Page:The Burton Holmes lectures; (IA burtonholmeslect04holm).pdf/277

 repaid me many fold. He was, in truth, model cicerone, and with him I visited all the places which are marked with double stars in the red-covered guide-book.

A RONDA "CHICKEN"

IN AND OUT OF CHURCHES

Expressing a desire to visit the depths of the Tajo, he leads me by a circuitous route to the place where the river Guadalevin enters the gorge of Ronda. We have already looked upon its exit below the Spanish bridge; we now find ourselves at the upper end of the Tajo, within the shadow of an ancient bridge ascribed to Roman builders. There being no path, we pick our way over boulders, leap across the little rivulets, into which the stream is here divided, and thus laboriously advance into the depths. The dwellings of Ronda hang on the verge, looking like dice about to be dropped into a mighty dice-*cup. Closer and closer to one another draw the over