Notes of a residence in the Canary Islands, the south of Spain, and Algiers; illustrative of the state of religion in those countries

Preface

The Author of the following pages having fallen

into ill health, was recommended by his medical

adviser to spend a winter abroad ; after long

pondering where he should go, he sailed for

Madeira, and spent some months there in the

winter of 1848. Not deriving particular benefit

from the climate of Madeira, he continued his

voyage to the Canary Islands, where, having

sojourned for a time, he sailed to Cadiz. He

spent the following winter in Spain, and then

crossed the Mediterranean, paying a short visit to

the opposite countries of Morocco and Algiers.

The greater part of the work was written some

time ago ; but the Author, fearing the narrative of A 2

IV PREFACE.

his not very remarkable wanderings could have little general interest, abandoned the idea of publication. Yet from time to time so manyquestions of ecclesiastical interest turned up in the course of public affairs, upon which his own observations in foreign countries directly bore, that he was tempted to believe afterwards, if he could persuade a publisher to think the same, that the publication of his notes upon the Canary Islands, Spain, and Algiers, might really prove of service to some in his own Church,

The Author will not disguise his attachment to, and confidence in, what are commonly called Church views ; that is to say, a belief in the Apostolical commission of the Church of England, but he must declare that he has no sympathy with those who would like to see the Church of England merged into the Church of Rome. Independent of the corruptions of this latter Church, he does not believe that Catholic unity will ever be promoted in this manner. On the contrary, he entertains the idea that there is nothing so likely to promote it as to deny in all possible ways the

PREFACE. V

position of Papal Supremacy. Assertion, as is often said, is not proof; and whilst the healthiest part of Christendom works in defiance of this supremacy, men must be in love with dried bones indeed, if they can imagine spiritual life depends upon union with her. The Papal empire, like other empires, has had its day, and is crumbling to pieces ; but the traces of so powerful an empire will probably, like the Roman empire upon which it is built, remain as long as the world lasts.

The Author thinks it proper to remark, that nearly every thing which is said about the Roman Catholics in the following pages was written before the publication of Pope Pius the Ninth's Bull, dividing England into Roman Catholic dioceses. As a proof how accidental is the apparent coincidence between the Author's opinions many months ago, and those that have just been stirred up in England of late, he will mention, that, falling in with a Spanish gentleman in London the other day, whom he had not seen since he was in Seville, one of the first remarks that gentleman made to him was, "During all this excitement, I have A 8

VI PREFACE.

often thought of your conversations with the Jesuit/' The Author has, of course, disguised the names of some parties, in accordance with the liberty which most authors of similar works allow themselves; though he has only done this in some few instances, and in those from motives of delicacy.

The Author is not acquainted with any popular account of the Canary Islands. The old quarto work of Grlass is found in some libraries ; but, excepting this, there is no English work specifically upon these Islands, which constitute a province of Spain.

Short, and, in many respects, unsatisfactory, as the Author's sojourn in Algiers was, he thinks the clerical reader may find some matters of interest in his remarks upon that country, which is indeed the ancient site of those Churches which, at the end of the fourth and the beginning of the fifth century were amongst the most distinguished in Christendom.

After the many excellent works on Spain that of late years have issued from the press, par-

PREFACE. Vll

ticularly should be mentioned Mr. Ford's " Handbook for Spain," the Author can only suppose that his meagre remarks on the Peninsula have any value as being illustrative of the impressions made upon the mind of a clergyman of the Church of England during a hasty run through parts of that country. The Author has attempted no fine writing, but has only endeavoured to describe, as faithfully as he could, things and people as he found them.

Horsham, April 10th, 1851.

Chapter I. Page

Embark for Madeii-a — Polemics at sea — A Scotch lady's prejudices about Sunday — Machico — First appearance of Funchal — Portuguese and Spanish towns —Beach population of Funchal — The English visitors— Sympathy for the sick — The late Queen Dowager and her party — The English Church Service — Real cause of the dispute — Death of a friend 1

Chapter II

Satisfaction on leaving a spell-bound island — Ship companions — Sight TenerifFe — Laying-to~ Aspect of the island described — Nelson — An exiled Englishman — Santa Cruz described — British Flags religiously preserved— Scheme to recover them — The Fonda Inglesa — Climates of Funchal and Santa Cruz compared — Spanish doctors on consumption 16

Chapter III

A sketch of the history of the conquest of these islands . . 28

X CONTENTS.

