. base of the hills, with a ruined Moorish castle. The Cueva de Menga, 10 min. to the E. of the town, is one of the largest dolmens in Spain.
991⁄2 M. Archidona; the town lies on a hill, 33⁄4 M. to the S.—We next cross the watershed between the Guadalhorce and the Genil and descend through several tunnels. ”

“ We now came in sight of Antiquera, that old city of warlike reputation, lying in the lap of the great sierra which runs through Andalusia. A noble vega spread out before it, a picture of mild fertility set in a frame of rocky mountains. Crossing a gentle river we approached the city between hedges and gardens, in which nightingales were pouring forth their evening song. About nightfall we arrived at the gates. Everything in this venerable city has a decidedly Spanish stamp. It lies too much out of the frequented track of foreign travel to have its old usages trampled out. ”

“ The people of Antiquera had scarcely recovered from the tumult of excitement and admiration caused by the departure of the gallant band of cavaliers upon their foray when they beheld the scattered wrecks flying for refuge to their walls. Day after day and hour after hour brought some wretched fugitive, in whose battered plight and haggard woebegone demeanor it was almost impossible to recognize the warrior who had lately issued so gayly and gloriously from their gates. ”

“ On his retiring, Antiquera, with a view to conciliating Zavala, the governor of Buenos Ayres, sent six hundred troops to assist him in the defence of Monte Video against the Portuguese. This manœuvre, however,{248} did not avail him, and Ros was sent a second time to assert the royal authority, with two hundred Spanish troops, backed by the forces of the Jesuit missions. The Jesuits had been expelled by Antiquera from Asuncion. On reaching the Tebicuari, Ros was encountered by Antiquera, with a force of three thousand men, and, being defeated, was compelled to return to Buenos Ayres. ”

“ Yet the road which we have taken to guide us aims right at the very heart of them, and at the little village of Unquera it bears up square to the left. A copious sea-green river (officially known as the Tina Mayor, but invariably styled the Deva by the inhabitants) comes hurrying down at this point from the mountains, and charges the great ridge of limestone which edges the coast-line like a natural sea-wall. ”

“ Perhaps it may be considered almost an impertinence in me to remark​—​the fact is so well known both in England and the West Indies​—​that, among this numerous body of her majesty’s subjects, there are some of the highest respectability. Every West Indian island has its élite, and Antigua is not behind the rest. Many, very many, could be mentioned, who are superior in every way​—​well-read, strong-minded, with excellent natural talents, and unexceptionable, both in public and private life. ”

“ The distance from Antioquia to Anzerma is seventy leagues, and the road is very rough, with naked hills and few trees. The greater part is inhabited by Indians, but their houses are a long way from the road. After leaving Antioquia one comes to a small hill called Corome, which is in a little valley where there used to be a populous village of{57} Indians; but since the Spaniards came as conquerors, the Indians have greatly diminished in numbers. This village had many rich gold mines, and also streams whence they could obtain gold. There are few fruit trees, and the maize yields small crops. ”

“ This city of Antioquia is situated in a valley between the famous, notable, and rich rivers of Darien and of Santa Martha, for these valleys are between the two Cordilleras. [207] The position of the city is very good, with wide plains, near a small river. Many other rivers flow near it, which rise in the Cordilleras, and many springs of sweet and limpid water. All the rivers are full of very fine gold, and their banks are shaded by many kinds of fruit-trees. Antioquia is surrounded by extensive provinces, inhabited by Indians, very rich in gold, who use small scales to weigh it ”

“ The road rises about 180 feet from the sea, in an abrupt precipice clothed with the dwarf acacia and “milk-bush”​—​those ever-to-be-found productions of Antigua. A low wall of stones, loosely piled, borders the edge of the road, which would prove but a sorry guard against any accident. In the steepest part of the hill, we looked over, and watched in silence the beautiful but treacherous waves, as they laved the rocky base of the precipice. ”

“ I say, then, that on leaving San Sebastian de Buena Vista, which is the port of Uraba, to go to the city of Antioquia, the road runs by the coast for five leagues as far as the banks of a small river called Rio Verde, whence the distance to the city of Antioquia is forty-eight leagues. The whole country, from this river to certain mountains called Abibe, of which I shall speak presently, is flat, but covered with very dense forests, and traversed by many rivers. The district near the road is uninhabited, as the natives have retired to a distance from it. ”

“ In this way did they make the circuit of a chain of rich and verdant valleys, the glory of those mountains and the pride and delight of the Moors. For forty days did they continue on like a consuming fire, leaving a smoking and howling waste to mark their course, until, weary with the work of destruction, and having fully sated their revenge for the massacre of the Axarquia, they returned in triumph to the meadows of Antiquera. ”

“ One league beyond the Cauca lies the town of Antioquia. If Sopetran is the last word in attractiveness, Antioquia must be placed at the extreme other end of the scale. The wide, arid valley supports no vegetation except occasional clumps of cacti and dwarfed mimosas, which rather add to its desert-like appearance. The heat is almost unbearable, as the Western and Central Andes, hemming in the valley between huge walls of pink clay and sandstone, shut off all ventilating winds. ”

