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+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Fortunate Isles, by Mary Stuart Boyd,
+Illustrated by A. S. Boyd
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Fortunate Isles
+       Life and Travel in Majorca, Minorca and Iviza
+
+
+Author: Mary Stuart Boyd
+
+
+
+Release Date: March 19, 2012  [eBook #39199]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FORTUNATE ISLES***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Dave Hobart, Suzanne Shell, and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made
+available by Internet Archive/American Libraries
+(http://www.archive.org/details/americana)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 39199-h.htm or 39199-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/39199/39199-h/39199-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/39199/39199-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive/American Libraries. See
+      http://www.archive.org/details/fortunateislesli00boydiala
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
+
+
+
+
+
+THE FORTUNATE ISLES
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  BY THE SAME AUTHOR
+
+
+      _Travel_
+
+  OUR STOLEN SUMMER
+
+  A VERSAILLES CHRISTMAS-TIDE
+
+
+      _Novels_
+
+  THE GLEN
+
+  THE FIRST STONE
+
+  WITH CLIPPED WINGS
+
+  THE MAN IN THE WOOD
+
+  BACKWATERS
+
+  HER BESETTING VIRTUE
+
+  THE MISSES MAKE-BELIEVE
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+[Illustration: Calle Del Calvario, Pollensa]
+
+
+THE FORTUNATE ISLES
+
+Life and Travel in Majorca, Minorca and Iviza
+
+by
+
+MARY STUART BOYD
+
+With Eight Illustrations in Colour and Fifty-Two Pen Drawings
+by A. S. Boyd, R.S.W.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Methuen & Co. Ltd.
+36 Essex Street W.C.
+London
+
+First Published in 1911
+
+
+
+
+FOREWARNING
+
+
+"I hear you think of spending the winter in the Balearic Islands?"
+said the only Briton we met who had been there. "Well, I warn you,
+you won't enjoy them. They are quite out of the world. There are no
+tourists. Not a soul understands a word of English, and there's
+nothing whatever to do. If you take my advice you won't go."
+
+So we went. And what follows is a faithful account of what befell us
+in these fortunate isles.
+
+                                                        M. S. B.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                PAGE
+
+       I. SOUTHWARDS                               1
+
+      II. OUR CASA IN SPAIN                       14
+
+     III. PALMA, THE PEARL OF THE MEDITERRANEAN   26
+
+      IV. HOUSEKEEPING                            39
+
+       V. TWO HISTORIC BUILDINGS                  51
+
+      VI. THE FAIR AT INCA                        60
+
+     VII. VALLDEMOSA                              66
+
+    VIII. MIRAMAR                                 79
+
+      IX. SÓLLER                                  94
+
+       X. ANDRAITX                               107
+
+      XI. UP AMONG THE WINDMILLS                 117
+
+     XII. NAVIDAD                                128
+
+    XIII. THE FEAST OF THE CONQUISTADOR          143
+
+     XIV. POLLENSA                               152
+
+      XV. THE PORT OF ALCUDIA                    168
+
+     XVI. MINORCA                                179
+
+    XVII. STORM-BOUND                            193
+
+   XVIII. ALARÓ                                  203
+
+     XIX. THE DRAGON CAVES AND MANACOR           215
+
+      XX. ARTÁ AND ITS CAVES                     225
+
+     XXI. AMONG THE HILLS                        242
+
+    XXII. DEYÁ, AND A PALMA PROCESSION           252
+
+   XXIII. OF FAIR WOMEN AND FINE WEATHER         264
+
+    XXIV. OF ODDS AND ENDS                       274
+
+     XXV. IVIZA--A FORGOTTEN ISLE                289
+
+    XXVI. AN IVIZAN SABBATH                      301
+
+   XXVII. AT SAN ANTONIO                         311
+
+  XXVIII. WELCOME AND FAREWELL                   320
+
+    XXIX. LAST DAYS                              328
+
+          INDEX                                  335
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+                                IN COLOUR
+
+  CALLE DEL CALVARIO, POLLENSA                _Frontispiece_
+
+                                                FACING PAGE
+
+  PALMA DE MALLORCA, FROM THE TERRENO                    26
+
+  VALLDEMOSA                                             70
+
+  SÓLLER                                                 94
+
+  AFTER THE FEAST OF THE CONQUISTADOR, PALMA CATHEDRAL  143
+
+  THE ROMAN GATEWAY, ALCUDIA                            168
+
+  MAHÓN, MINORCA                                        193
+
+  SUNDAY MORNING AT IVIZA                               289
+
+
+
+
+                              PEN DRAWINGS
+                                                       PAGE
+
+  THE CATHEDRAL AND THE LONJA, PALMA                      1
+
+  A PALMA _PATIO_                                         9
+
+  THE SERENO                                             13
+
+  THE CASA TRANQUILA                                     14
+
+  THE GATE OF SANTA CATALINA, PALMA                      19
+
+  OUR SUBURBAN STREET                                    24
+
+  CALLE DE LA ALMUDAINA, PALMA                           29
+
+  A SUPPER PARTY                                         37
+
+  THE SATURDAY MARKET, PALMA                             39
+
+  A CONSUMOS STATION                                     47
+
+  THE CASTLE OF BELLVER                                  51
+
+  PALMA, FROM THE WOODS OF BELLVER                       57
+
+  SECOND CLASS                                           60
+
+  A CORNER OF THE FAIR AT INCA                           64
+
+  WHERE THE HILLS MEET THE PLAIN, ESGLAYETA              66
+
+  CARABINEROS IN THE KITCHEN                             77
+
+  LA TRINIDAD, MIRAMAR                                   79
+
+  A TIGHT FIT                                            91
+
+  THE MANDOLINE PLAYER                                  101
+
+  AT FORNALUTX                                          104
+
+  SON MAS, ANDRAITX                                     107
+
+  IN THE PORT OF ANDRAITX                               117
+
+  ABOVE ANDRAITX                                        123
+
+  CHRISTMAS TURKEYS                                     128
+
+  A SCENE OF SLAUGHTER                                  135
+
+  THE COFFIN OF JAIME II IN PALMA CATHEDRAL             150
+
+  MARKET DAY AT POLLENSA                                152
+
+  THE MAIN STREET OF POLLENSA                           161
+
+  A _NORIA_ NEAR ALCUDIA                                175
+
+  CIUDADELA SEEN FROM THE SEA                           179
+
+  CALLE SAN ROQUE, MAHÓN                                187
+
+  _COMERCIANTES_ IN THE FONDA AT MAHÓN                  201
+
+  AN INTERIOR IN ALARÓ                                  203
+
+  ALARÓ                                                 210
+
+  IN THE DRAGON'S CAVE                                  215
+
+  MANACOR                                               221
+
+  ARTÁ                                                  225
+
+  TOWARDS THE PARISH CHURCH, ARTÁ                       229
+
+  ENTERING THE CAVES OF ARTÁ                            234
+
+  PALM-SUNDAY AT SÓLLER                                 242
+
+  DEYÁ                                                  253
+
+  PROCESSIONISTS OF HOLY THURSDAY                       262
+
+  DURING THE CARNIVAL AT PALMA                          264
+
+  THE WOOER                                             269
+
+  THE NATIONAL SPORT                                    274
+
+  CALLE DE LA PORTELLA, PALMA                           279
+
+  THANKSGIVING                                          296
+
+  A TRIO AND A QUARTETTE                                301
+
+  THE GATES OF THE _FEIXAS_, IVIZA                      309
+
+  THE CHURCH OF SAN ANTONIO, IVIZA                      311
+
+  THE CHURCH OF JESUS, IVIZA                            320
+
+  MOORISH TOWER AT THE PORT OF ALCUDIA                  328
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The Cathedral and the Lonja, Palma]
+
+THE FORTUNATE ISLES
+
+
+I
+
+SOUTHWARDS
+
+
+We had left London on a tempestuous mid-October Saturday morning,
+and Sunday night found us walking on the Rambla at Barcelona, a
+purple velvet star-spangled sky overhead, and crowds of gay
+promenaders all about us.
+
+When the Boy and I had planned our journey to the Balearic Isles
+(the Man never plans), our imaginings always began as we embarked at
+Barcelona harbour on the Majorcan steamer that was to carry us to
+the islands of our desire. So when we had strolled to where the
+Rambla ends amid the palm-trees of the port, it seemed like the
+materializing of a dream to see the steamer _Balear_ lying there,
+right under the great column of Columbus, with her bow pointing
+seawards, as though waiting for us to step on board.
+
+When at sunset next day the hotel omnibus deposited us at the port,
+the _Balear_ appeared to be the centre of attraction. It still
+lacked half an hour of sailing time, yet her decks, which were
+ablaze with electric light, were covered with people. Ingress was a
+matter of so much difficulty that our inexperience of the ways of
+Spanish ports anticipated an uncomfortably crowded passage.
+
+There was scarcely room on board to move, yet up the species of
+hen-ladder that acted as gangway people were still streaming--ladies
+in mantillas, ladies with fans, ladies with babies, and men of every
+age, the men all smoking cigarettes.
+
+Fortunately a recognized etiquette made those whose visits to the
+ship were of a purely complimentary nature confine themselves to the
+deck. When we descended to inspect our sleeping accommodation it was
+to find an individual cabin reserved for each of us; and to learn
+that, in spite of the mob on board, there were but four other saloon
+passengers. These, as we afterwards discovered, were a French
+honeymoon couple and a young Majorcan lady who was accompanied by
+her _dueña_.
+
+Rain had been predicted, and was eagerly looked for, as none had
+fallen for many weeks. Yet it was a perfect evening. There was
+hardly a ripple on the water, and the air was soft and balmy. Behind
+the brilliant city with its myriads of lights rose the dark
+Catalonian mountains. Clustered near us in the harbour the crews of
+the fishing boats made wonderfully picturesque groups as they supped
+by the light of hanging lamps. And over all, high above the tall
+palms of the Paseo de Colon, the statue of Columbus pointed ever
+westwards.
+
+Looking at the sparkling scene, it was difficult to credit that
+Barcelona, with its surface aspect of light-hearted gaiety, was
+under martial law, even though we had seen that alert-eyed armed
+soldiers guarded every street and alley, and knew that but a day or
+two earlier bombs had exploded with deadly effect where the crowds
+were now promenading. It was hard, too, to believe that at that
+moment the interest of all Europe was centred upon that sombre
+fortress to the south-west of the town, within whose walls, only
+five days earlier, Ferrer had, rightly or wrongly, met the death of
+a traitor.
+
+The warning siren sounded. The visitors reluctantly scuttled down
+the ridiculous hen-ladder. The moorings were cast away, the screw
+revolved, and we were off--bound for the Fortunate Isles.
+
+Out of many wondrous nights passed on strange waters I remember none
+more beautiful. We were almost alone on deck. So far as solitude
+went the _Balear_ might have been chartered for our exclusive use.
+The second-cabin passengers had all disappeared forward. The French
+bride and bridegroom had found a secluded nook in which to coo; and
+the vigilant _dueña_ had led her charge into retirement.
+
+We three sat late into the night watching the lights of the
+beautiful city of unrest fade away into the distance, while over the
+sinister fortress of Montjuich the golden sickle of the new moon
+hung like a note of interrogation.
+
+The Spanish coast had vanished. The ship's bow was pointing towards
+Africa, and wild-fire was flashing about the horizon when at last we
+descended to our cabins. The lightning was still flashing, but it
+was far in our wake, when we awoke about four in the morning to find
+the _Balear_ sailing along on an even keel, close by a mountainous
+coast whose highest promontory was crowned by a lighthouse.
+
+Having dressed and refreshed ourselves with biscuits, and chocolate
+made over a spirit-lamp, we went on deck while it was yet dark, and
+watched the land gradually become more and more distinct with the
+broadening dawn. The Boy, who had early recognised something British
+in the build of our steamer, made the interesting discovery from the
+unobliterated lettering on her bell that, though now known as the
+_Balear_, the vessel had begun her career as the _Princess Maud_,
+one of a line of steamers coasting between Glasgow and Liverpool.
+
+As the steamer skirted the picturesque coast we tried, not very
+effectively, it must be admitted, to pick out the bays and
+headlands history connects with Jaime, the valorous young King of
+Aragon, who, accompanied by a great fleet, set sail from Barcelona
+one September day early in the thirteenth century, determined to
+wrest Majorca from the tyranny of the Moors, who for hundreds of
+years had dominated it. But when we had decided that it must
+have been round _that_ point that his ships, with all lights
+extinguished, had crept at midnight to anchor in _this_ bay, the
+appearance of yet another point and another bay made us waver.
+Still, there could be no mistaking Porto Pi, with its beacon tower
+on the point where the Moors, warned of the approach of the enemy,
+gathered in force to resist his landing.
+
+The sun was illumining the wooded slopes about the ancient castle of
+Bellver, and shining radiantly upon Palma, lighting up the spires of
+the noble Cathedral and the encompassing city walls, and shining
+upon the mountains beyond, as about half-past six we entered the
+harbour, to find the wharf already busy with people.
+
+We had left grey gloom in London and in Paris. Here all was vivid
+and sparkling. The air was exhilarating, the port, with its
+nondescript craft, was a feast of colour. Voices speaking the island
+tongue sounded strangely in our unaccustomed ears. Our first
+impression of Palma was one of brightness: an impression conveyed
+partly by the warm amber and golden tints of the stone of which the
+charming city is built.
+
+On the previous night we had thought the _Balear_ half empty; but
+with the morning many unguessed passengers made their appearance
+forward. The _guardia civil_, who was travelling with his little
+boy, producing a pocket-handkerchief, dipped it in a bucket of water
+and scrubbed his son's face till it shone, the child keeping up an
+excited chatter the while.
+
+The honeymoon couple were early on deck looking out for the Grand
+Hotel omnibus. But we were nearly alongside the wharf before the
+young Majorcan lady, closely shadowed by her _dueña_, left her
+cabin.
+
+After the manner of Spanish aristocrats when travelling, she was
+dressed in black, and carried a fan that seemed to go oddly with her
+smart hat. She had a beautiful figure, and the graceful carriage of
+her race. But an expression of discontent, as though she were
+already weary looking for something that might have been expected to
+happen but did not, lent an unbecoming droop to her well cut lips.
+
+Her companion was a shrivelled little woman, whose gums were
+toothless and whose cheeks bore the pallor of enforced seclusion,
+but whose alert expression betokened generations of watchful
+patience. He would be an ingenious as well as an ardent lover whose
+attentions could escape the glint of those quiet eyes. A black
+mantilla covered her scant hair, a long semi-transparent shawl
+draped her narrow shoulders. In addition to her fan she held two
+parcels, one wrapped in green, the other in orange tissue-paper--a
+flimsy covering, surely, for a sea-passage.
+
+We put ourselves in the care of the first porter who mounted the
+gangway--a handsome brigand with a slouch hat, curled moustaches,
+and yellow boots. Gathering up a mountain of light luggage in either
+hand, he tripped airily on shore, we meekly following.
+
+A Spanish friend in London had recommended the _Fonda de Mallorca_
+(locally known as "Barnils'") as the best specimen of a typical
+Majorcan hotel, and there we had decided to stay until our plans for
+the next few months were matured.
+
+As we left the harbour the hotel omnibus drew up in front of the
+Customs Office, and for the third and last time on the journey the
+solemn farce of the examination of our luggage was gone through.
+This time it was altogether perfunctory. Not an article was opened.
+The trunks, which followed on a cart, must have been treated with
+like trustful generosity, for their keys never left our possession.
+
+As our baggage included a double supply of artist's materials
+requisite for a six months' stay, it turned the scale at three
+hundred pounds. Between Charing Cross and Paris the overweight was
+charged 15s. 6d. From Paris to Barcelona we paid 35 francs. From
+there to Palma it travelled free. But though we saw fellow-travellers
+in variant stages of exasperation over vexatious claims, we paid no
+duty anywhere. Even the China tea that, unknown to my men-folk, I had
+smuggled, travelled unsuspected. And as tea in Majorca is a ransom,
+and Indian at the best, I had, while my small store lasted, an
+unfailing sense of satisfaction in my contraband possession.
+
+The Hôtel Barnils gave us a cordial welcome. The grateful fragrance
+of hot coffee was in the air as we were taken upstairs and delivered
+into the care of Pedro, the chamber-man, who was smoking a cigarette
+as he cleaned the tiled corridors with a basin of damp sawdust and
+an ineffectual-looking broom.
+
+Our suite of rooms on the second floor consisted of a tiny _salon_,
+from which on either side opened a bedroom. The smaller had a window
+to the Calle del Conquistador, the larger overlooked the inner
+courtyard with its potted palms and ginger-plants. All three rooms
+were papered alike in a pattern of large black and brown leaves on a
+yellow ground. The effect was decidedly bizarre. To those of a
+melancholy temperament it would assuredly have proved trying, even
+though there was a certain relief in the collection of French
+coloured lithographs that further adorned the walls.
+
+Our sitting-room, which, like the bedrooms, was paved with tiles,
+had a tall window that opened to the floor and was guarded by an
+iron railing. It had two red-covered easy-chairs, four fawn brocade
+small chairs, and a round table with a yellow and drab tablecloth.
+
+In an amazingly brief space we were seated round that table drinking
+coffee out of tall glasses, and making acquaintance with the
+_enciamada_, a local breakfast dainty which is neither pastry,
+bread, nor bun, yet appears to enjoy something of the good qualities
+of all three. In form it somewhat resembles the fossil known to our
+nursery days as an ammonite. To picture a nicely baked and browned
+ammonite that has been well dusted with icing-sugar is to see an
+_enciamada_.
+
+The little breakfast over, we went out to explore the city. Up the
+street of the Conquistador people were hurrying: men bearing on
+their heads flat baskets filled with pink or silver fish that were
+still dripping from the Mediterranean, and women carrying empty
+baskets. Following the stream, we found ourselves in the market,
+which is surrounded by tall, many-storied buildings.
+
+It was an animated scene. Everybody was busy--all the people who were
+not buying were selling. And round about were commodities that were
+strange to us. The fish-stalls, which were clustered in a corner by
+themselves, displayed odd fish, many of them repulsive-looking, and
+all, in our eyes, undersized. The meat stalls revealed joints of
+puzzling cut, and were garlanded with gamboge and vermilion sausages,
+as though the Majorcans' love of bright colours manifested itself
+even in the food they ate.
+
+The more attractive aspect of the fruit and vegetables drew us up
+the alleys where the salesfolk sat placidly surrounded by huge
+gourds, radishes eighteen inches long, strange and unappetizing
+fungi. They had a varied assortment of goods, but the vegetable that
+appeared to dominate the market was the sweet pepper, or _pimiento_;
+everywhere it lay in heaps whose colour shaded from a vivid green to
+glowing scarlets and orange.
+
+One or two ladies in mantillas were marketing, attended by maids
+whose hair, dressed in a single pleat, showed beneath the
+_rebozillo_ that is the national head-covering of the country-women.
+
+One piece of buying, and one only, did I venture on. The Man's
+favourite fruit is the green fig, a commodity that in London costs
+on an average eighteenpence a dozen. Seeing a woman with a hamper of
+choice fresh figs, I proceeded to try how Majorcan prices compared
+with those of Britain. Taking warning by the experience of a friend
+who, having asked for half-a-crown's worth of grapes in a foreign
+market, found himself confronted with the impossibility of carrying
+away his purchase, I discreetly held out the local equivalent of a
+penny and pointed to the figs.
+
+The vendor, seeing that I had no basket, held a brief colloquy with
+a neighbouring salesman, which resulted in the production of a piece
+of crumpled newspaper. Signing to me to open my hands, she spread it
+over them and began counting the figs into it, carefully selecting
+the finest specimens from her stock. Having heard that food was
+cheap in these fortunate isles, I confidently expected that my penny
+might purchase four green figs: but instead of stopping at a
+reasonable number, the woman went on piling them up until I felt
+inclined to say "Hold, enough!" When she desisted, the paper held a
+dozen juicy purple figs, and half a dozen of the golden green ones
+that are considered the more delicate in flavour.
+
+A Spanish proverb declares that to reach perfection a ripe fig must
+have three qualifications: "A neck for the hangman, a robe for the
+beggar, a tear for the penitent." These had all the required
+attributes: the slender neck, the rent in the skin, the oozing drop
+of juice. Better figs, we imagined, were never eaten than the
+experimental pennyworth we bought that October day in Palma market.
+
+The mind easily adjusts itself to existing conditions. A few minutes
+later it scarcely surprised us to see an old woman buy ten fine
+tomatoes for a halfpenny--or to hear her demand an eleventh as just
+value for her coin.
+
+Leaving the market square, we wandered about the narrow streets,
+which, with their tall old houses and quaint _patios_--the spacious
+central courtyards--are full of picturesque scenes. Palma is densely
+populated, and the moving crowds gave us the impression of a people
+good-looking and well dressed as well as healthy and happy. Few of
+the ladies we met wore hats, and to me it appeared odd to see a lady
+in a well-cut tailor suit wearing a mantilla as, accompanied by
+her maid, she did her shopping.
+
+[Illustration: A Palma _Patio_]
+
+Many of the native women had their hair in a long pigtail, and wore
+either the _rebozillo_--a neat white muslin headdress, in form like
+a diminutive hood with a collarette attached--or a coloured silk
+handkerchief, or both. A small fringed shawl usually covered their
+shoulders. But it was in the matter of footgear that the Majorcan
+fancy appeared to run riot. Yellow boots, green boots, cream-hued
+boots, elastic-sided orange boots were displayed on the feet of
+otherwise sedately-garbed people of both sexes; and the children
+wore slippers of lively shades embroidered with gay flowers.
+
+When a sudden shower, descending with tropical force made us seek
+shelter in a doorway whence we watched the passers-by, we had the
+opportunity of noting that, though all marketing dames wore smart
+boots, many of them had dispensed with stockings.
+
+A sharp distinction seemed to be drawn in the dress of the classes.
+As we passed the church of San Miguel, troops of ladies who had been
+attending morning service were leaving it. With almost the
+uniformity of a livery, they wore black gowns of brocaded satin.
+Black mantillas covered their beautifully-dressed hair, and in
+addition to their rosaries, each carried a fan.
+
+Our temporary shelter chanced to be close to the gate of Santa
+Margarita, and when the rain cloud had passed over, we went near to
+read the inscription graven in Spanish on the stone on one side of
+the gateway:--
+
+    _By this gate entered into the city on the 31st day of
+    December, 1229, the hosts of King Don Jaime I. of
+    Aragon, Conquistador of Majorca. As a remembrance of
+    that memorable occasion, on which Majorca was restored
+    to the faith and civilization of Christianity, this
+    gate, called "Bab-al-Kofol" in the time of the Islamite
+    dominion, since then "Esuchidor" and "Pintador," and in
+    modern times "Santa Margarita," was declared a national
+    monument on the 28th of July, 1908, and restored at the
+    expense of the State._
+
+The records of the more ancient races who inhabited the island seem
+to have almost vanished. The Gymnesias, known as the people whose
+gracious climate rendered the wearing of clothes a superfluity; the
+Phoenicians, the Romans, even the Balearic slingers, are well-nigh
+forgotten, while memorials of the valiant young King of Aragon meet
+one at every turn.
+
+Hunger sent us back to the hotel to have our first experience of the
+Majorcan cookery for which it is justly noted.
+
+The cheerful dining-room opened into the square courtyard, whose
+walls were striped in broad lines of blue and white like the bandbox
+of a French milliner. On each of the six tables was a large decanter
+of red wine.
+
+The first dish set before us required a certain amount of courage to
+tackle. It was a mound of amber-tinted rice in which was visible a
+weird conglomeration of fish, flesh, fowl, and chopped vegetables.
+The queer part was the preponderance of empty seashells, for while
+their contents had doubtless become incorporated with the other
+ingredients, the empty shells remained insistent and uninviting.
+
+But hunger had made us reckless, and on venturing, we found the _arroz
+con mariscos_ worthy the national esteem in which it is held. Highly
+seasoned meat of some sort followed. Then came delicately-cooked
+little fish; then something that defied us to discover whether it
+belonged to the animal or the vegetable kingdom. There were no sweets,
+but the dessert was abundant and delicious. Apricots, curiously
+exotic-looking apples that were streaked with crimson on a pink
+ground, great clusters of little yellow grapes that seemed as though
+the sunshine were imprisoned in their skins, and the tempting little
+baked almonds that are a speciality of Barnils'.
+
+The rain, that in a few minutes had turned the narrow streets into
+rivers, had ceased as suddenly as it began. The sky was again a deep
+glowing blue, and the pure soft air was a pleasure to breathe, when
+ascending a stair we found ourselves on the flat roof of the hotel,
+which commanded an extensive view over the city. About us were many
+flat Moorish roofs, some used as gardens, others bearing great cages
+full of pigeons. To the south was the port with its gay display of
+shipping and the sparkling waters of the Mediterranean. To north,
+east, and west, the towers and domes and city walls encircled us.
+Beyond were the fruitful plains, and farther still the blue
+mountains.
+
+Around us rose the softened murmur of the town, the chiming of
+bells, the whisper of the sea, the sound of voices speaking in
+strange tongues. All was charming, novel, and wholly delightful.
+
+Chopin's description of Palma, written seventy years ago when, with
+George Sand, he spent a winter in Majorca, needs no correction
+to-day:--
+
+"Here I am at Palma," he wrote to his friend Fontana, "in the midst
+of palms, and cedars and cactuses, and olives and oranges, and
+lemons and figs and pomegranates.... The sky is like a turquoise,
+the sea is like lazuli, and the mountains are like emeralds. The air
+is pure like the air of Paradise. All day long the sun shines and it
+is warm, and everybody walks about in summer clothes. At night one
+hears guitars and serenades. Vines are festooned on immense
+balconies. Moorish walls rise all about us. The town, like
+everything here, looks towards Africa. In a word, it is an enchanted
+life that we are living."
+
+Soon after midnight a deep sonorous cry awoke me from the sleep of
+the pleasantly fatigued:--
+
+    _Alabado sea Dios....
+     Las doce y media....
+     Sereno...._
+
+it rang out in the stillness.
+
+Jumping out of bed, I reached the open window in time to see the
+passing of a black figure wrapped in a great cloak, the rays from
+the lantern he carried throwing a wavering circle of light on the
+pavement beside him. It was the _sereno_, the guardian of the
+sleeping city.
+
+Pausing before one of the closed doors, he smote on it three times
+with his staff. Then he turned, and passed out of sight, his long
+wailing cry again rising into the night.
+
+[Illustration: The Sereno]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The Casa Tranquila]
+
+II
+
+OUR CASA IN SPAIN
+
+
+Palma was gay with bunting in honour of the birthday of the young
+Queen of Spain, when on the afternoon of our second day in Majorca
+we set out to deliver a letter of introduction that was fated to
+have an important influence on our future arrangements.
+
+Much might be, and probably much has been written on the uses and
+abuses of letters of introduction. Sometimes the given letter proves
+a boon both to him who carries and him who receives it. Was not one
+of our best friends made known to us through the medium of a
+perfunctory note from a man we had not seen for many years, and whom
+the presenter of the note had never even met? When we left London we
+bore a letter of introduction to an Englishman resident in
+Barcelona, and he in turn gave us a letter to an American friend of
+his at Palma, who was Consul for certain of the Southern Republics.
+
+The home of the Consul was at Son Españolet, an attractive little
+residential suburb about a mile beyond the city walls. The busy
+district of Santa Catalina lies between it and the sea. Undulating
+groves of almond and olive separate it from the hills.
+
+Taking the mule-drawn tram-car that plies between Palma and Porto
+Pi, we alighted at Santa Catalina; and, after making various
+inquiries, found ourselves ringing the gate-bell of the house, over
+whose tower fluttered the gay banner of the Consulate.
+
+Had the Consul and his wife guessed that these three British
+invaders were going to trespass on their endurance for a period of
+six months, I doubt if they would have received us with such
+courteous geniality. As it was, their reception was so cordial that
+within half an hour of our meeting I felt emboldened to reveal what
+had been my secret desire--that we might rent a furnished house near
+Palma for the winter. Not a fine house--merely a roof under which we
+could stow our belongings, a centre from which our wanderings about
+the islands might radiate.
+
+Could they advise us? Did they think such an idea was feasible?
+
+The Consul shook his head.
+
+"Not near Palma," he said. "At Porto Pi or the Terreno you might
+chance on one. But these are summer seaside places. Most of the
+houses there are shut up now. You'd find it dull and inconvenient in
+winter."
+
+"This district seems delightful, and near town. Would there be a
+chance of our getting a house here?"
+
+"Unfurnished, yes--furnished, no. But why not take a vacant house
+and hire what you need? There's only three of you. You don't want
+much."
+
+"Say, Luis!" said pretty Mrs. Consul, "what about the house the
+Major left last week? That's empty now. Would that suit?"
+
+For a moment the Consul looked meditative.
+
+"I'm thinking," he said. "You're right. That's the very place. Nice
+little house. Got a garden. Stable too. And a fine view from the
+veranda."
+
+"Is the house near? Could we see it?" we asked.
+
+"It's close by, in the Calle de Mas. We'll see about it, right away,
+now."
+
+The Consul, happily for us, was a man of action. Ringing the bell,
+he summoned Isidoro, his man-servant, who summoned Margarita, his
+cook. And Margarita, having received instructions to search the wide
+world till she found the caretaker of the empty house and to bring
+her hither, departed at once on her quest. In an incredibly brief
+space of time she returned in company with a little old woman and
+two large door-keys.
+
+Following her guidance we walked in procession round the corners of
+several secluded roads, whose yellow stone walls, flat roofs, and
+almost tropical foliage looked Oriental under the evening glow.
+
+Viewed from the street, the house we sought, with its green shutters
+and tiled roof, resembled a hundred others. But when the big keys
+had performed their task, and we had passed through the two centre
+rooms and found ourselves on a wide stone-pillared veranda looking
+across the orange and lemon trees of the gardens to where the
+Mediterranean lay azure under the setting sun, our minds held no
+further hesitation. We knew that it was our own house.
+
+Merely to assure ourselves that the house had no equal, we
+investigated the claims of two other vacant dwellings before
+returning to the Consulate. One had a basement in which a native
+family lived--apparently wholly upon garlic. The other attempted to
+make up in stucco images what it lacked in view.
+
+It was too late that night to take any steps towards securing the
+house. The Consul, himself a versatile linguist, knowing that our
+meagre Spanish could hardly be expected to prove equal to the
+subtleties of house-hiring, arranged to accompany the Man and the
+Boy next day to interview the owner, and if possible to see the
+negotiations completed.
+
+I think we were all secretly uneasy until we learned that, on the
+personal recommendation of the Consul, the landlord had
+unhesitatingly accepted us as tenants, and that he had agreed to
+have the garden put in order, to mend any broken panes of glass in
+the doors or windows, to see that the well was clean, and to permit
+us to enter upon our tenancy at once.
+
+And then, the house being secured, the important subject of
+furniture had to be considered. Knowing that with hired goods we
+would feel conscious of certain restrictions, we had resolved to buy
+what was absolutely necessary. And the question was--how much or how
+little furniture would three unexacting people require during six
+months of a picnicking existence in a gracious climate?
+
+Already there were several indispensable articles in the house--two
+tables, one large enough to serve as dining-table, a bench, and a
+tall glass-doored corner cupboard. Beds would be needed, washstands,
+two more tables of the plainest description, half-a-dozen
+rush-seated chairs of local make for utility, lounge chairs for our
+laziness, and looking-glasses for our vanity.
+
+Still under the Consul's skilled guidance we visited an
+upholsterer's, a dark and narrow shop where the closely packed stock
+took up so much room that there was hardly space for a single
+customer. The shopkeeper, a smiling little round man in a pink
+shirt, and his daughter, a smiling big round girl in a white frock,
+entered heartily into the spirit of our requirements; and with the
+Consul's aid in the reduction of prices, we speedily acquired what
+was necessary.
+
+We had landed on Majorca on Tuesday morning. Before dusk fell on
+Thursday our house was not only taken, but the furniture purchased.
+Electric light is a cheap luxury in Palma, and for our comfort in
+the winter nights we were having it put in. Knowing that the
+installation of the light, the scrubbing out of the house, and the
+raking up of the garden would occupy a day or two, we decided to
+remain at Barnils' until Monday, on which morning we would journey
+out to Son Españolet and take possession. Meanwhile we roamed about
+Palma with our eyes open to the necessities of our bare
+establishment, picking up a broom here, a coffee-strainer there,
+some wooden cooking-spoons yonder.
+
+Matters moved with surprising briskness. Monday morning found the
+electric light fixed, the tiled floors well scrubbed, the scant
+provision of furniture in the rooms, and the garden dug. So, leaving
+our heavier luggage to follow by cart, we packed ourselves and our
+smaller baggage into a _carruaje_, and set out for our new home. The
+progress thither was circuitous, as first we had to journey up and
+down the narrow streets of the town collecting the smaller purchases
+we had made.
+
+First we called at a grocer's to pick up the supply of provisions
+that were to form the nucleus of our housekeeping. Then we meant to
+drive to the china shop where our store of crockery awaited us.
+Unfortunately the china shop, being situated on a street so steep
+that it ascended in a series of wide steps, was unapproachable by
+our two-horse conveyance. Leaving the carriage at the foot of the
+steps the Man and the Boy mounted to the shop, and by and by
+reappeared accompanied by a man and a maiden, all four laden with
+dishes.
+
+Space in the conveyance had been limited before. Now, surrounded by
+earthenware cooking-pots, and basins, and jugs, and plates, we were
+jolted over the primitively paved streets, and out beyond the gate
+of Santa Catalina to the little house in Son Españolet.
+
+Perhaps our sense of possession threw a glamour over the dwelling,
+but already it seemed to wear a look of home. The scanty furniture
+was in place, a few minutes sufficed to put the groceries on the
+shelves, the dishes in the glass cupboard, the earthenware
+cooking-pots and pans on the kitchen shelf. Then, when the table was
+spread with our new tea-cups, and decorated with roses and scented
+verbena from the garden, set in a jug, and the kettle was a-boil
+over our trusty spirit-lamp, we sat down, in great contentment, to
+enjoy the first meal in our _casa_ in Spain.
+
+The lines even of a foreign householder in Majorca are cast in
+pleasant places. From our point of view the Majorcan landlord has
+the worse of the bargain, his tenant the better.
+
+[Illustration: The Gate of Santa Catalina, Palma]
+
+We took our little house for three months, paying in advance the
+very moderate rent--it was twenty pesetas, about fifteen shillings,
+a month--and agreeing to give, or take, a month's warning. This
+done, our obligations appeared to cease. There were no taxes, at
+least none that the tenant was expected to pay. There was no water
+rate. The well in the garden afforded a supply of pure and wholesome
+rain-water. If windows were broken the landlord sent, or promised to
+send, a glazier to put in new panes. In the rare event of a chimney
+requiring cleaning, the accommodating landlord was expected to
+employ a mason to do the work. And with the arrival of the season
+locally considered best for the annual pruning of the vines--which
+is the period between the 15th and the 20th of January--a duly
+qualified gardener, instructed by the owner of the house, appeared
+and clipped those within our walls.
+
+Our Majorcan home proved to be full of the most charming
+informalities. Its architecture was the perfection of simplicity; a
+child might have designed it. It was on one floor only, and measured
+fifteen paces square. There were neither hall nor passages, and in a
+short time we found ourselves wondering why we had ever considered
+such things necessary. All the doors were glazed. The front door
+opened directly into a sitting-room, whose wide glass door led to
+another room that opened on to the veranda. To the right of the
+front door was the Boy's bedroom, to the left an apartment that
+served as studio. From the back sitting-room opened, on one side, a
+bedroom that had a useful dress closet; and on the other a compact
+little kitchen with a cool larder that was almost as big as itself.
+The kitchen walls were lined breast-high with blue and white tiles;
+and under the window that looked towards the sea was a neat range of
+stoves, for the consumption of both coal and charcoal.
+
+The two sitting-rooms boasted the distinction of wall papers, and
+the ceiling of our favourite room--that which opened on to the
+veranda--represented an azure sky among whose fluffy white clouds
+flitted birds and butterflies. At one side of the house was a
+stable, and an enclosure fitted with stone tubs and jars, meant to
+be used in the washing of clothes.
+
+The veranda, or _terras_, bade fair to become a perpetual joy to us.
+It was roofed by a spreading vine, whose foliage even in November
+was luxuriant. The former tenants had eaten all the grapes except
+one bunch, of which the wasps had taken possession; and we were
+either too generous or too timid to dispute their claim.
+
+On the broad ledge of the veranda, on either side of the short
+flight of steps leading down to the garden, were great green
+flower-pots. Three held pink ivy-leaved geraniums, one contained a
+cactus that had exactly the appearance of four prickly sea-urchins
+set in mould, the others were empty.
+
+The garden measured nineteen paces by twenty-two. Raised paths of
+concrete divided it into eight beds. The four larger encircled the
+quaint draw-well; the four smaller were in a row, two on either side
+of the veranda steps. The beds held a number of fruit trees. There
+was a sturdy lemon that bore both fruit and blossom, and three
+orange-trees; one carrying about sixty mandarin oranges. And besides
+a second vine there were seven almond-trees and two apricots. A
+shrub in whose racemes of hawthorn-scented blossom bees were busy,
+we had never before seen. Later we learned that it was the loquat.
+
+Some rose bushes, which obligingly flowered all winter, a jasmine, a
+tall scented verbena, a long row of sweet peppers, two clumps of
+artichokes, and sundry tufts of herbs completed our vegetable
+kingdom.
+
+Majorca is a paradise for the gardener--or would be, were the
+rainfall more assured--for the climate varies so little that almost
+anything can be planted at any season.
+
+The day we took possession of the house I sowed some rows of dwarf
+peas. In a week they were above the ground and continued to flourish
+exceedingly, until brought to a standstill by the long-continued
+drought. The rain in January set them a-growing again, and from
+early February till April we had dishes of green peas from our own
+ground.
+
+At the foot of the garden, separated from it by a high stone wall,
+were two small dwellings. One was empty. In the other there resided
+a cobbler named Pepe, his wife, and a lean red kitten.
+
+The sudden arrival of us foreigners proved an event of extraordinary
+interest in the circumscribed lives of the pair, and of the skinny
+kitten, who developed into quite a handsome cat on our scraps. Mr.
+and Mrs. Pepe had no veranda, but from their patch of garden a tiny
+staircase led to a _mirador_--a species of roof watch-tower--from
+which they had a capital view of the town, the port, and of their
+neighbours.
+
+As in these sunny November days we lived with the wide glass doors
+open to the veranda, there was so much to observe in our doings that
+for the first week at least of our stay Pepe's customers must have
+been neglected; for morning, noon, and night he was at his post of
+supervision. As we sat at table we got quite accustomed to seeing
+his squat figure outlined against the sky as he undisguisedly
+watched our movements. Sometimes he even carried his quaint spouted
+wine-bottle and hunk of rye bread up to the _mirador_, and enjoyed
+his breakfast with a vigilant eye on us.
+
+Pepe had a taste for gardening, and grew chrysanthemums and
+carnations in the few feet of soil attached to his dwelling.
+Sometimes, with due ceremonial, he presented us with one of his
+striped carnations. And one day, when I was in the garden, he
+hastened down from his post of observation to reappear, smiling
+broadly, at our side gate, bearing the gift of a sturdy root of
+French marigold. We showed our appreciation of the compliment by
+sending him a boot to mend; and, courteous preliminaries having been
+thus exchanged, we continued to live on terms of distant amity. The
+marigold I promptly planted in one of the empty green flower-pots,
+where throughout the winter it bore a constant succession of its
+brown and orange velvet flowers.
+
+A family from Andalusia--a father, mother, and four children--occupied
+the house adjoining ours. They seemed good-tempered, easy-going folks,
+living a happy careless life in this land of sunshine. Their somewhat
+extensive garden was well kept and fruitful.
+
+The father, like so many of the residents in these islands, was a
+bird-fancier. And when, on sunny mornings, assisted by his children,
+he had carried out the dozens of cages containing his pets, and had
+hung them on his pomegranate-trees, and on the pergola, where the
+purple convolvulus twined about branches heavy with golden oranges,
+our world was vocal with their song.
+
+At the foot of their garden was a flourishing little poultry-yard,
+in which, with laudable success, they reared chickens and ducks and
+rabbits. They supplied us regularly with eggs, and when any of the
+live stock was ripe for the pot we always had the first offer of
+purchase.
+
+The method of procedure was to catch the beast--plump rabbit, young
+rooster, or whatever it chanced to be--and to carry it, suspended by
+the legs and vigorously protesting, to the door of our _casa_ to
+exhibit its proportions, and to inquire if we would like to
+purchase. On the sale being effected, as it usually was, for the
+quality of their live stock was unequalled, the victim would be
+taken away, to reappear half an hour later stripped of fur or
+feather, and with its members decorously dressed for cooking.
+
+Early in the year the Andalusian family was increased by one--a fine
+boy. A few weeks after, the mother paid me a state visit to receive
+congratulations and exhibit the baby. Going into the studio, I said:
+
+"Our neighbour has brought her new baby to show us."
+
+The Man waved me away with a protesting paint-brush.
+
+"No," he said. "Don't buy it. Send her away. I don't mind the ducks
+and the chickens, but I absolutely refuse to eat the baby!"
+
+Life in the Casa Tranquila, as we had christened our winter home,
+was a pleasant irresponsible matter compared with existence in
+ceremonial Britain. Social pleasures we undoubtedly had, but no
+social duties. Housekeeping ran on the simplest of lines. Maria, the
+woman who had been key-keeper of the house while it was empty, came
+in to do the rough work. Apolonia, a smiling, rubicund old dame,
+with a keen sense of humour, acted as laundress. It was all so easy
+and unconventional and open-airy that we never quite got over the
+impression that we were enjoying a prolonged camping-out, and that
+it was by accident that our roof was of tiles and not of canvas.
+
+[Illustration: Our Suburban Street]
+
+Our morning began with the arrival of a baker who brought the bread,
+rolls, and _enciamadas_ for the day's consumption. We did not use
+the milk of goats, though, twice daily, a little flock, with
+tinkling bells, their udders tied up in neat bags of check cotton
+for protection against the unauthorised raids of their thirsty kids,
+was driven past our door to be milked before the eyes of each
+customer. A sprightly matron served us morning and evening with the
+milk of a cow, which her husband spent his days herding on any stray
+patches of herbage in the district.
+
+Each day at noon, Mundo, the greengrocer, called with a donkey-cart
+containing quite a comprehensive assortment of fruit and vegetables.
+Three kinds of potatoes he always brought--new, old, and
+sweet--pumpkins that were sold in slices, egg-plants, garlic strung
+in long festoons, spinach, cauliflowers, sweet peppers, curious
+fungi, purple carrots, sugar beans; all at astonishingly low prices.
+I shall always remember the November day when, in a moment of
+forgetfulness, I asked for a whole pennyworth of tomatoes, and was
+afterwards confronted by the difficulty of disposing of so many.
+
+A popular article of diet seemed to be the gigantic radishes, in
+which not only Mundo but all the little shops appeared to do a big
+trade. We puzzled long over the way in which they could be used
+before making the chance discovery that they are cut in round slices
+and eaten raw with soup or meat, as one would eat bread.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+PALMA, THE PEARL OF THE MEDITERRANEAN
+
+
+As a place of winter residence for those who like sunshine, and are
+not enamoured of society, Palma could hardly be excelled.
+
+For one thing, the town is just the right size. It is not so small
+as to allow the visitor to feel dull, or so large as to permit him
+to become conscious of his own insignificance.
+
+While Palma is bright and full of movement and of cheerful sounds,
+it is an adorable place to be lazy in. The sunshine and soft air
+foster indolence; and though there is no stagnation, everybody takes
+life easily in this walled city by the southern sea. There is no
+bustle, no need to hurry. What is not accomplished to-day can be
+done to-morrow. And if to-morrow finds it still undone--why, what is
+the future made up of, if not of an illimitable succession of
+to-morrows?
+
+When the ancients christened Palma "the Pearl of the Mediterranean,"
+they gave it a title that to this day it deserves.
+
+Something of the resplendence of the town is due to the
+warm-coloured stone of which it is built--a stone that shades from
+the palest cream to warm amber. Every stroll we took through its
+mediæval streets, every walk along its antique ramparts, every
+saunter down the mole, made us more and more in love with its
+beauty, which we seemed always to be viewing under some new
+condition of light or atmosphere.
+
+[Illustration: Palma de Mallorca, from the Terreno]
+
+The Man never wearied of the crooked secret-looking streets and fine
+buildings of the old, old city. By day or night they held for him
+an inexplicable charm. He was always discovering some new "bit"--a
+quaint _patio_, a Moorish arch, an antique gateway, a curious
+interior, a sculptured window.
+
+And the streets were always full of life. A cluster of officers in
+full dress chattering on the Borne; a company of soldiers marching
+to the strains of an inspiriting band; a priest, under a great
+rose-coloured silk umbrella, on the way to administer extreme
+unction to someone sick unto death--all the spectators falling on
+their knees as the solemn little procession passed by; or a party of
+queerly attired natives of Iviza, just arrived by the thrice-a-week
+boat, and curiously foreign both in speech and appearance, though
+their island home was only sixty or seventy miles distant; or a
+string of carriages whose occupants were on the way to a morning
+reception at the Almudaina, the old Moorish palace, now the
+residence of the Captain-General.
+
+Everything in the place was new to us, and the feeling of novelty
+never waned.
+
+As for the Boy, from the moment of our arrival his interest centred
+in the port. Its constantly changing array of shipping, and the fine
+sun-tanned buccaneers who did business on its blue waters, supplied
+him with endless congenial subjects for pictures.
+
+The port of Palma nestles, one might almost say, right into the
+heart of the city. The chief promenade, the Borne, ends on its
+brink. The Cathedral and the Lonja dignify its banks.
+
+The gay life of the harbour lies open to the casual observer. Under
+the ramparts, by the side of the public road, old men in red caps
+and suits of velveteen that the sun has faded to marvellous hues sit
+at their placid occupation of net-mending. There, too, when the
+_falucas_ are moored at the edge of the wharf, come the families of
+the fishermen to join them at lunch--the women bringing down wine
+and bread and the men supplying a tasty hot dish from the less
+saleable items of their catch. Sometimes a cloth is spread, and
+then the _al fresco_ repast assumes quite a ceremonious air.
+
+Stern on to the _muelle_, the long breakwater that partitions off
+the water of the harbour from the open bay, lie the larger craft:
+the most important of which are the white-painted steamers of the
+_Isleña Marítima_, the fleet of boats belonging to a Majorcan
+Company that carry mails and passengers between the island and Spain
+or Algeria.
+
+Once Palma was a great maritime centre. Now little foreign shipping
+does business in her port. But though the bulk of the traffic is
+local, an open port always holds the element of the unexpected.
+
+Sometimes a leviathan-like liner, making a holiday tour of
+Mediterranean ports, anchors by the wharf, and her tourists, eager
+to make the most of the hours at their disposal, hasten on shore to
+pack themselves into every available form of conveyance and drive
+off, enclosed in a pillar of dust of their own raising, to enjoy a
+hasty glance at Valldemosa, Miramar and Sóller. When at sunset they
+steam out of the harbour it is with the pleasantly erroneous
+conviction that they have exhausted the attractions of the island.
+
+Once a fine ship that sharp eyes recognized as the private yacht of
+the Czar of Russia quietly entered the bay, and after a brief stay,
+during which her voyagers held no intercourse with land, as quietly
+departed. And after a spring gale a Greek sailing ship, her
+main-mast gone, was towed in by a French tug. Sometimes it was the
+capture of a smuggler's _faluca_ caught in the act of trying to run
+a cargo of contraband tobacco that furnished the excitement.
+
+On the frequent feast days Palma was gay with flags. Every Consulate
+in the town--and they were many--mounted its special banner. The
+gun-boats sported strings of bunting out of all proportion to their
+size, the merchantmen flew their ensigns, and though the business of
+the town was transacted with its customary air of casual
+lightheartedness, the never-lacking holiday feeling was
+intensified.
+
+[Illustration: Calle de la Almudaina, Palma]
+
+One November feast day the Boy, who was painting at the port,
+discovered among the decorated craft a ship flying the British flag;
+a closer inspection revealed her to be the _Ancona_ of Leith, just
+arrived with a cargo of coal. Nearer home I doubt if the proximity
+of a Leith collier would have appealed strongly to our patriotism.
+In that southern latitude things were different. A sudden and
+fervent desire to hear our own northern accent awoke within us, and,
+incited by our adventurous son, we determined to board the _Ancona_
+and pay our respects to her captain.
+
+It was a glorious morning, one of those wonderful mornings when the
+world seems newly born, that we three went down the mole. Lying
+beyond the schooner from Sóller, and the _pailebot_ from Valencia
+that was shipping a cargo of empty wicker-cased wine flasks, we came
+to the _Ancona_.
+
+Three railless plank gangways connected her with the wharf, and down
+two of the planks Majorcans in their elaborately bepatched blue
+linen suits were carrying straw baskets of coal. We ventured up the
+third. Our gangway ended on a six-feet-high platform situated on the
+verge of a hold still brimful of coal. As we hesitated on our perch,
+wondering what to do next, a bronzed man in slippers appeared. It
+was the first mate.
+
+"It's a fine day," the Man gave colloquial greeting. "Is the skipper
+on board?"
+
+"Ay. It's a real bonnie day," the mate made truthful reply. "No.
+He's just gone up the quay to see the ship's agents."
+
+The homely words, the familiar accent, fell like music on our ears.
+A few words of explanation brought the mate to our elevated
+platform, where he spoke with the inherent appreciation of the Scot
+of the beauty of the town.
+
+"Ay. It's a bonnie place this. I think it's as pretty a place as
+I've seen. No. We've been busy on board and I haven't had time to
+see the town yet. But I'm enjoyin' the view fine from here. The
+captain? Oh, you couldn't miss him. You're sure to come across him.
+He's just up on the front."
+
+So, in quest of a compatriot whom we couldn't miss, we set off up
+the street. And sure enough, before we had proceeded very far we met
+the captain face to face.
+
+If the captain of the _Ancona_ was surprised at being accosted by a
+trio of complete strangers, he was too much a Highland gentleman and
+a man of the world to reveal any astonishment. In five minutes we
+were all on a friendly footing, our nationality the firm basis of
+good-fellowship; a little later we were all seated outside the
+Lirico, over tall glasses of vermouth and seltzer, recalling
+familiar scenes and discovering mutual acquaintances.
+
+The captain was at a loose end. We were going to the fruit market,
+to the bookseller's, to the Cathedral. So he came too.
+
+In the market, as he saw me buy big bunches of yellow grapes at
+twopence-halfpenny a kilo (nearly two and a quarter pounds) his face
+lit up--"I'll be for sending the steward up here," he said.
+
+Chance favoured us. We turned into the Borne just in time to see an
+infantry battalion march past to the strains of a good military
+band. A general had died and the soldiers were on their way to
+escort his body to the cemetery. The music, which was appropriately
+solemn, was played with great feeling. And as the procession moved
+slowly up the street the closed window shutters were thrown open and
+fair señoras in light dresses thronged the balconies.
+
+It was as though Palma had determined to reveal herself at her best
+to our companion. Even the interior of the Cathedral, lit by the
+brilliant sunshine that filtered through the stained-glass windows,
+seemed grander than ever.
+
+"I've had a splendid time," the captain said when we parted. "Though
+I've been here two or three times, I never saw so much of the town
+before."
+
+We were leaving next morning for Miramar, and before our return the
+_Ancona_ would have sailed. But we said good-bye with the promise
+of meeting again--a promise that was fulfilled, for on two
+subsequent voyages the captain was a welcome guest at the Casa
+Tranquila.
+
+"The captain is a gentleman," the Boy said half-a-dozen hours later
+when he returned from the ship, where, by special invitation, he had
+been having a smoke and a chat with her master. "See what he
+insisted on giving me. I refused, of course, but he made me take
+_that_ and _this_."
+
+"That" was a batch of thrice precious literature in the shape of
+sixpenny editions of novels and magazines. "This" was a tin of
+tobacco marked "full strength," that class of dark-complexioned
+rum-odorous tobacco that the Boy specially affects, and whose lack
+in Majorca had formed the theme of his only regret.
+
+Life on the native craft in the port is entertaining to watch. The
+dark-skinned rovers of the deep contrast so oddly with the mildly
+domestic aspect given by the presence on board of the _patrón's_
+wife, and by her way of keeping hens loose on deck, and of hanging
+feminine garments to dry on the poop.
+
+One Sunday morning we had been scrutinizing their doings with the
+open stare that life in Spain teaches one both to give and to take
+composedly, when we discovered that luncheon-time had stolen
+unawares upon us. As we walked back down the pier we glanced
+inquiringly at the cafés that lined the lower part of the way; they
+were all crowded with jovial seamen and uninviting. We had resolved
+to eat at the Lirico, and were leaving the pier, when something in
+the situation of a little open-air eating-place just on the brink of
+the sea, almost in the shadow of the city wall, attracted us; and
+advancing to the awning, under which little groups of people were
+seated, we demanded food.
+
+The proprietress, a plump, smiling woman with a purple silk kerchief
+on her head and a green apron, welcomed us in fluent but,
+unfortunately, unintelligible Majorcan. She knew no Spanish. All we
+could gather was that if we seated ourselves she would give us to
+eat. And nothing loth, we sat down at an unoccupied table whose
+bare boards were scrubbed as clean as hands could make them.
+
+Beyond the shade of the roof-awning the sun was shining; the pure
+air filtered through its matting sides, and in our full view the
+waves were dashing against the rocky shore. At a table close by,
+three old cronies were dining. Scorning the use of tumblers, they
+passed the quaint wine-flask from hand to hand, each in turn
+throwing back his head and letting the red wine fall in a stream,
+from what to us seemed an unbridgeable distance, between his parted
+lips. Four soldiers were eating macaroni. Two men who had been
+fishing off the breakwater were supping thick soup.
+
+A pretty little girl, her hair caught up in a business-like "bun,"
+darted in and out amongst her mother's customers, her dark eyes
+quick to discern their wants. From inside the shanty that served as
+kitchen came an appetizing sound of frizzling.
+
+Turning her attention to us, the little girl put the inevitable dish
+of olives and a flask of red wine on the table; then she placed a
+wooden fork and spoon, a plate, a tumbler, and a roll, before each
+of us. Then, with the suggestion of an air of ceremony, she
+carefully laid at the Man's right hand something resembling a folded
+piece of clean canvas. It was not until the meal was nearing a
+conclusion that we discovered it was intended to be used as a
+napkin.
+
+The table thus spread, she darted into the kitchen and returned
+bearing a huge flat earthen dish, which held as inviting a mess as
+we had ever tasted. The main portion of its contents consisted of
+small thin slices of beef-steak, mushrooms, and strips of potatoes
+that had all been fried together, after the native fashion, in
+boiling oil. Daintily chopped green herbs lent a savoury garnish to
+the whole. After a momentary hesitation, due solely to lack of the
+customary cutlery, we helped each other with our wooden spoons, and
+fell to work with good will.
+
+Perhaps there was some charm in the oddity of our surroundings, in
+the fresh breath of the sea air, in the sparkle of the blue water;
+perhaps it may have lain in the discovery that if meat is tender and
+well-cooked, a fork--and wooden at that--is all the implement
+required. Certain it is that as we cleared the last chip of potato
+from the earthen dish we all agreed that we had enjoyed the simple
+meal more than anything we had eaten in Palma.
+
+When we asked for the bill our little waitress received the sign of
+departure with dismay; and the mother, running out, added her
+protest. Something else was evidently in active preparation.
+
+Fully convinced that to eat anything more would be an insult to the
+dish we had just finished, we waited.
+
+A moment later she triumphantly carried out and set before us a
+plate containing a slab of fish, thickly covered with minced garlic
+and floating in a pool of rich red oil. It may have been a delicacy
+for which the establishment was famed. Our fellow guests were
+devouring it with evident enjoyment, zealously sopping up the oil
+with their rolls, and leaving their plates polished clean. But to us
+it came as an anti-climax.
+
+Carefully inculcated politeness, combined with the knowledge that
+from the doorway the cook was eagerly watching us for sign of
+appreciation, induced us to choke it down with an outward
+affectation of gusto. But we left the garlic and the red oil. Even
+an exaggerated idea of the obligations of courtesy could not have
+prevailed upon us to swallow them.
+
+We paid the modest bill and fled, lest worse should follow.
+
+A few days later we returned to the quaint open-air café. It was a
+lovely evening early in November. All day out of a cloudless sky the
+sun had beat warmly upon Palma, and the sea had glowed a soft misty
+azure. We had been busy indoors letter-writing, for it was a mail
+day. It was only after dusk that we were free and, leaving the Casa
+Tranquila, set off port-wards to post our letters.
+
+The _Miramar_, the crack ship of the _Isleña Marítima_, was on the
+point of starting for Barcelona, and all the world of Palma was
+hastening towards the harbour to post letters on board; and then,
+while promenading the mole, to watch her departure.
+
+After the _Miramar_ had vanished into the darkness and the
+spectators had streamed towards the land, we still lingered on the
+breakwater. There was no moon, the stars were bright, the wavelets
+softly lapped the stones, and we felt placid and restful until quite
+suddenly we became aware that we were hungry.
+
+Our proximity suggested the little shanty under the city wall by the
+sea, and thither we went.
+
+It was the quiet hour there too. Except for three of the hussars we
+had seen before, the well-scrubbed tables were vacant. The soldiers,
+recognizing us, gave us friendly greeting, accompanied with the
+offer of their tobacco packets. Bright-eyed little Catalina ran to
+fetch the napkin, surely the sole emblem of gentility belonging to
+the establishment, and the señora herself appeared at the door of
+the shed, where she presided over the cooking-pots, to give us "Bona
+nit tengan" and to consult with us as to what we would like her to
+prepare.
+
+She shook her head when we suggested beef-steaks and mushrooms. At
+that hour, apparently, beef was "off."
+
+"Would we have soup?--Majorcan soup," she asked.
+
+We shook our heads. No. We did not fancy soup.
+
+Promising us fresh fish, and something with an untranslatable name,
+she disappeared into the shed. And, content to leave the selection
+to her, we awaited events.
+
+The comrades in arms had gone, and a pale slender girl, beautiful in
+the small-featured, refined type so common in Palma, had taken her
+place at the next table. With her was a friend of the same style,
+but doubly attractive in that she was overflowing with vivacity. The
+younger girl sat silent, her hands folded, her head drooping, while
+the elder--who was knitting a petticoat gay with coloured
+stripes--chatted briskly. They did not eat, and we guessed they were
+waiting for some one to join them.
+
+Sitting near them was a handsome taciturn man with a slouch hat,
+long curled moustaches, and a gaudy kerchief twisted about his neck.
+That the girls knew him was evident, for though he did not join in
+their conversation he seemed to listen to all that was said.
+
+Just as we were served with crisp little fried fish, a figure,
+coming from the darkness where the waves were washing the stones,
+entered the circle of light. It was the expected man. Hanging up his
+rod and fishing basket, he took his place at the table beside the
+girls.
+
+His skin was deeply bronzed, his garments were of blue cotton that
+sun and sea air had faded to a delicate hue. A scarlet sash was
+wound about his waist. His naked brown feet were thrust into
+string-soled green shoes.
+
+Catalina, who had been watching for his arrival, ran out with a
+slender-spouted bottle of wine and three wooden spoons. Her mother
+followed close with an earthenware pipkin of the thick Majorcan soup
+that we had declined.
+
+Grouped in an amicable trio, they ate from the same dish, and in
+turn drank from the slender spout of the green glass bottle. The
+pale girl remained pensively silent, but the other continued to
+talk, punctuating her conversation with dramatic movements of her
+hands. How we wished we could have understood what she was saying!
+
+When the combined efforts of the three wooden spoons had searched
+the red earthenware vessel to its depths, the man who came from the
+sea rose and, lifting it in his hand without a word, walked to the
+edge of the water and threw the pipkin far into the Mediterranean.
+Then returning, he resumed his seat.
+
+No one made any comment upon this inexplicable proceeding. Had the
+inoffending pipkin not been empty it might have seemed as though he
+were offering a libation to some unseen spirit of the water. But the
+actively plied spoons had succeeded in scooping out the last vestige
+of the soup.
+
+In the meantime we had been occupied with our second course, which
+consisted of lengths of orange-coloured sausage, served hot with
+fried potatoes. And a new-comer, an old man, was eating a big plate
+of macaroni.
+
+The nimble Catalina, flashing out, set a flat dish, heaped with some
+sort of stew, before the trio. What its contents were we could only
+guess. The lively maiden and the man were already poking among them
+with their wooden forks. The pensive girl had produced a silver fork
+and was delicately helping herself, fastidiously turning over the
+ingredients. The handsome reticent man sat motionless but observant.
+
+[Illustration: A Supper Party]
+
+They ate in leisurely fashion--nobody hurries in Palma. The gay girl
+rattled on in her musical voice, gesticulating with her pretty hands
+the while, only occasionally dropping the thread of her dramatic
+recital to send her fork foraging with the others, or to throw back
+her head and let the red wine trickle down her throat.
+
+"Will he throw that dish away when it is empty?" we were wondering,
+when the señora, who was making a special effort on our behalf,
+appeared in person carrying a tempting combination of sweet peppers
+and young pork.
+
+The question answered itself. When they had finished, the dish stood
+empty and ignored. The wine flask was refilled, and when we had paid
+our score--wine included, it came to about sevenpence each--we left
+the quartette still sitting under the flickering light by the edge
+of the unseen waves: the charming girl still lively, the pretty one
+distraite, the fisherman amiable, and the handsome listener still
+silently attentive.
+
+It had been an odd little interlude--nothing to relate, indeed, but
+one of those petty excursions beyond one's own stereotyped world
+that make the observers feel, for the moment, as though they were
+living in somebody else's life, not in their own.
+
+We finished the evening at what chanced to be the popular
+entertainment. If I remember correctly, it combined the attractions
+of a cinematograph and a variety show.
+
+We were again out in the starlight, and walking briskly westwards
+towards Son Españolet, when the Boy said abruptly:--
+
+"I wish I knew why that man threw the pipkin into the sea!"
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The Saturday Market, Palma]
+
+IV
+
+HOUSEKEEPING
+
+
+Although, at Son Españolet, we were subject to no police or other
+rate, a small weekly tax was levied with extreme punctuality, on
+behalf of himself, by a functionary called the _vigilante_.
+
+The most onerous labour of this alleged guardian of the public would
+appear to have been the collection, on Sunday mornings, of a penny
+from each householder. I trust I do not malign a worthy citizen,
+when I hint that these periodic visits were the only occasions on
+which most of his supporters were made conscious of the
+_vigilante's_ existence.
+
+His professed duties were to protect the interests of the residents
+in the district by prowling about at night, to escort timid
+wayfarers home by the light of his lantern, and, like the _sereno_,
+to call those who wished to be roused at an early hour. But what
+manner of need a community already rich in police, _serenos_,
+_carabineros_, and _consumeros_, had of a _vigilante_, was hard to
+imagine.
+
+Nobody seemed to know who appointed the _vigilantes_. The Boy had a
+theory that our _vigilante_ had assigned himself to the post, and
+that his sole exertion lay in calling to collect the fees.
+
+On the morning of our first Sunday at the Casa Tranquila an
+imperative knock sounded at the front door. It was the _vigilante_,
+a good-looking white-bearded man clad in blue cotton. His
+designation was inscribed in bold letters on his cap-band. Having
+been forewarned of the custom, I handed over the expected ten
+centimos, which he accepted with the dignified courtesy of one who
+receives a right, and departed.
+
+Two hours later the Boy, who had been out at the time of the visit,
+answered a second summons.
+
+"It's the _vigilante_," he said, returning to the veranda where we
+were sitting. "Has anybody got a copper?"
+
+"But I gave the _vigilante_ his penny this morning," I said,
+hastening to the door.
+
+At my approach the applicant, recognizing me, waved the matter
+aside, as though the mistake had been mine, and he was graciously
+pleased to ignore it.
+
+"The houses are so many--one forgets," he said, and strutted off
+without loss of dignity.
+
+On Christmas Day he paid us an extra visit, and, sending in a card
+with his best wishes, awaited, not in vain, a monetary expression of
+our good-will.
+
+The card, which was resplendent in rainbow tints, and richly
+emblazoned in gold, bore a representation of a young, dapper, and
+exquisitely dressed _vigilante_ who was smoking a cigar. At his feet
+were portrayed a noble turkey, several bottles of champagne, and
+other seasonable dainties. A side tableau showed the _vigilante_,
+armed with his staff of office and a huge bunch of keys, opening a
+street door to a belated couple who, presumably, had been locked
+out.
+
+On the reverse side of the card was a long poem, which, on behalf of
+its presenter, claimed many good offices; notably, that he captured
+the evil-doer, and that, filled with fervent zeal, he watched over
+our repose. It concluded by stating:--
+
+    "_I try to be in all
+      A perfect Vigilante._"
+
+Apart from similar curious and amusing conventions, with which one
+has to become acquainted, the early days of housekeeping in Majorca
+find the foreign resident grappling with a succession of petty
+difficulties. Besides the differences of language, of coinage, of
+weights and measures, the dissimilarity of climate renders
+advisable, even necessary, a mode of living that would be quite
+unsuited to dwellers in Britain.
+
+To begin with the morning--the customary Majorcan breakfast, which
+even at the best hotels consists of a glass of coffee, or a tiny cup
+of very thick chocolate, and tumbler of water taken with a single
+roll, or an _enciamada_, is a meal from which the ordinary Briton
+rises hungry. And one wonders why the Spanish landlord, whose table
+is so lavishly spread at other meals, should practise a false
+economy in the matter of breakfast. For, after all, a roll costs
+only a halfpenny. Dinner is invariably an early function, and an
+extensive one, for at their two later meals Spaniards make up for
+their abstinence at breakfast. Between the two o'clock dinner and
+supper, which is served at any time between eight and ten o'clock,
+there is a long blank, which the English visitor usually bridges
+with a cup of tea.
+
+To return to the question of breakfast. At the Casa Tranquila we
+compromised the matter, and broke our fast on an unstinted quantity
+of coffee or chocolate and milk, taken with fruit, rolls and butter,
+and _enciamadas_. Majorcan breakfast rolls are of two kinds--the
+ordinary crisp ones, and, what we liked better, a soft species
+called _panecillos de aceite_.
+
+Bacon is unknown in Majorca, though ham, of strong flavour and
+repellent aspect, may be had. It sells at twopence an ounce; and if
+you wish to astonish the vendor, you can do so by ordering more
+than a quarter of a pound.
+
+We had been warned that we would be forced to do without butter
+while in the islands. But matters have progressed--in Palma at
+least--since the old butterless days. Now the better class grocers
+sell a peculiarly white butter that is made at Son Servera, near
+Artá; and almost every provision shop stocks a tinned salt butter
+that comes from Copenhagen. By the way, the purchaser must not be
+surprised when asked if it is "pig's butter" he wants. The salesman
+only means lard.
+
+Cow's milk, another article of diet that used to be scarce in the
+islands, can easily be obtained. The price charged is almost the
+same as in London and the milk is much richer.
+
+With the aid of a Spanish dictionary it had been a comparatively
+simple matter to make out a list of groceries with which to furnish
+the shelves of our empty larder. But I must confess that a first
+visit to a butcher's shop made me wonder if Majorcan sheep and oxen
+differed in construction from British animals, such odd forms did
+their dead flesh present.
+
+Cold storage is unknown in Palma. The beasts are killed, cut up, and
+sold almost before they have had time to cool. And, if they were not
+invariably killed young, their flesh could hardly be so good as it
+is, the lamb especially being sweet and tender.
+
+A fact that forcibly strikes anyone from a meat-eating country is
+the small quantities of animal food consumed. Where the wife of a
+British working-man might spend a shilling on beef, a Majorcan would
+spend twopence. Naturally the meat is sold in small pieces, and
+inspection is courted. The east-end butcher's printed command to his
+customers--"Keep your hands off the beef," would be scorned in the
+Balearic Isles. If you shop in native fashion, you walk about the
+shop, turning over and critically examining the pieces exposed
+within easy reach. When your selection is made you need not invest
+in any great quantity. If you fancy calf's head, custom does not
+compel you to buy a half head. You can have a pound, a half-pound,
+or even a slice.
+
+If your taste turns to fowl, at your request the bird suspended by
+its heels is halved, quartered, or wholly dismembered. Its limbs may
+lack the noble proportions of a Surrey capon, but they will be well
+flavoured and succulent, and you can acquire a wing and slice of the
+breast, or a leg, or a yet smaller portion, as your fancy inclines.
+
+We had heard that Majorcans were apt to tax foreigners by making
+them pay more than was customary for anything purchased, but such
+occurrences were quite outside our experience; though I did come
+across an example of Majorcan reasoning that was so amusingly
+illogical that I am tempted to repeat it here.
+
+Finding in our picnicking style of housekeeping that a cold tongue
+was a useful thing to have in the larder, I frequently ordered one
+from the estimable butcher who served us. For a time the price
+charged was moderate. One day without warning it was increased by a
+half.
+
+My Spanish unaided did not enable me to argue the matter, but Mrs.
+Consul chancing to be with me next time I called at the shop, I got
+her to inquire the reason of this sudden and unexplained change of
+rate.
+
+"Yes. The tongue was a small one, and the price high," admitted the
+plump wife of the butcher, who acted as his accountant. "But then I
+had charged the señora too little for those we had supplied her with
+at first. And though we have many customers, each ox we kill has
+only one tongue. And, as I had charged the señora too little for the
+others, to be just to myself I was obliged to ask more than the true
+price for the last one!"
+
+The method of reasoning was so delightfully irrational and absurd
+that I cheerfully paid the confessed overcharge, and we left the
+shop laughing. Probably the worthy dame wonders to this day what we
+found entertaining in the situation.
+
+Many good and cheap eatables are to be had in Palma if one knows
+where to look for them. By degrees we found out the best place to
+buy the tasty little pies filled with fish, or meat, and herbs,
+raisins and pine-seeds, or the funny turn-overs stuffed with spinach,
+that all the bakers make; and discovered the confectioner who sold
+the nicest cakes and sweets, and where to buy freshly-baked almonds,
+and who had the best quince preserve.
+
+A little investigation introduced us to articles of food that we
+would never have met had we continued to live in a hotel--to the
+_cocas_ that so closely resemble the Scottish "cookies"; and the
+_bizcochos_, that are just crisp freshly toasted slices of the
+largest sized _cocas_.
+
+When we arrived in October, fruit was plentiful. Delicious grapes
+were selling at twopence-halfpenny a kilo (about a penny a pound),
+and ripe purple or golden figs were eighteen a penny. As the winter
+advanced the price of grapes gradually rose. And though one day in
+early December I bought for fivepence in the market four pounds of
+well-flavoured yellow grapes, by the end of January the finest were
+a peseta (about ninepence) a kilo.
+
+Fresh figs gradually declined in flavour as they rose in price. And
+towards Christmas the country folks, who come in on Saturday
+mornings to the smaller market that is held in the Plaza de Mercado,
+began to bring in rush baskets of the home-dried figs that have been
+ripened in the sun and packed between fig leaves.
+
+The continued drought raised the price of vegetables, though small
+cauliflowers were still only a halfpenny each, and a good sized
+bunch of carrots could be bought for the coin that is rather less in
+value than a farthing. Most Majorcan carrots are purple in hue, so
+deep a purple as to be almost black. They have to be partially
+cooked alone, before being added to anything else, as their colour
+dyes the water black. It is their only fault. Their flavour is
+excellent.
+
+Early in February we began to use the green peas and turnips that in
+November I had sown in our garden; but for the lack of rain they
+would have been ready a month earlier. And an occasional sowing of
+spinach yielded a quick and unfailing supply throughout the winter.
+
+The question of firing in so genial a climate is an easy one to
+answer.
+
+For cleanliness, coolness, convenience and economy in cooking there
+is no fuel that compares with charcoal. As a charcoal stove has no
+flue, the lighting is attended with a certain amount of smoke from
+the resinous sticks that are sold specially for the purpose of
+kindling. But once the charcoal is lit it gives no further trouble.
+It will cook slowly or quickly, as desired, scarcely soiling the
+outside of the vessels used in the process: and will stay alight,
+without much attention, as long as the cook requires. Further, it
+has the exceptional merit of keeping its heat concentrated within a
+small area, so that the temperatures of both the kitchen and the
+cook remain normal.
+
+Our favourite sitting-room--the one that opened directly to the
+veranda--had the unusual advantage of an open hearth, and a few
+chilly days that occurred in November made us hasten in search of
+logs for burning.
+
+Inquiry in the neighbourhood directed us to a large saw mill in the
+Calle de la Fábrica, where we ordered what to us was an unknown
+quantity of firewood. The price paid was less than five shillings.
+When the wood was delivered we were amazed to find that it half
+filled a cart; and that, in addition to an abundant supply of both
+logs and rough wood all cut into convenient sizes, the kindly
+saw-miller had included four little slabs of the resinous wood used
+for kindling.
+
+The wood was built up on the floor under the lower shelves of our
+roomy larder, and there, all through November, December, and the
+first half of January, it lay untouched.
+
+We had got to the point of discussing what we would do with it on
+our leaving for England, when the weather turned chilly enough to
+afford us excuse for indulging in the luxury of a log fire. But
+though we had a fire on every occasion when artificial heat was
+necessary, there were still logs remaining when at the end of April
+we quitted the Casa.
+
+A prominent feature of our district, which lay just without the
+walls of Palma, was the elaborate system employed to guard against
+the smuggling of contraband goods into the city.
+
+The boundary of Son Españolet, which joined the country, was heavily
+guarded. In addition to high walls and much intricate zigzagging of
+barbed wire, wherever two roads met there was a little station-house,
+or, to be more exact, a shanty, for the shelter of _consumeros_, both
+male and female, whose duty it was to examine all goods entering the
+city limits. And at frequent intervals all along the boundary roads
+was a species of sentry-box, usually containing a chair and a
+water-jar, in which for sixteen hours a day a _consumero_ was supposed
+to keep watch over his own bit of boundary, and to be ready, if
+anything suspicious attracted his notice, to warn the others, by a
+series of shrill whistles, to be on the alert.
+
+During the long hours passed in enforced idleness at their posts,
+many of the men had contrived to give their surroundings quite a
+home-like appearance. A pleasant man, whose location was at the end
+of our road, always seemed to have his children playing about him;
+and often his wife used to take her knitting and the newest baby,
+and the family goat and a big earthenware pan of amber-tinted rice,
+and make quite a picnic under the trees near his watch-box.
+
+Another _consumero_ had a stripling vine that he was carefully
+training up the trellis over his shed. We sometimes saw him watering
+it. And one, a tall silent man, whose station abutted on a piece of
+vacant ground, had gradually erected quite a long range of hen-coops
+along the base of a warm wall; and there he would stroll in the
+sunshine attended by a flock of flourishing poultry, chiefly of the
+Plymouth Rock breed.
+
+But these were exceptions. The majority of the _consumeros_ seemed
+content to lazy away their days and doze away their nights as
+comfortably as possible. When the early winter darkness had fallen,
+it was picturesque to see them lighting a brazier, or sitting
+huddled up in their warm brown blankets beside its glowing embers
+fast asleep.
+
+When we had been spending the evening in town and were coming home
+late, we sometimes enjoyed waiting until we were close upon one of
+these muffled figures, and then, in chorus, saying politely "Buenas
+noches."
+
+[Illustration: A Consumos Station]
+
+Then we would see the comatose form galvanize into a semblance of
+life, and hear a drowsy voice from the midst of the enwrappings
+reply "Buenas noches tengan."
+
+The discovery that the monetary recompense for the sixteen hours
+that the _consumero_ worked or played was only two pesetas--or about
+eighteenpence of English money--showed that if he was not
+overwrought neither was he overpaid.
+
+At nightfall these guardians of our district were reinforced by the
+addition of two active young _carabineros_ who carried loaded
+rifles. So between the police, the armed soldiers, the sleepy
+_consumeros_, the elusive _sereno_ and the ornamental _vigilante_,
+the residents of Son Españolet ought to have gone to bed with a
+feeling of security.
+
+The question of language is a somewhat grave one in Majorca, where
+the inhabitants naturally, but inconsiderately from our point of
+view, insist upon speaking their native tongue, which is neither
+Spanish nor French, but sounds like a corruption of both.
+
+Majorcan, which is said to be much older than _Castellano_, the
+official language of Spain, is closely allied to _Catalan_. And
+though many words suggest French, Spanish, and even Italian
+influence, the islanders seem, by an ingenious chipping of
+terminations and the addition of weird sounds entirely their own, to
+have evolved a tongue which goes far towards outdoing all others in
+unmelodious sounds. A peacefully animated conversation in Majorcan
+suggests impending bloodshed. To overhear a quarrel would be
+horrific. Happily discord is rare in Majorca. As far as our six
+months of experience showed, a better natured or more harmonious
+people never existed.
+
+The dialect in use in Minorca and Iviza, though practically the same
+as that of Majorca, varies in each island. So it is not surprising
+that the visitor to the Balearic Islands is strongly advised to
+confine his efforts to the acquirement of Spanish, not even to
+attempt to learn Majorcan. And indeed the facilities for doing so
+are few. We could find no Majorcan dictionary, though a weekly paper
+in the language, _Pu-Put_, is published in Palma.
+
+All the educated classes speak Spanish fluently. Yet in most of the
+shops, even in Palma, and in the country districts, the native
+language prevails.
+
+Very few of the working women understand Spanish. Their lives having
+been passed on the islands, they remain ignorant of any but their
+mother tongue; though it is common to find their menfolk speaking
+Spanish well, owing to their having been in the army, or to their
+having passed the period of voluntary exile that most of them serve
+almost as they do the demands of the State.
+
+Those who know, say that Majorca is a bad place to learn Spanish in;
+that in order to have a good accent the intending traveller is best
+to acquire it elsewhere. And as Borrow says, you must open your
+mouth and take your hands out of your pockets to speak Spanish.
+
+Before leaving London we tried, after a very desultory fashion, to
+pick up a little Spanish. The Boy, who took Berlitz lessons, got on
+famously and was our mainstay from the moment we crossed the Spanish
+frontier at Port Bou. But he declares that he had not been long in
+Palma before he found himself speaking Spanish with a Majorcan
+accent.
+
+For my part, in point of language I found the direction of even so
+small an establishment as the Casa Tranquila very puzzling,
+especially at first. After carefully gleaning a knowledge of the
+Spanish coinage that enabled me to count up to say ten, in pesetas
+and centimos, it was bewildering to find sums calculated in _reals_
+and in _perros grandes_ and _perros pequeñas_.
+
+I shall never forget the first time Apolonia, the laundress,
+appeared to deliver up our clean linen and to receive her just
+recompense. When I inquired how much we owed her, Apolonia told me
+the sum, but she did it in Majorcan.
+
+"Onza reals, cuatro centims, dos centims."
+
+"Que vale en pesetas?" I asked, but Apolonia could not reckon in
+pesetas. Raising her stubby fingers, she proceeded to make
+cabalistic signs in the air, repeating the whole "Onza reals, cuatro
+centims, dos centims," in a voice that grew louder and louder, as
+though the more noise she made the more likely was she to pierce my
+thick understanding.
+
+Maria, hearing the discussion, left her dusting, and running swiftly
+on her string-soled _alpargatas_, came to the rescue.
+
+If matters had been bad before, they were now worse. Four hands were
+in the air. Two voices in Majorcan, that became momentarily more
+strident, kept repeating the tale of reals and centims until,
+feeling undecided whether to laugh or to cry, I cut the matter short
+by emptying the contents of my housekeeping purse on the table and
+imploring Apolonia to help herself.
+
+After many protestations she agreed to do so. And with much
+reluctant and timorous hovering of her fingers over the coins, at
+last selected the exact sum; which, before taking possession of, she
+carefully spread before my eyes, calling upon Maria to witness that
+she had not abused my trust.
+
+The calculations of Mundo, the vegetable man, were--if
+possible--more distracting; for having inherited the national
+characteristic of honesty to an almost unnatural degree, the worthy
+Mundo, in his desire to be strictly just in his dealings, had a way
+of splitting farthings that sometimes proved inexplicable, not only
+to his customers but also to himself.
+
+How often, when he stood puzzling over some fraction of a penny,
+have I felt impelled to say rashly: "Bother the expense, Mundo. I'll
+make you a present of the half farthing!"
+
+Fortunately for Mundo's opinion of my sanity, the spirit of economy
+that tinctures the balmy air of these Fortunate Isles prevented any
+such extravagant proceeding.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The Castle of Bellver]
+
+V
+
+TWO HISTORIC BUILDINGS
+
+
+After we were fairly settled in our house our first excursion
+naturally was to the Castle of Bellver, the ancient fortress that,
+from the veranda, we saw clearly silhouetted against the western
+sky.