Chapter IV. Page

The streets of Santa Cruz — ^The mantilla— The Captam-General and Louis Philippe — Start for a tour of the island — The town of St. Cristobal de la Laguna — Goffio and fattening brides elect — A sunset at TenerifFe — Tropical vegetation — Mountain air in bed — A landmark in creation — El Padre and Don Casilda — The valley of Orotava, its great beauty — The dragon tree — A Catholic nursery-garden — Exquisite climate of Orotava .35

Chapter V

Start for Ycod by the Pumice Plains — Break of day — Character of the scenery on opening the plains — Appearance of the cone of the Peak on approaching it — Comparison between the Peak and Vesuvius — General impressions — Mountain phenomena — The descent — Ycod — Churches of Ycod, and the depressed state of religion — Carnival sports — Don Fleytas — Garrichico, its volcanic aspect and curious cave — The Canary bird — Return to Orotava 48

Chapter VI

Contrast between Spanish and German Hotel- Keepers — Port Orotava— Don Martinez the Progrisista — News of the French Revolution — Its effects on the inmates of La Pas — A model republic — The quinta of La Rambla, and artificial gardening — A perilous road — ^Volcanic developments — Unwillingness to leave the vaUey — Delicate compliments to the Author . 60

Chapter VII

An importation of Madeira society— Female anxiety in sight seeing— The princes of Saxe-Weimer ascend the Peak — Our unscientific botanical remarks— General disappointment of the party, and reasons why— Climate of Santa Cruz— Deter-

CONTENTS. XI

PAGE

mination to remain behind at TenerifFe— The " BrilUant" returns to Madeira— The sailing circus— Father Tierney— Sail for Las Palmas in Canary— Description of the town and climate • 72

Chapter VIII

The season of Lent in Las Palmas — The bishop — Spanish preaching — El missionario — Episcopal zeal— Cock-fighting in a convent — Cloister associations — The mate of the American bark — Aspect of the country in the interior — Processions in Passion week, and their effects on different minds— Senor Betincourt — Departure from the island 86

Chapter IX

Return to Santa Cruz — A mutiny — Mr. Sheddon of the yacht *' Nancy Dawson" — Disposal of the mutineers — Departure of the " Joven Temerario" — The voyage— Cape Spartel and shaving — National prejudices — Boatmen of Cadiz — First impressions of the town 101

Chapter X

Riding in Spain, its fatigues and pleasures — The governor of Gaucin murdered — Character of some of the mountain clergy — Return to Cadiz — Begging clergy — Domingo Moreno, the Bishop of Cadiz— The cathedral — Portuguese ladies — Steam-boat to Seville— Cathedral — All Saints'-day . 110

Chapter XI

Inspection of the town from the Moorish tower the Giralda — The suburb of Triana— EngUsh potters — Religious despondency — Difficulties in the way of instructing them — The three donnas — A visit to the cathedral with them — The pictures of MuriUo — Dr. Wiseman, Obispo de Oscott . . . 125

Xll CONTENTS.

Chapter XII. Page

Funeral of Padre Facundez, a Spanish saint — Funcion of San Fernando — Arrival of a Jesuit at the house where the Author was li\dng — Female inconsistency — Number of Jesuits in Seville — Conversation with Padre Theofilo, upon the Council of Jerusalem — Married bishops — Assumption of Theofilo — Taylor's " Holy Living and Dying" 138

Chapter XIII

The Author goes with the Jesuit to a funcion — Profession and practice — Some account of a novena — The great funcion of Seville, the Immaculate Conception — Dancing before the altar — Impressions — A visit to Dean Cepero — His defence of that ceremony — His pictures 149

Chapter XIV

The walls and gates of Seville — A ride to Alcala — The Infanta — Spanish industry for once — Santi Ponce and ItaUca — Interesting Roman remains —Murillo — The Real Alcazar — English and Spanish gardening — Indisposition of the natives to improvements — Retrograding taste of some EngUsh . .160

Chapter XV

Departure from Seville — Alcala — Untenanted wilderness — Conversation between the Author and his servant — Arahal — Traces of Moorish empire — Marchena — Dreary ride to Osuna — The learned Ama — Don Juan the Dignitary — Rebera's picture 175