“ Far from it; an attentive perusal of these pages will prove, on the contrary, that there are to be found among them families, whose genealogical tree bears many a goodly shoot​—​through whose veins runs a stream of England’s richest blood: the names of Warner, Williams, Byam, Martin, Ottleys, with many others, have long stood pre-eminent in the annals of Antigua; while their descendants have kept up their high station in the society of the island. ”

“ Analco, a settlement of Guadalaxara, in Mexico, containing 40 Indian families.
Anasaguntakook, a band of the Abenaki, on the sources of the Androscoggin, in Maine.
Ancamares, a nation of Indians inhabiting the shores of the river Madera. They are very warlike and robust. In 1683 they attacked the Portuguese, and compelled them to give up the navigation of the river. They are divided into different tribes. The most numerous are the Ancamares, who inhabit the shores of the river Cayari. ”

“ It was by the suggestions of this Captain Delgarno, and Captain Cooper, of H.M.S. Lyon, in 1725, that the spacious dockyard at English Harbour was first erected.
George I. dying in the month of June, 1727, his son succeeded to the vacant throne, under the title of George II. Upon the intelligence reaching the ears of the Antiguans, he was proclaimed at Antigua with great pomp. An ox was roasted whole, and three hogsheads of beer distributed to the poor inhabitants; while a splendid entertainment was provided for the governor and the gentry of the island, at the public expense. ”

“ To resume our description of these ancient possessors of Antigua​—​these warlike Caribs. Vanity is a passion which to a greater or lesser degree pervades the breast of almost every mortal, and the savage in his native wilds feels the force of it in the same manner, although, perhaps, not to the same extent, as the giddy fair who whirls round the vortex of dissipation within the purlieus of May Fair. When first discovered by the Spaniards, the Caribs were habited in different fashions ”

“ The Spaniard the others, (La Trinidad, and Margarita, chief;) from whence, and the Antilles, they have of late years very much infested this Navigation, with their Guard le Costas, confiscating the English Effects in Reprisal, it is supposed, for the Loss of their Fleet near Messina, 1718.
The greater Antilles are, Cuba, Hispaniola, Portorico, and Jamaica; the three former, Spanish.
Cuba is principal; a very pleasant and flourishing Island, the Spaniard building and improving [223] for Posterity, without dreaming, as the English Planters do, of any other Home. ”

“ For the particulars of this case, I am indebted to an old man well known in Antigua. He bears the burthen of eighty-six years, and is still as active and strong as many a one only half that age. I heard him speak very highly of our late gracious majesty William IV., who, when he was in the navy, visited Antigua for some time. “Prince Henry was a good young gentleman, God bless his memory!” cried the old man. “I used to wait upon him, and have often heard him speak of what good he would do, should he ever come to the throne. He has spared many a black person a good flogging. ”

“ They do not entirely attain to a belief in the immortality of the soul. The water and all that the earth produces is referred to nature, although they well know there is a Creator, but their belief is false, as I shall relate presently.
The city of Antioquia was founded and settled by the Captain Jorge Robledo, in the name of his Majesty the Emperor Charles, King of Spain and of the Indies, our lord, and by order of the Adelantado Don Sebastian de Belalcazar, his governor and captain-general of the province of Popayan, in the year of the nativity of our Lord 1541. ”

“ Supported only by a meek obedience to the decrees of Eternal Wisdom, and a firm trust in the Atonement of a gracious Redeemer, William and Ruth Atkinson, once inhabitants of Antigua, and now of Dominica, as an inadequate evidence of their intense and aggravated anguish for the poignant and crushing trial they have undergone in the loss of both their children, pay this melancholy tribute, when advancing into manly, lively virtue, such as fills the parents’ soul with solid comfort. ”

“ There are many worthy industrious characters among this class of persons in Antigua; not famous, it is true, for any great display of abilities, or of superior talents, like Juan Parega, or our friend Sancho, but men of sound mind, well-behaved, and clever in producing little articles of native manufacture. A fancy sale was held in this island in January, 1837, and among the contributions was a miniature sugar-mill, with all its vanes &c. ”

“ Man and man’s triumphant domes are nowhere to be seen; a few crazily built houses, and a few straggling inhabitants, are all that now constitute the modern town of Antakia.
Yet, notwithstanding all this, the vast extent of land in the neighbourhood of Antioch which is devoted solely to the cultivation of mulberry-trees, and the great space of still uncultivated ground which might be devoted to a like purpose, gives ample assurance that, in the one article of silk alone, an immense revenue might be derived, and a very large population be maintained in easy, if not affluent, circumstances. ”

“ Just at the termination of the first descent is one of the sweetest spots in Antigua. It is one of tranquillity and repose. The fierce beams of the sun are excluded by the umbrageous foliage of the trees, around whose trunks various creepers entwine themselves, and throw their slender limbs from one to the other of these
“Green-robed senators of mighty woods,”
forming many beauteous alcoves, carpeted with the lowlier flowers; whilst the “purple wreath” hangs its tasseled blossoms on all sides, and gives an air of lightness to the whole. ”