+
+The afternoon was glorious. The sky was a cloudless blue, the
+sunlight cast deep shadows; to drive there in one of the quaint,
+open-sided tramcars would have been a treat. But there had been
+thunder in the night, and the apprehensive authorities had decided
+that it was a day for bringing out the closed vehicles. So we sat in
+the stuffy little car, and drove out through crowded Santa Catalina
+and across the bridge that spanned the dry _torrente_ of San Magin,
+and past the _consumos_ sheds towards the Terreno, the favourite
+summer resort of Palma folks, whose charming villas clothe the
+slope leading to the steep hill on whose summit stands the old
+castle.
+
+The sun was hot, the air exhilarating. Flowers--roses, zinnias,
+plumbago, chrysanthemums, geraniums--still bloomed in the villa
+gardens. To us it was a glorious summer day. To the Majorcans it was
+already winter. The pretty houses were nearly all empty. Their
+owners had returned to town.
+
+The old road to the Castle is a stiff climb up a rocky slope. The
+new road is an excellent carriage drive that winds round the hill.
+We chose the steep way, and found ourselves frequently pausing and
+turning to look back across the sparkling waters of the bay to
+Palma, which at that moment was looking, as it so often does, like
+some celestial city.
+
+The air was fragrant with the essence of the pines that clothed the
+slopes--at their feet tall pink heath and wild lavender were in
+bloom.
+
+When Jaime the First built Bellver for a summer palace, he made it
+an invincible fortress. One thing only could one imagine as more
+difficult than getting into the Castle, and that would be getting
+out of it. Yet, had we so willed, on this balmy afternoon the
+hitherto impregnable stronghold with its deep moat, its implacable
+walls, might have been ours without even a show of resistance; for
+when we reached the gateway we found it open and unguarded.
+
+But fortunately for the reputation of Bellver our mood was pacific;
+and we were content to linger without until an old woman, who had
+espied us as she was leaving the Castle with what was presumably the
+washing of the custodian in a chequered handkerchief under her arm,
+ran back calling loudly for "Bordoi."
+
+Bordoi appeared in the person of the custodian of the Castle. He was
+an old soldier, gaunt, lean, courteous, and evidently possessing a
+genuine pride in his charge.
+
+The first thing to which he called our attention was the grating set
+high over the entrance, through which, after the endearing fashion
+of their time, the occupants of the Castle were accustomed to shower
+a gentle hint to depart, in the form of arrows or boiling water,
+upon the heads of any visitors whose appearance they did not fancy.
+
+The Castle, which is in the form of a circle, is built round a
+courtyard containing a great draw-well. Looking down, it was
+interesting to me to see that the moist sides of the interior were
+thickly coated with luxuriant maidenhair fern, such as we had years
+before noticed growing inside the mouth of the well in the house of
+the maker of amphoræ in Pompeii.
+
+Reaching down his long arm, the custodian picked me a frond,
+explaining that it made a wholesome medicinal drink--"quite as good
+as sarsaparilla."
+
+And here an odd query occurs to me. Does the office of caretaker
+conduce to dyspepsia, or does the enforced leisure of the occupation
+dispose to hypochondria? During a little journey through the
+Shakespeare country, for instance, it was impossible--even for such
+very polite people as ourselves--to avoid noticing the boxes of
+patent pills or of much-vaunted lotions that figured prominently
+amongst the private possessions of the people who showed us the
+places of interest.
+
+The stern face of the old keep has frowned on many tragic sights. It
+was up these rocky slopes that the headless body of the third Jaime
+was borne, after his luckless attempt, at the battle of Lluchmayor,
+to wrest his kingdom from a usurper. And it was there, too, that the
+boy son who had fought so bravely by his father's side was carried,
+desperately wounded.
+
+In more recent times Bellver has acted the part of a State prison.
+Political prisoners, numbering as many as three or four hundred at a
+time, have been immured within its massive walls. It was easy to
+picture them clustering in the spacious courtyard about the well, or
+pacing the open-sided gallery overlooking it, or lingering on the
+flat roof, from which such an amazingly comprehensive view may be
+had.
+
+Seen from beneath, the height of the Castle is dwarfed by its
+encircling walls. It is only on looking down from the battlements
+and seeing the immense depths of the surrounding moats that one
+realizes the strength of the inflexible grip in which captives would
+be held.
+
+In these days a rescue by means of airship might be feasible. For an
+aviator to alight on the vast flat circle of the Castle roof, to
+pick up a prisoner, and fly off again, would presumably be an easy
+matter. But in those days airships were unknown, and it must have
+been maddening to be pent so near Palma that every building might be
+distinguished, to be able to note the coming and going of the ships,
+to view the fair fertile country in every direction, and yet know
+that the deep encompassing moat rendered any attempt at escape a
+futility.
+
+In one of the rooms a memorial tablet had been inserted in the wall
+in remembrance of a deposed Minister of State, who endured six years
+of incarceration before dying there in 1808.
+
+In his chamber a window, reached by steps and stone-seated, afforded
+a lovely prospect across the blue waters of the harbour to the
+stately Cathedral and the town. It was pitiful to see that the gaudy
+tiles that paved the embrasure were worn bare, and to note that, by
+some curious coincidence, the face in the bas-relief looked
+longingly towards the window.
+
+In the immense kitchen the most remarkable feature was the
+chimney--a space like a large room--of which the smoke-blackened
+sides narrowed up and up, until far overhead its orifice appeared a
+mere eyelet of light against the sky. But this ancient fireplace had
+been superseded by a long range of charcoal stoves, and the savour
+of roasting oxen will never again ascend that giant chimney.
+
+The Castle of Bellver is full of interest, but it is the roof that
+holds the visitor fascinated. On its surface one can walk round and
+round in perfect security, meeting a fresh and glorious picture at
+every turn. To the north the high velvet hills bar the view.
+Southwards, beyond the clustered roofs of the Terreno, the
+Mediterranean ripples away towards the African coast. Towards the
+west amid the hills lies Ben Dinat, where, after the historic
+battle, the Conquistador dined well off bread and garlic; and east
+is the lovely plain of Palma, with Santa Catalina and Son Españolet
+(and the quite inconspicuous Casa Tranquila) in the middle distance.
+
+Round the battlements many names, both of the bond and of the free,
+were carven. Our guide proudly pointed out three that, coming
+amongst the Spanish designations, we read with a curious sense of
+familiarity:--
+
+    "JOHN SUTHERLAND BLACK.
+     JAMES HUNTER.
+     JAMES HUNTER, JUNR."
+
+The date was August, 1905. And the owners of the British names, our
+guide told us, were scientific men who had journeyed to Palma to
+witness the total eclipse of the sun. And in so doing they assuredly
+showed wisdom, for it would have been difficult to find a better
+place from which to observe the phenomenon than this wide roof that
+seemed so near the sky.
+
+When the men essayed to climb the high tower I waited below on the
+roof, and was idly leaning over the battlements when a stonecrop
+fast-rooted in the interstices of the wall attracted me. Wondering
+what manner of plant would choose to live in that arid situation, I
+was examining it closely when I discovered that, even in that
+seemingly inaccessible spot, a caterpillar had found it out, and was
+busily feeding on its succulent foliage.
+
+The caterpillar might be a common one--I have little knowledge of
+entomology--but it was new to me; and its appearance was so
+unusually gay as to appear to merit description. The body, which
+showed alternate stripes of light and dark grey, was girdled by
+black bands, which were further decorated by spots of vivid scarlet;
+while the head--or was it the tail?--flaunted a double scarlet
+plume.
+
+When the men again joined me, I drew the attention of the custodian
+to the gaudy insect, and asked if he knew the species.
+
+He shook his head dubiously, confessing that he had never noticed
+one like it before. Then his eyes caught sight of the plant on which
+it fed, and he instantly brightened up.
+
+"I know that plant," he said. "It is valuable, señora, very
+valuable. It makes a good medicine."
+
+Our next visit was to the Lonja. In the good old days when Palma was
+a great mercantile centre--the days when thirty thousand sailors
+found employment from its port--a Majorcan architect designed the
+Lonja to serve as an exchange.
+
+This old-time architect and his builders must have been past masters
+of their art, for though hundreds of years have slipped by since
+then, and the Lonja no more serves any active purpose, it still
+survives to delight by the simple grandeur of its design. Seen as it
+stands with only a wide thoroughfare separating it from the
+sparkling waters of the port, with its palm-trees in front and a
+cloudless blue sky overhead, the antique building is one of the most
+beautiful sights in a city that abounds in beautiful things.
+
+We had been told that the Lonja was open to the public on the
+afternoons of Thursdays and Sundays. So one Sunday evening, early in
+our stay, the Man and I stopped in front of the great door, and
+tried to push it open. It did not yield a hair's-breadth. Indeed, it
+seemed to wear an expression of stolid immobility, as though
+secretly defying our puny efforts to induce it to reveal the
+treasures it guarded.
+
+Sitting in a chair in the shadow of the building an old policeman
+was dozing. Him the Man roused and interrogated.
+
+He shook his head over the idea of the Lonja being on view on stated
+days. But the Lonja was at the _disposicion_ of the señor. The
+señor could see it on any day. He would fetch the keeper of the
+keys.
+
+[Illustration: Palma, from the Woods of Bellver]
+
+Toddling off across the square of the palm-trees, he disappeared,
+and in a few minutes returned, followed by that official, bearing
+the emblem of his office in the form of a massive key.
+
+The great door opened and closed behind us, and we found ourselves
+in a vast square hall, from whose dark marble floor six noble
+pillars rose to meet the high vaulted roof.
+
+Like the Cathedral, the Lonja was built of the warm, buff-hued
+native stone, and the marble flooring was also of Majorcan origin,
+for it was quarried in the mountains of the island. The materials
+used in the construction were the same; but while the Cathedral
+impresses by its solemn majesty of conception, the Lonja charms with
+its beautiful simplicity of design, its inspiriting sense of light
+and air. The four wide windows were partly boarded up, the light
+entering only through the open carving at the tops. Yet the hall was
+so well illuminated that it was easy to see every detail of the
+pictures that covered a great portion of the walls.
+
+The collection of pictures, though of no great importance, one
+imagines might be better hung, better framed, and in some way
+catalogued. Certain of the canvasses lacked frames. A soiled card
+inscribed with the name of the artist was stuck in the frames of
+others. One portion of the wall-space was covered by interesting old
+paintings that had been removed from the antique church of San
+Domingo. And a large modern picture by a well-known Spanish painter
+attracted us both by the excellence of its workmanship and by the
+peculiarity of its subject: a bride and bridegroom--the man old,
+uninviting, and with strangely deformed feet; the woman young,
+attractive, and evidently of a lower social position--were standing
+before a brilliantly lit altar joining hands in marriage. On the
+bride's left stood her peasant mother, proud almost to arrogance at
+the wealthy marriage her pretty daughter was making. Behind were two
+workmen brothers, whispering and giggling.
+
+The satire of the artist's intention was revealed in the title, _En
+el nombre del Padre, y del Higo, y del Espiritu Santo_, which was
+conspicuously painted on the frame.
+
+High on the wall over the door that opens on to the garden two
+grotesque gargoyles look down on a finely sculptured bas-relief of
+the Virgin and Child. Across the little enclosure with its
+fruit-laden palm-tree, its tired-looking olive--how is it that
+olives always seem to pine for mountain slopes?--and its aloes, is a
+strikingly antique gate.
+
+As the keeper of the keys pointed out, it was the original gate of
+the mole of the ancient port, and when in the seventeenth century
+the harbour was reconstructed, it was wisely deemed worthy of
+preservation. Behind it is the antique Concilio del Mar, which is
+now the Escuela Superior de Comercio.
+
+Showing us a door leading to a staircase, the custodian suggested
+that the view to be obtained from the roof of the Lonja was fine.
+
+He did not attempt to join our climb, and when we had mounted the
+eighty-two steps of the spiral stair we did not wonder that he had
+refrained. But the sight from the path which extended round the four
+sides of the square roof was wonderful. Each point of view held
+fresh interest--whether it was the harbour with the shipping and the
+shining sea beyond, or the grand Cathedral seen across the lively
+Marina, or the eight-storey-high houses, whose upper-floor dwellings
+opened to roof terraces or blossomed out in poultry-houses and
+dove-cots. But best of all, I think, was the vista of the road
+leading towards Santa Catalina, and the Terreno, and the Castle of
+Bellver, behind which the sun was setting.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Second Class]
+
+VI
+
+THE FAIR AT INCA
+
+
+Our first experience of the Majorcan railway system was a curious
+and unexpected one.
+
+Having a fancy to see Inca, a thriving town situated in the very
+heart of the island, we called at Palma station one November day and
+asked for a time-table. The one handed us--it was the latest
+issued--bore the date of July, 1907. But even although it was well
+over two years old there appeared to have been no alteration either
+in the hours of departure or of arrival.
+
+Learning that Thursday was the market-day at Inca, we got up before
+sunrise on a Thursday morning and reached the station in good time
+for the train that was timed to leave at 7.40. The _other_ train,
+for only two trains a day leave Palma, was out of the question, as
+it did not start until two o'clock.
+
+We had imagined that the paucity of trains argued a corresponding
+scarcity of travellers, but to our surprise the station was already
+crowded with a pleasantly excited mob of people, all in gala dress.
+
+The women had their mantillas or lace-embroidered _rebozillos_
+fastened to the hair with little gold pins, and many wore long white
+gloves reaching to the sleeves, which were decorated at the elbows
+with a row of gold or silver buttons. The little shawls that are
+always a feature of native full dress were of all colours and
+materials, from silk with long fringes to richly-hued plush or
+delicate light brocades.
+
+The trains of Majorca resemble those of most other civilized
+countries in providing first, second, and third-class carriages. The
+first are cramped and stuffy. The second are inferior to some
+old-fashioned uncushioned English third-class. The third closely
+resemble cattle-trucks with benches running along the sides and down
+the middle. They have no windows; leather curtains protect their
+open sides.
+
+We went second-class, as did the majority of our fellow-travellers.
+Long before the hour of starting, every carriage, with the exception
+of the firsts, which were almost empty, was packed full of
+passengers, all talking at the pitch of their voices. But nothing
+happened until quite forty minutes after the time fixed for
+departure, when the engine gave a violent jerk, as though putting
+all its strength into a superhuman effort, the women crossed
+themselves devoutly, and the train moved slowly out of the station.
+So slowly indeed, that three late-comers, arriving on the platform
+after the train was in motion, not only succeeded in entering the
+train but were able, by running forward, to secure places in the
+front carriages.
+
+Inca is separated from the capital by twenty miles of fertile
+orchard land. The single line of rail cuts through great tracts of
+country planted with fig-trees, with almonds, and with olives. In
+many cases the ground underneath the trees was red and golden with
+autumn tinted leaves of grape vines, or verdant with the green of
+shooting corn.
+
+As the moments passed, and the sun rose higher, the mist wreaths
+that had lain about the plain dispersed; and the blue hills to the
+north made noble background for the spreading plantations. Within
+our crowded carriage all was good humour. Nobody seemed to find
+anything to grumble at in the slow rate of progress.
+
+An early stopping-place was Santa Maria. We had only come a few
+miles, yet girls were waiting to sell nuts, and biscuits put up in
+neat paper cylinders, to those of the travellers--and they were
+many--who had already had time to be hungry; while an old woman
+carrying a water-jar and tumbler attended, ready for the smallest
+coin to supply the thirsty with water.
+
+The little journey was hardly begun, and there seemed but small reason
+to tarry at Santa Maria, yet the delay became so extended that the
+passengers, still maintaining their perfect good humour, began
+exchanging visits from one portion of the train to another. An old
+gentleman clad in a complete suit of striped mustard-colour plush and
+yellow elastic-sided boots called at our compartment to exchange
+compliments with a comely elderly dame, who in conjunction with
+handsome jewellery had her hair--which was in a pigtail--covered with
+a gaily striped silk handkerchief.
+
+So the minutes wore on. At intervals a warning bell rang, but nobody
+accorded it the slightest attention, and wisely so, for nothing
+happened. At length, with a joint-dislocating jerk, we again got
+under-way, only to come to a dead stop a hundred yards further on.
+
+The train, it was at length admitted, was too heavy for the motive
+power. The empty first-class carriages were detached; that
+accomplished, we actually progressed. The twenty miles were
+ultimately covered, and we succeeded in reaching Inca, with its
+picturesque row of windmills and grand setting of purple mountains,
+only two hours late.
+
+Joining the stream of people, we entered the town, to discover what
+spectators less accustomed to crowds would long ago have
+discovered--that by some lucky chance we had come to Inca on the
+great day of its year--the annual _feria_. All the ways leading
+towards the centre of the town were lined with empty vehicles and
+up-tilted carts, and in the narrow streets the owners were
+promenading.
+
+The fair was largely a business matter. It presented few of the
+elements of entertainment common to that of an English country town.
+The only thing in the way of amusement that we saw was a
+merry-go-round, and that was being quietly ignored.
+
+One interesting feature was that each street held its own species of
+merchandise. In one, clothing and brightly-hued foot-gear were sold.
+Another was wholly given up to sweet stalls, whose principal article
+was a species of white confection composed apparently of chopped
+almonds and sugar. That it was good the myriads of bees that were
+tasting its sweetness bore testimony. In yet another street we had
+to walk between a long double row of women seated on rush-bottomed
+chairs, each bearing in her lap an earthenware cooking-pot full of a
+puzzling commodity that had something of the appearance of crimson
+threads. It appeared to be the only commodity they had to offer, and
+I own we never succeeded in discovering what it was.
+
+The square in front of the principal church was the centre of
+attraction for us. On one side the ground was covered with a fine
+display of native ware. Jars, and plates, and pots, and vases, in
+the greens and yellows and browns that look so tempting and are so
+cheap. The touch of vermilion, artistically so valuable to the busy
+scene, was given by the huge sacks bulging with scarlet and orange
+sweet peppers that form such an important part of Majorcan food.
+
+Two maimed beggars, the first we had seen in the island, were
+hobbling about reaping a harvest; and, raised on a little platform,
+a travelling dentist was extracting juvenile teeth free; to the
+satisfaction of certain thrifty parents, and to the visible distress
+of their offspring.
+
+Just below the square was the cattle-market; and on its outskirts we
+saw, for the first time, a peasant clad in the native male dress
+that unfortunately has become so rare. The jolly old fellow wore the
+extremely baggy blue cotton pantaloons, the short black jacket, and
+wide-brimmed hat that make up so distinctive a costume. He even wore
+the quaint black shoes that suit the costume, and that seemed a
+blessed relief from the green and orange elastic-sided boots in
+vogue.
+
+[Illustration: A Corner of the Fair at Inca]
+
+A threatened shower and an actual thirst gave excuse for seeking
+refuge in a café. Most of those we glanced into were crowded with
+peasants, and we hesitated about forcing our way in. Finding at last
+one that looked more exclusive than the others, we entered and
+seated ourselves at one of the little tables set under the
+overhanging tissue-paper decorations.
+
+The Boy and I wanted wine, the Man chose cognac. The active waiter
+quickly served us with huge tumblers of red wine set in saucers; and
+placing before the Man a bottle of brandy in which were immersed
+spiky herbs, left him to help himself. The wine was rich and
+fruity, the liqueur the Man declared delicious; and while the rain,
+which was now falling in earnest, pattered down, we sipped and
+watched the passing life of the street.
+
+Just across the way, at the side entrance to a flourishing baker's
+shop, two women were frying dough-nuts in a big pan of boiling oil.
+The elder woman, scraping a segment of batter from the full basin at
+her elbow, deftly twisted it round her finger, then threw it into
+the oil, from which a minute later her assistant lifted it out with
+a long-handled spoon, transformed into a crisp golden ring.
+
+The shower had ceased, the sun was again shining out, and there was
+much to see; so we paid for our drinks and departed.
+
+"Fourpence!" said the Man, as he pocketed his change. "A penny each
+for the wine and twopence for the liqueur! It's enough to drive one
+to drink!"
+
+The one drawback to the complete enjoyment of the fair was the mud.
+The previous night had been wet, and the streets were inches deep in
+it. It was a buff-coloured slime of persistently adhesive nature,
+and not content with thickly coating one's shoes, it tried to drag
+them off. To walk about in mud three inches deep is fatiguing, so we
+decided to take the train that was due to leave Inca at one o'clock,
+instead of waiting for that leaving at four.
+
+It was a merciful fortune that guided us, for the one o'clock train
+took three hours to cover its twenty miles. Yet the scenery, with
+its grey-green olive plantations set against a background of
+beautiful mountains and enlivened with quaintly attired
+olive-gatherers, was so fine that we did not tire of feasting our
+eyes upon it.
+
+Our companions on the return journey were mainly men--Palma
+merchants probably, who had visited the fair as buyers and were
+anxious to return with the greatest possible expedition. When those
+who were so adventurous as to wait until the later train would get
+back to town, or whether they ever reached it at all, history does
+not relate.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Where the Hills Meet the Plain, Esglayeta]
+
+VII
+
+VALLDEMOSA
+
+
+The fertile plain that occupies the greater portion of the island of
+Majorca is sheltered from cold winds by the range of mountains that
+runs along the northern coast. The scenery on the farther side of
+the mountains is of unusual grandeur, the tracts of precipitous
+country bordering the sea between Valldemosa and Sóller being
+exceptionally lovely.
+
+The district, which is almost entirely devoted to olive plantations,
+is a scantily populated one. And as there are no _fondas_ for a
+considerable distance, the Austrian Archduke Luis Salvador, who owns
+much land on the northern coast, has turned a large farm-house on
+his estate of Miramar into an _hospederia_, or free lodging-house,
+for the use of travellers.
+
+There are many _hospederias_ in Spain, but they are generally
+attached to monasteries and intended for the use of pilgrims to some
+shrine. That at Miramar is the only instance I know of one supported
+by a private individual, and many sojourners from far lands like
+ourselves must have felt grateful to the royal owner for the kindly
+provision he has made for them.
+
+Within the friendly walls of the Hospederia any sojourner can for
+three nights find free accommodation, the Archduke providing
+house-room, linen, service, and fuel. The apartments are always
+ready, the guest need send no warning of his intended arrival. All
+he requires to do is to supply himself with food sufficient for the
+sustenance of his party throughout the visit, as there are no shops
+within several miles of Miramar, and the servants at the Hospederia
+are forbidden to sell to the guests.
+
+Very early during our stay at Palma we had purposed journeying
+northwards to see the places of whose wonders we had heard; but we
+were so pleasantly interested in our new home and strange
+environment that it was nearing the close of November before we felt
+disposed to take the journey.
+
+At stated times diligences run the twelve miles between Palma and
+Valldemosa, and the charge is only sevenpence-halfpenny. But the
+diligence goes no farther than Valldemosa, and that is three miles
+distant from the Hospederia. So, when we had decided to go on the
+Tuesday morning, we engaged Bartolomé, a good-looking bachelor
+charioteer, who stabled his carriage and pair of horses in Son
+Españolet, to drive us thither.
+
+But Tuesday morning, when it came, brought a sudden change of
+weather. A strong easterly wind was blowing, and the temperature,
+for the first time since our arrival on these favoured isles, nearly
+approached cold. Bartolomé was warned that the journey was postponed
+for a day at least, and we spent the hours of uncertainty in
+grumbling at the weather, and in consuming the most perishable of
+the stock of provisions we had laid in for the expedition.
+
+Judging the Majorcan climate by our knowledge of that of other
+countries, we were all secretly convinced that we had delayed too
+long, that the weather had probably changed for the winter, and that
+our little excursion might require to be postponed until spring.
+
+But to our surprise and relief the succeeding morning proved calm
+and sunny. Having been duly instructed, Bartolomé drove up at ten
+o'clock precisely, with a jingling of bells that I am convinced set
+every feminine head in the Calle de Mas a-peer behind its discreetly
+closed venetian shutters. In appearance Bartolomé was the embodiment
+of buoyant geniality. His black hair curled in rings about his
+smiling face, and he had dressed for the occasion in a white suit, a
+pink shirt, and a pair of bright yellow elastic-sided boots.
+
+Bartolomé's carriage, the sides of whose interior were decorated
+with four antimacassars on each of which was embroidered a
+flamboyant representation of a rampant steed, proved both roomy and
+comfortable, and we were only three in number. Yet when we had got
+packed in with our luggage, which included sketching materials as
+well as comestibles, there was scarcely room to stir. Never before
+had we realized what a cumbersome article food was: or calculated
+the bulk of--say--the bread even so small a family will consume in
+three days. And when you add to the loaves the meat and groceries,
+the vegetables and fruit, necessary for three days' moderate
+consumption, they will be found to occupy a surprisingly large
+amount of space.
+
+The first portion of the journey led through the broad, fertile
+plain north of Palma, where plantations of almond, fig, and olive
+succeed each other with scarcely a break--that wide expanse whose
+fruitfulness has gained Majorca the title of the orchard of the
+Mediterranean. Near where the hills meet the plain we passed the
+village of Esglayeta, an attractive hamlet consisting of little more
+than a church and a wayside _fonda_.
+
+The noses of the horses had been pointing directly towards a
+precipitous cleft in the range of mountains, and almost unexpectedly
+we entered the valley that divided two great hills. As we drove on,
+the winding road gradually ascended, until we found ourselves in the
+midst of the mountains and within sight of the outlying portion of
+lovely Valldemosa.
+
+In his _Byways of Europe_ Bayard Taylor said: "Verily there is
+nothing in all Europe so beautiful as Valldemosa." And indeed the
+ancient town, rising on its heights amid still higher heights above
+the valley that runs seawards, is strikingly beautiful.
+
+It is only when taking Valldemosa in detail that one notices that
+its people are not quite so handsome, that they lack the gracious
+and light-hearted bearing of the inhabitants of Palma, that their
+dress is poorer, and the streets more squalid. Perhaps the
+difference in climate may account for the difference in appearance,
+for Valldemosa stands high among the mountains, and its climate is
+both colder and damper than that of Palma. The situation is supposed
+to be extremely healthy. It was at Valldemosa, on the site
+afterwards occupied by the Carthusian monastery, that in 1311 King
+Sancho, who was afflicted with asthma, built a palace to which he
+removed his Court, and from which he gave his hawking parties.
+
+At the suggestion of Bartolomé, we paused to visit the church
+attached to the old monastery, which was shown us by an elderly
+woman, who, unlike most of the country people, spoke excellent
+Spanish and understood our efforts in that language.
+
+Under her guidance we visited the chapel, a fine old treasure-house
+of carved effigies of saints, of paintings, and of relics in glass
+cases all carefully wrapped up and labelled. The colours of the
+paintings that adorn the walls and ceiling, the work of two
+Carthusian monks, are as vivid as though still wet from the brush.
+And the remarkable altar-piece, with its life-size figures in wax,
+is worth a special visit.
+
+Walking through the cloisters of the Carthusian monastery, we passed
+the doors of the cells, which are now used as dwelling-houses, and
+it occurred to us to ask if our old woman knew in which of the
+cells George Sand had passed her memorable winter in company with
+her children and with Chopin, and if it would be possible for us to
+see it.
+
+Our guide appeared to be familiar with both questions. She had no
+hesitation in answering them in the affirmative; and preceding us
+briskly down the long, ascetic-looking corridor (that accorded so
+ill with our notion of Madame Dudevant), knocked at the door
+numbered 1.
+
+"But if people are living in the house, will they not object? We
+must not disturb them," we demurred.
+
+Our guardian thrust aside our protest as trivial, and in truth it
+was offered in a perfunctory spirit.
+
+"No, no," she assured us. "The señor will be pleased. He is a nice
+gentleman. He was the doctor of Valldemosa for thirty years, till he
+retired. He will show you the house himself."
+
+And indeed the señor, when he appeared, was graciousness itself.
+Welcoming us after the Spanish fashion, he put his house and what it
+contained at our disposal. In this case the courtesy proved more
+than a form of words, for he personally conducted us over all his
+domain.
+
+First he showed us the terrace garden, from whose low boundary-wall,
+as from a balcony, one could look over the scattered houses that
+nestled among their laden orange-trees, towards the distant sea. The
+sun was shining; the air was heavy with the perfume of the loquat
+blossoms; a delicious languor lay over all. It was easy to imagine
+George Sand leaning on that wall, whose base was so thickly fringed
+with luxuriant maidenhair fern, revelling in the beauty of her
+surroundings. But my thoughts and sympathy were most with the monks
+who, on the suppression of the convents in 1835, were obliged to
+leave their quiet cells and the gardens that must have been a
+perpetual delight to them, and go elsewhere to subsist on the scant
+pension of a franc a day.
+
+[Illustration: Valldemosa]
+
+Taking us indoors, the doctor showed us the living-rooms, five of
+which looked out to the terrace-garden. The name of "cell"
+suggests accommodation that is cramped and austere, but nothing
+could have been more cheerful than these sunlit chambers.
+
+In the large, airy _salon_, with its domed ceiling, one could easily
+imagine both musician and novelist finding abundant space to work,
+he with his "velvet fingers," as his companion christened them, she
+with her facile pen. And in the quaint kitchen, with its range of
+charcoal stoves and big, open fireplace, one could picture them
+gathering on the nights of that cold winter.
+
+It would have been impossible to find a more idyllic setting for a
+romantic episode. Still, I must confess that doubts assailed me; for
+in November, 1838, when writing to a friend, George Sand had said:--
+
+    "I have a cell, that is to say, three rooms and a
+    garden full of oranges and lemons, for thirty-five
+    francs a year, in the large monastery of Valldemosa."
+
+And this house of the doctor's, with its spacious _salon_, its large
+dining-room, its many sleeping-apartments? No, much though we
+desired it, the descriptions hardly tallied. Then in her account of
+the unusually severe winter Madame Dudevant wrote of the "eagles and
+vultures that came down to feast on the poor sparrows that sheltered
+in their pomegranate trees from the snow."
+
+Now in the garden there was a _kake_ tree laden with ripe rose-red
+fruit, and other trees, but no pomegranate. But then that was many
+years past, and the trunk of the pomegranate-tree might long ago
+have been burnt on that wide hearth in the kitchen.
+
+Speaking of the matter to the good doctor, we found our uncertainty
+shared. Throwing out his hands he said humorously:--
+
+"Who knows? There is no record. It was _one_ of the cells. That much
+is certain. And this was the house of the Superior. If not this
+house, it was another. That is enough."
+
+But as we descended the slope from the monastery we agreed that,
+whether or not the great French _artistes_ ever lived within the
+walls of that particular cell, there could be no question that they
+had breathed the sweet air of these terrace-gardens, and had known
+the enchantment of that wonderful panoramic view. And that made
+their personalities very real to us.
+
+Bartolomé awaited us smiling, and, insinuating ourselves among our
+medley of belongings, off we set along the three miles of road that
+led to Miramar.
+
+On the outskirts of Valldemosa we saw, for the first time in
+Majorca, vines climbing over tall trees by the wayside, their grapes
+in purple bunches suspended in profusion from the branches. The
+effect was so beautiful that we almost regretted the more prosaic
+vineyards near Palma, with the carefully trained vines that
+resembled well-pruned blackberry bushes.
+
+As we advanced, passing through a succession of olive plantations
+that rose above us towards the grand craggy mountains and fell
+beneath us to the blue sea, glimpses of which we caught over the
+foliage, the beauty of the scene that gradually unfolded surpassed
+all that we had yet seen.
+
+The Man groaned a little, as during the next three days he was fated
+to groan often, and for the same reason.
+
+"This is _too_ grand," he said. "It's hopeless. One could never
+paint it!"
+
+Turning a bend of the road, Bartolomé drew rein with a flourish
+before a quaint dwelling by the wayside; and we realized that we had
+reached the Hospederia.
+
+"I say! We ought to have sent word we were coming. I hope the house
+isn't full. I hope they'll have room for us," said the Boy, voicing
+the sudden apprehension of us all. But so far from being crowded
+with visitors, the Hospederia seemed totally deserted. The great
+door was shut and, except for a vagrant cat and a clucking hen,
+there was no sign of life about the place.
+
+Shouting lustily for "Fernando," Bartolomé jumped down and, running
+to the door, knocked loudly. Receiving no reply, he did not stand
+upon ceremony but, pushing open the door, went in, beckoning us to
+follow.
+
+Entering, we found ourselves in a large outer hall with a cobbled
+floor and a long well-scrubbed table and benches. Following our
+charioteer, who had opened an inner door, we went into a large
+dimly-lit room which, when the window-shutters had been opened,
+revealed itself as a long narrow dining-room of severely ascetic
+appearance. Tables extended down its length, chairs with seats of
+interwoven string stood round the walls.
+
+"Look, señora!"
+
+Running to a cupboard, Bartolomé had thrown open the door,
+disclosing shelves laden with china and crystal.
+
+Again--"Look! señora."
+
+Hastening to the opposite side of the room, he had opened the doors
+of a big _armário_, and was pointing to piles of clean table-linen.
+
+It was as though we had strayed into some enchanted castle where all
+had been prepared for our coming by invisible hands. Going off to
+explore further, we found our way into a snug kitchen. The whole of
+one side was occupied by a brown-tiled charcoal stove, on which many
+dinners could have been cooked simultaneously. The shelves were
+laden with cooking-pots and pans, of every description; the walls
+shone with an array of well-polished utensils. Over charcoal embers
+a huge earthenware pot, that for its better preservation had been
+encased in a strait-waistcoat of wire-netting, was slowly bubbling.
+
+Essaying to mount the stair leading from the hall, we peeped into
+closely shuttered apartments in which we could see the dim outlines
+of beds. And what we saw assured us of one thing--that there were no
+other guests at the Hospederia.
+
+From the perfect order of the house, and the fact that the fire was
+burning, it was clear that someone must be close at hand. But we
+had come a long way, and in the meantime we were famishing.
+
+Hastening to our aid, the ubiquitous Bartolomé spread the table,
+putting out plates and glasses, and finding wooden spoons and forks
+in the drawer of a side-table. Opening our packets of sandwiches and
+fruit, we invited him to join us.
+
+We were all seated at table, busily eating, when a swift clatter of
+feet sounded on the cobble stones of the outer hall; and a brisk
+little brown woman ran into the room, voluble with apology for the
+temporary absence of the keepers of the Hospederia. Netta, she
+explained, was away. Fernando was working at the farm. In their
+absence could she be of any service to our excellencies?
+
+Reassured on that point, the lady--Catalina was her name--remained
+to enliven our picnic lunch by rallying Bartolomé, who was an old
+acquaintance of hers, on his unparalleled effrontery in sitting down
+to table with us.
+
+"You have no right to eat with their excellencies," she said. "You
+are only a coachman."
+
+"But if he is a good coachman?" asked the Man.
+
+"Ah, no, señor. He is not a good coachman. He is a bad coachman.
+And, besides, he cannot spread a table. See! he has given you no
+table-cloth, no napkins, when he knows the cupboard is full of them.
+No, he is a very bad coachman indeed!"
+
+When our scrap meal was finished, Catalina proceeded to show us our
+sleeping accommodation. Unlocking a door that we had not tried, she
+led us through a pleasant room with two beds, to one with two
+windows--one facing the highroad, where Bartolomé's carriage still
+waited, the other affording a beautiful view of the rugged coast.
+
+Catalina explained that these rooms were usually allotted to
+foreigners such as ourselves, the less attractively situated being
+reserved for natives of the island, who were at liberty to share the
+Archduke's hospitality, although the Hospederia was originally
+intended for the use of other travellers. A handsome new
+dining-room in process of construction, though during our stay no
+one was actually working at it, was also planned for the
+accommodation of those from far countries, but to us the
+appointments of the older building seemed peculiarly in keeping with
+the quaint idea of the Hospederia.
+
+The bedrooms were simply but sufficiently furnished. Each had two
+single beds, half-a-dozen chairs, a plain wooden table, and a tripod
+washstand holding the smallest basin and ewer we had seen outside
+France. The roofs were raftered. All was the perfection of austere
+cleanliness.
+
+Before our inspection was ended Fernando, the host, a good-looking
+man with the gracious deportment of an operatic tenor, had returned.
+His grandmother had been the original housekeeper of the Hospederia.
+On her death, at the age of ninety-nine, her office had descended
+upon Fernando and his young wife Netta.
+
+We spent the all too short November afternoon and evening in
+exploring the slopes about Miramar, looking at the glorious views
+that perpetually presented some yet more glorious aspect. The
+Hospederia was over a thousand feet above the sea, to which the
+ground fell precipitously. Above the house the land rose up and up
+until it ended in towering crags. Northward stretched the
+Mediterranean. Elsewhere the eye met nothing but range upon range of
+mountains.
+
+The extensive grounds of Miramar are well shaded with olive and
+carob trees, but at every point that affords a specially good view
+of some part of the exquisite scenery the Archduke has caused to be
+erected a _mirador_, or walled enclosure, where one can sit in
+safety and glory in the beauty of the surroundings.
+
+From one of these we watched the after-glow of the setting sun
+illumine distant peaks, bringing into prominence heights whose
+existence we had scarcely realized.
+
+The darkness, falling swiftly, surprised us while a good distance
+from the Hospederia, and we had to find our way back by untried
+paths. But the fascination of the place held us captive, and when
+the moon began to peep out from among the clouds we could not remain
+indoors, as more sensible folks would have done. Wrapping up a
+little, for it was colder on the northern coast of the island than
+at Palma, we went out, determined to reach a headland by the sea, on
+which from above we had caught tantalizing glimpses of a shining
+white temple.
+
+Except from a _mirador_ the temple was not visible, and we wandered
+by many devious ways before we again came in sight of it, perched
+above the sea on a high rock that is reached by a stone bridge
+thrown over a deep gully.
+
+As we felt our way along, for the elusive moon was again behind a
+cloud, all was silent, mysterious. Surely Miramar at nightfall in
+winter is one of the most silent places on the earth. We felt as
+though there was not a human being alive but ourselves.
+
+Crossing the bridge timorously, we found ourselves confronting the
+ghostly white chapel. When we had told Catalina of our desire to
+visit it, she had given us keys, but they did not fit. And as we
+proceeded to fumble with the lock, the silence was so intense that I
+could almost have imagined that someone within was holding his
+breath to listen. Had we knocked upon that closed door I had an
+eerie conviction that the spectre of some long-dead monk would have
+opened it.
+
+But we did not knock. And the moon favouring us with a glimpse of
+her illumining power, we walked round the base of the temple, which
+is securely railed in, and watched the moon outline with silver
+finger-tips each point and pinnacle of the hills and shimmer softly
+on the sea.
+
+When we returned to the Hospederia, Fernando had gone to fetch his
+wife; and Catalina, who had been left in charge, bustled into the
+dining-room to tell us that two _carabineros_ had come, and were
+resting in the kitchen.
+
+"Have they come after us?" cried the Man; and Catalina, who enjoyed
+even the mildest of humour, wrinkled her brown face in delight.
+
+The dining-room where we sat was large and dimly lit by oil lamps.
+After the silence of those wooded slopes the prospect of even the
+company of two _carabineros_ was alluring. So when I went into the
+kitchen to cook the lamb cutlets and tomatoes that comprised our
+modest supper, my men followed me.
+
+[Illustration: Carabineros in the Kitchen]
+
+The kitchen, which was the most picturesque part of the Hospederia,
+was looking particularly snug and cosy. A fire of logs burned on the
+open hearth, below the shining tin pans and the strings of red
+peppers, and lit up the fine bronzed faces of the _carabineros_, who
+sat close to its warmth.
+
+They rose when we entered, to offer us their seats. One, spreading
+his striped blanket on the low settle, invited the Man to share it;
+and while I grilled the cutlets and Catalina washed dishes at the
+sink, the men chatted as freely as their difference of language
+would allow, the _carabineros_ talking of their long hours of
+duty--for their patrol begins at five or six o'clock in the evening
+and does not end until seven next morning--and of the constant watch
+that has to be kept for smugglers on that lonely and seemingly
+scarce accessible coast.
+
+Leaving them to resume their night watch, we supped and went to bed,
+to be roused in the early morning by voices. Netta, the
+house-mistress, had returned, and thenceforward the lively Catalina
+would relapse into the position of merely an obliging neighbour.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: La Trinidad, Miramar]
+
+VIII
+
+MIRAMAR
+
+
+When we went downstairs to breakfast Netta was setting the table;
+setting it, too, after a fashion of her own which never varied, were
+the meal breakfast, luncheon or dinner.
+
+First she spread the cloth, whose lack at luncheon on the previous
+day had so offended Catalina's sense of what was neat and proper.
+Then she put before each place a big tumbler, a little tumbler, two
+soup-plates, and a wooden spoon and fork.
+
+Netta proved to be tall and nice-looking, with tragic dark eyes, and
+a gravity of manner that was in striking contrast to her husband's
+smiling bonhomie. She was an admirable housewife. We never caught
+her at work; yet, without the slightest appearance of fuss and
+flurry, she managed to keep everything the pink of perfection.
+
+The weather was hardly promising. Rain had fallen in the night;
+veils of mist smothered the crests of the near hills and completely
+obliterated the more distant. But we were resolved to let nothing
+short of an actual downpour keep us indoors. And as the Man wished
+to sketch at Valldemosa, which had captivated us all on the previous
+day, the Boy and I accompanied him thither. Perhaps it is unwise to
+attempt to renew first impressions. Possibly the charm of Miramar
+clouded our eyes to the undoubted beauty of Valldemosa. More likely
+the fact that the sun only peeped out fitfully, and that the wind
+was damp and the sky sullen, influenced our view: but somehow
+Valldemosa seemed to have lost the glamour it cast over us when we
+first saw it basking in the warm sunlight. Everybody seemed chilly,
+and all the children looked as if they had colds in their noses.
+
+Leaving the Man working at a water-colour of the old Carthusian
+monastery from rising ground above a covered well, we set off with
+the intention of augmenting our little stock of provisions from the
+shops of the town.
+
+The store we chanced upon sold every likely and unlikely commodity,
+from green and orange boots to radishes. When we inquired where we
+might find a butcher, the shop-mistress, with a majestic wave of her
+hand, signed to us to follow her. And, walking in her footsteps, we
+threaded our way through an apartment, which was partly kitchen and
+partly an overflow stock chamber, into an inner room, where hung
+garlands of black and yellow sausages and the carcasses of two
+lambs.
+
+This was the butcher's shop, she announced, and there was no beef,
+only lamb. So perforce we added yet more cutlets to our diet, and
+humbly craved bread. But the only loaves she had were so large that,
+rejecting them, we went in search of a baker.
+
+In the less important Majorcan towns, shops are difficult to find.
+The fact that a tax is levied upon signs keeps all but the most
+prominent vendors from exhibiting one. The room of an ordinary
+house that opens directly to the street usually acts as the place of
+business; and a cabbage, or a basket of striped haricot beans, set
+casually on the doorstep, often serves to indicate the existence of
+a general shop.
+
+After a little searching we succeeded in finding a _panaderia_, but
+the loaves of the baker, in place of being smaller than those of the
+grocer (which sounds Ollendorffian), were so huge that they
+resembled cartwheels, or, to be more exact, perambulator wheels,
+baked of rye.
+
+For a moment the choice lay between possible starvation and the
+prospect of trundling the mammoth rye loaf up and down the three
+miles of highway that lay between us and the Hospederia.
+
+While we hesitated, the baker lady, and the half dozen or so of her
+intimate friends who had followed us into the shop to see what the
+foreigners would buy, regarded us interestedly. Then a compromise
+suggested itself.
+
+"Would it be possible to ask the señora to divide the loaf?"
+
+"Yes--without doubt."
+
+The complacent señora already had the large knife in her hand. So,
+clutching the half of the still steaming rye loaf, we returned to
+the Man, with whom we had arranged to share an open-air luncheon.
+
+Before we had reached him, the mist that had been threatening to
+swoop down upon us resolved itself into a shower. Taking advantage
+of the near vicinity of the covered well, we boiled our tea-kettle
+under the archway, and drank tea, to the surprise of the people who
+were constantly coming to fill their water-jars.
+
+Then, the sun consenting, rather sulkily, to peep out again, the Man
+returned to his work, while the Boy and I, feeling no further
+temptation to linger at Valldemosa, took up our section of the
+cartwheel and set off for Miramar.
+
+On the way, not far beyond the outskirts of the town, we caught
+sight of a notice-board, which stated that a Museum of Mallorquin
+antiquities might be seen in a house on the side of the road
+nearest to the mountains. Following the path indicated, we found
+ourselves, after a few minutes walking, in the courtyard of what had
+evidently been a fine old country seat.
+
+The doors stood open to the world. Except for a beautiful flock of
+cream-coloured turkeys, the place seemed utterly untenanted. There
+was no sign of humanity until the Boy woke the echoes by smiting
+lustily on a cow-bell that hung outside the kitchen door.
+
+Then a little sun-dried old woman popped her head out, and with a
+scared face fled up a broad flight of steps that led from the
+courtyard to the floor above.
+
+She had gone to warn the custodian of the Museum; and that dame,
+quickly appearing, invited us upstairs to see the collection.
+
+The house, Son Moragues, she told us, was one of the many owned by
+the Archduke on the different estates he had bought. He had never
+used it as a residence, and merely kept it as a receptacle for the
+specimens of typical Mallorquin manufactures, such as pottery,
+models of baskets, furniture, etc., he was collecting.
+
+The object that interested us perhaps more than any other exhibit
+was a jar that had been salved from the sea in Palma Harbour.
+Although a genuine antique it was of the shape in use to-day; and
+its unrecorded period of immersion had left it encrusted with a
+marvellous decoration of barnacles and shells.
+
+What really delighted us most in the Museum were the views from the
+balconies; especially those obtained from a great old _terras_ with
+a sloping floor, where we stood in the brilliant sunshine and
+watched the showers sweeping along the mountain tops and up the
+valley.
+
+Down below us was a thick hedge of prickly pear, the edges of the
+fleshy leaves ruched with scarlet fruit. And beside us, as we leant
+on the edge of the balcony, was a wire tray on which a quantity of
+figs, gathered presumably from the trees in the field beneath, were
+drying in the sun.
+
+The quaint old garden, which we saw on the way out, had tall box
+hedges and a spreading magnolia, and crumbling stone seats
+surrounded the fountain, whose waters have long run dry.
+
+In the evening I had gone to bed early, leaving the others to follow
+their own devices, and was sleeping the sleep of the woman who had
+been all day in the open air, when an insistent calling of my name
+aroused me back to semi-consciousness, and I gradually gathered that
+I must descend to open the door. The men, who had gone out walking
+in the moonlight, had returned to find that, inadvertently, the
+house door had been locked and barred against them.
+
+Had my room been less accessible, or my sleep more profound, they
+might have knocked and called in vain, for although it was hardly
+nine o'clock, Fernando and Netta were deep in the slumber of the
+agriculturist in some unknown roof-chamber of the tall old house.
+
+Although so isolated in position, Miramar is intimately connected
+with the romantic life-history of Ramon Lull--rake, recluse,
+scholar, fanatic, martyr, saint--what you will.
+
+The father of Ramon Lull--the name is variously spelt: Raymund Lully
+in the English; Ramundo Lulio in the Spanish; and Ramon Lull in the
+Mallorquin, which has a bad habit of chipping the ends off
+words--was one of those brave young knights of Aragon who fought
+with their King during his invasion and conquest of Majorca. When
+that war had ended happily for all but the Moors, the parent Lull,
+in company with the other nobles who had supported King Jaime the
+Conquistador, was rewarded with an estate in Majorca. And there,
+about six years later, his son Ramon was born.
+
+During his earlier manhood Ramon gave little hint of what he was
+ultimately to become. His behaviour was by no means sedate. Nay,
+more, it is on record that his love affairs were so numerous as to
+become a public scandal, which reached a climax on his riding on
+horseback into church in pursuit of a devout lady whom he madly
+adored.
+
+The fatal illness of this lady, by awakening his conscience and
+rousing him to a sense of sin, changed the current of his thoughts,
+and after a period of self-accusation and contrition, he decided not
+only to lead a better life, but to spend that life in the
+reformation of others.
+
+King Jaime, on being applied to, supplied the funds necessary for
+the carrying out of his project, and Lull erected a college at
+Miramar, where close by the house of the Archduke a fragment of the
+original chapel is still to be seen. His scheme was to teach
+thirteen monks Arabic, so that they could go forth as missionaries
+among the infidels. And Miramar, one of the most secluded spots on
+earth, as well as one of the most beautiful, he deemed a suitable
+place for study.
+
+But the scheme failed. Why, the chroniclers do not say. Perhaps the
+students, being merely human, wearied of the restrictions of
+existence in that seminary perched on the hill-side between the
+mountains and the sea, and pined for company.
+
+The project was abandoned. A later record speaks of King Sancho,
+grandson of the Conquistador, visiting Miramar in quest of relief
+from the asthma with which he was afflicted, and residing at the
+Arabic College.
+
+Lull, nothing daunted by the defection of his pupils, alone put into
+execution his plan of carrying the truth into other lands. We hear
+of his preaching Christ in Africa and being rewarded with stripes.
+Then we are told of his travelling in the Holy Land. Later he
+appears in Paris, in Egypt, and even in England, writing books and
+teaching.
+
+In spite of besetting dangers, Lull's life of study and propagandism
+lasted beyond the ordinary term of man. When he was an octogenarian,
+and probably weary of the struggle, he desired to quit the world in
+a blaze of glory; and, as the best means of attaining his end,
+returned to Africa, where earlier he had been received with
+contumely and severely beaten. There Lull met the fate he coveted:
+for continuing to preach openly and persistently, he was stoned to
+death at Bugia in June, 1315.
+
+Some Genoese disciples who had begged for his bruised and broken
+body brought it tenderly back to his birthplace. We had seen the
+spot of its interment in the beautiful church of San Francisco, at
+Palma, a Gothic temple of the thirteenth century, that vies in
+antiquity with the Cathedral. One of the chapels in the transept to
+the left of the high altar gives sepulture to the aged martyr. The
+effigy shown is that of an old man lying on his side, as though to
+signify that his unwavering and indomitable spirit had at last
+gained rest.
+
+We had spoken tentatively of Lull to Fernando, and Fernando had not
+only admitted a knowledge of the old-world frequenter of his slopes,
+but had volunteered to take us to visit his cave, a sanctuary high
+on the mountain-side above Miramar, where Lull was wont to go when
+he felt the need of seclusion. And at ten next morning we were
+waiting, expectant.
+
+But at ten Fernando, just returned from his morning's work on the
+farm, was at breakfast. So we went to the _mirador_, below the
+Hospederia, and spent the minutes of waiting enjoying the view that,
+no matter how often we saw it, always wore a different aspect.
+
+This morning, though the sun was shining on the sea and on the
+olives that covered the lower slopes, the higher peaks were obscured
+by filmy scarves of mist, and scarcely perceptible wisps were
+floating about the mountain sides, giving an air of mystery and
+grandeur to the lofty heights.
+
+Then Fernando appeared wiping his moustached lips, which already
+held the inevitable cigarette. Under his guidance we moved along the
+highroad until we came to a gate where a cross fixed to the post
+betokened monastery ground. A sandalled monk passing by gave us
+grave greeting. There the ascent began at once, the path zigzagging
+about on the terraced slopes that were thickly planted with olives.
+The undergrowth was bright with the vivid green foliage and
+brilliant scarlet berries of the winter cherry.
+
+Up and up we mounted, Fernando and the Boy walking lightly in
+advance, we others lagging a little behind, until we felt like birds
+seeking some mountain aerie; till looking down we saw nothing but a
+steeply shelving forest of tree tops, or looking up caught a glimpse
+of mist-obscured crags.
+
+The path wound about along narrow ledges and up crazy, almost
+obliterated steps, until with the suddenness of a surprise the track
+branched off to a ledge on the right, and we saw, set in the face of
+the solid rock, a little wicket gate.
+
+It was so long since the gate had been opened that it necessitated a
+strong effort on the part of Fernando's broad shoulders before it
+would consent to open.
+
+Within, the unexpected awaited us. Set in the wall of the cave
+facing the door was an old bas-relief carving that had evidently
+marked the place of the altar before which the saint had been wont
+to worship. The passing of the centuries has gradually blurred the
+outlines of the carving: still we could see the form of the Virgin
+and Child, and the worshipping figure of an angel. Behind the group
+was a background of palms.
+
+The wall still held a faint trace of fresco, and from the side hung
+the socket--in the shape of a bird--for an antique lamp.
+
+There was something so attractive, and even homely, in the cave,
+that we required no great effort of imagination to fancy Lull
+choosing it as his hermitage, and escaping thither when he yearned
+for a space to be free from the society of the thirteen monks who so
+soon had tired of their task.
+
+That raised ledge might have served for a couch; this stone seemed
+the right height for a seat; a small window hewn in the side
+admitted sufficient light did the recluse wish to study. In the wall
+was a natural basin, which to this day, except when long-continued
+drought has dried up all the watercourses, holds a supply of fresh
+water.
+
+It seemed to us that Lull had chosen an ideal place of seclusion in
+the rock-dwelling set far up in the pure air, where no sound save
+the twitter of bird or the far-off murmur of the sea could break the
+solemnity of his thoughts.
+
+Everything about the cave bespoke its antiquity. The trees that
+fronted the entrance were hoary with age and fringed with lichen.
+And on the hill-side above, amidst moss-grown trees and blooming
+heath, a tall cross had been erected in memory of the recluse whose
+haven it once had been.
+
+There was yet another cave that Fernando had promised to show us;
+one of worldly, not of religious uses this time. It was the place
+where in not very remote ages smugglers concealed the contraband
+goods that they had succeeded in landing on the coast below. So,
+leaving the cell of Ramon Lull, we followed our guide, clambering
+higher and yet higher, and speedily getting into the dim twilight of
+forests that might have existed since the beginning of the world, so
+venerable were they, so thickly mossed and festooned with grey-green
+lichen.
+
+The signs of foliage were of the scantiest. Many trees revealed no
+more than half a dozen leaves set at the extreme tips of the
+lichen-furred branches. And all about was a huddled waste of
+stones--the debris that collects at the base of great mountains. In
+these gloomy recesses where daylight never enters there was no
+indication of life--no flutter of startled bird, not even a
+scurrying beetle. All was still and weird.
+
+On hastened the light-footed Fernando, and on we followed more
+ponderously, marvelling how he knew his way where we could see no
+trace of a path. Suddenly branching off to the right, over the rough
+rocks, he preceded us to where, low down amongst a tumbled heap of
+boulders, a slight crevice showed. Smiling, he glanced back at us,
+then bent down and disappeared. Close on his heels the Boy followed.
+And both had vanished off the face of the earth, leaving us gaping
+at the mouth of the exaggerated rabbit burrow that had seemingly
+swallowed them up. We, wisely, did not attempt to enter. The
+prospect of a rough scramble did not tempt us.
+
+On his return to the surface the Boy described the interior of the
+cave as both wide and lofty. But I must confess the idea of the
+smugglers conveying their illicit cargoes from the beach all that
+distance up the steep mountain-side to store it in a cavern that was
+on the way to nowhere seemed absurd. It assuredly was inaccessible.
+And it spoke well for the vigilance of the carbineers that the
+_contrabandistas_ could find no more convenient place of
+concealment.
+
+But had Majorca not been free from the bandit plague, what a
+glorious place that would have been for brigands in which to keep
+prisoned the rich foreigners they were holding for ransom!
+
+In some such unattainable holes and crannies of the heights must the
+mountain Moors have existed during the two years that passed before
+their chief surrendered to the Conquistador.
+
+Just beyond the smugglers' cave were the fragmentary remains of a
+monastery, so old and long deserted that the lichen-fringed trees
+had rooted as deeply within the ruined walls of its chambers as
+without in the forest.
+
+Still further we went, keeping close on the heels of our untiring
+leader, for the track sloped downwards now and the going was easier.
+Once more we were in the region of trees that seemed alive, not
+merely fossilized and moss-grown.
+
+Like a born guide, Fernando had reserved the most charming part of
+the excursion to the last. All unexpectedly he brought us to where,
+on an outjutting pinnacle of rock, the Archduke had erected a
+chapel. From the stone seats placed round its base we had an
+enchanting and yet more comprehensive view than ever before of the
+scene that, from whatever point we chanced to see it, never failed
+to give us a fresh thrill of delight.
+
+And wasn't I glad to sit down!
+
+We had felt so much at home at the Hospederia and so enthralled with
+this new world of steeps and silences that, when the last of our
+three days had come, we felt sincerely sorry to leave it.
+
+In torrid summer weather, when the southern plains of the island lie
+baking in the sun, it would be impossible to imagine a more charming
+way of escape from the heat than to rest under the shades of leafy
+Miramar, or to sit at ease in one of the cunningly placed
+_miradors_ "looking lazy at the sea" and the everlasting hills.
+
+But the law is inexorable. When his three days' free lodging has
+come to an end each guest must move on to make room for others. A
+wise provision; for, had it not been so ruled, the first travellers
+who filled these beds and ate at these tables would never have left
+the Hospederia--they would have been there yet!
+
+Our next stopping-place was to be Sóller, a town that is envalleyed
+amid the highest mountains in the island. Sóller is ten miles
+distant from Miramar, and the question was how we were to get
+transported thither. At the Hospederia we were quite out of the way
+of traffic. Not even a diligence lumbered by.
+
+Fernando, coming to our rescue, offered to negotiate with a farmer
+for the use of a cart. It was the ploughing season, the busiest time
+of the year for both men and mules, but he succeeded in arranging
+that we could have the loan of a conveyance of some kind at two
+o'clock that afternoon for ten pesetas.
+
+The morning had been wet. Happily not with the drenching, torrential
+rain of these latitudes, but with an insinuating moisture
+reminiscent of the Scottish Highlands. Disregarding it, we made the
+most of the few hours at our disposal, seeking, and finding, fresh
+walks and wonders in our surroundings.
+
+One thing I remember that specially interested us in the terraced
+olive plantations of Miramar, was the method of throwing a little
+stone bridge from one walled terrace to another across the bed of
+the river. There was no water in the channel, the bed was dry and
+mossy. As we looked up at the succession of bridgelets, each flanked
+on either side by short flights of stone steps, it seemed to typify
+the extreme of the elaborate and painstaking system of culture that
+prevails all over the island.
+
+With appetites sharpened by the famed air of Miramar we had lunched
+off goats' milk, the toasted remains of our half cartwheel of rye
+bread, and something I had confidently expected would prove to be
+an omelet, but which turned out to be something entirely different.
+It was eatable, however, even delectable, and we devoured it to the
+last yellow fragment, then waited the arrival of our carriage.
+
+It came at last. And as it drew up in front of the Hospederia we
+looked first at it, then at each other, in silent dismay.
+
+In place of the roomy farm cart drawn by mules that we had expected
+to see, the conveyance was one of the gaily painted, two-wheeled
+cockleshells in which Majorcan farmers go a-junketing. It would have
+been an admirable vehicle for two people. Viewed as a means of
+carrying four with luggage, it at first sight seemed absolutely
+impracticable.
+
+"Oh, it's all right; I'll walk," said the Boy, regardless of the
+fact that ten long miles of wet road lay between us and the Hotel
+Marina at Sóller.
+
+Our luggage was as little as a party of three could be expected to
+require during a week's expedition, comprising as it did only one
+large portmanteau, a suit-case, some sketching materials, and a
+couple of rugs. Yet compared with the size of the conveyance it
+appeared of enormous dimensions.
+
+Nothing daunted by the overwhelming bulk of his prospective load,
+the driver put the suit-case under the seat, propped the big
+portmanteau up on it, and invited me to get in. That done, allowing
+a modicum of space for himself, the carriage was full.
+
+Obviously that plan would not do. Again we looked at each other in
+despair. Fortunately the driver was a man of resource. Hauling out
+the big bag, he wrapped it in a sail-like canvas cover, and,
+producing fragments of rope from all his pockets, proceeded to tie
+it on at the back of the cart. Running into the house, Netta brought
+more rope for its better security. With the load hanging behind, it
+seemed as though the tiny vehicle were already overweighted; but its
+capacity for endurance proved greater than we anticipated. The Man
+got in, the Boy got in, the driver also mounted. All three were
+jammed into a narrow seat for two. I was squeezed in somewhere at
+the back, and at last our journey began.
+
+As we drove on the feeling of insecurity lessened; we forgot to
+expect the cart to tip up. Our mule proved himself a good goer, and
+we early learned to adapt ourselves to conditions--to lean forwards
+going uphill, to incline backwards when the way led downwards.
+
+Though the mist still blurred the mountains the coast scenery was
+magnificent. The road, which lay half-way between sea and
+mountain-top, was bordered on either side by olive plantations.
+About three miles from the Hospederia it curved inwards into the
+most beautiful valley I had ever seen.
+
+[Illustration: A Tight Fit]
+
+Houses that looked like nests, so thickly were they surrounded by
+luxuriant foliage, were scattered about the lower parts of the hills
+that on three sides rose steeply; on the fourth the land declined
+gently to the Mediterranean.
+
+Here there were no jealous walls to hedge in the gardens. Oranges,
+lemons, and figs in full fruitage overhung the highway. Tall palms
+rose overhead, and down by a fountain women were washing. It was the
+village of Deyá, a sleepy nest seven miles from even a diligence,
+but, even seen through a blur of rain, a place of exquisite beauty.
+
+"We must come back here."
+
+"Yes, we'll come back----"
+
+"And stay a month," we agreed, as we had done about so many charming
+spots that we had got just a glimpse of, and as we were fated to do
+about so many more before our sojourn in these lovely isles came to
+a close.
+
+We would gladly have lingered to explore the beauties of Deyá, but
+the delay at starting had already encroached on the November
+afternoon, and the greater portion of our journey was yet to come.
+So the men, who had got down to walk through the village, remounted,
+and once more, huddled up together, off we joggled, out of the
+lovely valley and along a cliff-road where, among the grey-green
+olive-trees, girls in skirts of vivid scarlet were gathering the
+fallen fruit.
+
+It was five o'clock and dusk was already falling when we descended
+the zigzag road leading into Sóller and, passing a picturesque old
+cross, turned into a modern-looking street planted on either side
+with trees.
+
+"What I want to see now," I said, deliberately shutting my eyes to
+the scenery, "is a hotel with electric light, and a good fire, and
+German waiters, and French cookery."
+
+"Don't be hateful," retorted the Boy. "But it doesn't matter; you
+won't see it. My only fear is that they won't be able to take us
+in."
+
+The rain, which was now falling more heavily, had sent the townsfolk
+indoors. The only wayfarer in sight was a venerable gentleman who,
+as he sat astride a panniered donkey, protected himself from the
+rain with a large umbrella.
+
+Turning with a final jolt, we drew up in front of the Hotel Marina,
+whose wide glass doors opened hospitably to receive us.
+
+There was no question of lack of room, fortunately, but the
+dinner-hour was yet two hours ahead, and even the satisfaction
+derived from the omelet (which wasn't really an omelet) was already
+a vague memory. But we are people of resource. While I boiled the
+unfailing tea-kettle the men foraged, returning with provender in
+the shape of crisply toasted _bizcochos_ and _cocas_, and we had a
+cosy tea that enabled us to possess our bodies in patience until the
+dinner-hour.
+
+The waiter who served us was German, the cookery revealed more than
+a suspicion of French influence, the electric light was brilliant,
+and there was a cheery fire. But even the Boy did not complain.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+SÓLLER
+
+
+Though a longer acquaintance reveals many charming and wholly
+Majorcan characteristics, at first sight Sóller resembles a Swiss
+town, so closely do the high mountains encircle it. The likeness is
+emphasized when, as occasionally happens in winter, the double crest
+of the Puig Major is tipped with snow.
+
+With the exception of Palma, Sóller was the only Balearic town in
+which we had slept. Half unconsciously we found ourselves putting
+them in comparison, to discover that while each is, after its own
+fashion, delightful, they are entirely dissimilar.
+
+Palma, "compactly built together," stands, crowded a little, within
+its city walls, its feet lapped by the sea, a fertile plain behind
+it, while Sóller stretches itself at ease among its hills, with
+abundant elbow-room, in a fruitful orange grove. Water is a precious
+thing in Palma, where drinking-water in quaint Moorish stone jars is
+hawked through the streets, while a striking and refreshing feature
+of Sóller is the abundance of running water. It flowed--a little
+sluggishly perhaps, for the rains had not yet come--over the stony
+bed of the _torrente_; it gushed unchecked from the street
+fountains; it ran along cunningly contrived stone conduits and
+turned mills.
+
+[Illustration: Sóller]
+
+There are no rivers in Majorca. The beds of the _torrentes_ that
+ought to be rivers are often so dry that they resemble rough
+sun-baked roads. It was so many weeks since we had seen even a
+thread of running water that the sound of its flow was music in our
+ears. As a full and free supply of pure water is essential to the
+well-being of a town, one easily understands how Sóller has the
+advantage of Palma in health conditions. The absorbent soil of
+Sóller ensures freedom from rheumatism, and the old people remain
+hale and hearty to the close of lives that in many cases come within
+nodding distance of a century.
+
+Perhaps it was owing to the absence of the military, or the want of
+a railway--though Sóller has one in the making--or of the close
+vicinity of a port, but to our cursory view Sóller appeared less
+gay, and its people seemed to lack the irresponsible smiling
+light-heartedness of Palma folks.
+
+There were architectural differences also. To enter one of the
+better-class houses in the larger city one crosses a _patio_, or
+open courtyard, and having ascended a stair, knocks at a door; while
+in Sóller one steps directly from the street into a large hall, on
+either side of which, close to the wall, are set a long row of
+chairs all of similar design. Here visitors are received, and, as
+far as we could judge, penetrate no further.
+
+Sóller has few of the flat roof-tops or windows that are so
+prominent a feature of the old Moorish capital, but Sóller has more
+chimneys; in the stillness of early morning the faint blue haze of
+wood fires overhangs the town.
+
+Our first day at Sóller opened dull and grey. Much rain had fallen
+in the night. The streets were damp, the mountains mist-shrouded.
+The Boy and I felt depressed and cross. The Man, who had already
+discerned picturesque possibilities in the unique situation of the
+place, put a sketch-book in his pocket and went off in search of a
+typical subject. The Boy and I prowled about the narrow streets,
+allowing ourselves to be annoyed at everything--at the mud, at the
+Sunday crowds, and at the way they stared at us.
+
+In the square before the church was a busy little market. At the
+corner of the square, near where one gets a lovely view of the
+_torrente_ overhung by the balconies of crooked old houses, some of
+the ramshackle vehicles that convey marketers to and from the port
+of Sóller were waiting.
+
+"Let's go and have a look at the port," proposed the Boy. "Those
+people look at us as if we were wild beasts. And it will be better
+than hanging about here in the mud."
+
+The shower that had been threatening all the morning was beginning
+to fall, so I agreed. Selecting the coach that seemed on the point
+of starting, we took our seats. A young couple, an old couple, and
+half a dozen market baskets overflowing with greenstuff, shared the
+interior with us. Three more people and several more baskets mounted
+to the box, and, just as the rain began to patter heavily on the
+canvas roof, we drove off, glad to have secured the temporary
+shelter.
+
+The way from Sóller to its port seems to lie through an orange
+grove, so closely is it flanked on either side with gardens full of
+the shining leaves and golden fruit. It was sad to learn that a
+blight had attacked the crop in the lower part of the valley, and to
+see in one orchard a heap of trees, plucked up by the roots with the
+fruit still thick on the branches, waiting to be burnt.
+
+As we drove slowly along we met many country people townwards bent
+to mass or market. Long usage in sunshine and shadow had streaked
+the original hue of their great cotton umbrellas with broad lines of
+lighter tint--lines that until one guessed the cause looked like
+elaborately decorative stripes.
+
+By the time we had reached the entrance to the landlocked harbour
+the rain had ceased. Fitful gleams of sunshine broke through the
+clouds, and the air was soft and pleasant.
+
+Except from one point of view the natural harbour resembled a quiet
+inland lake. There was no sign of the near proximity of the sea. To
+the left rose a bold headland crowned by a lighthouse. To the right
+was a long sweep of bay lined at the farther end by a row of houses,
+before which small craft lay at anchor. Swart fishermen in red caps
+and yellow boots lounged by the doors of the cafés.
+
+Just beyond the houses the steamer _Villa de Sóller_, that makes
+periodical trips between the port, Barcelona and Cette, was loading
+boxes of the oranges for which the district is famed. Farther on was
+a second lighthouse.
+
+Climbing the steps that rose steeply between the two rows of houses,
+we reached the summit of the rocky promontory. Rusty cannon, their
+work long over, lay at rest in front of the old chapel that crowns
+the eminence. Before us lay the placid land-encircled sheet of
+water, behind us was a wall. Glancing over, we discovered, to our
+surprise and pleasure, that instead of the country landscape we had
+somehow expected to see, the ground fell sheer down to where the
+purple-blue Mediterranean ceaselessly surged beneath.
+
+The unexpected transition from the peaceful inland lake surrounded
+by mist-flecked mountains to a precipitous coast was curiously
+interesting. A moment earlier, with the moisture-laden air blowing
+softly in our faces, we could have imagined ourselves in the heart
+of the Scots Highlands. Now, by the mere turning of a head, we were
+gazing across a great tideless sea.
+
+A capacious coach, in which we chanced to be the only passengers,
+conveyed us back to Sóller and deposited us at the door of the Hotel
+Marina, where the Man, who had spent the morning sketching on a
+mountain-slope, was waiting to join us at luncheon.
+
+The town was busy when, later in the day, we made a tour of
+inspection, finding fresh interest at every turn. A row of bananas
+rich in pod, a group of quaint old-world houses, a great palm
+rearing its stately head, its thick clusters of orange-red fruit
+stems heavily beaded with shining yellow fruit.
+
+There was leisure in the air. It was evidently the visiting hour. In
+the entrance halls, in full view of the passing public, comely dames
+sat chatting all in a row, like the pretty maids in the garden of
+Mary-Mary-Quite-Contrary.
+
+To us it always seemed odd to see the gossipers seated side by side
+in a formal line--a position that one would imagine was not
+conducive to the exchange of confidences.
+
+The suggestion of French influence in the architecture of certain of
+the newer houses was explained by the fact that when natives of
+Sóller leave the island to seek their fortune they rarely go further
+than France--an easy journey with the _Villa de Sóller_ sailing at
+frequent intervals from the port to Cette. And when the exiles
+return--as they invariably do, for the emigrant Majorcan's sole
+desire is to make money that he may settle in his own country--they
+naturally import some of the ideas and tastes of the nation with
+which they have sojourned.
+
+French influence, too, was noticeable in the way the women dressed
+their hair. In many instances, particularly among the younger women,
+the pigtail and the _rebozillo_, or head-handkerchief, had given
+place to an elaborately dressed coiffure.
+
+All night the full moon had illumined a sleepy world. When I looked
+out at six o'clock it was still visible, though the light of the
+hidden sun was already flushing with roseate tints the highest
+mountain-tops. Over the valley the azure smoke of wood fires lay
+softly, and the sweet, sickly fragrance of steaming chocolate was in
+the air.
+
+The valley was still partly in shadow when after breakfast the Man
+went out to resume work. Leaving the Boy to his own devices, I went
+with him.
+
+The country immediately surrounding Sóller is so full of roads all
+beautiful, and paths all picturesque, that it is often difficult,
+even for those who know the district well, to find the way they look
+for. After a little winding in and out of the twisted streets we
+came upon the expected road--a track leading upwards towards the
+olive terraces.
+
+From the steep slope where we sat it was curious to watch the
+progress of the sun as it rose over the mountain-tops to note how,
+as it climbed higher, the shadows shortened, the moist streets
+dried, the chill vanished from the atmosphere, and new shadows crept
+over the sunlit sides of the surrounding hills.
+
+Beneath us ran the _torrente_, and from the roads on either side of
+its banks came the sound of wayfarers entering or leaving the town.
+The air was full of cheerful sounds, of the rattle of wheels, or the
+tinkle of bells and the bleat of lambs as a flock was driven by. The
+atmosphere was so clear that we caught the swift musical note of a
+church clock, and the sound of a gunshot reverberated among the
+hills like a peal of thunder.
+
+The few passers-by gave us kindly greeting. Two old women returning
+from market, a bevy of young girls on their way to gather the fallen
+olives, an old couple trotting briskly beside their panniered
+donkey--all had time to smile and wish us "Good-day."
+
+As the sun became stronger I rose and wandered on, up the steep,
+cobbled road, past the gardens where the oranges hung golden,
+looking for wild flowers. Even in the days of late November one
+rarely looks in vain for wild flowers in Majorca; and this morning,
+strolling along by the runnels of water, where the delicate
+maidenhair fern grew in profusion, I saw twining about the ivy
+berries in the hedge a lovely creeper that was new to me.
+
+Set at regular intervals on a slender brown stem, it bore clusters
+of glossy green foliage and drooping florets and buds. The blossoms,
+which had four petals, were cream-hued and flecked inside with
+crimson. It was a dainty and distinctive trailer. Even in its
+natural state it was difficult to imagine a more graceful wreath. A
+passer-by of whom I asked its name called it _Sylvestris montana_,
+and volunteered the information that, though it luxuriated on dry
+walls, no one could succeed in inducing it to grow in gardens.
+
+Following the path as it wound about the side of the hill, I found
+myself by easy stages rising high amid the olive terraces. There
+were silver-white olives beneath me, silver-white olives above me.
+The voices of the invisible gatherers mingled harmoniously with the
+music of the running water. A soothing sense of peace lay over all.
+
+I think it was then that I fell in love with Sóller.
+
+There are places that at first sight you are entranced with, and in
+two days find you have exhausted. Sóller is decidedly not one of
+these. At the close of the third day of our stay in the
+hill-encradled town we felt as though we had hardly yet had more
+than a glimpse of its beauties, so many and varied are they. It is
+said that you can stay at Sóller for two months and go for a
+different walk every day--and I believe it.
+
+From the first waking moments, when one could see the rising sun
+illumine the hill-tops, until, with its sinking, the grand crest of
+the Puig Mayor--the Greater Peak--was garbed in celestial glory, the
+day was a succession of artistic delights.
+
+Sóller had for us an added charm in the companionship of congenial
+fellow-visitors--an English lady who appreciates the beauty of the
+place and the homely, good qualities of its people so highly that
+she spends long periods there, and an enthusiastic young artist from
+the Argentine who, with the world to choose from, elects to paint at
+Sóller.
+
+Under their guidance we had driven to Biniaraix and, alighting,
+mounted the _Barranco_--a wonderful path by which the peasant
+proprietors reach the olive-trees that their untiring care in the
+preparation of the stony soil and their skill in husbandry have
+persuaded to grow on every possible--and, one might almost add,
+impossible--ledge of the rocky steeps.
+
+The Barranco, which was like a series of low, broad steps, zigzagged
+between the mountains like some eccentric, never-ending staircase.
+As we went up and up we paused often to look down to where, deep in
+the valley, Sóller lay embowered in its orange gardens. And while we
+climbed we marvelled at the ceaseless industry of a race that is
+willing to expend so much time and toil to reap so small a return.
+
+On the following afternoon we drove to Fornalutx, a little antique
+town three miles from Sóller. Fornalutx is the point from which
+expeditions start to climb the Puig Mayor.
+
+The little town, which is built from the warm, amber-brown stone of
+the hill-side on which it perches, is very old. There does not seem
+to be a yard of straight street within its bounds. The houses are
+set down pell-mell, anyhow and anywhere. A delightful lack of
+uniformity reigns supreme. An orange orchard pokes itself in here, a
+vine trellis projects there, a flight of steps interjects its
+crooked way at every corner.
+
+And it is all pictures!
+
+The Painter, who knew the place, reflecting our pleasure, hurried us
+on to see a good subject, and another good subject, and yet another.
+
+As we passed up a quaint side street the tinkle of mandolines fell
+gratefully on our ears, and we paused before the open doorway from
+which the sound issued. Green branches and tissue-paper frills
+decorated the entrance; within, some sort of merrymaking was in
+progress.
+
+[Illustration: The Mandoline Player]
+
+A group of pinafored urchins who were hanging about outside told us
+that it was the _fiesta_ of the master of the house.
+
+It was rude, inquisitive, and wholly inexcusable, of course, but,
+incited thereto by curiosity, we drew nearer and nearer until we
+could see into the room which opened directly from the street, and
+wherein a young girl and a grey-haired man were seated, mandolines
+on knees, playing a duet. They performed without music but in
+perfect harmony.
+
+The girl, who was dark-eyed and pretty, was attired gaily in honour
+of the festivity. She wore a red skirt, a pale-green bodice, and an
+elaborately embroidered white apron. Blue ribbons adorned her
+well-oiled hair, silver bracelets and rings decorated her slender
+wrists and skilful fingers. The man was evidently her father. In the
+background we got an impression of guests and of a presiding
+matronly presence.
+
+With a final flourish the melody ceased.
+
+"Bravo!" we cried, and clapped our hands.
+
+It was no longer possible to ignore the presence of the impertinent
+foreigners. Indeed, it almost seemed as though the sociable
+Majorcans welcomed the opportunity of recognizing our uninvited
+appearance. For, as we turned to go, the mistress of the house
+hurried out, a hastily vacated chair in either hand, to urge us to
+enter, and would take no refusal.
+
+Within, the guests had rearranged themselves. Retiring further into
+the room, they had left space for us. It would have been
+discourteous to reject the hospitality so unaffectedly offered.
+
+Our little party was soon grouped inside the doorway, and the
+father, whose _fiesta_ it was, laying aside his mandoline, seated
+himself at an old piano, and the concert began afresh, the daughter
+playing the mandoline to her father's accompaniment on the venerable
+instrument. The company, which included two priests, smoked as it
+listened appreciatively.
+
+On the centre table was a liqueur-stand, two decanters of red wine,
+and a large round dish holding a giant _enciamada_. When the music
+ended and we rose to go, the hostess advanced carrying the
+liqueur-stand, and, doing the honours with an ease of manner and
+dignity of bearing that might have adorned any social rank, she
+insisted on pouring out a little glass of _aniset_ for each of us.
+Having drunk to the health of the hero of the _fiesta_, we made our
+farewells and departed, delighted with this chance glimpse of placid
+and happy home-life, and wondering what manner of reception a party
+of curious intrusive foreigners who disturbed the peace of a family
+gathering would have met in our own conservative country.
+
+That afternoon at Fornalutx was fated to be one of those that stand
+clearly out in the memory, not because of any special adventure or
+of any great occurrence, but simply because it held a succession of
+captivating little incidents, of happy chances.
+
+Passing down a narrow street of steps we came upon an old house
+whose wide outer court tempted us to enter. Exploring, we found
+ourselves in an olive oil factory. In the inner chamber a patient
+mule, his eyes blindfolded by having miniature straw baskets tied
+over them, was walking sedately round, supplying the force that
+crushed the olives, and from the press the oil was gushing in
+streams that went to fill the vats underneath the floor.
+
+On the outside wall of the post office a caged bird was singing
+cheerily. Next door was the prison, but that cage was empty. The
+barred window of its cell opened breast-high on the street, but
+spiders had, undisturbed, woven webs across its bars, and the key
+stood in the door. Evidently malefactors are scarce in the quaint
+hill-town.
+
+Leaving the crooked streets, we strolled up the side of the
+_torrente_, which flowed amidst orange orchards and by the sides of
+picturesque houses. Pomegranate-trees, their dainty foliage flecked
+with autumnal gold, had rooted in the high banks by the water, and
+the unplucked rose-red fruit had already supplied many a luxurious
+meal for the birds. Were I a bird I would elect to build my nest at
+Fornalutx, for there I would be sure to find an abundance of good
+food. Figs bursting with ripeness hung on the trees, and all around
+were oranges, and vines, and yet more oranges.
+
+Far up the precipitous hill-path, at a point so high that it
+afforded a glorious view of Sóller, we came upon a farm-house known
+to our friends.
+
+The occupants, greeting us kindly, took us into the most curious
+kitchen imaginable. Goatskins covered the ceiling, and in the centre
+was a place where seats encircled a charcoal brazier--a Majorcan
+"cosy corner," where the household could sit and snugly toast their
+toes, when storms blew snell about the mountains and rain obscured
+the valley.
+
+The garden space in front of the farm-house had been turned into a
+great bower by a huge vine that, trained along a trellis, cast over
+it a pleasant shade.
+
+[Illustration: At Fornalutx]
+
+It was late in the season--the last day of November--yet a few
+glorious clusters of grapes, the berries all golden and pink and
+wearing a bloom unmarred by touch of hand, hung heavy from its
+branches. Here another instance of native generosity awaited us, for
+the housewife, resolutely refusing recompense, sent us away laden
+with bunches. As we descended to where the carriage waited we must
+have presented something of the appearance of the returning spies
+that Moses had sent out to view the land of Canaan.
+
+The sun had set when we reached Fornalutx. Looking up from the
+crooked street towards the hills we saw the peak of the Puig Mayor
+stand out against the darkening eastern sky, sublime, magnificent,
+bathed in a flood of roseate light. It was a fitting climax to a day
+of quiet delights.
+
+We had entered Sóller wet and weary on Saturday night, knowing no
+one within many miles. When, on Wednesday afternoon, the diligence
+bound for Palma called at the Marina to pick us up, people of four
+different nationalities assembled round the coach door to bid us
+"God-speed."
+
+We would fain have lingered amid the oranges and palms of Sóller,
+but time was flying and we had much to see elsewhere.
