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GIBRALTAR 85
calf far off in the fields, than they produce their red
cloths and begin to wave them.
There is something feline about these lean, sinewy
mountain-dwellers_of Andalusia, especially in the hills
around Ronda. There, the mountaineer walks quickly,
without a sound; he knows nothing of nervousness,
though he is nothing but nerves; he can never have
enough of the sunlight, and even in the hottest sea-
son, he lies outdoors on a blazing hot blanket, at mid-
day. He is voluptuously idle and tirelessly persever-
ing. His glance, which usually evades your eye and
yet follows you persistently, imitating your every mo-
tion only half awake, will suddenly grow sharp, en-
ergetic, aggressive; he measures your place, your dis-
tance; he transfixes you calmly. He is peculiarly cruel,
a characteristic of all Andalusians, due perhaps to the
fact that this land of the sun has not enough sunlight
after all to please a race that comes from still hotter
zones! At times the surface may be covered with an
opaque stratum of the veneer of civilization; but here
it is exposed, having yet another shade of red to add
to the general effect.
There is something like the challenge of a beast of
prey in these powerful, gaunt men, who have not the
good-natured curiosity of the Andalusian of the plains,
nor the proud kindliness of other mountain-dwellers,
but the cold reserve or haughtiness of the Arabs. They
still retain the Oriental’s scorn for the European bar-
barian; they treat the stranger with contempt, regard-
ing him as so much empty air, and it is difficult to se-
cure admission to their houses. The Spanish self-
respect here rises to an arrogance that impresses the
cultured traveler as baseless; for it is an arrogance
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