SEVILLE, THE CITY OF PLEASURE.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 11719, 20 July 1901, Page 2 (Supplement)

SEVILLE, THE CITY OF PLEASURE.

A "i:uy interesting article on Seville is coc rr "uied to a recent number of Hfpr's Magazine. "Seville, more tbau my city I have ever seen," says' tb > vriter, "is a city of pleasure. It is not ''taguid with pleasure, like Venice, nor flashed with hurrying after pl<=" -ure, like Budapest, bnt it has the constant brightness, blithness, and ani-ia.-.i'' :i of a city in which pleasure is th • i. 'li^f end of existence, and an end ea-"." Attained, by simple means within ever* yue's reach.

>'ucn of what is most characteristic in :/ 1 teen of Seville may be studied in the -:*;?b, which are filled every evening wii vrowds of unoccupied persons, w I- ' ;n i her countries would be literall-. "t. p working class, but who here cc: hj t > have endless leisure. They arc ; <;ot;h-locktng, obvionsly poor ; ti»ey ta ! k. 'Jruik coffee, buy newspapers and lot rr -7 tickets, and they are all smokini. Tbe typical Andalnsian, as one sb . lea here, ia a type quite new to ni' . i-A a type singulatly individual. ll' . -, . ieun shaven, be wears a felt bat vri" -broad, flat brim, generally drab or ' V-'it g'«'y, clothes often of the same co - ir. and general y a very short coat, en \\u/ wliere a waistcoat ends, and vc-rr Mght trouser? ; over all is a volumio< ;■- black coat, lined at the edges wif: crimson velvet. He is generally of v ; ilium height, and he has very distir. .' features, sotnewbat large, especially tbe nose ; a face in which every lio<. has emphasis ; a straight, thin, nan w face, a face without carves. Ti"ri is much calm strength in tbe A>iualu?ian face, a dignity which is half defiant, and which leaves room for humour. But always there is tbe same earnestness in whatever mood, the same elf-absorption, and, talkative as these people they can sic side by side, silent, as if in brooding meditation, wilft more naturalness than/ the people of any ther race.

The women of Seville aro not often beautiful, but one of the most beautiful women I bave over seen wass*

woman of Seville whom I watched foe .an boar in tie Cafe Americano. She Has \ery srup.'!, very white, with jnst

that delicate tint of modelling in the cheeks which goes well with pallor ; she had two yellow roses in her black hair, at the side of the topmost coil, and a yellow shawl about her throat.

On the day of the feast of the Immaculate Conception, December Bth, I attended masß in the cathedral. The gold and silver plate had be.en laid out by tbe side of the altar, crimson drapmgs covered the walls ; the priests wore their "terno celeste," blue and gold vestments ; the Seises, who were to dance later on, were there in their blue and white costumes of the time of Philip 111. ; the acolytes wore gold mitres, and carried silver-topped staves and blue canopies. There was a procession through the church, tbe Archbishop and the Alcalde walking in state to the sound of sad voices and hautboys, and amid cloud* of rolling white incense, and between rows of women dressed in black, with white mantillas over their heads. The mass.

itself, with its elaborate ritual, was song to the very Spanish mußic of Esiava ; and the Dean's sermon, with its flowery eloquence — flowers oat of the Apoca~ lypse and out of the fields of "la Tierra de Matia Santiaima," was not lees typically Spanish. At 5 .o'clock I returned to the cathedral to see the dance of the Seises. There was but little light except about tbe altar, which blezed with candles. Suddenly a curtain was drawn aside «*nd the 16 boye, in tl eir blue and white costumes, holJiug plumed hats in their bands, came forward and knelt before the altar. The priests* who had been chanting, came up from the choir ; tbe boys rose, and formed in two eights, facing each other ! in front- of the alt*r, and the priests knelt "in a semi-circle around them. Tfien an unseen orchestra began to play, and the- boys pat on their hats and began to -sing tbe ooplas in honour of the Virgin. * After they had eungv the coplds they began to dancr, still singing. It was a kind of solemnminuet, tbe feet never taken from die ground, a minuet -of delicate ste| ping and intricate movement, in which aj central square would form and divide, a whole line passing through tjje opposite line, the enter ends then repeating one another's movements, while the others formed and dirided again in the middle. The first movement was very blow, tbe second faster, ending with a pirouette ; then came two movements without singing, bat with the accompaniment cf castanets, the first movement again very slow, the second a qnick rattle of tbe castanets, like the rolling of kettledrums, but done withont raising the I ands above the level of tbe elbows. Then the whole thing was repeated from ?ba tegiunlag, the bojs flourished off their hats, dropped ontheir knees before tbe altar, and went quickly out. A verse or two* was chanted, the Archbishop gave bis benediction, and the ceremony was over."

I TV rock of Gibraltar has four huge reservoirs capable of holding five million gallons of water. Daring the past sixty years the speed of ocean steamers has increased from B.V to 22£ knots an boar. A Frotich physiologist who has made a study of criminology has observed that nearly all criminals have large ears. A new regalator, jasfc introduced in Swiss watches, works so accurately tbat timepieces furnished with it do not vary twenty seconds in a month. In Italy Sundays are nsaally preferred for marriages when the principals j have never been married before. Widows, however, respect an old custom by marrying on Saturdays. Tie princesses of Sfiam are taught to cook, wash and iron, bake and perform other household duties. At the age of fifteen they hire completed their 6 eddies in the lines indicated, and are ready for matrimony. The dryest place in tbe world is tbat poitioa of Egypt between the two lower tails of the Nile. Raiahas never been I known to fall there, and the inhabitant* are slow to believe travellers when told tbat water falls from the sky.

Females, as well as males, sm.'ke in <7af>an. The girls usually begin when ttify are about ten years of age. When a lady desires to show a gentleman a special mark of favor, she lights her pip?, takes a few whiffs, and then politely passes io to him.