+
+The diligence was full--so full that there would hardly have been
+space for an added thimble. It was our first experience of a
+Majorcan diligence, and we were interested to see how pleasantly the
+already closely packed passengers squeezed together to make room for
+new-comers, and to note how quietly they all sat, without fidgeting,
+with scarcely a change of position, during a drive that lasted over
+four hours.
+
+The window in front and those at the sides were shut, and remained
+so throughout the journey. Fortunately our seats were by the door,
+and through its big window, which we kept open, we had a splendid
+view.
+
+The highroad from Sóller to Palma is, I verily believe, one of the
+most curious ever made. Immediately after leaving the town it has to
+ascend 1,500 feet, which exploit it accomplishes by zigzagging at
+acute angles to the summit. That done, it zigzags down the other
+side.
+
+The progress uphill was necessarily slow, so slow indeed, that the
+driver, who had traversed that road daily for thirty years, left his
+sure-footed mules to guide themselves, and trotted along behind the
+coach smoking the eternal cigarette. And, while we revelled in the
+ever-varying views afforded by the constant change of direction, our
+fellow travellers gently dozed, with the exception of a round-eyed
+little girl, who, oppressed by the glory of her first hat and the
+excitement of her first journey, kept wide-awake.
+
+Up we went, every moment revealing some fresh effect of light and
+shadow in the enchanting mountains, past where the embryonic
+workings of the new light railway scarred the hillside. Up we went
+and up, catching little glimpses of the town nestling far beneath in
+its cradle of mountains, and seeing the last flash of sunset
+illumine their crests. As we mounted slowly the somnolence of our
+fellow passengers became more profound, and a portly father who was
+seated beside the little girl, to her evident alarm, lurched farther
+and farther in her direction, threatening altogether to efface her.
+The Man was on the point of going to the rescue, but the coach
+having reached the old carven cross that marks the summit, a sudden
+and vivifying change came over our manner of progress. The driver
+remounted the box beside the two motionless old women, whose
+black-shrouded figures we had seen silhouetted against the light,
+and off we set, at a pace that atoned for our crawl uphill.
+
+The more rapid motion wrought a transformation on our companions.
+All the slumberers awoke. The portly gentleman, simultaneously
+opening eyes and mouth, gazed down in astonishment at the child, as
+though during his doze she had materialized out of nothing. Lively
+expressions lit up the blank faces. The little old man in the corner
+began softly chanting one of the quaint native songs, that to me
+always sound like improvisations.
+
+It was already dusk when we stopped to change our three hardy mules
+at a wayside _fonda_: and the lights of Palma were sparkling through
+the December darkness when we drew up at the city gate for the
+_consumero's_ inspection.
+
+During our days of absence the gay little city seemed to have
+decided that winter had come. The soldiers had donned their heavy
+coats, and men were going about muffled in great cloaks: but leaves
+were still thick on the plane-trees in the Borne, and to us the air
+seemed still soft and pleasant.
+
+A few minutes later we were entering the Casa Tranquila with that
+feeling of absolute contentment that return to one's own home alone
+can afford.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Son Mas, Andraitx]
+
+X
+
+ANDRAITX
+
+
+A happy fortune more than good guiding led us to Andraitx. The Boy,
+painting at the port of Palma had seen the diligence, stuffed within
+with country folks and top-heavy without with their bundles, start
+with a gay jingle of bells for that little-known town, and was
+seized with a desire to visit it.
+
+Somewhat precipitately we engaged our seats in the following day's
+coach, and then proceeded to make inquiries about the place. Nobody,
+it seemed, had a good word to say of it, perhaps because no one went
+there. Baedeker scorned even to mention its name. There was only an
+inferior _fonda_, one informant said. There was no _fonda_ at all,
+amended another.
+
+The diligence left Palma at two o'clock, and the fee for the 30
+kilometros--over 20 miles--was two pesetas. Taking only a light
+suit-case, we locked the doors of the Casa Tranquila that glorious
+December afternoon, and walking down, reached in good time the
+little back-street café whence the coach started.
+
+Several passengers were already in waiting--a pleasant-faced old man
+and his comely wife in native dress, sundry peasant women muffled in
+shawls, one or two men whom the mistress of the café was serving
+with lunch. A little pile of luggage--bundles tied in brilliant
+kerchiefs, and market baskets--littered the floor. As we waited,
+more passengers arrived and more. We were glad our places had been
+secured.
+
+At five minutes before two the mail-bag appeared; and at ten minutes
+past, the diligence rattled down the narrow cobbled street and
+pulled up at the door of the café. It was a cumbrous and yet cramped
+vehicle lined with clean striped cotton.
+
+The slender mail-bag having been deposited in a hollow seat, the Man
+and I hopped briskly in and secured the places on either side of the
+door, which had a wide window, arguing away our consciences'
+accusation of selfishness by the excuse that we were probably the
+only passengers to whom the scenery would be new. Then the nice old
+country couple came in, followed by a huge matron with a little son;
+and a pretty young girl took the seat next to me. An old dame, who,
+in spite of the heat, was muffled into a living mummy, mounted
+beside the Boy on the box. The country women were packed into a
+hooded cart that was waiting to receive the overflow, the driver got
+up in front, and we were ready to start. It was already half an hour
+after starting-time, but we delayed until a nice little boy,
+attended by two juvenile shop-lads clad in overalls of check cotton,
+appeared to join us. As fitting preparation for his four-hour
+journey in the stuffy interior of the coach, careful relatives had
+enveloped the urchin in a heavy top-coat and wound a thick muffler
+round his neck. He was hauled into the coach, his luggage, which
+consisted of two large round bundles neatly tied in gaily striped
+handkerchiefs, went to swell the mound on the top, and off we set at
+last, only to halt at the bottom of the street to admit a woman of
+such appalling dimensions that she seemed to prove what the Boy
+declares is the Majorcan rule with regard to diligences--that they
+first fill them quite full, and then add a couple of the fattest
+people procurable.
+
+Clambering ponderously in she subsided with a flop between the other
+massive matron and the pretty girl. "Caramba!" exclaimed the pretty
+girl, and the journey began in earnest.
+
+Palma was brilliant in sunshine. Looking back as we crawled up the
+heights towards the Terreno, it glowed like a jewel in the strong
+sunlight. The sea was a vivid azure. Beyond the opposite shores of
+the bay the distant isle of Cabrera showed distinctly.
+
+As the road wound onwards in and out, we got glimpses of fairy-like
+inlets of the sea, of beautiful caves and tiny bays all sparkling in
+the sunshine. As we passed the hotel at Cas Catalá a German waiter
+appeared to get the newspaper from our driver, and we felt glad that
+our journey ended in a place where German waiters were unknown.
+
+Turning from the sea, the road passed among rocky slopes crowned
+with pines and olives. Amid the stones we caught sight of rosy heath
+and of great clumps of lavender rich in purple blossom. It was on
+this beautiful sloping country-side that the first great battle was
+fought between the troops of King Jaime and the hosts of the Moorish
+Amir. The fighting was severe; and, though the victory was his, the
+chroniclers of the period tell how the brave young King of Aragon
+wept when he learned of the loss of two nobles, brothers, who had
+been boon companions of his own. A tapestry in one of the chambers
+of the Casa Consistorial at Palma gives a pictorial rendering of the
+scene. And under a large pine by the wayside, nearly half-way
+between the capital and Andraitx, is a monument--a simple iron
+cross set on a stone pedestal--commemorating the valour of the
+Spaniards who lost their lives to help to free the Christians.
+
+When the way was uphill, and the coach lumbered slowly along,
+slumber crept over the passengers. When we again reached the level
+and the pace quickened, everybody awoke, and conversation became
+general; at least, as far as the native element was concerned. The
+Man and I yearned for a knowledge of Majorcan when the two plump
+ladies, whose tongues were their only active members, took turn
+about in relating what were evidently incidents of dramatic
+interest.
+
+Once or twice, when the road ascended some specially steep slope in
+zigzags, the coach stopped, and most of us got out and, crossing the
+hill by a short cut--we followed those who knew the way--rejoined it
+on the farther side. Needless to mention, the only two dames whose
+absence would have made any appreciable lessening in the weight
+remained fixtures.
+
+The two points of difference between Majorcan and British travellers
+that we had noticed on the drive from Sóller again impressed us. One
+was their quiet demeanour. They were not restless, they never
+fidgeted. They sat quite still, their hands placidly folded--except
+when a little gesticulation was necessary to adorn a tale. The
+second, which was even more unlike the British of the same class,
+was that though the journey was one of about four hours' duration
+they had made no provision for it. Even the small boy, or the little
+child, had not so much as a sweet or a biscuit to break the
+monotony.
+
+When, half-way, we stopped to change horses, the old man, who had
+been pleasantly interested in the feminine gossip, stepped lightly
+out, and returning with a large tin mug of water, handed it round.
+It was the pretty girl who, when it came to her turn to drink,
+gracefully declined the privilege in favour of me, saying, with a
+wave of her hand, "Ah, no! The señora first."
+
+The way was wild and romantic. Only at long intervals was there a
+house even by the road-side. Just at dusk we passed several open
+carts crowded with young olive-gatherers returning from work--a gay
+band, shouting and singing. After that the night appeared to fall
+suddenly upon the earth, and the new moon, a bright star poised
+above her, shone in the sky.
+
+A second diligence, starting from some other point, had joined us;
+and as we moved slowly along in company, the two lumbering
+heavily-laden coaches and the covered van, the little procession had
+something of the aspect of a party of emigrants travelling in quest
+of a new home.
+
+When the mysterious beauty of the half-lights had vanished, and the
+night gathered, we began to wonder why we had left the Casa
+Tranquila, where we had been so comfortable. We had no special
+reason for coming to Andraitx; there was no attraction to draw us
+thither. And even now we did not know if there was any place where
+we might sleep.
+
+Just before we entered the town the coach stopped a moment and the
+Boy came round to the door.
+
+"I've been consulting the driver," he said. "He recommends a place
+where he says we'll get the best cooking in Andraitx."
+
+"Is it an inn?" we asked.
+
+"No, I don't think it's exactly an _inn_, but the man has been a
+cook. His house is at this end of the town. The driver says he'll
+stop there if we like. Will that do?"
+
+It was quite dark now. We were cramped and tired, and the refuge
+that wasn't exactly an inn was at least near. We agreed that it
+would do.
+
+Three minutes later the diligence drew up in front of an open door,
+through which the light from a good oil lamp streamed into the
+blackness of the street.
+
+"This seems to be the place," said the Boy. "But it's a shop!"
+
+There was no opportunity for hesitation. Our luggage was already on
+the pavement. Turning to a tall, bearded man in a white apron who
+appeared in the doorway, we asked if he had accommodation.
+
+Yes, he had room, he replied; would we enter?--and, following him,
+we found ourselves in a wide, airy shop. On one side were shelves
+filled with delicacies. On the other were three great wine barrels.
+And on the floor stood the usual assortment of hampers and open
+baskets containing fruits and vegetables.
+
+At the back of the shop, sandwiched between it and the kitchen, was
+a neat little dining-room. And when we had been ushered in there the
+Boy, as our spokesman, proceeded, after the custom of the country,
+to ask terms--"What would be the charge for board and lodging, wine
+included, a day?"
+
+Our host hesitated. He was an exceptionally nice-looking man and
+spoke beautiful Spanish.
+
+"The terms? That would depend upon what one had. He could make any
+terms that suited, from one peseta and a half a day. But for four
+pesetas--_then_ he could do us really well."
+
+A bargain was quickly struck. We were to pay three pesetas and a
+half a day, wine and the little breakfast included; and our first
+meal was to be served as soon as it could be prepared.
+
+After a short stroll through the dark streets, and not a little
+conjecture concerning immediate happenings, we returned to our
+lodging. The glass doors of the little dining-room opened on to the
+shop, its window looked to the kitchen, where our host was already
+busy over the stove. The sound of quick footsteps overhead suggested
+that rooms were being prepared for our reception. Her parents being
+engaged, the shop had been left in charge of the daughter of the
+house, a pretty, dark-eyed child of seven years old.
+
+She made a charming little picture, as she sat amongst the scarlet
+_pimientos_ and the yellow lemons waiting for custom. And when a
+younger child, carrying a quart bottle, entered to buy a pennyworth
+of wine, the business-like way in which she placed the funnel in the
+bottle, and filling the measure from the barrel poured it in without
+spilling a drop, delighted us. As also did the accustomed way in
+which she dropped the penny into the table-drawer that served as
+till.
+
+Before we had time to grow impatient our hostess, looking like an
+adult copy of her child, appearing, spread the table neatly with
+clean linen and shining crystal, then set before us a dish of rolls,
+one of olives, and small plates of spiced sausage and ham. Then the
+host entered carrying a bottle of a good brand of imported claret
+that he had taken from his shelves, and a syphon of seltzer.
+
+We were nibbling at the appetizers, trying to restrain ourselves
+from making a meal of them, when an excellent soup was served.
+
+"If I could choose, I know what I'd have next--a big fat omelet,"
+the Boy said, as he finished his plate of soup. And on the thought,
+as though in answer to his wish, the landlord entered bearing a fine
+opulent omelet stuffed with green peas. When we had eaten that, he
+was waiting to replace it with a dish of delicately browned veal
+cutlets, savoury potatoes fried in butter, and more green peas. A
+sweet course is so rarely served in Majorca that it was a pleasant
+surprise to find the cutlets followed by a mould of the native
+preserve, _membrillo_ (quince) jelly, and pastry turn-overs. The
+dessert consisted of a pyramid of mandarin oranges cut with stems
+and leaves. It was a surprisingly complete meal to be served on an
+hour's notice in the back shop of a little unknown out-of-the-world
+town.
+
+The rooms allotted to us comprised the whole floor above. The _salon_,
+which was to the front, had two handsome wardrobes--wardrobes would
+seem to be as often placed in sitting-rooms as in bedrooms in
+Majorca--a chest of drawers, several comfortable chairs. The beds,
+with their lace-trimmed and monogrammed linen, were perfection. As we
+fell asleep we blessed the happy chance that had led us to so much
+more comfortable quarters than we had anticipated finding.
+
+Breakfast, of French chocolate and hot buttered rolls, served to
+confirm the good impression of the previous night.
+
+The ambition of my infancy--to keep a little shop--threatened to
+return as, from the stronghold of our neat little dining-room, we
+watched the life of the shop, a portion of whose trade appeared to
+consist of barter. First a woman entered with a basket of glowing
+sun-kissed pomegranates which she exchanged for macaroni and other
+groceries. She was quickly followed by a man who had a hamper of
+lemons and a bag of the scarlet waxen pods of the sweet pepper to
+dispose of.
+
+While the chocolate was still in process of consumption our host,
+courteously solicitous respecting our comfort of the night, waited
+on us, his tall, slender form begirt with an apron of spotless
+purity, on which was also embroidered the family monogram.
+
+From our concerns the conversation naturally passed to his, and with
+the simple friendliness of the Majorcan he told us his life-story.
+Told how, like most of the Andraitx lads, he had early left home to
+seek his fortune, but while most of his companions had become
+sailors, he had chosen to make cooking his profession. A course of
+years passed as a _chef_ in Havanna and other places had gained him
+the nest-egg he desired. Returning to his native town while still a
+comparatively young man, he had taken this shop, married to his
+liking, and settled down in comfort.
+
+There was neither sun nor wind. The air was calm and cool. It was a
+splendid day for exploring a new locality. But Andraitx was still a
+sealed letter to us. We did not even know what to look for.
+
+When we arrived on the previous night the town had been shrouded in
+darkness. So it was a charming surprise after we had mounted the
+commonplace street to find that in situation Andraitx resembled a
+miniature Sóller. Hills, some crowned by windmills, enclosed it on
+every side. Passing through the market square we climbed the
+eminence on which perched the quaint old church, and looking back,
+saw the town lying in the hollow beneath us; and to the north-west,
+its mouth guarded by sentinel hills, the wide inlet of the sea that
+marked the port.
+
+Within the church, gloom and silence held possession. A little
+distance off was the walled cemetery. Leaving an environment that
+threatened to depress us, we scrambled down the farther side of the
+rocky incline, and, finding a path, followed it.
+
+The path, chosen at random, passed in front of Son Mas, a quaint old
+building whose tower bore signs of great antiquity. The place was
+evidently now in use as a farm-house, and the tenant, seeing us
+pause to look in through the wide gateway, came out and cordially
+invited us to enter.
+
+He was a fine specimen of the handsome, robust sons of that gracious
+soil. His sun-tanned skin and workaday garb seemed at variance with
+his courteous dignity of manner, which admirably became the resident
+of so ancient a mansion. He appeared to feel a special pride in his
+surroundings and did not scamp the showing. Through the wide
+courtyard, and up the central staircase that led to the balconies,
+and through the deserted rooms he escorted us.
+
+The tall square tower that now formed part of the house, he told us,
+had in older times been used as a place of refuge by the Christians
+during the attacks of the piratical Moors who infested the coast--a
+stronghold to which they fled when news reached them that the
+heathen marauders had entered the port and were advancing towards
+the town. Would we like to see it?
+
+Would we not! Following our leader, we passed along more corridors
+and over floors aslant with age, till he stopped before the entrance
+to what was probably the smallest winding stair ever devised for the
+passage of human beings.
+
+Up that very stair, our guide assured us, had the Christians fled to
+seek safety in the tower. And as we timorously mounted the narrow
+steps we agreed that the Andraitx early Christians must have been
+the leanest of mankind. For one plump Christian in a hurry would
+assuredly have brought destruction on all the rest by sticking in
+the first bend of that pitch-dark winding staircase.
+
+We emerged, dusty and breathless, into a square room whose window
+framed a magnificent view over the town and the wide fruitful valley
+to the shining waters of the port beyond.
+
+In one of the walls was a groined cavity that had been a shrine. And
+close beside it was the now walled-up doorway that, when the tower
+stood apart, had been connected by a drawbridge with the main
+building.
+
+On the dusty floor in a corner lay some curious earthenware retorts
+of a primitive date. The vessels had been found in an old cabinet in
+company with a quantity of unknown drugs--presumably the stock of
+some long-dead alchemist. Scientific men, hearing of the discovery,
+had hastened to carry off the chemicals, the farmer told us, leaving
+the earthenware behind.
+
+All the acquisitive Briton in us yearned to possess one of the
+quaint retorts. It was only the thought of their bulky brittleness
+that conquered the covetous feeling.
+
+From the room more pigmy steps wound upwards to a roofed _mirador_,
+but, as the inner walls of the staircase were broken away in great
+gaps, only the Boy was daring enough to ascend.
+
+Returning, he reported a low roof that sloped down to battlemented
+walls pierced with loop-holes through which arrows and boiling water
+were wont to shower down on the besiegers. On one occasion the
+captain of the Moors was killed with scalding water thrown from the
+tower. To the present day the incident affords matter for intense
+satisfaction at Andraitx.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: In the Port of Andraitx]
+
+XI
+
+UP AMONG THE WINDMILLS
+
+
+When at noon we returned to the shop our host had a delightful
+little luncheon awaiting us. And it was in high good-humour with
+him, with ourselves, and with all the world, that we set off to walk
+the three miles of level road that lie between the town of Andraitx
+and its port.
+
+Every foot of the way was full of interest. At first it led past
+rustic dwellings set in their orange and lemon gardens. In one
+orchard a life-size, and life-like, male scarecrow was perched high
+up in the branches of a pomegranate-tree. Then the road ran for a
+long way close by the dry bed of a _torrente_, that in the rainy
+season would be a river, and through groves of almond and
+olive-trees before it reached the wide stretch of fruitful plain
+devoted to the culture of vegetables.
+
+Our path was cheerful with wayfarers. As we strolled along, a
+succession of old vehicles and picturesque folk passed us. Old men
+in suits of faded blue cotton, bright-hued handkerchiefs bound about
+their heads under their wide hats, trotted by beside their panniered
+donkeys. And dotted over the rich, red earth people were busy. In
+one field a man was ploughing, while close on his heels a handsome
+dark-eyed woman in a scarlet petticoat followed, dropping yellow
+peas into the newly turned furrows.
+
+Everybody within hailing distance gave us kindly greeting. Even an
+infant, whose age might have been reckoned in months, from where he
+was snugly seated in a basket, clearly echoed his parents' "Bon di
+tenga," much to our amusement and to the frankly evident delight of
+his father and mother.
+
+In the rich, moist soil of that sheltered valley we thought we had
+discovered the mould in which the gross eighteen-inch radishes are
+grown. Perhaps it is the nature of that alluvial plain that accounts
+also for so plentiful a harvest of mosquitoes. Certain it was that
+they positively swarmed, and that being quick to detect a new and, I
+trust, delectable flavour in foreigners, they paid us particularly
+insistent attention, escorting us even to the port, and out on the
+breakwater that cuts across the inlet, and makes snug haven for the
+fishing craft and for the few cargo _pailebots_ that anchor in the
+port. It was fortunate that, unlike those of the Palma mosquitoes,
+their stings proved harmless.
+
+We had brought tea-things with us, and leaving the Man sketching,
+seated on a mast that lay under the sea-wall, the Boy and I took the
+empty kettle, and set off in search of water, and of the men's
+constant need--tobacco.
+
+The sign over the door of the only shop in the place showed that it
+was authorized to sell the tobacco that is a Government monopoly of
+Spain. Going in, we found ourselves in a long, low-ceilinged
+apartment that might have served for a type of a smugglers' den.
+
+Several people of both sexes were within. From without we had heard
+the gay clamour of voices, but with our unexpected entrance all
+seemed stricken dumb. The woman who had been sweeping out the brood
+of adventurous chickens stopped short, broom in hand, as though
+turned to stone. The girl mixing something in a bowl paused to
+stare. The men ceased their loud discussion and gathered in a silent
+band to learn our business.
+
+We were not altogether unaccustomed to pointed attention. That very
+day in Andraitx our appearance had aroused something of the interest
+accorded in an English country town to a circus procession. But the
+silent scrutiny was distinctly embarrassing. The Boy is rarely
+abashed, yet his voice faltered a little as, in Spanish, he asked
+for cigarettes, naming a good brand. On learning that they were not
+in stock he asked for others, and yet others, lessening the monetary
+value of his demands until he reached those cigarettes that retail
+at seven for a halfpenny. But even these were not to be had. "Then
+what was for sale? Any brand would do."
+
+Hard pressed, the authorized vendor of Government tobacco confessed
+that he had none in stock.
+
+"But this is the Government tobacco shop, and you are all
+smoking--what on earth do you smoke, then?" demanded the Boy.
+
+There was a momentary hesitation; then--"We all smoke contraband
+tobacco, señor," he made reluctant admission.
+
+"That's good enough for me," said the Boy, and with a relieved
+expression the shopkeeper disappeared to return with a three-ounce
+packet of smuggled tobacco, for which he charged sevenpence-halfpenny.
+And vile though it undoubtedly was, the buyer declared that it was
+vastly superior to that usually sold with the sanction of the Spanish
+powers.
+
+When, bearing the full kettle and the contraband tobacco, we
+sauntered back to the breakwater, it was to find the Man the centre
+of an interested crowd of boys. And all the time we waited an
+engrossed audience surrounded us. Even the appearance of a longboat,
+rowed by what to our eyes seemed a crew of pirates, so picturesque
+was their garb, failed to divert a tithe of the attention.
+
+Apart from its beauty, the port of Andraitx impressed us as being
+the least prosperous place we had seen in Majorca. The houses were
+poor and huddled together. And the population seemed large in
+proportion to the probable increment. As one of the natives put it,
+"the fishermen are many and the fish few." The village lads, fine
+stalwart fellows all of them, were woefully patched as to attire.
+Majorcan women are marvellously dexterous with the needle. Their
+patches are so neatly inserted as to be works of art; but until that
+afternoon at the port of Andraitx we had never encountered patches
+that threatened to usurp the entire groundwork of a garment.
+
+We had heard of the existence of an official known as the "Captain
+of the Port," yet, one man being as dexterously mended as another,
+failed to distinguish him among the loiterers about the pier. At
+length a gentleman with side whiskers, taking up his stand behind
+the Man, bowed ceremoniously to me, silently raising his time-worn
+hat.
+
+"Buenos dias," I said; in my desire to be affable forgetting that it
+was already afternoon.
+
+There was a momentary pause. Then, "Buenas _tardes_, señora. Buenas
+_tardes_," he corrected, in a tone of gentle reproof.
+
+And I decided that in spite of his plenitude of patches, his total
+lack of waistcoat, and his dilapidated buff slippers, the gentleman
+who revealed so refined a desire for exactitude of speech must be
+the Captain of the Port.
+
+It was on the morning of our second day at Andraitx that we decided
+to go to Arracó, a little town about half an hour's walk farther
+north.
+
+When we spoke of going our host suggested our branching off from the
+road and climbing the hill of the windmills to see the view.
+Antonia, his little daughter, would accompany us to show the way.
+And in a trice Antonia was pronounced ready for the excursion. Her
+head was bare, her feet were encased in smart yellow boots, and in
+the pocket of her red frock there were stowed away, as provision for
+the journey, a roll and a diminutive black-pudding.
+
+It was a lovely day--sweet and peaceful. Even after two months'
+experience we never seemed to become accustomed to the consistent
+urbanity of the Majorcan weather, and each successive perfect day
+brought a fresh surprise.
+
+The road was a beautiful one. Once beyond the outskirts of the town
+it passed between slopes luxuriant in almonds and olives. Here and
+there the falling golden leaves of a pomegranate made an aureate
+glow on the red-brown earth. Perched high in an olive-tree by the
+wayside a man was pruning its branches.
+
+For the first ten minutes Antonia was demurely silent. Then, as her
+shyness wore off, her horns appeared. She was a charming imp of
+seven, the adored of her parents, who knew her variously as Anton,
+Antonia, and Antonetta. Anton, in a tone of reproof when she was
+caught pulling the hair of a friend, Antonia when she was ordinarily
+good, and Antonetta on the many occasions that they found her
+particularly adorable.
+
+She went, apparently only when she had got nothing more interesting
+to do, to a convent school, where she was, with exceeding
+reluctance, beginning to learn Spanish--a tongue against which she
+naturally cherished a grievance.
+
+"What is the use of learning Spanish?" she demanded of the Boy, who
+was urging her to speak it. "Majorcan--that is a useful language.
+Spanish? No. Spanish is no use."
+
+By the wayside the curious wild arums known as _frares_ (monks) were
+growing. Picking a handful, Antonia began with great enjoyment
+repeating a native rhyme, the point of which lay in knocking off the
+heads of one of the flowers at the conclusion of each repetition:--
+
+    "_Frare lleig, frare lleig,
+      Si no dius se Misa, le tomeré es bech!_"
+
+--of which this is an easy translation:--
+
+    "_Lazy friar, lazy friar,
+      If your Mass is not said I will chop off your head._"
+
+Antonia had a knowledge of vegetables too. Or is it some inherent
+faculty that teaches children the edible fruits? When we chanced to
+pass a big algarroba-tree she darted under it, and, after a little
+rummaging amid the dry leaves, returned triumphantly bearing some
+long dark-brown pods, in which the Man was amused to recognise a
+fruit known to his experimentive boyhood as "locusts." The pods,
+which are sweet and succulent, are used in Majorca as food for
+cattle.
+
+Just where the road came almost within sight of Arracó the path to
+the hills crowned by the windmills branched off. Deciding to get the
+climbing over first, we left the highway, and mounted amongst most
+beautiful and varied vegetation. All about us tall pink and crimson
+heaths were blooming. Small clumps of palms that we had not before
+seen out of a conservatory grew among the rocks, and great cactus
+rioted in picturesque masses.
+
+The base of the windmills reached, we enjoyed a view that extended
+in every direction. Beneath to one side was Arracó, its houses, save
+where near the church they were huddled closer together, scattered
+widely over the surface of a cup-like valley, that was so closely
+encircled by hills that we could discover no way leading out. Above
+the hills to the north the heights of the island of Dragonera rose
+from the sea. From another point we looked down on Andraitx, and
+marked the wide plain that ended in the placid waters of the port.
+
+We had not meant to stay long on the heights, but the varied
+prospects were so beautiful and the air so placid that we felt
+tempted to linger. Then the Man took out his sketching block, and
+the matter was settled. Arracó would remain unvisited. Like the
+lotus-eaters, we were content and would roam no farther.
+
+We were now so accustomed to Majorcan skilled and thrifty husbandry
+that it was no surprise to find that even the summit of the height
+was planted with fruit trees. On a rocky ledge, close under the
+spreading sails of the windmill, nestled a tiny house, and every
+handful of soil supported its fig-, almond-, pomegranate- or
+apple-tree.
+
+The air was soft and gentle. Even at that altitude there was
+scarcely a breath of wind. Butterflies were hovering about. All the
+world seemed at peace. From Arracó arose the faint chime of a bell,
+from beyond the rock-bound coast came the murmur of the sea.
+
+[Illustration: Above Andraitx]
+
+I think it was the discovery that just outside the little hut a man
+was eating his dinner that aroused us to the fact that we also were
+hungry. Breakfast had been light, and early dinner, a good way off,
+was not due till two o'clock. Antonia's sharp little white teeth had
+long ago devoured Antonia's roll and black-pudding. We had started
+out with the intention of foraging at Arracó; but Arracó, a
+scattered handful of pigmy dwellings, lay far down in the hollow.
+
+Then an idea occurred to us. The husbandman, who had finished his
+meal, and was now lighting a cigarette, would be sure to have food.
+We would ask him to sell us some bread.
+
+The peasant, who proved to be a kindly soul, had a beard and the
+most dilapidated hat ever worn by mortal man. But he had no bread.
+The hut under the windmill was only a shelter. His home was in the
+valley, and it was evidently his provisions for the day that he had
+just consumed. He did what he thought was next best, and drawing a
+great jar of clean water from his well, brought it to us.
+
+The Boy and Antonia, who had gone off to try their luck at the other
+windmill, returned bringing two shapeless lumps of the stalest rye
+bread ever eaten, and the kindly dilapidated man who, in genuine
+concern for our welfare, had been hovering near, disappeared into
+his shanty, and reappearing with a plate of olives, presented them
+to us. So off olives, water from an antique jar, and mouldy rye
+bread that vied with it in antiquity, we took the edge off our
+appetites.
+
+I must not forget the prickly pears--or cactus figs--that we had
+picked on the way up. A certain fearful joy attends the gathering of
+this fruit, which requires the exercise of some ingenuity in dodging
+its insidious prickles. But there the pleasure ends; for the fruit
+is both seedy and insipid. To appreciate the prickly pear one would
+require to meet it in an arid desert.
+
+The sun was sinking when we set out for a final stroll at Andraitx.
+We were to leave early next morning, and we knew that there were
+countless walks we must leave unexplored.
+
+A glory of grey and gold and orange was flushing the sky when we
+turned into the road that wound up the valley. The mountains that
+rose on either side were glowing roseate from the sunset; but under
+any conditions the way would have been very beautiful. It led by a
+_torrente_ in whose bed there was actually a trickle of water, and
+just beyond a picturesque bridge was a village--of no social
+importance probably, but assuredly of great artistic charm. The
+village straggling up the side of the valley was such a place as
+nobody ever tells one of--one of those unexpectedly picturesque
+spots that, with a thrill of delight, one discovers for oneself, and
+feels a proprietorial interest in ever after, almost as though one
+had invented it. We learned later that the name of the hamlet was
+Secoma, and that it was divided into two portions, which were known
+respectively as Secoma Hot and Secoma Cold.
+
+The narrow, winding street was busy. The olive-gatherers were
+returning from work, and those who had remained at home came out to
+gape at us. The barber who was shaving a customer, catching sight of
+our passing reflection in the mirror, abandoned his task and ran to
+the door to stare, with his customer, lathered and pinafored, close
+on his heels.
+
+Already were we beginning to recognize, and to be recognized, in the
+district. An amazingly stately old lady, who appeared to spend her
+days perched sideways on her panniered donkey, bowed with great
+dignity from her perch. A handsome fisher-lad, who had formed one of
+the Man's audience when he was sketching at the port, beamed when we
+encountered him delivering fish in back-of-the-world Secoma.
+
+We had entered Andraitx expecting little, and had found so much that
+was interesting and pleasant that we were reluctant to leave it. But
+an engagement for Sunday afternoon at Palma had to be kept. So
+perforce we bespoke seats in the diligence leaving at the
+extraordinary hour of four in the morning.
+
+An hour earlier three great knocks sounded on the closed door of the
+shop. It was the _vigilante_, who had been warned to arouse us. When
+we went downstairs it was to find our attentive landlord with a
+comforting meal of chocolate and hot buttered rolls ready to serve.
+And concerning this most excellent host it is only just to say that
+during our stay we found his efforts on our behalf increase rather
+than diminish. In case any of my readers may ever chance to visit
+this out-of-the-way town, I mention that his name is Gabriel
+Calafill, and his address is Calle Cerda, which, being interpreted,
+means Pig Street.
+
+All the cocks in Andraitx seemed to be awakened when a jingle of
+harness-bells drew us to the door of the lamp-lit shop. It was the
+darkest hour. A single dim lamp was all we saw of the diligence. As
+it drew up an invisible hand opened the coach door, and mounting the
+invisible steps I peered into the solid darkness of the interior. If
+there were any passengers inside, they were dumb and motionless.
+
+Hazarding a greeting, I interjected "Buenos dias" into the darkness.
+
+An instant reply from half a dozen throats showed that the coach was
+already well filled. A minute later we had insinuated ourselves into
+the places kept for us by the door, and the coach rolled off into
+the gloom.
+
+It was the hush before the dawn. The moon had long set. A few pale
+stars sprinkled the sky. Beyond the town the gloom was less
+impenetrable, and the road became a dim, grey ribbon slowly
+unwinding behind us. The trees and mountains were black,
+undistinguishable masses. The air was soft and very still. Within
+the coach all was silent. No one moved. Then, as the miles gradually
+slipped away, the sky began to lighten, and even the deep gloom of
+the interior became less tangible. In the farther corner dull white
+lines proclaimed a collar and shirt-cuffs while the sun-tanned flesh
+they encircled was yet unseen.
+
+As the daylight crept in, our fellow-travellers gradually became
+visible. Two men, vague entities, had left the coach when half-way
+we changed horses. There now remained a couple of quiet, respectable
+market women, a lovely little girl, and a strapping young man.
+
+At the foot of a steep ascent the conveyance stopped, and following
+the custom of able-bodied passengers the men got out to take the
+short cut, and rejoined the lightened diligence on the farther side.
+Glancing from the back window, as they passed up the heath slope, I
+noticed that the owner of the brown hands and the white cuffs had
+already entered into conversation with my men-folk. And when, a
+quarter of an hour later, they re-entered the coach, all three were
+on terms of unexpected intimacy.
+
+"This señor," the Boy explained, with an introductory wave of the
+hand, "is the father of that clever baby. You remember, mother. The
+one we saw yesterday on the way to the port. He sat in a basket and
+said 'Bon di tenga.'"
+
+The father, a strapping, clean-limbed Majorcan, fairly beamed with
+parental pride as he acknowledged the imputation. The boy, he told
+us, was now nearly three years old, but he had spoken as well ever
+since he was two. His own excellent Spanish he accounted for by
+saying that, like so many Andraitx young men, he had been a sailor,
+and had voyaged for several years to and from Cuba. Then, having
+saved some money, he had returned to his native town, had married,
+and was now farming his own bit of land. This morning he was
+journeying to Palma to collect the rent of a house he owned there.
+
+The sun was up when the diligence stopped before the _consumos_
+station at the entrance to Santa Catalina, and we alighted. It was
+only as we returned to more sophisticated surroundings that I
+realized that since leaving Palma on Thursday I had not seen a
+single hat upon a feminine head. No wonder we were stared at in
+Secoma!
+
+Half an hour later we were sitting at breakfast in the sunshine at
+the Casa Tranquila. We had arrived at Andraitx in the dusk, and had
+quitted it in the dusk, so it seemed as though all that had happened
+during our stay there had been but a pleasant dream.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Christmas Turkeys]
+
+XII
+
+NAVIDAD
+
+
+We returned from Andraitx to find that Christmas had stolen a march
+upon us, taking us unawares.
+
+Our first intimation of it was a communication that reached us from
+the postal authorities. It announced that a parcel awaited us at the
+head post office, and stated that if we called between the hours of
+twelve and thirteen on the following day, and paid the sum of eight
+pesetas seventy-six centimos charged as duty, we would be entitled
+to carry it away.
+
+The slip of green paper containing this laconic intimation
+fluttering into our uneventful lives, interested us hugely. To what
+could the notice refer? We expected nothing, and yet the amount of
+the duty--eight pesetas seventy-six centimos--argued it a
+possession of notable value. We would not have lost a moment before
+hastening off to pay the impost and claim our property had not the
+notice expressly mentioned the one hour of the morrow on which it
+might be procured.
+
+What could it be? Thinking ourselves discreet people, we professed
+to build no castles on the subject, but we all enjoyed the feeling
+of mystery.
+
+It was with a pleasant sense of expectancy that next day, shortly
+after noon, we entered the post office in the Calle San Felio, and
+after some inquiry discovered the department for the distribution of
+parcels. Two people were in advance of us. A young workman was
+getting a small package, a servant-maid was receiving a couple of
+round, flat boxes so large that a side door in the counter had to be
+opened for their egress.
+
+Watching, we wondered secretly if ours would be as big, or if it
+would be small and precious.
+
+After a preliminary signing of a book and the paying of the money,
+the parcel was produced and solemnly handed over to us. Its
+dimensions exceeded even our most sanguine expectations, and it was
+weighty in proportion. The address on the label showed that it had
+come from the best confectioner in London. This, taken in
+conjunction with its opulent proportions, seemed to presage a
+prolonged period of riotous living.
+
+"It must be cake," the Man said.
+
+"It must be a tremendous lot of cake," opined the Boy, who was
+carrying the bulky parcel. "Let's get home and open it."
+
+Owing, I think, to the cost of sugar, confections of every kind in
+Majorca are expensive and limited in variety. And although in
+England a plethora of good things had made us inclined to be blasé,
+two months of residence in this land where sweets are matters for
+consumption on high-days and holy-days had revealed in each of us
+the possession of an unexpected sweet tooth. And the sight of the
+ample proportions of that confectioner's parcel set them aching
+furiously.
+
+"If it's sweets, we must not begin eating them until luncheon is
+over," I said, more by way of counsel to myself than to the others.
+
+"We'll see," said the Boy, who was determined not to commit himself.
+
+When we had entered the Casa Tranquila the carefully packed box was
+lifted on to the table and the exciting task of opening it began.
+The seals had already been broken, but there seemed several miles of
+carefully knotted string to unwind. Beneath the enveloping brown
+paper was an encasing of the corrugated cardboard in which
+breakables are packed. Within that was a thick layer of fine
+shavings. The dimensions of the package had been considerably
+lessened when, all the outer wrappings thrown aside, there was
+revealed a large square tin box. The side presented to us bore no
+sign of an opening. It really seemed as though the elusive gift was
+determined to baffle us.
+
+"The box has been carefully soldered," said the Man. "I can't
+understand how the Customs could fix the amount of the duty without
+knowing what was inside. How are we going to open it, I wonder?"
+
+But when he turned the box over a wide gash in the bottom revealed
+that the task had already been performed. Pressing aside the jagged
+edges of the tin, we saw within yet more shavings. When they had
+been carefully removed, fragments of china, and something tied in a
+rent white cloth met our gaze.
+
+"It's been a plum-pudding, and they've smashed it to atoms," the Man
+said bitterly.
+
+"Oh, what a _shame_! The mean wretches!" I lamented.
+
+The Boy said nothing, but felt for his pipe.
+
+Having succeeded in widening the gash considerably, the Man drew out
+the remaining enclosures. The pudding--a particularly fine one--was
+intact, but the bowl that had encased it was shattered. Splinters of
+the china were adhering to its dark richness. The Spanish Customs
+at the frontier, in their zeal to discover the nature of the
+contents and their fear of permitting a concealed bomb to escape
+their vigilance, had not only cut open the box and smashed the bowl,
+they had also ripped across the cloth that tied up the pudding.
+
+"Perhaps they were right to charge eight pesetas seventy-six
+centimos, but they needn't have made mincemeat of that nice china
+bowl, and rags of the pudding-cloth," I said indignantly.
+
+"Probably they thought that as mincemeat was also seasonable fare it
+would be a proper accompaniment to the pudding," the Man said.
+
+But the proof of the pudding is ever the eating of it. Its
+misadventures over, ours turned out to be a prince of plum-puddings.
+The flavour was perfection, and the size was such that we had to
+call in the aid of our friends to eat it. Formal entertainments were
+outside the scheme of life at the Casa Tranquila, but the Consul and
+his wife came to supper--menu, hot plum-pudding and flaming brandy.
+And some native friends came to tea--menu, plum-pudding toasted in
+slices, and coffee.
+
+Should future generations of Majorcans grow up in the quite
+erroneous belief that the British serve rich black plum-pudding hot
+at all meals, I'm afraid the blame must rest with us.
+
+Palma is always bright, but at Christmas-tide an increase of
+liveliness seemed to pervade the town. The shop windows displayed
+new wares, and the streets were full of country folk pricing,
+bargaining, and purchasing. The confectioners' windows were full of
+large round cardboard boxes, each containing a sugar travesty of a
+serpent, a weird reptile, reposing on a bed of sweets.
+
+The market square at night, when it is usually deserted, displayed a
+new and popular species of merchandise. Its outer sides were lined
+with rows of stalls laden with slabs of native sweetmeats all made
+in long blocks, and piles of tempting crystallized fruits. Other
+stalls held nothing but the curious little figures of native
+ware--men, women, animals, poultry, all very small--that the
+Majorcan children use when, with the aid of cork, they build little
+models of the Nativity in imitation of those seen at Christmastide
+in the churches.
+
+During the days preceding Christmas Day great preparations for the
+feast were made. In the market the price of choice fruits and
+vegetables rose a little. And the wide open space just without the
+gate of San Antonio--the patron saint of swine--became a busy fair
+devoted to the sale of pigs, turkeys, sheep and fowls.
+
+The part whose colour and movement rejoiced the artistic soul of the
+Man was that given over to the display of turkeys. The portion whose
+comic element delighted the Boy and me was that devoted to the wards
+of San Antonio, who, to judge by the shrillness and insistence of
+their cries, was proving himself but an irresponsible and callous
+guardian.
+
+The peasant-women, neat in the native costume, gaily coloured
+kerchiefs over their heads, their hair in pigtails, armed with long
+rods, stood beside their flocks of turkeys. At intervals they
+scattered handfuls of grain amongst them; but to do the birds
+justice, they showed little inclination to stray.
+
+On one side a long wall was formed of hooded carts filled with
+turkeys. And round each brood was a little group of townsfolk,
+making critical survey of the birds and, after a good deal of wordy
+chaffering, purchasing. The other side was occupied by a long row of
+fowl-sellers, who treated their wares with less respect; for
+splendid cocks, their burnished plumage gleaming with a thousand
+prismatic hues, lay helpless, their feet tied together, their bills
+in the dust.
+
+Sucking-pig being the favourite Christmas dinner in this land of
+sunshine, by far the larger space was allotted to the swine. And
+swine there were to satisfy all demands, from litters of tiny
+sucking-pigs surrounding their mothers to pigs of quite
+considerable bulk. As the pigs were sold by weight, it is safe to
+say that there wasn't a thirsty pig in the market that day. And
+while we saw few pigs being fed, we saw many being encouraged to
+drink. Some of the salesmen stood by their laden carts ready, on the
+approach of a likely customer, to thrust a hand into the mass of
+swart animalism and extract a protesting squeaker. Others sat lazily
+on chairs by their flocks, content to wait to be approached. While
+some of the older herdsmen wore slung over the shoulders the
+distinctive goatskin of their calling, most of the younger were
+attired in suits of corduroy, sun-faded into glorious harmonies of
+golds and browns and blues. We noticed that whilst certain of the
+men dealt in turkeys, none of the women sold pigs.
+
+And out of the city streamed the townsfolk, money in hand for the
+purchase of their Christmas dinner. Ladies in mantillas, attended by
+neat maids, bought turkeys; prosperous-looking tradesmen,
+accompanied by pinafored shop-lads provided with bits of rope,
+walked about pricing pigs; and lean operatives, with a hungry eye
+for the yearly tit-bit.
+
+It was after a pig had changed owners that the fun began. The market
+being held outside the city walls, the purchase had first to be
+taken to the _consumos_ shed to be weighed and have the duty paid on
+it. And the pigs, although comparatively placid while yet in company
+with their old comrades, when severed from them protested with full
+strength of lung and limb. Then woe betide the luckless being whose
+task it was to carry the agitator home. One man only did we see who
+had had the forethought to bring a sack in which to carry home his
+rebellious purchase.
+
+Everybody appeared to have evolved a different method of conveyance.
+Some men wore them as a collar round the neck, grasping the fore
+feet in one hand, the hind in the other. Some tried to lead them,
+with dire results. One flustered woman we saw had a child in her
+arms and was dragging at the end of a string a plump young porker
+that refused to walk. The majority, relinquishing any attempt at
+suasion, simply clutched the furiously objecting quadrupeds
+desperately in their arms and made the best of their way through the
+streets.
+
+Just as we were leaving the market we encountered a trio of elderly
+ladies, attended by a demure little maid in pigtail and _rebozillo_,
+whom we had noticed making a careful scrutiny before deciding. Their
+choice seemed at last to have been made, for the young servant
+carried in her arms, as tenderly as though it were a baby, a tiny
+sucking-pig. So far it had uttered no complaint, but just as the
+group turned into the street it awoke to the knowledge that
+something untoward was happening, and with the energy of one thrice
+its fighting weight, began squealing and squirming. In a moment
+consternation fell upon the sedately pacing quartette. When we last
+saw them a man had been hired to carry home the pigling, whose
+lamentations still rent the air.
+
+During the day or two that would elapse before the creatures were
+sacrificed for consumption they appeared to reside in the bosom of
+the family circles and to be treated as honoured guests. The fact
+that a home was in a flat three floors up did not deter its
+occupants from housing a four-footed edible guest. Turkeys strutted
+in doorways and upon high balconies. Proud children escorted pigs
+out for an airing.
+
+Two days before the feast we noticed on a piece of waste ground just
+inside the gate of Santa Catalina an enclosure roughly constructed
+of planks and sacking. From a post fluttered a banner of brown paper
+inscribed with the legend, _Se matan lechonas_ (Little pigs kill
+themselves). And thither, the right moment having arrived, people
+brought their pets. Within the enclosure, but in full view of the
+public, the piglings were killed, soused with the boiling water that
+was kept bubbling over a fire, scraped and made ready for the pot in
+the twinkling of an eye.
+
+On Christmas Eve we attended the midnight service in the Cathedral.
+It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the streets of Palma were
+unusually busy. Groups of people, the women and children all
+carrying folding stools, or in some cases rush-seated chairs, were
+walking sedately in the direction of the churches.
+
+In the silver light there was something mysterious about the
+succession of black-robed figures--the women's heads muffled in
+black mantillas or black silk kerchiefs--that moved steadfastly
+along the narrow mediæval streets.
+
+[Illustration: A Scene of Slaughter]
+
+When we reached the Cathedral many people had already gathered. When
+we would have taken our usual seats under the organ, one of the
+canons in a robe of lace and rose-coloured silk approached and
+whispered to me in French that that portion of the church was
+reserved for men, but that I was free to take any place I liked on
+the opposite side. Crossing the foot-high wooden barrier that had
+been erected down the centre of the nave, under his escort, I set up
+the sketching stool I had brought at the base of one of the great
+pillars, and watched the edifice gradually fill with a reverent
+throng of worshippers.
+
+And now the necessity for the folding stools became evident, for
+while the portion of the building allotted to men was well provided
+with seats, only a great square of matting covered that half of the
+floor-space that had been set apart for the women.
+
+The Cathedral was brilliantly lit with electricity; and although
+there was something inexpressibly affecting in the sight of the
+kneeling multitude, to us the Cathedral lost much of the sombre
+magnificence it had in the daytime, when, except for the candles
+burning on the altar, the only light was that which stole in through
+the stained-glass windows, and the greater part of the grand temple
+was rendered impressive by obscurity.
+
+Later, when we spoke of this to our friend the padre he agreed with
+us. But, as he said in his irreproachable English, "What can we do?
+The Cathedral is very large, and the people are not all good."
+
+There was no respect of persons. Wrinkled old peasant-women and
+lovely young members of the ancient Majorcan nobility knelt side by
+side. The pew my men-folk occupied was shared by a gentleman in a
+fur-lined coat, and two little ragamuffins who, oblivious of their
+sacred surroundings, slumbered peacefully throughout the
+proceedings, curled up snugly together like a pair of monkeys
+nesting in a tree-top.
+
+At a pause in the service a white-robed youth, supposed to represent
+the Angel Gabriel, who was attended by two others carrying lighted
+candles, appeared in a pulpit. He wore a scarlet cap and bore a
+naked sword, and in a melodious voice chanted in Spanish _Sibila_--a
+hymn that foretells the varied fates awaiting the evil and the good
+at the end of the world.
+
+At one o'clock, when we slipped out of the Cathedral, leaving the
+multitude still at worship, and walked homewards through the
+brilliant moonlight, all was hushed and peaceful. The signs of
+carnage had vanished. The banner with the suicidal legend, _Se matan
+lechonas_, no longer fluttered by the gate of Santa Catalina; and
+only a few vagrant turkey feathers, blown about the roads, remained
+to tell of the innocents who had been butchered to make a Christian
+holiday.
+
+Christmas, we had been warned, would be a quiet day in Palma: a day
+of family greetings, of indoor festivities, when the streets would
+be deserted. Any feasts we might have shared were far away in
+fog-bound Britain, and neither turkey nor sucking-pig graced the
+larder of the Casa Tranquila. The weather was idyllic, like the most
+perfect of perfect summer days at home--even after more than two
+months' experience of Balearic Island weather we had not ceased to
+be surprised by its consistent beauty. So we decided to have a
+picnic.
+
+We had heard vaguely of a famous cave in the country behind our own
+district of Son Españolet--a cave important enough to afford shelter
+to the people of Palma who, in thousands, had fled thither to escape
+from a plague of cholera that sixty or seventy years before had
+devastated the town. But while everybody seemed to know of the
+existence of the cave, no amount of inquiry elicited information as
+to its exact whereabouts. So on this lovely Christmas morning we
+resolved to take luncheon with us and spend the day hunting for it.
+
+I think it was the Rudder Grangers who wished to live in the last
+house of a village, as by doing so they could be in touch with
+humanity on the one side and with Nature on the other. Our own road,
+the Calle de Mas, came very near answering these requirements, for,
+being the last road in the little suburb, it met both town and
+country. By walking to the end of the houses, over whose garden
+walls oranges gleamed golden, and turning to the left by the
+brand-new Villa Dolores, and past the old farm-house that stood
+hedged in with tall cactus by the wayside, we were at once on the
+verge of the beautiful rural scenery.
+
+Our informant had been right. The street was empty. As we passed
+along, a smell as of roast sucking-pig greeted us; but everybody was
+indoors behind their closely shuttered windows.
+
+The road that leads through the undulating almond and olive groves
+towards Son Puigdorfila and the hills had never been so deserted.
+And never had the air been softer or the mountains more mistily
+blue. The leaves of the gnarled olives shone silver-grey beside the
+dark, rich foliage of the carob-trees, and the white blossoms of a
+honey-scented weed thickly flecked the green of the six-inch high
+grain.
+
+The village of Son Rapiña, perched on its eminence, gleamed like a
+jewel in the strong sunlight; but the path leading towards it showed
+not a single traveller. For once, farm-work had ceased; the only
+sound that reached us was a far-off musical tinkle from the bells of
+a flock of goats as they moved about, seeking for fallen pods under
+the great algarroba-trees.
+
+The cave, we had gathered, was somewhere near Son Puigdorfila, but
+when we had passed that country-house, and had wandered down the
+valley towards the empty bed of the _torrente_, we found nothing
+that in the most remote way suggested the presence of a cave.
+
+We had almost abandoned the quest when a sound of bells warned us of
+the approach of a herd of plump brindled asses, which appeared under
+the guidance of an old man.
+
+In his suit of faded blue cotton, with a goatskin slung over his
+shoulders and a gaily striped kerchief bound round his brow and
+knotted at the back, the long ends falling beneath his wide-brimmed
+hat, and a tall staff in his wrinkled brown hands, he was a fine
+specimen of the hale Majorcan peasant whose declining years hold no
+greater physical discomfort than a gradual lessening of the full
+strength of manhood.
+
+He knew of the cave--_Cueva Fuente Santa_ he called it. Nay more, he
+knew its history from the making to the present day. And while the
+brindled asses browsed around us he told us the story of the Cave of
+the Holy Well.
+
+The Conquistador, it appeared, on setting out on his perilous
+mission, had vowed to the Virgin that if through her aid he
+succeeded in ousting the heathen from Majorca, he would signalize
+his victory by building a noble Cathedral in her honour; and it was
+in quarrying the stone from the steep ground by the side of the
+_torrente_ that the great cave had been formed. He told us of the
+refugees who, fleeing before the cholera, had camped there in
+safety; and brought the record up to date by mentioning that to the
+present day on the Sunday after Easter great crowds of the townsfolk
+made a little pilgrimage to the Holy Well, to drink its waters and
+to eat their _empanadas_--pies made specially of lamb for the
+occasion.
+
+The cave was near--only a little way, he added, as he hurried to
+overtake his now straying herd. If we would proceed farther down the
+side of the _torrente_ we would discover it, close by the old well.
+
+So in the sunshine, which was warm without a trace of oppression,
+for the sea air agreeably tempered the heat, we wandered on until,
+in the side of a fir-topped bank, we found the cave.
+
+And it was quite unlike anything we had imagined. To enter by the
+wide square portal was to find oneself in a vast, many-chambered
+hall. In quarrying out the interior the long-forgotten workmen had
+left at intervals great rudely sculptured blocks that served as
+supporting pillars to the roof. Four square holes, open to the sky,
+afforded ventilation. Round the walls, and about the bases of the
+pillars, had been hewn ledges which might have served for seats or
+for beds.
+
+At one point the roof had been blackened by smoke from the
+fugitives' fires. But the whole interior was dry and airy. There was
+not a trace of damp anywhere, and the sandy floor was one that
+could easily have been kept clean and wholesome. It would have been
+hard to imagine a more secure or a more sanitary place of refuge.
+
+Down below, nearer the river-bed, was the quaint Moorish
+well--square in form, with a domed roof. And looking down the valley
+of the _torrente_ from the brow of the hill in front of the cave
+where the fig-trees grew, we had a grand prospect of Palma
+Cathedral, that from each variant point of view seems to gain a new
+beauty.
+
+An unwonted silence lay over the sunlit land. For once there was no
+sound of human voice uplifted in song, and that aided the sense of
+peace. The Balearic islander is the most skilful market-gardener in
+the world. He makes roads that enable one to drive up one side of a
+mountain and down the other with perfect ease. He builds walls that
+look as though they would last throughout the ages and successfully
+resist a shock of earthquake at the end of time. But as a vocalist
+he is not attractive.
+
+I must write this heresy in a whisper, for the information would
+surprise him. He is unconscious of his lack of melody, and rather
+fancies himself as a songster. The merry Majorcan plough-boy does
+not "whistle o'er the lea." He sings, or rather chants, in a loud,
+discordant voice, an artless recitative, apparently improvising both
+words and music and weaving the little incidents of the day, the
+trivial happenings of his surroundings, into his interminable lay.
+
+When the Boy was painting in the beautiful undulating country that
+lay between Son Españolet and the mountains, he sometimes discovered
+a reference to himself in the _pastorale_.
+
+    "_It is the painter English.
+      He is making a picture.
+      He has put Gabriel into it.
+      Perhaps he will put me also,
+      And my fine pigs._"
+
+But though the voice of the herdsman might be unmelodious, it
+mingled harmoniously with the jangle of bells as his flock of pigs,
+goats, sheep, or asses moved slowly over the uplands under the
+fragrant almond-trees.
+
+The air was sweet with perfume of the wild lavender that grew in
+profusion about the entrance to the caves. Not a soul was in sight.
+It was with a quiet scorn of flesh-pots--even of those that
+contained sucking-pig--that, sitting in the sunshine, we lunched
+frugally off sandwiches, claret, and big yellow Muscat grapes.
+
+We had left the Casa Tranquila with the understanding that the day
+was to be observed as a complete holiday. Yet when the cave revealed
+picturesque possibilities it would have surprised one unaccustomed
+to the devious ways of the Man and the Boy to have seen how well
+provided they chanced to be with working materials.
+
+Leaving them busily sketching, I wandered about gathering the heads
+of sweet lavender. I had a newly born ambition to fill a cushion
+with the dried blossoms--an ambition that in England would have been
+extravagant, but one that in this gracious land was to be gained by
+a little charming labour. So with that feeling of absolute mental
+content and of physical well-being that seemed to characterize our
+Balearic days, I picked and picked and picked until the
+luncheon-basket was full to overflowing with the purple-grey
+flowers, and the subtle odour of sweet lavender encompassed me with
+a cloud of fragrance.
+
+Even in these days of late December I had never taken a country walk
+without finding a fresh wild flower. To-day it was a rose-coloured
+cornflower, _cyanus_; and in addition, growing close to the caves, I
+came upon a fruit, or vegetable, that was quite new to me. The
+latter was splendidly decorative. Imagine a giant tomato plant erect
+and armed with aggressive prickles, that bore a profusion of apples
+whose colour varied from green mottled with white in the unripe, to
+brilliant yellow in the mature. I found afterwards that it is known
+as the "Devil's tomato." Tufts of the pale pink heath flourished
+under the pines, and on the slopes about the fig-trees my favourite
+Japanese-like dwarf asphodel, whose white, starry blossoms were
+striped with chocolate, were out in profusion.
+
+The far-off tinkle of bells that, to our now accustomed ears, ranked
+almost as a necessary accompaniment to the scenery, had gradually
+been drawing nearer; and soon the troop of donkeys again appeared,
+followed by their patient, kindly-faced herd. They were the only
+living things in sight, and as they moved slowly along they
+harmonized delightfully with the rustic surroundings.
+
+Approaching nightfall drove us homewards, reluctant to end a day
+that had been full of intangible charm. The record of its doings,
+baldly set forth on paper, reveals a total lack of incident. The
+preceding Christmas Day, spent at a seaside hotel in laboriously
+enjoying the festivities of the season, we had almost forgotten.
+These placid hours passed quietly in this country of sweet smells,
+of gentle noises, of pure, soft air, we would always remember.
+
+As we strolled towards Son Españolet the setting sun seemed
+determined, in honour of the day, to give an extra glorious display
+of fireworks. And when the glow had faded from the mountains,
+leaving them purple velvet, a vivid rose flush that melted into the
+blue haze of the distance lingered long in the eastern sky. And just
+above was the nearly full moon, a globe of shining silver. There was
+no actual dusk, hardly any gloaming; for before the sun had sunk to
+rest the moon, her lamp brilliantly burning, was ready to do duty.
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: After the Feast of the Conquistador, Palma
+Cathedral]
+
+XIII
+
+THE FEAST OF THE CONQUISTADOR
+
+
+It was the 31st of December, and the day was one of a long
+succession of calm summer-like days. The sky was a cloudless blue,
+and the air so warm that in the plantations beyond Son Españolet
+sundry over-zealous almond-trees, deceived by the brilliance of the
+weather, were already bursting into premature bloom.
+
+It was too fine to waste indoors the remaining hours of the year,
+and the gay little town was always interesting. So we walked towards
+Palma, and, after strolling down the mole and revelling in the
+colour and movement of the harbour, we ascended the long flight of
+steps leading to the ramparts, and, passing the Almudaina, reached
+the Cathedral, whose grandeur and sacred beauty ever held a fresh
+fascination for us.
+
+Entering by a side door, we judged from the presence of certain
+extra decorative trappings in front of the high altar that some
+special service was in prospect. People were already seated in the
+pews that filled the front portion of the nave. Finding places at a
+side, we waited, listening to the joyous strains of the grand organ.
+
+Just before eleven o'clock the great doors of the Cathedral were
+thrown open, and the warm sunlight streamed into the sombre
+interior. Then, through the hush of expectancy that had fallen over
+the congregation, we heard the far-off beating of drums. Something
+was, looked for--was even now on its way--we knew not what; but we
+also waited, expectant.
+
+Nearer the sound came, and nearer. From our side seats we could see
+the guard in front of the Almudaina saluting, then from the brilliant
+sunlight into the mysterious half-gloom of the Cathedral there passed
+a quaint little procession, led by a drum-major gorgeous in scarlet
+and gold. Behind him, three and three, came the drummers, still--even
+within the sacred walls of the Cathedral--keeping up the _rat-a-plan_
+with a vigour that seemed almost profane.
+
+Half-way up the nave they turned aside and stood, rapidly plying
+their drum-sticks; while, preceded by two mace-bearers in robes of
+scarlet, their symbols of office over their shoulders, came in
+evening dress the Civil Governor and the Alcalde, followed by
+members of the Council. Behind, in uniform, came the Chiefs of
+Police.
+
+When they were seated--the Civil Governor, as representing the King,
+being placed in a chair under an embroidered canopy, the others in a
+specially draped pew alongside--the service began. At one portion of
+the ceremony a priest with attendants mounted the pulpit, and in an
+eloquent address related the whole story of the conquest of Majorca
+by Jaime, the young King of Aragon, who on that very day six hundred
+and eighty years before had entered the city.
+
+In picturesque language and in fine declamatory style he told how
+for many hundreds of years the lovely island had suffered under the
+oppression of the wicked and tyrannical Moors. How prosperity had
+rendered them only the more piratical and cruel, so that no
+Christian ship was safe from their assaults. How, rendered yet
+bolder by success, they even raided the Catalan coast, sacking
+Barcelona, and killing its Count. How at length the indignation of
+the Spaniards roused them to take action; and the heads of the
+ecclesiastical, the military, and the royal sections meeting
+together, resolved to fit out a fleet, and to dispatch an expedition
+to wrest the island from the heathen. Under the handsome and daring
+young King of Aragon the fleet of over a hundred and forty vessels,
+containing an army thirty thousand strong, set sail. They left the
+Spanish coast on the 1st of September, 1229, but the Moors made so
+determined a resistance that it was the last day of the year before
+the hosts of King Jaime succeeded in entering the town.
+
+As in duty bound, the orator ascribed mainly to the influence of the
+Church over the Catholic hearts of the people the success of the
+expedition that had freed the Christians from their oppressors.
+
+The oration ended, service at the high altar proceeded, while at
+intervals gay, almost jocund, music burst forth from the grand
+organ. The lightsome strains were infectious. The Alcalde
+unconsciously beat time with his staff, and the fingers of the
+youngest representative of the municipal government played an
+imaginary instrument in time to the music.
+
+There was such a decidedly Gilbert-and-Sullivan suggestion about the
+sprightly air that one might be pardoned for expecting the chief
+ecclesiastical dignitary to advance singing--
+
+    "I am the Bishop of this Diocese"
+
+or for anticipating the attendant priests making hearty response--
+
+    "And a right good Bishop, too!"
+
+Later in the proceedings the clergy formed into a procession, led by
+white-robed acolytes and choristers carrying crucifixes and lighted
+candles, and walked slowly round the Cathedral, chanting as they
+went; the Civil Governor, the Alcalde, and the other representatives
+of the Government bringing up the rear.
+
+The impressive religious service ended, the drummers again fell into
+line, and the civic dignitaries, with the mace-bearers, marching to
+the sound of the drums, passed out into the sunlit streets.
+Following in their footsteps, we sped towards the Town Hall, in
+front of which, as we now gathered, the annual ceremony of saluting
+the flagstaff of King Jaime the Conquistador was to take place.
+
+There a gay scene awaited us. Detachments of soldiers, their bands
+playing, lined the laurel-strewn space before the building. All the
+balconies were full of spectators and the street was thronged with
+what appeared to be the entire juvenile population of Palma.
+
+With the arrival of the Governor and his escort the ceremony was
+speedily completed. The flagstaff, which was heavily wreathed in
+laurel, was carried round. Arms having been presented, the historic
+trophy retired into carefully tended seclusion until another
+anniversary would again bring it into prominence. The military
+formed up, and to the sound of inspiriting music marched cheerily
+off. The feast of the Conquistador was over.
+
+The origin of the custom we found reached back into bygone ages. For
+many centuries after King Jaime's death the people of Palma had an
+annual procession on the anniversary of the taking of the city, and
+walked through the streets with the banner under which their
+deliverer had fought so valiantly carried before them, while the
+entire populace prayed for the safety of his soul. The banner has
+long since rotted into dust. Now the staff alone is borne, and apart
+from the promenade inside the Cathedral there is no procession.
+
+The inner chambers of the Cathedral guard a wealth of treasure, the
+collection of centuries, and an inestimable array of relics, which,
+through the courtesy of the church dignitaries, we had the privilege
+of seeing.
+
+One morning about ten o'clock, when we entered the Cathedral from
+the sunlit streets, the faint blue mist of incense hung about the
+high altar, and the sound of chanting echoed through the aisles. At
+first sight the vast building appeared to be empty; but as our eyes
+became accustomed to the perpetual twilight that reigns under the
+great roof we became conscious of kneeling worshippers, dimly seen
+through the obscurity--a young lady, her mantilla-framed face bent
+over her rosary, an old man praying before one of the side chapels
+where a faint light was burning.
+
+We were expected. Our friend the padre, a dignified figure clad in
+vestments of lace and fur, welcoming us with a silent shake of the
+hand, led us noiselessly along a side aisle.
+
+As, passing through a door that led behind the high altar, we caught
+a glimpse of the officiating clergy, it almost seemed as though we
+were behind the scenes at a theatre where some great life-drama was
+being enacted. There were the stately and imposing performers, the
+engrossed and scarcely visible audience.
+
+Leaving us in charge of the brother priest who acts as custodian of
+the treasure, our sponsor returned to resume his part in the
+service. Preceding us through the sacristy, our new guide escorted
+us to an inner chamber where, in an impregnable safe built in the
+wall, the venerated sacred relics of the Cathedral are kept.
+
+Carefully unlocking and throwing open the guardian doors, he
+revealed a cabinet draped with a crimson curtain. Slipping behind
+the drapery, he busied himself lighting candles. Then, reappearing,
+he drew aside the curtain, revealing the almost startling
+magnificence of the precious metal and rare pearls in which the
+relics are enshrined.
+
+One object--that occupying the place of honour--was carefully
+enswathed. Bending low before it, the padre, with reverent hands,
+withdrew the covering, showing an exquisite cross of gold, inset
+with priceless gems and hung with strings of costly pearls. In the
+centre of the cross--faintly perceptible through its encasement of
+crystal--were some fragments of the true Cross. On certain
+occasions, such as the service on Good Friday afternoon, this relic
+is borne in procession round the Cathedral.
+
+The custodian, who was an enthusiast happy in his appreciation of
+and delight in his mission, proceeded to show us more of the
+wondrous treasures of the old Cathedral. Among the things almost
+too sacred to mention were three thorns from Christ's crown of
+thorns, a piece of the purple cloth of His robe, a fragment of His
+swaddling band, and a portion of a garment worn by the Virgin Mary.
+
+A bone, black and shrivelled with age, was from the finger of St.
+Peter. And an extremely interesting relic--one so veritably antique
+that it is mentioned in the first inventory of the sacred trophies
+belonging to the Cathedral--is the tip of one of the arrows with
+which St. Sebastian, who is the patron saint of Palma, was killed.
+Like all the other relics, this is carefully enclosed. Another relic
+of the saint is the bone of his fore-arm, which is enclosed in a
+case surmounted by a hand, on whose outstretched fingers are many
+costly rings, votive offerings presented in gratitude by those who
+believe they have benefited by his intercession on their behalf.
+
+Two magnificent crowns, those that on special occasions are worn by
+the effigies of the Virgin and the Holy Child, were also in that
+safe in company with other valuables too many to catalogue.
+
+The Mass was still in progress. While we gazed from the face of the
+priest, which glowed with fervour, to the wondrous things he showed
+us with such tender veneration, came a sound of chanting, the music
+of boys' voices rising sweet and clear. There was still the first
+impression of having been admitted behind the scenes--an impression
+which the entrance of certain of the officiating clergy who came
+into the sacristy to change their vestments served to deepen.
+
+Leaving an attendant to extinguish the lights and re-lock the great
+iron doors, the padre opened other cupboards and showed us a
+plethora of riches, valuable not only for the material but for the
+beauty and artistic skill of the workmanship. A crucifix bore an
+exquisitely carven ivory figure of the dead Christ, and in the
+hollow of the slender stem of a gold cup a craftsman of surprising
+ingenuity had contrived to mould a representation of the Last
+Supper, so minute in detail that it portrayed not only the table
+with the company seated around it but also the food that was placed
+before them. On the inner base of the vase, the executant of this
+triumph of the goldsmith's art had graven his name, which I forget,
+and his age, which at the date of the completion of this intricate
+and original piece of work was sixty-nine.
+
+Our guide did not scamp his task. He appeared to take both pride and
+pleasure in it, and showed us everything, from the vestments, which
+were rigid with gold and embroidery, to the massive silver
+candelabra worth nearly seven thousand pounds, that are so heavy
+that when they are moved into the body of the Cathedral for use
+during special services, it takes four men to carry the top, and six
+men the base, of each.
+
+At three different dates, when long-continued drought had induced
+privation, this silver has been sold for the relief of the poor; and
+three times has it been bought back again, and restored to its place
+in the Cathedral.
+
+Until recently the embalmed body of King Jaime II. (who died in his
+palace of the Almudaina just across the road from the principal
+entrance to the Cathedral), which rested in a marble sarcophagus in
+front of the high altar, was shown to the public on the 31st of
+December, the anniversary of the day on which his father, the
+Conquistador, freed Palma from the Moors.
+
+The mummified corpse is no longer publicly exhibited, and the coffin
+containing the remains has been removed to a recess behind and above
+the high altar, where it rests awaiting burial.
+
+By special permission we were allowed to see the body of the
+monarch. The coffin, taken from the sarcophagus, had been placed on
+a stone bracket. An attendant, mounting a ladder that leant against
+the wall at the head of the coffin, slid back the lid. And in turn
+we climbed up and, bending over, peeped into the open coffin to see,
+through intervening glass--what? A royal robe of velvet and gold and
+ermine, the lace-trimmed sleeves crossed at the empty wrists, and
+above the neck of the garment a dark fleshless skull, with the brown
+skin tightened over it, closed eyes deep sunk in the sockets, and
+toothless jaws wide agape. A rose-pink velvet nightcap encased the
+shrunken head of the monarch who, six hundred years ago, reigned
+over Majorca.
+
+
+[Illustration: The Coffin of Jaime II in Palma Cathedral]
+
+
+The reign of this second Jaime, which extended over a period of more
+than thirty years, would appear to have been an exceptionally placid
+one for these warlike days. We know that he brought from Spain
+cunning workmen who converted for his use the castle of the Moorish
+Amir, the Almudaina, into a royal palace, and there a code of Court
+etiquette was formulated and put into practice by the new monarch.
+
+The wife of the Captain-General, who now occupies the old Moorish
+palace, a few nights before we saw the remains of the former tenant
+of the Almudaina, gave a reception in the form of a "tea-party"--the
+guests to arrive at ten o'clock, the tea to be served at midnight.
+One wonders what the nature of King Jaime's Court functions were--at
+what hour his guests assembled, what the entertainment was, and when
+they dispersed.
+
+The imposing marble sarcophagus in which in times past these
+remnants of royalty were entombed has been removed to a corner of
+the cloisters, where we saw it standing forlorn and forgotten.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Market Day at Pollensa]
+
+XIV
+
+POLLENSA
+
+
+We had intended deferring our expedition to the neighbouring isle of
+Minorca till later in the season; until after the week or two of
+cold weather that we had been warned to expect in January had
+passed. But as the opening days of the year went by in brilliant
+sunshine, and the temperature continued ideal, we felt tempted to
+delay no longer.
+
+It was the Man's suggestion that we should make a roundabout tour of
+it, visiting first the old-world towns of Pollensa and Alcudia, then
+sailing from the port of Alcudia to Minorca and returning from Mahón
+direct to Palma.
+
+So at daybreak on the 8th of January Bartolomé appeared to drive us
+to the station.
+
+The sun had risen, Bartolomé was smiling, and the hills beyond Son
+Españolet shone pink and heliotrope in the morning light as we drove
+along; yet there was a sharp little nip in the air, and the
+_consumeros_ were still shivering in their blankets, covered up to
+their noses and cowering over their braziers. Without these
+reminders we would have forgotten that it was the depth of winter in
+the Fortunate Isles.
+
+At Palma station the customary small bustle heralded the departure
+of the morning train. The porter of the Grand Hotel was seeing off a
+French couple who were going to Manacor to visit the Dragon Caves.
+Among the little company of natives with their fringed shawls and
+white muslin _rebozillos_ the French lady, who wore a smart
+flower-trimmed toque on her golden hair and costly furs on her
+shoulders, looked oddly out of place.
+
+On this occasion the 7.40 train left with extreme punctuality, and
+its rate of progress, though slow, was steady. The only other
+passenger in our second-class compartment was a swarthy man who wore
+a yachting cap, white shoes, and a striped blanket. He evidently
+felt cold, and as he sat curled up on the seat his appearance was a
+ludicrous combination of a member of the Royal Yacht Club and an
+Asiatic hospital patient who had risen to have his bed made.
+
+He was journeying to Inca, apparently for the first time, and when
+he asked for information regarding the number of stations to be
+passed before his destination was reached, it seemed reversing the
+natural order of things that we foreigners should be able to give
+it.
+
+Nearly two months had passed since we travelled over the line, and
+it was interesting to note the difference in the appearance of
+things. Then the rich red earth had been furrowed by the plough, or
+was in process of sowing. Now it was covered with long lines of
+sturdy beans, or with springing grain level and green as a tennis
+lawn.
+
+The fig-trees and grape-vines were leafless now; but the evergreen
+carobs showed the tender shades of the new leaves at the tips of the
+well-covered branches. The olives wore their accustomed silver-grey,
+but the first pale blossoms of the year flecked the almond-trees
+with white.
+
+We had taken _combinados_ tickets, and the second-class fare--two
+pesetas thirty-five centimos--included the ten-mile coach drive from
+La Puebla to Pollensa.
+
+When we alighted at the station two diligences were waiting, one for
+Pollensa, the other for Alcudia. Choosing the right one the Man and
+I got inside with six other folk--three young men, two young women,
+one old man, and a baby too young to count. The Boy went on the box,
+luggage was piled on the roof, and the horses set to work to drag
+their heavy load over the dry, newly mended road.
+
+The Majorcan way of repairing a road is to put a layer of roughly
+broken stones over the worn bits, then to block the smooth places
+with chunks of rock, so that the unhappy travellers are perforce
+obliged to do the work of levelling by driving over the loose
+stones.
+
+But though the way was rough and jolty there was no dust, and there
+were no mosquitoes; and our company, including the brand-new baby,
+was the soul of good nature. The young men and women chatted gaily
+together in the harsh Majorcan dialect; the old man evincing a
+friendly interest in the conversation, which difference of
+nationality unfortunately rendered unintelligible to us. Once or
+twice, when the subject under discussion appeared more than usually
+entertaining, the Man and I whispered to each other, as we had done
+before in similar circumstances, "If we could only understand what
+they are saying!"
+
+Our progress was slow, owing partly to the roughness of the road,
+and partly, as the Boy later explained, to the fact that the driver,
+who was a very old man, fell asleep at intervals, and only awoke
+when the horses stopped.
+
+Half-way to Pollensa we exchanged drivers with the coach that was on
+its way to La Puebla; and our new man being wide-awake, matters
+progressed more briskly. The Boy told us afterwards that, seen from
+his place on the box, the scenery had been glorious; but from the
+interior of the diligence it was impossible to gain more than a
+general impression of lovely wooded slopes, and of distant hills
+that seemed to draw nearer and nearer until, suddenly, while
+Pollensa seemed still a long way off, we found ourselves in a narrow
+lane lined with tall houses. In and out of the most tortuous streets
+imaginable the diligence twisted, then abruptly came to a standstill
+at no place in particular, and we realized that we had penetrated to
+the heart of Pollensa.
+
+We had no idea where to go. All the information we had been able to
+gather about the Pollensa _fondas_--there were no so-called
+hotels--was that they were reputed to be bad. But when the coach
+stopped, and we had alighted, and were standing with our luggage on
+the cobble-stones, wondering in what direction to turn for a
+lodging, a young man, plump, clean-shaven, bare-headed, appearing
+from nowhere, begged breathlessly to recommend his _fonda_.
+
+Following him through crooked ways we reached the hostelry, which
+was in a little square near the market-place. Mounting a steep
+stair, we entered a large lavishly windowed room furnished with many
+round tables and chairs. It had a little bar and looked to the
+square; behind it was a dining-room.
+
+The Boy, who was our spokesman, following the expected procedure,
+inquired the terms per day.
+
+"Six pesetas." Our host, following an equally expected procedure
+when arranging with foreigners, had quoted his top price.
+
+"No," said the Boy, whom experience had taught wisdom. "Three
+pesetas; that is enough. Can you not do it for that?"
+
+The landlord waved his hands. "That depends on what you have," he
+replied, quite reasonably. "Three pesetas--yes, if you will be
+content with soup and one other dish at dinner and at supper."
+
+"And is the little breakfast included?"
+
+"Yes, señor. Coffee and milk."
+
+So it was decided. Three pesetas a day was to be the price. And it
+was with a feeling of keen curiosity as to what our host would
+provide for the money that we awaited the appearance of the first
+meal, which was to be served immediately. Señor Calafill at Andraitx
+had given us the perfection of French cookery, the best of wines, at
+three and a half pesetas. But his house was less pretentious, being
+a shop only and not a _fonda_.
+
+Our hostess, a nice, bright little woman who wore her hair in a
+pigtail and the _rebozillo_, bustled in and began laying the
+marble-topped table with fresh napkins, good cutlery, rolls, a
+bottle of wine, and a syphon of soda-water. Then she added a dish of
+fruit, and running off to the kitchen returned with the soup--a good
+thick Majorcan soup, full of rice and sweet peppers and chopped
+meat. The second course was a large dish of fish served with fried
+potatoes. Then we had, as a fruit course, apples and mandarin
+oranges. The fare might not be lavish, but it was assuredly all we
+required.
+
+Our rooms, which were the best the house afforded, were small but
+clean, and during our stay proved quite free from mosquitoes.
+
+When we discussed how we would spend the afternoon, the Boy and I
+hotly advocated walking to the port of Pollensa. A traveller from an
+inland town who had shared the box-seat of the diligence with the
+Boy had spoken enthusiastically of its beauty. His family was
+accustomed to spend the hot months there. The fishing, he said, was
+splendid, the fish being of much finer quality than those taken in
+the neighbouring bay of Alcudia.
+
+"A salmonetta caught in the bay of Pollensa _is_ a salmonetta," he
+had declared emphatically.
+
+The Man wisely objected to the expedition. The port, he reminded us,
+was seven kilometros (nearly five miles) away, and that was too far
+to go and return comfortably in the short winter afternoon. Besides,
+when we had come to see a curious old town, why not stay to look at
+it?
+
+But from my bedroom window I had caught an enchanting glimpse of the
+port--a segment of blue water hemmed in by steep rocky mountains. It
+seemed so near that I flouted the idea of the five miles, and the
+afternoon being a glorious one we finally agreed to go.
+
+As we passed along an outlying street an old man, who stood outside
+his house superintending the drying of a great tray of macaroni,
+wished us "Good day."
+
+In returning his greeting the Man added a remark on the beauty of
+the weather, which indeed to us seemed perfect.
+
+"No. This weather is not good. It is bad," the old man said
+severely. "It is rain that is needed. The country suffers. No,
+señor. This weather is bad, not good."
+
+The way was a relic of the Roman occupation: a splendid wide level
+road that, except for a curve where it left the town, stretched like
+a broad ruled line between us and the blue sea. It could not really
+be so far as seven kilometros, I assured my vigilant conscience,
+which was inclined to remonstrate. It looked no distance at all.
+
+So we went on our wilful way, journeying gaily between the thorny
+hedges of aloes--one up among the rocks on the hill-side was in
+bloom--and beside the little farms that bordered either side of the
+road.
+
+The road was long--quite five miles--but there was always something
+interesting at hand, and the enticing strip of blue water drew us
+onward. The hills on the opposite side of the bay had already caught
+the rays of the setting sun, and looked like a bit of some
+dream-world.
+
+The port of Pollensa had a quaint semicircle of houses, divided in
+the middle by the road we had come, which ended only on the bit of
+wharf that ran out into the spacious well-sheltered bay, where the
+British fleet had often found commodious anchorage. Save for a few
+local _falucas_ it was now empty.
+
+In the little enclosed yards in front of the fisher-houses men and
+girls were at work weaving from bright yellow strips of bamboo the
+tall, beehive-looking lobster-traps in local use. Behind the houses,
+on the left side of the bay, rose a precipitous hill. In front,
+between the houses and the water, was a line of fig-trees. Along
+towards the seaward point were some small charmingly situated
+summer residences.
