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CORDOBA 61
top of the tree is rotten; that’s the trouble. The Span-
ish people are the finestiin the world, but they have
the worst government.”
“But there is an old proverb that says that a nation
always has the government which it deserves,” I inter-
pose.
“Old proverbs say a lot of things, Señor. But we
also have a new proverb: If plant lice get into the vines
on our hills, we dig out the vines with their roots, so
that the eggs of the insects may not float down in the
rain water and damage the entire valley. That is what
our new proverb says; but the old proverb taught us
to do nothing against the vine lice, for they had been
inflicted upon us for our sins. Well, so long, my
friend, and a happy voyage!”
They leave the compartment. I follow their slender
forms as they trudge along under their heavy burdens
through the lime-dust of the road, until they disap-
pear behind an olive grove.
The far south of Spain inherits from the Moors a
love for dazzling whiteness. When you sail through
the Straits of Gibraltar, equally brilliant are the white
cities on both sides; the exception is Gibraltar itself,
which has been toned down into an English mole.
Cadiz is a pinnacle of whiteness; nothing, not even
snow, can make an effect of a purer white than this city.
As you travel northward, white alternates with dis-
mal earth-color. Seen from above, even Seville is al-
ready less white. Its houses are not topped with flat
roofs, as in Cadiz, where white linen is dried on wide
roofs with white balustrades. In Seville, most of the
buildings are covered with gray tiles, and the total
impression is of clay.
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