Chapter XVI

On horseback again — Perils of the road — Antequera — A well-conditioned " casa particular" — Christian or Saints' names — Aristocratical ignorance — Road to Malaga — Taking refuge in a galera or stage-waggon — The company therein — Character of the country — The venta — Arrival at Malaga . .187

CONTENTS. Xll]

Chapter XVII. Page

Progressive state of Malaga — English at Malaga— Funeral of the English consul — Spanish clergy at Malaga and Protestant tendencies — Ignorance of the upper and lower classes — Description of the town — The cathedral and the chapter— Dr. Wiseman again— Learning of the clergy— Hermits of Malaga— EngUsh mechanics— Toleration 195

Chapter XVIII

Algeciras— The Bay of Gibraltar— First impressions on entering the town — Character of the population indicative of the various creeds — State of religion — The Roman Catholics — The Wesleyans— INIr. Rule — Proselytising sects — Europa Point — Roman Catholic chapel — Wesleyan school— Interesting conversation with the master — Strength of Wesley-

Chapter XIX

The storm — Catholic unity — A Sunday at Gibraltar — Church and State— The Military— The Cork Wood— The priest a cook 222

Chapter XX

Bound for Tangier — Ship's company — A vision of power and its effect on the Moors — Impressions on entering a heathen country for the first time— Description of the town — Moorish and Spanish bigotry — The Bible and the Arabian Nights — Consular gardens — Progress and the "status quo" — The soc or market-place — Santons — A ride to the cave of Hercules — A soldier no saint 229

Chapter XXI

State of religion in Tangier — The Roman Catholics — Jewish conversions — Priests of the Propaganda — The Roman Catholic chapel — Difficulties in the way of converting a

XIV CONTENTS.

PAGE

Mohammedan — Church or mosque building — Schools — Mustapha Ducaly — Discussions with him — Synagogues — A circumcision — Protestants — Jewesses — The climate . . . 248

Chapter XXII

Dangerous voyage to Tetuan — Ash- Ash — Beauty of the country —Tetuan a purely Moorish town — Solomon the Jew and his house— Scripture illustrated^ — The Pascua and its miseries — Tetuan women — The " nueva tropa " — The colonel — Mihtary of Morocco — Bigotry of the Tetuaners — De Blayney, the French engineer — Journey to Tangiers — Origin of some Spanish customs — Face of the country — The Salutation 259

Chapter XXIII

The French consul strikes his flag at Tangier — Arrival of a Wesleyan missionary of Sierra Leone — Conversion of Mohammedans — Communication between the tribes of Africa, and comparison between the people of the western coast and those of Barbary — The Missionary and the Jew — The Hadjis of Tangier — Arrival of pilgrims from Mecca — Bridal procession and funeral procession 277

Chapter XXIV

Departure from Gibraltar — Scotch Sectarianism — The Frencli steamer " ficlaireur" — Estimated size of Algeria — Mers-el- Keber — First appearance of Oran— Notice of its histoiy — The mosque with the French sigillum — Singular appearance of the military— Intelligence of the Arab lads — State of religion — Fortune of the Mohammedan empire in the Mediterranean — Abd-el-Kader and General Pehssier — Meserguin — Hot-springs near Oran — Departure 28H

CONTENTS. XV

Chapter XXV. Page

Amusing character of the ship's company — Tenes — The English commissary — Communism a la toilet — Approaching the town — Barbarossa — Numerous sieges — Place de la Republique — Fantastic character of the Algerine architecture — Dress and morals of the Algerine women — Bazaars — Negro women — The new cathedral — Ruthless destruction of the Moorish houses by the French — Fort de I'Empereur . .312

Chapter XXVI

The diligence to Blidah — Mustapha Pacha — Miserable state of the Arabs — BoufFarick — Blidah — The hotel — A Spanish lady's account of the Duke d'Aumale— A Sunday at Algiers — Night in Algiers — French and Moorish cafes . . . 328

Chapter XXVII

M. Dupuch first bishop of Algiers — Account of the Roman Catholic cultus, Protestant cultus, Jewish cultus, Mohammedan cultus — The author's estimate of Mohammedanism — The clergy of Algiers— St. Augustine — Ecclesiastical remains—The Donatists the real cause of that schism — Conclusion 338

