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86 DAYS IN THE SUN
based neither on money nor intellectual conceit, but on
the possession of that which is common to all of them
—their fine bodies.
The women are tall and sarcastic; their hair is
darker than that of the other Andalusians—a bluish
black—and their oval chins often have a soft blond
bloom, imparting a peculiarly fair tone to their faces.
A woman of these mountain regions takes little care
of her children, but instead lavishes affection on them;
all day long you may see her with her own child in her
arms, or another’s, caressing and cuddling it, with an
occasional savage pinch which makes the child burst
into tears. Women like these can tame the wild tiger,
though he be armed to the teeth, can make him talk,
can turn his savage mutterings to soft-cooing tender-
ness, subjugate him quite if she will. He will lie at
her feet like a great lap-dog, humble whether she
caress or kick him—his knife in his sash, his rifle in
his hand, her foot on his neck. This will go on only
until at twenty-five or thirty she begins to fade; then
he will rise in his dignity and harness her to the yoke.
His capricious Venus changes swiftly into a patient
beast of burden; but he—by virtue of his eternal youth
—will proceed to seek another mistress.
To the south of Ronda the mountains flatten a little,
become more peaceful, until the landscape passes im-
perceptibly into the great cork-forests of Castellar.
The crooked, peeled branches of the cork-oak have an
uncanny grin as they loom through the half-dark of the
forest, and as the train rolls by one has the fantastic
impression of an armory of naked skeletons, carrying
green branches over their heads for protection.
We are back in the plains of the south. Loquacious
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