PENOLITE, SPAIN, Aug 13: From a school fronting the village plaza comes the bubbling sound of children's voices. Across the way, some men are drinking beer at the Carretas bar. Nearby, two women leave church after praying.

This village of whitewashed houses clinging to a hillside studded with olive groves seems, on the surface, like many others in Spain. But its size is an illusion.

Like a Hollywood set, many of the houses are empty. In the span of a generation, its population has plunged from 1,100 to 320 as residents moved to the cities for jobs, mirroring Spain's transformation in the last half-century from a primarily rural society to an urban one.

Now, Penolite's Mayor has come forward with a bold plan to save the village from withering to extinction: give 200,000-Peseta 1,400 Dollars rewards to couples who have babies, and sell land at cut-rate prices to outsiders.

``It's a question of survival,'' said Mayor Juan Maria Rodriguez, whose family has lived in Penolite (pronounced Peh-nyo-lee-teh) for generations.

Since the offers were made in January, a dozen people have moved to town and six village women have become pregnant. Although most deny the cash incentive induced them to become pregnant, Rodriguez believes the money is prompting couples who were thinking about having a baby to go ahead and do so.

But skeptics say Rodriguez's strategy, like perhaps Penolite itself, is doomed.

``There are no jobs here,'' said Petra Guirado, a mother of four grown children, as she walked alone on one of Penolite's narrow streets.``My kids would never have left if they could have found good jobs here. What are the newcomers going to do?''

Unless you're the only bartender, storekeeper, teacher or doctor in town, there's little employment outside of harvesting olives and pressing them for oil. The work lasts only four months, providing enough for a family to get by, but little else for the more ambitious.

But Rodriguez's efforts are not only bringing new people into the village, they're bringing fresh ideas.

Antonio Martinez, 35, was unhappy with his job as a window fitter and with living in a crime-ridden neighbourhood in the city of Algeciras when he heard on TV that Penolite was seeking newcomers.

While the children attend Penolite's one-room elementary school, the men are trying to make a go of it by growing organic tomatoes and raising chickens and goats for sale. The regional government is loaning the land in exchange for a share of the earnings.

Meanwhile, the newcomers are living in a cramped rented house. If things go well, they'd like to build their own homes and stay.

But Bustamante worries that Penolite's days are numbered unless the population decline is reversed.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.