+
+When we turned our faces townwards the sun had already set; and
+though we walked smartly, the way that in the going had seemed short
+appeared to lengthen as the shadows crept over the hills and
+darkness encircled us.
+
+Pollensa lies, a close huddle of old sun-dried houses, in a narrow
+curved valley between high mountains. Until you are close upon it,
+it is almost entirely hidden, and that was probably the intention
+with which it was originally planned. During the last mile or two of
+the return journey, when the shades had fallen and we went on and on
+without apparently getting any nearer our habitation, my opinion of
+the distance that divided the port from the town became considerably
+modified. Still, we were only pleasantly tired when the first of the
+town lights appeared, and we found our way to the _fonda_ through
+the twisted streets, past many well-lit barbers' shops where, in
+full view of the public gaze, men were being shaved or sitting in
+patient rows resignedly awaiting turns that, to judge from the large
+number of customers and the paucity of barbers, would necessarily be
+a long time in coming.
+
+Supper was ready to serve, and the moment the meal was over I went
+upstairs to bed--to sleep soon and sweetly, in spite of the fact
+that conversation in the bar-room beneath sounded surprisingly
+distinct--about as loud, indeed, as though the owners of the voices
+were talking at my ear. Morning brought explanation of the
+phenomenon--one of the flooring tiles just at the head of the bed
+was missing, and through the gap thus left the noise of the unseen
+talkers entered the room as through a speaking-tube.
+
+On the following morning, which was Sunday, the weekly market was
+held at Pollensa. Very early, while it was yet hardly light, the
+little bustle of street traffic awoke me, and, looking from the
+window, I got a misty view of panniered donkeys and of rustic
+conveyances which vague shadowy figures were unloading.
+
+When we had breakfasted we went out and, within a few steps of our
+inn, found ourselves in the most picturesque market-place we had
+ever seen.
+
+I do not know what may be the leading article of Pollensa market at
+other seasons, but on this January day the outstanding feature was
+cabbages--of tremendous proportions. Piled in heaps and hillocks on
+the ground, they fairly dominated the market. Other wares there were
+no doubt, but the things that impressed us were the number and size
+of these giant vegetables and a feeling of wonder as to where the
+people would come from to buy them. As the morning wore on, the
+mounds sensibly diminished in height; but at that early hour the
+stacks of cabbages towered so high that sometimes only the heads of
+the vendors were visible above them.
+
+In the raised portion of the market-square women occupied the stone
+benches, their stock of home-grown fruits and of the finer
+vegetables exhibited in baskets before them.
+
+It was the scarce time for grapes. The field-produce was long over,
+and only garden bunches were still to be had. But without any
+attempt at bargaining we bought two pounds of delicious grapes for
+sixpence-farthing, and large golden oranges were offered us at
+twopence a dozen.
+
+The town was so full of strange and picturesque figures that every
+moment brought fresh entertainment. At the _feria_ into which we
+strayed at Inca we had thought ourselves lucky in seeing one old man
+attired in the curious _colsons en bufer_, as the voluminous
+zouave-like pantaloons of bright blue cotton are called. Here in
+Pollensa wearers of the delightfully odd old-world dress abounded.
+And it seemed as though they took a special pride in the quaintness
+of their garb, so particular were they about the set of their
+neckties, so trim about the ankles, so careful as to the fit of the
+low black shoes that went so well with the costume.
+
+The women of Pollensa, though less extraordinary of aspect, were
+also a pleasure to behold, for with scarcely an exception they wore
+the becoming native dress, and their heads were neatly covered with
+either the pretty white muslin head-dress or with handkerchiefs of
+gaily coloured silk.
+
+It was somewhat disconcerting to realize, as we did quite suddenly,
+that it was really we who were the oddities, and that in the eyes of
+the crowd, at whom we were gazing so curiously, I was a ludicrous
+object because I wore a hat!
+
+It was really quite an ordinary travelling-hat, but finding that the
+fact of a woman wearing a hat at all attracted undue attention from
+these unsophisticated folks, I hastened back to the _fonda_ and
+changed it for a chiffon scarf worn mantilla-fashion. That done, I
+found I could pass almost unnoticed.
+
+Majorca boasts many picturesque old towns, but probably Pollensa is
+the most picturesque of all. It is a beautiful antique: a town made
+for the painter. Its warm golden-brown houses have baked in the hot
+southern sunshine until they seem ready to crumble to pieces. It is
+by no means a rich town. Most of the dwellings appeared to belong to
+the poorer classes. As the Man said--"It is a city of slums--but
+what adorable slums!"
+
+The streets were all turnings, and every turn brought a subject
+ready for the brush. Here was a grand old cross, there a curious
+fountain, yonder an ancient stone washing-trough. And round every
+corner, that market-morning, came the quaint old men in their
+broad-brimmed felt hats and baggy breeches, unconsciously adding the
+note of human interest that completed the pictures.
+
+Pollensa is essentially a town of hills. Mountains closely girdle it
+round. To the Calvario, which is perched on a height in the midst of
+the town, one ascends by countless wide, low steps, the town
+ascending also. For on one side houses struggle half-way up the
+steep incline, while cactus plants, the edges of their thick, fleshy
+leaves heavily ruched by blood-red fruit, hedge the other. On the
+rocky slope beyond is a thick growth of _palmettos_, the dwarf palms
+whose inner stems the natives eat and from whose dried fronds
+baskets are made.
+
+[Illustration: The Main Street of Pollensa]
+
+To the dwellers in these sky-parlours the broad steps play the part
+of an extra sitting-room. As we climbed slowly up that hot morning,
+we trod closely upon many domestic scenes, but none of the actors
+therein objected to the intrusion. Fathers were happily employing
+their Sunday leisure in nursing their babies; and mothers, with the
+requisites placed for all the world to see, were washing their
+children's faces, tying up their locks with ribbon, and performing
+other niceties of the toilet that usually take place in the sanctity
+of the home. One old woman, sitting full in the sun, was reciting
+her prayers in a loud voice. Her occupation, however, did not appear
+in the slightest to detract from her interest in the passing of us
+_forasteros_.
+
+The open doors of the little chapel that perched amidst its guardian
+cypresses on the summit spoke a wordless welcome; and we entered, to
+find ourselves in a beautiful sanctuary.
+
+Above the altar was a very old carved tableau which represented
+Christ suspended on a heavy wooden cross, with Mary, kneeling,
+caressing His wounded feet. On the ceiling were various curious and
+evidently antique emblems of the Redemption.
+
+On either side of the altar was a recess devoted to the display of
+votive offerings. Many of them were akin to those exhibited in other
+churches, though one case was filled with tiny flat silver
+figures--miniature men in trousers and tiny women in petticoats. But
+on the wall of the chamber to the right was an offering that aroused
+both our interest and our curiosity.
+
+Suspended in a tall, narrow glass case, hung a pleat of dark brown
+hair, tied simply after the local fashion with a knot and ends of
+black ribbon. It was a pigtail such as was worn by most of the women
+in the town; but a pigtail of such unusual length and thickness that
+it might quite laudably have been the pride of its owner's heart.
+
+Beneath was a card bearing the following inscription, written large
+in a fair, round hand:--
+
+    _Promesa de Francisca 30 Noviembre 1902 Pollensa._
+
+Now who was Francisca? And why did she promise to cut off her
+beautiful hair? Was it to avert the fatal issue of some illness of
+her own? Or was it because her lover was ill, or in danger by land
+or sea? Or was Francisca merely afraid that he might prove
+faithless?
+
+Whatever the nature of the terror Francisca dreaded, it was happily
+averted. The presence of the severed tresses assured us of that. But
+it was a particularly fine pigtail, and the sight of it tempted one
+to wonder what the feeling of Juan, or Pedro, or Miguel was when he
+first saw his sweetheart with closely cropped locks, and found that
+she had shorn off her glory for his sake. It is to be trusted that
+Francisca's hair was not her only beauty.
+
+From the terraced slope of the Calvario one gets a magnificent view of
+the town. Looking down on the tiled roofs, all tawny-brown with the
+passing of centuries, it is easy to realize the great age of Pollensa.
+The city itself occupies but a circumscribed area, so narrow are the
+streets, so huddled together the houses. There is scarcely room for a
+green leaf to sprout between them. But where the town ends abruptly
+the real country begins, and in the parts that are not closely flanked
+by hills the ancient town is girdled by a belt of almond-trees. And
+all about it the fertile ground is cut up into small holdings, each
+with its little yellow-brown dwelling-house.
+
+On every side, as far as the eye can reach, rise mountains, a
+glimpse of blue sea showing here and there between their rocky
+crags. Above one side of the town towers an isolated peak, from
+whose crest a magnificent panoramic view of half of the island of
+Majorca, and even a distant glimpse of Minorca, can be obtained.
+
+A superbly situated building that was once the Convent of Nuestra
+Señora del Puig (Our Lady of the Peak) crowns the top of the
+height. It was so named because of a marvellous image of the Virgin
+discovered by the nuns who were in residence there. In olden days,
+when the building was in the possession of the Church, the Convent
+of Our Lady of the Peak supported an _hospederia_ for the shelter of
+pilgrims; and now that the holy sisterhood has removed to Palma, the
+authorities of Pollensa continue to uphold their hospitable custom,
+and every traveller who mounts the steep--rather a stiff climb, by
+the way--is welcome to free lodging with fire, oil, olives, and
+goat's cheese for three nights and days at the expense of the town.
+
+As we looked from the Calvario where we were standing across the
+valley to the noble pile of the old convent, and thought how sublime
+the sunrises and sunsets would be, viewed from Our Lady of the Peak,
+I registered a vow to make a pilgrimage thither some day. The Man
+chose to be pleasantly sarcastic regarding the fulfilment of the
+intention. He cherishes a perhaps not altogether unfounded belief
+that I wish to revisit every place I have seen in Majorca. But we
+shall see....
+
+As we passed back through the market-square, the business of buying
+and selling was still in progress. In every quarter of the town,
+down back alleys, mounting up the steps towards the Calvario, in the
+farthest-out streets, we had met women carrying home the
+Brobdingnagian cabbages. Dinners were already cooking over the
+little fires of almond shells, and the odour of boiling cabbage came
+from many earthenware cooking-pots, yet the piles seemed scarcely
+diminished.
+
+The cattle-market--a matter of a score or two of piglings, half a
+dozen sheep, a few horses--was held in the square before our
+_fonda_, and while it lasted the interest of the wearers of the
+_colsons en bufer_ centred there, though, as far as we could judge
+from our balcony, they took no active part in the trafficking. They
+had all brown, weather-beaten, shrewd old faces, and all gave the
+impression of leading lives of extreme respectability. It was
+impossible to imagine any one of them falling foul of the law.
+
+As the Boy said, "It would be a comic sight to see the old beggars
+flying from Justice in bags like these!"
+
+Since our arrival on the previous noon, the personality of our
+landlord had greatly puzzled us. At first sight he had appeared
+youngish, stout, clean-shaven, and slightly surly in manner, and at
+intervals he still presented the same characteristics. But there
+were other times when he surprised us by seeming rather older,
+slightly greyer, and decidedly more gracious of bearing. The simple
+solution of the little mystery came when we chanced to see him in
+both aspects at once; and learned that we had two hosts--father and
+son--who, even when seen in company, so strongly resembled each
+other that we christened them the two Dromios.
+
+In the afternoon we set off on the prowl, with the Town Hall--in
+which a native guide-book declared there was a collection of antique
+armour--as our objective.
+
+The Town Hall, which in common with so many important Balearic
+buildings was originally a convent, occupies a commanding position
+at the head of a steep street. Reaching it, we found an open
+doorway, but no sign of any custodian.
+
+We entered and wandered along empty passages and up a great
+staircase so old that the stone steps were worn down, and the lower
+balustrades had fallen quite away.
+
+Still in quest of the collection of ancient armour, we had strayed
+as far as an upper and seemingly deserted corridor, our footsteps
+echoing loudly on the tiled floors. We were about to retrace our
+steps when a door at the end of the passage opened, and a gentleman
+appeared.
+
+To our gratification he accepted our explanation of the intrusion,
+and courteously invited us to enter his house to see the views from
+his windows; for as official telegraphist to the town, he occupied a
+handsome suite of rooms in the old building.
+
+His wife, too, showed no surprise at having three outlandish
+foreigners thus rudely disturb her Sabbath peace. She received us
+most graciously, and, having invited us to be seated, entered into
+conversation with the Man.
+
+"We were from England, then?"
+
+"Yes, but for the winter we were resident at Palma."
+
+"Palma. So we lived in Palma?" Before her husband's translation to
+Pollensa a few months earlier, the señora explained, they also had
+lived in Palma. "In what part of Palma did we reside?"
+
+"Well, not exactly in the town--just beyond the walls, at Son
+Españolet."
+
+"At Son Españolet!" The señora confessed to having had a summer
+residence in Son Españolet.
+
+"Our house is in the Calle de Mas--Number 23."
+
+"In the Calle de Mas! Caramba! What a coincidence!" The señora's
+summer home had also been in the Calle de Mas--Number 26.
+
+With this unexpected interest between us, we were soon all chatting
+away volubly, though, I fear, not always intelligibly. And when we
+bade the señora "Adios" to resume our quest, the señor kindly
+accompanied us.
+
+With his aid we succeeded in unearthing an old woman who kept the
+keys that opened the treasures of the town.
+
+One most interesting chamber held the records of Pollensa for many
+hundreds of years--from the earliest archives that were inscribed on
+parchment now brown with age, to the smart morocco-bound chronicles
+of the day before yesterday. The arms of the city--the three
+cypresses, the silver star, and the cock with a claw in the air,
+that had already become familiar to us--were there also.
+
+Among the old cross-bows and halberds were the huge blunderbusses
+that, in accordance with an old custom, are still fired off yearly.
+And with them were specimens of a much older form of offensive
+weapon in the shape of huge rounded stones that in olden times had
+been hurled from the battlements of the Castillo del Rey, aimed at
+the skulls of attacking enemies.
+
+Articles that were specially interesting, because in use to the
+present day, were the big earthenware water-jugs from which are
+drawn by lot the young men whom Pollensa annually contributes to
+the Majorcan army. There must be anxious hearts, both inside and
+outside of the old building, on that morning in early February when
+the lads whose turn has come go up to draw from the narrow mouths of
+the Moorish jars the numbers that are to decide their manner of life
+for the next three years.
+
+In the Council Chamber was a large painting by a native artist of
+Juan Mas, the townsman to whom belongs the honour of having first
+delivered Pollensa from the Moors.
+
+Juan must either have been a _malade imaginaire_, or one whose
+spirit was stronger than his body; for, as the story goes, he was
+sick abed when the Moors reached the town, and leaping from his
+couch, without taking time to change his night-garb, he led the
+people on to victory. The artist shows the hero in what was
+presumably the sleeping-suit of the period--loose white breeches and
+a shirt.
+
+We were back at the _fonda_ taking tea when a sound of chanting
+voices in the street beneath drew us to the windows in time to see a
+religious procession passing slowly beneath. Priests in rich
+vestments, carrying banners, walked in front; behind in a double
+line came a long succession of females of all classes--women with
+_rebozillos_ and pigtails, ladies with mantillas. A band of little
+girls and nuns brought up the rear; and, still singing, the company
+passed on, and entered the adjacent church.
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+THE PORT OF ALCUDIA
+
+
+On being consulted respecting a conveyance that would take us to
+Alcudia, the younger Dromio had suggested the possibility of hiring
+one from a friend of his own. The distance was twelve kilometros,
+the cost would be about six or seven pesetas. So next morning, when
+we were ready to start, quite a smart trap awaited us.
+
+It was after the fashion of the penitential gig in which we had
+journeyed from the Hospederia at Miramar to Sóller, but it was twice
+as large. The owner, who drove, had dressed for the occasion. He
+wore a sportive cap of green and gold tartan plush, a well-starched
+white shirt that was lavishly sprinkled with black spots as big as
+sixpences (no collar, of course), and he was smoking a cigar.
+
+Bidding farewell to the two Dromios, who shook us by the hands with
+seeming regret and craved the favour of a recommendation to our
+friends, we drove away through the sweet morning air. The lovely road
+curved about the foot of the hill crowned by the old Convent of Our
+Lady of the Peak, and past many little holdings--one-acre-and-a-goat
+sort of places--towards the sea. The road was dry, but there was no
+dust, and the January sun shone warmly from a cloudless sky.
+
+[Illustration: The Roman Gateway, Alcudia]
+
+When we had reached the broad Roman road that led directly to the
+old walled city of Alcudia, our way led between countless ranks of
+great fig-trees--their spreading branches now bare and grey. So many
+were they, and so wide an area did they cover, that, if we had
+not seen figs growing in profusion at other parts of the island, we
+could almost have believed that all the figs in Palma came from
+Alcudia.
+
+Our driver was a genial man who had emigrated and made his money in
+Buenos Ayres, and while still young had been able to follow the
+worthy native custom and return with his savings to his native
+district, where he was now comfortably settled, farming his own bit
+of land and driving his own pony-trap.
+
+When we asked his advice as to where we might stay at Alcudia, he
+said there were two hotels at the port, which is a mile beyond the
+old city. The Hotel Miramar was the larger. But the proprietors of
+the Fonda Marina were friends of his own. They were very nice
+people. He could heartily recommend them. And here I may say that
+one of the many nice features of the Majorcans is that they are
+almost invariably on friendly terms with each other. If a shopkeeper
+happens to be out of the commodity a buyer wants, he will put
+himself out of his way to direct the customer to a brother vendor.
+
+Alcudia is a curiously old city--far older even than Palma, they
+claim. It has a distinct inner wall--Moorish--and many substantial
+traces of an outer one--Roman. Entering by the gate of San
+Sebastian--near which a much-chipped wooden figure of the saint is
+sheltered in a netting-protected niche in the wall--we drove through
+the corkscrewy streets and out by a gate on the farther side.
+
+Before coming we had decided not to stay in the ancient city. Its
+sanitary condition was supposed to be doubtful, and we had failed to
+hear of an inn there. But when we had driven through the picturesque
+Roman gateway and past the antique cross beyond, we looked back, and
+the place seemed so enticingly old-world, so like a habitation out
+of another century than ours, that we felt sorry we had made no real
+endeavour to find a lodging within its walls. However, the
+recollection that we would have to start about 3 a.m. in a small
+boat to get on board the Minorca steamer reconciled us to the
+prospect of living as close as possible to the harbour.
+
+The Fonda Marina was an attractive-looking new house built at the
+very edge of the bay. As we drove up, the host and hostess,
+recognizing our driver, hastened out to welcome him. Before marrying
+and settling down as hotel-keepers, the husband had been a steward
+on South American steamers, and the wife had been cook to the former
+proprietors of the _fonda_. Both were pleasant, frank country folk,
+and terms were quickly arranged.
+
+"We would like to stay here till the boat for Minorca calls
+to-morrow night. Can you take us for three pesetas a day?" we asked.
+
+"For three pesetas _each_?" the host inquired dubiously, as though
+he thought we had suggested his accepting that sum for the trio. "If
+for three pesetas _each_--yes, surely."
+
+So, to the evident satisfaction of everybody concerned, the easy
+bargain was concluded.
+
+The Fonda Marina was particularly bright and airy. Its windows
+overlooked the great Bay of Alcudia, from which, in olden times,
+expeditions were wont to sail for Africa and the Levant. These were
+the days when the kings of Spain built whole fleets from wood grown
+in Majorcan forests.
+
+There was a drawing-room whose three windows each commanded a
+totally different point of view. It had a good balcony, and was lit
+by home-made acetylene gas. Our rooms, which were clean and
+comfortable, faced seawards. With a very long rod one might almost
+have fished from their windows. A more enticing summer residence
+could hardly be imagined.
+
+Our hostess had promised that in a few minutes luncheon would be
+ready. And it was with lively curiosity that we awaited its
+appearance. The two Dromios had entertained us for the same sum; and
+we were interested to see how the catering of the Fonda Marina would
+compare with that of their caravansary.
+
+Seating ourselves in one of the large halls downstairs, we waited
+the turn of events. The mistress of the house had disappeared into
+the kitchen, whence frizzling sounds expressive of hurried cooking
+smote cheerily upon our expectant ears.
+
+Presently a slim, dark-eyed young maid, Consuelo by name, hastened
+out bearing an armful of plates which she proceeded to set at
+intervals round a large baize-covered table near us. Then she added
+thick glass tumblers, a tall jug of water, and a large rye loaf.
+
+"I say," said the Boy, "there are _six_ plates. We're evidently
+expected to dine with the family. That'll be fun."
+
+But his hopes of a treat were disappointed by Consuelo reappearing
+to invite us into a neat little dining-room whose existence we had
+not suspected. There we found a table nicely spread for three, with
+the elaborately monogrammed linen one sees in every Majorcan home,
+good cutlery, a bottle of red wine, and a siphon of soda-water.
+
+When we had taken our places our host himself placed before us a
+large dish of _arroz_--the excellent native stew of rice mixed with
+anything savoury in the form of fish, flesh, fowl, or vegetable that
+happens to be at hand.
+
+Fried fish followed--fresh out of the sea, and so delicious of
+flavour that we were inclined to question whether those caught in
+the bay of Pollensa could possibly be better.
+
+While we were eating it, the hostess came in to ask what we would
+have next--whether we would prefer an omelet or cutlets. We
+unanimously chose omelet, and in a hand-clap one, hot and buoyant,
+was on the table. Oranges and apples and black coffee completed the
+menu.
+
+During the meal, the solicitude of the family to see that we lacked
+nothing that would conduce to our comfort was almost embarrassing.
+The door of our dining-room stood open, and although the host and
+Consuelo, who served us, did not actually remain in the room they
+were continually passing the door with anxious eyes turned on our
+proceedings. And when a dish was removed the señora would come in
+person to inquire if it had been to our liking.
+
+The climax came when the only child of the house--Cristobal, a dear
+brat of five--in his desire to see the eccentric strangers eat,
+crept stealthily up the staircase and stationed himself on his knees
+just opposite the open door of the dining-room, gazing down through
+the banisters at us.
+
+This ingenious little manoeuvre was discovered by his father.
+There ensued a sound resembling applause, and young hopeful was
+borne off, howling, to be comforted in the kitchen.
+
+Immediately after luncheon the Man walked back towards Alcudia to
+sketch the view of the sea-gate of the old city, that had struck him
+when we drove through. And, left to our devices, the Boy and I went
+boating.
+
+A jolly, flat-bottomed punt belonging to the _fonda_ was moored
+close at hand, and just across the blue and silver water lay an
+enticing stretch of lovely white sand. Behind it rose a bank of low
+shrubs overtopped by tall pines whose foliage had been so cropped
+that at a little distance they bore a striking resemblance to
+cocoanut palms. Beyond the flat expanse of land rose a line of
+mountains that glowed warm heliotrope and pink in the strong
+sunshine.
+
+The still water was so clear that we could see every grain of the
+sand, every spray of seaweed, beneath. And as we drifted over the
+lagoon we felt as though the intervening decade had slipped back and
+that we were once again on the coral strand of the Pacific Islands.
+
+I had heard that beautiful and, sometimes, very rare shells were to
+be found in the Bay of Alcudia. So, getting the Boy to put me on
+shore, I wandered along by the edge of the water looking for them.
+But my quest proved of little avail. Shells there were, it is true,
+but they were very small, very fragile, and almost colourless; most,
+indeed, were pure white and nearly transparent. I have gathered
+shells in many parts of the world, and I confess I was disappointed.
+Still, it was the only point on which Alcudia did not far exceed any
+expectations I had formed of it. The comparative failure of my
+search must have been owing to the long continuance of calm
+weather. As the Mediterranean is almost tideless, it is only after a
+storm that wave-borne treasures are usually to be found washed up on
+her beaches.
+
+Perhaps I may not have looked in the right spot, though I did wander
+a long way round the shore in the direction of the Albufera--the
+tract of marshy land where rice is cultivated. So far, that I was
+glad when the Boy, by skilful navigation, succeeded in avoiding the
+many sandbanks and could run the punt in and, picking me up, row me
+over to the _fonda_.
+
+The Man was awaiting our return, and after taking a cup of tea we
+walked eastwards along the coast towards an old Moorish tower that
+we had seen from the distance.
+
+The sun had set. It was in the mysterious half-light of the gloaming
+that we mounted the steps leading to the door and found it open at a
+touch. Within all was darkness. The flame of a match revealed
+chambers showing that the tower had evidently been a home as well as
+a place of defence. One had evidently been the living-room of the
+Moorish tenants, for almost half the floor-space was occupied by the
+wide chimney-corner, where a host might have gathered round the
+blazing logs. I never see an ancient dwelling without experiencing a
+keen desire to know what manner of folks were the first to kindle a
+fire on the deserted hearth.
+
+Feeling our way up the worn stairway, we reached a floor with more
+empty and silent apartments. Two or three broken steps led to a
+cunning opening placed exactly over the front entrance. Besiegers
+essaying to storm the door must have fallen easy victims to the
+alert watchers above; and that wide hearth had room to heat an
+amazing lot of water. At either side of the opening were embrasures
+into which the defender of the fortress might dart after he had
+aimed his missile--scalding water, arrows, heavy stones, or whatever
+the fashion of his time in projectiles chanced to be.
+
+Mounting yet higher, we found ourselves standing in the open air, on
+a flat circular roof overlooking the wide bay. On one side of the
+roof were two chambers and a draw-well.
+
+The view from the top of this ancient Moorish tower was grand. The
+sun had long set, but the sky still held a thousand glorious hues
+that were reflected in the sea. No craft moved on the surface of the
+water, and not a living being was in sight on land. The whole lovely
+world seemed to belong to us. Allured by the romantic beauty of the
+spot, we lingered until the colour had faded and the sky had become
+so dark that we had to stumble our way _fonda_-wards over the rough
+field-track, vowing to return on the morrow to see the place by
+daylight.
+
+Supper was waiting when we got indoors--half-a-dozen fried eggs
+served with fried potatoes, cutlets, cauliflower and cheese. A
+home-made sausage, a mould of _membrillo_ jelly, fruit and
+coffee--an _outré_ combination perhaps, but it was all very tempting
+and nicely cooked, and we enjoyed it.
+
+Another of our charming Balearic days had ended. And so, as Pepys
+would say, to bed.
+
+Our wonderful luck in weather continued. We awoke to yet another
+perfect morning. Immediately after breakfast the Man set off to
+sketch one of the countless curious antique Moorish wells--known as
+_norias_--used for the irrigation of the crops: wells whose chains
+of earthenware jars are worked by the motive power supplied by mules
+that, yoked to a long shaft, keep walking in a circle. The mule
+needs no guide, as the rein, which is tied to the beam overhead, at
+intervals gives a gentle tug in the required direction.
+
+It was oddly pathetic to see the patient brutes, their eyes
+blindfolded by having straw saucers fastened over them plodding
+steadfastly round and round, while from the ceaseless filling and
+emptying of the chain of jars the water gushed in a miniature
+waterfall into the trenches dug between the long lines of growing
+vegetables. In this fertile plain near the sea, the crop at this
+mid-winter season appeared to consist mainly of cabbages and
+cauliflowers. And when we saw those grown at Alcudia we knew where
+the mammoth cabbages that had dominated Pollensa market had been
+reared.
+
+[Illustration: A _Noria_ Near Alcudia]
+
+The Boy had gone alone to do a sketch on the roof of the Moorish
+tower that had interested us on the previous night. As he sat
+working, there came a sound of steps ascending the crumbling stairs;
+and to his pleasure three pretty Majorcan girls appeared, come to
+fill their earthen water-jars at the old draw-well on the roof, a
+well that even after the lapse of hundreds of years still continued
+to yield an abundant supply of pure water. The girls were exactly
+the figures required to complete the sketch. So to their
+gratification and his own benefit the Boy put them in.
+
+In the afternoon, the Man and I walked the easy mile to Alcudia, and
+wandered about the quaint old town, climbing both the inner and the
+outer walls, wishing we knew more of its history, and lamenting that
+our limitations of language kept us ignorant of the meaning of these
+extensive and variant lines of fortifications. So we made no
+exhaustive inquiries, but prowled about and drew our own rough
+conclusions as to the relative values of the Roman and Moorish
+manner of building and defence.
+
+Coming upon a handsome and imposing church, we went in. It was dark
+and silent. Straying through the outer building, which had a vast
+Moorish dome, we entered a curious and beautiful inner church, whose
+sides were lined with the nearest approach to private boxes that we
+had ever seen in a sacred edifice.
+
+Returning to the outer church, we were looking at the decorations in
+the dimness of the side chapels. The Man had struck a match to
+enable us to see a grotto that was rendered still more obscure by
+half-drawn curtains. The sound echoing through the silence brought a
+lad, who was evidently intensely interested in the church and its
+possessions. Lighting a tall candle, he drew aside the curtains, and
+with something of the pride of ownership in his manner revealed to
+us the Christmas tableau of the scene in the stable at Bethlehem.
+
+His glory in the display was so evident that we did not remark on
+the contempt for perspective that had represented the Virgin and
+Child as giants, and the worshipping kings and shepherds as merely
+pigmies; nor did we venture to hint that anything in the nature of
+an anachronism marked the presence of a gay satin cushion at Mary's
+feet.
+
+The lad's soul was evidently in the work of the church. When we
+thanked him, and the Man offered him a coin in recognition of the
+willing services he had rendered us, he at first refused to take it;
+then, when we insisted, accepted and immediately put it into the
+collection-box marked "For the High Altar."
+
+Our landlord had spoken of the remains of a Roman amphitheatre that
+was in the district; and finding that we were interested, he
+volunteered to pilot us thither. And, indeed, without his escort we
+would never have found the place, for it lies in the heart of a
+farm, the way to which leaves the main road half-way between the old
+city and her port.
+
+A commonplace path between stone walls led to the farm-house, whose
+quite ordinary exterior gave no suggestion of the strange tracks of
+bygone races that lay hid in the ground all about. Having asked and
+obtained the permission that enabled us to trespass, we passed on
+and reached a rocky slope which bore signs of having at some time
+been used as a quarry.
+
+To our unskilled eyes nothing seemed to promise that our
+surroundings would prove other than the usual Majorcan farm placed
+on a particularly rocky bit of country.
+
+Our guide, who had been walking in advance, stopping suddenly,
+pointed to the ground at his feet.
+
+"There!" he said.
+
+And looking, we saw that we were standing on the top step of a
+barely distinguishable semicircle that had been roughly hewn in the
+rock. With a beautiful disrespect for age, a stone dike had been
+built right across the seats. I think we counted six rows above and
+five below the wall. And in the arena flourishing almond-trees had
+rooted deep in the once blood-stained soil. A hole in the ground
+allowed a peep into a cavern where the wild beasts used in the
+combats had been housed.
+
+But the ground held other secrets. In the solid rock that rose above
+the sides of the amphitheatre there were many graves--once sealed;
+now, having been desecrated by bygone generations of Moors, merely
+slits gaping to the skies.
+
+About four years earlier a strange finding had taken place within a
+few paces of the farm-house. An untouched Roman grave had been
+discovered; and our guide, who had been present at the opening,
+described the scene in language so graphic, and accompanied by such
+dramatic gesture, that we had not the smallest difficulty in
+following the most minute detail.
+
+He told us how, when the hermetically sealed top stone had been
+lifted away, the complete body of a woman, apparently young, lay
+before them, as she had been placed two thousand years before, with
+a necklace of gold round her throat, earrings in her ears, rings on
+her fingers. And how, as they looked in awed silence, the body that
+throughout these ages had maintained a semblance of humanity, had
+before their eyes slowly crumbled into undistinguishable dust.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Ciudadela Seen from the Sea]
+
+XVI
+
+MINORCA
+
+
+The weekly steamer from Barcelona to Minorca was due to call at the
+port of Alcudia at 3.30 a.m. We went to bed, but not to sleep, for
+half a dozen intending passengers, five of them commercial
+travellers, had arrived by diligence from La Puebla, and the _fonda_
+echoed with unwonted noise.
+
+When, about three o'clock, we went downstairs, the large hall was
+brilliantly lit, and men muffled in big cloaks and scarves were
+gulping glasses of hot coffee before leaving the shelter of a roof.
+In the public room beyond, some harbourmen and one of the
+never-absent carbineers sat smoking.
+
+A nondescript being--faded red cap on head, bare feet thrust into
+hempen sandals--summoned by the landlord, appeared from the outer
+darkness and, shouldering our baggage, passed out into the night. We
+followed, and walking by faith, at length found ourselves standing
+on the pier, the unseen water lap-lapping at our feet, an increasing
+group of fellow-voyagers gathering about us.
+
+Out of the dense blackness a boat with a lantern burning dimly at
+her prow crept beneath us and paused. Some one lit a match,
+revealing a short flight of steps leading to the water. Descending
+with fumbling feet, we reached the elusive craft below.
+
+A curious company we were, vague, indefinable, all closely packed
+together, and all silent. A priest, a party of commercial
+travellers, and a gaunt Moorish-looking being, who was wrapped from
+his head--on which, as we afterwards saw, he wore, probably to save
+bother in packing, a wide felt sombrero with a jaunty yachting cap
+set a-top--to his naked ankles, in a great white blanket.
+
+There was no moon, and the paling stars gave but little light as the
+two boatmen, standing up facing the bow, moved the heavily laden
+boat across the smooth swart water. Urged on with strong, unswerving
+strokes, the boat moved away from the invisible land, the while we
+sat dumb, motionless.
+
+I was just thinking that in something of these attitudes of utter
+and hopeless despair might the unwilling passengers of Charon endure
+the last dread journey across the Styx, when the Boy, who was
+sitting next to me, whispered, "Don't we look exactly as though we
+were shipwrecked people adrift on the ocean?"
+
+Then the bulk of the _Monte Toro_ loomed vaguely ahead, and as our
+bow neared the accommodation ladder the elder boatman, abandoning
+his oar, began collecting his fees of fivepence each (_dos reales_)
+for piloting us over the bay.
+
+The illusion had vanished. We were everyday human beings once more.
+
+Before we left London a Spanish friend had strongly advised us to
+travel second-class in Balearic Island steamers. He said the second
+saloon accommodation was justly popular with those who knew,
+because, first-class passengers being few, it was better placed and
+more commodious.
+
+The Man has cherished a lifelong theory that when journeying by sea
+the best accommodation is not too good. But on this occasion of our
+crossing from Majorca to Minorca, as the weather was still tranquil,
+he allowed himself to be persuaded to put our friend's advice to the
+test. And the experience of that night was so eminently
+satisfactory that it not only added to our immediate comfort but
+saved us much money in the future.
+
+When crossing from Barcelona our first-class cabins, which were
+small and had thwart-ship berths, had been situated in the stern.
+The second-class cabin on the _Monte Toro_, which I shared with the
+only other lady passenger, was large, airy, and as gay as ivory
+paint, brass rods, and scarlet draperies could make it. It was right
+amidships too, had two port-holes, and berths that for comfort could
+scarcely have been improved upon.
+
+The lighter with a load of pigs being still on the way, the decks of
+the smart little steamer were quiet. A pet donkey, covered with a
+scarlet blanket, was tethered under the sheltering boat deck; a
+glint of gold lace in the galley revealed the captain warming
+himself by the cook's fire.
+
+When I entered the cabin labelled "Señoras," a pretty girl in a pink
+petticoat was standing before the mirror engaged in exaggerating the
+bulk of her abundant dark hair by padding it out with quite
+unnecessary "rats" and cushions into twice its natural proportions.
+
+Lying down, I fell asleep to the lullaby grunting of the pigs that
+were being hauled on board. When I awoke it was daylight, and a
+glance through a port-hole showed that we were nearing a flat coast.
+
+The pretty pink petticoat had already gone on deck, and putting on a
+cloak and hood, I followed to join my people in a sheltered corner
+of the promenade deck, from where we surveyed the coast that we were
+approaching with the deliberate rate of speed that characterizes
+Balearic Island steamers.
+
+The general aspect of Minorca, the flat country, the white houses,
+the windmills, vividly recalled our first glimpse of Guernsey as we
+had approached it early one winter morning many years ago.
+
+Ciudadela, which is the oldest city in the island, was the capital
+in the time of the Moors. It was to the rulers of Ciudadela that
+King Jaime sent his demand for the submission of Minorca. From our
+place on deck we could see Cape Pera, the eastern point of Majorca,
+twenty miles distant, where the young King and his knights kindled
+the huge bonfires that, by alarming the Moors into the belief that a
+hostile army lay encamped there ready to invade them, gained him a
+bloodless subjection. Ciudadela, which was the seat of a bishop in
+423, is still the ecclesiastical capital of Minorca, though Mahón
+has long superseded her in all else.
+
+The sea is rarely smooth on the Minorcan coast. It was within a
+short distance of Ciudadela that, not many days later, the _General
+Chanzy_, bound from Marseilles to Algiers, was wrecked with the loss
+of every soul on board with the solitary exception of one young man,
+whose escape was surely the most marvellous on record.
+
+As we lay to outside the very narrow entrance to the harbour, the
+five _comerciantes_, who were preparing to go on shore, eyed askance
+the tossing cockleshells of boats that were advancing ready to
+convey them to land. By taking the motor-car that ran the
+twenty-eight miles connecting Ciudadela with Mahón, which is on the
+opposite extreme of the island, they would save three precious
+hours. With the prospect of a charming sail along the coast before
+us we did not envy them.
+
+After a protracted delay the boats succeeded in approaching near
+enough to the accommodation ladder to enable the commercial men to
+embark. And they were off, clutching at the sides of the little
+boats, as with rueful faces they joggled shorewards over the choppy
+waves.
+
+Our chilly friend of the enveloping blanket and the naked ankles,
+who was a deck passenger, had, as the Man reported, spent the night
+perched on a grating over the engine-room--a situation where he
+would surely be warm enough. Where he performed his toilet no one
+knows, but as we neared Port Mahón he appeared transformed from a
+shivering bundle into a dandy. Neat black socks covered his ankles,
+and his brown coat, orange shirt, and green velveteen trousers
+revealed a nice taste for colour. His yellow-white blanket had
+disappeared, but he still wore his two hats.
+
+Meanwhile the pigs, whose lamentations had rent the silence of the
+night, were being hauled, pulled, jerked, pushed, and dumped along
+the deck, over the side, and into the lighter that was to take them
+ashore, as they went raising their voices in shrill protest. As the
+Boy remarked, quoting Uncle Remus, "These pigs know whar dey come
+from, but dey don' know whar they gwine!"
+
+As the _Monte Toro_ steamed slowly round the low cliffs that seemed
+to descend sheer into deep water, so little sign of broken beach or
+of outlying reef was there, we could see how through the ages the
+restless sea had nibbled and gnawed at the edges of the cliffs,
+which in many places were deeply honeycombed, and even hollowed into
+caves.
+
+There were no first-class passengers. The accommodation reserved for
+them just over the screw was vacant. Third-class included an
+interesting quartette of stubby Spanish soldiers, and one slim naval
+stoker, whose flexible movements and sportive bonhomie were in
+striking contrast to the stolid immobility of his companions.
+Possibly the stoker felt more at home on shipboard. Certainly he had
+all the life of the party; for while the others muffled their heads
+in shawls, and squatted on their carefully spread cotton
+pocket-handkerchiefs, he was never still, helping an overburdened
+young mother by shouldering her small boy and taking him round to
+visit the pet donkey, making friends with the ship's dog, or playing
+good-humoured tricks upon the others.
+
+The sky was flecked with white clouds--the first we had seen for
+many days--and the houses scattered over the flat and almost
+treeless table-land were all white--gleamingly white, after the old
+russet towns of Pollensa and Alcudia. Here and there we could see
+one of the great beehive-like heaps of stones that the sailors have
+christened "watch-towers." Though Majorca was only twenty miles
+distant, we already felt in a new world.
+
+There was something oddly familiar in the nip of the air. And while
+we breakfasted on a satisfying "home" meal of omelet, ham, hot
+buttered toast, and coffee, we recalled what we had heard of the
+lingering effects of British rule in Minorca, and felt inclined to
+give it the credit of the breakfast, even though the ham was served
+raw, and decanters of wine and jars of wooden toothpicks jostled our
+coffee-cups.
+
+When we again went on deck there were signs that the short voyage
+was approaching its end. The bearded mate of the _Monte Toro_, who
+had made the trip in a red nightcap, had, with a toothpick behind
+his ear, appeared in a uniform cap, though he retained his velveteen
+coat. And the most stolid-looking of the soldiers, producing a comb
+and a tube of pomade, proceeded to make quite an elaborate toilet on
+deck. Still seated on his outspread handkerchief, he combed and
+recombed his hair, and greased it with extreme thoroughness; though
+it must be admitted that when it came to washing he contented
+himself with a cursory dipping of his hands in the water-bucket. His
+face he left to Nature.
+
+The pride of Port Mahón is its three-mile-long harbour. As we
+steamed up its length the trim fortifications recalled certain of
+our own naval and military stations, notably Portsmouth. But never
+did Portsmouth show such a glory of scarlet-blossomed aloes as
+burned on the face of these fortified rocks.
+
+Our first impression of Mahón was one of unexpected brilliance.
+Until we were well up the harbour the town was invisible. Then, as
+it came in sight with its dazzlingly white red-roofed buildings
+perched high on the crest of the brown serrated rock, the unexpected
+picturesque beauty of the scene filled us with surprise and delight.
+
+Already the military influence that is so noticeable a feature of
+Mahón coloured the scene. Boats manned by soldiers were rowing to
+and from the forts on the opposite shore. Soldiers were standing on
+the quay as we stepped down the gangway--for, happily, there is no
+need to land by small boats in a harbour of such accommodating
+depth. And as we followed the porter bearing our luggage up the
+rough twisted slope of the Calle Vieja--that old street whose
+haphazard construction is so different from the carefully planned
+new ones--we passed a group of officers going down. Throughout our
+stay in Mahón I do not believe we ever glanced up or down a street
+that was not enlivened by the glamour of a uniform.
+
+There isn't a river or even a stream on the entire island, yet, in
+spite of the apparently limited supply of fresh water, the whole
+effect of the town, with its green shutters, red-tiled roofs, its
+pavements and carefully whitened houses, is that of extreme
+cleanliness. To judge by results, the pail of whitewash must be
+almost an equal factor in a Minorcan housewife's daily task with a
+broom or a duster. During our few days in Mahón we became quite
+accustomed to seeing women touching up the street fronts of their
+dwellings with a whitewash brush.
+
+Minorca is said to be rarely visited by tourists, consequently it
+offers but small choice of hotels. The one we had been recommended
+to try--the Fonda Central--was a favourite stopping-place with
+commercial travellers. There could be no doubt of that. Their
+iron-clamped chests of samples lumbered the passages and stairway.
+Their sprightly presence filled the large principal table in the
+dining-room.
+
+At a hotel that is popular with these gentlemen of the road the
+cooking is said to be certain to be good. At the Fonda Central it
+could scarcely have been excelled. The proprietor, a reverend-looking
+señor, superintended it in person. And his efforts on their behalf
+were heartily appreciated by his guests, the summons to a meal at the
+Fonda Central invariably falling on eagerly expectant ears.
+
+"_Arroz_ to-day?" I overheard one guest inquire as he entered the
+dining-room for luncheon. And having received an affirmative reply,
+he sat down, adjusted his napkin, grasped his spoon, and awaited
+its appearance with an expression of anticipatory satisfaction.
+
+The rooms were scrupulously clean, the table service brisk and
+punctual. Yet the house was hardly one that could be recommended to
+ladies. Owing to the popularity of the hotel, all the available
+space had been turned into sleeping accommodation; there was no
+sitting-room proper. One of our bedrooms that faced the street and
+had two good writing-tables made us partly independent, and we had a
+side table to ourselves at meals, but I was the only woman in a
+company that numbered over two dozen.
+
+The beds were comfortable, but there were no bells in the rooms.
+When our chamber-man wanted to attract our attention, he did it by
+clapping his hands loudly in the corridor outside our doors. And
+when we wanted anything the Boy went downstairs and demanded it.
+
+Going out to explore the town, we could not help noticing certain of
+the lingering effects of the British occupations which came to an
+end early in the last century. The windows almost invariably had the
+regulation English window sashes, and many of them showed white lace
+curtains or little muslin window blinds; and the front doors opened
+into passages, not into either _patios_ or sitting-rooms, as in
+Majorca.
+
+The British craving for sweets seemed to have proved infectious. At
+the hotel luncheon we had been agreeably surprised by the appearance
+of a sweet course, and the shop windows revealed a tempting array of
+bon-bons and of jams and pickles, commodities in which Majorca is
+sadly deficient. And one grocer had quite a number of tins of Crosse
+& Blackwell's Scotch oatmeal. Tobacco pipes, which are seldom seen
+in Majorca, were both in use and displayed for sale.
+
+Wandering up and down in the short January afternoon we came upon
+many odd nooks and steep streets that had a picturesque character
+all their own. From the top of the quaint Calle de San Roque we got
+an extensive view inland, with Monte Toro, some eleven hundred
+feet, the higher of the two Minorcan hills, in the distance.
+
+[Illustration: Calle San Roque, Mahón]
+
+Down by the curve of the bay we found the Alameda, a charming little
+Italian-garden-like promenade, where on summer evenings Mahón society
+assembles. It must be pleasant and shady there under the trees by the
+cool water. Even in winter it was attractive, with its close-cropped
+low hedges and great clumps of the vivid scarlet-blossomed aloes.
+
+Just beyond the Alameda is a great cistern, from which is drawn much
+of the water for supplying the town. And from that point mules toil
+patiently up the rock-sided slopes, laden with barrels of water for
+the solace of thirsty folks.
+
+Next morning, while breakfasting, we arranged our plans for the day.
+The Man was bent upon going at once to sketch the town as we had
+first seen it from the harbour. The Boy and I agreed to ramble about
+during the morning; and after luncheon we all arranged to go in
+search of some of the famous stone monuments, respecting whose
+origin nobody appears to have been able to arrive at any
+satisfactory conclusion.
+
+But before breakfast was ended the sky had become darkly overcast.
+We reached our rooms to find hail tapping with ice-tipped fingers at
+the window panes, to see lightning flashing, and to hear the rattle
+of thunder.
+
+Our plans perforce being modified, we waited indoors until the storm
+had abated a little, then sought the _Ateneo Cientifico Literario y
+Artistico_, of whose existence the landlord had told us. The town,
+which has many cultured inhabitants, boasts three Athenæums. Two are
+for the use of the general public. The third, which we visited, is
+said to be the centre of literary and artistic Mahón, and is
+something of the nature of a club.
+
+The Museum is open to the townsfolk only on stated days. This did
+not happen to be one of those days. It was to the fact that we were
+foreigners that we owed our instant admission. And while the storm
+raged without, we enjoyed a private view of the many interesting
+things in the _Ateneo_, notably the old ware and natural history
+specimens.
+
+A very fine private collection of marine flora is housed in the
+Museum, but it is shown only when specially inquired for, and we
+were unfortunate in calling at a time when the custodian of the keys
+chanced to be absent.
+
+Among the pictures and drawings was a merciless but irresistibly
+amusing caricature of what had presumably been the English Governor
+of the date, riding upon a donkey. The nice young lad who was
+showing us round blushed a little when he saw us examine it. Though
+he did not say so, we felt that he would have liked to apologize to
+us for its intrusion in the show; but our withers were unwrung.
+
+The members of the _Ateneo_ were delightfully cosmopolitan in their
+interests. Besides the current Spanish papers the snug reading-room
+showed a comprehensive array of contemporary literature, from the
+_Graphic_, the _Studio_, _Review of Reviews_, and _Harper's Weekly_,
+to French, German, Belgian, Italian, and South American journals.
+
+When we left the _Ateneo_ the hail had ceased; and though the wind
+was still high, the Man hurried off to see what he could make of his
+subject, while the Boy and I strolled into the vegetable market.
+
+The big open enclosure in the middle was empty. Round the covered
+sides women were sitting beside their little heaps of fruit and
+vegetables. After the prolonged drought from which the island was
+suffering, it was perhaps only natural that the supply of fresh
+vegetables should be limited. But with the recollection still vivid
+in our memory of the mountains of green cabbages that we had seen at
+Pollensa market, the stock appeared especially meagre.
+
+The cactus, a shrub whose existence is almost independent of
+moisture, flourishes on the dry rocky soil, and the specimens of its
+fruit that, prepared in some way, were served at dinner on the
+previous night, seemed larger and much finer than any we had seen in
+Majorca. But even at its finest the prickly pear is hardly a thing
+to pine for.
+
+One thing that struck us as a particularly charming survival of
+English tastes was the discovery of cut flowers--chiefly little
+clusters of roses--for sale on several of the stalls. And one woman
+offered us sturdy pansy roots for planting. Up to this period of our
+stay in Palma I had never seen either cut flowers or flower-plants
+offered for sale in the market, though, indeed, we saw them later.
+
+The wind had been steadily increasing. It would have been decidedly
+more comfortable to pass the afternoon indoors, but we were
+determined to seek some of the countless prehistoric remains with
+which Minorca is lavishly sprinkled. And after an unavoidable delay
+we started. The delay, be it explained, was caused by waiting for
+the cleaning of the Boy's boots. The service in the Fonda Central
+had certain limitations. It did not brush boots. The night before,
+the Boy had put his outside his bedroom door, and had taken them in
+in the morning untouched. Before lunch he sent them downstairs with
+special instructions that he wanted them cleaned at once. But when
+luncheon was over and we were ready to go out there was no sign of
+the boots.
+
+Inquiries brought plausible promises of their return in ten
+minutes--in five minutes--at once. But still they failed to put in
+an appearance. At length a peremptory demand for their return clean
+or dirty sent Pedro flying down the street, to hasten back
+triumphantly bearing the cleaned boots. They had been sent to a
+shoemaker's to be brushed!
+
+From the deck of the steamer as we rounded the coast we had caught
+many passing glimpses of the great stone heaps called _talayots_,
+and imagining that they would be easily found, we rashly set off,
+without either guide or direction, in search of them.
+
+After walking a little way along the San Luis road, which we had
+taken partly by chance, and partly, I think, because there the wind
+would be at our backs, we saw in the distance a large _talayot_, and
+rejoiced at having so quickly come within easy reach of what we were
+looking for. Our rejoicing was premature, for when we sought a path
+that would lead us there we failed utterly to find it. On either
+side of the long straight road were high walls a yard thick,
+enclosing small stony fields. Beyond these were walls, and yet again
+walls. It was our first near view of Minorcan country, and the
+impression was one of stones, stones, and yet more stones--stones
+absolutely without limit.
+
+The attitude of the few olive-trees within sight showed the
+prevalence of the north wind. They bent away from that direction,
+their foliage twisted awry, looking exactly like people cowering
+before a blast that has blown their cloaks over their heads.
+
+The gale was waxing stronger. _Our_ cloaks were blown over our
+heads, but still we struggled on. A peasant boy, on being
+interrogated, directed us to proceed farther, then take a road to
+the left. Hopefully following his instructions, we "gaed and we
+gaed," like the classic Henny-penny, until we ultimately found
+ourselves entangled in a maze of these same thick walls of stone.
+
+And a maddeningly ingenious maze it proved. For as we wound about,
+the _talayot_ appeared to dodge us, sometimes popping up before us,
+sometimes lurking behind; often seeming comparatively near, more
+often looming at a wholly unexpected distance away, and always
+encircled by these impenetrable gateless walls of stone.
+
+Finally, leaving me on the lee-side of a wall--it wasn't really the
+lee-side: in such a wind there is no lee side; but they thought it
+was the lee-side--the men departed, determined to scale the
+offending obstacles and to get there somehow. After a time the Boy
+returned to free me from the brambles round which the tempest had
+twisted my veil and chiffon scarf, holding me prisoner; and to
+report that, after some climbing, the Man and he had succeeded in
+reaching the _talayot_, and that they thought if I didn't mind some
+rough scrambling I _might_ manage to get there.
+
+So ten minutes later, breathless, wind-tossed and earth-stained,
+with torn gloves and scratched boots, I too reached the goal of our
+desires, to find it nothing but an immense heap of stones, with no
+trace of opening or any apparent reason for existence.
+
+The Man, who, in spite of the decided opposition offered by the
+elements, had succeeded in scaling the top of the _talayot_,
+declared it to be merely a greatly magnified cairn, and there and
+then announced his adoption of Dr. Guillemand's theory that the
+primary reason for the origin of these much-disputed heaps was
+simply the need for clearing the fields of stones. I must confess
+that to me the really interesting thing regarding these vast
+memorials of a vanished race is the fact that, while everybody is
+free to conjecture, no one, not even the wisest, can boast the
+smallest knowledge of their meaning.
+
+Just behind the _talayot_, separated from it by certain thick walls,
+stands another relic of prehistoric times in the shape of a _taula_,
+or table stone--one huge slab placed horizontally on the top of a
+massive upright stone. And while the Man held on to something with
+one hand and tried to sketch with the other, I sheltered from the
+blast on the farther side.
+
+It was curious to see flowers blooming even in these conditions.
+Amongst the loose stones at the base of the _taula_ the periwinkle
+was in bloom. On the patch of stone-littered soil we had crossed we
+noticed some small lilac daisies, their heads bent close to the
+ground. And all about the broad tops of the maze of stone dykes
+clambered the curious and beautiful clematis-like creeper that
+delights to luxuriate in the most arid position it can secure, and
+is said to pine away and die when transplanted to a garden.
+
+The sole incident of our return journey was the sudden appearance of
+a cap, which, floating high in air, advanced towards us round a
+corner towards which we were battling.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Mahón, Minorca]
+
+XVII
+
+STORM-BOUND
+
+
+The Man had declared his fixed intention of taking ship for Palma
+that night, no matter what weather conditions should prevail. So it
+was with unfeigned relief I learned at breakfast that, owing to the
+violence of the tempest, the mail steamer we expected to travel in
+had been unable to leave Barcelona.
+
+The wind still continuing high, there was some doubt as to how long
+we would be held prisoners. But even if the steamer direct to Palma
+was not able to run, we might return by the shorter sea route by
+which we had come, landing at the Port of Alcudia, and, after a
+night passed at our comfortable _fonda_ there, taking diligence and
+train back to Palma.
+
+A return trip in the steady little _Monte Toro_ would have been a
+pleasure, but when we made inquiry at the shipping-office in the
+harbour we learned that the _Monte Toro_ had already been laid aside
+for cleaning and that the _Vicente Sanz_ had been deputed to take up
+her running.
+
+The young clerk of the shipping company, who was muffled over the
+ears by the upturned collar of his astrakhan-trimmed top-coat and had
+his cap's chin-string in active service, shook a dubious head over
+the prospect of the _Isla de Menorca_ being able to cross from
+Spain, not only on that night but for many nights to come. The
+prevalent wind, according to him, often raged for considerable
+periods. Once for two months, he solemnly declared, no mails had
+been able to reach Minorca.
+
+We devoutly hoped he lied. Still, in case a grain of truth might
+lurk at the bottom of his gloomy prognostications, we decided to
+have a look at the cabin accommodation of the _Vicente Sanz_, which
+was lying a few yards away.
+
+The black and grimy _Vicente Sanz_ looked what she was--a cargo-boat
+that had been hastily adapted to the passenger service. One glance
+at her build was enough to convince even a tyro that as a roller she
+would be unequalled. Right aft over the screw a few cramped
+four-berth cabins formed the first-class accommodation, while the
+sailors' bunks in the forecastle head had been fitted up as
+second-class.
+
+We fled the _Vicente Sanz_, convinced that only dire necessity would
+compel us to voyage in her.
+
+The few people we encountered in the streets were huddled in cloaks
+and shawls, and the custom of muffling the lower part of the face
+gave the women something of an Eastern appearance. Perhaps it was
+due to the chilling effect of the weather, but to us foreigners the
+Minorcans appeared to lack the gracious charm of the Majorcans.
+Though we saw plenty of pretty faces, the girls of Mahón did not
+appear so universally attractive as those of Palma. The conditions
+of life are harder, the climate more severe, and the hard water used
+may have a bad effect on the complexions. There was no distinctive
+native dress either, and we missed it.
+
+The blood of many nations mingles in Minorcan veins--Vandal,
+Carthaginian, Moorish, Spanish, British and French. Port Mahón was
+originally called after Mago, the youngest son of Hamilcar, brother
+of Hannibal. The passage of time is responsible for the corruption
+of _Portus Magonis_ into Port Mahón.
+
+The island, which is about the size of the Isle of Wight, has known
+many rulers. For several hundred years the Romans held it. About the
+ninth century it lapsed into the hands of the Moors, who possessed
+it until in the thirteenth century King Jaime, the Conquistador of
+Majorca, demanded and received its capitulation. Two hundred years
+later, Barbarossa, the pirate chief, having entered the harbour by
+stratagem, besieged Mahón and captured it. Early in the eighteenth
+century the British took Minorca and held it for fifty years, until
+Admiral Byng allowed the French to capture it--a "misconduct" for
+which, after eight months of close arrest, he was shot.
+
+To her social and commercial advantage Minorca was restored to
+Britain at the peace of 1763, only to be seized by France and Spain
+while Britain was engrossed by the American War. Watching the
+opportunity, Britain retaliated at the time of the French Revolution
+by retaking Minorca, which remained hers until, by the conditions of
+the peace of Amiens, the island was ceded to Spain.
+
+"Well," said the Man, as a fierce gust blew us into the portal of
+the Fonda Central, "when I saw this place I felt grieved that the
+British had ever given it up to Spain, but I must confess that at
+this moment I'd gladly hand it over to any nation that would take a
+gift of it!"
+
+In the afternoon the wind, though still turbulent, had moderated a
+little. We let it blow us out to San Luis, along a fine level and
+absolutely straight road that in summer, when the trees are in leaf,
+must be charming.
+
+San Luis has all the outward semblance of a French village. Even the
+church looked French, and was light and airy, in striking contrast
+to the sombre church interiors of Majorca. The streets of the
+village were broad, and the roads leading to it were planted on
+either side with trees.
+
+The whole atmosphere was so reminiscent of Northern France that it
+was no surprise on entering the general shop to be greeted in French
+by the young man in charge. He, as he confessed, had secretly been
+studying the language for some months, and he was evidently spoiling
+to try his new acquirement upon foreigners of any nationality. The
+French, which he spoke very fairly, but which speedily lapsed into
+Spanish, naturally recalled our first impression of the place, and
+we remarked upon it.
+
+A bright small boy, who with his father was in the shop, explained
+matters. San Luis _was_ a French village, he said. It was named
+after the French king and had been built during the French
+occupation of the island. The site had been laid out and the church
+designed by French architects.
+
+For the moment we had forgotten that the French flag had flown over
+Minorca, but the boy's words brought back something we had read of
+the fête Madame de Pompadour gave at the Hermitage of Compiègne,
+where the Court happened to be when the news arrived of the taking
+of Port Mahón. A royal fête, when fountains flowed wine, and ribbons
+and sword-knots _à la Mahón_ were distributed to the guests.
+
+While buying sweets in the shop, we noticed a glass jar of the black
+sticks of Spanish liquorice beloved of our childhood. And on a shelf
+was a row of genuine English cottage-loaves.
+
+The wind had obligingly blown us on our feet out the three miles to
+San Luis, but we wisely drove back. Sitting snugly inside the closed
+carriage, watching the storm-harried crops and shrubs bend before
+the wind, while the sun beat warmly upon us, we agreed that, if one
+could only travel about in a glass-sided box during gales, life in
+Minorca would be fine. We fully realized the necessity for the
+houses being built of slabs of stone nearly twice as thick as those
+used in the sister island.
+
+In Minorca, somehow, we did not feel quite so much aliens as we did
+at first in Majorca. The greatest prosperity the island had known
+had been under British government, and the native mind seemed to
+cherish a kindly feeling towards our nation. It was curious that
+while in Palma we were always supposed to be French, in Mahón we
+were at once recognized as English.
+
+A few English words have been absorbed into the Minorcan language,
+as people seemed proud to tell us. But the only examples we gathered
+were "stop," "please," and "nuncle."
+
+In the harbour, over the door of a small tavern that bore no other
+sign, we saw suspended a bit of a shrub. Remembering the white wand
+at the door of the change-house in the clachan of Aberfoyle, we
+wondered if that symbol also had drifted across the seas.
+
+It was with something of the sensation of marooned sailors that on
+Friday night we fell asleep, to awake to changed conditions. The sun
+shone from a clear blue sky. The sting had disappeared from the
+wind, and the air was comparatively mild and calm.
+
+When we descended to breakfast, the young man upon whose fragmentary
+accomplishment the Hotel Central founded its claim to put "English
+Spoken" on its cards hastened to greet us with the welcome news:
+"The sheep 'as arrive."
+
+Going down to the harbour, we found ocular evidence that the report
+was true. The _Isla de Menorca_ had arrived and would sail for Palma
+at 7 o'clock that evening. Our friend of the shipping office was
+silent and despondent. The weather had disappointed him by declining
+to act up to his gloomy anticipations.
+
+Going, under his escort, to look over the ship, we found her a
+great, broad, tubby boat. At small tables placed on trestles on deck
+the crew were seated at breakfast, tall bottles of wine before them.
+
+The first saloon accommodation was gay in red plush. That was its
+only recommendation, for it was woefully cramped in point of space,
+and the cabins were placed directly over the screw. The second
+saloon, which was amidships, occupied far more room. The steward
+suggested the probability of my having the large and cheerful
+ladies' cabin to myself. On the previous night's journey from
+Barcelona there had been only one lady passenger. Greatly daring, we
+hinted that in the event of no other señora arriving, we three might
+share it.
+
+When we had parted from our escort, leaving him, we felt assured,
+inwardly deploring the comparative calm, and ghoulishly hoping for a
+sudden change of weather, the Man went off to finish his much
+interrupted sketch; while the Boy and I walked up to the
+market-square, from which--Minorca having no railways--a constant
+succession of more or less ramshackle vehicles acting as diligences
+left for the towns and villages round about.
+
+Accosting the driver of the nearest, we asked its destination.
+
+"Villa Carlos."
+
+"And the charge?"
+
+"Fifteen centimos each."
+
+"When will the carriage start?"
+
+The driver made the motion of the hands that takes the place of the
+Frenchman's shrug of the shoulders.
+
+"When it is full," he replied, and we got in. A polite Spaniard
+joined us. A little delay, and he was followed by a girl with a
+market basket. The driver, after gazing to east and west, and north
+and south, without discovering sign of any additional passengers,
+mounted the box-seat, which he shared with two big sacks of
+potatoes, and at last we started.
+
+Having jolted up a long long street of white houses, several of
+whose owners were busy with brush and whitewash pail effacing any
+traces of the storm, we rattled out over two miles of glaringly
+white road. Villa Carlos is a white town of small houses grouped
+about a big square of barracks on the top of a cliff, near the mouth
+of the harbour.
+
+The situation is exposed, and as the wind, though childlike and
+bland compared to the icy blasts of the preceding days, was by no
+means asleep, we found our way down to sea-level, and rested on a
+stone bench in the shelter of a great wall close by where the water
+curves into the little bay of Cala Fonts.
+
+The sea was purring at our feet. Between the fortress above us and
+that on the opposite shore, sail-boats, like winged things, skimmed
+past. Producing an unexpected box of pastels, the Boy began to make
+a rapid sketch of the pigmy harbour with its blue water and the half
+circle of houses that outlined its rocky coast.
+
+It was amusing to sit there and try to picture the appearance of the
+various fleets that must have sailed by on victory bent. When
+Barbarossa, the pirate chief, flying Christian banners to deceive
+the guardians of the forts, steered his eleven galleys up the
+harbour, he must have passed the very spot where we sat.
+
+Although the scene was tranquil, there was a constant movement of
+life. Two women carrying sacks and small picks came and foraged
+among the rocks for tufts of grass or other green stuff. A military
+water-cart drawn by a white mule, whose harness was resplendent with
+scarlet tassels, moved by, attended by a party of soldiers in white
+fatigue uniforms, their bare feet thrust into sandals.
+
+During a temporary stillness I caught the sound of a soft little
+crooning voice that harmonized sweetly with the murmur of the sea.
+It seemed to come from quite near, but there was no one in sight.
+Advancing to the edge of the bank, I looked down. On a ledge of the
+rock a few feet beneath, a little boy attired in sketchy garments
+sat fishing, and as he fished he crooned softly to himself, after
+the habit of contented children all the world over.
+
+His piscatorial implements were even more rudimentary than was his
+clothing. They consisted of a few inches of rod and a shred of
+string. His bait was a skinny hermit crab that he had scraped out of
+some crevice of the rock. A poor bait doubtless, but I can assure
+you the catch was even poorer. Still, perched on his ledge in the
+warm sunshine, Enrique fished hopefully and was happy.
+
+It was so delightful to be out of the wind that we would gladly have
+lingered. But the hour when the Man and luncheon would be awaiting
+us was near. Returning to the barrack square, which was melodious
+with the strains of a waltz played by an unseen military band, we
+got into a conveyance that was on the point of starting.
+
+A young corporal of Engineers quickly followed us, saluting as he
+entered. He was a good-looking, reddish-fair man, a native of the
+island, and an admirable example of the educated conscript. Hearing
+that we were British, he called to another corporal of the corps who
+was playing with a dog near, and who, on being introduced by his
+friend, spoke to us in surprisingly good English. Not only so, but
+he understood perfectly when spoken to, a much rarer accomplishment
+in a foreign language. He said he had been learning our language for
+ten months only, and without leaving Minorca.
+
+I don't know who his instructor had been; there are said to be no
+English residents in Mahón, yet the soldier certainly spoke good
+colloquial English. As we parted he amused us by saluting and saying
+"Well, so-long!"
+
+Another corporal having got into the conveyance--whose only flooring
+seemed to be a sagging mat--we started for Mahón. He, like the
+first, was a specialist in signalling and telegraphy. Both of these
+men struck us as taking their soldiering really seriously. They had
+each served two years in Madrid to learn their business thoroughly,
+and now had charge of telegraph stations on opposite sides of the
+harbour from each other.
+
+On one happy possession Minorca must be most heartily congratulated.
+She has a most excellent British Vice-Consul. When we called on him
+at his house in the Calle Rosario (just off the picturesque Calle de
+San Roque), which was not until the last afternoon of our stay at
+Mahón, his reception of us was so cordial that we sincerely
+regretted not having called sooner.
+
+Señor Bartolomé Escudero has many qualifications for the post he
+holds, and not least among them is a perfect knowledge of the
+language of the country he represents. Not only does the señor speak
+English, but it is his hobby to teach it to others who show a desire
+to learn.
+
+It was no surprise to hear that on his visit to Minorca the late
+King Edward had made his Consul a Member of the Victorian Order.
+
+From the bustle of departure in the hotel we judged that some of the
+_comerciantes_ might be our fellow-travellers on the _Isla de
+Menorca_. But when we went on board and, having taken up a position
+on the promenade deck, were watching the passengers arrive, it was
+something of a surprise to see all of them appear. The little man
+with the long trousers; the bald man who performed surprising feats
+with wine-flasks, drinking with the slender spout held far from his
+lips in a way that held us fascinated spectators until he chose to
+set it down; the beautiful being who, we were convinced, could
+travel in nothing less refined than perfumery; the man who always,
+even at table, wore the latest thing in smart caps, and whom we had
+seen coming out of a _sombrero_ shop--all were there. Not even the
+gentleman who, during our voyage together on the _Monte Toro_, had
+used a dust-coat as a dressing-gown was awanting.
+
+[Illustration: _Comerciantes_ in the Fonda at Mahón]
+
+There was little stir on the quay. The departure of a mail boat from
+Mahón does not cause so much commotion as does a like event at
+Palma, where the long breakwater is a favourite promenade, and where
+everybody who has a letter to post seems to delight in rushing on
+board with it at the last possible moment.
+
+Many young men have to leave Minorca to seek their fortune
+elsewhere. I wonder if they return to that rocky island as they love
+to do to fertile Majorca.
+
+Just as the siren blew the first warning, a fine well-built young
+Minorcan hastened up the long gangway. A male friend helped him to
+carry his substantial trunk, and three girls followed closely. They
+had barely time to bid him farewell--one with a lingering embrace,
+the others with a warm handshake, before the gangway was withdrawn
+and water was widening between the exile and his native land.
+
+For a little space he allowed his feelings to govern him, and with
+quivering shoulders wept unrestrainedly into his handkerchief in the
+intervals of waving it. Then, when the boat had rounded the horn of
+the bay and the beautiful city was out of sight, he put away his
+handkerchief, lit a cigarette, and resolutely turned his face
+towards the land of promise.
+
+There were no first-class passengers at all. Our commercial friends,
+taking possession of the after-deck, formed themselves into an
+impromptu concert party, the little man acting as conductor, as with
+admirable voices they sang popular choruses.
+
+Two ladies had come on board; but the steward, taking our hint of
+the morning, had given them a small cabin to themselves, as
+doubtless they preferred, and had reserved the whole of the large
+ladies' cabin for us. So once again we knew the luxury of travelling
+second-class on a Balearic Island steamer!
+
+The voyage was pleasantly uneventful, and not rough enough to
+disturb us. We awoke to find ourselves entering Palma harbour, and
+to see the lovely land bathed in the warm glow of sunrise.
+
+Soon we were in a _carruaje_, waving farewell to the _comerciantes_
+as in a band they walked towards their hotel. A few minutes later we
+had reached Son Españolet, had passed the house of our friend the
+Consul with its flagstaff and gaily painted shields, and were back
+again under the homely roof of the Casa Tranquila.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: An Interior in Alaró]
+
+XVIII
+
+ALARÓ
+
+
+The shutters of the Casa windows had been left open that the growing
+light might awaken us in time to catch the morning train to Alaró,
+where we had planned to spend the day with two friends from England.
+
+Looking out while it was yet dark, we were conscious of a lowering
+sky. The pocket barometer had fallen two points, and for the first
+time in many weeks we felt that the downpour which appeared to be
+threatening would be unwelcome.
+
+While we dressed, the rain began to fall sulkily. It had been agreed
+that if the morning opened wet the expedition would be deferred, and
+having had experience of the thoroughness of Majorcan rain, I was
+half inclined to take a gloomy view of the situation and stay at
+home. But the others pooh-poohed my fears and off we set.
+
+The optimists proved to be right. When we entered the station at
+Palma the rain had ceased, and the sun shone out on the Squire and
+the Lady, who were in the act of alighting from the Grand Hotel
+omnibus.
+
+The town of Alaró, which lies close to the base of the northern
+range of mountains, is connected by a light railway with the main
+line at Consell. Horses drag the single carriage up the slight
+gradient to Alaró; it returns by the force of its own impetus. At
+Consell the funny conveyance with its tandem horses was waiting to
+receive the passengers. It had probably begun its career of
+usefulness by being a tram-car in some other part of the world. Now
+a partition divided the interior into first and second classes.
+
+Disregarding the suggestion of the driver, who followed to remind us
+that first-class was inside, we mounted to the top, where two long
+lines of seats were set back to back.
+
+Our progress towards the still invisible town was slow. The efforts
+of the driver to induce the leading horse to put on speed by
+throwing stones at him happily proved unavailing. With something of
+the smooth motion of a boat on a canal we glided on through fields
+of lush grain in whose midst olives grew luxuriantly. The
+threatening clouds had vanished, the sun was warm, the play of light
+and shade on the mountains was glorious, and there was not a soul in
+sight. The deliberate mode of progress through the lovely country
+was so delightful that when the line ended abruptly where the town
+began we all felt sorry. We agreed that we would have been content
+to glide thus slowly onwards for hours.
+
+But on alighting we found our interest in the surroundings for the
+time being subdued by a stronger and more insistent interest in
+food. Our seven o'clock breakfast had been necessarily scrappy and
+hurried, and our first concern was to find an inn.
+
+The civil guard who had been awaiting the arrival of our car was at
+hand. Applied to for direction, he not only recommended a _fonda_,
+but in person escorted us there.
+
+The _fonda_, which was close at hand, looked clean and inviting; but
+its mistress, overwhelmed by this sudden intrusion of five ravenous
+and unintelligible foreigners, eyed us dubiously. She did not know a
+word of Spanish, and her husband--who was evidently the linguist of
+the family--was at Inca market. As she gazed blankly at us her
+children, from the eldest--a pretty girl in a red frock--to the
+baby, clustered about her, their faces reflecting the bewilderment
+expressed in hers.
+
+The fact that the youngsters looked round and rosy and that they all
+held little branches of mandarin oranges hinted that we had come to
+the right place for food. Hunger has a universal language. The
+landlady's blank expression gradually gave place to one of
+intelligence. Before we left her she had promised to have a meal
+ready at ten o'clock; and comforting ourselves with that assurance,
+we went out to stroll about until the half hour of waiting had
+passed.
+
+Wandering through the streets of the little town and peeping in at
+the open doors with the unblushing effrontery peculiar to the Briton
+abroad, we were rewarded by glimpses of many quaint interiors. In
+one, beside an unclassable machine, a heap of the thick fleshy
+leaves of the _chumbera_ (cactus) was lying.
+
+The owner of the house, a man toothless and shrivelled, but endowed
+with that aspect and air of juvenility that seems the heritage of
+age in Majorca, cordially invited us in. He had no knowledge of
+Spanish, but he had what was far more valuable--a keen intelligence.
+
+Indulging our curiosity as to the nature of the odd machine, he ran
+off to return with a handful of macaroni; then darting into the
+machine house, he reappeared with a perforated bowl of burnished
+copper, and by signs proceeded to explain the process of pressing
+the paste through.
+
+"But the _chumberas_?" somebody asked. "Were they the food of the
+mule who drove the machine?"
+
+The old man shook his head. Evidently the motive power was not
+supplied by a member of the ass tribe. Returning to pantomime, he
+raised his hands to his head and protruded his fore-fingers after
+the manner of horns; then indicating to us to follow, ran out into
+the street, where we found him pointing down into an adjacent
+cellar, in whose depths two sleek grey oxen were placidly chewing
+the cud. So it was the oxen who turned the machine that made the
+macaroni, and it was the prickly foliage of the _chumberas_ that
+their jaws were patiently munching.
+
+The little town that nestles out of sight at the foot of the great
+range of hills is an enterprising one. Through the open front of a
+building in another street we caught sight of a fine dynamo; and
+being invited to enter, found ourselves in the presence of the
+electric plant of the town. As the grey-bearded superintendent told
+us, Alaró was the first town on the island to have electric light
+installed. Manacor was the second.
+
+"And Palma?" we asked.
+
+The superintendent shrugged his shoulders. Evidently the capital
+city had been a bad third.
+
+The half hour of waiting had passed quickly, and even in the passing
+were we conscious that the landlady of the _fonda_ was exerting
+herself on our behalf. For while we were gazing at the oxen the
+red-frocked eldest girl had hastened by carrying a big dish of fish.
+
+On the marble-topped table of the dining-room was a huge black
+sausage, a pyramid of rolls, a decanter of red wine, siphons of
+soda-water, and a plate of a pickled plant that was new to us all,
+even to the Squire and the Lady, who had a wide experience of many
+countries.
+
+We were in danger of making a meal of the sausage, when the little
+girl brought in a dish of the omelets that every Majorcan housewife
+makes to perfection.
+
+The pickle had proved delicious, but all our little waitress could
+tell us was that it came from the sea. And we had almost reconciled
+ourselves to the idea that we were eating seaweed when the
+explanation (which proved to be correct) that we might be eating
+samphire occurred to us. In England in Shakespeare's time, and on
+the Continent to this day, the tender young shoots of samphire,
+which grows on rocks by the ocean, are gathered, sprinkled with
+salt, and then preserved in vinegar.
+
+A dish of crisp fried fish followed the omelets. Then came a second
+dish of fish, then an abundance of very sweet mandarin oranges,
+freshly cut, with long stems and plenty of their green leaves.
+
+The moment of repletion having arrived, the men lit their pipes, and
+for a space we lazed. But a few minutes of indolence sufficed.
+Calling for our hostess, we asked for the bill. She was prepared for
+the question, and had the amount at the tip of her tongue--eight
+pesetas.
+
+Leaving our wraps in her care, we separated: the Squire and the Boy
+to climb the mountain called the Castle of Alaró, the Man to find a
+subject for his brush, and the Lady and I to prowl about and enjoy
+ourselves in a feminine way.
+
+Our prowl first led through a part of the town where at the open
+doors women, and little boys with aprons tied about their thin
+waists, were busy making boots. I wonder how it is that the sight of
+a small boy at work always makes me sad. I think it is the thought
+of the immensity of the task he has to accomplish before his labour
+ends.
+
+Once clear of the town, we sauntered along a path that crossed a
+field, and ended at a fine old mansion overlooking an orange grove.
+The trees were heavy with fruit, and the air was perfumed with the
+fragrance of the blossoms that starred the glossy foliage. A giant
+bougainvillea draped a complete wall with a mantle of royal purple.
+
+The front windows were closely shuttered. Except for three dogs
+the place might have been deserted. But on making our way round to
+the back we found ourselves in the midst of the bevy of
+people--caretakers, gardeners, labourers, and their families--who
+live about and in a big country house.
+
+The wife of the caretaker, supported by her half-dozen children and
+an old dame who was presumably their grandmother, advanced to the
+wide doorway of the kitchen to greet us. From the vicinity of the
+stables and outhouses men and lads gathered, and stood a silent
+group, attentive to our attempts at Spanish conversation, which
+attempts, it must be admitted, were puerile.
+
+We were merely asking if we might have the privilege of seeing over
+the house, but we failed to make our meaning clear. Calling her
+little dark-eyed _chica_, who was evidently the educated member of
+the family, the mother conjured her to translate; but the _chica_,
+for the first time removing her eyes from the Lady's hat and flowing
+veil, only blushed and hung her pretty head.
+
+At our wits' end, we were reduced to helpless laughter, when
+comprehension suddenly flashed upon the mother.
+
+"Si, si, señoras," she said, and trotted briskly off, with us close
+upon her heels and the children and the grandmother bringing up the
+rear, across the spacious kitchen, along a passage, and up a stair
+so dark that we had to grope our way.
+
+Passing quickly from one room to another, she threw open the
+jealously closed shutters of the windows, admitting the light. The
+house was one of the many delightfully unpretentious country seats
+to which Majorcan aristocrats migrate during the hot weather.
+Everything was arranged for the sake of coolness. There were no
+carpets or curtains. The tiled floors and lofty raftered ceilings of
+the large airy rooms made it an ideal summer residence. The windows
+and balconies afforded beautiful and varied views towards the
+romantic mountains, across the fragrant orange groves, or over the
+far-stretching fertile plains.
+
+The noble family, we gathered, had other homes: one at Palma, and
+yet another at Madrid, but still they liked to return to the house
+that nestled so close to the great frowning mountains.
+
+When we left she sent the pretty dark-eyed _chica_ to show us the
+path through the orange groves, and dispatched the eldest son
+hotfoot after to pick us a gift of oranges from the trees whose
+fruit was sweetest.
+
+Neither the Lady nor I was inclined for much exertion. Climbing a
+little way up the hill, we sat down in the shade of an olive-tree
+and ate oranges and gossiped.
+
+At our feet the ground slipped down into the valley, to rise on the
+farther side in the mountains, on whose crest we could see the
+remains of the towered battlements above which, in the seventeenth
+century, the two heroes Cabritt and Bassa kept the Majorcan flag
+flying, after the remainder of the island had surrendered to the
+usurper Alphonso IV of Aragon.
+
+We scanned the hill-side in vain for any trace of the climbers. And
+while we lingered the clouds began again to gather, and scarves of
+mist hid the summit. The air had turned a little chilly, and we were
+passing the mansion on our way back to the town when we noticed a
+charming loggia that was built over a barn in which men seemed to be
+crushing olives.
+
+Climbing the few steps that led to the open-sided loggia, we found
+it furnished with a couple of rush-bottomed chairs. Carrying them to
+the front of the balcony over which the gorgeous bougainvillea ran
+riot, we sat, under the row of bottle gourds that hung up to dry,
+looking across the wealth of rich purple blossom in which the bees
+were busy, and over the orange grove towards the luxuriant plain.
+
+A shower at length drove us back to the shelter of the dining-room
+at the _fonda_, where the big logs that burned on the open hearth
+glowed a welcome. There the Squire and the Boy joined us, wet from
+the rain that had caught them when half-way down the mountain, but
+by no means weary. They described the path as having been a zigzag
+mule-track all the way. It was rough walking, but presented no
+difficulty whatever.
+
+[Illustration: Alaró]
+
+Near the foot of the precipitous part of the climb they had passed
+the first of the fourteen stations of the Cross, the final one being
+at the Chapel of Our Lady of the Refuge on the summit of the
+mountain. Each station was marked with an iron cross set in a rough
+cairn of stones, and each exhibited a pictorial tile representing
+the incident commemorated.
+
+The rough mule-track had ended at the towered gateway, which was in
+fine preservation. Just within was a piece of smooth turf shaded by
+trees. The remainder of the narrow crest of the mountain was rocky
+and tumbled. Round the less precipitous sides were the remains of
+battlements and watch-towers. The side farthest from the plain was
+naturally so steep and impossible of assault as to need no
+artificial defence.
