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SEVILLE 47
the Spanish gambling spirit. In addition to a few
thousand bonuses running from one thousand to about
four thousand dollars, and thirty-four small takings of
from ten thousand to twenty thousand dollars, the
Christmas lottery offers the great prizes of 50,000,
100,000, 200,000, 400,000, and 750,000 dollars—and
finally, el gordo, the fat morsel of a whole million.
Just as other governments devote themselves to the
task of stimulating the principal business activities of
the country—England its trade, Denmark its agricul-
ture—so the Spanish government is concerned chiefly
with fostering the gambling spirit of the people, and
by lotteries alone has encouraged a turnover of about
` one hundred million dollars a year. By the Spanish
government, this is counted a genuine achievement.
It is a simple and a grateful task.
Every Spaniard has a thirst for surprises, which
produces in him a fabulous activity of mind; his char-
acter is like a great heart, alternating between violent
excitement and profound dejection. To maintain him-
self in health, he needs a constant succession of hot
and cold shower baths, a leap to the point of the
greatest hope and a plunge into the deepest despair.
Life must offer him strong stimuli, and likewise com-
plete lassitude; he is not addicted to habitual after-
noon siestas, and a complacent life of porridge is re-
pellent to him. The sun must blaze hot and love must
come to the point of using the knife. He is little con-
cerned with alcohol, for he is not interested in dulling
his spirits; he seeks his forms of excitement chiefly
in the domain of mental irritations—he is a born
gambler.
There is the peculiar direction taken by the prac-
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