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76 DAYS IN THE SUN
These scattered descendants who, in spite of isolation
from their kin, lead lives so closely resembling those
of their cousins across the straits, are all the evidence.
Cérdoba has many of these Moorish scions. Stiff
as monuments, they grace the squares of the city,
representing in themselves both the present and the
past.
We wander about this endless confusion of narrow,
twisted streets, meeting not a soul, although the city
is recorded as having more than fifty thousand in-
habitants. We walk single file, following the gutter,
which is in the center, and can easily touch the houses
on both sides at the same time, with our finger tips.
It is shady and quiet, and the sky over our heads is
blue; occasionally we hear steps in front or behind as
we walk, only to discover that they are our own foot-
falls. We can hear our own hearts beat in the curious
quiet which reigns here between these closely shuttered
rows of houses.
Of what are we reminded by this voyage of exotic
loneliness? ‘There is the arrow on the street corner,
still indicating the direction traffic must take in this
one-way alley—the deep ruts in the pavement blocks—
worn by the busy wheels of the past, by striding feet
and rolling wagons—is this not Pompeii? Of course
it is Pompeii; the only feature lacking is the echoing
sound of the iron-studded boots worn by the custodians
who circulate among the dead house-walls at Pompeii.
We walk on and on without meeting a soul, turning
repeatedly, never able to see more than the length of
two houses ahead. Always the same strip of blue sky
above us and always the same immaculate gutter under
us, framed by two flagstones. This constitutes the
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