+
+The views from the mountain-top they had found magnificent, and
+worthy of a much harder climb. To the north the great mountainous
+range that culminates in the double peaks of the Puig Mayor had
+barred the prospect; otherwise most of the island had lain open
+before them. Inca, Binisalem, Muró, and other cities of the plain
+were visible, and the bays of Pollensa, Alcudia, and Palma. The
+hills beyond Artá, the hill behind Lluchmayor, Cabo Blanco, and the
+outlying island of Cabrera were all distinctly seen.
+
+The point that struck the climbers as curious was that, though all
+lay so clearly before them, the height prevented their being able to
+distinguish any sign of life or to hear any sound from below. The
+effect was almost as though the lovely land on which they looked had
+been deserted.
+
+When they turned their attention to their immediate surroundings,
+the only sentient creatures they discovered were a small boy who was
+in charge of the chapel, a great eagle that soared overhead, and a
+few hens that clucked and scraped the barren ground outside the
+building that had once been the abode of some hermit monks, but
+which was now an _hospederia_ in the care of the boy's parents.
+
+In the little chapel was a beautiful statue of the Virgin, while the
+sacristy held a sad relic in the form of two rib-bones of the brave
+defenders of the Castle of Alaró, who, after having been starved
+into surrender, were cruelly burned to death.
+
+The chapel, perched up among the mist-wreaths and mountain eagles,
+was very small; so small that a large covered veranda had been added
+to the front for the shelter of the pilgrims who flock thither in
+order to obtain the forty days' absolution gained by the attainment
+of its summit. Just beyond the veranda is a sheer drop down. The
+prospect to be obtained from the out-jutting rock our climbers
+described as awesome.
+
+They were half-way down on the return journey before the mist that
+had been floating about caught them in its clammy embrace. The
+ascent had occupied about two hours, the descent nearly one.
+
+Bidding our hostess farewell, we went up the street to a café for
+afternoon coffee.
+
+It was an unlucky hour. The schools had just closed for the day, and
+though the café was only a dozen paces from the _fonda_, we reached
+it with a train of children in close attendance.
+
+Our demands for coffee with milk and cakes and _enciamadas_ caused a
+flutter in the breast of the comely mistress of the café. Summoning
+her daughter Catalina--who was just seventeen and even more than
+usually attractive--from the corner where she was making
+pillow-lace, the mother thrust a large decanter into one hand, a big
+basket into the other, and dispatched her for supplies. Then she
+fanned the charcoal stove, placed a tall wine-glass, in which were
+two pieces of sugar and a spoon, before each of us, and retired
+behind the little bar to await the return of Catalina.
+
+As we too waited, our attention was attracted to the window nearest
+our table, to find a row of small girls' heads, the eyes gazing
+fixedly on us, lining the bottom of the lower panes. As the moments
+passed the numbers increased. Girls with babies in their arms
+augmented the back row. Taller girls peeped furtively from the
+sides, and when caught affected to be engaged in reprimanding the
+curiosity of their juniors. Two little girls, who had arrived too
+late to secure any place, in desperation opened the café door and
+peeped in. Needless to say, their boldness was rewarded with
+ignominious expulsion.
+
+It was with something of the sensation of menagerie animals when
+awaiting the meal that people have paid extra to see them consume
+that we looked for the return of Catalina.
+
+It came at last, and in the twinkling of an eye the milk was emptied
+from the decanter into a tin pannikin and set on the fire; and the
+contents of her basket--which proved to be neither _enciamadas_ nor
+cakes but rather limp _bizcochos_--were heaped on a dish on the
+table before us.
+
+The children who had been so lucky as to secure front places to see
+the lions fed got good value. We were all thirsty; the coffee-pot
+was kept busy, the pile of _bizcochos_ steadily diminished. When we
+had finished and went over to where Catalina had modestly resumed
+her lace weaving, the spectators changed their window the better to
+accommodate their desires to the altered conditions. When we said
+good-bye and left they accompanied us--babies and all. One
+gipsy-looking child ran in front, glancing back at us. The rest
+trotted in our wake, making occasional momentary delays to call
+round corners and into doorways for their friends to come and see
+the wild beasts.
+
+When the circus, as the Squire called it, had reached the outskirts
+of the town, many of our adherents fell away. But a staunch band of
+eight or ten remained faithful, and not only escorted us on our walk
+and back to the car station, but whiled away the time by chanting
+and performing dances for our better entertainment, one male infant,
+known phonetically as _Tomeow_, gravely turning a succession of
+somersaults before us, and we wondered if the religious dances that
+are annually performed in the church on the feast of San Roch, the
+patron saint of the town, which occurs on the 16th of August,
+accounted for their rudimentary knowledge of the art.
+
+Constant to the last, they formed a semicircle about us while we
+awaited the departure of the train, which took the place of the
+tram-car in which we had arrived, and listened wide-eared as we
+chatted with a corporal of the Civil Guard.
+
+"The children of Alaró seem good," remarked the Lady, who has the
+gift of saying graceful things.
+
+"Good--perhaps," allowed the corporal, frowning disapprovingly at
+our satellites, "but curious!"
+
+There was no possible repetition of our delightful canalboat cruise
+of the morning. Night had fallen when we began the return journey in
+one of the smallest railway carriages in existence.
+
+When we reached Palma rain was falling, and the view from the
+carriage window, of a wet platform with the lamplight falling on
+dripping umbrellas, vividly recalled the moist far-off land of our
+birth.
+
+But a few hours later, when we left the Grand Hotel, where we had
+dined, the stars were shining above the dimly lit mediæval streets.
+Palma was herself again.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: In the Dragon's Cave]
+
+XIX
+
+THE DRAGON CAVES AND MANACOR
+
+
+Majorca has two groups of stalactite caves that are reputed to rank
+among the finest in Europe--the Dragon Caves at Manacor, and the
+Caves of Artá which are near the most easterly point of the island
+and far from a railway.
+
+Life at the Casa Tranquila was so pleasant that none of us really
+wished to leave it; yet a sense of duty urged that these sights must
+not be ignored. At first we thought of visiting one or other of the
+series of subterranean wonders, but opinion seemed so equally
+divided as to which was the finer that, in perplexity, we finally
+decided to see both and judge for ourselves.
+
+The weather favoured our reluctant departure. The sun had just risen
+into a cloudless blue sky when the bells of Bartolomé's chariot
+jingled at the door, and with the crumbs of a hasty breakfast still
+clinging to our lips we hurried stationwards to catch the morning
+train for Manacor.
+
+We had spoken of going first to Artá, and a day or two later
+returning to Manacor and the Dragon Caves; but on the journey we
+made a chance acquaintance that had the effect of changing our
+plans. Two Englishmen, arrived that morning from Barcelona and
+giving five days to a rapid survey of the island, were going to the
+Dragon Caves. It was quickly arranged that we should view them in
+their congenial company.
+
+As a place to stay at in Manacor our Majorcan friends had
+recommended the Fonda Feminias, and there we went on arrival, to eat
+an early lunch and secure rooms for our return.
+
+The _fonda_, which has an architecture peculiarly its own, is
+situated right in the centre of the town. The large loggia, off
+which most of the sleeping apartments open directly, overlooks the
+fine church that is the pride of Manacor. My room, which was on the
+floor beneath, had a nice little sitting-room attached. I mention
+this specially because a lack of sitting-rooms is usually the weak
+point of Balearic _fondas_. The charge, arranged on arrival, was
+four pesetas a day, including the little breakfast.
+
+Lunch was quickly served in a large dining-room that was as quaintly
+original as the rest of the house. It had ten doors, four corner
+cupboards, and no windows. Light was admitted through two small
+cupolas in the roof.
+
+No time was lost. When we had eaten, a carriage was waiting to
+convey us to the caves. Just at the moment of starting a man,
+appearing from nowhere, silently seated himself on the box. He
+turned out to be the guide for the caves, an indispensable
+individual.
+
+The road to the coast, for one that was neither particularly steep
+nor crooked, was amazingly uncomfortable to drive over. Cruel
+patches of the sharp stones with which the roads are mended scarred
+the way. We bounced here, and bounced there; now surmounting an
+acclivity and catching a glimpse of the blue sea, now dipping into
+a hollow. It was a gratuitously bad road; evil alike for driving,
+walking, or cycling over.
+
+When we reached Puerto Cristo the carriage drew up beside two empty
+vehicles at the back door of a little _fonda_ that is said to be
+famed for its omelets and its pretty girls.
+
+Passing through a room where a table was set for lunch, we reached a
+trellised enclosure overlooking a charming little cove on whose
+waters a boat was sailing.
+
+The silent guide, who had lingered indoors to prepare his acetylene
+lamps, appeared with them already lit; and, following in his wake,
+we set off, past a few fisher houses in whose doorways sun-tanned
+boys were baiting lines, across a bridgelet that spanned a slender
+arm of the sea, and up a rough track over a moor so brown and bare
+that it might have been in Devon. Judging by outward appearance, it
+was the last place where one would have anticipated finding a cave
+of even the smallest dimensions.
+
+As we went we met two parties of Spaniards who had been seeing the
+caves and were now returning. It was for them that the carriages
+waited and the omelets were being prepared at the _fonda_ of the
+three pretty girls.
+
+Just as we were wondering if our taciturn guide would ever consent
+to humour us by producing a cave, he headed for an opening in a
+stone wall. Entering, we were confronted with a barred window and a
+locked door set in the side of a slope.
+
+Producing a key, the guide unlocked the door, then when we were all
+inside he carefully re-locked it. A breath of warm exhausted air met
+our faces. The guide, still preserving his impenetrable reserve,
+removed his coat, and the Boy, fortunately remembering the advice of
+an experienced friend, counselled us to follow his example. An hour
+and a half of hard going was before us. The temperature, which was
+high even in the entrance hall, was likely to increase as we got
+farther underground. So the men in shirt-sleeves and myself in a
+thin net blouse meekly pursued our dumb conductor down a flight of
+roughly cut steps that seemed to lead right into the bowels of the
+earth.
+
+Walking in advance, the guide flashed his light upon all sorts of
+varied wonders, from caverns so hideous and grimy that they looked
+as though coated with the refuse of a coal mine, to banks of
+glittering crystals or stalactites of glistening semi-transparent
+amber.
+
+At one point he drew aside, and stood mutely pointing in advance.
+Thinking he meant us to move on, I was walking forward, when he drew
+me back just in time to prevent my stepping into a lake so clear and
+pellucid as to be absolutely imperceptible.
+
+That was the beginning of the water effects that lend enchantment to
+the Caves of the Dragon. The Dragon himself is but a poor thing,
+diminutive and wholly unworthy his surroundings. We saw him. He was
+pointed out, sneaking up a pillar, a truly undignified position for
+any creature owning the romantic and awe-inspiring cognomen of
+dragon. And, speaking confidentially, the humble name of lizard
+would suit him better.
+
+The lakes and pools are indisputably lovely, and the charm of the
+Cave of Delights quite roused our enthusiasm. Imagine an azure lake
+overhung by myriads of glistening pendants. Near the centre a low
+pile of stalagmites suggestive of a fortress rose out of the water;
+from the miniature fortress extended a reef in the form of a cross.
+Stepping thereon, the guide set fire to a piece of ribbon which
+illumined the farthest recess of the cave, revealing new and
+unguessed beauties, and rendering the scene one of almost
+supernatural loveliness.
+
+Then came more caves and yet more. Up steps we went or down steps,
+getting hotter and hotter in these airless depths as in single file
+we "ducky-daidled" after our laconic conductor. Once, deep in some
+gruesome cavern, he announced that the name of the place was the
+Cave of the Catalans, and in reply to our question explained, with
+something of animation in the recital, that some years ago, before
+the entrance to the caves was guarded by lock and key, two young
+visitors from Spain had conceived the idea of exploring the caves
+without the aid of a guide. Twenty-seven hours later they were
+discovered in that repellent spot, deep in a dismal subterranean
+passage.
+
+It must have been soon after hearing this suggestive story that some
+one asked the guide if he could find his way out without a light.
+And when he confessed that he could not, we all secretly wondered
+how long the gas in the lamps we carried was calculated to burn; but
+we were all too considerate of the feelings of each other to express
+our thoughts.
+
+It was distinctly reassuring to remember that if the worst had
+befallen, if the man on whose guidance we trusted had been seized
+with illness or had met with an accident and the lamps had gradually
+flickered out, all we need do would be to sit down and wait; for the
+driver of our carriage, finding we did not return, would have routed
+out another guide, and we would soon have seen the lights of the
+search party gleaming among the pendants and pillars.
+
+At one point we were refreshed with water from a cleft in the rocks,
+served in a tumbler that was kept inverted over a conveniently
+placed stalagmite. Then we resumed the tramp. The sights seemed to
+be endless, and one of the best--the Lake of Miramar--was reserved
+for the last. About fourteen years ago this extensive waterway was
+made the subject of special exploration by M. Martel, the French
+expert. With the aid of a collapsible boat he spent a week in
+investigation, and at its close was obliged to leave the farthest
+reaches of the caves yet unexploited.
+
+Hot, clammy and tired, we had returned to the cooler air, and,
+resting upon the stone benches within the doorway, were refreshing
+ourselves with tea hot from a Thermos bottle, when the guide,
+suddenly dropping the mantle of reserve that had cloaked his
+pilotage, told us the story of the discovery of the Dragon's Caves.
+
+As he sat, a _coca_ in one hand, a square of chocolate in the other,
+he became almost loquacious for so taciturn a being. The history
+proved curiously limited for such remarkably extensive caverns.
+
+It began one wet day about thirty years earlier, when his father,
+who had been out shooting, took shelter in a cleft of the rocks to
+eat his breakfast. Happening to drop a loose pebble through a chink
+in the ground, he was surprised to hear by the sound that it had
+fallen into a cavity of unexpected dimensions. That accidental
+observation led to the research that opened the Dragon's Caves to
+the admiration of a curious world.
+
+Clothed and cool, though dusty and soil-stained, we regained the
+open air, where a group of small orchid plants growing beside the
+path attracted us. They were the fly orchis, and unusually perfect
+specimens. The neatest, most insect-like little flies I have ever
+seen poised amid the green leaflets on the slender stems.
+
+A glorious sunset was flooding the sky with colour as we lurched
+towards Manacor over the brutal road. The tall towers of the church
+of this city of the plain stood out sombre and imposing against
+glowing roseate banks of cloud.
+
+We had been discussing the puzzling appearance of the building,
+which had a faint resemblance to the Russian style of ecclesiastical
+architecture, and none at all to any other known school. Scaffolding
+still encircled the high steeple, and as we drew near the church it
+appeared as though exciting operations were in process. A constant
+stream of people entering the edifice was jostled in the passing by
+a rush of men, lads and boys, who were hurrying out propelling or
+dragging hand-carts and trolleys laden with blocks of stone, of
+which heaps were already piled about the exterior of the church.
+
+A useful rule in travelling, if you want to see what is going on, is
+to follow the crowd. Moving with the throng into the church, we
+stood astounded at the scene of destruction before us.
+
+The interior of the lofty building was a riot of wild commotion. The
+air was full of fine dust. By the light of the lanterns which showed
+dimly through the obscurity, we saw the great white dome rising to
+the sky; and on the floor beneath, two huge pyramids of broken stone
+and mortar.
+
+On the crest of the mounds vague figures were visible, working with
+almost feverish energy to remove the vast heap of _débris_. The air
+was vocal with the noise indispensable to violent and concerted
+action. And the raucous sound of the wheels grinding on the stone
+floor as a willing band seized each laden truck to propel it out of
+the church added to the unholy din.
+
+[Illustration: Manacor]
+
+The whole scene was so unexpected, so foreign to the manners of the
+twentieth century, that to our bewildered minds it almost appeared
+as though history had slipped back and we had become spectators of
+some iconoclastic mob engaged in the sacking of the church.
+
+It was a relief to find the labour sanctioned by the presence of
+priests, who looked with benign approval at the frenzied efforts of
+the workers.
+
+One of the number, seeing that we were strangers, and probably
+guessing at our bewilderment, kindly approached, and, with quiet
+pride illumining his fine old face, volunteered an explanation of
+the exciting scene before us.
+
+The clergy of Manacor, seeing the need of enlarging their already
+important church, had appealed to the people. The people promptly
+agreed to help, and the work of extension was quickly proceeded
+with, the labour being entirely local, even the statues that adorned
+the niches having been carved by one of the priests.
+
+The walls of the new church, gradually rising, enclosed the ancient
+building, in which service continued without intermission to be
+conducted. When the new walls were complete, the floor of the
+edifice was thickly covered with pine branches; and after Mass had
+been celebrated on the very morning of our arrival at Manacor, the
+ancient walls that had so well served their purpose were pulled
+down.
+
+After the inevitable blinding dust had settled a little, the labour
+of clearing away the _débris_ began. And we had returned from the
+Dragon Caves just in time to witness the multitude of helpers
+exerting their utmost strength to restore by lamplight the interior
+of the church from chaos to order.
+
+When we first viewed the scene of demolition the labour required
+appeared so herculean that it seemed as though toil that was merely
+human could make but little impression. But four hundred willing
+hands can accomplish marvels, and when we returned two hours later
+one great mound had been mostly cleared away, and the other was
+visibly diminished.
+
+With unabated enthusiasm the work was proceeding. When roused to
+their utmost effort there is no lassitude about these sturdy
+Majorcans. Strapping lads, shouting the while, seized each laden
+barrow and dashed off to empty it outside. Small boys imagined they
+were helping by pushing behind with an admirable assumption of
+strength, and adding their shrill voices to the clamour. Some of
+the smallest, with an air of importance, carried out single stones.
+
+Near where we stood a hole had been opened in the floor, and into
+the vacuum beneath a band of youthful assistants was emptying
+baskets of small stones and dust.
+
+Most of the labourers were of the thick-set Majorcan type, but at
+regular intervals a tall handsome young man--a veritable son of
+Anak--clad in a pink shirt, light blue trousers, and a wide felt
+hat, appearing out of the mist, advanced to the edge of the gaping
+hole and discharged into it the contents of a large basket of
+rubbish. He seemed to work alone, speaking to no one, and moving
+with the silent precision of a machine.
+
+The women kept strictly aside, taking no part in the work. In dark
+corners of the ancient chapels that had been left untouched, a few
+black-robed old women knelt in prayer. And near us a group of pretty
+girls stood tittering and whispering. At one moment human nature
+proved too much for some of the youths who had been passing us in
+relays, bearing on their heads great bundles of the pine branches
+that had been laid down for the preservation of the flooring. Making
+a species of organized sortie, they rushed towards the girls,
+brushing their faces with the ends of the dusty greenery. The girls,
+giggling and squeaking, fled before the onslaught, but soon stole
+back to resume their position as spectators.
+
+When work ceased for the night an incredible change had taken place
+in the interior of the church. And next morning, as we dressed, the
+sound of boys' voices chanting came in through our open windows. The
+people were already worshipping in their new church. For one evening
+only had service been suspended.
+
+During the labours of the previous night the women had perforce
+remained quiescent. It was now their turn to help. Active females
+carrying brooms were to be seen hastening through the sacred
+portals, to emerge later vigorously sweeping clouds of dust before
+them. One small girl had a baby tucked under one arm, while she
+industriously plied a broom with the other.
+
+When we took a final peep into the church before seeking the
+afternoon diligence for Artá, the yawning fissure in the floor had
+been cemented over, and rows of benches stood ready placed for
+evening service. An inconsiderable heap of rubbish in a side aisle
+was all that remained of the apparent desolation of the day before.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Artá]
+
+XX
+
+ARTÁ AND ITS CAVES
+
+
+We met the diligence for Artá at Manacor station, where the
+single-line railway ends on a track so grass-grown as to suggest
+that it had, inadvertently, strayed into a field. Were the engine to
+diverge a yard or two from the rails it would wreck the
+stationmaster's goat, make havoc of his family washing, and
+devastate his prickly-pear patch.
+
+The Artá diligence, a spacious vehicle, supplied with good horses
+and a capital driver, leaves the station yard immediately after the
+arrival of the afternoon train from Palma. Should a sufficiency of
+passengers arrive by the morning train, a diligence would start then
+also; but the afternoon coach is a certainty. The distance is 20
+kilometros, and the fare is three reales (sevenpence-halfpenny).
+
+The Man and I had secured the front seats. The Boy was inside with a
+typical set of travellers by diligence--a priest, a soldier, one of
+the very new recruits who had a six days' leave to visit his home; a
+specimen of the pleasant elderly countryman who is the inevitable
+accessory of such a journey, and two commercial travellers that we
+stopped to pick up as we passed a draper's shop in town.
+
+Our driver was a man of decision. Little time was lost over
+starting. Five minutes after the train had entered the station we
+dashed out of it at a pace that threatened to make the distance
+between us and Artá seem far too short.
+
+It was a perfect evening for driving. There was no wind, and the
+rain of the previous night had laid the dust. The road was a good
+one, broad and level--very different from that over which we had
+bumped and joggled on the previous day. The sinking sun cast a
+glamour over a land that was at any time beautiful. The swift motion
+was gloriously exhilarating. Perched up on the box seat, the Man and
+I felt radiant with the sheer joy of being alive as we drank in the
+sweet bean-scented air, and watched the approach of the picturesque
+groups of farm folk who were returning townwards from their day's
+work in the fields. Our driver, Canet by name, seemed to be popular.
+Sunburnt faces looked up to smile him a greeting. Laughing girls
+crowded into ramshackle carts exchanged gay repartee in the passing.
+
+As we drove onwards the surroundings became less flat, and in the
+distance a range of sugar-loaf hills--the mountains of Artá--appeared.
+About half-way on the journey we jingled through a nice little town,
+San Lorenzo, where grape-vines grew on the walls of the houses that
+lined the narrow streets, and old, old wives sat on the doorsteps
+taking their ease.
+
+Beyond San Lorenzo hills rose about us, and the road ran between
+tracts of uncultivated ground. Here, too, the road was busy with
+returning labourers in delightfully quaint groups. Many of the men
+wore their blue cotton shirts outside, like blouses, and all wore
+wide-brimmed hats of straw or felt.
+
+Each family party was accompanied by an animal--an ass or an ox, a
+goat or a black pig. What struck us as being funniest of all was to
+see the understanding way in which, in every instance, the pigs
+trotted sedately beside their owners, exactly like well-bred dogs.
+
+Then the road rose high between pine woods whose undergrowth was
+thick with the withered blossoms of heath, and we traversed a
+mountain pass up which the men walked, before rattling inspiritingly
+down the farther side.
+
+We were still some distance from the town, and the wayfarers we
+overtook had their faces turned towards it, when it became quite
+dark--too dark to distinguish anything except vague outlines of
+mountains.
+
+Leaving the smooth white road along which we had sped so bravely, we
+entered a narrow street thickly strewn with a misery of sharp jagged
+stones that made advance a penitential progress for both man and
+beast. And Canet, turning towards us, said impressively:--
+
+"We are in Artá!"
+
+Our destination in Artá was the Fonda de Rande, which had been
+warmly recommended by our friend the padre at Palma, but when the
+coach drew up in front of the Café Mangol we alighted, to find
+ourselves literally in the embrace of its voluble landlord. By
+pledging our word to hire a carriage from him on the morrow we
+obtained our release, and with Canet acting the dual part of guide
+and porter, we retraced our steps for a few yards along the dark,
+stony streets.
+
+In speaking of the Fonda de Rande the padre had described the Señora
+Rande's cooking as being excellent, her charges moderate, and her
+house the cleanest in Artá. After two nights' experience we not only
+endorse his statements, but go further, and say that her house is
+the cleanest in all Majorca, and that is saying a very great deal.
+
+Within half an hour a meal was before us--a dish of pickled fish,
+another of fresh fish, hot lamb cutlets and fried potatoes, sweet
+oranges, and plums of the señora's own drying.
+
+Our rest that night was luxurious. The beds were soft, the blankets
+light and downy. We slept until the hour when a man promenaded the
+town blowing blasts on a seashell to call the people to their work.
+
+Before we had left our rooms ponderous steps resounded in the
+passage outside our doors. It was the proprietor of the diligence,
+brother to the host of the Café Mangol, come in person to ask at
+what time we would require a carriage for our visit to the caves.
+
+Having promised to be ready an hour later, we descended to the
+dining-room, where, after we had drunk our glasses of coffee, the
+señora insisted on refilling them: an attention without precedent in
+our experience of Spanish hostelries.
+
+Breakfast over, we sallied out in quest of provisions for our little
+expedition, a somewhat difficult matter, for the shops at Artá are
+even more independent of signs than those of the other Balearic
+towns.
+
+A little questioning revealed a quite unexpected house to be a
+baker's. The apartment next to the street was fitted up with a
+counter; but its window was closely shuttered, its shelves empty. To
+all appearance the entire business of the establishment was carried
+on in the bakehouse at the back, where, in full view of a pile of
+egg-shells and other evidences that proclaimed the genuineness of
+the ingredients employed, we bought little square sponge-cakes hot
+from the oven.
+
+Boldly entering another shop, which we knew to be a greengrocer's by
+the orange-hued gourd and basin of parsley on the doorstep, we found
+it half shop, half weaver's workroom. In one part the mistress and
+her daughter sold vegetables, boots, and many other requirements of
+both outer and inner man. In the other the portly father wrought at
+his hand-loom, weaving the strong dark-blue cotton material so much
+in use locally.
+
+Having bought a supply of sweet little mandarin oranges at twopence
+a dozen--just half the Palma price--we returned to the _fonda_ to
+find the carriage, with Canet and the two horses that had made such
+light work of the diligence, waiting in readiness to take us to the
+caves.
+
+[Illustration: Towards the Parish Church, Artá]
+
+It had been so dark when we entered Artá that it was not until we
+left the town and looked back that we realized how picturesquely it
+was situated. The blue mountains form a wide circle round it, and in
+the centre of the clustered houses a hill crowned with church towers
+rises grandly.
+
+Artá is a district of rural occupations. The fresh butter of the
+island is made at Son Servera, a village close by. On our way
+coastwards we met many interesting and paintable figures. Here an
+old man with a scarlet and yellow handkerchief tied under his hat,
+and a shaggy goatskin bag slung over his shoulder, herding a flock
+of kids; there a handsome girl, whose petticoat had faded to an
+adorable shade of crimson, and whose fingers were busy plaiting the
+strands of the palm-leaves as she watched by a cow that looked, as
+so many of the island cattle do, like an Alderney.
+
+The fields on either side of the road were planted with flourishing
+trees of almond and olive and fig. Assuredly in their season no
+traveller need go hungry in any Majorcan road. He has only to help
+himself. They say that if a native sees a stranger taking his fruit,
+in place of upbraiding he will volunteer with sincere good-will to
+show him the tree the flavour of whose fruit is finest.
+
+At a lonely bit of the way a contented-looking little group,
+consisting of a fine, stalwart lad in light-blue cotton, a smiling
+matron in workaday dress, and a plump black pig, stood at the corner
+of a field by the road to watch us go past.
+
+As we neared them the radiance that illumined their faces found
+reflection in those of the Boy and Canet.
+
+"It's the soldier who travelled in the diligence last night," the
+Boy explained. "That must be his home. He is one of the new
+recruits, and had six days' leave to spend with his mother. Don't
+they seem to be enjoying it?"
+
+And they did. Even the black pig radiated supreme contentment.
+
+High up on the left as we journeyed we saw a little ancient-looking
+town grouped about the lower slopes of an eminence whose height
+seemed to be crowned by a castle surrounded by defences. It was
+Capdepera, a relic of antiquity of which we knew but little, and
+instantly resolved to learn more.
+
+The way to the Dragon Caves had been across a bald moorland. That
+leading towards the Caves of Artá was down a fertile valley, that
+through the efforts of skilled husbandmen had been brought to a high
+state of cultivation. In a field by the wayside clumps of narcissus
+were blooming unappreciated, and as we came near the cliffs we saw
+that their rocky sides were yellow with a species of gorse which
+grew in cushioning clumps.
+
+When we were within easy distance of a fine, sandy bay, flanked on
+the east by a towering cliff, a man left the solitary house which
+stood in the middle of the valley and came towards us.
+
+"That is the guide," Canet said, pointing his whip-handle in his
+direction.
+
+The guide to the Caves of Artá was a lean, middle-aged man, whose
+well-cut face suggested an innate appreciation of humour. When we
+stopped he mounted to the box, and we went on slowly, for the sandy
+road was heavy.
+
+A little farther on we drew up again. A woman, supporting with both
+hands a tray containing something edible, had left the house and was
+hurrying towards us across the field. When she got near we saw that
+the tray contained three of the large pastry turnovers that, in
+outward appearance, at least, so strongly resemble Cornish pasties.
+
+"I could do with one of these turnovers. I wonder if she sells
+them?" said the Boy, as she climbed to the box beside her husband
+and the genial Canet.
+
+"A turnover wouldn't come amiss," agreed the Man. "I suppose she
+sells them."
+
+But the woman did not offer her provender to us. The guide got one.
+I suspect Canet of getting another. The third was probably the
+cook's own dinner.
+
+Leaving the carriage, we turned to the left of the lovely bay, on
+whose sands rollers were breaking, and walked along the mile of
+delightful path that runs along the side of a precipitous
+pine-covered cliff. Beneath us roared the sea; from above came the
+murmur of wind-tossed pines, with whose perfume the air was
+fragrant, but the way was warm and sheltered.
+
+Our guide, who accompanied us, kept modestly in the rear. It was
+only when we waited for him, and discovered that he was engaged
+lunching on one of the hot pasties, that we understood his
+reluctance to join us. To judge by eyesight, the pasty was stuffed
+with spinach and prunes. To judge by another sense it was stuffed
+with garlic.
+
+We were naturally eager to compare the attractions of the Caves of
+Artá with their rivals of Manacor. A striking contrast was evident
+from the first sight. The approach to the Dragon Caves had offered
+no suggestion of the glories within. The exterior of the Caves of
+Artá, viewed when, turning away from the sun, one mounted the big
+flight of steps leading to the vast opening in the face of the
+cliff, was sublime.
+
+When we had climbed the steps and were standing in the entrance-hall
+under the great overhanging roof, where maidenhair-fern grows green,
+the guide, kneeling on the ground before a lot of tin vessels, made
+a stock of acetylene gas to light our journey through the darkness.
+He had removed his hat, and as, with his mind intent on his work, he
+carefully mixed the ingredients, he suggested some magician
+preparing for some uncanny rite.
+
+While he was occupied with his incantations we surveyed our
+surroundings, and for the first time were able to understand how the
+Moorish refugees, who at the capture of Palma fled in vast numbers
+to the caves, were able, for so protracted a period, to defy the
+army of the Conquistador that had followed them thither.
+
+Beneath the wide opening the cliff falls precipitously to the sea.
+High above it the overhanging roof forms a protective hood.
+
+The rocky sides and floor of the caves afforded an endless supply of
+the rough-and-ready missiles popular in those days. A more perfect
+natural stronghold could hardly be imagined. And but for a clever
+stratagem on the part of two brothers, members of that band of
+intrepid young nobles who so ardently supported their valiant
+leader, the Moors might have held out interminably. These two
+brothers scaled the cliff, and, having reached the point directly
+above the mouth of the cave, threw lighted firebrands down upon the
+huts and defences that were clustered on the rocky shelf beneath,
+with the object of setting the huts on fire and filling the caves
+with suffocating smoke. But the caves were so extensive that even
+this ruse did not quickly prevail. And it was not until Palm Sunday,
+1230, three months after the taking of Palma, that the fugitives
+surrendered.
+
+Shouldering an iron rod, from which were suspended two lamps, the
+guide announced that he was ready to start. There was no need to
+take off coats. The caves were so spacious and lofty that the
+temperature was pleasant, and although the distance to be traversed
+was considerable, the work of seeing them was not fatiguing.
+
+The attitude of our present guide was different from that of the
+former. The guide who showed us the Dragon Caves trotted us through
+them in the business-like fashion of a man who is paid a fixed sum
+for performing a stated task. He wasted few words, and was, we
+thought, a trifle stingy in the matter of magnesium wire. The moment
+of his expansion came only after unexpected tips had been added to
+the amount of the regulation fees. But Amoras, guide to these Caves
+of Artá, showed them as though, after even thirty-five years of
+performance, he still joyed to reveal their glories. His interest
+also was a hereditary one; his father, who had held the post before
+him, had been killed by falling from the cliff path to the rocks
+beneath. Half-way between the bay and the caves, a cross set in the
+side of the cliff marks the place of the tragedy.
+
+[Illustration: Entering the Caves of Artá]
+
+Amoras took the pace slowly, and after lighting us through a
+succession of vast caverns, paused to remark, with a quiet smile of
+enjoyment at our surprise, "We are only now at the end of the
+entrance-hall."
+
+The drought that prevailed without appeared to have had a malign
+influence even on the water supply of the Caves of Artá. Pointing to
+a hollow enclosed by stones, Amoras told us that was the well,
+which, for the first time in his thirty-five years of experience, he
+now saw dry.
+
+Before we had traversed a tithe of the extent of these capacious
+caverns we understood how the fifteen hundred Moorish refugees, men,
+women, and children, with their flocks and herds, an immense
+quantity of grain, and many precious belongings, had found
+hiding-place within.
+
+The Manacor Caves are fantastic and wonderful. Those of Artá are
+stupendous, overwhelming in their gloom and grandeur. Any conception
+I had ever formed of cavernous magnificence was far exceeded; and to
+me the Caves of Artá were infinitely more impressive than the Caves
+of Manacor. When I tried to express this, Amoras said devoutly:--
+
+"The Cave of the Dragon is an oratory chapel. This is a cathedral."
+
+Countless glories are concealed in the vast caverns. Stalactites so
+large that to try to calculate the length of time occupied in their
+formation makes the brain reel. Statues as complete in detail as
+though carven by the chisel of a sculptor. Cascades of glistening
+crystal. The huge crouching figure of a winged Mephistopheles, and
+in the Hall of the Banners flags--marvels of immobile drapery--that
+stood out at right angles from the pillar whence they were
+suspended.
+
+It was in the Hall of the Banners that Amoras, warning us not to
+follow, disappeared from sight, leaving us in the dark. Then from a
+height came strange noises designed to strike terror into the
+breasts of the timid. Then the light of a Roman candle threw into
+weird effect the great maze of stalactite pillars, cones, and
+festoons that rose about and above us to unimagined heights.
+
+But perhaps the most beautiful if not the most amazing of the sights
+was that contained in the Salon of the Queen of the Columns, where,
+in a lofty hall, there stood alone, as though conscious of its
+exquisite beauty and holding aloof, a stately pillar twenty-two
+metros--over sixty feet--in height. About the base were grouped
+curiously modelled clusters of flowers, and above, as far as the eye
+could distinguish, the same delicate tracing was revealed.
+
+"Under it we are as nothing," Amoras had said reverently, as he
+stood beneath it, and one felt that had he worn a hat he would have
+uncovered before the column.
+
+There was a delightfully nerve-soothing effect in the absolute
+stillness of the caves. Not a sound from the outer world could
+penetrate these vast recesses.
+
+"All the neighbours are asleep," Amoras replied drily when the Man
+remarked on the silence.
+
+Though the Caves of Artá are astonishing in their immensity, there
+is nothing alarming or gruesome about them. It did not occur to
+anybody to speculate secretly on what would happen if the guide were
+seized with illness or anything happened to the lights.
+
+Both sets of caves--the Dragon and the Artá--are well worthy a
+special expedition. If it were possible to see only one I would give
+the preference to the Caves of Artá. But that is a matter of mere
+personal taste. I must confess that men seem more impressed by the
+fantastic marvels concealed in the Dragon Caves.
+
+I had promised to show Señora Rande the English way of serving
+spinach as a vegetable course. So when we reached the _fonda_, only
+a quarter of an hour late for lunch, the señora was waiting to hold
+me to my word.
+
+Fortunately the cooking of spinach is the simplest of culinary
+devices, and while the fresh green leaves were sinking to a pulp in
+the earthen pipkin, I had the privilege of watching the señora make
+one of her excellent omelets--an invaluable lesson, and one that I
+humbly trust will render impossible my again making such an
+egregious failure as I did when attempting to cook an omelet at the
+Hospederia at Miramar.
+
+Being certain of a good driver and good horses, we had engaged Canet
+to return for us at three o'clock. We were anxious to get a near
+view of the quaint old town, Capdepera, whose distant appearance had
+attracted us as we drove to the caves in the morning. And we wished
+also to visit Cala Retjada, a little fishing village a mile or two
+farther away, that we had heard was celebrated for its known fish
+and for its suspected smugglers.
+
+The short drive was full of the life and interest that characterize
+an agricultural district. About the stone dikes, sloe blossom lay in
+drifts, looking strangely home-like beside the giant clumps of
+cactus.
+
+Leaving the carriage when we had reached Capdepera, we walked about
+briskly, for the wind was fresh, bent on exploration. A peep into
+the church revealed nothing of special note. Turning away, we
+climbed a steep street, and found ourselves outside the old gateway
+leading to the fortified enclosure that in bygone days had evidently
+been the place of refuge for the citizens when danger threatened.
+And of a truth the space enclosed within these battlemented walls
+would have afforded shelter to a great community.
+
+To the well-preserved ramparts Nature had added an impregnable
+defence in the form of a thick growth of cactus. Both without and
+within the wall their prickly leaves luxuriated.
+
+From the flat roofs of the watch-towers that surmounted the
+battlements the watchers must have been able to see to a surprising
+distance. A white line across the sea revealed the coast of Minorca,
+twenty miles away. Close by was Cabo de Pera, the eastmost point of
+the island. With a vigilant guard stationed in these watch-towers no
+enemy, either from land or sea, could have reached Capdepera before
+the inhabitants had timely warning to remove themselves and their
+valuables within the safety of the stronghold.
+
+The old parish church--Our Lady of the Hope--is within the
+enclosure, close by a modern house that bore signs of occupation. In
+pockets of hungry soil a little spindly grain grew about the roots
+of hoary fig-trees. While all the fig-trees outside were still
+naked, one in a sheltered corner already showed bursting leaves and
+the diminutive knubbly warts that were to swell into fruit. Besides
+tufts of wild mignonette, henbane reared its downy foliage and
+evil-smelling creamy blossom.
+
+Seated in the open doorways of the houses, the women of this remote
+town were making baskets from the dried leaves of the palmetto
+(garbayous), a dwarf palm-tree that abounds on the mountains of
+Artá. Some were pleating the split fronds into long strips that
+others were sewing into the baskets, which besides being largely
+used in Majorca are exported by ship-loads to France.
+
+The pleasant and cleanly little industry seemed the ruling influence
+of the town. In the street we passed men carrying great numbers of
+the baskets fitted snugly inside one another. A glimpse into the
+open door of a warehouse revealed the place close packed from floor
+to rafters with the baskets. On the way to Cala Retjada we drove
+past a cart piled high with stock ready for shipment; and in a
+sheltered cove beyond the fishing village we saw, lying at anchor,
+the _pailebot_ that was waiting to convey the goods to an over-seas
+market.
+
+When we reached Cala Retjada the wind was blowing in fresh from the
+sea, and the boats lay snugly drawn up on the beach of a tiny haven.
+A number of small shut-up houses lining the semicircle of the bay
+showed that the stone-washed shore was a favourite place of summer
+residence. To the west is the imposing headland of Cape Vermay.
+Westwards pine woods clothe the rocky slopes about the sea. Truly a
+pleasant place to fly to when the interior of the island is hot and
+relaxing.
+
+The people of the eastern town struck us as being more Moorish in
+type than those of the more northern or western parts of Majorca. In
+Cala Retjada, in the person of the handsome bronzed captain of the
+_pailebot_, we saw and instantly recognized our ideal of a pirate
+chief--the heroic pirate who treats his enemies nobly. He wore a
+scarlet nightcap with a grass-green band, a golden brown velvet
+suit, an orange cummerbund, and yellow string-soled shoes. Truly he
+was a joy to behold.
+
+Daylight was fading when we turned our faces towards Artá; and as we
+approached the romantically situated town, we passed many parties of
+returning labourers, and many little bands of pretty girls, who had
+presumably strolled out to meet them, though each sex kept
+rigorously apart.
+
+It is the rarest thing to see an unmarried man and a girl walking
+alone in Majorca. The strict system of chaperonage that prevails in
+the higher classes evidently has its prototype in the lower also,
+for the maidens walked with twined arms--like some Maeterlinck
+chorus--and the men, as far as we could judge, confined their
+attentions to admiring glances.
+
+We had heard that the remains of a Phoenician village still
+existed in an ancient forest of ilex not far from Artá. When we
+questioned the señora next morning, as she poured out the coffee,
+regarding its whereabouts, she promptly suggested that her husband
+would take us there. So when we sallied forth it was in company with
+Señor Rande and the _perro de Rande_--a fine specimen of the ancient
+hunting dogs that are still prevalent in the island. It amused us to
+see him leap high into the air to sight his prey.
+
+The way, though it covered a bare half mile, was devious, and
+without assistance would have been difficult to find. But it ended
+in something far more wonderful than we had been led to anticipate.
+
+Near the summit of a gentle mound that was covered with ilex and
+low-growing scrub we found ourselves confronted by a wall built of
+vast, roughly hewn blocks of stone. Before us was an open portal,
+formed of two huge blocks supporting a third stone, one end of which
+was pierced by an orifice that had two openings towards the sky.
+
+Within this gateway were the tumbled remains of a city that had been
+encircled by walls constructed of great single blocks of stone--a
+city so old that all tradition of its builders was lost. We had
+thought the Roman remains at Alcudia and Pollensa as of surpassing
+antiquity. Here was evidence of an occupation far older still.
+
+An eminence in the centre of the enclosure revealed the site of the
+inevitable, and at that date indispensable, watch-tower. From its
+top, though now lowered by the passing of centuries and overgrown
+with herbage, we saw through the gaps in the trees beyond how
+comprehensive a view the watchers had commanded of the surrounding
+country.
+
+The top of the mound on which we stood had been hollowed out, and
+Señor Rande remarked that children came up from Artá to dig for
+treasures.
+
+"Do they find any?" we asked innocently.
+
+Raising his forefinger, the señor shook it before his face in the
+gesture we had grown to think characteristically Majorcan.
+
+"_Nada!_" he made laconic reply.
+
+Devil's tomatoes, heavy with golden fruit, and beautiful
+large-blossomed lavender periwinkle grew in great profusion about
+the devastated homes of the vanished people. And it seemed a curious
+coincidence to remember that the last periwinkles I had seen were
+those growing about the base of the megalithic monuments in Minorca.
+One wonders what connection this starry-eyed flower could have had
+with these prehistoric races.
+
+I had received the information that begonias grew wild in Majorca,
+with the mental reservation natural to a native of a less gracious
+climate. So it was a pleasant surprise to recognize a leaf or two of
+their distinctive marled foliage thrust out from between the heaped
+stones of the ruined Phoenician village.
+
+Our return journey from Artá was not worthy to rank in our memories
+with our triumphal progress thither. We had a special conveyance,
+but as Canet was already in Manacor, having driven the diligence
+that left Artá at three o'clock that morning, he could not act as
+our charioteer, and his employer, who drove us, set the pace
+sedately.
+
+The wind was high, dust was more than a possibility, and the box
+seat held no attractions. So we sat inside and yawned a little as
+the kilometros crept slowly past.
+
+In the little grass-grown station at Manacor the afternoon crowd was
+beginning to gather. And in the station yard the diligences for
+Artá, for Capdepera, for San Lorenzo, were drawn up prepared to
+start as soon as the train had arrived and their passengers had
+climbed into their seats.
+
+We had taken our places in one of the empty carriages that were
+standing ready to be attached to the train for Palma, when the
+smiling sun-tanned face of Canet appeared at the window. He had come
+to bid us good-speed, and remained to share our tea, and to puzzle
+over the powers of the Thermos bottle. Though he politely praised
+the tea, I am convinced that he secretly scorned the bad taste of
+the "Ingleses" who chose to drink so uninteresting a decoction in a
+land overflowing with good red wine.
+
+Our little excursion, undertaken though it had been with something
+of reluctance, had proved like others a charming one, and one whose
+every moment had been full of new interests.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Palm-Sunday at Sóller]
+
+XXI
+
+AMONG THE HILLS
+
+
+March was more than half over; we had already reluctantly begun to
+measure our stay in the Fortunate Isles by weeks instead of months
+when we drove to Sóller to spend a few days with an English friend,
+who, with all the world to choose from, elects to make her home at
+Sóller.
+
+When we left Sóller on our previous visit in early December,
+darkness had fallen long before we reached Palma, so the first half
+of this return journey was new to us. And as the day was beautiful,
+we sat luxuriously back in the open carriage and enjoyed it to the
+full. The shower that had fallen had greatly refreshed the land, and
+though more rain was eagerly hoped for, the almond-trees were heavy
+in leafage and thickly ruched with the green-velvet casings of the
+embryonic fruit.
+
+During the winter we had noticed few wild birds. Now, amongst the
+olive-trees that lined the highway as we approached the rising
+ground, many were flying. A brightly plumaged bird with a crested
+head crossed our path like a flash of gold, and disappeared among
+the trees. It was the hoo-poo, the typical Balearic bird, known
+locally as the _pu-put_.
+
+The highway between Palma and Valldemosa passes through a
+picturesque gulch. The road between Palma and Sóller climbs a
+considerable mountain, up whose steep sides the native makers of
+roads--surely the most ingenious in the world--have carried the path
+in a series of amazing zigzags, so that the view of the traveller
+varies incessantly. As we mounted higher and massive crags rose
+about us, we sometimes stopped the carriage to look down over the
+vast orchard that covers the plain, to where the far distant spires
+of Palma Cathedral showed against the sea.
+
+As our altitude increased the air became colder. The wind that met
+us at the top was almost keen, and we were glad to rattle down the
+farther side of the hill up which we had climbed so slowly.
+
+A few turns down the zigzag, a fine old cross, its carvings gnawed
+by the corroding tooth of time, stands overlooking the valley and
+the tawny-roofed houses of Sóller, as they lie surrounded by their
+orange gardens. A poor cottage was hard by, and while we paused to
+let the Man make a rapid sketch, two children, a boy and girl, crept
+nearer and nearer, until at last they grouped themselves in
+conventional attitudes at the foot of the cross. It did not require
+words to tell us that they must have posed in the foreground of many
+photographs of the same subject.
+
+At the Hotel Marina, where our friend was staying, three good things
+awaited us--a gracious welcome, a glorious fire of almond shells,
+and a daintily spread tea-table.
+
+In the evening we went to Son Angelats, a beautiful "possession"
+dating back to the Moorish occupation. Son Angelats nestles snugly
+into the side of the mountain, and all the year round it is bowered
+in roses of every shade and hue. The air was fragrant with the
+mingled odours of flowers innumerable; and when we walked down to
+Sóller through the gloaming the sweet essence of the blossoms
+accompanied us, for our hands were full of roses and violets.
+
+As we strolled through the grounds I noticed what I thought was a
+blue bead lying on the path. Picking it up, I discovered it to be
+the seed of a small grassy-leaved plant new to me, but much used in
+Majorca for covering the sides of banks where grass refuses to grow.
+The seed, which was about the size of a pea, was of the pure deep
+blue of the sapphire.
+
+The name of the plant the gardener declared to be _convoladia_. I
+spell the word phonetically. And when I asked what the appearance of
+the flower was, he made the incredible statement--and stuck to
+it--that the plant had none.
+
+It is impossible to stay in Sóller without feeling the magnetic
+attraction of the Puig Mayor, which is higher than any mountain in
+the British Isles. A dozen times in an hour we found ourselves
+turning to see how it looked, for its aspect held the charm of
+exhaustless variety. One might leave it a purple shadow amid
+light-hued satellite hills and turn again a few minutes later to
+discover it rose-tipped and the others in shadow.
+
+Next morning I looked out on a lovely scene. In the growing light of
+dawn the encompassing mountains showed clearly their outlines,
+unblurred save by a wanton wisp of mist that seemed too trivial to
+bear any meaning. But when my breakfast tray was brought in, rain
+was falling with the quiet persistence of rain that has come to
+stay. So we spent the morning indoors enjoying refreshing gossip,
+and refreshing peeps into English books, and in watching from the
+windows and balconies the ever-changing cloud effects on the
+mountains.
+
+There were moments when the crest of the Puig Mayor rose majestic
+above a rolling fleece of vapour that blotted out all the lesser
+heights; and times when, though the clouds hung heavy over the town,
+and the few passers-by huddled beneath time-worn umbrellas, every
+red rock and cleft of the mountain glowed under a sun that shone for
+it alone. Or again the Puig Mayor itself might vanish, and some
+nearer height stand out against the wall of mist in unexpected
+beauty of contour--imposing only because of its temporary isolation.
+
+In the afternoon the sky cleared a little and we ventured out. The
+Good Fairy, our hostess, who abounds in individualities that are as
+charming as they are original, possessed, by right of purchase, the
+fruit of a tree of sweet oranges. Her tree grew in an orchard on the
+outskirts of the town that is itself an orange garden. And hither we
+went to listen to the sweet clamour of the nightingales while eating
+the fruit we had plucked.
+
+Among the glossy-green leaves Keats's "light-wingéd Dryads of the
+trees" were singing "of summer in full-throated ease." We would
+gladly have lingered long, but heavy rain again encompassed us; and
+we returned to the comforts of the hotel, reluctant to leave the
+melodious plot, but rejoicing for the sake of the islanders, in
+whose expectant ears the sound of the rain falling on their thirsty
+land must have been much more musical than the song of the immortal
+bird.
+
+Next day was Palm Sunday--the children's day. Yet when we left the
+hotel in the morning and ventured out into the rain-washed streets,
+there was not a child in sight. Old people--grandmothers, formless
+figures muffled from forehead to ankle in black shawls, moved
+decorously along carrying folding stools; grandfathers, protecting
+their Sabbath garb with rose-coloured umbrellas of a silk so fine
+and antique that one longed to implore them not to ruin it by
+exposure to the weather, were hastening towards the church. But the
+narrow streets of the quaint old town were curiously empty of
+children.
+
+To our uncomprehending eyes it appeared more the day of the
+grandparents than of the children. I blush now to acknowledge that,
+for the moment, we had forgotten that the day of the children is
+always, and in almost greater measure, the day of the grandparents
+also.
+
+We entered the church to find both the outer absence of youth and
+the presence of the aged explained. Above even the pungent odour of
+incense, the savour of sweet flowers perfumed the air. The centre of
+the church was a seething mass of greenery. Tall spikes of palm
+arose like sword blades from out a forest of green branches--a
+forest that looked as though ruffled by a strong wind, so restless
+was its incessant motion.
+
+Closer observance revealed the motive power to be a multitude of
+small boys who sat, closely packed together, on benches, holding
+aloft branches, many of which were wreathed with flowers. Most of
+the trophies showed the grey-green of olive--a shapely bough chosen
+with care from the family possession, with all the available
+blossoms of the garden twined about the stem. And many revealed
+ingenuity and artistic taste in the garlanding of the flowers.
+Certain of the palm fronds had a piece fixed athwart the tip to
+represent a cross. A proportion, happily but a small proportion, of
+the trophies carried struck the blatant note of artificiality, for
+in their case the palm frond was split and twisted into ornamental
+shapes, and out of all semblance of that they were supposed to
+represent. A few were travesties of Christmas-trees, for their
+fictitious branches were laden with silvered and gilt sweets, toys
+and trinkets, seemingly trivial, but doubtless owning a significance
+of their own.
+
+Beside the rows of close-cropped dark heads moved priests and
+black-robed teachers. And on the outskirts of the throng hovered
+bigger boys, torn betwixt two opinions--whether it were better to
+continue to assert their claim to have reached an age exempt from
+such childish matters, or to yield to their natural desire to join
+the palm-bearers and have a place in the procession that was to
+follow.
+
+One urchin, but recently advanced to the dignity of his first long
+trousers, held half-concealed a scrap of olive, to which he added by
+furtive gleanings from the fallen blossoms that littered the floor,
+garnering a battered, but still recognizable rose here, a gaudy
+marigold there, until he had achieved a trophy that, if not one to
+court careful examination, yet at a little distance presented quite
+a respectable appearance.
+
+When the rose-red umbrellas had dripped themselves almost dry, and
+the branches supported by the hot hands of restless boys were waving
+faster than ever, the black-robed teachers and a nun, moving
+noiselessly amongst their pupils, began to marshal them into a
+double line.
+
+Standing at the side, in company with grandfathers whose fine old
+weather-beaten faces gazed proudly intent at those who were to carry
+their names to succeeding generations, we watched as the little
+forest of branches, borne sedately, passed in front of the altar,
+and then moved in procession round the church. The smallest boys
+walked in front, and many of them were burdened with the care of
+umbrellas in addition to the proud glory of the decorated branch
+that wobbled in their tired hands; while boys of larger growth,
+unable to resist, yielded to a natural desire to shoulder their
+boughs as muskets.
+
+Very few girls took an active part in the proceedings. The
+half-dozen who did belonged to the class that have hats for Sunday
+wear, and the palms they carried had cost money. Little girls whom
+fortune had denied the envied possession of either ugly hats or
+ornamental palms looked on with longing in their soft dark eyes as
+the favoured ones marched by.
+
+When the complete circuit of the edifice had been made the
+palm-bearers moved to a side, and a band of clergy advancing paused
+just within the great doors, through which certain of their number
+had slipped outside.
+
+Standing thus, their resplendent robes of purple and scarlet thrown
+into strong relief against the old wood of the door, the group began
+chanting. When they ceased there came from without the sound of
+answering voices. Again were the voices within raised in recitative.
+From outside came again the reply.
+
+Then, reverberating solemnly through the deep silence that ensued,
+came the sound of a thrice repeated knock on the closed door. At the
+summons the wide doors were thrown open and the outside band
+admitted. Then, the symbol of the release of repentant souls from
+purgatory having been thus impressively enacted, the band, now
+chanting in unison, moved towards the high altar.
+
+The ceremony of the blessing of the palms is a beautiful one, and
+one of which no child who has taken part can ever forget the
+meaning.
+
+The last we saw of it was a hale old grandfather, who carried in his
+arms, under the shelter of his big rose-hued umbrella, a sleepy
+little boy, whose weary hand still grasped his flower-wreathed
+olive-branch as they took the path leading to the mountains.
+
+The earnestly prayed for rain, when it did come, came in unstinted
+quantity. It had rained all night, and on Monday rain was still
+falling, but more softly--almost, one might say, reluctantly--on the
+little white-robed first communicants who, sheltered by the
+umbrellas of mothers or aunts, were threading their way delicately
+among the pools of water that lay as traps for their white-shod
+feet.
+
+But the Majorcan climate is too beneficent to spoil the notable day
+for the young communicants. Before noon the clouds had drifted away
+from the mountains; and though the sun did not appear, the air was
+mild and balmy, and through the wonderfully absorbent nature of the
+Sóller soil the streets speedily became dry enough to enable the
+dainty white shoes to trip about almost without blemish.
+
+And all day long, everywhere one looked, young girls, some in
+expensive raiment, others in evidently home-made garments, but all
+with long white veils flowing from their wreathed heads, moved
+sedately from house to house, accompanied by an admiring train of
+female relatives, as they paid visits of ceremony to all their
+friends.
+
+And as for the boys!--words fail to tell of the glories of their
+harshly new suits, their shining patent leather boots, of their
+spreading collars, of the elaborate bow of gold embroidered white
+ribbon that decorated their left arms; or, greatest of all--of their
+self-importance.
+
+They, too, had their public promenade, and paid their visits. They,
+too, had their attendant group of appreciative relatives. On meeting
+any friends the little party would pause, and the graceful ceremony
+of asking forgiveness for past misdeeds be gone through, when the
+young communicant, bending and kissing the hand of the elder, would
+say, "If I have ever done you any harm, forgive me now."
+
+My men had gone off to see Biniaraix, a hamlet of brown houses
+grouped about the white tower of a church on the mountain-side, and
+to enjoy a reminiscent glance at Fornalutx, the quaint hill-town
+where, on our previous visit to Sóller, we had spent a well
+remembered afternoon.
+
+So the Good Fairy and I, left to our own devices, passed the
+afternoon in rambling about this town of amazing contrasts. As I
+said before, Sóller is endowed with a curiously absorbent soil--a
+soil that acts as a charm in cases of inflammatory rheumatism and is
+prime factor in the remarkable longevity of the inhabitants. The
+roads were already so dry and pleasant to walk on that, but for the
+evidence of the _torrente_, which was a raging river, it would have
+been hard to credit that for two days and nights thrice-blessed rain
+had fallen without intermission. Snow covered the crest of the Puig
+Mayor and lay heavy on its shoulders, yet down in the valley the
+soft air was sweet with the fragrance of orange blossoms, and all
+about the golden or copper-coloured fruit hung in profusion on the
+trees. Truly Sóller is a place of piquant contrasts.
+
+The trespasser is welcomed in Majorca. There are no
+notice-boards--except a few _vedados_ to warn against hunting--no
+padlocked gates. So we wandered about, following bypaths that led
+from one small "possession" to another; and never, after we left it,
+returning to the highroad until it was time to return home.
+
+That the Good Fairy is widely beloved was evident at every turn. Her
+diplomatic powers are great, but she had to exercise them all to
+avoid spending the afternoon indoors in the hospitable homes of her
+humble acquaintances, who, catching a glimpse of her as she passed,
+hastened out to entreat her to enter.
+
+Living in this place of natural delight must be cheaper even than in
+Palma. One courteous dame took us all over her house, that we might
+see the views from her windows. The house, which was in the town,
+was a comparatively new dwelling in a good airy street. It had a
+large high-ceilinged _zaguan_--the entrance chamber that is a
+combination of hall and reception-room--from which opened a neat
+kitchen. A few steps up from the _zaguan_ was a cosy parlour from
+which a stair led down to the _terras_. Above, on the first floor,
+were two bedrooms, and on the second floor two more, all well lit
+and affording exquisite views. Being in town the house had no
+garden; but the _terras_ with its big jars of plants seemed a
+favourite place for taking the air.
+
+When I indulged my curiosity by asking the rent, the good dame told
+us that for all this excellence she paid twenty-four dollars a
+year--less than five pounds; and the rent included taxes!
+
+As we strolled farther afield the wealth of the land was heaped upon
+us. Our hands overflowed with the Balearic violets, that are the
+sweetest in the world, and the Balearic pansies, that are, I verily
+believe, the poorest. For pansies love a cold damp soil, and rarely
+flourish south of the River Tweed; and the Tweed is a far, far cry
+from these sun-loved isles.
+
+We had sprays of orange blossom given us too, and ripe oranges,
+whose golden sides the beneficent sun had tanned to copper. And we
+sat in a garden and ate them, while the aged donor, who still
+possessed the fine features and limpid eyes of her bygone youth,
+talked to us, illustrating her stories by a pantomime of feature and
+gesture so expressive that even I, with my meagre knowledge of her
+language, could hardly fail to grasp their meaning.
+
+In the kitchen of her house the wide hearth was almost shut in by a
+three-sided settle, whose seats were strewn with fleecy white
+sheepskins. On the kitchen shelves the native ware of brown,
+decorated in crude patterns of red and yellow, was arranged with
+unconscious artistic effect.
+
+Mounting gradually higher, we rested at a point where the town lay
+open before us. Hills rose steeply behind us; in front the ground
+sloped down in terraces; and, far beyond, the fruitful gardens and
+russet houses of the town rose again towards the snow-crested
+mountains, or at one point fell gradually to the cleft beyond which
+showed the sea.
+
+Becoming suddenly conscious that we had let the tea hour slip past
+unheeded, we were hastening back to the hotel, when, crossing the
+bridge that spans the _torrente_, we caught the promise of a sight
+that made us quickly return to the open space of the market square
+that we might obtain a less interrupted view. Over the roofs of the
+houses the snow-capped mountain summits, struck by some magic shaft
+from the hidden sun, glowed rose-red, and the unearthly beauty of
+the transfiguration held us mute and spell-bound.
+
+The curious thing was, that though little groups of people stood
+gossiping in the market-place no one appeared to have eyes for this
+refulgence but ourselves. Seeing us standing gazing silently towards
+the mountains, they turned also to see what had attracted our
+attention, then turned away uncomprehending.
+
+
+
+
+XXII
+
+DEYÁ, AND A PALMA PROCESSION
+
+
+The last lingering trails of rain-clouds had vanished and the sun
+shone from a cloudless blue sky when next day we drove off behind
+Pepe and his pair of white horses to picnic at Deyá, the curiously
+distinctive little town that perches on a hill betwixt mountain and
+sea, half-way between Sóller and Miramar.
+
+The road was a good one, and as the way, though steep, was set in
+zigzag fashion, its ascent would have been easy but for the
+barbarous way in which, acting with the empty cunning of these
+would-be crafty island road-menders, someone had littered the road
+with lumps of stone, thus forcing the passing vehicle to act the
+ignominious part of road-roller by threading its way out and in over
+the newly mended parts. Sometimes the stones were so evilly placed
+as to impel us to venture perilously near the edge of the
+precipitous track.
+
+It was a relief as we slowly mounted upwards to come upon the
+perpetrator of the crime in the very act of further blocking our
+path. Taken thus red-handed, he was not one whit dismayed, but
+complacently stepped aside to let us pass.
+
+The opportunity was not one to be missed. Half drawing up and
+turning round on the box, Pepe launched towards him a few
+objurgations in trenchant Majorcan. And the Good Fairy, putting her
+head out of the carriage, added the weight of her gentle reproach.
+
+[Illustration: Deyá]
+
+"What is this you do?" she asked in her pretty Spanish. "Placing
+stones on the road to welcome the strangers! Is this the way you
+show them the delicacy of the Spaniard?"
+
+Thus doubly reproached, the _caminero_ stood transfixed; and our
+emotions having found vent, we drove on, leaving him with his hand
+raised to his brass-bound hat, his mouth open but speechless.
+
+Having reached the summit, we began the descent, losing sight of our
+grand mountains, but gaining a glimpse of the Mediterranean, which
+glowed in that warm blue that makes one wonder--until one tries the
+temperature--why sea-bathing should be confined to the summer
+months.
+
+The tawny-roofed houses of Deyá cluster on a high rock that rises
+like an island from out a sea of valley which is girdled by
+precipitous mountains. Streams in cascades were rushing down in a
+joyful pell-mell, the cherry-trees were heavy with blossom, and the
+pomegranates were opening their first delicate copper-tinted leaves
+as we drove along the highroad that follows the curve of the valley.
+
+The attentive _chef_ of the Marina had made us independent of
+_fondas_, and Pepe had promised to find us a good place to lunch in.
+So when he drew up at a path that branched off from the highway on
+the Miramar side of Deyá, we took our hamper, from which the neck of
+a bottle protruded alluringly, and started to explore it.
+
+The path ended at a gate that opened into private grounds. In any
+other country the most presumptuous among us would have hesitated
+before invading the garden of unknown owners. But we were in the
+Fortunate Isles and the charm of their unconventionality influenced
+us. Walking in, we found some conveniently placed stone seats under
+the shade of a huge lemon-tree, and there we spread our feast of
+lamb cutlets, potato omelets, cakes and fruit.
+
+The house, of one corner of whose quaintly terraced garden we had
+taken possession, appeared to be untenanted. Its windows were
+closely shuttered, its stable empty; but soon from the highest
+terrace an old head peeped at us. A little later it appeared on a
+terrace lower, then nearer still, the attached body becoming
+gradually more and more visible, until the owner appeared before us
+in the person of an aged woman whose frivolously abbreviated
+petticoats seemed incompatible with her sober face.
+
+It was the caretaker, come not to warn us that we were intruding,
+but to urge us to leave the place we had chosen for one where there
+was a proper table and much water.
+
+We resisted her enticements and she trotted off, her appearance a
+ludicrous combination of propriety and indecorum, with her serious
+face swathed in its black kerchief and her lavishly displayed light
+drab ankles.
+
+She did not quite abandon us, however; and when the men had gone off
+to paint she returned, and was so evidently desirous that we would
+not leave before seeing the marvels of the garden, that we consented
+to allow her to show them.
+
+And, indeed, the arrangement of the grounds revealed much ingenuity.
+The spot where she would have had us eat was a stone-built
+_mirador_, through a shallow cave, at whose back a mountain torrent
+had been induced to flow. As she had promised, there was both "a
+table" and "much water." In summer the suggestion of coolness
+imparted by even a trickle of water would be charming. Then, with
+the torrent rushing at breakneck speed, the effect was a little
+overpowering and the noise positively deafening. Our chosen place
+under the big lemon-tree might not be so extraordinary, but it had a
+placid charm that soothed while it did not detract from the matter
+in hand.
+
+The nephew of our unconsciously serio-comic cicerone, in the person
+of a one-eyed _calender_--I beg his pardon, gardener--joined us to
+reveal fresh attractions of summer-house and rivulets, and of a
+grotto where, amid a perfect cascade of maidenhair-fern, a graceful
+statue of Our Lady of Lourdes was embowered. From every point the
+view was lovely, but I defy anybody to find a spot about Deyá that
+does not afford a lovely prospect.
+
+When we left the place our lady of the stockings, eager to do
+something for the generous tip the Good Fairy had slipped into her
+hand, insisted on carrying our hamper. And during the remainder of
+our afternoon at Deyá, whether we went up hill or down dale, amongst
+the picturesque houses clustered on the church-crowned hill or
+through the gardens that lined the side of the river, we seemed
+always to be encountering her. Whether she was paying a round of
+visits to display her coin, or bound on an exhaustive shopping
+expedition to squander it, we did not know; but at every turn of the
+road we seemed to see the twinkle of those drab ankles.
+
+One of the many charms of Deyá is the proximity of the sea, which
+laves the foot of its valley. Another is its delicious irregularity.
+I do not believe there are a half-dozen yards of straight road in
+Deyá. Every house has its own elevation, its individual bypaths.
+Another and an invaluable charm to artists is the manageable quality
+of its pictorial effects. The extensive grandeur of Miramar is
+almost unpaintable, but Deyá has a complete picture at every turn.
+We saw many in the course of that afternoon stroll. Women washing,
+men gathering oranges, a handsome woman in a petticoat of vivid
+scarlet leading a recalcitrant black goat: all ready for
+transference to canvas.
+
+The hours flew past. Almost before we knew, dusk was falling and we
+were on our way back to where the snow-capped Puig Mayor presides
+over the wonderful Sóller valley.
+
+We had been a little apprehensive, expecting a repetition of the
+somewhat hazardous morning journey. But the Good Fairy's appeal to
+the chivalry of the Spaniard had borne immediate result. Every stone
+had been laboriously removed from the path. So without hindrance we
+rattled gaily down into the valley, where lights were already
+twinkling through the dusk.
+
+The final day of our visit to Sóller brought yet another experience
+of unusual interest. Our hostess had still another surprise in store
+for us. We had viewed the high mountains from beneath, now we were
+going to see them from the crest of one of their number.
+
+Pepe took the reins in his skilled hands and guided the surefooted
+mules, who, for this expedition, replaced the white horses, up a
+perilous road that curved about the mountain-side, rising higher and
+ever higher until we looked down over the many terraces of olives
+into the valley that lay placidly basking in the afternoon sunshine.
+
+Our ascent was necessarily very deliberate. As we wound slowly up we
+passed neither dwelling nor human being; and those of us to whom the
+way was new began to wonder why any road should have existed on so
+lonely a height. Then when we had got so high that it seemed as
+though an eaglet's aerie would be the most likely habitation, the
+road ended on a flat plateau, and we found ourselves driving into
+the outer courtyard of a farm-house so old and weather-beaten that
+in appearance it resembled the rocks and crags that surrounded it.
+
+We alighted unnoticed. Doves were flying overhead. A dog greeted our
+advent with an interrogative growl; fowls clucked about unheeding.
+Pepe, rolling himself up in a striped blanket, curled up on the box
+to await the hour when it might be our pleasure to return. And we
+walked on, wondering if we had left the everyday world behind in the
+valley and had all unwittingly climbed to the palace of the sleeping
+beauty.
+
+A stone-cast from the house was a _mirador_ known to our
+conductress. Securely seated therein, poised right on the edge of
+the mountain-crest, we looked at the vast panorama. Crags rose high
+about us. Behind and above us towered an unfamiliar side of the Puig
+Mayor, its massive shoulders deep in drifted snow.
+
+Far beneath, looking like some gaily coloured map when seen from
+that height, lay the port of Sóller with its lake-like harbour and
+pigmy headlands. And northwards spread the far-reaching sea, whose
+grandeur no altitude could dwarf.
+
+The sensation of being above the world was gloriously exhilarating.
+When a bird flew overhead we almost felt as though we too had
+wings, and two lines from Davidson's _Ballad of a Nun_ kept running
+through my mind:
+
+    "I am sister to the mountains now,
+     And sister to the sun and moon."
+
+Leaving the _mirador_, we wandered happily about the plateau. Among
+the grass a strange flower was blooming, and it seemed quite natural
+that this amazing location should boast a flower of its own. It was
+an orchid whose sugarloaf-shaped spike was covered with florets of
+dull purple, close-packed after the manner of a grape hyacinth. In
+many of the plants the flowers burst into a tuft at the top. It was
+strange and not pretty, but curiously in keeping with its isolated
+situation.
+
+When we returned to the house Pepe, swathed in his blanket, was
+still deep in the slumber of the man of tranquil mind: but the
+mistress of the house was at hand. Approaching, she greeted us with
+grave courtesy. She had the remains of much beauty. The soft bloom
+of girlhood lingered on her matronly cheeks, and the retrospective
+look of one accustomed to deep solitude was in her fine dark eyes.
+
+On her invitation we entered the house, whose tall sides surrounded
+an inner courtyard. One end of the big cool kitchen was partitioned
+off with high-backed settles, and right on the middle of the floor
+of the "cosy corner" thus formed a pile of logs was glowing. Looking
+up, we saw that overhead the roof contracted until it became a wide
+chimney, through which a glimpse of blue sky was visible. A gun hung
+on the whitewashed wall, and on one of the seats which was thickly
+spread with skins a shepherd lad was resting.
+
+Returning to the _mirador_, we watched the sun sink in a golden
+glory over the misty blue sea. Then, lamenting the inevitable close
+of another perfect day, we drove back down the vagrant deviating
+way, feeling as though we had for a brief space been translated to a
+new and inspiring world.
+
+It was with sincere regret that on the morning of Holy Thursday we
+bade the Good Fairy farewell and, with Pepe again as charioteer,
+started on our drive back by way of Deyá, Miramar, and Valldemosa to
+Palma, where we had an afternoon engagement.
+
+The scenery of this coast road must rank with the finest in the
+world, and on that March morning it was looking its loveliest. There
+was no wind, and both sea and sky were of that deep warm azure that
+makes so fitting a background to Balearic Island vistas.
+
+On reaching the first houses of Deyá, we stopped the carriage, and
+alighting, climbed the easy ascent to the church. Halfway up the
+slope a French artist was painting, filling in his canvas with a
+delicate mosaic of heliotropes and pinks and purples.
+
+He was enthusiastic about the pictorial quality of his surroundings.
+"Deyá," he declared, was "_un paradis pour les peintres_."
+
+When we peeped into the church Mass was being celebrated, and from
+the dusk of the interior the eyes of young communicants looked
+gravely at us from under their white wreaths.
+
+Amid the clustered houses halfway down the hill a quaint old
+building proclaimed itself the Casa Consistorial. A worm-eaten stair
+led to the town hall. The iron-barred door of the dungeon opened at
+a touch, revealing its abandonment to the base uses of a
+lumber-shed. As far as we could see, the sole person in charge of
+the municipal chambers of Deyá was a year-old infant who occupied a
+low chair in the wide-roofed porch. He, however, maintained a
+magisterial dignity of demeanour throughout our cursory inspection
+of the premises.
+
+As we left the valley the lofty crags and olive-clad slopes of
+Miramar rose about us. Their appearance was already familiar, and it
+was with a positive thrill of pleasure that we saw them again.
+Across the smooth surface of the Mediterranean a liner was passing,
+and we wondered what impression the passengers would get of the
+island.
+
+We reached the Hospederia to find that for the moment the solitude
+that in November we had found so attractive had vanished. Evidently
+some periodic household inspection was in process, for in the wide
+doorway women sat mending house-linen, and children clinging to
+their skirts glanced shyly at us.
+
+Fernando was absent, but Netta remembered us, and brought a large
+glass jug of the matchless Miramar water out to the _mirador_
+overhanging the sea just beyond the house whither Pepe had already
+carried our lunch.
+
+Valldemosa was looking lovely in the fresh green beauty of spring,
+when an hour later we drove through its steep streets. The terrace
+gardens of the old Carthusian monastery were sweet with bud and
+blossom; and on the road beneath, a couple of bearded brown-robed
+Franciscan monks, treading softly on sandalled feet, gave us
+greeting.
+
+As we left the gorge whose precipitous sides rose high overhead, an
+eagle, clearly outlined against the azure sky, gave the finishing
+touch to the wild beauty of the spot.
+
+After the soul-inspiring grandeur of the everlasting hills, the
+plain, in spite of its luxuriant verdure, seemed tame; and even
+Palma appeared almost uninteresting. But it must be admitted that we
+were approaching it by the back way--by the kitchen entrance, so to
+speak--and in strict justice Palma should be entered by the front
+door, which is the port.
+
+We had been invited to the palace of one of the noble Majorcan
+families to witness the passing of the Holy Thursday procession, and
+as we walked into Palma in the early evening, signs of preparation
+for the ceremonial were in evidence. Strangely clad figures, looking
+supernaturally tall in their long robes and high pointed hoods, were
+advancing towards the city. And their odd garb and masked faces gave
+them the appearance of beings strayed from out the dread days of the
+Spanish Inquisition.
+
+By the gate of Santa Catalina one of the masked men--his
+face-covering thrown back--was having a heated argument with a
+_consumero_ respecting a demand for payment of duty on the tall
+candle he carried. And within the gates like figures were to be seen
+all advancing towards some given point.
+
+Outside the walls, where the buildings were comparatively new, the
+weirdly garbed shapes had seemed anachronisms, with more than a hint
+of the fancy dress carnival about them; but once within the walls of
+the ancient city, its narrow streets and tall closely shuttered
+dwellings made fitting setting for their mediæval guise.
+
+In the streets ladies wearing mantillas and the costumes of black
+brocaded satin that they reserve for religious ceremonials were
+hastening, rosaries in hand, from one church to another. It is the
+custom to visit as many churches as possible on Holy Thursday. One
+lady we knew told us she had entered twenty-two that day.
+
+Just opposite the old palace on whose balconies we were placed was
+one of the five churches through which the procession was to pass.
+In the roadway beneath, people had already gathered in expectation
+of its approach, and as we waited a sound of distant music,
+monotonous, penetrating, reached us. Then the town drummers, led by
+a small body of mounted civil guards (who defiled to a side and rode
+on to await their exit from the farther door of the building)
+appeared, and still vigorously plying their drum-sticks, marched
+into the church.
+
+Very few members of the clergy were to be seen. The participants in
+the solemnity were almost entirely laymen. Representatives of many
+municipal bodies took part in the procession. There were civic
+authorities who carried a well-brushed silk hat in one of their
+white-gloved hands and a lighted candle in the other: doctors,
+members of the Red Cross Society, the town band, firemen, police,
+boys from the orphanage, old men from the workhouse--all evidently
+proudly conscious of the importance of their position.
+
+[Illustration: Processionists of Holy Thursday]
+
+At intervals a platform supporting one of the fine carved images
+from the Cathedral was borne by. When the beautiful effigy of the
+Crucified Christ from the Church of La Sangre--that exquisite statue
+to whose flowing hair so many women have gloried to contribute their
+tresses--was carried past, the expectant crowd fell upon its knees
+before it.
+
+To our untutored eyes a striking feature of the observance was the
+long succession of masked penitents, who, bearing tall lighted
+candles, walked in a double line. The hue of their robes varied from
+almost bright blue to the more effective black and white. Some were
+handsomely embroidered, others plain. Two of the men were laden with
+chains; and one at least trod the cobble stones with naked feet, in
+public fulfilment of a vow taken in a time of impending danger.
+
+Most of the penitents held lace-edged handkerchiefs to protect the
+candles from the warmth of their hands; but in spite of the
+precaution certain of the candles already showed signs of softening.
+Many of the processionists bore emblems of the Passion, and one
+group as it entered the church broke into a mournful chant.
+
+One of the observances of the function appeared to be the
+distribution of sweets. It was curiously incongruous to see the
+masked figures drop comfits into outstretched hands. We noted one
+pause before a pretty pink-clad señorita, who with her _dueña_ was
+standing opposite our balcony, and signing to her to open the silver
+chain-bag she held, he poured into it a great handful of sugared
+almonds, to her blushing satisfaction.
+
+The ceremony was imposing, touching, full of affecting suggestion;
+but even as we looked we could not help regretting that night had
+not fallen. Then the sight of a long sequence of quaint figures
+bearing the tall lighted tapers through the sombre crooked streets
+of the old town would have been much more impressive.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: During the Carnival at Palma]
+
+XXIII
+
+OF FAIR WOMEN AND FINE WEATHER
+
+
+The first thing that impresses the traveller regarding the
+inhabitants of Majorca is the prevalence of good-looking young men
+and of pretty and graceful young women. Legend tells that in
+long-past days the people of Majorca were induced to make a treaty
+with the Dey of Algiers, by whose terms they yearly paid him a
+tribute of a hundred virgins, on condition that he restrained his
+piratical hordes from molesting the island. One feels that the Dey
+had an eye for beauty, for in these favoured isles to be handsome
+seems to be the rule, not the exception.
+
+While young the Majorcan women are charming after a peculiarly
+feminine fashion. Compared with them French working women of the
+same class are hard of feature and masculine and ungainly of form.
+Their features are refined, their complexions clear, their feet
+slender, their hands small, shapely, and well-cared for. When I
+mentally compared the condition of their hands with those of the
+rough toil-hardened hands of the women of the British working
+classes, I wondered if the substitution of charcoal for coal and of
+olive oil for grease in cooking could account for their better
+preservation.
+
+To rise to the admired standard of aristocratic Majorca a man should
+look as though he had never done a day's work in his life. His hands
+should be soft, his skin untanned. A youth who had been yachting
+declared regretfully that on his return to Palma he was so brown
+that none of the girls would look at him!
+
+To judge from a letter written to the Palma paper, _La Almudaina_,
+by a Majorcan on board an Italian liner bound for the Argentine, the
+delicacy and fine modelling of Majorcan hands would seem to be
+locally recognized and even gloried in.
+
+    "What a misfortune," lamented the Voyager, "that the
+    Italians have feet and hands so large, and fingers so
+    twisted. Oh, hands of my country, with slender fingers
+    and blushing nails, how my eyes feel home-sick to look
+    upon you!"
+
+Women of all classes wear long skirts, which on being daintily held
+up reveal natty petticoats; and all show a pleasing taste in
+footgear. Boots are cheap in Majorca, and the servant maid or the
+work-girl on their Sunday afternoon promenade on the Borne will wear
+smart shoes of patent leather or high-heeled boots of cream-hued
+kid.
+
+Nothing more charming or more suitable for everyday wear than the
+native head-dresses--a mantilla of black lace for the mistress, a
+_rebozillo_ of white muslin for her maid--could possibly be devised.
+While for gala occasions, such as a bull-fight, the white lace
+blossom-bedecked mantilla is positively captivating. And one
+sincerely regrets that, in Palma at least, the hat is gradually
+making its way. The ladies who lead Palma fashion wear hats, and
+where they lead others hasten to follow.
+
+A positive thrill of excitement runs through fashionable Palma when
+notice is received of the approaching visit of a milliner or
+costumier from Paris or Madrid. The hotel where the private view of
+the new season's styles is held is thronged with eager buyers. When
+the cream of the stock has been secured, the enterprising adventurer
+disposes of the skim milk to the second-rate local shops, and sets
+sail with full pockets. The pity is that, with both the tradition
+and the usage of so picturesque a national custom for guidance,
+matrons who themselves rigidly adhere to the mantilla should,
+doubtless from the best possible motives, condemn their young
+daughters to wear hats.
+
+Even at the best the prevalent mode in hats was ugly, and possibly
+the choice in Palma was limited, but it must be admitted that in the
+matter of hat selection their customary refinement of taste appeared
+occasionally to have deserted the Palma mothers. It was sad to see
+the nice modest face of a young girl overshadowed by a huge erection
+of green or red felt that was trimmed with a wild scurry of
+dishevelled plumage--a style of headgear that might not have looked
+out of place in the Old Kent Road, but which looked hopelessly
+incongruous over the grave expectant eyes of a young Majorcan lady.
+
+Contrasted with the life of an English maiden, which is full of
+varied employments and endless social entertainments, the existence
+of a Majorcan young lady would appear to be needlessly lacking in
+interests.
+
+She does not ride, or shoot, or golf, or cycle, or play tennis or
+croquet, or do gardening, or smoke cigarettes. She has little
+concern with politics, and she is content to leave the care of the
+poor to an efficient staff of clergy.
