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CHAPTER XIII
SPAIN, OR FURTHER EUROPE
The extraordinary dissimilarity between many of the manners
and customs of Spain and those of other nations in Europe,
renders the title "further Europe" not inappropriate, if used
in the sense that Burma and Siam are "further India." Many
differences are no doubt due to the occupation of portions of
the Spanish Peninsula by the Moors, which lasted for some
centuries. A survival of Moorish ways is to be seen in
the dress of Spanish women of all classes, the mantilla
resembles the fonta, the head covering of modern Moorish
women in Algeria. Again, Spanish churches have very
rarely, if ever, any seats or benches in them. The men
either stand or kneel during the services, the women of the
people, when not kneeling, sit upon their heels, or not un-
frequently seat themselves cross-legged upon the pavement.
Women of the upper classes, and invalids, take their own
camp-stools with them when they go to church. As in
Muhammedan mosques, where certain portions are covered
with matting, so in Spanish churches a considerable space
in front of the high altar is covered in this manner.
The city of Toledo (its Archbishop is the Primate of all
Spain) is generally believed to have had a considerable Chris-
tian population at the time it was conquered by the Moors,
when a good many of the Christians either fled or were
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