The Bible in Spain: Or, the Journeys, Adventures, and Imprisonments of an Englishman, in an Attempt to Circulate the Scriptures in the PeninsulaBorrow, George
Religion
The Bible in Spain: Or, the Journeys, Adventures, and Imprisonments of an Englishman, in an Attempt to Circulate the Scriptures in the Peninsula
Borrow, George
Borrow, George, 1803-1881 -- Travel -- Spain; Spain -- Description and travel; Spain -- History -- 19th century
I had a dépot of five hundred Testaments at Coruña, from which it was my
intention to supply the principal towns of Galicia. Immediately on my
arrival I published advertisements, according to my usual practice, and
the book obtained a tolerable sale—seven or eight copies per day on the
average. Some people, perhaps, on perusing these details, will be
tempted to exclaim, “These are small matters, and scarcely worthy of
being mentioned.” But let such bethink them, that till within a few
months previous to the time of which I am speaking, the very existence of
the gospel was almost unknown in Spain, and that it must necessarily be a
difficult task to induce a people like the Spaniards, who read very
little, to purchase a work like the New Testament, which, though of
paramount importance to the soul, affords but slight prospect of
amusement to the frivolous and carnally minded. I hoped that the present
was the dawning of better and more enlightened times, and rejoiced in the
idea that Testaments, though but few in number, were being sold in
unfortunate benighted Spain, from Madrid to the furthermost parts of
Galicia, a distance of nearly four hundred miles.
Coruña stands on a peninsula, having on one side the sea, and on the
other the celebrated bay, generally called the Groyne. It is divided
into the old and new town, the latter of which was at one time probably a
mere suburb. The old town is a desolate ruinous place, separated from
the new by a wide moat. The modern town is a much more agreeable spot,
and contains one magnificent street, the Calle Real, where the principal
merchants reside. One singular feature of this street is, that it is
laid entirely with flags of marble, along which troop ponies and cars as
if it were a common pavement.
It is a saying amongst the inhabitants of Coruña, that in their town
there is a street so clean, that puchera may be eaten off it without the
slightest inconvenience. This may certainly be the fact after one of
those rains which so frequently drench Galicia, when the appearance of
the pavement of the street is particularly brilliant. Coruña was at one
time a place of considerable commerce, the greater part of which has
latterly departed to Santander, a town which stands a considerable
distance down the Bay of Biscay.
“Are you going to Saint James, Giorgio? If so, you will perhaps convey a
message to my poor countryman,” said a voice to me one morning in broken
English, as I was standing at the door of my posada, in the royal street
of Coruña.
I looked round and perceived a man standing near me at the door of a shop
contiguous to the inn. He appeared to be about sixty-five, with a pale
face and remarkably red nose. He was dressed in a loose green great
coat, in his mouth was a long clay pipe, in his hand a long painted
stick.
“Who are you, and who is your countryman?” I demanded; “I do not know
you.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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