+
+She has been carefully and thoroughly educated. She has probably had
+a special governess to teach her English, another for French or
+Italian. The private chaplain may have instructed her in Spanish,
+and she probably has a good knowledge of classical music.
+
+But, her course of study over, there seems little left for her to
+do. In the morning she goes to Mass; later she performs miracles of
+intricate embroidery. In the afternoon she drives out, in winter
+always in a closed carriage, and nearly always in the same
+direction, which is westwards towards Ben Dinat. Sometimes the
+carriage stops, and the occupants, alighting, take a little
+promenade; then, re-entering the carriage, drive back to the tall
+old palace in some narrow street in the city. After Mass on Sundays
+she strolls on the Borne; from four o'clock till sunset she may
+promenade on the ramparts or on the mole. That is the substance of a
+Palma girl's exercise, and everywhere she goes her footsteps are
+carefully shadowed by those of her _dueña_.
+
+Private dances, musical evenings, afternoon "At Homes," private
+theatricals, are almost unknown. There are plenty of house-parties,
+especially in summer, when the family is living at one or other of
+its country seats; but those gatherings are usually confined to
+relatives. Then there are the infrequent bull-fights; and
+occasionally a dance is given at the fashionable club, the _Circulo
+Mallorquin_--a festivity that begins at four o'clock in the
+afternoon and ends at eight o'clock in the evening.
+
+Sometimes the wife of the Captain-General gives an evening
+reception; or the rare function of a real ball sends a flutter
+through the higher circles of the island. Then and then only does
+the aristocratic Majorcan maiden permit her graceful shoulders to be
+seen. Frequently, carefully chaperoned, she goes to a theatre, and
+sits in the family box throughout the interminable waits between the
+acts. At the Carnival, which occupies three afternoons in the week
+preceding Lent, she can appear on a balcony or in a carriage on the
+Borne; and even, such is the _abandon_ of that time of licence, go
+to the extreme length of exchanging repartee in the form of confetti
+or paper streamers with an admiring foe.
+
+Yet already there are signs of the far-reaching influence of an
+English queen. Certain of the noble families have young English
+ladies to teach their language to their daughters, and the few
+Majorcans we heard speaking English in Palma spoke it beautifully.
+Nowadays a Majorcan lady is not ashamed to admit that she dislikes
+bull-fights. A few years ago such an admission would have been
+accounted the rankest heresy. And Palma residents say they can tell
+the girls who have English governesses--they always walk so quickly!
+
+And here I may say that any young English lady, of good family and
+of the Roman Catholic religion, who is so adventurous as to journey
+to Majorca to fill a post as companion or governess can do so with
+the assurance of meeting with every possible consideration. She will
+not get a large salary, for money has a higher value in Majorca than
+in Britain, but she will be treated like a princess. I know of one
+case where a Palma family, who had engaged an English governess,
+went to the trouble and expense of having a bedroom specially
+decorated and furnished for her, after a high-art chamber pictured
+in the _Studio_, that the expected guest might feel more at home
+than if her room had been fitted up in the native fashion.
+
+To our emancipated way of thinking there was something curiously
+mediæval in the careful chaperonage to which the lovely and graceful
+Majorcan girls were subjected. And the scrupulous separation of the
+sexes seemed to argue distrust, of the maidens as well as of the
+men.
+
+Matrimony is a popular institution in Majorca, and when a damsel has
+reached a marriageable age an eligible suitor is rarely awanting. It
+is when that suitor has cast the glad eye upon the lady of his
+choice that matters would appear to proceed after an unsatisfactory
+and yet most conspicuous fashion.
+
+Suppose Don Sebastian desires to pay court to a lady whom he has
+seen taking her carefully chaperoned walks, he writes a letter
+asking her permission to do so. If the reply is in the negative the
+matter ends. If it is in the affirmative the Don puts on his cloak,
+which is frequently picturesquely lined with scarlet, and hies
+himself to the palace of his inamorata, but in place of boldly
+knocking at the front door and being ushered into one of the
+reception-rooms, he takes up his position beneath the balcony on
+which she is most likely to take the air.
+
+When the object of his desire appears--and you may be certain the
+_dueña_ is close at hand--the lady looks down, the lover gazes up,
+and only those who have put the matter to the test can judge how
+physically harassing it is to breathe impassioned nothings to
+someone who is suspended above your head.
+
+[Illustration: The Wooer]
+
+At this stage the matter halts for a period that sometimes runs into
+years--for in these restful latitudes even the course of true love
+moves slowly. Then, permission having been asked and granted, Don
+Sebastian may accompany the lady and her chaperon in their walks for
+a period approaching six months. When this point is reached, the
+parents of Don Sebastian, carrying a handsome present, which most
+frequently takes the form of a ring, call on the guardians of the
+lady, and, their consent to the prospective union having been
+gained, the suitor is at length admitted to the house, and the
+public cease to see his love-lorn figure beneath the balcony. Even
+when matters have crawled to this advanced stage the visits of the
+Don are merely ceremonious calls, paid strictly under the watchful
+eyes of the _dueña_. And I am told it is not until the night before
+the wedding that he is favoured with an invitation to dine at the
+home of his bride.
+
+In order to impart the proper aspect of romance to this oft-played
+balcony scene, the actors ought to be, and often are, young and
+graceful. When they are otherwise it is only too easy to give a
+ludicrous rendering of the drama.
+
+During our early months at the Casa Tranquila we sometimes, in the
+evenings, passed a tall house, from a balcony on whose third storey
+a plump lady would be shouting down coy replies to the blandishments
+of an elderly swain who had to stand out in the middle of the road
+in order to see his sweetheart. After a time both balcony and street
+were vacant; presumably the suitor had been admitted inside. Then a
+_to-let_ bill appeared on the balcony. The little romance had
+evidently ended happily, and the mature lovebirds had built a nest
+elsewhere.
+
+Our six months' experience of the Balearic Isles fostered the belief
+that we had discovered the ideal winter climate. Perhaps we had
+chanced upon an abnormally fine season, though I question that; but
+certain it is that from the middle of October, when we entered the
+bay and saw Palma looking celestial in the rosy light of dawn, until
+the second week in January, the weather was perfect.
+
+Spain is proverbially sunny. Against England's 1,400 and Italy's
+2,300 annual hours of sunshine, Spain offers 3,000. With this grand
+allowance of sunshine the Majorcan heat is temperate. Statistics
+show that during the Balearic summer the thermometer rarely rises
+above 90° Fahr., while in winter it seldom falls below 40° Fahr. A
+gentleman who has passed his life in Palma told us that twice only
+had he seen snow fall--once when he was twelve year old, and again a
+few years ago.
+
+Except for a sultry day or two in the end of October the atmosphere
+was only pleasantly warm. Week succeeded week when the sea reflected
+a sky of cloudless glowing azure, when the air was soft and yet
+exhilarating, and we could both walk and bask with pleasure.
+
+Rain never comes before it is welcome in Majorca. Sometimes the
+welcome waits long before it is claimed.
+
+When after an unbroken succession of days or weeks, or it may be
+months, of unbroken fine weather, one is awakened by the sound of
+rain falling in torrents on the tiled roofs, it is to rejoice with
+the knowledge that the thirsty crops are already drinking in the
+moisture, that the diminished store in the wells is being
+replenished, that your oranges are swelling, and that your lemons
+will soon lose the hardness of the nether millstone and become
+available for lemonade.
+
+There is no hesitation about Majorcan rain. It does not play at
+being wet; it is simply drenching. And when rain comes, no man,
+however distinguished the uniform he wears or elevated his position
+(he may even be mounted on a panniered mule), hesitates to carry an
+umbrella. _Consumeros_, carbineers, farm labourers, postmen, all
+shelter under them. Nobody thinks it funny to meet a solemn
+policeman carrying a sword, a revolver, _and_ an umbrella.
+
+After the middle of January the weather changed. The temperature
+fell, and for nearly a fortnight cold winds raged. Warm wraps were
+brought out of the trunks where they had hitherto lain, and in the
+evenings a wood fire became a much appreciated luxury.
+
+It was curious to note how speedily even this only comparatively
+cold weather made its malign influence felt on a people accustomed
+to warmth and sunshine. Colds and coughs abounded. Most of our
+Majorcan acquaintances appeared to suffer. As one lady said
+resignedly, "It is the tribute we must pay to winter."
+
+Even the Boy spent several days in bed with a cold, reading all the
+French and Spanish novels he could beg or borrow, and comforting
+himself with the reflection that had he been well the weather for
+the first time during the winter would have made it impossible for
+him to paint outside.
+
+Yet, had three months of sunshine not made us critical, we would
+never have grumbled at these few days of cold wind. Adopting
+unconsciously the local opinion of the weather, I found myself
+commiserating the Squire and his Lady, who had recently arrived from
+England.
+
+"What a pity you didn't come earlier than you did. There was no bad
+weather till you came."
+
+"But we've had _lovely_ weather!" the Lady said, opening wide eyes
+of surprise. "Why, we've been out long walks every day. It isn't
+really cold, and there's only been one shower, and that fell at
+night."
+
+Remembering our British standard I was dumb.
+
+Though Majorca was free from fog, sometimes on an absolutely
+windless morning a light mist would envelop Palma and the smoke from
+the works in the Calle de la Fábrica would hang heavy in the still
+air. Then the Boy would hasten to say that we might be in
+Bradford--a town, by the way, that he knows only by repute. But with
+the rising of even the faintest breeze the highest spires of the
+Cathedral would appear out of the mist as though, through some
+supernal agency, they were suspended in mid-air. Then gradually, as
+if a veil were being slowly drawn aside, the city would again become
+visible.
+
+With early February our radiant weather returned, and heads were
+shaken, for the young crops showed sign of wilting under the
+long-continued drought. Over a period of fifteen days the churches
+sent up special petitions for rain--petitions that must have been
+echoed in the heart of every man that owned a "possession," or
+farmed a patch of ground, or even rented a garden plot.
+
+We were at Sóller when for two days and two nights the rain fell
+incessantly, soaking the parched soil and transforming the dry
+_torrentes_ into raging rivers. Then it suddenly ceased, leaving us
+with the glory of snow-tipped mountains seen against a glowing blue
+sky.
+
+Late in March and early in April rain again fell, delaying the
+annual ceremony of the Swearing to the Flag, but making the
+spindling corn fill out in a magical fashion and the beans that had
+begun to shrivel and blacken become erect and juicy. When we left
+Majorca on the last day of April all fears of the fate of the crops
+had been removed; figs and vines were budding, almond-trees were
+luxuriant in foliage, and the far-spreading meadows were covered
+with grain that gave promise of a rich harvest.
+
+We had thought vegetables and fruit so cheap that it astonished us
+to hear the natives declare that _now_ prices would fall--that it
+was through the past two successive dry summers that they had risen
+so high!
+
+Residents told us that for nine months out of the year the weather
+in Palma might be relied upon to be delightful, but that during the
+three hot months--which were July, August, and September--the moist,
+damp heat was very relaxing. Then it is that the aristocracy,
+temporarily vacating their sombre palaces in the narrow streets,
+remove their entire establishment to one or other of their country
+seats, while people of smaller social importance flock to their
+villas at the Terreno, or Porto Pi, or Son Rapiña, or even to modest
+cottages at our little Son Españolet.
+
+To us there seemed something funny in the notion of people having
+coast residences that were within a twopence-halfpenny car-drive of
+their town homes. But it is undoubtedly pleasant to live in a land
+where, by a change of locality entailing, at the most, a two hours'
+drive, one can avoid any extreme of either heat or cold.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The National Sport]
+
+XXIV
+
+OF ODDS AND ENDS
+
+
+In Majorca there are hotels to suit all purses. At Palma the Grand
+Hotel is probably the best suited to tourists, especially if there
+are ladies in the party; while those who would like to see a real
+Majorcan _fonda_ of the better class and eat good native cooking
+should go to Barnils' in the Calle del Conquistador.
+
+The sum charged is invariably by the day, and varies according to
+the pretensions of the establishment. In most hotels it includes
+both wine and aerated waters. On arrival it is always well to
+inquire what the rate will be and whether it includes the little
+breakfast. If the traveller thinks the terms asked too high and says
+frankly what he is prepared to pay, he is almost certain to be
+accommodated at his own price.
+
+Our experience of the country _fondas_ was that they were
+infinitely superior to British inns of similar standing. The cooking
+was far better and the prices much lower. If one knows a little
+Spanish and can make a bargain, three pesetas a day is quite a usual
+price for a country _fonda_. The best should not charge more than
+four, and the catering is surprisingly good. In remote places beef
+may be scarce, but fish are generally plentiful, the rye bread is
+good, and the omelets are always excellent.
+
+Here I might say that in every instance we found the beds admirably
+appointed and comfortable. The Majorcan housewife takes special
+pride in her daintily embroidered house-linen. Toilet arrangements
+are apt to be primitive, and, except at the larger hotels, baths are
+unknown. An india-rubber bath is easy to pack and will be found
+invaluable. In obedience to Baedeker's advice to travellers in
+Spain, we carried round a tin of insect-powder. But though the
+Balearic Isles are in Spain in one respect, at least they are not of
+it, for at the end of our wanderings the tin was still unopened.
+
+In Palma there are several clubs, notably the _Circulo Mallorquin_,
+the _Club Real de Regatas_, the _Veda_, and others, political,
+military, and social, to which the desirable foreigner would find
+little difficulty in being elected. The subscriptions, which are
+collected monthly, would strike a London clubman as ridiculously
+low. He would find his fellow-members both courteous and charming,
+but disinclined to join in any exertion. And unless in very
+exceptional instances their acquaintance would begin and end at the
+club.
+
+The Majorcan does not go in for sport, though there is a sports
+club. He detests walking, and very infrequently plays tennis. The
+entire group of islands does not boast a golf course. An English
+resident who was trying to get up a golf club found the natives
+apathetic; but the invasion of half a dozen good enthusiasts would
+probably change this attitude. Many of the Palma men keep boats.
+Yachting seems to be the only occupation they incline to; and it
+would be hard to conceive of a more delightful pastime than cruising
+about that picturesque coast.
+
+Furnished houses are difficult to find, anywhere in Majorca. But in
+Palma unfurnished flats can be had. We saw quite a nice one in a
+good locality that was let at forty pesetas a month--a rent that
+included all taxes. At the delightful suburbs of the Terreno and
+Porto Pi, houses with exquisite views of the sea can be obtained.
+But everywhere to the foreigner who does not speak Spanish terms are
+said to rise.
+
+Even in the capital town the wages of both male and female servants
+are very low. For about twelve pounds a year I imagine one might
+have the pick of ordinary female servants, the price paid men being
+alike small. But it would be futile to expect to find the carefully
+drilled attendance with which home usage has accustomed us.
+
+To our more conservative minds, the attitude of the island servitors
+towards their employers seems strangely familiar. And their dress is
+apt to be informal. Once when I was paying an afternoon call in
+Palma the man-servant entered the drawing-room to receive an order
+sketchily attired in a pink undervest and trousers. And throughout
+the visit his voice trilling roundelays in the adjacent pantry made
+unusual accompaniment to our polite conversation. At the moment I
+confess I was surprised, but that was during our very early days in
+Majorca. A few months later I doubt if I would have noticed anything
+odd in either occurrence.
+
+The cost of living strikes any one accustomed to British
+housekeeping as small--not perhaps because food is so very cheap,
+for it is dearer in Palma than in the country towns and rural
+districts, and much dearer than in Minorca and Iviza; but because
+life is much simpler and less pretentious and conventional than in
+England.
+
+Certain imported commodities such as sugar are expensive,
+consequently the sweets that with people of the same class at home
+would be an everyday article of diet are reserved for special
+occasions, particularly the frequently recurring feast days.
+
+Residence in Majorca entails no exhausting social demands on either
+the strength or the bank account. Even among themselves the
+inhabitants but rarely entertain beyond the circle of their own
+relatives. And their meetings with friends seem confined to the
+theatre, the promenade, the bull-fights, or at one of the infrequent
+entertainments given at the principal clubs.
+
+The payment of fourpence secured a stall at the combination of
+cinematograph and variety show that during our stay in Palma was the
+fashionable form of amusement. And without further disbursement the
+visitor who inclined that way was entitled to wait on through the
+interval between the two houses and witness the whole performance
+over again. For plays or for light opera the fees advanced a little,
+though I doubt if they ever rose to the sum charged for the pit of a
+London theatre.
+
+The bull-fights patronized by Majorcan society are those given in
+summer. We went to one held at Easter, and though society was absent
+the people were there in numbers that filled two-thirds of the Plaza
+de Toros, which seats five thousand. The action was mercifully
+modified, for no horses were exposed to the attacks of the bulls. We
+entered the place with our national prejudices strong upon us, and
+left it with a conflict of mingled attraction and repulsion. When a
+bull knocked down a clumsy _matador_ who had been making painful but
+futile attempts to give him the fatal stroke, we lamented that the
+bull failed to kill his torturer. Yet when another and more skilful
+_matador_ by a single thrust mercifully vanquished his bull, we
+shared something of the enthusiasm of the spectators, who threw hats
+and cigars into the arena, and finally bursting in, carried the hero
+of the moment shoulder-high round the ring.
+
+It had certainly not been a fashionable function. From a
+neighbouring box our Vigilante bowed graciously, and Bartolomé, who
+was of the Vigilante's party, beamed broadly upon us. When we left
+the Plaza de Toros we encountered Maria, who was chaperoning two
+tall daughters in mantillas. And as we walked back along the
+ramparts we overtook Mrs. Mundo trotting homewards with her twin
+girls, whose uncovered locks were tied up with ribbons till they
+looked like a couple of nice little ponies on their way to a horse
+show.
+
+For certain temperaments Majorca has a curious magnetic attraction.
+People who have first set foot upon its shores with comparative
+indifference find themselves returning again and yet again; with
+each visit becoming more under the thraldom of its charm. The Squire
+and his Lady, who half a dozen years ago visited the island because
+so many other Mediterranean resorts were already known to them, have
+returned with increased anticipation of pleasure each successive
+spring since. And during our stay in Palma we made the congenial
+acquaintance of a Scots lady and gentleman who find the glamour of
+these fair islands strong enough to induce them to make a yearly
+pilgrimage thither from the North of Scotland.
+
+Majorca is a delightful place to loaf in. I know no place where one
+more keenly experiences the mere joy of being alive. In that ideal
+temperature, under those cloudless skies, one at first feels content
+to let the days drift past, taking no heed for the things of the
+morrow. But the air has an amazingly rejuvenating effect. In a short
+time years drop off--one loses superfluous weight and regains
+colour. Exercise ceases to be exertion and becomes a keen delight.
+Walks that formerly ranked as a day's excursion become merely a
+pleasant stroll, to be undertaken between an early tea and a late
+dinner.
+
+[Illustration: Calle de la Portella, Palma]
+
+In Palma something to interest or touch one was always happening.
+Once--it was on the first day of February--we entered the usually
+deserted Rambla to find a crowd composed chiefly of young men, all
+of the same age, gathered in front of the barracks. The majority had
+the sunburnt complexion of the rustic. A few were evidently of
+higher social standing. Many girls and a few old peasants fringed
+the crowd. It was the occasion of the annual drawing of lots for the
+enrolment of the young men of the Palma district, who were to spend
+their next three years in the army.
+
+Some of the lads peered anxiously in at the closed gates of the
+barracks; others concealed their concern and chatted gaily with
+their friends. Military service in that land of sunshine is not
+arduous. Recruits thus drawn by lot are never sent off their native
+island, and to flirt with pretty maidservants on the Borne on a
+Sunday afternoon--which to the casual observer appears to be the
+leading labour of the Majorcan force--can hardly be termed hard
+labour. So no doubt many of the rustics were already wondering if
+they would not look better in shakos and crimson breeches than they
+did in the blue cotton and goatskins of their shepherds' dress.
+
+At length the gates were thrown open and sergeants called upon the
+conscripts to enter. Many paused to wave farewells, and almost all
+saluted or raised their hats as they advanced to put their fortunes
+to the test. A few of the more smartly dressed strolled nonchalantly
+in, smoking cigarettes, and we guessed that they, following the
+native love of a gamble, had already paid a hundred crowns to the
+insurance company that, in the event of their drawing an unlucky
+number, would forfeit to the State the three hundred crowns that
+would purchase their exemption from the three years of service.
+
+A period of suspense dragged past. Then a sympathetic movement of
+the crowd intimated the deliverance of the first two freed men, who,
+as they left the gate, threw high in air the couple of breakfast
+rolls that, with two reales, are presented to every man who has
+drawn a lucky number. Others relieved and hilarious followed
+quickly, but many pretty girls and old men waited in vain for the
+return of the candidates that fate had decreed were to swell the
+ranks of the standing army. The barracks had swallowed them up and
+they were seen no more. Perhaps they also had rolls and reales;
+perhaps they were elated at the prospect of town life; perhaps they
+already looked back with longing to their almond-trees and
+goatskins!
+
+For the adventurous, Majorca has plenty of peaks to climb, coasts to
+navigate, shrines to visit, caves to explore. The distances between
+the known points of interest--and there are very many places still
+unexploited--are so easy that a tourist with only a few days at his
+disposal can visit the most noted parts.
+
+The two brothers in whose interesting company we visited the Dragon
+Caves had only five days to spend in Majorca. But even in so brief a
+space of time they succeeded in seeing and in doing much. Their
+method of mapping out their time was so admirable that I am tempted
+to quote it.
+
+On Monday night they crossed from Barcelona, arriving at Palma early
+on Tuesday morning. Having breakfasted on the steamer, they caught
+the early train for Manacor, where they lunched before driving to
+the caves. After dining and sleeping at Manacor they took the train
+on Wednesday morning to the railway terminus at La Puebla, and from
+there drove to the old towns of Pollensa and Alcudia. That
+accomplished, they journeyed by rail to Inca, where they passed the
+night, returning on Thursday by the morning train to Palma, where
+they spent the day visiting as many places of interest as possible.
+On Friday they drove to Sóller by way of Valldemosa, Miramar, and
+Deyá. Rising early on Saturday morning they drove to Fornalutx, and
+starting from there, climbed the Puig Mayor, getting a superb view
+from the summit. In the afternoon they drove back to Palma in time
+to catch the mail boat to Barcelona. The weather had been perfect,
+and they were able to carry out their well-planned expedition
+without interruption.
+
+For those who enjoy gentle exploration Palma makes an admirable
+centre. A good pedestrian could encompass the island on foot, and a
+journey more full of varied scenery or among pleasanter or more
+unsophisticated folk could hardly be imagined. Those of less
+energetic nature would find much of interest within very easy
+walking distance.
+
+It is almost impossible--in Palma at least--to hire mules, but
+driving is comparatively cheap. Every few minutes tramcars run to
+Porto Pi, where there is a good aquarium, with, when we saw it, a
+splendid display of writhing octopi.
+
+A mile beyond the car terminus is Cas Catalá, where there is a
+delightfully situated hotel. Just beyond the hotel are lovely walks
+through the pine woods that border the sea, and pretty little bays,
+in one of which--that a little way past the _carabineros'_ hut, I
+think--I got some nice little shells and quite a lot of sponges that
+had been washed up by the sea.
+
+Genova, which is a very short walk inland from the car terminus at
+Porto Pi, makes an attractive point for a little excursion. In a
+garden off one of the by-ways is the entrance to a recently
+discovered cave, which is the property of the landlord of the little
+_taverna_--the Casa Morena--who discovered it when he was digging a
+well. The cave, though small in extent, resembles the Dragon Caves
+in miniature, and has beautiful stalactites and stalagmites which
+are both fine in form and quite unblackened by smoke.
+
+The village church, which until lately was a favourite place of
+pilgrimage, has many fine altar-pieces and other paintings, and it
+has the rare quality of being so well-lighted that visitors are able
+to admire their beauties.
+
+In one of the side chapels is a delicately modelled recumbent wax
+figure of a young girl. Another chapel has a small square glass case
+containing a representation of the Nativity that is peculiarly
+interesting because of the purely local dress of certain of the
+figures. The Virgin holding the Holy Child is seated in the centre.
+At her right stands an elderly man, apparently meant for Joseph. It
+was surely without humorous intent that the devotee who fashioned
+his garments garbed him in the quaint old Majorcan dress of
+abnormally wide blue breeches. After seeing Joseph's dress it is
+not the least surprising to notice that two women who are less
+important actors in the scene wear their hair in pigtails and the
+native _rebozillos_.
+
+From the hill-side that rises behind the church, where the prickly
+pear grows in great profusion, one can enjoy a glorious panoramic
+view of the coast.
+
+For slightly longer excursions diligences leave Palma almost daily
+for all sorts of out-of-the-way and wholly charming places, such as
+Esporlas, Andraitx, Lluchmayor, Sóller, Estallenchs, Calviá, and
+Valldemosa. And if the traveller is wise and hastens to book the
+front seat he will escape danger of death by compression, and be in
+a position to enjoy a leisurely and comprehensive view of the
+country.
+
+It is well worth while, when intending to remain overnight at a
+town, to arrange to arrive on the eve of the weekly market. For
+market morning brings many quaint rural people flocking into town on
+panniered mules or in odd ramshackle conveyances. Sunday is the
+market at Pollensa, and there the traveller may see a profusion of
+the old men of the zouave-like breeches. San Sellas and Binisalem
+hold their markets on Sunday also. That of Manacor is on Monday.
+Artá, Montuiri, Llubí, and Porreras hold market on Tuesday.
+Wednesday is the day at Sineu, and Thursday at Inca, Muró, and
+Andraitx. Lluchmayor has Friday, and the day of the week at Palma is
+Saturday, when the country folk bring in the harvest of their fields
+and hold a little market of their own in the Plaza del Mercado,
+under the shadow of the high-towered Church of San Nicolas. Early in
+May Sóller holds a three days' _fiesta_, when a historic incident of
+the landing and repulsion of a band of piratical Moors is enacted
+with great spirit by the people of the town.
+
+A hint that may prove useful to any one arriving at some remote
+place where there is no _fonda_ is to ask to be directed to the
+schoolmaster. He is certain to know Spanish, may be pleased to meet
+a foreigner, and is sure to be able to recommend a lodging. It is
+to the courteous schoolmaster of Santañy that we were indebted for
+this suggestion.
+
+Failing the presence of a schoolmaster, the civil guard is a good
+person to apply to. They are said to be a fine and absolutely
+reliable class of men. An artist friend chancing at nightfall to
+light upon a village where there was no inn, applied to the civil
+guard, who not only gave him a room in his own house, but appeared
+in the morning to offer the use of toilet appliances in the form of
+a comb and a pot of pomade.
+
+The Balearic Islands appear to offer a good field to the
+entomologist. A friend who visited Majorca during February has given
+me this list of the butterflies and moths that, even at that early
+season, he saw in plenty, mostly within a few miles of Palma: Bath
+White, Cabbage or Common White, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Clouded
+Yellow, Brimstone, Wall Brown, Holly Blue, Small Copper, Swallow
+Tail, and the Humming-bird Hawk Moth.
+
+As the spring advanced and the giant poppies I had sown in November
+became a four-feet-high hedge, butterflies--strange, to me at least,
+and very beautiful--fluttered into the little garden of the Casa
+Tranquila, and probably not finding the poppies so luscious as their
+brilliant appearance had led them to expect, speedily fluttered out
+again. They did not make their home with us, as had the big locust
+that, in the late autumn, I captured when he was feasting on a moth
+in the shrubby field behind the convent. Bringing the prisoner home
+in my handkerchief, I set him on a pink ivy-geranium that flourished
+in one of the big green flower-pots on the veranda.
+
+He seemed well content with his new quarters, for there he stayed
+all winter, taking up his position first in the tall scented
+verbena, and, when that lost its leaves, changing his perch to an
+adjacent almond-tree, as though he knew that would be the first to
+bloom.
+
+Very early in the year he vanished, and we thought he had gone for
+good. But just as the first pale blossoms were opening in the
+almond groves he re-appeared, bringing with him the female of his
+species, and together in connubial amity they shared his old home in
+the almond-tree. When the pale rose-tinted blossoms had fallen, and
+the grey-green velvet pods of the young almonds were emerging from
+the crimson calyxes, the locust and his bride deserted us to seek a
+wider pasturage.
+
+Though we wandered far from beaten tracks, the sole trace of
+reptiles encountered was an occasional discarded snakeskin. In Iviza
+lovely green and golden lizards and highly-varnished toy frogs in
+all "art" shades abounded, but we saw none of either in Majorca.
+
+Our only insect pests were mosquitoes--who, probably recognizing an
+alien and attractive flavour in our blood, were a disturbing
+nocturnal influence until, with the aid of a few yards of mosquito
+netting, we succeeded in frustrating their knavish tricks. Even by
+day they were not invariably quiescent; but the mosquito is a
+gentleman. He always gives warning before attacking an enemy, and
+when we met in open combat, there was something of the joy of battle
+in the defence. According to local report, the tenure of his days
+should have ended with November; but it was not until a fall of the
+temperature about the middle of January that our assailant withdrew
+his battalions and left us in peace.
+
+Though our visit was a winter one, the wild flowers were an
+unfailing source of pleasure. The season was unusually dry, yet I
+never took a country walk without finding some blossom that was new
+to me.
+
+When we arrived in October the rocky slopes about Porto Pi were
+covered by a royal carpet of the purple autumnal crocus. The last of
+the sea lavender was fading, but horned poppies and chicory were in
+bloom. It was there, too, that in November we found the curiously
+shaped brown and green wild arums that are known in America as
+"Dutchmen's pipes," and locally referred to as _frares_, whose
+acquaintance we afterwards made at Andraitx. In April, when we left
+Majorca, pretty little white and lavender iris starred the ground
+and rich purple mallows and golden mesembryanthemums covered the
+rocks of Porto Pi.
+
+The beautiful coast about Cas Catalá had a herbage of its own. Tall
+flowering heath, a persistently blooming plant with dark blue
+buttons, and delicate yellow rock roses were, as the months slipped
+past, succeeded by a fine display of cistus.
+
+Throughout the whole time of our stay a constant succession of sweet
+lavender blossomed on the grey-green bushes. Asphodel, too,
+abounded. The first to open was the smaller species, with its rushy
+foliage and slender spikes of bloom. In January the tall rods of the
+poet's asphodel rose in such profusion that we were forced to give
+it place as the typical island flower. Forced reluctantly, I
+confess, for to some the odour of the tall asphodel, when growing in
+quantity, is far from pleasant.
+
+It was at Sóller, that district of piquant contrasts, that we saw
+the delicate greenhouse maidenhair-fern growing in masses with
+English ivy along walls, or draping the moist sides of the water
+runnels.
+
+It was at Sóller, too, that we first made the acquaintance of the
+ten-inch-high daisy. There was little of the character of its Scots
+relative, the "wee, modest, crimson-tippéd flower," in this aspiring
+plant. But the Balearic Islands have another form of the _Bellis
+perennis_, a lavender daisy, that sustains the family reputation for
+humility by cowering close to the soil.
+
+The winter had been so dry that the flowers of early spring were
+disappointing. I found a few purple anemones where I had expected to
+see hundreds, and gleaned a handful or two of narcissus from the dry
+bed of the torrent where I had hoped to gather baskets full.
+
+But with the coming of the long-hoped-for rain the earth gave up her
+secrets, and secrets worth knowing they proved themselves. There
+were amazing orchids--little round-bellied flies, so life-like that
+one half-expected to hear them buzz; or glorious travesties of
+insects that never were, some with bodies of glittering metallic
+blue daintily edged with brown fur, others with delicate wings of
+rosy heliotrope.
+
+It was odd to find garden pets--grape hyacinths, gladiolus,
+iris--leading a gipsy life on those sunny slopes, and odder still to
+discover begonias, or even _Nigella damascena_, camping out, as it
+were. One felt inclined to demand to be told why they were shirking
+their obvious duty of beautifying gloomy British gardens.
+
+The following list of the rarer Balearic plants, given me by a noted
+Scottish gardener, is specially interesting as showing the wide
+range of the island flora: Anthyllis cytisoides, Astragalus
+poterium, Cynoglossum pictum, Daphne vallæoides, Delphinium pictum,
+Digitalis dubia, Genista cineria, Hedysarum coronarium, Hedysarum
+spinosissimum, Helianthemum serræ, Helianthemum salicifolium,
+Helichrysum Lamarkii, Hippocrepis balearica, Hypericum balearicum,
+Lavatera cretica, Lavatera minoricensis, Leucojum Hernandezii,
+Linaria triphylla, Linaria fragilis, Lotus creticus, Melilotus
+messanensis, Micromeria Rodriguezii, Micromeria filiformis, Ononis
+crispa, Ononis breviflora, Ononis minutissima, Pastinæa lucida,
+Phlomis italica, Polygala rupestris, Scutellaria Vigineuxii, Sencio
+Rodriguezii, Sibthorpia africana, Silene rubella, Sonchus spinosus,
+Vicia atropurpurea.
+
+Perhaps it was because wild flowers bloomed all through the months
+that the native children did not care to gather them, and that
+indifference to natural blossoms prevailed in all classes of the
+community. It seemed as though the Majorcans had not yet realized
+the decorative value of flowers. One rarely saw cut flowers used on
+the table or in the reception-rooms even of people on whose country
+estates roses and violets blossomed all the year round. I never saw
+flowers for sale in the big daily market, and the few clusters that
+in spring the countryfolk brought in to the Saturday market would
+scarcely have sufficed to trim one fashionable hat.
+
+In February, when the rose-coloured blossoms of the cistus were
+beginning to open on the uplands, the brown-cheeked shepherd boys
+began to look for the young shoots of the wild asparagus, which they
+made into little bunches for sale, bound round with broad asphodel
+leaves fastened with long, sharp prickles.
+
+Though a gourmet could hardly have taken exception to the flavour of
+the asparagus thus gathered, he might have objected to the size, for
+the shoots were seldom larger than that sold in London under the
+mysterious name of "sprue." But the flavour was delicious, and when
+one added the pleasure of gathering to the value when found, the
+wild asparagus was worth its weight in gold. While the season lasted
+we often brought in a bunch or two from our sunset strolls, and
+these occasions were signalized by the appearance of asparagus
+omelet at supper.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Sunday Morning at Iviza]
+
+XXV
+
+IVIZA--A FORGOTTEN ISLE
+
+
+With regard to Iviza, the third in importance of the Balearic Isles,
+even the usually omniscient Baedeker maintains a dignified reserve.
+And indeed Iviza is so little visited that while the _Isleña
+Marítima Compania Mallorquina de Vapores_ convey passengers thither
+from Majorca for fifteen pesetas first class, or eleven pesetas
+second, they charge eighteen and thirteen pesetas respectively to
+bring them back to Majorca, which looks as though they thought
+voyagers might require to be cajoled into going to Iviza, but would
+need no inducement to return.
+
+From the records in existence one gathers that no relics of the
+Stone Age have been discovered in Iviza, though traces left by many
+dynasties prove that from very early times occupation of the lovely
+and fertile isle was hotly contested. Chaldeans, Egyptians,
+Phoenicians, Romans, Greeks, Vandals, Saracens, and Moors fought
+for its possession, but since the Aragonese invasion of the
+thirteenth century Iviza has belonged to Spain.
+
+We had heard strange tales of the Ivizans--told, it must be
+admitted, by people who avowedly had never set foot on the
+island--grim stories of ferocity, of the crack of the ready pistol,
+of the slash of the handy knife. We had also heard that these grim
+islanders were invariably kind to strangers. Now we were on the way
+to judge for ourselves.
+
+While the departure of the Barcelona boat lures all Palma to the
+mole, only a handful of spectators was assembled when, at noon on
+the 8th of April, the _Lulio_ steamed westwards.
+
+It was a fine day with a brisk head-wind. Like the high mountains
+around Sóller, the waves were white-crested, and for the first three
+hours the voyage was a delight. As the _Lulio_ skirted the coast we
+enjoyed identifying the places now familiar to us by land. The
+little bays beyond Cas Catalá, Ben Dinat among its woods, the
+windmills above the town of Andraitx, and the long, high islet of
+Dragonera.
+
+As the heliotrope mountains of Majorca receded into the distance,
+the brilliance faded. From warm azure the sea changed to purple,
+from purple to grey, and the wind blew keenly against us. The
+_Lulio_ is only some 600 tons, and there was little shelter on the
+saloon deck, which is forward of the funnel. We felt inclined to
+envy the Ivizan passengers, who, camped on the snug lower deck,
+first ate strange messes, then after a brief but busy interlude of
+regret, curled up on their bundles and went snugly to sleep.
+
+With us there were half a dozen men and one lady. And when the
+captain invited her to share the cover of the chart-house which
+abutted on our promenade, I envied her also until, after the dubious
+enjoyment of a few moments of splendid detachment from the common
+herd, she revealed signs of inward discomfort and fled to seek a
+less conspicuous position.
+
+Before the land we had left was out of sight, two little clouds low
+on the western horizon were recognized as outlying islets of the
+Ivizan group. Then, as we gradually approached nearer, hills upon
+hills, promontories, more islets, appeared; and still we steadily
+steamed westwards. The sun sank in golds and greys behind the Ivizan
+heights, and still we went on through the grey gloom, past a rocky,
+indented coast on which we saw no sign of habitation.
+
+Then, out of the darkness arose the vision of a town piled on an
+eminence--a town of unexpected beauty, for from the tranquil waters
+of the almost landlocked bay to the highest point it was sparkling
+with lights. It was Iviza, the one important town of the main
+island.
+
+To the hoarse grating of her anchor chain the _Lulio_ swung to, and
+through the darkness the vague outlines of rowing boats could be
+seen approaching.
+
+The young boatman who was the first to accost us secured our custom,
+and we stepped down the accommodation-ladder into the swaying boat.
+Half a dozen natives followed, carrying their belongings in big
+cotton handkerchiefs, a form of Balearic travelling case that to me
+always seemed peculiarly alluring, for when not in actual service,
+the handkerchief-portmanteau could be folded and stowed in the
+pocket; or even, did occasion require, be put to other uses.
+
+The behaviour of the boatman who rows him ashore in a new
+country serves the experienced traveller as symbol of the treatment
+awaiting him in that country. Our boatman asked one real
+each--twopence-halfpenny--as his fee, which was exactly the sum
+required of the native passengers. And that served as our token of
+Iviza. We would be treated with strict honesty--there was but one
+price either for native or stranger.
+
+The arrival of the steamer, whose departure from Palma had attracted
+so little attention, was a matter of importance at Iviza. People
+clustered on the pier, and the steps leading to the water's edge
+were so densely crowded that it was difficult for those landing to
+find foot-room.
+
+A burly Ivizan took the luggage, and after a cursory custom's
+inspection we reached the _fonda_, which was only a stone's-cast
+away. The _fonda_, which appeared to be the only one in the town,
+was delightfully situated on the harbour. The rooms allotted to us
+were the best in the house. Two opened from the drawing-room and one
+had a balcony overlooking the water. The inclusive charge was six
+pesetas a day--about four shillings and sixpence of English money.
+
+Supper was in process of serving. Going downstairs, we entered the
+dining-room, to find one long table at which were seated about a
+dozen men. Judging rashly by our Minorcan experience, we classified
+them collectively as commercial travellers, and concluded that Iviza
+must be a more important place than we had imagined, if it gave
+employment to so many.
+
+The meal, which revealed a lack of inspiration on the part of the
+cook, was served by a solitary waiter. When it was over, we went out
+and felt our way about the streets. The capital town of Iviza, which
+is built on a high rock, faces the sea. It has no back, no other
+side. The old town, which is surmounted by the Cathedral and the
+castle, is entirely surrounded by a perfectly preserved Roman wall.
+The newer portion of the town, which is built on land reclaimed from
+the sea, lies just below the principal gate of the old city.
+
+Passing the quaint circular fish market and the vacant market-place,
+which consisted of a red-tiled and raftered shed, supported on white
+pillars and surrounded by trees, we walked up the slope leading to
+the great gate in the Roman wall that encircles the ancient town.
+
+In a niche on either side of the opening stood a massive marble
+figure. The heads were gone and certain other members had not
+outlasted the ravages of the centuries, but enough still remained to
+show the beauty of the workmanship. From the neck-socket of the
+draped figure foliage was springing, and the statue of the legionary
+had the scarce dignified effect of carrying a bundle of fodder, so
+boldly had the weeds sprouted from under his right arm.
+
+The streets within the old city walls were dark and steep and
+twisted. In their secretive recesses something of the atmosphere of
+the Middle Ages seemed still to linger.
+
+The Ivizans go early to bed. The lights that illumed our landing had
+already been extinguished, and finding our progress over these
+tortuous steeps a protracted stumble, we groped our way back to the
+_fonda_, resigned to leaving further exploration to the morrow.
+
+We slept soundly. When our early coffee came we drank it on the
+balcony as we watched two boys fishing from a boat in a shallow just
+beneath our windows. The bait seemed to be shell-fish, and the boy
+in the Carlist cap who held the rod was catching little wriggling
+fish as quickly as he could re-cast his hook into the water.
+
+Then for the first time we awoke to the picturesque charm of the
+Ivizan's choice of material and love of colour in dress. The fishing
+boy wore plush trousers of a lovely pinky-fawn shade. His
+companion's were moss-green, and his waist scarf was scarlet. A crew
+of fishermen, their garments a kaleidoscope of gay hues, were
+breakfasting in their boat near. And along the beach beneath, a boy
+clad in faded blue velvet was carrying in one hand a basket of
+beautiful rose-coloured fish and dangling a hideously suggestive
+octopus in the other.
+
+Our good friend the padre, a presbítero of Palma Cathedral, had
+kindly recommended us to his chosen friend, who was a beneficiado of
+Iviza Cathedral. So our first walk, on the morning after our
+arrival, led up the precipitous paths towards the superbly situated
+old church.
+
+Seen by daylight the streets were vaguely reminiscent of both Palma
+and Mahón, without resembling either. While the whitewashed walls
+recalled the austere cleanliness of the Minorcan capital, the
+condition of the streets gave one the impression that the
+inhabitants subsisted chiefly upon oranges. The plenitude of
+balconies held more than a hint of Palma, though most of the Ivizan
+balconies were heavily fashioned of wood; and from many the entire
+family washing (which in Palma would be dried on the flat roof),
+even to sheets, hung out to dry. The Ivizans showed both taste and
+skill in floriculture. Quite a number of the balconies were prettily
+decorated with pot plants, from cinerarias to peonies, in full
+bloom.
+
+The market was busy when we passed. Grave-looking women, with
+wide-brimmed white hats perched rakishly a-top the handkerchief that
+covered their heads, were selling oranges or vegetables. One, with a
+row of moist water-jars balanced on either side of the furriest
+donkey I ever saw, was plying the trade of water-carrier.
+
+We reached the Cathedral during morning service, and we waited,
+enjoying the music and the tuneful clamour of the great wheel of
+bells that mingled so harmoniously with the sound of the organ, and
+wondering in which of the officiating clergy we would discover the
+friend of our friend. He also had been looking out for us, and as
+we, along with two old men, were the entire congregation, he had no
+difficulty in distinguishing us.
+
+When Mass was over we met on the _mirador_ outside, and though by
+force of nationality, religion, language, and training we ought to
+have been poles asunder, from almost the first moment of our
+acquaintance we recognised a congenial spirit in Don Pepe, as the
+young choristers, who clustered round, affectionately called the
+padre.
+
+Under his care we re-entered the Cathedral, which, despite, or
+perhaps because of belonging to no known school of architecture, is
+very beautiful, the interior with its canopied Virgin having an
+inspiring sense of light. Then, accompanied by the sacristan, a
+grave man with a charming smile, we saw some of the treasures of the
+church, climbed the tower to see the comprehensive view from the
+top, and visited the adjacent castle, which is now used as a
+military barracks.
+
+While within the fortifications we were introduced to an especially
+interesting specimen of the cunning traps prepared by the Romans for
+their unwary invaders. From one portion of the castle, which is
+perched high within the strong fortifications, we were guided
+through a long, dark, shelving passage, down, down, down, until on
+passing through a massive door we entered an alley, lit from above,
+that ended abruptly in a four-feet-high portal deep set in the great
+city wall, and from without partly secured by a bastion.
+
+The ingenious plan of the ancient defenders had evidently been to
+leave unguarded the inconspicuous door, and when the besiegers,
+discovering it and imagining themselves in luck, had crept through
+the secret door into the alley, to shower missiles on them from the
+circular opening overhead. It was a shrewd device, but one hardly
+calculated to endear the Romans to their enemies.
+
+Leaving the heights, we walked down towards the church of Santo
+Domingo, an antique building with curious red-tiled domes. The
+priceless treasure of this old Dominican convent is an image of
+Christ which for ages has been the object of great devotion. Until
+the last century ships on leaving or entering the harbour of Iviza
+were in the custom of saluting it with their flag and a shot from
+their cannon.
+
+As we neared the church we saw approaching from a side street a
+peasant family of such attractively quaint appearance that we paused
+and, affecting to be admiring the prospect, waited for them to pass.
+They were all attired in the gala dress of the island. The
+sun-tanned farmer father wore a suit of old-gold embossed velvet and
+a purple scarf was wound about his waist. The mother wore the
+immoderately wide skirt gathered into a plain high-waisted bodice,
+the short green silk apron, the little shoulder shawl with its
+prettily flowered border and long fringe, and the gay embroidered
+head-wrap that make up the distinctive Ivizan costume. From the tip
+of her pigtail a brightly coloured ribbon hung down to the hem of
+her spreading skirts. The eldest child, a girl of eight or nine, was
+a diminutive facsimile of her mother. The elder boy wore a man's
+suit in miniature of very light blue, and a wide-brimmed yellow hat.
+The group tapered off with a wee boy in a quaintly cut long frock
+and a white Carlist cap, and a baby in bunching petticoats and a
+muslin cap with wings. The father, who smiled pleasantly when he saw
+us notice the children, carried with evident care a liqueur bottle.
+Moving decorously, as though bound on some important mission, they
+preceded us into the church.
+
+We had paused to examine a fine old painting, and when we reached
+the special chapel that contained the celebrated image we found the
+little family already kneeling before the altar, even the youngest
+apparently impressed by the solemnity of the occasion.
+
+After a few moments the father, rising from his knees and still
+holding the bottle, approached the padre to crave a private word
+with him, and they quitted the chapel together, leaving the mother
+and children still on their knees.
+
+A great silver lamp, suspended from the roof, burned in front of the
+_Cristo_, and all around the walls were votive offerings--models of
+hearts, of legs, of arms, even of heads, and little silver figures,
+some in peasant dress, one in a smart frockcoat. Oddest, perhaps, of
+all was a pair of silver trousers.
+
+[Illustration: Thanksgiving]
+
+There were medals, a fine model of a full rigged ship, a little
+muslin frock, another of rich satin in a glass case, all presented
+in token of succour prayed for and obtained in time of imminent
+danger to life or limb.
+
+While we lingered, a female attendant entered the chapel carrying
+the liqueur bottle, and drawing down the great silver lamp,
+proceeded to fill its reservoir from the store in the bottle, the
+family, who still maintained their devotional attitude, half turning
+with something of proprietary interest to watch her movements.
+
+Returning to the body of the church, we found the padre and the
+father of the family in earnest converse. During a recent serious
+illness, explained the padre, the peasant had vowed the gift of a
+bottle of olive oil for the sacred lamp. Now, on his recovery, his
+first action had been to make a little pilgrimage to the chapel,
+bringing his entire family to give thanks for his restoration to
+health and to deliver the promised gift.
+
+The exhibition of such unquestioning faith and gratitude in this
+world of scepticism was inexpressibly touching. And our hearts
+melted and were glad with the little household. Still, though the
+father declared himself again robust, a sickly pallor showed beneath
+his tan, and when he grasped our hands in farewell his touch was
+ice-cold.
+
+Walking back along the ramparts we noticed a gentleman who, though
+personally unknown to us, yet bore a remarkable racial resemblance
+to many people we had known in Britain. He was well dressed after
+the English fashion, wore fawn kid gloves, and though the sky was
+cloudless, carried a neatly rolled umbrella.
+
+"That is the Señor Wallis, a member of an illustrious family here.
+They all speak English. Shall I introduce you?" asked the padre,
+seeing that we were interested.
+
+To our gratification the Señor Wallis not only spoke English
+admirably, but also understood it perfectly.
+
+"My grandfather came here as British Consul," he explained. "He
+married and settled here. My father was Consul after him. We have
+always spoken the English language at home."
+
+Here then was a family, living in a remote island where they might
+not hear English spoken once a year, who because their ancestor had
+been English carefully maintained the language and traditions of
+their forebears. As the Boy said afterwards, it reminded one of
+Kipling's tale of Namgay Doola!
+
+A little farther along, a massive figure, joyously arrayed in a suit
+of maize-coloured corduroy, a lilac-check shirt and a green hat,
+gladdened our vision.
+
+"That is the present English Consul," said the padre, who seemed to
+be on good terms with everybody. "I shall introduce him to you."
+
+The British Vice-Consul blushed when presented to genuine natives of
+the country he represented. His knowledge of the language was
+rudimentary, and after a few tentative efforts the conversation
+lapsed into Spanish. As the Boy said, it was quicker.
+
+The padre had promised to call at three to take us to see the
+excavations in process on a slope just outside the city. And after
+lunch I strolled out to the fields in search of Ivizan wild flowers.
+Within a five minutes' walk of the town I soon gathered an
+armful--purple and yellow and white and yellow toad-flaxes, pink
+asters, blood-red poppies, big cream chrysanthemums, little blue and
+white iris, a handsome garlic-smelling pink flower, wild mignonette,
+both the tall and the dwarf asphodel, a yellow pheasant's eye, one
+or two unfamiliar blossoms, and, best of all, many regal spikes of
+the tall crimson gladioli that were growing among the green corn.
+
+The padre was punctual to a moment, and we were soon mounting the
+rocky hill just beyond the city wall where the excavations were
+going on.
+
+There was nothing in the appearance of the place to suggest that
+underneath our feet there existed Phoenician catacombs. Great
+spikes of the handsome evil-smelling asphodel were blooming all
+around, and two men in wide felt hats and abbreviated blouses,
+standing by some heaps of soil, were the only visible sign of the
+important work that was being done.
+
+When we reached them we saw that their labour consisted of passing
+the earth that had been brought to the surface through a fine
+sifter, and that close by yawned a hole overhung by a rope running
+on a wheel attached to a rough tripod.
+
+The Boy was the only one of the party daring enough to accept the
+invitation to descend. Leaving his coat behind, he slid down the
+rope and vanished through a hole in the bottom of the shaft. The
+younger workman followed. While we awaited their re-appearance we
+noticed that many bones, earth-coloured, light in weight and brittle
+to the touch, mingled with the mounds of refuse, and that bits of
+broken pottery and fragments of iridescent glass leavened the heaps.
+
+Soon the Boy and his guide, earth-stained and perspiring, for the
+underground atmosphere was close and hot, scrambled their way back
+to the surface.
+
+The Boy's account was that when he had swung himself down the shaft
+he and his guide entered the subterranean passage, feeling as though
+he were entering his own grave, in place of merely going to view
+that of other people. Passing through an outer hall, they came to a
+narrow chamber where, by the light of an acetylene lamp, a being
+looking like a gnome or a ghoul was sitting on the edge of a long
+stone coffin grubbing in the dust and ashes that filled it.
+
+Resting on the rim of the coffin were the relics that he had already
+recovered from the debris--bits of shattered pottery, and a
+beautiful but mutilated statuette of terra-cotta about five inches
+in height.
+
+From that cell they descended to a large chamber on a lower level,
+where there were many coffins and a plenitude of bones.
+
+When in recent years three Phoenician catacombs were discovered it
+was found that their existence had been known to the Moors, who at
+some unknown date had already despoiled them of treasure, leaving
+traces of their appropriation in the form of broken water jars and
+other worthless relics. Fortunately the Moors valued only the gold,
+so that, in spite of the damage caused by their rough handling, a
+mine of precious things still remains to gladden the archæologist.
+
+Leaving the sunny hill-side, where spring flowers were blooming among
+the crumbling bones of these nameless dead, we mounted to the house
+by the windmills, where the treasures found in the graves are
+primarily housed.
+
+There also was the padre a welcome guest, and in a small dark room
+wonderful things were shown us. Tiny jars delicately figured;
+perfect vases of iridescent glass; strange bas-relief recumbent
+figures with stiffly extended hands; antique coins, scarabs that the
+Moors had bereft of their setting, ornaments that had escaped their
+rapacity, and old lamps enough to have satisfied even the covetous
+Abanazer.
+
+It was oddly suggestive to think that, while the people who were
+entombed in these stone coffins thousands of years ago had known
+delicate arts and worn costly jewellery, their successors on the
+land lived in primitive dwellings and drew the water they drank in
+earthenware jars that in form were exact copies of those so long
+buried in the tombs. Truly in some things the world has not
+progressed!
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: A Trio and a Quartette]
+
+XXVI
+
+AN IVIZAN SABBATH
+
+
+Sunday morning was as calm and beautiful as could be desired by
+visitors with only a few days in which to explore an island.
+
+With quite unwonted energy we rose before seven o'clock, and after
+dressing and taking a cup of tea in our own little sitting-room,
+went out to the Alameda to see the countryfolk coming in to Mass or
+market.
+
+On the ships in the harbour flags were flying. Everybody was in gala
+dress. The very air felt gay. And as we sat on one of the stone
+seats in the leafy Alameda and watched the people streaming into
+town from the broad white roads that lead to San Antonio, Santa
+Eulalia and other villages, we chirruped with irrepressible delight,
+so unexpectedly and deliciously quaint were the figures that passed
+before us.
+
+Some of the women rode mules, and sat perched high on a pile of
+sheepskins, their multi-coloured petticoats billowing about their
+neat ankles. Others were packed closely into open carts that had
+cushions placed low on either side of their sagging floor-matting.
+Many walked, accompanied by vigilant elderly relatives. And oh! how
+demure and decorous they all looked, with their dark hair parted in
+the middle and severely plastered down the sides of their rosy young
+faces.
+
+An object of fervent admiration in my childhood was a pincushion
+made of a little china doll, whose placid head and insignificant
+body appeared from a widely distended skirt. And on this brilliant
+Sunday morning the Ivizan women and girls in their exaggerated
+skirts seemed to me like a procession of walking dolls.
+
+The dresses appeared to be fashioned from any material that boasted
+a pattern, for the Ivizan detests a plain material. Even the velvet
+or plush used in the men's clothes was in many instances flowered or
+striped. The short broad aprons were of bright-coloured silk
+elaborately tucked above the hem. Their deeply fringed shawls and
+head wraps were bordered with wreaths of gaily tinted flowers. The
+chains of big oblong gold beads and elaborate gold pendants in the
+form of crosses and crowns gave a blatant and contradictory note to
+the staid costume, while the gaudy hue of the ribbon that tied the
+end of the pigtail and fell in long ends nearly to the hem of the
+skirt suggested a hint of the original Eve lurking behind all this
+apparent demureness. Gold buttons closely set ran from the wrist of
+the long sleeve, which was often of green, to the elbow. And the
+white sandalled shoes, whose toes were caught up by a cord bound
+round the ankles, had a suggestion of sabots that added a Dutch
+touch to the picture.
+
+Sometimes a mother in sober garments or a smiling father in a wide
+hat marched past in proud chaperonage of a diffident young daughter
+rigged out in all the family jewellery. One girl, who enjoyed the
+personal care of her mother, wore a gown of old rose-spotted brocade
+looped up in pannier form to show a pink petticoat.
+
+To our thinking the extreme of quaintness was reached in the person
+of a little maid of seven or eight, whose dress was a travesty of
+that of her widowed mother; with the sole difference that, while the
+mother's mourning garb was of unrelieved black, the kerchief and
+tiny shawl of the child had bordering wreaths of white flowers. As
+she walked slowly by, a tiny entity in over-voluminous garments, the
+Man declared that, despite her superhuman sobriety, and the "papa,
+prunes, prisms" expression of her infant lips, he felt convinced
+that it was with difficulty she resisted a desire to skip!
+
+They say there are ten men for every woman on the island, and our
+experience of that Sunday morning inclined us to believe it. From
+every direction came fine strapping lads moving in droves. A
+distinct resemblance in the dress, taken in combination with the
+rakish dare-devil air with which these young bloods set their wide
+hats to one side and swaggered along, vividly suggested the Mexican
+cowboy.
+
+In striking contrast to the expansive attire of the women, the men's
+dress appeared designed to accentuate their natural slimness. The
+trousers of velvet or plush in all manner of rich shades fitted
+closely to the figure except at the ankle, where they spread widely.
+Gaily hued shirts or short full blouse jackets, usually black or
+blue, were worn. Red or striped sashes were wound about their
+waists. Most of the hats were large and adorned with gold cords. And
+in addition to one necktie for use, it was customary to add a second
+and sometimes even a third for show.
+
+We were sincerely sorry to find that nine o'clock, the hour when we
+were due at the hotel for coffee, had rushed upon us. When we came
+out again on our way to visit the Museum, the streets about the
+market were busy with a moving throng resplendent in colour.
+
+For the moment the girls appeared to have got rid of their chaperons
+and were parading about in quartettes, sextettes, even septettes,
+their tightly pleated pigtails streaming stiffly behind, their
+hands, holding pocket-handkerchiefs heavily edged with substantial
+crochet lace, sedately crossed in front.
+
+One group that particularly rejoiced the artistic soul of the Man
+was made up of four demure damsels who walked in a row, the tallest
+at one end, the others decreasing in height till the row ended in a
+dear dot. Their outlines were so much alike that they had the effect
+of having been stencilled in a diminishing scale.
+
+It was perhaps only to be expected that wherever one saw a bevy of
+girls a corresponding cluster of men would not be far distant. Yet
+we rarely saw them address each other.
+
+The modern etiquette of peasant courtship in Iviza runs on strict
+though simple lines. A plenitude of suitors being assured, it is the
+maiden who makes the selection. The admirers of a marriageable girl
+wait for her outside the church door on Sunday. When she leaves Mass
+the one who has the premier claim attaches himself to her, and trots
+beside her for the first portion of the homeward journey, then at a
+fixed point or within a stated time-limit he gives place to the
+second, and so on until the number is exhausted. If any man seeks to
+exceed his allotted space, or in any other way tries to transgress
+the unwritten law, pistols may flare and knives are apt to spring!
+Apart from this the people of Iviza are peaceable, and on all points
+moral and virtuous. It must be admitted that certain of the more
+frolicsome spirits still keep up the old custom of saluting the
+maidens of their choice with a charge of rock salt fired at the
+ankles. And it is devoutly to be hoped that the unwieldy masses of
+petticoats serve at least one useful purpose by shielding their
+wearers from the saline missiles of love's artillery.
+
+When we had reached the Cathedral square, where the Museum is
+situated, we found the door open and the custodian--in whom we
+were surprised to recognize one of our fellow-guests at the
+_fonda_--waiting to receive us.
+
+Though the Museum at Iviza has been in existence for little more
+than two years it already contains a notable collection of
+Phoenician, Roman, Byzantine and Moorish remains. To an
+archæologist, inspection of the contents would have been a special
+treat. Even to us who had little knowledge of the subject it was
+intensely interesting.
+
+Within the centre cases and in the glass-doored cupboards that line
+the walls were many things whose worth we could not venture to
+guess. The varied assortment of coins seemed especially valuable.
+One jar found during the process of excavation had contained over
+six hundred specimens.
+
+Among the other exhibits were several primitive bas-relief figures
+with abruptly out-jutting hands, resembling those we had seen on the
+previous day. Two figures had the hands clasped on the bust over
+something suggesting a loaf, and one had a ring through the nose.
+
+Many of the vases and slender vials from the tombs were beautiful,
+both in outline and in decoration. And we saw a particularly fine
+scarab that had been found in one of the stone coffins immediately
+after our visit to the catacombs on the previous afternoon.
+
+In the second room were some curious old documents and certain of
+the more bulky exhibits. And from a top shelf a row of skulls of
+these bygone races grinned down upon us creatures of to-day, as
+though their owners found something ludicrous in the idea of a
+special house being set apart in which to guard as treasures what to
+them had been but everyday possessions.
+
+When we left the Museum the padre, with kindly thought and subtle
+intuition of what is most likely to interest the stranger in a
+foreign land, took us a-visiting. First he introduced us to the only
+professional artist on the island, who like everybody else in the
+place seemed a special friend of our sponsor.
+
+And in the artist of this far-off southern islet we rejoiced to meet
+the romantic painter of fiction--the picturesque hero one reads
+about but rarely has the good fortune to encounter.
+
+Don Narciso--his very name was in keeping--was young, buoyant of
+spirit, charming in manner, and enthusiastic regarding art. He had a
+thick curly black beard, abundant wavy black hair. He wore a
+becoming blouse, and his loosely knotted silk tie was of _amarilla_
+silk.
+
+The painter welcomed us cordially, and took us into his studio,
+where he was at work upon a full-length portrait of a bishop who had
+been a native of the island.
+
+Round the walls were brilliant studies both in figure and landscape.
+We had been living close to Nature for six months. It was a pleasure
+to breathe again the studio atmosphere. In less than two minutes the
+three artists were deep in discussion of kindred interests. Their
+nationalities might be different, but Art has only one language.
+Names--Velasquez, Goya, and others of more recent date--were bandied
+between them, the while the padre and I sat dumbly attentive.
+
+When we were leaving, Narciso took us into the artistically unkempt
+garden attached to the studio, and from the line of orange-trees
+beyond the old well plucked a spray heavy with the luscious blossom.
+This he presented to me with a grace that dignified the sprig into a
+bouquet. And we all parted with promise of an early reunion.
+
+A few yards farther down the road we passed a group of ladies, whose
+smart Paris hats and modern raiment, seen in that land of quaint
+attire, gave the wearers an oddly foreign look.
+
+"Son la familia Wallis," murmured the padre, as he raised his hat to
+them.
+
+The house of the padre, our next place of call, was just beyond the
+seminary where the students whom we had seen leaving the Cathedral
+in their robes of black and scarlet were undergoing their thirteen
+years of probation before entering the Church.
+
+The padre's home in all its appointments impressed us as being
+exactly suited to the quiet refinement of its master. From the
+windows one gained a superb view of the rippling waters of the
+landlocked harbour and of the undulating country beyond.
+
+We had the honour of meeting the padre's mother, a lady who, though
+shrunk a little by weight of years, was still hale and bright. And
+his sister, the widow of a distinguished officer. And his niece, who
+was so vivacious and charming, that when she waved to us from her
+balcony as we left we wondered if the _novio_ who was standing in
+the street, whispering love up to a maiden in a mantilla on the
+balcony just beneath hers, had not made the mistake of a floor!
+
+It was evidently the feast-day of one of our fellow-guests at the
+hotel, for at the close of the midday meal a tray of dainty Spanish
+sweetmeats in frilled paper cases was passed round--being handed,
+evidently by special instructions, to us also.
+
+When we had helped ourselves we bowed indecisively towards the
+farther end of the table, saying vaguely--in the hope that our
+gratitude might reach the donor--"Muchos gracias, señor." The other
+señores were quick to indicate the benefactor, who flushed a little
+as he acknowledged our thanks.
+
+While lunch was being served a dark silent young man, who was one of
+the regular company, several times left his place, and from our
+seats at table we saw him go to the open front door of the hotel and
+glance up and down the street, as though on the look-out for
+somebody. Seeing him return alone for the third time, we whispered
+hints of a dilatory sweetheart.
+
+But when the eagerly expected guest did appear it was not some
+graceful doña, but a little baby girl, the sleeves of her white
+frock tied with black ribbon, who was carried in in the arms of a
+stout peasant nurse. As the padre told us later, our taciturn
+fellow-guest was the postmaster, who had lost his young wife, and
+this was their babe come to pay the bereaved father her weekly
+visit.
+
+When we went out in the afternoon the townsfolk were promenading
+under the shade of the Alameda, but the _payeses_ had all
+vanished--gone back to the rural homes whither we would like to have
+followed them. With the disappearance of the quaint figures the
+charm seemed to have vanished, and when we met our new friend the
+sacristan we cajoled him into going for a stroll along the
+watercourses that intersect the reclaimed land beyond the harbour.
+
+These are a curious feature of a delightfully curious country. On
+either side of the raised centre path were broad ditches full of
+clear water, whose yellow sand was speckled with black shell-fish.
+Shoals of little fish darted in and out among the rushes, and on
+every patch of floating weed a tiny frog sat and croaked.
+
+The fertile ground on either side of the ditches was divided into
+small holdings, or _feixas_ as they are locally called. And there
+mixed crops of fruit and vegetables flourished abundantly. Vines
+trained to trellises bordered the water, and at frequent intervals
+tall whitewashed gateways, reached by little bridges and quite
+unsupported by walls, reared their gleaming bulk with something of
+the self-conscious air that might be attributed to whited
+sepulchres. As in Majorca, the small agriculturists appeared to live
+in the towns. There were no dwellings on the _feixas_, though a few
+had sheds from which issued the grunts of unseen animals.
+
+The evening glow was on the hills when we left the watercourses and
+followed a track that led between fields of full-bearded rye dotted
+with blood-red poppies towards a picturesque white-walled _noria_.
+In the shadow of the trees close by the old Moorish well, which was
+encircled by a trellised vine, sat the farm folk enjoying the rest
+of the Sabbath. A guest in a mantilla was with them.
+
+So far from resenting our intrusion they welcomed it. Seeing that we
+were interested in the working of the _noria_, the farmer ran
+forward and, seizing the long wooden donkey shaft, set the wheel
+revolving, and made the circle of buckets (which were not fashioned
+of earthenware as in Majorca, but formed from lengths of hollowed
+pine stem--a peseta each they cost, he told us) discharge their
+contents for our benefit, the primitive machinery, which made
+laudable objection to Sunday labour, protesting the while with
+groans and squeaks.
+
+[Illustration: The Gates of the _Feixas_, Iviza]
+
+His wife--who had received us with friendly looks and kindly
+greeting in the Ivizan dialect, that, while greatly resembling
+Majorcan, omits the harsher sounds, hastened further to reveal her
+good will by picking me the few blossoms within reach. Even the
+townified guest in the mantilla added a genial word of greeting.
+
+Yes, the Majorcans had spoken truly when they said the people of the
+sister isle were courteous to strangers.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The Church of San Antonio, Iviza]
+
+XXVII
+
+AT SAN ANTONIO
+
+
+It was Monday morning, and when the Man went out in search of a
+subject to sketch, I lured him along by my favourite watercourses.
+
+The sun beat warmly on the limpid water, in which the swarms of
+little fish, looking like vivified marks of exclamation, were
+ceaselessly flashing about. And on the surface herbage countless
+glistening frogs, green, golden, bronze, and chocolate, were
+perched, like little kings, each on his floating throne. It was with
+lamentable lack of monarchical dignity that each in turn, as he got
+hint of our approach, took an agile header into the water and
+disappeared.
+
+Going on past the tall whitewashed gates that seemed to have so
+scant reason for existence, we reached the San Antonio road, and
+there in the shadow of a wall at the side of a bean-field the Man
+sat down to paint.
+
+Against the cloudless sky the Cathedral-crowned town rose grandly.
+From where we sat the encircling ramparts appeared as complete and
+impregnable as they did in the time of the Roman occupation.
+
+From our point of view, which afforded no glimpse of the newer
+houses sheltered close between the ancient gate and the harbour, the
+city looked much as it must have done in those bygone days when the
+ground on which the lower portion of the town is built was still
+lapped by the salt water of the bay.
+
+While the Man painted I sat by, well content. The bean blossoms made
+sweet savour in our nostrils, and the gentle swish of falling water
+from the _noria_ in an adjacent field gave a refreshing suggestion
+of coolness. And as we sat near the roadside quaint figures passed
+by in slow succession. Perched sideways on their panniered mules
+came broad-hatted women. The local convention that proscribes hats
+for Sunday female wear permits them on weekdays; and so, set
+jauntily on top of the sober handkerchief that covered the head,
+most of the peasant women wore a wide white hat, bound with black,
+and encircled with a black ribbon that hung in long ends
+behind--women whose grave sun-browned faces argued that the day for
+protecting the complexion was surely past.
+
+Leaving the Man at work, I crossed to where in the raised _noria_, a
+dozen yards beyond the white highroad, a blindfold mule was
+patiently at work. All alone there by the creaking old Moorish well
+he was walking round and round the path, already worn to dust by the
+passage of his willing feet.
+
+But if one chanced to be born a mule and had to draw water for a
+living, a pleasanter place in which to carry out one's vocation
+could hardly be imagined. For close about the stone-sided platform
+that surrounded the well grew two immense fig-trees and a large
+pomegranate; and for many months of the year the _noria_ must have
+been an oasis of leafy shade in the midst of sun-baked fields.
+
+Even on that April day the fig leaves were unfolding, and the small
+green knobs of the first crop of fruit had sprouted close under the
+foliage at the tips of the ash-grey branches. The big pomegranate-tree
+held its spreading branches over the mule-track, as though desirous of
+warding off the sun from the patient worker. On the delicate tracery
+of branches the leaves, that always seem too minute and finely
+fashioned to be in perfect accord with the heavy roseate fruit, were
+showing rich copper hues.
+
+In humid spots about the stone bastions of the well moisture-loving
+maidenhair fern was clinging. As the shaft, slowly revolving, turned
+the wheel, the chain of wooden buckets emptied themselves with a
+musical tinkle of falling water into the wooden trough beneath, from
+which it flowed into a big square tank.
+
+At first sight the enduring mule had seemed the only sentient being
+near, but a second glance revealed abounding life. The water in the
+reservoir was dotted with lively black entities that proved to be
+tadpoles. On a decaying log sat a handsome frog with a panel of
+green, of so vivid a tint as to seem as though freshly enamelled,
+neatly let into his glistening brown back. Along the sandy bottom of
+the clear water a great warted toad moved sluggishly. Close in the
+shadow a dark trout was lurking. Within reach of my hand a golden
+lizard lazily sunned himself; and on the top of the wall rested a
+dragon-fly with a broken wing.
+
+A swallow swooped overhead. Among the poppy-strewn barley
+grasshoppers were chirping merrily. In the sunshine a newly-hatched
+swarm of insects gyrated, tentatively exercising their wings--all
+Nature seemed indolently happy. But still the patient mule trod on
+its way. Sometimes it paused a space, and I rejoiced; but the moment
+the listening ears ceased to hear the trickle of the falling water
+the persevering beast had again started upon the monotonous circular
+tour.
+
+It must have been a case of conscience, for nobody was at hand to
+see whether the task was accomplished or not; but still, with eyes
+blinded to the beauty around, the patient mule pursued the ceaseless
+round, until, ashamed of my own inactivity, I longed to loosen the
+halter, to take off the straw blinders that covered his eyes, and to
+turn him into the cornfields to eat his fill.
+
+"What have you done with yourself?" asked the Man, as he closed his
+colour-box and prepared to return to the hotel for lunch; "I'm
+afraid you must have had a dull morning."
+
+But when I would have explained to him how excellently well I had
+been entertained I found it difficult. So I said nothing, for, after
+all, what possible social community could one find in a blindfold
+old mule and a handful of saltant or fluttering creatures?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the afternoon the padre came with us, and we drove right across
+the island to San Antonio, the town that ranks second in importance.
+From Iviza diligences run to San Antonio, to Santa Eulalia, to San
+Carlos, San José, and San Juan, and the fare is fivepence. But
+Ivizan diligences are impossible things. We had seen them and
+shuddered, for they were merely rough carts with matted floors and
+close airless canvas covers. And any we had seen were so crammed
+that segments of squashed passengers protruded from every opening.
+
+To secure the services of a two-wheeled carriage, a horse, and a man
+for a complete day costs a douro (four shillings) in Iviza, and the
+charge for a half-day is the same.
+
+The padre, Don Pepe, accompanied us, and in the care of a
+grave-faced Ivizan clad in a mourning suit of black ribbed velvet we
+set off, pausing at the hamlet of San Rafael to see the fine vista
+of the town from the plateau before the church.
+
+I must confess that at first sight San Antonio was disappointing.
+What we had expected I do not know. What we found was a whitewashed
+village set on a rocky slope by an enclosed bay. The situation was
+delightful; but after the grandly characteristic city of Iviza this
+zealously whitewashed town, in spite of its antiquity, seemed
+insignificant and _new_.
+
+Antonio, the friend whom Don Pepe sought, was away on his
+"possession." So while a willing messenger sped to fetch him, we
+visited the church. The cura was absent, though his lace-trimmed
+vestments--which, like the town, were white as the driven snow--were
+hanging to dry within the precincts by the church porch.
+
+The church of San Antonio shares the attractive informality which is
+the distinctive feature of Ivizan architecture. It was once a
+fortress of defence against the Moors. From the flat roof we had a
+magnificent survey of the country about, saw the bay, which, like
+all the water about the island, abounds in fish, and the lighthouse,
+to which Don Pepe promised to take us, and the rough track up the
+solid rock towards the _Cueva de Santa Inés_, into whose recesses
+Antonio was going to guide us.
+
+We had left the church and were moving in the direction of the
+lighthouse, when the padre's quick eyes noted a figure hastening
+towards us. The messenger had done his work. Antonio had returned.
+
+The señor was in the prime of manhood and on the eve of marriage.
+After our other sightseeing was done, we were promised a glimpse of
+his chosen one--or, to speak quite correctly, of the damsel who had
+selected him; for, as I have said before, in Iviza it is the lady
+who chooses.
+
+On the sunny bank near the lighthouse we encountered an interesting
+and venerable trio--the Alcalde, the Captain of the Port, who wore
+earrings, and the cura of San Antonio. With them also our padre was
+a favourite. The cura urged us to return to the _curato_ and take
+coffee with him. But the afternoon was passing and there was still
+much to see.
+
+So we said good-bye and left them with something of envy in our
+hearts, to resume their dawdle among the white flowering asters and
+butterflies, by the shores of the placid bay. Wherever their lives
+had been passed, they seemed at length to have found anchorage in a
+spot remote from the storms and dissensions that agitate and perplex
+the world.
+
+The men walked the mile to the cave. I drove, but many times during
+the short journey I realized that it would have been far less
+exertion to walk. The road lay over wickedly disposed rock, and when
+my hat was not butting the canvas sides of the trap it was violently
+colliding with that of the driver, who, though he bounced up and
+down on his seat, still managed to preserve his air of imperturbable
+calm.
+
+The story of this subterranean chapel is a curious and interesting
+one. It is believed that in the early years following the conquest,
+before the fortress was converted into a church, the inner chamber
+of the cave was used as a temple where Mass and other religious
+services were held. Some time later--probably towards the end of the
+sixteenth century--a wooden image of the martyred Saint Inés was
+discovered in the cave, an image that, though it was several times
+removed to the Church of San Antonio, always mysteriously reappeared
+in the cave. This was ultimately accepted as a sign that the saint
+desired her image to remain in the cave, which then received her
+name.
+
+On the anniversary of San Bartolomé's day--the very day on which the
+image had been discovered--in the height of a violent tempest, a
+foreign barque found safe harbourage in the bay of San Antonio. On
+board the distressed ship was a gentleman who had in his possession
+a beautiful painting of Santa Inés. In his extremity he made a
+definite bargain with the saint, vowing that, if through her
+intercession the whole ship's company landed without scath, he would
+present her portrait to the church of the first port where they
+disembarked in safety.
+
+It was on hearing of this miraculous intervention, and of the
+widespread notice it attracted, that the ecclesiastical authorities
+at Iviza gave permission for the little subterranean cavern to be
+used as a place of worship.
+
+After that time, on the annual recurrence of San Bartolomé's day,
+people in great numbers journeyed from all parts of the island to
+the little town, and after attending Mass in the parish church went
+with the inhabitants of the town to the cave, near which they
+picnicked. Then, after having taken a draught of water from the holy
+well in the interior of the cave, they assembled outside and danced
+until sunset.
+
+This quaint custom continued until 1865, when it was modified
+because the roof of the cave showed signs of collapse, and the
+natives of Iviza had a superstitious belief that the impending
+catastrophe would occur on the day of the annual gathering. Since
+then the dance has been held in the town, but is only attended by
+those from a distance, as, since the scene of the festival has been
+changed, the girls of San Antonio refuse to take part in it.
+
+When we had secured the key from a silent woman at the farm-house
+near by, we gained the mouth of the cave by treading unconventional
+paths--first walking in single file along the broad top of a stone
+wall, then treading across a tobacco patch, where, warmly sheltered
+by surrounding walls, the broad young leaves were growing strongly.
+
+At the entrance to the cave Antonio and a companion who had joined
+him--we knew him only as "Charles, his friend"--lit candles, and
+close on each other's heels we crept, doubled up and with stumbling
+feet, through the burrow-like passage that led to the inner shrine.
+
+Many changes must have taken place of late years, for the chapel was
+cumbered with fallen refuse. The arch of the roof masonry and the
+hollow where the altar had stood could still be distinguished,
+otherwise there was little token left of the strange history of this
+underground place of devotion. As we crawled back towards the light
+and the outer air, Antonio pointed to where, at the bottom of a
+tortuous and shelving passage, was situated the holy well.
+
+The climax of our visit to the little white town was the promised
+introduction to the beloved of Antonio, whom we met in the house of
+her mother, in the street near the church.
+
+Antonia could not have been more than twenty, if indeed she had
+quitted her teens, but in sobriety of dress and demureness of outer
+deportment she was a facsimile of her comely mother. It was only
+when you noticed that her full red lips had difficulty in refraining
+from curving into smiles, just as the dark hair so smoothly
+plastered down on either side of her rosy face seemed rebelliously
+determined to ripple into waves, that you realized that Antonia was
+overflowing with exuberant young life.
+
+Antonio knew it, though. No disguise of decorous matronly garments
+or assumption of a demure manner could conceal from him Antonia's
+real girlish charm. One could see that by the way his string-seated
+chair edged imperceptibly nearer hers, and by the ingenious manner
+in which, without seeming to do so, he yet managed to watch her
+every motion.
+
+It was at this juncture that a happy thought occurred to the padre.
+
+Would it be possible for the Man to do a sketch--just the smallest
+jotting--of Antonia, as a memento of the occasion?
+
+"Of course it would," agreed the Man. "And of Antonio, too!"
+
+At this the lips that Antonia had been trying so hard to keep prim
+broke apart in irrepressible giggles and her hand slipped up to see
+if her rebellious hair was smooth enough to do her credit. And
+Antonio straightened his shoulders and gave a furtive twist to the
+ends of his moustache.
+
+The light was fading, and the chairs had to be placed--close enough
+together to satisfy even Antonio's desires--near by the open door;
+just outside which a row of children had already secured front
+places to view the show.
+
+The sketch was necessarily hurried, even perfunctory, but it gave
+immense satisfaction.
+
+"Oh! Look at Antonio," Antonia gurgled joyously. "See his moustache!
+Is it not fine?"
+
+"It is like the moustache of an officer of _carabineros_," said
+Antonio, feeling it to see if it were actually more imposing than he
+had thought. "If I really look like that I ought to be a Minister of
+State; but--I prefer to be the husband of Antonia!"
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The Church of Jesus, Iviza]
+
+XXVIII
+
+WELCOME AND FAREWELL
+
+
+The shimmer of the sunrise and the reflection of the hills in the
+unruffled waters of the harbour were so ethereally beautiful in
+these Ivizan mornings, that I found it impossible to stay in bed. On
+the last day of our stay I was early out on the balcony.
+
+Scarcely anybody was about. A man in a red cap and a coat of yellow
+velvet was baiting lobster-pots. And a boy in velvet trousers that
+sun and the passage of time had faded to an inimitable shade of pale
+moss-green was playing with a dog. Otherwise the town seemed asleep.
+The scene was the perfection of drowsy restfulness, when the sudden
+blast of a steam-siren broke in upon the placidity, and with the
+sound a steamer, looking gigantic in these miniature surroundings,
+entered the bay.
+
+With her appearance the world awoke. As the ship moved slowly in
+towards her berth, which was just below my balcony, people appeared
+from all directions, as though they had been lying in ambush
+awaiting the signal to concentrate upon a given point. Probably the
+fact that the military element was present in force suggested the
+simile. A band of officers in full dress, with short natty
+astrakhan-lined overcoats and white gloves, stood a little apart
+from, and in advance of, the general public. Among them were the
+lieutenant in command of the carbineers, and the tall chief of the
+civil guard, who looked immense in a heavy cloak lined with scarlet.
+
+The municipal authorities had assembled in force, also
+representatives of the Church, the British Consul--"Good morning,
+sir!" to me on the balcony--and a comprehensive gathering of
+townsfolk, all with the air of being pleasantly excited about
+something that was going to happen.
+
+The steamer--it was the _Cataluña_--was close to the wharf now, but
+there was no sign on deck of any unusual occurrence. Except for the
+crew, a few steerage passengers, and a knot of priests who clustered
+on the boat deck amidships, nobody appeared to be on board. But
+still the crowd waited expectant.