NOTES OF A RESIDENCE,

CHAPTER I. EMBARK FOR MADEIRA POLEMICS AT SEA— A SCOTCH LADy's

PREJUDICES ABOUT SUNDAY— MACHICO — FIRST APPEARANCE OF FUNCHAL — PORTUGUESE AND SPANISH TOWNS — BEACH POPULATION OF FUNCHAL ^THE ENGLISH VISITORS — SYMPA- THY FOR THE SICK — THE LATE aUEEN DOWAGER AND HER PARTY — THE ENGLISH CHURCH SERVICE — REAL CAUSE OF THE DISPUTE — DEATH OF A FRIEND.

In the beginning of September, 184 — , I embarked with a friend on board one of the regular packets for Madeira, with the intention of making a few months' stay in that island. Our companions were nearly all of them invalids, or the friends of invalids ; and some of them, as circumstances proved, very far gone in the ravages of that fatal disease for which so many seek the climate of Madeira. It was therefore in no very hopeful mood, as respected the future, that the

Z MADEIRA.

majority of this company bid farewell to the coast of England- Few things are more wearying than polemics to a sick man ; and if he has been involved in them, nothing more pleasing than temporary escape from them ; this was something of the feeling that I experienced as we got out to sea ; but it was not destined to last very long, for I was unavoidably drawn into hearing at times, warm discussions between two of the passengers, a lady and a gentleman, respecting the merits of Mr. Lowe, the chaplain of Madeira. I knew, at that time, little or nothing of the disputes respecting Mr. Lowe, that have now been so often before the public ; and whenever one of these discussions concerning him began, I withdrew from the parties, that I might not be appealed to, and left them to talk, often times far into the night, which they did much to the prejudice of the lady''s health.

Nevertheless, notwithstanding this caution, before we had sighted Porto Santo, there were few who had not become partisans ; my friend and myself were pledged to Mr. Lowe ; and our adherence, in a great measure, secured by the resolution we had come to of lodging in the *^ Calle de San Pedro ;'' for travellers are at the mercy of circumstances, and this dispute ran through all the English lodging-houses at Funchal.

It is no easy work to kill time on board-ship, and for tins reason, I suppose, it was, that we were invited to meals five times a day, and some of the party never failed to obey the summons. Nothing could be more considerate and attentive than the different people employed about the ship ; and more than one of the sailors had a sympathizingaccount to give of the delicate state of his own lungs. The captain himself was not one of the most robust-looking men, and it was hard to realize that he had weathered so many voyages as he had done, according to his own account.

The piety of foreigners sometimes attracts the attention of English people, yet I believe, as a whole, the inhabitants of Great Britain are behind those of no other country in this respect ; as we were passing Porto Santo, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, a clergyman came up to me and said a Scotch lady on board had desired him to prevent a friend of mine from sketching on a Sabbath ; for my friend, instead of eating biscuits, and sipping wine and water, was endeavouring to convey to paper a representation of the barren shores of Porto Santo ; and I could offer no objection to his direction. "Tell the Scotch lady, that you can do nothing so ridiculous ; and that if she thinks it sinful, she had better go below, where her eyes will not be offended at the sight.'' b2

We now swept by Porto Santo, and discovered the loom of the island of Madeira, presenting an appearance not very dissimilar to that which it doubtless did to Zargo and his crew, when they made the first formal discovery in 1420. Every knot we made, the lines of the mountainous island became unravelled, until we had the long promontory of San Lauren9o close ahead of us ; and soon after, under the shelter of the north-eastern extremity of the island, we became alive to the peculiar charm of that climate, to which so many have considered they owed their lives. The first town or village we passed, was Machico ; it lies between high hills, back in a pretty cove ; and in the poetical traditions of the country, derives its name from Machim, an Englishman, who in the reign of Edward III.5 having carried off a lady named Anna D'Arfit against the will of her parents, was obliged to put to sea ; and after infinite reverses of fortune, was wrecked on the shores of the island of Madeira : the lady soon died of grief ; and Machim, after erecting a cross, followed his bride to her untimely grave. — A pretty little story, that no doubt accords well with the sentiment and poetry of those unfortunate English people who are destined to lay their own bones in this island.

