The petticoat of the peasants in Andalusia is yellow, of a homely but excellent woollen stuff, and bordered with red, the two colours which the Spanish women most affect--the colours of their gorgeous standard, those of gold and blood. A Spanish woman is no less attentive to her foot and shoe[86] than to her hair: from below the saga comes forth the plump leg in its creaseless stocking. The impression that remained on me of Spain, having been there as a child, was a black lace-bedizened female figure, with a bunch of flowers on the head and on the foot, and a white satin shoe, cheapening cod in the fish-market at six in the morning. If the wise man was bewitched by the sight of the “one eye,” so was the paynim Holofernes “ravished” by the sight of Judith’s sandal. But the sandal must not be taken for that thing which Abigails call by that name: it was not the service of riband that held the sole on, but the sole itself. Spain is still the country of the sandal: you may see it every day, and there is nothing that more recalls antiquity than the bands (stone-blue) by which it is secured round the ankle and foot.[87] The old Spanish shoe is very low, and scarcely held at all at the heel: like the slipper of the Easterns, it required the action of the toes to hold it on. The calf of the leg accordingly was full, because its muscles were called into play. So important is this to the grace and ease of the figure, that at Rome the models, male and female, lose their pension if they wear a shoe with a thick sole. There still wants something to complete the Spanish costume, or, perhaps, I might say the Spanish woman--and that is THE FAN. Yet, how supply this want? at least, without herself--how convey her and it on paper? You might as well attempt to teach on paper how to roll a turban, make coffee, or hit the bull’s-eye. The petticoat has two names, _basqueña_ and _saga_. The latter recalls the sagum of the Greeks and Romans, which is derived from _sagi_ or _sogi_ of the Touaregs: sagum designated a web or mantle. How it has come to be a petticoat I shall presently explain. The sleeves, _mangas_, are tight to the arm, and buttoned up the fore-arm, not by button-holes in the stuff, but in the Eastern manner, with loops. The buttons are gold filigree, which we call Maltese: they are used in large numbers for ornamenting the _maja_ dress. The body is low round the shoulders, as the present evening dress of Europe; but they do not sin against mechanics and modesty by bringing the edge of the dress to the angle of the shoulder. A scarf is fastened above the dress, which comes up behind, is secured upon the shoulders by clasps, and then brought down in front. There is something approaching to this worn by the women in Morocco. The buckles and clasps on the shoulders are frequently mentioned in the Old Testament.