+
+Then just as the gangway connected the _Cataluña_ with the land a
+solitary martial figure, a uniformed officer whose breast was
+decorated with several medals, appeared on the poop. And towards the
+ship and up the gangway, in slow and ceremonial order, moved the
+officers. The lieutenant-colonel of the Ivizan battalion of the
+_cazadores_ led. Over the gangway, across the deck, up the
+companion, and into the arms of the decorated officer, which were
+outstretched to receive him. In quick succession the others passed
+up, to be received cordially, if not so affectionately as their
+colonel. Then, as in turn the waiting authorities followed, it
+dawned upon us that we had been close spectators of the arrival of
+the new Governor of Iviza, and that from our point of vantage we had
+witnessed his first official reception.
+
+It was about this stage of the proceedings that among the men in
+uniform who were surrounding the new Governor on the poop we began
+to recognize different members of our hotel party.
+
+The imposing captain of infantry was the tall man who sat next to us
+and spoke to nobody. The man with the bellowing voice and the
+beautiful eyes was the lieutenant in command of the Ivizan
+carbineers. The man at the end of the table was a captain of
+engineers. The man with the eye-glasses was the captain of the
+medical corps.
+
+So much for our fancied astuteness. In place of sharing the table
+with a party of commercial travellers, as we had imagined, we had
+really been eating at the Ivizan equivalent to an officers' mess!
+
+When everybody with any claim to the distinction had been presented
+and the company on the poop had dwindled down to a few, the family
+of the newly arrived Governor made its appearance, in the persons of
+three lively boys and a baby in a nurse's arms. Then, coincident
+with the appearance on deck of a lady in a hat and motor-veil, the
+six soldiers in fatigue uniform who had been in waiting sped up the
+gangway, to return laden with hand baggage, which, with other
+femininities, included a blue bandbox. And in their wake the
+Governor and his little tribe, accompanied by the colonel, stepped
+in stately measure across the wharf, and disappeared into the door
+of the hotel that gaped hospitably open beneath us.
+
+As we drank the coffee that the overworked Paco had just brought us,
+we wondered a little what the new Governor's impressions of Iviza
+would be. He looked worn, we thought, as though weary with years of
+service; and we hoped that he would find his new home in this remote
+island a place of peace.
+
+The little breakfast over, our black-garbed driver and the British
+Consul, who had suggested taking us to see the _Salinas_, were
+waiting. And we drove out in the sweet morning towards the curious
+series of lagoons where two great harvests of salt are yearly
+reaped.
+
+The day was glorious, the air crisp, exhilarating, as we drove out
+over the country roads towards the wide stretch of flat land where
+the sea-water, prisoned by a cunning sequence of locks into vast
+shallow vats, was slowly evaporating in the strong sunshine.
+
+Although lead and zinc are mined near Santa Eulalia, the Salinas at
+Iviza and at Formentera form the great industry of the Ivizan group
+of islands, salt to the amount of nine thousand tons being shipped
+each year to various parts of the world.
+
+The history of these vast salt lagoons reaches back to before the
+conquest. In 1871 the Salinas, which for many years previously had
+belonged to the State, became the property of a private company, now
+known as the _Salinera Española_.
+
+The road, which led between green fields, had been lovely. An
+occasional girl perched on a donkey comprised almost the entire
+traffic. We reached the Salinas to find a scene of great brilliancy.
+All along the sides of the pools rose pyramids of salt, their
+glistening sides clearly reflected in the still water with something
+of the effect of carefully moulded icebergs. And along the portable
+line of rails strings of trucks laden with the sharp-faceted
+crystals of the rough salt were moving towards the wharf.
+
+Down by the wharf everything was white--the roads, the few houses,
+the great stores of salt that lay awaiting shipment, the shoes of
+the men that stood in the flat-bottomed barges beneath with long
+rakes, packing away the salt as it streamed down in a sparkling
+white torrent from the pulverizing machine on the staging of the
+quay above.
+
+From Iviza salt is shipped in great quantities to many distant
+countries. It was interesting to hear that even in salt the taste of
+the nations varies--Russia liking hers large in crystal, America
+preferring that supplied her to be as fine as possible.
+
+We stood on the pier that jutted out over the clear green waters of
+the islet-studded bay, watching the men at work filling the barges
+with the salt that was to be transhipped to the Italian barque that
+lay in the bay of Iviza. A fine, robust, brown-faced smiling lot of
+men they were. And the work on which they were at the moment
+engaged seemed mechanical and easy. Hanging on the railing close by
+were fishing nets, and they told us they caught many fish in the
+bay.
+
+On that bright airy morning the work seemed pleasant and not
+over-arduous: different from what it must be when the fierce
+southern heat has dried up the sea-water and the labour consists of
+standing under the burning sun, beset by mosquitoes, scooping up the
+salt from the floor of the lagoons and building it up into pyramids.
+If ever there was specially thirsty work it must be salt salving.
+
+There seemed to be surprisingly little accommodation for the
+labourers near the Salinas. In summer, when close upon a thousand
+labourers are employed, a large proportion of them are forced to
+live in the town of Iviza and add a walk of many miles to the
+exertion of the day.
+
+At the hotel at luncheon the newly installed Governor with all his
+family (except the baby) and the colonel sat by us at table. The
+elder men were still in uniform, but the _habitués_ of the board had
+been quick to return to mufti.
+
+Our walk that afternoon was in the care of Don Narciso, and under
+his guidance we walked through pleasant country byways towards the
+few clustered houses that comprise the little village of Jesus, to
+see a notable picture in the church there.
+
+It was through a fair green world that Narciso led us that radiant
+afternoon--under trees heavy with great green velvet almonds, and
+through fields deep in full-bearded grain and rich in blood-red
+poppies and crimson gladioli, among which wide-hatted women, the
+upper of their many skirts tucked up pannier fashion, were busy
+working.
+
+Just outside the Church of Jesus, at a _noria_ in the shade of a
+tall palm, trellised vines, and budding pomegranate-trees, a
+sun-browned man, his little brown son, and an old brown mule were
+working in happy unison. The church itself belonged to that informal
+type of architecture in which Iviza abounds. The roof was
+red-tiled, and without and within the building was severely
+whitewashed. The special panel which formed the centre of the great
+altar-piece was the work of an unknown painter of the early
+Valencian school.
+
+In a broad, simple composition it represented the Virgin and Holy
+Child surrounded by angels. The details were obscure, even after Don
+Narciso had thrown open the big door of the church to allow more
+light to enter; but the colour was remarkably rich and full. And
+though the surrounding subjects were inferior in workmanship, their
+subdued tones harmonized well with the dignity of the central panel.
+
+The cura was not at home, but his parents, a dear old peasant couple
+who lived with him, received us warmly, offering that ready and
+insistent hospitality that struck us as being a special feature of
+the Ivizan life. Our winter in Majorca had accustomed us to the
+polite but purely perfunctory fashion in which, like the Spaniard,
+the Majorcan tenders food to all comers, secure in the knowledge
+that it will be declined. But when the Ivizan offers refreshment to
+the visitor he means it to be accepted.
+
+The moment we were all seated on chairs set round the walls of the
+wide, airy room into which the large door directly opened, the good
+old father hastened to bring out a tray of tiny glasses and a
+decanter of the pure, amber-hued Ivizan wine--wine that had been
+pressed from grapes ripened close by. And the mother ran to fetch a
+plate of sweet biscuits and goblets of clear water. Then they
+watched with genuine pleasure while we sipped the wine, and, having
+praised it in all sincerity, followed the custom of the country and
+drank of the water.
+
+The sole family of the worthy couple had been two sons, both of whom
+had shown a vocation for the Church. The one in whose house they
+lived was now cura of Jesus, the other that of San Raphael, only a
+short walk distant.
+
+Our casual visit to the little hamlet left in our minds an unfading
+picture of rustic sweetness of atmosphere and of modest pride that
+had attained its ideal.
+
+From there we went to see a fine old country house, one of the
+"possessions" of a friend of Don Narciso, who, though he does not
+live there, courteously cycled over to do the honours. From the
+roofed _mirador_ we had a good view of the town rising on its rocky
+height above the sea.
+
+Here, too, we had evidence of the Ivizan spirit of hospitality.
+Native wine was again offered us, and from the orange gardens down
+by the palm-encircled _noria_ we got abundance of huge oranges, and
+a curious fruit that, with the outward appearance of the lemon,
+boasted the sweetness of the orange allied to a floating essence of
+bergamot.
+
+There the kindly Don Pepe joined us, and together we walked back
+through the gloaming.
+
+At dinner the new Governor, still in uniform, his handsome wife and
+their three nice boys again were present. After the State reception
+of the morning, it amazed us to see with what an utter lack of
+consideration they were treated. The very officers who had risen at
+daybreak and donned their best uniforms to honour his arrival sat at
+table with the Governor as though unconscious of his presence.
+
+The sole sign of deference that we could discover was that the
+landlord and Paco had put on their best coats in which to wait at
+table. But there the distinction ended. In common with the others,
+the Governor and his family patiently endured the tedious service.
+To me it was almost painful to see the representative of official
+power sit uncomplainingly, until the overworked Paco, having made
+the round of the long table, handed the few chilled fragments still
+remaining in the dish to the hero of the imposing little ceremony of
+the morning. It made us inclined to wonder if the hospitality of the
+Ivizans was confined to the humbler classes, or whether it would
+have been a breach of Ivizan etiquette had one or other of the
+principal residents offered these new-comers the freedom of their
+homes.
+
+So ended our visit to Iviza. For when dinner was over and our
+farewells said, the _Cataluña_ was ready to take us back to Palma.
+Our experience of the remote island that we had approached with
+doubts had been a thoroughly delightful one, and when we steamed out
+over the placid water we watched the lights of Iviza sink in the
+distance with the feeling that we left real friends among the kindly
+islanders.
+
+Our visit had been a short one, yet our minds held precious memories
+of the sincere and kindly people--of the padre, Don Pepe, and his
+affectionate care for his flock; of Narciso and his pictures, of the
+loves of Antonia and Antonio, and of the dear old father and mother
+of the cura of Jesus.
+
+Though it lacks the savage grandeur of some parts of Majorca, Iviza
+has beautiful and romantic scenery, and life in the lovely island is
+sweet and simple and wholesome. There is little money in
+circulation, but more is not needed. The ground is fertile, the
+climate gracious, the water-supply is unfailing, and fish may be had
+for the catching. So food is plentiful and cheap. House rent in the
+town of Iviza may be counted at about a half less than in Palma, and
+when the townsfolk speak of the cost of living in the smaller towns,
+such as San Antonio, they hold up their hands at the amazing
+cheapness of it.
+
+This, then, was our impression of Iviza, the remote island about
+which such extravagant tales are circulated. That fire-arms and
+knives still play a part when the interests of rival lovers clash is
+openly acknowledged. But during our visit the course of true love
+must have run smoothly, for no echo of pistol shot or clash of
+weapon marred the peace of our stay.
+
+As we found the people of that forgotten isle--honest, courteous,
+generous, and hospitable, quaint of dress and soft of voice--so have
+I written.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Moorish Tower at the Port of Alcudia]
+
+XXIX
+
+LAST DAYS
+
+
+The golden months had flown past, speeding so swiftly that we felt
+as though time must have defrauded us. Scarcely a day seemed to have
+elapsed after our return from Iviza before we were saying, "Next
+week we must go home."
+
+But before beginning preparation for departure, three days were our
+own. Three clear days in which to take a real lazy holiday; for
+though the holiday spirit had pervaded our wanderings, we had all
+been working hard. To be really idle we knew we must seek a spot
+already familiar to us, one that offered no temptation to register
+fresh impressions. And a brief family conclave found us unanimous in
+the opinion that the port of Alcudia, from which, in January, we
+had sailed to Minorca, was the ideal place.
+
+Friday morning found us at La Puebla station, mounting the little
+one-horse diligence that runs to and from Alcudia in connection with
+the trains.
+
+I shared the box-seat with a semi-comatose driver, a big box, a
+bigger sack, a loaf of bread, and sundry nondescript parcels.
+Besides my people, the only occupant of the interior was a bronzed
+young man who had travelled in the same compartment with us from
+Palma.
+
+In the train the studied perfection of his dress had made me wonder
+on what errand of ceremony he was bound. His trousers and waistcoat
+were of very light piqué, his coat of shining black alpaca. His
+linen was new, his tie resplendent; his watch-chain of linked metals
+was an inch broad; his face beamed with expectancy; his whole being
+seemed to vibrate with glad impatience.
+
+The way to Alcudia passed through a rural district, running at first
+by many small holdings, where patient mules were turning
+water-wheels to irrigate the little fields where their masters were
+hard at work.
+
+The driver, curling himself up in his corner of the box-seat, dozed
+off after the manner of diligence drivers who have started on their
+first journey long before dawn. The horse, taking advantage of his
+master's somnolence, walked more and more and more slowly, until at
+intervals the driver, unwillingly opening half an eye to see how far
+we had progressed and finding us almost at a standstill, would urge
+him on with opprobrious words.
+
+The day was lovely--how often I seem to have written that! In the
+lush green corn grasshoppers were chirping. By the wayside the
+convolvulus was opening its big pink cups. And in the dark interior
+of the diligence the bronzed man was telling his story.
+
+He was a son of the district towards which we were slowly advancing.
+His parents had a wayside _taverna_ and a tiny farm. But in the
+family there were many mouths to feed, and though in Majorca there
+was always food for all, money was scarce. So five years ago he had
+gone to Algeria to push his fortunes. Now, having made a little
+money, he was returning, without warning of his coming, to his old
+home. As to the future? Well, that was for his parents to decide.
+
+One did not require to be told that the five years of exile had been
+industrious and frugal ones. Now the great moment was at hand. He
+was already experiencing the expectant joy of the returning
+wanderer.
+
+When the small holdings had been left far in the rear and rocky
+hills rose beyond the fertile fields, his assumed composure
+vanished. He became frankly excited, eagerly watching the lonely
+road and scanning the fields for sign of familiar forms and faces.
+
+As the coach made a momentary pause while the driver delivered a
+loaf and an amorphous parcel to a road-mender, the Exile, thrusting
+his head from the back window, shouted greeting. And the roadman,
+recognizing an old friend, ran after the already receding coach to
+grasp him warmly by the hand.
+
+The driver was wide-awake now, and evidently determined to make up
+for lost time. And the cigars our Exile wished to give the
+_caminero_ had to be thrown on the road, from which with grateful
+nods and smiles he picked them up.
+
+As he drew near his old home the Exile, though even more keenly
+alert, became silent. When the little _taverna_ by the wayside came
+in sight the driver, rising to the occasion, put on pace and pulled
+up before the door in grand style.
+
+The unusual sight of the coach stopping brought the old _tavernero_
+and his wife to the wide doorway. From my perch on the box I saw
+their expressions change from surprise to amazed delight. It was the
+father--a typical Majorcan with a hale spare figure and shrewd
+kindly face--who, advancing first, seized his exultant son in his
+arms. The mother held back a moment, quivering with joyous
+emotions, her lips parted in speechless welcome. Then, running
+forward, she fell upon his neck.
+
+The host and hostess of the Fonda Marina gave us hearty welcome,
+and, as before, heaped benefits upon us. In our three months of
+absence young Cristobal had grown perceptibly. He was at school now,
+and had already learned to recite in Spanish sing-song the days of
+the week and the months of the year.
+
+Our former rooms overlooking the bay were vacant, and for three long
+summer days we wandered as we listed--over the white sands, which
+were now rich with the rare shells and scarlet coral for which, on
+our previous visit, I had looked in vain; or among the pines, whose
+sun-distilled fragrance mingled with the sea air. One radiant
+morning we took a luncheon basket and wandered as far as the
+Albufera, but at all other times the excellent cooking of the
+mistress of the _fonda_ lured us back in time for meals.
+
+The few people we encountered looked pleasantly at us. And the
+Captain of the Port--a retired naval officer who spent much of his
+time fishing from a boat moored at his own front door--most
+courteously called, and presented me with a bouquet sent by the
+ladies of his house.
+
+Monday evening saw us back at the Casa Tranquila. With Tuesday began
+the uncongenial labour of dissolution; for the little house that
+during the never-to-be-forgotten months had been our headquarters
+had to be emptied of its contents. Our belongings were few in
+number, but our manner of living had brought us into such intimate
+relations with them that we felt personal interest in each article.
+We had developed quite an affection for our yellow cups and saucers
+with their crude bunches of red and blue flowers; and our
+chocolate-pot of brown and yellow native ware, with its perforated
+lid and wooden pestle, ranked as a family friend.
+
+The great vine that during the first months of our stay had
+converted the veranda into an airy bower was again covered with
+foliage and with embryonic clusters of grapes that some more lucky
+tenants would enjoy. The rose-bushes that had bloomed all winter
+were sending out an abundance of bud-laden shoots. Ripe lemons still
+clung to the higher branches of the tree, though the new fruit was
+already formed.
+
+There was scant time for all we had to do. Yet we managed to pay
+good-bye visits; to take final peeps at our favourite haunts; to
+secure on behalf of a poultry-fancying friend a setting of the eggs
+of certain Moorish-looking fowls whose jet black bodies were topped
+by huge white feather turbans; to dig up bulbs of the most curious
+kinds of fly orchis for another friend who is so fortunate as to
+possess a "wonder garden."
+
+Our final day, which rushed upon us before we had steeled ourselves
+to meet it, was deplorably wet. It seemed as though the climate that
+had treated us so generously was weeping at the thought of our
+departure.
+
+We lunched daintily at the home of our good friends the Consul and
+his wife. Then came the moment when, for the last time, the bells of
+Bartolomé's chariot jingled at the door of the Casa Tranquila, and
+the neighbours came out to wish us God-speed. None of them came
+empty-handed. Pepe brought his finest carnations. The Andalusian
+lady, her entire brood clinging to her matronly skirts, also offered
+flowers, and the retired gentleman who lived in the lordly mansion
+across the way hastened to cut his choicest roses.
+
+So with the carriage full of fragrant evidence of good will, we
+drove off, to pause a moment at Apolonia's door to bid her farewell.
+At the distribution of odds and ends a rug and a hat had been
+allotted to Apolonia. And when she seized this opportunity of
+thanking us for the trifles sent her, Apolonia spoke appreciatively
+of the rug, but there were tears in her bright eyes when she
+referred to the _sombrero_. And that makes one wonder how it is that
+the utterly useless and incongruous gifts are often the most valued.
+The dear old soul had never worn a hat in her life and certainly
+never would. The article could be of no possible use to her, but
+perhaps, like Jess in the _Window in Thrums_ with her mantle, she
+"would aye ken it was there."
+
+As we turned the corner we got a glimpse of Mr. and Mrs. Pepe
+carrying a gaily coloured handkerchief containing the discarded suit
+of the Boy's that had fallen to Pepe's share. Waving the bundle,
+they indicated that they were already on their way to the tailor's
+to have the suit altered.
+
+The Angelus was ringing as the _Miramar_ steamed out into the mist.
+Standing at the stern, we looked back while the rain-clouds
+gradually blotted out the town, and thought of the little house at
+Son Españolet standing empty and forlorn.
+
+We had hoped that when the inevitable hour of parting came we might
+leave in one of those magnificent sunsets under which we had so
+often watched the mail-boat start for Barcelona. But though our last
+sight of Majorca was veiled with rain and tears, we will always
+remember it as a land of sunshine and of smiles.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+  Afterglow, 251
+
+  Alaró, 204
+    Castle of, 211
+    Children of, 213
+
+  Albufera, the, 173
+
+  Alcudia, 169, 175
+    Port of, 170
+
+  Almudaina Palace, 27, 149
+
+  _Almudaina, La_, 265
+
+  Aloes, 184, 188
+
+  Amphitheatre, Roman, 176
+
+  Amusements, 277
+
+  Andalusia, family from, 22, 332
+
+  Andraitx, 111
+    Port of, 117
+
+  Aquarium at Porto Pi, 282
+
+  Archduke Luis Salvador, 66, 82
+
+  Arracó, 123
+
+  Artá, 227
+    Caves of, 232
+
+  Asparagus, wild, 288
+
+  Asphodel, 286, 298
+
+  Astronomers, British, 55
+
+
+  Banners, Hall of the, 235
+
+  Barbarossa, 198
+
+  Barcelona, 1
+
+  Barnils, Hotel, 5, 6
+
+  Barranco, the, 100
+
+  Basket-making, 238
+
+  Begonias, 240
+
+  Bellver, Castle of, 4, 51
+
+  Biniaraix, 100, 249
+
+  Birthday party, 102
+
+  Boot-brushing, 190
+
+  Borrow, 49
+
+  Breeches, baggy, 64, 159, 164, 282
+
+  British Consul at Iviza, 297, 321
+    "       "     " Mahón, 200
+    " influence in Minorca, 186
+
+  Bull-fighting, 277
+
+  Butterflies, 284
+
+  Byng, Admiral, 195
+
+
+  Cabo Blanco, 211
+
+  Cabo de Pera, 182, 237
+
+  Cabrera, 169, 211
+
+  Cabritt and Bassa, 209
+
+  Cactus (prickly pear), 21, 122, 124, 160, 189, 205
+
+  Cala Fonts, Minorca, 198
+
+  Cala Retjada, 238
+
+  Calvario at Pollensa, 160
+
+  Candelabra, silver, 149
+
+  Capdepera, 231, 237
+
+  Cape Vermay, 238
+
+  Carabineros, 77
+
+  Carthusian Monastery, 71
+
+  Cas Catalá, 109
+
+  Castle of Alaró, 211
+    "     " Bellver, 4, 51
+    "    and fortifications, Iviza, 294
+
+  Catalans, Cave of the, 218
+
+  Cathedral, Palma, 134, 143, 147
+    "        Iviza, 294
+
+  Cave at Genova, 282
+    "  of the Holy Well, 139
+    "   " Ramon Lull, 86
+    "   " Santa Inés, Iviza, 316
+    "  Smugglers', 87
+
+  Caves of Artá, 232
+      "    the Dragon, Manacor, 217
+
+  Chaperonage, 5, 239, 268
+
+  Charcoal stove, 45
+
+  Charioteer, our, 67, 74, 152, 277, 332
+
+  Chopin, 12,70
+
+  Christians, early, 115
+
+  Christmas Eve, 134
+      "     market, 132
+
+  Church of Jesus, Iviza, 324
+
+  Ciudadela, Minorca, 181
+
+  Clubs, 275
+
+  Cobbler and his wife, 21, 333
+
+  Coinage, 49
+
+  Columns, Queen of the, 236
+
+  Commercial travellers, 182, 200
+
+  Conquistador, the, 4, 10, 52, 83, 109, 139, 144, 181, 194, 232
+        "       Feast of, 143
+
+  Conscripts, 166, 280
+
+  Consell, 204
+
+  Consul, our friend the, 15, 43, 131, 202, 332
+
+  Consumos, 46, 127, 133
+
+  Cookery, 11, 33, 65, 93, 113, 156, 171, 206, 227, 236
+
+  Coral, 331
+
+  Cost of living, 276
+
+  Courtship, 268, 304, 318
+
+  Customs, 5, 130
+
+
+  Dances, religious, 213
+
+  Dancing at San Antonio, Iviza, 317
+
+  Delights, Cave of, 218
+
+  Deyá, 91, 254, 259
+
+  Diligence, travelling by, 105, 126, 225, 283, 329
+
+  Dogs for hunting, 239
+
+  Dress, fashionable, 266
+
+  Dress, native, 10, 61, 63, 159, 226, 265, 293, 312
+
+  Dromios, the two, 165, 168
+
+
+  Eagles, 71, 211, 260
+
+  Electric light, 17, 136, 206
+
+  Enciamada, the, 6
+
+  Esglayeta, 68
+
+  Exile, returned, 330
+
+
+  Fairy, the Good, 245, 250, 252, 255
+
+  Ferrer, 3
+
+  Firewood, 45
+
+  First communicants, 248
+
+  Flowers, wild, 99, 121, 141, 192, 220, 240, 258, 285, 286, 298
+
+  Fonda de Mallorca, Palma, 5
+    "    " Rande, Artá, 227
+    "   Central, Mahón, 185
+    "   Feminias, Manacor, 216
+    "   Marina, Alcudia, 170, 331
+    "   at Iviza, 291
+
+  Fondas, country, 274
+
+  Footgear, 10
+
+  Fornalutx, 100
+
+  French influence, 98
+
+  Frogs at Iviza, 311
+
+  Furnishing, 17
+
+
+  Gardening, 21, 45
+
+  _General Chanzy_, wreck of, 182
+
+  Genova, 282
+
+  Governesses, 268
+
+  Governor of Iviza, 321, 326
+
+  Grand Hotel, Palma, 4, 204, 214, 274
+
+  Gymnesias, 11
+
+
+  Holy Thursday, procession on, 260
+
+  Hoo-poo, 243
+
+  Hospederia, 67, 72, 90, 260
+
+  Hospitality, 15, 325
+
+  Hotel Barnils, Palma, 5, 6
+    "   Grand, 4, 204, 214, 274
+    "   Marina, Sóller, 92, 97, 105, 244
+
+  Hot months, the, 273
+
+  House-hiring, 16
+
+  Housekeeping, 23
+
+
+  Ilex, forest of, 239
+
+  Inca, 63
+
+  Iviza, 289
+    British Consul at, 297, 321, 322
+    Castle and fortification, 294
+    Cathedral, 294
+    Cave of Santa Inés, 316
+    Church of Jesus, 324
+    Cost of living, 327
+    Courtship, 304, 318
+    Dress, 293, 302, 308, 312
+    Driving, 314
+    Early occupation of, 289
+    Fonda, 291
+    Frogs, 311
+    Hospitality, 325
+    Market, 293
+    Museum, 304
+    New Governor, 321, 326
+    Noria, 308, 312, 324
+    Phoenician catacombs, 298
+    Roman wall and statues, 292
+    Salinas, 323
+    San Antonio, 314
+    San Rafael, 314
+    Santo Domingo, 295
+    Small holdings, 308
+    Wild flowers, 298
+
+
+  King Alphonso IV, 209
+   "   Jaime, el Conquistador, 4, 10, 52, 83, 109, 139, 144, 181, 194, 232
+   "   Jaime II, 149
+   "   Sancho, 69, 84
+
+  Kitchen, farm, 103, 258
+
+
+  Language, 48, 121, 196, 200
+
+  Laundress, our, 49, 332
+
+  Lavender, sweet, 141
+
+  Locusts, 284
+
+  Lonja, the, 56
+
+  Lull, Ramon, 83
+
+
+  Mahón, 184
+
+  Mallorquin antiquities, 81, 150, 177, 240
+      "      prices, 7, 43, 44, 112, 155, 168, 170
+
+  Manacor, 216
+
+  Marketing, 7, 63, 80, 132, 159, 164, 189, 225, 283
+
+  Martel, French expert, 219
+
+  Mas, Juan, 167
+
+  Masked penitents, 263
+
+  Military service, 280
+
+  Minorca, 181
+    Athenæum at Mahón, 189
+    Barbarossa, 198
+    Boot-brushing, 190
+    British Consul, 200
+       "    influence, 186
+    Byng, Admiral, 195
+    Cala Fonts, 198
+    Ciudadela, 181
+    Commercial travellers, 182, 200
+    English words, 196
+    Fonda Central Mahón, 185
+    Market at Mahón, 189
+    San Luis, 195
+    Talyots, 190
+    Taula, 192
+    Villa Carlos, 198
+    Whitewash, 185
+    Wreck of the _General Chanzy_, 182
+
+  Miramar, 75
+
+  Monastery, Carthusian, 71
+
+  Montjuich, 3
+
+  Moorish oppression, 144
+     "    refugees, 232
+     "    tower, 173
+
+  Mosquitoes, 118, 285
+
+  Music, 31, 102, 140, 145
+
+
+  Navidad, 128
+
+  Nightingales, 245
+
+  Noria, 174, 308, 312, 324
+
+
+  Offerings, votive, 162, 297
+
+  Olive-oil factory, 103
+
+  Operations in church, exciting, 220
+
+  Orchis, fly, 220, 286
+
+  Our Lady of the Peak, 164
+   "    "    "    Refuge, 209
+
+
+  Palma de Mallorca, 4
+    Almudaina, 27, 149
+    Body of Jaime II, 150
+    Cathedral, 134, 143
+        "     treasures of, 147
+    Consumeros, 46
+    Customs office, 5
+    First impression, 4
+    Grand Hotel, 4, 204, 214, 274
+    Hotel Barnils, 5, 6
+    Lonja, the, 56
+    Markets, 7, 132
+    Port, 27
+    Post-office, 129
+    San Francisco, church of, 85
+    Social life, 266
+    Tavern at the port, 32
+
+  Palmettos, 160, 238
+
+  Palm Sunday, 245
+
+  Peak, Our Lady of the, 164
+
+  Penitents, masked, 263
+
+  Phoenician catacombs, Iviza, 298
+        "      village, 239
+
+  Pigs, 134, 181, 183
+
+  Plants, the rarer Balearic, 287
+
+  Plum pudding, 130
+
+  Pollensa, 155
+    Port of, 157
+    Town hall of, 165
+
+  Port of Palma, 27
+
+  Porto Pi, 4, 15, 273, 276, 285
+
+  Post-office, Palma, 129
+
+  Prices, Majorcan, 7, 43, 44, 112, 155, 168, 170
+
+  Puebla, La, 154, 329
+
+  Puerto Cristo, 217
+
+  Puig Mayor, 100, 105, 244, 245, 249, 256, 257
+
+
+  Queen of the Columns, 236
+    "   of Spain, birthday of, 14
+
+
+  Rain, 10, 92, 203, 271
+
+  Ramon Lull, 83
+
+  Refuge, Our Lady of the, 209
+
+  Refugees, Moorish, 232
+
+  Relics, sacred, 147
+
+  Rent, house, 19, 250
+
+  Road-mending, 252
+
+  Roman amphitheatre, 176
+    "   gateway, 169
+    "   graves, 177
+    "   statues, Iviza, 292
+
+
+  Salinas, 323
+
+  Saloon accommodation, first, 2, 194, 197
+     "        "         second, 180, 194, 197, 202
+
+  Salt, shipping, 323
+
+  Samphire, 207
+
+  San Antonio, Iviza, 314
+
+  San Francisco, church of, 85
+
+  San Lorenzo, 226
+
+  San Luis, Minorca, 195
+
+  San Rafael, Iviza, 314
+
+  San Roch, Feast of, 213
+
+  Sand, George, 12, 70
+
+  Santa Catalina, 15, 18
+
+  Santa Maria, 62
+
+  Santo Domingo, Iviza, 295
+
+  Scots visitors, 278
+
+  Secoma, 125
+
+  Sereno, the, 12
+
+  Servants, 276
+
+  Shells, 172, 282, 331
+
+  Smugglers' cave, 87
+
+  Snow, 271
+
+  Social life, 266
+
+  Sóller, 94, 243
+    Port of, 96, 257
+    Fiesta at, 283
+
+  Son Españolet, 15, 18, 46, 166, 273
+
+  Son Mas, Andraitx, 115
+
+  Son Moragues, 82
+
+  Son Puigdorfila, 138
+
+  Son Rapiña, 138, 273
+
+  Son Servera, 230
+
+  Sponges, 282
+
+  Squire and Lady, 204, 272, 278
+
+  Steamer _Ancona_ of Leith, 30
+    _Balear_, 1, 3
+    _Cataluña_, 321
+    _Isla de Menorca_, 197
+    _Lulio_, 290
+    _Miramar_, 34, 333
+    _Monte Toro_, 180
+    _Vicente Sanz_, 194
+    _Villa de Sóller_, 97
+
+  Sunshine, 270
+
+
+  Talyots, 190
+
+  Taula, 192
+
+  Taylor, Bayard, 69
+
+  Tea, 6, 81, 241
+
+  Temple, the white, 76
+
+  Terreno, the, 15, 51, 273, 276
+
+  Tobacco, 32, 119, 317
+
+  Torrentes, 94, 117, 140, 249
+
+  Tourists, 28, 281
+
+  Tower, Moorish, 173
+
+  Town Hall, Pollensa, 165
+
+  Train, travelling by, 61, 153
+
+  Travellers, commercial, 182
+
+  Travelling by diligence, 105, 108, 126, 154
+
+
+  Valldemosa, 69, 80, 260
+
+  Vegetable man, our, 25, 50
+
+  Vermay, Cape, 238
+
+  Vigilante, our, 39, 277
+
+  Villa Carlos, Minorca, 198
+
+  Votive offerings, 162, 297
+
+
+  Wells, chain (norias), 174, 308, 312, 324
+
+  Whitewash, 185
+
+  Wild asparagus, 288
+
+  Wild flowers, 99, 121, 141, 192, 220, 240, 258, 285, 286, 298
+
+  Wind at Minorca, 191
+
+  Windmills, 122
+
+  Wine shop, 65, 112
+
+  Winter climate, ideal, 270
+
+
+  Yachting, 275
+
+  Yacht of the Czar, 28
+
+
+
+
+The Gresham Press
+UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED,
+WOKING AND LONDON.
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Times are shown using a period notation e.g. 7.40, these have been
+left unchanged.
+
+Changed quatro to cuatro in the second repetition of "Onza reals,
+_cuatro_ centims, dos centims". (Ch. IV Housekeeping.)
+
+Changed jewelry to jewellery in "conjunction with handsome
+_jewelry_" for consistency with the rest of the book. (Ch. VI THE
+FAIR AT INCA.)
+
+_En el nombre del Padre, y del Higo, y del Espiritu Santo_ was left
+unchanged, but this is normally written _En el nombre del Padre, y del
+ =Hijo=, y del Espiritu Santo_. (Ch. VI THE FAIR AT INCA.)
+
+Changed biscochos to bizcochos in "crisply toasted _bizcochos_".
+(Ch. VIII MIRAMAR.)
+
+Changed 'were' to 'was' in "Even in its natural state it _was_
+difficult". (Ch. IX SÓLLER.)
+
+"made his money in Buenos Ayres" was left unchanged, although more
+commonly known as Buenos Aires. (Ch. XV THE PORT OF ALCUDIA.)
+
+"Muchos gracias, señor." was left unchanged, but this is correctly
+said - "Muchas gracias, señor." (Ch. XXVI AN IVIZAN SABBATH.)
+
+There is quite a lot of inconsistency in the book with words that are
+hyphenated or spaced and/or joined. These have been left unchanged.
+
+Likewise, accents and indication of foreign words (using italics) are
+inconsistent. These have been corrected for placenames without
+comment; all others have been left unchanged.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FORTUNATE ISLES***
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+
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+    display: block;
+    margin-left: 1em;
+    padding-left: 3em;
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+
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+    display: block;
+    margin-left: 2em;
+    padding-left: 3em;
+    text-indent: -3em;
+}
+
+em { font-style:italic; }
+
+/* Transcriber's notes */
+.transnote {background-color: #E6E6FA;
+    color: black;
+     font-size:smaller;
+     padding:0.5em;
+     margin-bottom:5em;
+     font-family:sans-serif, serif; }
+
+    hr.full { width: 100%;
+              margin-top: 3em;
+              margin-bottom: 0em;
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+              border-width: 4px 0 0 0; /* remove all borders except the top one */
+              border-style: solid;
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+              clear: both; }
+    pre      {font-size: 85%;}
+    </style>
+</head>
+<body>
+<h1>The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Fortunate Isles, by Mary Stuart Boyd,
+Illustrated by A. S. Boyd</h1>
+<pre>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre>
+<p>Title: The Fortunate Isles</p>
+<p>       Life and Travel in Majorca, Minorca and Iviza</p>
+<p>Author: Mary Stuart Boyd</p>
+<p>Release Date: March 19, 2012  [eBook #39199]</p>
+<p>Language: English</p>
+<p>Character set encoding: UTF-8</p>
+<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FORTUNATE ISLES***</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<h4>E-text prepared by Dave Hobart, Suzanne Shell,<br />
+    and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team<br />
+    (<a href="http://www.pgdp.net">http://www.pgdp.net</a>)<br />
+    from page images generously made available by<br />
+    Internet Archive/American Libraries<br />
+    (<a href="http://www.archive.org/details/americana">http://www.archive.org/details/americana</a>)</h4>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<table border="0" style="background-color: #ccccff;margin: 0 auto;" cellpadding="10">
+  <tr>
+    <td valign="top">
+      Note:
+    </td>
+    <td>
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive/American Libraries. See
+      <a href="http://www.archive.org/details/fortunateislesli00boydiala">
+      http://www.archive.org/details/fortunateislesli00boydiala</a>
+	</td>
+  </tr>
+</table>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="h1nopagebreak">THE FORTUNATE ISLES<br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="h2pagebreak"><span style="font-weight: normal;">BY THE SAME AUTHOR</span></p>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Other books">
+<tr><td align="center"><i>Travel</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">OUR STOLEN SUMMER</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">A VERSAILLES CHRISTMAS-TIDE</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="center"><br /><i>Novels</i></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">THE GLEN</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">THE FIRST STONE</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">WITH CLIPPED WINGS</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">THE MAN IN THE WOOD</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">BACKWATERS</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">HER BESETTING VIRTUE</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">THE MISSES MAKE-BELIEVE</td></tr>
+</table><br /><br /></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 285px;">
+<a name="Frontispiece" id="Frontispiece"></a>
+<a href="images/col01.jpg"><img src="images/col01-tb.jpg" width="285" height="400" alt="Street scene showing people on staircase" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">CALLE DEL CALVARIO, POLLENSA</span>
+</div>
+
+<h1><br />THE FORTUNATE ISLES
+<span style="font-size:x-large;"><br /><br />LIFE AND TRAVEL IN<br />
+MAJORCA, MINORCA<br />
+AND IVIZA</span><br /><br /></h1>
+
+<p class="h2"><span style="font-weight:normal; font-size:medium;">BY</span><br />
+MARY STUART BOYD<br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="h2"><span style="font-weight:normal; font-size:smaller;">WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR AND<br />
+FIFTY-TWO PEN DRAWINGS</span><br />
+<span style="font-weight:normal; font-size:medium;">BY</span><br />
+<span style="font-size:smaller;">A. S. BOYD, R.S.W.</span><br /><br /><br /></p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+
+<p class="h2">METHUEN &amp; CO. LTD.<br />
+36 ESSEX STREET W.C.<br />
+LONDON<br /><br /></p>
+
+<p class="center"><i>First Published in 1911</i><br /><br /></p>
+
+<h2><a name="FOREWARNING" id="FOREWARNING">FOREWARNING</a></h2>
+
+<p>"I hear you think of spending the winter in the Balearic Islands?"
+said the only Briton we met who had been there. "Well, I warn you,
+you won't enjoy them. They are quite out of the world. There are no
+tourists. Not a soul understands a word of English, and there's
+nothing whatever to do. If you take my advice you won't go."</p>
+
+<p>So we went. And what follows is a faithful account of what befell us
+in these fortunate isles.</p>
+
+<p class="right">M. S. B.<br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii"> [Pg vii]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="CONTENTS" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</a></h2>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="2" summary="Table of contents">
+<tr><td></td><td></td><td align="right">PAGE</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="1">I.</abbr></td><td align="left">SOUTHWARDS</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="2">II.</abbr></td><td align="left">OUR CASA IN SPAIN</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="3">III.</abbr></td><td align="left">PALMA, THE PEARL OF THE MEDITERRANEAN</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="4">IV.</abbr></td><td align="left">HOUSEKEEPING</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="5">V.</abbr></td><td align="left">TWO HISTORIC BUILDINGS</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="6">VI.</abbr></td><td align="left">THE FAIR AT INCA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="7">VII.</abbr></td><td align="left">VALLDEMOSA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="8">VIII.</abbr></td><td align="left">MIRAMAR</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_79">79</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="9">IX.</abbr></td><td align="left">SÓLLER</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_94">94</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="10">X.</abbr></td><td align="left">ANDRAITX</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="11">XI.</abbr></td><td align="left">UP AMONG THE WINDMILLS</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_117">117</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="12">XII.</abbr></td><td align="left">NAVIDAD</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_128">128</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="13">XIII.</abbr></td><td align="left">THE FEAST OF THE CONQUISTADOR</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="14">XIV.</abbr></td><td align="left">POLLENSA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_152">152</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="15">XV.</abbr></td><td align="left">THE PORT OF ALCUDIA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="16">XVI.</abbr></td><td align="left">MINORCA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_179">179</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="17">XVII.</abbr></td><td align="left">STORM-BOUND</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_193">193</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="18">XVIII.</abbr></td><td align="left">ALARÓ</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_203">203</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="19">XIX.</abbr></td><td align="left">THE DRAGON CAVES AND MANACOR</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_215">215</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="20">XX.</abbr></td><td align="left">ART� AND ITS CAVES</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_225">225</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="21">XXI.</abbr></td><td align="left">AMONG THE HILLS</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_242">242</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="22">XXII.</abbr></td><td align="left">DEY�, AND A PALMA PROCESSION</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_252">252</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="23">XXIII.</abbr></td><td align="left">OF FAIR WOMEN AND FINE WEATHER</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_264">264</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="24">XXIV.</abbr></td><td align="left">OF ODDS AND ENDS</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_274">274</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="25">XXV.</abbr></td><td align="left">IVIZA&mdash;A FORGOTTEN ISLE</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_289">289</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="26">XXVI.</abbr></td><td align="left">AN IVIZAN SABBATH</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_301">301</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="27">XXVII.</abbr></td><td align="left">AT SAN ANTONIO</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_311">311</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="28">XXVIII.</abbr></td><td align="left">WELCOME AND FAREWELL</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_320">320</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="right"><abbr title="29">XXIX.</abbr></td><td align="left">LAST DAYS</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_328">328</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td></td><td align="left">INDEX</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_335">335</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix"> [Pg ix]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2><a name="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS" id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS">LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</a></h2>
+
+<p class="h2">IN COLOUR</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="2" summary="Colour illustrations">
+<tr><td align="left">CALLE DEL CALVARIO, POLLENSA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Frontispiece"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"></td><td align="right">FACING PAGE</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">PALMA DE MALLORCA, FROM THE TERRENO</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_26">26</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">VALLDEMOSA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_70">70</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">SÓLLER</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_94">94</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">AFTER THE FEAST OF THE CONQUISTADOR, PALMA CATHEDRAL</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_143">143</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">THE ROMAN GATEWAY, ALCUDIA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_168">168</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">MAHÓN, MINORCA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_193">193</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">SUNDAY MORNING AT IVIZA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_289">289</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<p class="h2">PEN DRAWINGS</p>
+
+<div class="center">
+<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Pen drawings">
+<tr><td></td><td align="right">PAGE</td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">THE CATHEDRAL AND THE LONJA, PALMA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_1">1</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">A PALMA <span lang="es"><i>PATIO</i></span></td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_9">9</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">THE SERENO</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_13">13</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">THE CASA TRANQUILA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_14">14</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">THE GATE OF SANTA CATALINA, PALMA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">OUR SUBURBAN STREET</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">CALLE DE LA ALMUDAINA, PALMA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_29">29</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">A SUPPER PARTY</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_37">37</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">THE SATURDAY MARKET, PALMA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_39">39</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">A CONSUMOS STATION</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_47">47</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">THE CASTLE OF BELLVER</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_51">51</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">PALMA, FROM THE WOODS OF BELLVER</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_57">57</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">SECOND CLASS</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_60">60</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">A CORNER OF THE FAIR AT INCA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_64">64</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">WHERE THE HILLS MEET THE PLAIN, ESGLAYETA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">CARABINEROS IN THE KITCHEN</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">LA TRINIDAD, MIRAMAR</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_79">79</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">A TIGHT FIT</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_91">91</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">THE MANDOLINE PLAYER</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_101">101</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">AT FORNALUTX</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_104">104</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">SON MAS, ANDRAITX</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_107">107</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">IN THE PORT OF ANDRAITX</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_117">117</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">ABOVE ANDRAITX</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">CHRISTMAS TURKEYS</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_128">128</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">A SCENE OF SLAUGHTER</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_135">135</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">THE COFFIN OF JAIME II IN PALMA CATHEDRAL</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_150">150</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">MARKET DAY AT POLLENSA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_152">152</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">THE MAIN STREET OF POLLENSA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_161">161</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">A <span lang="es"><i>NORIA</i></span> NEAR ALCUDIA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_175">175</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">CIUDADELA SEEN FROM THE SEA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_179">179</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">CALLE SAN ROQUE, MAHÓN</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_187">187</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left"><span lang="es"><i>COMERCIANTES</i></span> IN THE FONDA AT MAHÓN</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_201">201</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">AN INTERIOR IN ALARÓ</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_203">203</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">ALARÓ</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_210">210</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">IN THE DRAGON'S CAVE</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_215">215</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">MANACOR</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_221">221</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">ART�</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_225">225</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">TOWARDS THE PARISH CHURCH, ART�</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_229">229</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">ENTERING THE CAVES OF ART�</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_234">234</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">PALM-SUNDAY AT SÓLLER</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_242">242</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">DEY�</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_253">253</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">PROCESSIONISTS OF HOLY THURSDAY</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_262">262</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">DURING THE CARNIVAL AT PALMA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_264">264</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">THE WOOER</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_269">269</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">THE NATIONAL SPORT</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_274">274</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">CALLE DE LA PORTELLA, PALMA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_279">279</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">THANKSGIVING</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_296">296</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">A TRIO AND A QUARTETTE</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_301">301</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">THE GATES OF THE <span lang="es"><i>FEIXAS</i></span>, IVIZA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_309">309</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">THE CHURCH OF SAN ANTONIO, IVIZA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_311">311</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">THE CHURCH OF JESUS, IVIZA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_320">320</a></td></tr>
+<tr><td align="left">MOORISH TOWER AT THE PORT OF ALCUDIA</td><td align="right"><a href="#Page_328">328</a></td></tr>
+</table></div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1"> [Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/gs01.jpg"><img src="images/gs01-tb.jpg" width="400" height="281" alt="Palma scene with cathedral in background" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">THE CATHEDRAL AND THE LONJA, PALMA</span>
+</div>
+
+<p class="h1nopagebreak"><a name="THE_FORTUNATE_ISLES" id="THE_FORTUNATE_ISLES">THE FORTUNATE ISLES</a><br /></p>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="I" id="I"></a><abbr title="1">I</abbr><br />
+SOUTHWARDS</h2>
+
+<p>We had left London on a tempestuous mid-October Saturday morning,
+and Sunday night found us walking on the Rambla at Barcelona, a
+purple velvet star-spangled sky overhead, and crowds of gay
+promenaders all about us.</p>
+
+<p>When the Boy and I had planned our journey to the Balearic Isles
+(the Man never plans), our imaginings always began as we embarked at
+Barcelona harbour on the Majorcan steamer that was to carry us to
+the islands of our desire. So when we had strolled to where the
+Rambla ends amid the palm-trees of the port, it seemed like the
+materializing of a dream to see the steamer <i>Balear</i> lying there,
+right under the great column of Columbus, with her bow pointing
+seawards, as though waiting for us to step on board.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2"> [Pg 2]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When at sunset next day the hotel omnibus deposited us at the port,
+the <i>Balear</i> appeared to be the centre of attraction. It still
+lacked half an hour of sailing time, yet her decks, which were
+ablaze with electric light, were covered with people. Ingress was a
+matter of so much difficulty that our inexperience of the ways of
+Spanish ports anticipated an uncomfortably crowded passage.</p>
+
+<p>There was scarcely room on board to move, yet up the species of
+hen-ladder that acted as gangway people were still streaming&mdash;ladies
+in mantillas, ladies with fans, ladies with babies, and men of every
+age, the men all smoking cigarettes.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately a recognized etiquette made those whose visits to the
+ship were of a purely complimentary nature confine themselves to the
+deck. When we descended to inspect our sleeping accommodation it was
+to find an individual cabin reserved for each of us; and to learn
+that, in spite of the mob on board, there were but four other saloon
+passengers. These, as we afterwards discovered, were a French
+honeymoon couple and a young Majorcan lady who was accompanied by
+her <span lang="es"><i>dueña</i></span>.</p>
+
+<p>Rain had been predicted, and was eagerly looked for, as none had
+fallen for many weeks. Yet it was a perfect evening. There was
+hardly a ripple on the water, and the air was soft and balmy. Behind
+the brilliant city with its myriads of lights rose the dark
+Catalonian mountains. Clustered near us in the harbour the crews of
+the fishing boats made wonderfully picturesque groups as they supped
+by the light of hanging lamps. And over all, high above the tall
+palms of the Paseo de Colon, the statue of Columbus pointed ever
+westwards.</p>
+
+<p>Looking at the sparkling scene, it was difficult to credit that
+Barcelona, with its surface aspect of light-hearted gaiety, was
+under martial law, even though we had seen that alert-eyed armed
+soldiers guarded every street and alley, and knew that but a day or
+two earlier bombs had exploded with deadly effect where the crowds
+were now promenading. It was hard, too, to believe that at that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3"> [Pg 3]</a></span>
+moment the interest of all Europe was centred upon that sombre
+fortress to the south-west of the town, within whose walls, only
+five days earlier, Ferrer had, rightly or wrongly, met the death of
+a traitor.</p>
+
+<p>The warning siren sounded. The visitors reluctantly scuttled down
+the ridiculous hen-ladder. The moorings were cast away, the screw
+revolved, and we were off&mdash;bound for the Fortunate Isles.</p>
+
+<p>Out of many wondrous nights passed on strange waters I remember none
+more beautiful. We were almost alone on deck. So far as solitude
+went the <i>Balear</i> might have been chartered for our exclusive use.
+The second-cabin passengers had all disappeared forward. The French
+bride and bridegroom had found a secluded nook in which to coo; and
+the vigilant <span lang="es"><i>dueña</i></span> had led her charge into retirement.</p>
+
+<p>We three sat late into the night watching the lights of the
+beautiful city of unrest fade away into the distance, while over the
+sinister fortress of Montjuich the golden sickle of the new moon
+hung like a note of interrogation.</p>
+
+<p>The Spanish coast had vanished. The ship's bow was pointing towards
+Africa, and wild-fire was flashing about the horizon when at last we
+descended to our cabins. The lightning was still flashing, but it
+was far in our wake, when we awoke about four in the morning to find
+the <i>Balear</i> sailing along on an even keel, close by a mountainous
+coast whose highest promontory was crowned by a lighthouse.</p>
+
+<p>Having dressed and refreshed ourselves with biscuits, and chocolate
+made over a spirit-lamp, we went on deck while it was yet dark, and
+watched the land gradually become more and more distinct with the
+broadening dawn. The Boy, who had early recognised something British
+in the build of our steamer, made the interesting discovery from the
+unobliterated lettering on her bell that, though now known as the
+<i>Balear</i>, the vessel had begun her career as the <i>Princess Maud</i>,
+one of a line of steamers coasting between Glasgow and Liverpool.</p>
+
+<p>As the steamer skirted the picturesque coast we tried, not very
+effectively, it must be admitted, to pick out the bays and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4"> [Pg 4]</a></span>
+headlands history connects with Jaime, the valorous young King of
+Aragon, who, accompanied by a great fleet, set sail from Barcelona
+one September day early in the thirteenth century, determined to
+wrest Majorca from the tyranny of the Moors, who for hundreds of
+years had dominated it. But when we had decided that it must have
+been round <em>that</em> point that his ships, with all lights
+extinguished, had crept at midnight to anchor in <em>this</em> bay, the
+appearance of yet another point and another bay made us waver.
+Still, there could be no mistaking Porto Pi, with its beacon tower
+on the point where the Moors, warned of the approach of the enemy,
+gathered in force to resist his landing.</p>
+
+<p>The sun was illumining the wooded slopes about the ancient castle of
+Bellver, and shining radiantly upon Palma, lighting up the spires of
+the noble Cathedral and the encompassing city walls, and shining
+upon the mountains beyond, as about half-past six we entered the
+harbour, to find the wharf already busy with people.</p>
+
+<p>We had left grey gloom in London and in Paris. Here all was vivid
+and sparkling. The air was exhilarating, the port, with its
+nondescript craft, was a feast of colour. Voices speaking the island
+tongue sounded strangely in our unaccustomed ears. Our first
+impression of Palma was one of brightness: an impression conveyed
+partly by the warm amber and golden tints of the stone of which the
+charming city is built.</p>
+
+<p>On the previous night we had thought the <i>Balear</i> half empty; but
+with the morning many unguessed passengers made their appearance
+forward. The <span lang="es"><i>guardia civil</i></span>, who was travelling with his little
+boy, producing a pocket-handkerchief, dipped it in a bucket of water
+and scrubbed his son's face till it shone, the child keeping up an
+excited chatter the while.</p>
+
+<p>The honeymoon couple were early on deck looking out for the Grand
+Hotel omnibus. But we were nearly alongside the wharf before the
+young Majorcan lady, closely shadowed by her <span lang="es"><i>dueña</i></span>, left her
+cabin.</p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5"> [Pg 5]</a></span></p>
+<p>After the manner of Spanish aristocrats when travelling, she was
+dressed in black, and carried a fan that seemed to go oddly with her
+smart hat. She had a beautiful figure, and the graceful carriage of
+her race. But an expression of discontent, as though she were
+already weary looking for something that might have been expected to
+happen but did not, lent an unbecoming droop to her well cut lips.</p>
+
+<p>Her companion was a shrivelled little woman, whose gums were
+toothless and whose cheeks bore the pallor of enforced seclusion,
+but whose alert expression betokened generations of watchful
+patience. He would be an ingenious as well as an ardent lover whose
+attentions could escape the glint of those quiet eyes. A black
+mantilla covered her scant hair, a long semi-transparent shawl
+draped her narrow shoulders. In addition to her fan she held two
+parcels, one wrapped in green, the other in orange tissue-paper&mdash;a
+flimsy covering, surely, for a sea-passage.</p>
+
+<p>We put ourselves in the care of the first porter who mounted the
+gangway&mdash;a handsome brigand with a slouch hat, curled moustaches,
+and yellow boots. Gathering up a mountain of light luggage in either
+hand, he tripped airily on shore, we meekly following.</p>
+
+<p>A Spanish friend in London had recommended the <i>Fonda de Mallorca</i>
+(locally known as "Barnils'") as the best specimen of a typical
+Majorcan hotel, and there we had decided to stay until our plans for
+the next few months were matured.</p>
+
+<p>As we left the harbour the hotel omnibus drew up in front of the
+Customs Office, and for the third and last time on the journey the
+solemn farce of the examination of our luggage was gone through.
+This time it was altogether perfunctory. Not an article was opened.
+The trunks, which followed on a cart, must have been treated with
+like trustful generosity, for their keys never left our possession.</p>
+
+<p>As our baggage included a double supply of artist's materials
+requisite for a six months' stay, it turned the scale at three<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6"> [Pg 6]</a></span>
+hundred pounds. Between Charing Cross and Paris the overweight was
+charged 15s. 6d. From Paris to Barcelona we paid 35 francs. From
+there to Palma it travelled free. But though we saw
+fellow-travellers in variant stages of exasperation over vexatious
+claims, we paid no duty anywhere. Even the China tea that, unknown
+to my men-folk, I had smuggled, travelled unsuspected. And as tea in
+Majorca is a ransom, and Indian at the best, I had, while my small
+store lasted, an unfailing sense of satisfaction in my contraband
+possession.</p>
+
+<p>The Hôtel Barnils gave us a cordial welcome. The grateful fragrance
+of hot coffee was in the air as we were taken upstairs and delivered
+into the care of Pedro, the chamber-man, who was smoking a cigarette
+as he cleaned the tiled corridors with a basin of damp sawdust and
+an ineffectual-looking broom.</p>
+
+<p>Our suite of rooms on the second floor consisted of a tiny <span lang="es"><i>salon</i></span>,
+from which on either side opened a bedroom. The smaller had a window
+to the Calle del Conquistador, the larger overlooked the inner
+courtyard with its potted palms and ginger-plants. All three rooms
+were papered alike in a pattern of large black and brown leaves on a
+yellow ground. The effect was decidedly bizarre. To those of a
+melancholy temperament it would assuredly have proved trying, even
+though there was a certain relief in the collection of French
+coloured lithographs that further adorned the walls.</p>
+
+<p>Our sitting-room, which, like the bedrooms, was paved with tiles,
+had a tall window that opened to the floor and was guarded by an
+iron railing. It had two red-covered easy-chairs, four fawn brocade
+small chairs, and a round table with a yellow and drab tablecloth.</p>
+
+<p>In an amazingly brief space we were seated round that table drinking
+coffee out of tall glasses, and making acquaintance with the
+<span lang="es"><i>enciamada</i></span>, a local breakfast dainty which is neither pastry,
+bread, nor bun, yet appears to enjoy something of the good qualities
+of all three. In form it somewhat resembles the fossil known to our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7"> [Pg 7]</a></span>
+nursery days as an ammonite. To picture a nicely baked and browned
+ammonite that has been well dusted with icing-sugar is to see an
+<span lang="es"><i>enciamada</i></span>.</p>
+
+<p>The little breakfast over, we went out to explore the city. Up the
+street of the Conquistador people were hurrying: men bearing on
+their heads flat baskets filled with pink or silver fish that were
+still dripping from the Mediterranean, and women carrying empty
+baskets. Following the stream, we found ourselves in the market,
+which is surrounded by tall, many-storied buildings.</p>
+
+<p>It was an animated scene. Everybody was busy&mdash;all the people who
+were not buying were selling. And round about were commodities that
+were strange to us. The fish-stalls, which were clustered in a
+corner by themselves, displayed odd fish, many of them
+repulsive-looking, and all, in our eyes, undersized. The meat stalls
+revealed joints of puzzling cut, and were garlanded with gamboge and
+vermilion sausages, as though the Majorcans' love of bright colours
+manifested itself even in the food they ate.</p>
+
+<p>The more attractive aspect of the fruit and vegetables drew us up
+the alleys where the salesfolk sat placidly surrounded by huge
+gourds, radishes eighteen inches long, strange and unappetizing
+fungi. They had a varied assortment of goods, but the vegetable that
+appeared to dominate the market was the sweet pepper, or <span lang="es"><i>pimiento</i></span>;
+everywhere it lay in heaps whose colour shaded from a vivid green to
+glowing scarlets and orange.</p>
+
+<p>One or two ladies in mantillas were marketing, attended by maids
+whose hair, dressed in a single pleat, showed beneath the
+<span lang="es"><i>rebozillo</i></span> that is the national head-covering of the country-women.</p>
+
+<p>One piece of buying, and one only, did I venture on. The Man's
+favourite fruit is the green fig, a commodity that in London costs
+on an average eighteenpence a dozen. Seeing a woman with a hamper of
+choice fresh figs, I proceeded to try how Majorcan prices compared
+with those of Britain. Taking warning by the experience of a friend<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8"> [Pg 8]</a></span>
+who, having asked for half-a-crown's worth of grapes in a foreign
+market, found himself confronted with the impossibility of carrying
+away his purchase, I discreetly held out the local equivalent of a
+penny and pointed to the figs.</p>
+
+<p>The vendor, seeing that I had no basket, held a brief colloquy with
+a neighbouring salesman, which resulted in the production of a piece
+of crumpled newspaper. Signing to me to open my hands, she spread it
+over them and began counting the figs into it, carefully selecting
+the finest specimens from her stock. Having heard that food was
+cheap in these fortunate isles, I confidently expected that my penny
+might purchase four green figs: but instead of stopping at a
+reasonable number, the woman went on piling them up until I felt
+inclined to say "Hold, enough!" When she desisted, the paper held a
+dozen juicy purple figs, and half a dozen of the golden green ones
+that are considered the more delicate in flavour.</p>
+
+<p>A Spanish proverb declares that to reach perfection a ripe fig must
+have three qualifications: "A neck for the hangman, a robe for the
+beggar, a tear for the penitent." These had all the required
+attributes: the slender neck, the rent in the skin, the oozing drop
+of juice. Better figs, we imagined, were never eaten than the
+experimental pennyworth we bought that October day in Palma market.</p>
+
+<p>The mind easily adjusts itself to existing conditions. A few minutes
+later it scarcely surprised us to see an old woman buy ten fine
+tomatoes for a halfpenny&mdash;or to hear her demand an eleventh as just
+value for her coin.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the market square, we wandered about the narrow streets,
+which, with their tall old houses and quaint <span lang="es"><i>patios</i></span>&mdash;the spacious
+central courtyards&mdash;are full of picturesque scenes. Palma is densely
+populated, and the moving crowds gave us the impression of a people
+good-looking and well dressed as well as healthy and happy. Few of
+the ladies we met wore hats, and to me it appeared odd to see a lady
+in a well-cut tailor suit wearing a mantilla as, accompanied by
+her maid, she did her shopping.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9"> [Pg 9]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 240px;">
+<a href="images/gs02.jpg"><img src="images/gs02-tb.jpg" width="240" height="400" alt="Enclosed outdoor area" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">A PALMA <span lang="es"><i>PATIO</i></span></span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10"> [Pg 10]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Many of the native women had their hair in a long pigtail, and wore
+either the <span lang="es"><i>rebozillo</i></span>&mdash;a neat white muslin headdress, in form like
+a diminutive hood with a collarette attached&mdash;or a coloured silk
+handkerchief, or both. A small fringed shawl usually covered their
+shoulders. But it was in the matter of footgear that the Majorcan
+fancy appeared to run riot. Yellow boots, green boots, cream-hued
+boots, elastic-sided orange boots were displayed on the feet of
+otherwise sedately-garbed people of both sexes; and the children
+wore slippers of lively shades embroidered with gay flowers.</p>
+
+<p>When a sudden shower, descending with tropical force made us seek
+shelter in a doorway whence we watched the passers-by, we had the
+opportunity of noting that, though all marketing dames wore smart
+boots, many of them had dispensed with stockings.</p>
+
+<p>A sharp distinction seemed to be drawn in the dress of the classes.
+As we passed the church of San Miguel, troops of ladies who had been
+attending morning service were leaving it. With almost the
+uniformity of a livery, they wore black gowns of brocaded satin.
+Black mantillas covered their beautifully-dressed hair, and in
+addition to their rosaries, each carried a fan.</p>
+
+<p>Our temporary shelter chanced to be close to the gate of Santa
+Margarita, and when the rain cloud had passed over, we went near to
+read the inscription graven in Spanish on the stone on one side of
+the gateway:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p><i>By this gate entered into the city on the 31st day of
+December, 1229, the hosts of King Don Jaime I. of
+Aragon, Conquistador of Majorca. As a remembrance of
+that memorable occasion, on which Majorca was restored
+to the faith and civilization of Christianity, this
+gate, called "Bab-al-Kofol" in the time of the Islamite
+dominion, since then "Esuchidor" and "Pintador," and in
+modern times "Santa Margarita," was declared a national
+monument on the 28th of July, 1908, and restored at the
+expense of the State.</i></p></blockquote>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11"> [Pg 11]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The records of the more ancient races who inhabited the island seem
+to have almost vanished. The Gymnesias, known as the people whose
+gracious climate rendered the wearing of clothes a superfluity; the
+Phoenicians, the Romans, even the Balearic slingers, are well-nigh
+forgotten, while memorials of the valiant young King of Aragon meet
+one at every turn.</p>
+
+<p>Hunger sent us back to the hotel to have our first experience of the
+Majorcan cookery for which it is justly noted.</p>
+
+<p>The cheerful dining-room opened into the square courtyard, whose
+walls were striped in broad lines of blue and white like the bandbox
+of a French milliner. On each of the six tables was a large decanter
+of red wine.</p>
+
+<p>The first dish set before us required a certain amount of courage to
+tackle. It was a mound of amber-tinted rice in which was visible a
+weird conglomeration of fish, flesh, fowl, and chopped vegetables.
+The queer part was the preponderance of empty seashells, for while
+their contents had doubtless become incorporated with the other
+ingredients, the empty shells remained insistent and uninviting.</p>
+
+<p>But hunger had made us reckless, and on venturing, we found the
+<span lang="es"><i>arroz con mariscos</i></span> worthy the national esteem in which it is held.
+Highly seasoned meat of some sort followed. Then came
+delicately-cooked little fish; then something that defied us to
+discover whether it belonged to the animal or the vegetable kingdom.
+There were no sweets, but the dessert was abundant and delicious.
+Apricots, curiously exotic-looking apples that were streaked with
+crimson on a pink ground, great clusters of little yellow grapes
+that seemed as though the sunshine were imprisoned in their skins,
+and the tempting little baked almonds that are a speciality of
+Barnils'.</p>
+
+<p>The rain, that in a few minutes had turned the narrow streets into
+rivers, had ceased as suddenly as it began. The sky was again a deep
+glowing blue, and the pure soft air was a pleasure to breathe, when
+ascending a stair we found ourselves on the flat roof of the hotel,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12"> [Pg 12]</a></span>
+which commanded an extensive view over the city. About us were many
+flat Moorish roofs, some used as gardens, others bearing great cages
+full of pigeons. To the south was the port with its gay display of
+shipping and the sparkling waters of the Mediterranean. To north,
+east, and west, the towers and domes and city walls encircled us.
+Beyond were the fruitful plains, and farther still the blue
+mountains.</p>
+
+<p>Around us rose the softened murmur of the town, the chiming of
+bells, the whisper of the sea, the sound of voices speaking in
+strange tongues. All was charming, novel, and wholly delightful.</p>
+
+<p>Chopin's description of Palma, written seventy years ago when, with
+George Sand, he spent a winter in Majorca, needs no correction
+to-day:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Here I am at Palma," he wrote to his friend Fontana, "in the midst
+of palms, and cedars and cactuses, and olives and oranges, and
+lemons and figs and pomegranates.... The sky is like a turquoise,
+the sea is like lazuli, and the mountains are like emeralds. The air
+is pure like the air of Paradise. All day long the sun shines and it
+is warm, and everybody walks about in summer clothes. At night one
+hears guitars and serenades. Vines are festooned on immense
+balconies. Moorish walls rise all about us. The town, like
+everything here, looks towards Africa. In a word, it is an enchanted
+life that we are living."</p>
+
+<p>Soon after midnight a deep sonorous cry awoke me from the sleep of
+the pleasantly fatigued:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><span lang="es"><i>Alabado sea Dios....</i></span><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><span lang="es"><i>Las doce y media....</i></span><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><span lang="es"><i>Sereno....</i></span></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>it rang out in the stillness.</p>
+
+<p>Jumping out of bed, I reached the open window in time to see the
+passing of a black figure wrapped in a great cloak, the rays from
+the lantern he carried throwing a wavering circle of light on the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13"> [Pg 13]</a></span>
+pavement beside him. It was the <span lang="es"><i>sereno</i></span>, the guardian of the
+sleeping city.</p>
+
+<p>Pausing before one of the closed doors, he smote on it three times
+with his staff. Then he turned, and passed out of sight, his long
+wailing cry again rising into the night.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 320px;">
+<img src="images/gs03.jpg" width="320" height="600" alt="Night guardian" />
+<br />
+<span class="caption">THE SERENO</span>
+</div>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14"> [Pg 14]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/gs04.jpg"><img src="images/gs04-tb.jpg" width="400" height="292" alt="Spanish house" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">THE CASA TRANQUILA</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="II" id="II"></a><abbr title="2">II</abbr><br />
+OUR CASA IN SPAIN</h2>
+
+<p>Palma was gay with bunting in honour of the birthday of the young
+Queen of Spain, when on the afternoon of our second day in Majorca
+we set out to deliver a letter of introduction that was fated to
+have an important influence on our future arrangements.</p>
+
+<p>Much might be, and probably much has been written on the uses and
+abuses of letters of introduction. Sometimes the given letter proves
+a boon both to him who carries and him who receives it. Was not one
+of our best friends made known to us through the medium of a
+perfunctory note from a man we had not seen for many years, and whom
+the presenter of the note had never even met? When we left London we
+bore a letter of introduction to an Englishman resident in
+Barcelona, and he in turn gave us a letter to an American friend of
+his at Palma, who was Consul for certain of the Southern Republics.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15"> [Pg 15]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The home of the Consul was at Son Españolet, an attractive little
+residential suburb about a mile beyond the city walls. The busy
+district of Santa Catalina lies between it and the sea. Undulating
+groves of almond and olive separate it from the hills.</p>
+
+<p>Taking the mule-drawn tram-car that plies between Palma and Porto
+Pi, we alighted at Santa Catalina; and, after making various
+inquiries, found ourselves ringing the gate-bell of the house, over
+whose tower fluttered the gay banner of the Consulate.</p>
+
+<p>Had the Consul and his wife guessed that these three British
+invaders were going to trespass on their endurance for a period of
+six months, I doubt if they would have received us with such
+courteous geniality. As it was, their reception was so cordial that
+within half an hour of our meeting I felt emboldened to reveal what
+had been my secret desire&mdash;that we might rent a furnished house near
+Palma for the winter. Not a fine house&mdash;merely a roof under which we
+could stow our belongings, a centre from which our wanderings about
+the islands might radiate.</p>
+
+<p>Could they advise us? Did they think such an idea was feasible?</p>
+
+<p>The Consul shook his head.</p>
+
+<p>"Not near Palma," he said. "At Porto Pi or the Terreno you might
+chance on one. But these are summer seaside places. Most of the
+houses there are shut up now. You'd find it dull and inconvenient in
+winter."</p>
+
+<p>"This district seems delightful, and near town. Would there be a
+chance of our getting a house here?"</p>
+
+<p>"Unfurnished, yes&mdash;furnished, no. But why not take a vacant house
+and hire what you need? There's only three of you. You don't want
+much."</p>
+
+<p>"Say, Luis!" said pretty Mrs. Consul, "what about the house the
+Major left last week? That's empty now. Would that suit?"</p>
+
+<p>For a moment the Consul looked meditative.</p>
+
+<p>"I'm thinking," he said. "You're right. That's the very place. Nice<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16"> [Pg 16]</a></span>
+little house. Got a garden. Stable too. And a fine view from the
+veranda."</p>
+
+<p>"Is the house near? Could we see it?" we asked.</p>
+
+<p>"It's close by, in the Calle de Mas. We'll see about it, right away,
+now."</p>
+
+<p>The Consul, happily for us, was a man of action. Ringing the bell,
+he summoned Isidoro, his man-servant, who summoned Margarita, his
+cook. And Margarita, having received instructions to search the wide
+world till she found the caretaker of the empty house and to bring
+her hither, departed at once on her quest. In an incredibly brief
+space of time she returned in company with a little old woman and
+two large door-keys.</p>
+
+<p>Following her guidance we walked in procession round the corners of
+several secluded roads, whose yellow stone walls, flat roofs, and
+almost tropical foliage looked Oriental under the evening glow.</p>
+
+<p>Viewed from the street, the house we sought, with its green shutters
+and tiled roof, resembled a hundred others. But when the big keys
+had performed their task, and we had passed through the two centre
+rooms and found ourselves on a wide stone-pillared veranda looking
+across the orange and lemon trees of the gardens to where the
+Mediterranean lay azure under the setting sun, our minds held no
+further hesitation. We knew that it was our own house.</p>
+
+<p>Merely to assure ourselves that the house had no equal, we
+investigated the claims of two other vacant dwellings before
+returning to the Consulate. One had a basement in which a native
+family lived&mdash;apparently wholly upon garlic. The other attempted to
+make up in stucco images what it lacked in view.</p>
+
+<p>It was too late that night to take any steps towards securing the
+house. The Consul, himself a versatile linguist, knowing that our
+meagre Spanish could hardly be expected to prove equal to the
+subtleties of house-hiring, arranged to accompany the Man and the
+Boy next day to interview the owner, and if possible to see the
+negotiations completed.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17"> [Pg 17]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I think we were all secretly uneasy until we learned that, on the
+personal recommendation of the Consul, the landlord had
+unhesitatingly accepted us as tenants, and that he had agreed to
+have the garden put in order, to mend any broken panes of glass in
+the doors or windows, to see that the well was clean, and to permit
+us to enter upon our tenancy at once.</p>
+
+<p>And then, the house being secured, the important subject of
+furniture had to be considered. Knowing that with hired goods we
+would feel conscious of certain restrictions, we had resolved to buy
+what was absolutely necessary. And the question was&mdash;how much or how
+little furniture would three unexacting people require during six
+months of a picnicking existence in a gracious climate?</p>
+
+<p>Already there were several indispensable articles in the house&mdash;two
+tables, one large enough to serve as dining-table, a bench, and a
+tall glass-doored corner cupboard. Beds would be needed, washstands,
+two more tables of the plainest description, half-a-dozen
+rush-seated chairs of local make for utility, lounge chairs for our
+laziness, and looking-glasses for our vanity.</p>
+
+<p>Still under the Consul's skilled guidance we visited an
+upholsterer's, a dark and narrow shop where the closely packed stock
+took up so much room that there was hardly space for a single
+customer. The shopkeeper, a smiling little round man in a pink
+shirt, and his daughter, a smiling big round girl in a white frock,
+entered heartily into the spirit of our requirements; and with the
+Consul's aid in the reduction of prices, we speedily acquired what
+was necessary.</p>
+
+<p>We had landed on Majorca on Tuesday morning. Before dusk fell on
+Thursday our house was not only taken, but the furniture purchased.
+Electric light is a cheap luxury in Palma, and for our comfort in
+the winter nights we were having it put in. Knowing that the
+installation of the light, the scrubbing out of the house, and the
+raking up of the garden would occupy a day or two, we decided to
+remain at Barnils' until Monday, on which morning we would journey
+out to Son Españolet and take possession. Meanwhile we roamed about<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18"> [Pg 18]</a></span>
+Palma with our eyes open to the necessities of our bare
+establishment, picking up a broom here, a coffee-strainer there,
+some wooden cooking-spoons yonder.</p>
+
+<p>Matters moved with surprising briskness. Monday morning found the
+electric light fixed, the tiled floors well scrubbed, the scant
+provision of furniture in the rooms, and the garden dug. So, leaving
+our heavier luggage to follow by cart, we packed ourselves and our
+smaller baggage into a <span lang="es"><i>carruaje</i></span>, and set out for our new home. The
+progress thither was circuitous, as first we had to journey up and
+down the narrow streets of the town collecting the smaller purchases
+we had made.</p>
+
+<p>First we called at a grocer's to pick up the supply of provisions
+that were to form the nucleus of our housekeeping. Then we meant to
+drive to the china shop where our store of crockery awaited us.
+Unfortunately the china shop, being situated on a street so steep
+that it ascended in a series of wide steps, was unapproachable by
+our two-horse conveyance. Leaving the carriage at the foot of the
+steps the Man and the Boy mounted to the shop, and by and by
+reappeared accompanied by a man and a maiden, all four laden with
+dishes.</p>
+
+<p>Space in the conveyance had been limited before. Now, surrounded by
+earthenware cooking-pots, and basins, and jugs, and plates, we were
+jolted over the primitively paved streets, and out beyond the gate
+of Santa Catalina to the little house in Son Españolet.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps our sense of possession threw a glamour over the dwelling,
+but already it seemed to wear a look of home. The scanty furniture
+was in place, a few minutes sufficed to put the groceries on the
+shelves, the dishes in the glass cupboard, the earthenware
+cooking-pots and pans on the kitchen shelf. Then, when the table was
+spread with our new tea-cups, and decorated with roses and scented
+verbena from the garden, set in a jug, and the kettle was a-boil
+over our trusty spirit-lamp, we sat down, in great contentment, to
+enjoy the first meal in our <span lang="es"><i>casa</i></span> in Spain.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19"> [Pg 19]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The lines even of a foreign householder in Majorca are cast in
+pleasant places. From our point of view the Majorcan landlord has
+the worse of the bargain, his tenant the better.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 379px;">
+<a href="images/gs05.jpg"><img src="images/gs05-tb.jpg" width="379" height="400" alt="Town wall with bridge leading to gate" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">THE GATE OF SANTA CATALINA, PALMA</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>We took our little house for three months, paying in advance the
+very moderate rent&mdash;it was twenty <span lang="es">pesetas</span>, about fifteen shillings,
+a month&mdash;and agreeing to give, or take, a month's warning. This
+done, our obligations appeared to cease. There were no taxes, at
+least none that the tenant was expected to pay. There was no water
+rate. The well in the garden afforded a supply of pure and wholesome
+rain-water. If windows were broken the landlord sent, or promised to
+send, a glazier to put in new panes. In the rare event of a chimney<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20"> [Pg 20]</a></span>
+requiring cleaning, the accommodating landlord was expected to
+employ a mason to do the work. And with the arrival of the season
+locally considered best for the annual pruning of the vines&mdash;which
+is the period between the 15th and the 20th of January&mdash;a duly
+qualified gardener, instructed by the owner of the house, appeared
+and clipped those within our walls.</p>
+
+<p>Our Majorcan home proved to be full of the most charming
+informalities. Its architecture was the perfection of simplicity; a
+child might have designed it. It was on one floor only, and measured
+fifteen paces square. There were neither hall nor passages, and in a
+short time we found ourselves wondering why we had ever considered
+such things necessary. All the doors were glazed. The front door
+opened directly into a sitting-room, whose wide glass door led to
+another room that opened on to the veranda. To the right of the
+front door was the Boy's bedroom, to the left an apartment that
+served as studio. From the back sitting-room opened, on one side, a
+bedroom that had a useful dress closet; and on the other a compact
+little kitchen with a cool larder that was almost as big as itself.
+The kitchen walls were lined breast-high with blue and white tiles;
+and under the window that looked towards the sea was a neat range of
+stoves, for the consumption of both coal and charcoal.</p>
+
+<p>The two sitting-rooms boasted the distinction of wall papers, and
+the ceiling of our favourite room&mdash;that which opened on to the
+veranda&mdash;represented an azure sky among whose fluffy white clouds
+flitted birds and butterflies. At one side of the house was a
+stable, and an enclosure fitted with stone tubs and jars, meant to
+be used in the washing of clothes.</p>
+
+<p>The veranda, or <span lang="es"><i>terras</i></span>, bade fair to become a perpetual joy to us.
+It was roofed by a spreading vine, whose foliage even in November
+was luxuriant. The former tenants had eaten all the grapes except
+one bunch, of which the wasps had taken possession; and we were
+either too generous or too timid to dispute their claim.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21"> [Pg 21]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>On the broad ledge of the veranda, on either side of the short
+flight of steps leading down to the garden, were great green
+flower-pots. Three held pink ivy-leaved geraniums, one contained a
+cactus that had exactly the appearance of four prickly sea-urchins
+set in mould, the others were empty.</p>
+
+<p>The garden measured nineteen paces by twenty-two. Raised paths of
+concrete divided it into eight beds. The four larger encircled the
+quaint draw-well; the four smaller were in a row, two on either side
+of the veranda steps. The beds held a number of fruit trees. There
+was a sturdy lemon that bore both fruit and blossom, and three
+orange-trees; one carrying about sixty mandarin oranges. And besides
+a second vine there were seven almond-trees and two apricots. A
+shrub in whose racemes of hawthorn-scented blossom bees were busy,
+we had never before seen. Later we learned that it was the loquat.</p>
+
+<p>Some rose bushes, which obligingly flowered all winter, a jasmine, a
+tall scented verbena, a long row of sweet peppers, two clumps of
+artichokes, and sundry tufts of herbs completed our vegetable
+kingdom.</p>
+
+<p>Majorca is a paradise for the gardener&mdash;or would be, were the
+rainfall more assured&mdash;for the climate varies so little that almost
+anything can be planted at any season.</p>
+
+<p>The day we took possession of the house I sowed some rows of dwarf
+peas. In a week they were above the ground and continued to flourish
+exceedingly, until brought to a standstill by the long-continued
+drought. The rain in January set them a-growing again, and from
+early February till April we had dishes of green peas from our own
+ground.</p>
+
+<p>At the foot of the garden, separated from it by a high stone wall,
+were two small dwellings. One was empty. In the other there resided
+a cobbler named Pepe, his wife, and a lean red kitten.</p>
+
+<p>The sudden arrival of us foreigners proved an event of extraordinary
+interest in the circumscribed lives of the pair, and of the skinny<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22"> [Pg 22]</a></span>
+kitten, who developed into quite a handsome cat on our scraps. Mr.
+and Mrs. Pepe had no veranda, but from their patch of garden a tiny
+staircase led to a <span lang="es"><i>mirador</i></span>&mdash;a species of roof watch-tower&mdash;from
+which they had a capital view of the town, the port, and of their
+neighbours.</p>
+
+<p>As in these sunny November days we lived with the wide glass doors
+open to the veranda, there was so much to observe in our doings that
+for the first week at least of our stay Pepe's customers must have
+been neglected; for morning, noon, and night he was at his post of
+supervision. As we sat at table we got quite accustomed to seeing
+his squat figure outlined against the sky as he undisguisedly
+watched our movements. Sometimes he even carried his quaint spouted
+wine-bottle and hunk of rye bread up to the <span lang="es"><i>mirador</i></span>, and enjoyed
+his breakfast with a vigilant eye on us.</p>
+
+<p>Pepe had a taste for gardening, and grew chrysanthemums and
+carnations in the few feet of soil attached to his dwelling.
