LAND OF DESOLATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18173, 19 August 1922, Page 2 (Supplement)

LAND OF DESOLATION.

SPANISH KIMQ'S JOURNEY. j According to a rapoit from Madrid tb« King of Spain, attended by the Minister of the Interior, has planned to nde on j horseback through the desolate region ol j Las Hurdes, in Estremadora. <-- -1 Las Hurdes is a region, partly Mountain, j partly plain, in the province of <uietfW| ; where it adjoins that of Salamanca. « , ,i measures some 450 Bquare miles, .and W j about 8000 inhabitants. It ; ia stated/»» there is not in all the region a ;toad, nor a doctor, nor a trained nurse, nor evefl * chemist's shop. - . , ~ There are very few only eleven schools. The usual type of dilreHHig;. is a cabin of mud, roofed with swito; windowless and with a door but- a yard.hip.' Cattle and pigs share tlie same with the inhabitants, who are so ratably poor that most of the cabins b?V* no furniture nor beds. .-.■■• ■ ':;■...;■ The Jurdanos lira life* pariahs, isotaWfl from the rest of the world, and disease a*!l intermarriage have reduced their ] to such a degree that their race hu9 ™* , coma ar. intcraitinjr subject of study from a scientific point oi view. ' ' Las Hurdes is not fertile, but afforestl*' tion would provide work for some o» «*»•< inhabitants as well as create a source of; riches. Roada are a pressing 'necesH*ftj ; for at present in winter-time the. 5 60 !**' have sometimes to wait days before to»y , can transport the dead to the cemetne*