We entered the bay of Funchal under what might be called a tropical moon. The fair prospect was accordingly idealized, rather than concealed, by the shades of night ; innumerable white quintas sparkled in the basin of the amphitheatre ; the sea looked too calm ever again to be stirred into a storm ; the voices of people talking on the decks of the neighbouring ships told us how still was the atmosphere ; but, as if to remind us that we were not altogether in fairy-land, from one of these issued a grievous smell ; and we learnt the next day that she had been a slaver, but was now employed to carry emigants, and had been brought back by government vessels from a voyage to Demerara, whither she was bound, with three hundred miserable emigrants on board, as they had not obtained the proper permission to leave the island. But for this smell we should have thought the prospect before us a dream ; but as it was, we were happy to seek an oblivion of the senses, by retiring to rest.

As Madeira is a place so constantly visited and written about, the few observations I have to make upon the island shall be made in as brief a way as possible. If the transporting the habits and manners of the mother country pretty perfectly into the colony or settlement, be a sign of good colonization, there is no doubt Madeira was well colonized at the beginning. Funchal is a thoroughly Portuguese town ; and, as far as size b3 b MADEIRA.

and importance goes, bears about the same proportion to the other towns and villages of the island, as Lisbon does to Portugal. It seems the disposition of the Portuguese to congregate very much in one large city or capital, and that of the Spaniards to settle in' several towns; so that, I imagine, if we except the Havannah, the Portuguese can show finer capitals, in proportion, than their neighbours. Funchal is a very large town for the size of the island, and a great part of it being built on the precipitous sides of the mountain, it shows off to the best advantage. Then the numerous English residents, who have brought money and taste to erect quintas with, have added somewhat to the splendour of the coup d'wil. The character of the Portuguese street architecture is rather of the majestic, and traces of this taste are manifested in some streets of Funchal.

Indubitably the most characteristic part of the place is the appearance and habits of what one might describe as the beach population. The boats are built with keels of the canoe fashion, sticking up a yard above the back and sides of the boat : the boatmen are many of them of a copper colour. The men who help to land the wine-casks are generally naked, and I have seen them contending with the most tremendous surfs. The casks are brought down and removed on bullock-trucks, which are literally the only kind of carriages on the island. The figure of the driver is very much that of the Roman peasant in the British Museum, wearing as he does a peculiar pointed cap. A lad, almost naked, with a prodigious belly for his years, precedes the truck, the image of one of those infantile bacchanals that figure in the pictures of Nicholas Poussin. Here too congregate men with palanquins, borriqueros ; and this tribe is numerous in Madeira. They are many of them smart-built young men, and particularly clean in their persons ; but owing to the absurd practice of following the horses, tail in hand, up the tremendous hills of the mountains, they are said not to be long-lived. But the most picturesque class is that of the wine-carriers ; they are seen sometimes, in companies of fifty or a hundred, bending under the weight of a full skin, as they wind down the mountain roads and amidst their congenial vineyards ; or singing cheerfully with the empty skin blown up dangling at their backs : the rest of the native population are uninteresting enough. As it is the custom of the Portuguese government to send the most indifferent of their regiments to Madeira, the military make a poor show; nor are the clergy more distinguished for those qualities that adorn the well-conditioned B 4 ecclesiastic ; and this I believe is the opinion of the good bishop himself.

I cannot recollect ever having been struck with the beauty of a native woman of Madeira, or it might be thej were eclipsed by the numerous interesting beauties from our own island. I shall never forget how strongly the tropical character of the scene impressed me, the first afternoon of my sojourn at Madeira. The leaves of the trees in the Pra^a seemed as incapable of moving as if they had been cast in iron or tin. The borriqueros and others moved noiselessly on the pavement in white shoes, with skull caps, that terminated in a pointed sort of cone. On riding into the country we met interesting groups of Europeans ; it might be a mounted gentleman, with a straw hat flapping upon his shoulders, and a cow's tail instead of a whip in his hand, to brush the flies off his horse's neck, hanging over a hammock in which a delicate lady would be lying, who did not look as if she was long for this world.

We went up to visit two ladies who had been our fellow-passengers, and who were now sojourning in one of the prettiest quintas in the place. We found them in a beautiful garden with walks trellised with vines, and commanding exquisite views of the bay of Funchal. Both these ladies were fair specimens of those migrating mortals, who cannot stand the English climate in the winter. One was a young widow with a little boy of about three years old ; the other was only a temporary widow, having left her husband in England. The one who was least afflicted had taken compassion upon her who was the greatest suiferer, and had brought her to her house, and as it turned out, nursed her through the last stages of a decline.

There is the greatest sympathy shown at Madeira for the sick and suffering, as long as there is any hope of their recovery, and there is scarcely any stage too advanced for despair ; but when the grave has closed over them, they seem forgotten sooner here than in any other part of the world. It is hard to write of Madeira in a sober strain. It is now two or three years since I was there, and the recollection of the place itself, and the people one met, make it an effort of mind to believe oneself still in the same planet. The people appeared a race of ephemerals, here to-day and gone tomorrow. Their hopes and fears and loves and animosities and theology altogether unlike any thing one had seen before. Some American writer, in illusion to the refinement of our upper classes, and the squalid misery of our lower classes, has compared English society in the mass, to that b5 formidable shape mentioned in Milton's Paradise Lost, that

" Seemed woman to the waist and fair, But ended foul in many a scaly fold, Voluminous and vast :"

the English society at Madeira dragged none of this scaly fold along with it. Soon after our arrival came the good Queen Adelaide, and with her a string of Princes and Princesses ; then the Prince of Orange brought his unfortunate brother to the island, and the Duke of Palmella his wife and pretty daughter, besides which were many others of distinction: however, the real substratum of this society are the resident merchants, whose hospitality and kindness every one who has ever been in Madeira extols.

One so eminent for piety as the late Queen Adelaide was not likely to be indifferent to the religious ferment that was prevailing in the place, and many felt grieved that the Sunday of her first visit to the church, should have been selected for placarding the doors of the chapel with a notice of the appointment of a chaplain to supersede Mr. Lowe, who had held the post for more than twenty years. I pretend not to say what the practices in this church might have been in former years ; but I cannot conceive any body but a disciple of John Knox finding fault with the service. It was conducted with the greatest propriety; looking at it as a stranger, no horror of Puseyism could suggest any thing to find fault with, unless it were that Mr. Lowe's preaching was more distinguished for quietness and monotony, than for boisterous eloquence. The good Queen's estimation of the chaplain was shown in the distinction with which she treated him. He knew every thing about the island, from the deep water fishing, to the botany of Pico Rivo, and was besides an admirable pianist, and one whose character stood so well, that the Roman Catholic bishop used to point to him as a fit person for his own clergy to emulate.

I must indulge in some remarks upon this dispute. All manner of silly reasons were assigned for its origin ; as that it did not begin until Mr. Lowe was married ; but it must not be denied that Mr. Lowe's views on Church matters had gone along with the age. He had doubtless preached some strong sermons, had introduced chaunts, and may have increased the communions, or have even placed candlesticks on the communion table ; but the real cause of the numerous Church quarrels in foreign places, where our countrymen are settled, must be traced to the constitution of the society.

The Scotch are greater travellers than even the b6

English, and the riches of southern climates have invited them to settle in greater nmnbers in proportion, in remote places abroad, for the purposes of trade than the English. Let any one look over the names of the great wine-merchants of Madeira or the Spanish peninsula, to see the truth of this. It accordingly happens, that the Episcopalian and Presbyterian interests in these places, are often pretty equally divided. But where a question of a chaplain springs up, the more sensible amongst the Scotch, having no real objection to Episcopacy, agree to have a chaplain of the Church of England, that moreover being the religion of the sovereign ; accordingly an Episcopalian clergyman is established as chaplain ; but let not that chaplain suppose, that all Scotch prejudices are overcome if he does, and makes no effort to conciliate them, he is quite certain before long to be involved in trouble — here Mr. Lowe failed. It is surely a sign that we ourselves are deeply prejudiced, if we can make no allowance for the prejudices of others ; and from frequent observation, I am persuaded, the most difficult thing a British chaplain has to do in foreign places, is to balance between the prejudices of the Presbyterians and the Episcopalian ; and then, as it constantly happens in remote places, the Euglish themselves are not very well grounded in Church views, or very anxious to place themselves under a strict system.