+Sometimes, with due ceremonial, he presented us with one of his
+striped carnations. And one day, when I was in the garden, he
+hastened down from his post of observation to reappear, smiling
+broadly, at our side gate, bearing the gift of a sturdy root of
+French marigold. We showed our appreciation of the compliment by
+sending him a boot to mend; and, courteous preliminaries having been
+thus exchanged, we continued to live on terms of distant amity. The
+marigold I promptly planted in one of the empty green flower-pots,
+where throughout the winter it bore a constant succession of its
+brown and orange velvet flowers.</p>
+
+<p>A family from Andalusia&mdash;a father, mother, and four
+children&mdash;occupied the house adjoining ours. They seemed
+good-tempered, easy-going folks, living a happy careless life in
+this land of sunshine. Their somewhat extensive garden was well kept
+and fruitful.</p>
+
+<p>The father, like so many of the residents in these islands, was a
+bird-fancier. And when, on sunny mornings, assisted by his children,
+he had carried out the dozens of cages containing his pets, and had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23"> [Pg 23]</a></span>
+hung them on his pomegranate-trees, and on the pergola, where the
+purple convolvulus twined about branches heavy with golden oranges,
+our world was vocal with their song.</p>
+
+<p>At the foot of their garden was a flourishing little poultry-yard,
+in which, with laudable success, they reared chickens and ducks and
+rabbits. They supplied us regularly with eggs, and when any of the
+live stock was ripe for the pot we always had the first offer of
+purchase.</p>
+
+<p>The method of procedure was to catch the beast&mdash;plump rabbit, young
+rooster, or whatever it chanced to be&mdash;and to carry it, suspended by
+the legs and vigorously protesting, to the door of our <span lang="es"><i>casa</i></span> to
+exhibit its proportions, and to inquire if we would like to
+purchase. On the sale being effected, as it usually was, for the
+quality of their live stock was unequalled, the victim would be
+taken away, to reappear half an hour later stripped of fur or
+feather, and with its members decorously dressed for cooking.</p>
+
+<p>Early in the year the Andalusian family was increased by one&mdash;a fine
+boy. A few weeks after, the mother paid me a state visit to receive
+congratulations and exhibit the baby. Going into the studio, I said:</p>
+
+<p>"Our neighbour has brought her new baby to show us."</p>
+
+<p>The Man waved me away with a protesting paint-brush.</p>
+
+<p>"No," he said. "Don't buy it. Send her away. I don't mind the ducks
+and the chickens, but I absolutely refuse to eat the baby!"</p>
+
+<p>Life in the Casa Tranquila, as we had christened our winter home,
+was a pleasant irresponsible matter compared with existence in
+ceremonial Britain. Social pleasures we undoubtedly had, but no
+social duties. Housekeeping ran on the simplest of lines. Maria, the
+woman who had been key-keeper of the house while it was empty, came
+in to do the rough work. Apolonia, a smiling, rubicund old dame,
+with a keen sense of humour, acted as laundress. It was all so easy
+and unconventional and open-airy that we never quite got over the
+impression that we were enjoying a prolonged camping-out, and that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24"> [Pg 24]</a></span>
+it was by accident that our roof was of tiles and not of canvas.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/gs06.jpg"><img src="images/gs06-tb.jpg" width="400" height="395" alt="Street scene with goats" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">OUR SUBURBAN STREET</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Our morning began with the arrival of a baker who brought the bread,
+rolls, and <span lang="es"><i>enciamadas</i></span> for the day's consumption. We did not use
+the milk of goats, though, twice daily, a little flock, with
+tinkling bells, their udders tied up in neat bags of check cotton
+for protection against the unauthorised raids of their thirsty kids,
+was driven past our door to be milked before the eyes of each
+customer. A sprightly matron served us morning and evening with the
+milk of a cow, which her husband spent his days herding on any stray
+patches of herbage in the district.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25"> [Pg 25]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Each day at noon, Mundo, the greengrocer, called with a donkey-cart
+containing quite a comprehensive assortment of fruit and vegetables.
+Three kinds of potatoes he always brought&mdash;new, old, and
+sweet&mdash;pumpkins that were sold in slices, egg-plants, garlic strung
+in long festoons, spinach, cauliflowers, sweet peppers, curious
+fungi, purple carrots, sugar beans; all at astonishingly low prices.
+I shall always remember the November day when, in a moment of
+forgetfulness, I asked for a whole pennyworth of tomatoes, and was
+afterwards confronted by the difficulty of disposing of so many.</p>
+
+<p>A popular article of diet seemed to be the gigantic radishes, in
+which not only Mundo but all the little shops appeared to do a big
+trade. We puzzled long over the way in which they could be used
+before making the chance discovery that they are cut in round slices
+and eaten raw with soup or meat, as one would eat bread.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26"> [Pg 26]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="III" id="III"></a><abbr title="3">III</abbr><br />
+PALMA, THE PEARL OF THE MEDITERRANEAN</h2>
+
+<p>As a place of winter residence for those who like sunshine, and are
+not enamoured of society, Palma could hardly be excelled.</p>
+
+<p>For one thing, the town is just the right size. It is not so small
+as to allow the visitor to feel dull, or so large as to permit him
+to become conscious of his own insignificance.</p>
+
+<p>While Palma is bright and full of movement and of cheerful sounds,
+it is an adorable place to be lazy in. The sunshine and soft air
+foster indolence; and though there is no stagnation, everybody takes
+life easily in this walled city by the southern sea. There is no
+bustle, no need to hurry. What is not accomplished to-day can be
+done to-morrow. And if to-morrow finds it still undone&mdash;why, what is
+the future made up of, if not of an illimitable succession of
+to-morrows?</p>
+
+<p>When the ancients christened Palma "the Pearl of the Mediterranean,"
+they gave it a title that to this day it deserves.</p>
+
+<p>Something of the resplendence of the town is due to the
+warm-coloured stone of which it is built&mdash;a stone that shades from
+the palest cream to warm amber. Every stroll we took through its
+mediæval streets, every walk along its antique ramparts, every
+saunter down the mole, made us more and more in love with its
+beauty, which we seemed always to be viewing under some new
+condition of light or atmosphere.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 288px;">
+<a href="images/col02.jpg"><img src="images/col02-tb.jpg" width="288" height="400" alt="Palma viewed over the sea" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">PALMA DE MALLORCA, FROM THE TERRENO</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The Man never wearied of the crooked secret-looking streets and fine
+buildings of the old, old city. By day or night they held for him<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27"> [Pg 27]</a></span>
+an inexplicable charm. He was always discovering some new "bit"&mdash;a
+quaint <span lang="es"><i>patio</i></span>, a Moorish arch, an antique gateway, a curious
+interior, a sculptured window.</p>
+
+<p>And the streets were always full of life. A cluster of officers in
+full dress chattering on the Borne; a company of soldiers marching
+to the strains of an inspiriting band; a priest, under a great
+rose-coloured silk umbrella, on the way to administer extreme
+unction to someone sick unto death&mdash;all the spectators falling on
+their knees as the solemn little procession passed by; or a party of
+queerly attired natives of Iviza, just arrived by the thrice-a-week
+boat, and curiously foreign both in speech and appearance, though
+their island home was only sixty or seventy miles distant; or a
+string of carriages whose occupants were on the way to a morning
+reception at the Almudaina, the old Moorish palace, now the
+residence of the Captain-General.</p>
+
+<p>Everything in the place was new to us, and the feeling of novelty
+never waned.</p>
+
+<p>As for the Boy, from the moment of our arrival his interest centred
+in the port. Its constantly changing array of shipping, and the fine
+sun-tanned buccaneers who did business on its blue waters, supplied
+him with endless congenial subjects for pictures.</p>
+
+<p>The port of Palma nestles, one might almost say, right into the
+heart of the city. The chief promenade, the Borne, ends on its
+brink. The Cathedral and the Lonja dignify its banks.</p>
+
+<p>The gay life of the harbour lies open to the casual observer. Under
+the ramparts, by the side of the public road, old men in red caps
+and suits of velveteen that the sun has faded to marvellous hues sit
+at their placid occupation of net-mending. There, too, when the
+<span lang="es"><i>falucas</i></span> are moored at the edge of the wharf, come the families of
+the fishermen to join them at lunch&mdash;the women bringing down wine
+and bread and the men supplying a tasty hot dish from the less
+saleable items of their catch. Sometimes a cloth is spread, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28"> [Pg 28]</a></span>
+then the <span lang="fr"><i>al fresco</i></span> repast assumes quite a ceremonious air.</p>
+
+<p>Stern on to the <span lang="es"><i>muelle</i></span>, the long breakwater that partitions off
+the water of the harbour from the open bay, lie the larger craft:
+the most important of which are the white-painted steamers of the
+<i>Isleña Marítima</i>, the fleet of boats belonging to a Majorcan
+Company that carry mails and passengers between the island and Spain
+or Algeria.</p>
+
+<p>Once Palma was a great maritime centre. Now little foreign shipping
+does business in her port. But though the bulk of the traffic is
+local, an open port always holds the element of the unexpected.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes a leviathan-like liner, making a holiday tour of
+Mediterranean ports, anchors by the wharf, and her tourists, eager
+to make the most of the hours at their disposal, hasten on shore to
+pack themselves into every available form of conveyance and drive
+off, enclosed in a pillar of dust of their own raising, to enjoy a
+hasty glance at Valldemosa, Miramar and Sóller. When at sunset they
+steam out of the harbour it is with the pleasantly erroneous
+conviction that they have exhausted the attractions of the island.</p>
+
+<p>Once a fine ship that sharp eyes recognized as the private yacht of
+the Czar of Russia quietly entered the bay, and after a brief stay,
+during which her voyagers held no intercourse with land, as quietly
+departed. And after a spring gale a Greek sailing ship, her
+main-mast gone, was towed in by a French tug. Sometimes it was the
+capture of a smuggler's <span lang="es"><i>faluca</i></span> caught in the act of trying to run
+a cargo of contraband tobacco that furnished the excitement.</p>
+
+<p>On the frequent feast days Palma was gay with flags. Every Consulate
+in the town&mdash;and they were many&mdash;mounted its special banner. The
+gun-boats sported strings of bunting out of all proportion to their
+size, the merchantmen flew their ensigns, and though the business of
+the town was transacted with its customary air of casual
+lightheartedness, the never-lacking holiday feeling was
+intensified.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29"> [Pg 29]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 253px;">
+<a href="images/gs07.jpg"><img src="images/gs07-tb.jpg" width="253" height="400" alt="Narrow street with house arching over" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">CALLE DE LA ALMUDAINA, PALMA</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30"> [Pg 30]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>One November feast day the Boy, who was painting at the port,
+discovered among the decorated craft a ship flying the British flag;
+a closer inspection revealed her to be the <i>Ancona</i> of Leith, just
+arrived with a cargo of coal. Nearer home I doubt if the proximity
+of a Leith collier would have appealed strongly to our patriotism.
+In that southern latitude things were different. A sudden and
+fervent desire to hear our own northern accent awoke within us, and,
+incited by our adventurous son, we determined to board the <i>Ancona</i>
+and pay our respects to her captain.</p>
+
+<p>It was a glorious morning, one of those wonderful mornings when the
+world seems newly born, that we three went down the mole. Lying
+beyond the schooner from Sóller, and the <span lang="es"><i>pailebot</i></span> from Valencia
+that was shipping a cargo of empty wicker-cased wine flasks, we came
+to the <i>Ancona</i>.</p>
+
+<p>Three railless plank gangways connected her with the wharf, and down
+two of the planks Majorcans in their elaborately bepatched blue
+linen suits were carrying straw baskets of coal. We ventured up the
+third. Our gangway ended on a six-feet-high platform situated on the
+verge of a hold still brimful of coal. As we hesitated on our perch,
+wondering what to do next, a bronzed man in slippers appeared. It
+was the first mate.</p>
+
+<p>"It's a fine day," the Man gave colloquial greeting. "Is the skipper
+on board?"</p>
+
+<p>"Ay. It's a real bonnie day," the mate made truthful reply. "No.
+He's just gone up the quay to see the ship's agents."</p>
+
+<p>The homely words, the familiar accent, fell like music on our ears.
+A few words of explanation brought the mate to our elevated
+platform, where he spoke with the inherent appreciation of the Scot
+of the beauty of the town.</p>
+
+<p>"Ay. It's a bonnie place this. I think it's as pretty a place as
+I've seen. No. We've been busy on board and I haven't had time to
+see the town yet. But I'm enjoyin' the view fine from here. The
+captain? Oh, you couldn't miss him. You're sure to come across him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31"> [Pg 31]</a></span>
+He's just up on the front."</p>
+
+<p>So, in quest of a compatriot whom we couldn't miss, we set off up
+the street. And sure enough, before we had proceeded very far we met
+the captain face to face.</p>
+
+<p>If the captain of the <i>Ancona</i> was surprised at being accosted by a
+trio of complete strangers, he was too much a Highland gentleman and
+a man of the world to reveal any astonishment. In five minutes we
+were all on a friendly footing, our nationality the firm basis of
+good-fellowship; a little later we were all seated outside the
+Lirico, over tall glasses of vermouth and seltzer, recalling
+familiar scenes and discovering mutual acquaintances.</p>
+
+<p>The captain was at a loose end. We were going to the fruit market,
+to the bookseller's, to the Cathedral. So he came too.</p>
+
+<p>In the market, as he saw me buy big bunches of yellow grapes at
+twopence-halfpenny a kilo (nearly two and a quarter pounds) his face
+lit up&mdash;"I'll be for sending the steward up here," he said.</p>
+
+<p>Chance favoured us. We turned into the Borne just in time to see an
+infantry battalion march past to the strains of a good military
+band. A general had died and the soldiers were on their way to
+escort his body to the cemetery. The music, which was appropriately
+solemn, was played with great feeling. And as the procession moved
+slowly up the street the closed window shutters were thrown open and
+fair <span lang="es">señoras</span> in light dresses thronged the balconies.</p>
+
+<p>It was as though Palma had determined to reveal herself at her best
+to our companion. Even the interior of the Cathedral, lit by the
+brilliant sunshine that filtered through the stained-glass windows,
+seemed grander than ever.</p>
+
+<p>"I've had a splendid time," the captain said when we parted. "Though
+I've been here two or three times, I never saw so much of the town
+before."</p>
+
+<p>We were leaving next morning for Miramar, and before our return the
+<i>Ancona</i> would have sailed. But we said good-bye with the promise<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32"> [Pg 32]</a></span>
+of meeting again&mdash;a promise that was fulfilled, for on two
+subsequent voyages the captain was a welcome guest at the Casa
+Tranquila.</p>
+
+<p>"The captain is a gentleman," the Boy said half-a-dozen hours later
+when he returned from the ship, where, by special invitation, he had
+been having a smoke and a chat with her master. "See what he
+insisted on giving me. I refused, of course, but he made me take
+<em>that</em> and <em>this</em>."</p>
+
+<p>"That" was a batch of thrice precious literature in the shape of
+sixpenny editions of novels and magazines. "This" was a tin of
+tobacco marked "full strength," that class of dark-complexioned
+rum-odorous tobacco that the Boy specially affects, and whose lack
+in Majorca had formed the theme of his only regret.</p>
+
+<p>Life on the native craft in the port is entertaining to watch. The
+dark-skinned rovers of the deep contrast so oddly with the mildly
+domestic aspect given by the presence on board of the <span lang="es"><i>patrón's</i></span>
+wife, and by her way of keeping hens loose on deck, and of hanging
+feminine garments to dry on the poop.</p>
+
+<p>One Sunday morning we had been scrutinizing their doings with the
+open stare that life in Spain teaches one both to give and to take
+composedly, when we discovered that luncheon-time had stolen
+unawares upon us. As we walked back down the pier we glanced
+inquiringly at the cafés that lined the lower part of the way; they
+were all crowded with jovial seamen and uninviting. We had resolved
+to eat at the Lirico, and were leaving the pier, when something in
+the situation of a little open-air eating-place just on the brink of
+the sea, almost in the shadow of the city wall, attracted us; and
+advancing to the awning, under which little groups of people were
+seated, we demanded food.</p>
+
+<p>The proprietress, a plump, smiling woman with a purple silk kerchief
+on her head and a green apron, welcomed us in fluent but,
+unfortunately, unintelligible Majorcan. She knew no Spanish. All we
+could gather was that if we seated ourselves she would give us to
+eat. And nothing loth, we sat down at an unoccupied table whose<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33"> [Pg 33]</a></span>
+bare boards were scrubbed as clean as hands could make them.</p>
+
+<p>Beyond the shade of the roof-awning the sun was shining; the pure
+air filtered through its matting sides, and in our full view the
+waves were dashing against the rocky shore. At a table close by,
+three old cronies were dining. Scorning the use of tumblers, they
+passed the quaint wine-flask from hand to hand, each in turn
+throwing back his head and letting the red wine fall in a stream,
+from what to us seemed an unbridgeable distance, between his parted
+lips. Four soldiers were eating macaroni. Two men who had been
+fishing off the breakwater were supping thick soup.</p>
+
+<p>A pretty little girl, her hair caught up in a business-like "bun,"
+darted in and out amongst her mother's customers, her dark eyes
+quick to discern their wants. From inside the shanty that served as
+kitchen came an appetizing sound of frizzling.</p>
+
+<p>Turning her attention to us, the little girl put the inevitable dish
+of olives and a flask of red wine on the table; then she placed a
+wooden fork and spoon, a plate, a tumbler, and a roll, before each
+of us. Then, with the suggestion of an air of ceremony, she
+carefully laid at the Man's right hand something resembling a folded
+piece of clean canvas. It was not until the meal was nearing a
+conclusion that we discovered it was intended to be used as a
+napkin.</p>
+
+<p>The table thus spread, she darted into the kitchen and returned
+bearing a huge flat earthen dish, which held as inviting a mess as
+we had ever tasted. The main portion of its contents consisted of
+small thin slices of beef-steak, mushrooms, and strips of potatoes
+that had all been fried together, after the native fashion, in
+boiling oil. Daintily chopped green herbs lent a savoury garnish to
+the whole. After a momentary hesitation, due solely to lack of the
+customary cutlery, we helped each other with our wooden spoons, and
+fell to work with good will.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps there was some charm in the oddity of our surroundings, in
+the fresh breath of the sea air, in the sparkle of the blue water;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34"> [Pg 34]</a></span>
+perhaps it may have lain in the discovery that if meat is tender and
+well-cooked, a fork&mdash;and wooden at that&mdash;is all the implement
+required. Certain it is that as we cleared the last chip of potato
+from the earthen dish we all agreed that we had enjoyed the simple
+meal more than anything we had eaten in Palma.</p>
+
+<p>When we asked for the bill our little waitress received the sign of
+departure with dismay; and the mother, running out, added her
+protest. Something else was evidently in active preparation.</p>
+
+<p>Fully convinced that to eat anything more would be an insult to the
+dish we had just finished, we waited.</p>
+
+<p>A moment later she triumphantly carried out and set before us a
+plate containing a slab of fish, thickly covered with minced garlic
+and floating in a pool of rich red oil. It may have been a delicacy
+for which the establishment was famed. Our fellow guests were
+devouring it with evident enjoyment, zealously sopping up the oil
+with their rolls, and leaving their plates polished clean. But to us
+it came as an anti-climax.</p>
+
+<p>Carefully inculcated politeness, combined with the knowledge that
+from the doorway the cook was eagerly watching us for sign of
+appreciation, induced us to choke it down with an outward
+affectation of gusto. But we left the garlic and the red oil. Even
+an exaggerated idea of the obligations of courtesy could not have
+prevailed upon us to swallow them.</p>
+
+<p>We paid the modest bill and fled, lest worse should follow.</p>
+
+<p>A few days later we returned to the quaint open-air café. It was a
+lovely evening early in November. All day out of a cloudless sky the
+sun had beat warmly upon Palma, and the sea had glowed a soft misty
+azure. We had been busy indoors letter-writing, for it was a mail
+day. It was only after dusk that we were free and, leaving the Casa
+Tranquila, set off port-wards to post our letters.</p>
+
+<p>The <i>Miramar</i>, the crack ship of the <i>Isleña Marítima</i>, was on the
+point of starting for Barcelona, and all the world of Palma was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35"> [Pg 35]</a></span>
+hastening towards the harbour to post letters on board; and then,
+while promenading the mole, to watch her departure.</p>
+
+<p>After the <i>Miramar</i> had vanished into the darkness and the
+spectators had streamed towards the land, we still lingered on the
+breakwater. There was no moon, the stars were bright, the wavelets
+softly lapped the stones, and we felt placid and restful until quite
+suddenly we became aware that we were hungry.</p>
+
+<p>Our proximity suggested the little shanty under the city wall by the
+sea, and thither we went.</p>
+
+<p>It was the quiet hour there too. Except for three of the hussars we
+had seen before, the well-scrubbed tables were vacant. The soldiers,
+recognizing us, gave us friendly greeting, accompanied with the
+offer of their tobacco packets. Bright-eyed little Catalina ran to
+fetch the napkin, surely the sole emblem of gentility belonging to
+the establishment, and the <span lang="es">señora</span> herself appeared at the door of
+the shed, where she presided over the cooking-pots, to give us "Bona
+nit tengan" and to consult with us as to what we would like her to
+prepare.</p>
+
+<p>She shook her head when we suggested beef-steaks and mushrooms. At
+that hour, apparently, beef was "off."</p>
+
+<p>"Would we have soup?&mdash;Majorcan soup," she asked.</p>
+
+<p>We shook our heads. No. We did not fancy soup.</p>
+
+<p>Promising us fresh fish, and something with an untranslatable name,
+she disappeared into the shed. And, content to leave the selection
+to her, we awaited events.</p>
+
+<p>The comrades in arms had gone, and a pale slender girl, beautiful in
+the small-featured, refined type so common in Palma, had taken her
+place at the next table. With her was a friend of the same style,
+but doubly attractive in that she was overflowing with vivacity. The
+younger girl sat silent, her hands folded, her head drooping, while
+the elder&mdash;who was knitting a petticoat gay with coloured
+stripes&mdash;chatted briskly. They did not eat, and we guessed they were
+waiting for some one to join them.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36"> [Pg 36]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Sitting near them was a handsome taciturn man with a slouch hat,
+long curled moustaches, and a gaudy kerchief twisted about his neck.
+That the girls knew him was evident, for though he did not join in
+their conversation he seemed to listen to all that was said.</p>
+
+<p>Just as we were served with crisp little fried fish, a figure,
+coming from the darkness where the waves were washing the stones,
+entered the circle of light. It was the expected man. Hanging up his
+rod and fishing basket, he took his place at the table beside the
+girls.</p>
+
+<p>His skin was deeply bronzed, his garments were of blue cotton that
+sun and sea air had faded to a delicate hue. A scarlet sash was
+wound about his waist. His naked brown feet were thrust into
+string-soled green shoes.</p>
+
+<p>Catalina, who had been watching for his arrival, ran out with a
+slender-spouted bottle of wine and three wooden spoons. Her mother
+followed close with an earthenware pipkin of the thick Majorcan soup
+that we had declined.</p>
+
+<p>Grouped in an amicable trio, they ate from the same dish, and in
+turn drank from the slender spout of the green glass bottle. The
+pale girl remained pensively silent, but the other continued to
+talk, punctuating her conversation with dramatic movements of her
+hands. How we wished we could have understood what she was saying!</p>
+
+<p>When the combined efforts of the three wooden spoons had searched
+the red earthenware vessel to its depths, the man who came from the
+sea rose and, lifting it in his hand without a word, walked to the
+edge of the water and threw the pipkin far into the Mediterranean.
+Then returning, he resumed his seat.</p>
+
+<p>No one made any comment upon this inexplicable proceeding. Had the
+inoffending pipkin not been empty it might have seemed as though he
+were offering a libation to some unseen spirit of the water. But the
+actively plied spoons had succeeded in scooping out the last vestige
+of the soup.</p>
+
+<p>In the meantime we had been occupied with our second course, which
+consisted of lengths of orange-coloured sausage, served hot with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37"> [Pg 37]</a></span>
+fried potatoes. And a new-comer, an old man, was eating a big plate
+of macaroni.</p>
+
+<p>The nimble Catalina, flashing out, set a flat dish, heaped with some
+sort of stew, before the trio. What its contents were we could only
+guess. The lively maiden and the man were already poking among them
+with their wooden forks. The pensive girl had produced a silver fork
+and was delicately helping herself, fastidiously turning over the
+ingredients. The handsome reticent man sat motionless but observant.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/gs08.jpg"><img src="images/gs08-tb.jpg" width="400" height="296" alt="People gathered round a table" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">A SUPPER PARTY</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>They ate in leisurely fashion&mdash;nobody hurries in Palma. The gay girl
+rattled on in her musical voice, gesticulating with her pretty hands
+the while, only occasionally dropping the thread of her dramatic
+recital to send her fork foraging with the others, or to throw back
+her head and let the red wine trickle down her throat.</p>
+
+<p>"Will he throw that dish away when it is empty?" we were wondering,
+when the <span lang="es">señora</span>, who was making a special effort on our behalf,
+appeared in person carrying a tempting combination of sweet peppers
+and young pork.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38"> [Pg 38]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The question answered itself. When they had finished, the dish stood
+empty and ignored. The wine flask was refilled, and when we had paid
+our score&mdash;wine included, it came to about sevenpence each&mdash;we left
+the quartette still sitting under the flickering light by the edge
+of the unseen waves: the charming girl still lively, the pretty one
+distraite, the fisherman amiable, and the handsome listener still
+silently attentive.</p>
+
+<p>It had been an odd little interlude&mdash;nothing to relate, indeed, but
+one of those petty excursions beyond one's own stereotyped world
+that make the observers feel, for the moment, as though they were
+living in somebody else's life, not in their own.</p>
+
+<p>We finished the evening at what chanced to be the popular
+entertainment. If I remember correctly, it combined the attractions
+of a cinematograph and a variety show.</p>
+
+<p>We were again out in the starlight, and walking briskly westwards
+towards Son Españolet, when the Boy said abruptly:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"I wish I knew why that man threw the pipkin into the sea!"</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39"> [Pg 39]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/gs09.jpg"><img src="images/gs09-tb.jpg" width="400" height="266" alt="Crowded street market" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">THE SATURDAY MARKET, PALMA</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="IV" id="IV"></a><abbr title="4">IV</abbr><br />
+HOUSEKEEPING</h2>
+
+<p>Although, at Son Españolet, we were subject to no police or other
+rate, a small weekly tax was levied with extreme punctuality, on
+behalf of himself, by a functionary called the <span lang="es"><i>vigilante</i></span>.</p>
+
+<p>The most onerous labour of this alleged guardian of the public would
+appear to have been the collection, on Sunday mornings, of a penny
+from each householder. I trust I do not malign a worthy citizen,
+when I hint that these periodic visits were the only occasions on
+which most of his supporters were made conscious of the
+<span lang="es"><i>vigilante's</i></span> existence.</p>
+
+<p>His professed duties were to protect the interests of the residents
+in the district by prowling about at night, to escort timid
+wayfarers home by the light of his lantern, and, like the <span lang="es"><i>sereno</i></span>,
+to call those who wished to be roused at an early hour. But what
+manner of need a community already rich in police, <span lang="es"><i>serenos</i></span>,
+<span lang="es"><i>carabineros</i></span>, and <span lang="es"><i>consumeros</i></span>, had of a <span lang="es"><i>vigilante</i></span>, was hard to
+imagine.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40"> [Pg 40]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Nobody seemed to know who appointed the <span lang="es"><i>vigilantes</i></span>. The Boy had a
+theory that our <span lang="es"><i>vigilante</i></span> had assigned himself to the post, and
+that his sole exertion lay in calling to collect the fees.</p>
+
+<p>On the morning of our first Sunday at the Casa Tranquila an
+imperative knock sounded at the front door. It was the <span lang="es"><i>vigilante</i></span>,
+a good-looking white-bearded man clad in blue cotton. His
+designation was inscribed in bold letters on his cap-band. Having
+been forewarned of the custom, I handed over the expected ten
+<span lang="es">centimos</span>, which he accepted with the dignified courtesy of one who
+receives a right, and departed.</p>
+
+<p>Two hours later the Boy, who had been out at the time of the visit,
+answered a second summons.</p>
+
+<p>"It's the <span lang="es"><i>vigilante</i></span>," he said, returning to the veranda where we
+were sitting. "Has anybody got a copper?"</p>
+
+<p>"But I gave the <span lang="es"><i>vigilante</i></span> his penny this morning," I said,
+hastening to the door.</p>
+
+<p>At my approach the applicant, recognizing me, waved the matter
+aside, as though the mistake had been mine, and he was graciously
+pleased to ignore it.</p>
+
+<p>"The houses are so many&mdash;one forgets," he said, and strutted off
+without loss of dignity.</p>
+
+<p>On Christmas Day he paid us an extra visit, and, sending in a card
+with his best wishes, awaited, not in vain, a monetary expression of
+our good-will.</p>
+
+<p>The card, which was resplendent in rainbow tints, and richly
+emblazoned in gold, bore a representation of a young, dapper, and
+exquisitely dressed <span lang="es"><i>vigilante</i></span> who was smoking a cigar. At his feet
+were portrayed a noble turkey, several bottles of champagne, and
+other seasonable dainties. A side tableau showed the <span lang="es"><i>vigilante</i></span>,
+armed with his staff of office and a huge bunch of keys, opening a
+street door to a belated couple who, presumably, had been locked
+out.</p>
+
+<p>On the reverse side of the card was a long poem, which, on behalf of
+its presenter, claimed many good offices; notably, that he captured
+the evil-doer, and that, filled with fervent zeal, he watched over<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41"> [Pg 41]</a></span>
+our repose. It concluded by stating:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"<i>I try to be in all</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>&nbsp;A perfect <span lang="es">Vigilante</span>.</i>"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Apart from similar curious and amusing conventions, with which one
+has to become acquainted, the early days of housekeeping in Majorca
+find the foreign resident grappling with a succession of petty
+difficulties. Besides the differences of language, of coinage, of
+weights and measures, the dissimilarity of climate renders
+advisable, even necessary, a mode of living that would be quite
+unsuited to dwellers in Britain.</p>
+
+<p>To begin with the morning&mdash;the customary Majorcan breakfast, which
+even at the best hotels consists of a glass of coffee, or a tiny cup
+of very thick chocolate, and tumbler of water taken with a single
+roll, or an <span lang="es"><i>enciamada</i></span>, is a meal from which the ordinary Briton
+rises hungry. And one wonders why the Spanish landlord, whose table
+is so lavishly spread at other meals, should practise a false
+economy in the matter of breakfast. For, after all, a roll costs
+only a halfpenny. Dinner is invariably an early function, and an
+extensive one, for at their two later meals Spaniards make up for
+their abstinence at breakfast. Between the two o'clock dinner and
+supper, which is served at any time between eight and ten o'clock,
+there is a long blank, which the English visitor usually bridges
+with a cup of tea.</p>
+
+<p>To return to the question of breakfast. At the Casa Tranquila we
+compromised the matter, and broke our fast on an unstinted quantity
+of coffee or chocolate and milk, taken with fruit, rolls and butter,
+and <span lang="es"><i>enciamadas</i></span>. Majorcan breakfast rolls are of two kinds&mdash;the
+ordinary crisp ones, and, what we liked better, a soft species
+called <span lang="es"><i>panecillos de aceite</i></span>.</p>
+
+<p>Bacon is unknown in Majorca, though ham, of strong flavour and
+repellent aspect, may be had. It sells at twopence an ounce; and if
+you wish to astonish the vendor, you can do so by ordering more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42"> [Pg 42]</a></span>
+than a quarter of a pound.</p>
+
+<p>We had been warned that we would be forced to do without butter
+while in the islands. But matters have progressed&mdash;in Palma at
+least&mdash;since the old butterless days. Now the better class grocers
+sell a peculiarly white butter that is made at Son Servera, near
+Artá; and almost every provision shop stocks a tinned salt butter
+that comes from Copenhagen. By the way, the purchaser must not be
+surprised when asked if it is "pig's butter" he wants. The salesman
+only means lard.</p>
+
+<p>Cow's milk, another article of diet that used to be scarce in the
+islands, can easily be obtained. The price charged is almost the
+same as in London and the milk is much richer.</p>
+
+<p>With the aid of a Spanish dictionary it had been a comparatively
+simple matter to make out a list of groceries with which to furnish
+the shelves of our empty larder. But I must confess that a first
+visit to a butcher's shop made me wonder if Majorcan sheep and oxen
+differed in construction from British animals, such odd forms did
+their dead flesh present.</p>
+
+<p>Cold storage is unknown in Palma. The beasts are killed, cut up, and
+sold almost before they have had time to cool. And, if they were not
+invariably killed young, their flesh could hardly be so good as it
+is, the lamb especially being sweet and tender.</p>
+
+<p>A fact that forcibly strikes anyone from a meat-eating country is
+the small quantities of animal food consumed. Where the wife of a
+British working-man might spend a shilling on beef, a Majorcan would
+spend twopence. Naturally the meat is sold in small pieces, and
+inspection is courted. The east-end butcher's printed command to his
+customers&mdash;"Keep your hands off the beef," would be scorned in the
+Balearic Isles. If you shop in native fashion, you walk about the
+shop, turning over and critically examining the pieces exposed
+within easy reach. When your selection is made you need not invest<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43"> [Pg 43]</a></span>
+in any great quantity. If you fancy calf's head, custom does not
+compel you to buy a half head. You can have a pound, a half-pound,
+or even a slice.</p>
+
+<p>If your taste turns to fowl, at your request the bird suspended by
+its heels is halved, quartered, or wholly dismembered. Its limbs may
+lack the noble proportions of a Surrey capon, but they will be well
+flavoured and succulent, and you can acquire a wing and slice of the
+breast, or a leg, or a yet smaller portion, as your fancy inclines.</p>
+
+<p>We had heard that Majorcans were apt to tax foreigners by making
+them pay more than was customary for anything purchased, but such
+occurrences were quite outside our experience; though I did come
+across an example of Majorcan reasoning that was so amusingly
+illogical that I am tempted to repeat it here.</p>
+
+<p>Finding in our picnicking style of housekeeping that a cold tongue
+was a useful thing to have in the larder, I frequently ordered one
+from the estimable butcher who served us. For a time the price
+charged was moderate. One day without warning it was increased by a
+half.</p>
+
+<p>My Spanish unaided did not enable me to argue the matter, but Mrs.
+Consul chancing to be with me next time I called at the shop, I got
+her to inquire the reason of this sudden and unexplained change of
+rate.</p>
+
+<p>"Yes. The tongue was a small one, and the price high," admitted the
+plump wife of the butcher, who acted as his accountant. "But then I
+had charged the <span lang="es">señora</span> too little for those we had supplied her with
+at first. And though we have many customers, each ox we kill has
+only one tongue. And, as I had charged the <span lang="es">señora</span> too little for the
+others, to be just to myself I was obliged to ask more than the true
+price for the last one!"</p>
+
+<p>The method of reasoning was so delightfully irrational and absurd
+that I cheerfully paid the confessed overcharge, and we left the
+shop laughing. Probably the worthy dame wonders to this day what we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44"> [Pg 44]</a></span>
+found entertaining in the situation.</p>
+
+<p>Many good and cheap eatables are to be had in Palma if one knows
+where to look for them. By degrees we found out the best place to
+buy the tasty little pies filled with fish, or meat, and herbs,
+raisins and pine-seeds, or the funny turn-overs stuffed with spinach,
+that all the bakers make; and discovered the confectioner who sold
+the nicest cakes and sweets, and where to buy freshly-baked almonds,
+and who had the best quince preserve.</p>
+
+<p>A little investigation introduced us to articles of food that we
+would never have met had we continued to live in a hotel&mdash;to the
+<span lang="es"><i>cocas</i></span> that so closely resemble the Scottish "cookies"; and the
+<span lang="es"><i>bizcochos</i></span>, that are just crisp freshly toasted slices of the
+largest sized <span lang="es"><i>cocas</i></span>.</p>
+
+<p>When we arrived in October, fruit was plentiful. Delicious grapes
+were selling at twopence-halfpenny a kilo (about a penny a pound),
+and ripe purple or golden figs were eighteen a penny. As the winter
+advanced the price of grapes gradually rose. And though one day in
+early December I bought for fivepence in the market four pounds of
+well-flavoured yellow grapes, by the end of January the finest were
+a peseta (about ninepence) a kilo.</p>
+
+<p>Fresh figs gradually declined in flavour as they rose in price. And
+towards Christmas the country folks, who come in on Saturday
+mornings to the smaller market that is held in the Plaza de Mercado,
+began to bring in rush baskets of the home-dried figs that have been
+ripened in the sun and packed between fig leaves.</p>
+
+<p>The continued drought raised the price of vegetables, though small
+cauliflowers were still only a halfpenny each, and a good sized
+bunch of carrots could be bought for the coin that is rather less in
+value than a farthing. Most Majorcan carrots are purple in hue, so
+deep a purple as to be almost black. They have to be partially
+cooked alone, before being added to anything else, as their colour
+dyes the water black. It is their only fault. Their flavour is
+excellent.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45"> [Pg 45]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Early in February we began to use the green peas and turnips that in
+November I had sown in our garden; but for the lack of rain they
+would have been ready a month earlier. And an occasional sowing of
+spinach yielded a quick and unfailing supply throughout the winter.</p>
+
+<p>The question of firing in so genial a climate is an easy one to
+answer.</p>
+
+<p>For cleanliness, coolness, convenience and economy in cooking there
+is no fuel that compares with charcoal. As a charcoal stove has no
+flue, the lighting is attended with a certain amount of smoke from
+the resinous sticks that are sold specially for the purpose of
+kindling. But once the charcoal is lit it gives no further trouble.
+It will cook slowly or quickly, as desired, scarcely soiling the
+outside of the vessels used in the process: and will stay alight,
+without much attention, as long as the cook requires. Further, it
+has the exceptional merit of keeping its heat concentrated within a
+small area, so that the temperatures of both the kitchen and the
+cook remain normal.</p>
+
+<p>Our favourite sitting-room&mdash;the one that opened directly to the
+veranda&mdash;had the unusual advantage of an open hearth, and a few
+chilly days that occurred in November made us hasten in search of
+logs for burning.</p>
+
+<p>Inquiry in the neighbourhood directed us to a large saw mill in the
+Calle de la Fábrica, where we ordered what to us was an unknown
+quantity of firewood. The price paid was less than five shillings.
+When the wood was delivered we were amazed to find that it half
+filled a cart; and that, in addition to an abundant supply of both
+logs and rough wood all cut into convenient sizes, the kindly
+saw-miller had included four little slabs of the resinous wood used
+for kindling.</p>
+
+<p>The wood was built up on the floor under the lower shelves of our
+roomy larder, and there, all through November, December, and the
+first half of January, it lay untouched.</p>
+
+<p>We had got to the point of discussing what we would do with it on
+our leaving for England, when the weather turned chilly enough to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46"> [Pg 46]</a></span>
+afford us excuse for indulging in the luxury of a log fire. But
+though we had a fire on every occasion when artificial heat was
+necessary, there were still logs remaining when at the end of April
+we quitted the Casa.</p>
+
+<p>A prominent feature of our district, which lay just without the
+walls of Palma, was the elaborate system employed to guard against
+the smuggling of contraband goods into the city.</p>
+
+<p>The boundary of Son Españolet, which joined the country, was heavily
+guarded. In addition to high walls and much intricate zigzagging of
+barbed wire, wherever two roads met there was a little
+station-house, or, to be more exact, a shanty, for the shelter of
+<span lang="es"><i>consumeros</i></span>, both male and female, whose duty it was to examine all
+goods entering the city limits. And at frequent intervals all along
+the boundary roads was a species of sentry-box, usually containing a
+chair and a water-jar, in which for sixteen hours a day a
+<span lang="es"><i>consumero</i></span> was supposed to keep watch over his own bit of boundary,
+and to be ready, if anything suspicious attracted his notice, to
+warn the others, by a series of shrill whistles, to be on the alert.</p>
+
+<p>During the long hours passed in enforced idleness at their posts,
+many of the men had contrived to give their surroundings quite a
+home-like appearance. A pleasant man, whose location was at the end
+of our road, always seemed to have his children playing about him;
+and often his wife used to take her knitting and the newest baby,
+and the family goat and a big earthenware pan of amber-tinted rice,
+and make quite a picnic under the trees near his watch-box.</p>
+
+<p>Another <span lang="es"><i>consumero</i></span> had a stripling vine that he was carefully
+training up the trellis over his shed. We sometimes saw him watering
+it. And one, a tall silent man, whose station abutted on a piece of
+vacant ground, had gradually erected quite a long range of hen-coops
+along the base of a warm wall; and there he would stroll in the
+sunshine attended by a flock of flourishing poultry, chiefly of the
+Plymouth Rock breed.</p>
+
+<p>But these were exceptions. The majority of the <span lang="es"><i>consumeros</i></span> seemed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47"> [Pg 47]</a></span>
+content to lazy away their days and doze away their nights as
+comfortably as possible. When the early winter darkness had fallen,
+it was picturesque to see them lighting a brazier, or sitting
+huddled up in their warm brown blankets beside its glowing embers
+fast asleep.</p>
+
+<p>When we had been spending the evening in town and were coming home
+late, we sometimes enjoyed waiting until we were close upon one of
+these muffled figures, and then, in chorus, saying politely "Buenas
+noches."</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/gs10.jpg"><img src="images/gs10-tb.jpg" width="400" height="290" alt="A small building" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">A CONSUMOS STATION</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Then we would see the comatose form galvanize into a semblance of
+life, and hear a drowsy voice from the midst of the enwrappings
+reply "Buenas noches tengan."</p>
+
+<p>The discovery that the monetary recompense for the sixteen hours
+that the <span lang="es"><i>consumero</i></span> worked or played was only two <span lang="es">pesetas</span>&mdash;or about
+eighteenpence of English money&mdash;showed that if he was not
+overwrought neither was he overpaid.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48"> [Pg 48]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At nightfall these guardians of our district were reinforced by the
+addition of two active young <span lang="es"><i>carabineros</i></span> who carried loaded
+rifles. So between the police, the armed soldiers, the sleepy
+<span lang="es"><i>consumeros</i></span>, the elusive <span lang="es"><i>sereno</i></span> and the ornamental <span lang="es"><i>vigilante</i></span>,
+the residents of Son Españolet ought to have gone to bed with a
+feeling of security.</p>
+
+<p>The question of language is a somewhat grave one in Majorca, where
+the inhabitants naturally, but inconsiderately from our point of
+view, insist upon speaking their native tongue, which is neither
+Spanish nor French, but sounds like a corruption of both.</p>
+
+<p>Majorcan, which is said to be much older than <i>Castellano</i>, the
+official language of Spain, is closely allied to <i>Catalan</i>. And
+though many words suggest French, Spanish, and even Italian
+influence, the islanders seem, by an ingenious chipping of
+terminations and the addition of weird sounds entirely their own, to
+have evolved a tongue which goes far towards outdoing all others in
+unmelodious sounds. A peacefully animated conversation in Majorcan
+suggests impending bloodshed. To overhear a quarrel would be
+horrific. Happily discord is rare in Majorca. As far as our six
+months of experience showed, a better natured or more harmonious
+people never existed.</p>
+
+<p>The dialect in use in Minorca and Iviza, though practically the same
+as that of Majorca, varies in each island. So it is not surprising
+that the visitor to the Balearic Islands is strongly advised to
+confine his efforts to the acquirement of Spanish, not even to
+attempt to learn Majorcan. And indeed the facilities for doing so
+are few. We could find no Majorcan dictionary, though a weekly paper
+in the language, <span lang="es"><i>Pu-Put</i></span>, is published in Palma.</p>
+
+<p>All the educated classes speak Spanish fluently. Yet in most of the
+shops, even in Palma, and in the country districts, the native
+language prevails.</p>
+
+<p>Very few of the working women understand Spanish. Their lives having
+been passed on the islands, they remain ignorant of any but their
+mother tongue; though it is common to find their menfolk speaking<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49"> [Pg 49]</a></span>
+Spanish well, owing to their having been in the army, or to their
+having passed the period of voluntary exile that most of them serve
+almost as they do the demands of the State.</p>
+
+<p>Those who know, say that Majorca is a bad place to learn Spanish in;
+that in order to have a good accent the intending traveller is best
+to acquire it elsewhere. And as Borrow says, you must open your
+mouth and take your hands out of your pockets to speak Spanish.</p>
+
+<p>Before leaving London we tried, after a very desultory fashion, to
+pick up a little Spanish. The Boy, who took Berlitz lessons, got on
+famously and was our mainstay from the moment we crossed the Spanish
+frontier at Port Bou. But he declares that he had not been long in
+Palma before he found himself speaking Spanish with a Majorcan
+accent.</p>
+
+<p>For my part, in point of language I found the direction of even so
+small an establishment as the Casa Tranquila very puzzling,
+especially at first. After carefully gleaning a knowledge of the
+Spanish coinage that enabled me to count up to say ten, in <span lang="es">pesetas</span>
+and <span lang="es">centimos</span>, it was bewildering to find sums calculated in <span lang="es"><i>reals</i></span>
+and in <span lang="es"><i>perros grandes</i></span> and <span lang="es"><i>perros pequeñas</i></span>.</p>
+
+<p>I shall never forget the first time Apolonia, the laundress,
+appeared to deliver up our clean linen and to receive her just
+recompense. When I inquired how much we owed her, Apolonia told me
+the sum, but she did it in Majorcan.</p>
+
+<p>"<span lang="es">Onza reals, cuatro centims, dos centims.</span>"</p>
+
+<p>"<span lang="es">Que vale en pesetas?</span>" I asked, but Apolonia could not reckon in
+<span lang="es">pesetas</span>. Raising her stubby fingers, she proceeded to make
+cabalistic signs in the air, repeating the whole "<span lang="es">Onza reals, <a name="cuatro" id="cuatro">cuatro</a>
+centims, dos centims,</span>" in a voice that grew louder and louder, as
+though the more noise she made the more likely was she to pierce my
+thick understanding.</p>
+
+<p>Maria, hearing the discussion, left her dusting, and running swiftly
+on her string-soled <span lang="es"><i>alpargatas</i></span>, came to the rescue.</p>
+
+<p>If matters had been bad before, they were now worse. Four hands were
+in the air. Two voices in Majorcan, that became momentarily more<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50"> [Pg 50]</a></span>
+strident, kept repeating the tale of <span lang="es">reals</span> and <span lang="es">centims</span> until,
+feeling undecided whether to laugh or to cry, I cut the matter short
+by emptying the contents of my housekeeping purse on the table and
+imploring Apolonia to help herself.</p>
+
+<p>After many protestations she agreed to do so. And with much
+reluctant and timorous hovering of her fingers over the coins, at
+last selected the exact sum; which, before taking possession of, she
+carefully spread before my eyes, calling upon Maria to witness that
+she had not abused my trust.</p>
+
+<p>The calculations of Mundo, the vegetable man, were&mdash;if
+possible&mdash;more distracting; for having inherited the national
+characteristic of honesty to an almost unnatural degree, the worthy
+Mundo, in his desire to be strictly just in his dealings, had a way
+of splitting farthings that sometimes proved inexplicable, not only
+to his customers but also to himself.</p>
+
+<p>How often, when he stood puzzling over some fraction of a penny,
+have I felt impelled to say rashly: "Bother the expense, Mundo. I'll
+make you a present of the half farthing!"</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately for Mundo's opinion of my sanity, the spirit of economy
+that tinctures the balmy air of these Fortunate Isles prevented any
+such extravagant proceeding.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51"> [Pg 51]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/gs11.jpg"><img src="images/gs11-tb.jpg" width="400" height="315" alt="Castle set on hill" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">THE CASTLE OF BELLVER</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="V" id="V"></a><abbr title="5">V</abbr><br />
+TWO HISTORIC BUILDINGS</h2>
+
+<p>After we were fairly settled in our house our first excursion
+naturally was to the Castle of Bellver, the ancient fortress that,
+from the veranda, we saw clearly silhouetted against the western
+sky.</p>
+
+<p>The afternoon was glorious. The sky was a cloudless blue, the
+sunlight cast deep shadows; to drive there in one of the quaint,
+open-sided tramcars would have been a treat. But there had been
+thunder in the night, and the apprehensive authorities had decided
+that it was a day for bringing out the closed vehicles. So we sat in
+the stuffy little car, and drove out through crowded Santa Catalina
+and across the bridge that spanned the dry <span lang="es"><i>torrente</i></span> of San Magin,
+and past the <span lang="es"><i>consumos</i></span> sheds towards the Terreno, the favourite
+summer resort of Palma folks, whose charming villas clothe the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52"> [Pg 52]</a></span>
+slope leading to the steep hill on whose summit stands the old
+castle.</p>
+
+<p>The sun was hot, the air exhilarating. Flowers&mdash;roses, zinnias,
+plumbago, chrysanthemums, geraniums&mdash;still bloomed in the villa
+gardens. To us it was a glorious summer day. To the Majorcans it was
+already winter. The pretty houses were nearly all empty. Their
+owners had returned to town.</p>
+
+<p>The old road to the Castle is a stiff climb up a rocky slope. The
+new road is an excellent carriage drive that winds round the hill.
+We chose the steep way, and found ourselves frequently pausing and
+turning to look back across the sparkling waters of the bay to
+Palma, which at that moment was looking, as it so often does, like
+some celestial city.</p>
+
+<p>The air was fragrant with the essence of the pines that clothed the
+slopes&mdash;at their feet tall pink heath and wild lavender were in
+bloom.</p>
+
+<p>When Jaime the First built Bellver for a summer palace, he made it
+an invincible fortress. One thing only could one imagine as more
+difficult than getting into the Castle, and that would be getting
+out of it. Yet, had we so willed, on this balmy afternoon the
+hitherto impregnable stronghold with its deep moat, its implacable
+walls, might have been ours without even a show of resistance; for
+when we reached the gateway we found it open and unguarded.</p>
+
+<p>But fortunately for the reputation of Bellver our mood was pacific;
+and we were content to linger without until an old woman, who had
+espied us as she was leaving the Castle with what was presumably the
+washing of the custodian in a chequered handkerchief under her arm,
+ran back calling loudly for "Bordoi."</p>
+
+<p>Bordoi appeared in the person of the custodian of the Castle. He was
+an old soldier, gaunt, lean, courteous, and evidently possessing a
+genuine pride in his charge.</p>
+
+<p>The first thing to which he called our attention was the grating set
+high over the entrance, through which, after the endearing fashion<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53"> [Pg 53]</a></span>
+of their time, the occupants of the Castle were accustomed to shower
+a gentle hint to depart, in the form of arrows or boiling water,
+upon the heads of any visitors whose appearance they did not fancy.</p>
+
+<p>The Castle, which is in the form of a circle, is built round a
+courtyard containing a great draw-well. Looking down, it was
+interesting to me to see that the moist sides of the interior were
+thickly coated with luxuriant maidenhair fern, such as we had years
+before noticed growing inside the mouth of the well in the house of
+the maker of amphoræ in Pompeii.</p>
+
+<p>Reaching down his long arm, the custodian picked me a frond,
+explaining that it made a wholesome medicinal drink&mdash;"quite as good
+as sarsaparilla."</p>
+
+<p>And here an odd query occurs to me. Does the office of caretaker
+conduce to dyspepsia, or does the enforced leisure of the occupation
+dispose to hypochondria? During a little journey through the
+Shakespeare country, for instance, it was impossible&mdash;even for such
+very polite people as ourselves&mdash;to avoid noticing the boxes of
+patent pills or of much-vaunted lotions that figured prominently
+amongst the private possessions of the people who showed us the
+places of interest.</p>
+
+<p>The stern face of the old keep has frowned on many tragic sights. It
+was up these rocky slopes that the headless body of the third Jaime
+was borne, after his luckless attempt, at the battle of Lluchmayor,
+to wrest his kingdom from a usurper. And it was there, too, that the
+boy son who had fought so bravely by his father's side was carried,
+desperately wounded.</p>
+
+<p>In more recent times Bellver has acted the part of a State prison.
+Political prisoners, numbering as many as three or four hundred at a
+time, have been immured within its massive walls. It was easy to
+picture them clustering in the spacious courtyard about the well, or
+pacing the open-sided gallery overlooking it, or lingering on the
+flat roof, from which such an amazingly comprehensive view may be
+had.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54"> [Pg 54]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Seen from beneath, the height of the Castle is dwarfed by its
+encircling walls. It is only on looking down from the battlements
+and seeing the immense depths of the surrounding moats that one
+realizes the strength of the inflexible grip in which captives would
+be held.</p>
+
+<p>In these days a rescue by means of airship might be feasible. For an
+aviator to alight on the vast flat circle of the Castle roof, to
+pick up a prisoner, and fly off again, would presumably be an easy
+matter. But in those days airships were unknown, and it must have
+been maddening to be pent so near Palma that every building might be
+distinguished, to be able to note the coming and going of the ships,
+to view the fair fertile country in every direction, and yet know
+that the deep encompassing moat rendered any attempt at escape a
+futility.</p>
+
+<p>In one of the rooms a memorial tablet had been inserted in the wall
+in remembrance of a deposed Minister of State, who endured six years
+of incarceration before dying there in 1808.</p>
+
+<p>In his chamber a window, reached by steps and stone-seated, afforded
+a lovely prospect across the blue waters of the harbour to the
+stately Cathedral and the town. It was pitiful to see that the gaudy
+tiles that paved the embrasure were worn bare, and to note that, by
+some curious coincidence, the face in the bas-relief looked
+longingly towards the window.</p>
+
+<p>In the immense kitchen the most remarkable feature was the
+chimney&mdash;a space like a large room&mdash;of which the smoke-blackened
+sides narrowed up and up, until far overhead its orifice appeared a
+mere eyelet of light against the sky. But this ancient fireplace had
+been superseded by a long range of charcoal stoves, and the savour
+of roasting oxen will never again ascend that giant chimney.</p>
+
+<p>The Castle of Bellver is full of interest, but it is the roof that
+holds the visitor fascinated. On its surface one can walk round and
+round in perfect security, meeting a fresh and glorious picture at
+every turn. To the north the high velvet hills bar the view.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55"> [Pg 55]</a></span>
+Southwards, beyond the clustered roofs of the Terreno, the
+Mediterranean ripples away towards the African coast. Towards the
+west amid the hills lies Ben Dinat, where, after the historic
+battle, the Conquistador dined well off bread and garlic; and east
+is the lovely plain of Palma, with Santa Catalina and Son Españolet
+(and the quite inconspicuous Casa Tranquila) in the middle distance.</p>
+
+<p>Round the battlements many names, both of the bond and of the free,
+were carven. Our guide proudly pointed out three that, coming
+amongst the Spanish designations, we read with a curious sense of
+familiarity:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"<span class="smcap">John Sutherland Black.</span><br />
+&nbsp;<span class="smcap">James Hunter.</span><br />
+&nbsp;<span class="smcap">James Hunter, Junr.</span>"</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>The date was August, 1905. And the owners of the British names, our
+guide told us, were scientific men who had journeyed to Palma to
+witness the total eclipse of the sun. And in so doing they assuredly
+showed wisdom, for it would have been difficult to find a better
+place from which to observe the phenomenon than this wide roof that
+seemed so near the sky.</p>
+
+<p>When the men essayed to climb the high tower I waited below on the
+roof, and was idly leaning over the battlements when a stonecrop
+fast-rooted in the interstices of the wall attracted me. Wondering
+what manner of plant would choose to live in that arid situation, I
+was examining it closely when I discovered that, even in that
+seemingly inaccessible spot, a caterpillar had found it out, and was
+busily feeding on its succulent foliage.</p>
+
+<p>The caterpillar might be a common one&mdash;I have little knowledge of
+entomology&mdash;but it was new to me; and its appearance was so
+unusually gay as to appear to merit description. The body, which
+showed alternate stripes of light and dark grey, was girdled by
+black bands, which were further decorated by spots of vivid scarlet;
+while the head&mdash;or was it the tail?&mdash;flaunted a double scarlet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56"> [Pg 56]</a></span>
+plume.</p>
+
+<p>When the men again joined me, I drew the attention of the custodian
+to the gaudy insect, and asked if he knew the species.</p>
+
+<p>He shook his head dubiously, confessing that he had never noticed
+one like it before. Then his eyes caught sight of the plant on which
+it fed, and he instantly brightened up.</p>
+
+<p>"I know that plant," he said. "It is valuable, <span lang="es">señora</span>, very
+valuable. It makes a good medicine."</p>
+
+<p>Our next visit was to the Lonja. In the good old days when Palma was
+a great mercantile centre&mdash;the days when thirty thousand sailors
+found employment from its port&mdash;a Majorcan architect designed the
+Lonja to serve as an exchange.</p>
+
+<p>This old-time architect and his builders must have been past masters
+of their art, for though hundreds of years have slipped by since
+then, and the Lonja no more serves any active purpose, it still
+survives to delight by the simple grandeur of its design. Seen as it
+stands with only a wide thoroughfare separating it from the
+sparkling waters of the port, with its palm-trees in front and a
+cloudless blue sky overhead, the antique building is one of the most
+beautiful sights in a city that abounds in beautiful things.</p>
+
+<p>We had been told that the Lonja was open to the public on the
+afternoons of Thursdays and Sundays. So one Sunday evening, early in
+our stay, the Man and I stopped in front of the great door, and
+tried to push it open. It did not yield a hair's-breadth. Indeed, it
+seemed to wear an expression of stolid immobility, as though
+secretly defying our puny efforts to induce it to reveal the
+treasures it guarded.</p>
+
+<p>Sitting in a chair in the shadow of the building an old policeman
+was dozing. Him the Man roused and interrogated.</p>
+
+<p>He shook his head over the idea of the Lonja being on view on stated
+days. But the Lonja was at the <span lang="es"><i>disposicion</i></span> of the <span lang="es">señor</span>. The
+<span lang="es">señor</span> could see it on any day. He would fetch the keeper of the
+keys.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57"> [Pg 57]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 307px;">
+<a href="images/gs12.jpg"><img src="images/gs12-tb.jpg" width="307" height="400" alt="Palma seen through trees over the sea" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">PALMA, FROM THE WOODS OF BELLVER</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58"> [Pg 58]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Toddling off across the square of the palm-trees, he disappeared,
+and in a few minutes returned, followed by that official, bearing
+the emblem of his office in the form of a massive key.</p>
+
+<p>The great door opened and closed behind us, and we found ourselves
+in a vast square hall, from whose dark marble floor six noble
+pillars rose to meet the high vaulted roof.</p>
+
+<p>Like the Cathedral, the Lonja was built of the warm, buff-hued
+native stone, and the marble flooring was also of Majorcan origin,
+for it was quarried in the mountains of the island. The materials
+used in the construction were the same; but while the Cathedral
+impresses by its solemn majesty of conception, the Lonja charms with
+its beautiful simplicity of design, its inspiriting sense of light
+and air. The four wide windows were partly boarded up, the light
+entering only through the open carving at the tops. Yet the hall was
+so well illuminated that it was easy to see every detail of the
+pictures that covered a great portion of the walls.</p>
+
+<p>The collection of pictures, though of no great importance, one
+imagines might be better hung, better framed, and in some way
+catalogued. Certain of the canvasses lacked frames. A soiled card
+inscribed with the name of the artist was stuck in the frames of
+others. One portion of the wall-space was covered by interesting old
+paintings that had been removed from the antique church of San
+Domingo. And a large modern picture by a well-known Spanish painter
+attracted us both by the excellence of its workmanship and by the
+peculiarity of its subject: a bride and bridegroom&mdash;the man old,
+uninviting, and with strangely deformed feet; the woman young,
+attractive, and evidently of a lower social position&mdash;were standing
+before a brilliantly lit altar joining hands in marriage. On the
+bride's left stood her peasant mother, proud almost to arrogance at
+the wealthy marriage her pretty daughter was making. Behind were two
+workmen brothers, whispering and giggling.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59"> [Pg 59]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The satire of the artist's intention was revealed in the title, <span lang="es"><i>En
+el nombre del Padre, y del <a name="Higo" id="Higo">Higo</a>, y del Espiritu Santo</i></span>, which was
+conspicuously painted on the frame.</p>
+
+<p>High on the wall over the door that opens on to the garden two
+grotesque gargoyles look down on a finely sculptured bas-relief of
+the Virgin and Child. Across the little enclosure with its
+fruit-laden palm-tree, its tired-looking olive&mdash;how is it that
+olives always seem to pine for mountain slopes?&mdash;and its aloes, is a
+strikingly antique gate.</p>
+
+<p>As the keeper of the keys pointed out, it was the original gate of
+the mole of the ancient port, and when in the seventeenth century
+the harbour was reconstructed, it was wisely deemed worthy of
+preservation. Behind it is the antique Concilio del Mar, which is
+now the Escuela Superior de Comercio.</p>
+
+<p>Showing us a door leading to a staircase, the custodian suggested
+that the view to be obtained from the roof of the Lonja was fine.</p>
+
+<p>He did not attempt to join our climb, and when we had mounted the
+eighty-two steps of the spiral stair we did not wonder that he had
+refrained. But the sight from the path which extended round the four
+sides of the square roof was wonderful. Each point of view held
+fresh interest&mdash;whether it was the harbour with the shipping and the
+shining sea beyond, or the grand Cathedral seen across the lively
+Marina, or the eight-storey-high houses, whose upper-floor dwellings
+opened to roof terraces or blossomed out in poultry-houses and
+dove-cots. But best of all, I think, was the vista of the road
+leading towards Santa Catalina, and the Terreno, and the Castle of
+Bellver, behind which the sun was setting.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60"> [Pg 60]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/gs13.jpg"><img src="images/gs13-tb.jpg" width="400" height="243" alt="Train carriage interior" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">SECOND CLASS</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="VI" id="VI"></a><abbr title="6">VI</abbr><br />
+THE FAIR AT INCA</h2>
+
+<p>Our first experience of the Majorcan railway system was a curious
+and unexpected one.</p>
+
+<p>Having a fancy to see Inca, a thriving town situated in the very
+heart of the island, we called at Palma station one November day and
+asked for a time-table. The one handed us&mdash;it was the latest
+issued&mdash;bore the date of July, 1907. But even although it was well
+over two years old there appeared to have been no alteration either
+in the hours of departure or of arrival.</p>
+
+<p>Learning that Thursday was the market-day at Inca, we got up before
+sunrise on a Thursday morning and reached the station in good time
+for the train that was timed to leave at 7.40. The <em>other</em> train,
+for only two trains a day leave Palma, was out of the question, as
+it did not start until two o'clock.</p>
+
+<p>We had imagined that the paucity of trains argued a corresponding
+scarcity of travellers, but to our surprise the station was already
+crowded with a pleasantly excited mob of people, all in gala dress.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61"> [Pg 61]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The women had their mantillas or lace-embroidered <span lang="es"><i>rebozillos</i></span>
+fastened to the hair with little gold pins, and many wore long white
+gloves reaching to the sleeves, which were decorated at the elbows
+with a row of gold or silver buttons. The little shawls that are
+always a feature of native full dress were of all colours and
+materials, from silk with long fringes to richly-hued plush or
+delicate light brocades.</p>
+
+<p>The trains of Majorca resemble those of most other civilized
+countries in providing first, second, and third-class carriages. The
+first are cramped and stuffy. The second are inferior to some
+old-fashioned uncushioned English third-class. The third closely
+resemble cattle-trucks with benches running along the sides and down
+the middle. They have no windows; leather curtains protect their
+open sides.</p>
+
+<p>We went second-class, as did the majority of our fellow-travellers.
+Long before the hour of starting, every carriage, with the exception
+of the firsts, which were almost empty, was packed full of
+passengers, all talking at the pitch of their voices. But nothing
+happened until quite forty minutes after the time fixed for
+departure, when the engine gave a violent jerk, as though putting
+all its strength into a superhuman effort, the women crossed
+themselves devoutly, and the train moved slowly out of the station.
+So slowly indeed, that three late-comers, arriving on the platform
+after the train was in motion, not only succeeded in entering the
+train but were able, by running forward, to secure places in the
+front carriages.</p>
+
+<p>Inca is separated from the capital by twenty miles of fertile
+orchard land. The single line of rail cuts through great tracts of
+country planted with fig-trees, with almonds, and with olives. In
+many cases the ground underneath the trees was red and golden with
+autumn tinted leaves of grape vines, or verdant with the green of
+shooting corn.</p>
+
+<p>As the moments passed, and the sun rose higher, the mist wreaths
+that had lain about the plain dispersed; and the blue hills to the
+north made noble background for the spreading plantations. Within<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62"> [Pg 62]</a></span>
+our crowded carriage all was good humour. Nobody seemed to find
+anything to grumble at in the slow rate of progress.</p>
+
+<p>An early stopping-place was Santa Maria. We had only come a few
+miles, yet girls were waiting to sell nuts, and biscuits put up in
+neat paper cylinders, to those of the travellers&mdash;and they were
+many&mdash;who had already had time to be hungry; while an old woman
+carrying a water-jar and tumbler attended, ready for the smallest
+coin to supply the thirsty with water.</p>
+
+<p>The little journey was hardly begun, and there seemed but small
+reason to tarry at Santa Maria, yet the delay became so extended
+that the passengers, still maintaining their perfect good humour,
+began exchanging visits from one portion of the train to another. An
+old gentleman clad in a complete suit of striped mustard-colour
+plush and yellow elastic-sided boots called at our compartment to
+exchange compliments with a comely elderly dame, who in conjunction
+with handsome <a name="jewellery" id="jewellery">jewellery</a> had her hair&mdash;which was in a
+pigtail&mdash;covered with a gaily striped silk handkerchief.</p>
+
+<p>So the minutes wore on. At intervals a warning bell rang, but nobody
+accorded it the slightest attention, and wisely so, for nothing
+happened. At length, with a joint-dislocating jerk, we again got
+under-way, only to come to a dead stop a hundred yards further on.</p>
+
+<p>The train, it was at length admitted, was too heavy for the motive
+power. The empty first-class carriages were detached; that
+accomplished, we actually progressed. The twenty miles were
+ultimately covered, and we succeeded in reaching Inca, with its
+picturesque row of windmills and grand setting of purple mountains,
+only two hours late.</p>
+
+<p>Joining the stream of people, we entered the town, to discover what
+spectators less accustomed to crowds would long ago have
+discovered&mdash;that by some lucky chance we had come to Inca on the
+great day of its year&mdash;the annual <span lang="es"><i>feria</i></span>. All the ways leading
+towards the centre of the town were lined with empty vehicles and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63"> [Pg 63]</a></span>
+up-tilted carts, and in the narrow streets the owners were
+promenading.</p>
+
+<p>The fair was largely a business matter. It presented few of the
+elements of entertainment common to that of an English country town.
+The only thing in the way of amusement that we saw was a
+merry-go-round, and that was being quietly ignored.</p>
+
+<p>One interesting feature was that each street held its own species of
+merchandise. In one, clothing and brightly-hued foot-gear were sold.
+Another was wholly given up to sweet stalls, whose principal article
+was a species of white confection composed apparently of chopped
+almonds and sugar. That it was good the myriads of bees that were
+tasting its sweetness bore testimony. In yet another street we had
+to walk between a long double row of women seated on rush-bottomed
+chairs, each bearing in her lap an earthenware cooking-pot full of a
+puzzling commodity that had something of the appearance of crimson
+threads. It appeared to be the only commodity they had to offer, and
+I own we never succeeded in discovering what it was.</p>
+
+<p>The square in front of the principal church was the centre of
+attraction for us. On one side the ground was covered with a fine
+display of native ware. Jars, and plates, and pots, and vases, in
+the greens and yellows and browns that look so tempting and are so
+cheap. The touch of vermilion, artistically so valuable to the busy
+scene, was given by the huge sacks bulging with scarlet and orange
+sweet peppers that form such an important part of Majorcan food.</p>
+
+<p>Two maimed beggars, the first we had seen in the island, were
+hobbling about reaping a harvest; and, raised on a little platform,
+a travelling dentist was extracting juvenile teeth free; to the
+satisfaction of certain thrifty parents, and to the visible distress
+of their offspring.</p>
+
+<p>Just below the square was the cattle-market; and on its outskirts we
+saw, for the first time, a peasant clad in the native male dress
+that unfortunately has become so rare. The jolly old fellow wore the
+extremely baggy blue cotton pantaloons, the short black jacket, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64"> [Pg 64]</a></span>
+wide-brimmed hat that make up so distinctive a costume. He even wore
+the quaint black shoes that suit the costume, and that seemed a
+blessed relief from the green and orange elastic-sided boots in
+vogue.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/gs14.jpg"><img src="images/gs14-tb.jpg" width="400" height="332" alt="A crowd of people at the fair" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">A CORNER OF THE FAIR AT INCA</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>A threatened shower and an actual thirst gave excuse for seeking
+refuge in a café. Most of those we glanced into were crowded with
+peasants, and we hesitated about forcing our way in. Finding at last
+one that looked more exclusive than the others, we entered and
+seated ourselves at one of the little tables set under the
+overhanging tissue-paper decorations.</p>
+
+<p>The Boy and I wanted wine, the Man chose cognac. The active waiter
+quickly served us with huge tumblers of red wine set in saucers; and
+placing before the Man a bottle of brandy in which were immersed
+spiky herbs, left him to help himself. The wine was rich and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65"> [Pg 65]</a></span>
+fruity, the liqueur the Man declared delicious; and while the rain,
+which was now falling in earnest, pattered down, we sipped and
+watched the passing life of the street.</p>
+
+<p>Just across the way, at the side entrance to a flourishing baker's
+shop, two women were frying dough-nuts in a big pan of boiling oil.
+The elder woman, scraping a segment of batter from the full basin at
+her elbow, deftly twisted it round her finger, then threw it into
+the oil, from which a minute later her assistant lifted it out with
+a long-handled spoon, transformed into a crisp golden ring.</p>
+
+<p>The shower had ceased, the sun was again shining out, and there was
+much to see; so we paid for our drinks and departed.</p>
+
+<p>"Fourpence!" said the Man, as he pocketed his change. "A penny each
+for the wine and twopence for the liqueur! It's enough to drive one
+to drink!"</p>
+
+<p>The one drawback to the complete enjoyment of the fair was the mud.
+The previous night had been wet, and the streets were inches deep in
+it. It was a buff-coloured slime of persistently adhesive nature,
+and not content with thickly coating one's shoes, it tried to drag
+them off. To walk about in mud three inches deep is fatiguing, so we
+decided to take the train that was due to leave Inca at one o'clock,
+instead of waiting for that leaving at four.</p>
+
+<p>It was a merciful fortune that guided us, for the one o'clock train
+took three hours to cover its twenty miles. Yet the scenery, with
+its grey-green olive plantations set against a background of
+beautiful mountains and enlivened with quaintly attired
+olive-gatherers, was so fine that we did not tire of feasting our
+eyes upon it.</p>
+
+<p>Our companions on the return journey were mainly men&mdash;Palma
+merchants probably, who had visited the fair as buyers and were
+anxious to return with the greatest possible expedition. When those
+who were so adventurous as to wait until the later train would get
+back to town, or whether they ever reached it at all, history does
+not relate.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66"> [Pg 66]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/gs15.jpg"><img src="images/gs15-tb.jpg" width="400" height="308" alt="Church in front of hills" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">WHERE THE HILLS MEET THE PLAIN, ESGLAYETA</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="VII" id="VII"></a><abbr title="7">VII</abbr><br />
+VALLDEMOSA</h2>
+
+<p>The fertile plain that occupies the greater portion of the island of
+Majorca is sheltered from cold winds by the range of mountains that
+runs along the northern coast. The scenery on the farther side of
+the mountains is of unusual grandeur, the tracts of precipitous
+country bordering the sea between Valldemosa and Sóller being
+exceptionally lovely.</p>
+
+<p>The district, which is almost entirely devoted to olive plantations,
+is a scantily populated one. And as there are no <span lang="es"><i>fondas</i></span> for a
+considerable distance, the Austrian Archduke Luis Salvador, who owns
+much land on the northern coast, has turned a large farm-house on
+his estate of Miramar into an <span lang="es"><i>hospederia</i></span>, or free lodging-house,
+for the use of travellers.</p>
+
+<p>There are many <span lang="es"><i>hospederias</i></span> in Spain, but they are generally<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67"> [Pg 67]</a></span>
+attached to monasteries and intended for the use of pilgrims to some
+shrine. That at Miramar is the only instance I know of one supported
+by a private individual, and many sojourners from far lands like
+ourselves must have felt grateful to the royal owner for the kindly
+provision he has made for them.</p>
+
+<p>Within the friendly walls of the <span lang="es">Hospederia</span> any sojourner can for
+three nights find free accommodation, the Archduke providing
+house-room, linen, service, and fuel. The apartments are always
+ready, the guest need send no warning of his intended arrival. All
+he requires to do is to supply himself with food sufficient for the
+sustenance of his party throughout the visit, as there are no shops
+within several miles of Miramar, and the servants at the <span lang="es">Hospederia</span>
+are forbidden to sell to the guests.</p>
+
+<p>Very early during our stay at Palma we had purposed journeying
+northwards to see the places of whose wonders we had heard; but we
+were so pleasantly interested in our new home and strange
+environment that it was nearing the close of November before we felt
+disposed to take the journey.</p>
+
+<p>At stated times diligences run the twelve miles between Palma and
+Valldemosa, and the charge is only sevenpence-halfpenny. But the
+diligence goes no farther than Valldemosa, and that is three miles
+distant from the <span lang="es">Hospederia</span>. So, when we had decided to go on the
+Tuesday morning, we engaged Bartolomé, a good-looking bachelor
+charioteer, who stabled his carriage and pair of horses in Son
+Españolet, to drive us thither.</p>
+
+<p>But Tuesday morning, when it came, brought a sudden change of
+weather. A strong easterly wind was blowing, and the temperature,
+for the first time since our arrival on these favoured isles, nearly
+approached cold. Bartolomé was warned that the journey was postponed
+for a day at least, and we spent the hours of uncertainty in
+grumbling at the weather, and in consuming the most perishable of
+the stock of provisions we had laid in for the expedition.</p>
+
+<p>Judging the Majorcan climate by our knowledge of that of other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68"> [Pg 68]</a></span>
+countries, we were all secretly convinced that we had delayed too
+long, that the weather had probably changed for the winter, and that
+our little excursion might require to be postponed until spring.</p>
+
+<p>But to our surprise and relief the succeeding morning proved calm
+and sunny. Having been duly instructed, Bartolomé drove up at ten
+o'clock precisely, with a jingling of bells that I am convinced set
+every feminine head in the Calle de Mas a-peer behind its discreetly
+closed venetian shutters. In appearance Bartolomé was the embodiment
+of buoyant geniality. His black hair curled in rings about his
+smiling face, and he had dressed for the occasion in a white suit, a
+pink shirt, and a pair of bright yellow elastic-sided boots.</p>
+
+<p>Bartolomé's carriage, the sides of whose interior were decorated
+with four antimacassars on each of which was embroidered a
+flamboyant representation of a rampant steed, proved both roomy and
+comfortable, and we were only three in number. Yet when we had got
+packed in with our luggage, which included sketching materials as
+well as comestibles, there was scarcely room to stir. Never before
+had we realized what a cumbersome article food was: or calculated
+the bulk of&mdash;say&mdash;the bread even so small a family will consume in
+three days. And when you add to the loaves the meat and groceries,
+the vegetables and fruit, necessary for three days' moderate
+consumption, they will be found to occupy a surprisingly large
+amount of space.</p>
+
+<p>The first portion of the journey led through the broad, fertile
+plain north of Palma, where plantations of almond, fig, and olive
+succeed each other with scarcely a break&mdash;that wide expanse whose
+fruitfulness has gained Majorca the title of the orchard of the
+Mediterranean. Near where the hills meet the plain we passed the
+village of Esglayeta, an attractive hamlet consisting of little more
+than a church and a wayside <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span>.</p>
+
+<p>The noses of the horses had been pointing directly towards a
+precipitous cleft in the range of mountains, and almost unexpectedly
+we entered the valley that divided two great hills. As we drove on,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69"> [Pg 69]</a></span>
+the winding road gradually ascended, until we found ourselves in the
+midst of the mountains and within sight of the outlying portion of
+lovely Valldemosa.</p>
+
+<p>In his <i>Byways of Europe</i> Bayard Taylor said: "Verily there is
+nothing in all Europe so beautiful as Valldemosa." And indeed the
+ancient town, rising on its heights amid still higher heights above
+the valley that runs seawards, is strikingly beautiful.</p>
+
+<p>It is only when taking Valldemosa in detail that one notices that
+its people are not quite so handsome, that they lack the gracious
+and light-hearted bearing of the inhabitants of Palma, that their
+dress is poorer, and the streets more squalid. Perhaps the
+difference in climate may account for the difference in appearance,
+for Valldemosa stands high among the mountains, and its climate is
+both colder and damper than that of Palma. The situation is supposed
+to be extremely healthy. It was at Valldemosa, on the site
+afterwards occupied by the Carthusian monastery, that in 1311 King
+Sancho, who was afflicted with asthma, built a palace to which he
+removed his Court, and from which he gave his hawking parties.</p>
+
+<p>At the suggestion of Bartolomé, we paused to visit the church
+attached to the old monastery, which was shown us by an elderly
+woman, who, unlike most of the country people, spoke excellent
+Spanish and understood our efforts in that language.</p>
+
+<p>Under her guidance we visited the chapel, a fine old treasure-house
+of carved effigies of saints, of paintings, and of relics in glass
+cases all carefully wrapped up and labelled. The colours of the
+paintings that adorn the walls and ceiling, the work of two
+Carthusian monks, are as vivid as though still wet from the brush.
+And the remarkable altar-piece, with its life-size figures in wax,
+is worth a special visit.</p>
+
+<p>Walking through the cloisters of the Carthusian monastery, we passed
+the doors of the cells, which are now used as dwelling-houses, and
+it occurred to us to ask if our old woman knew in which of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70"> [Pg 70]</a></span>
+cells George Sand had passed her memorable winter in company with
+her children and with Chopin, and if it would be possible for us to
+see it.</p>
+
+<p>Our guide appeared to be familiar with both questions. She had no
+hesitation in answering them in the affirmative; and preceding us
+briskly down the long, ascetic-looking corridor (that accorded so
+ill with our notion of Madame Dudevant), knocked at the door
+numbered 1.</p>
+
+<p>"But if people are living in the house, will they not object? We
+must not disturb them," we demurred.</p>
+
+<p>Our guardian thrust aside our protest as trivial, and in truth it
+was offered in a perfunctory spirit.</p>
+
+<p>"No, no," she assured us. "The <span lang="es">señor</span> will be pleased. He is a nice
+gentleman. He was the doctor of Valldemosa for thirty years, till he
+retired. He will show you the house himself."</p>
+
+<p>And indeed the <span lang="es">señor</span>, when he appeared, was graciousness itself.
+Welcoming us after the Spanish fashion, he put his house and what it
+contained at our disposal. In this case the courtesy proved more
+than a form of words, for he personally conducted us over all his
+domain.</p>
+
+<p>First he showed us the terrace garden, from whose low boundary-wall,
+as from a balcony, one could look over the scattered houses that
+nestled among their laden orange-trees, towards the distant sea. The
+sun was shining; the air was heavy with the perfume of the loquat
+blossoms; a delicious languor lay over all. It was easy to imagine
+George Sand leaning on that wall, whose base was so thickly fringed
+with luxuriant maidenhair fern, revelling in the beauty of her
+surroundings. But my thoughts and sympathy were most with the monks
+who, on the suppression of the convents in 1835, were obliged to
+leave their quiet cells and the gardens that must have been a
+perpetual delight to them, and go elsewhere to subsist on the scant
+pension of a franc a day.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 291px;">
+<a href="images/col03.jpg"><img src="images/col03-tb.jpg" width="291" height="400" alt="Village in front of hills with man ploughing in the foreground" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">VALLDEMOSA</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Taking us indoors, the doctor showed us the living-rooms, five of
+which looked out to the terrace-garden. The name of "cell"<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71"> [Pg 71]</a></span>
+suggests accommodation that is cramped and austere, but nothing
+could have been more cheerful than these sunlit chambers.</p>
+
+<p>In the large, airy <span lang="es"><i>salon</i></span>, with its domed ceiling, one could easily
+imagine both musician and novelist finding abundant space to work,
+he with his "velvet fingers," as his companion christened them, she
+with her facile pen. And in the quaint kitchen, with its range of
+charcoal stoves and big, open fireplace, one could picture them
+gathering on the nights of that cold winter.</p>
+
+<p>It would have been impossible to find a more idyllic setting for a
+romantic episode. Still, I must confess that doubts assailed me; for
+in November, 1838, when writing to a friend, George Sand had said:&mdash;</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"I have a cell, that is to say, three rooms and a
+garden full of oranges and lemons, for thirty-five
+francs a year, in the large monastery of Valldemosa."</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>And this house of the doctor's, with its spacious <span lang="es"><i>salon</i></span>, its large
+dining-room, its many sleeping-apartments? No, much though we
+desired it, the descriptions hardly tallied. Then in her account of
+the unusually severe winter Madame Dudevant wrote of the "eagles and
+vultures that came down to feast on the poor sparrows that sheltered
+in their pomegranate trees from the snow."</p>
+
+<p>Now in the garden there was a <span lang="es"><i>kake</i></span> tree laden with ripe rose-red
+fruit, and other trees, but no pomegranate. But then that was many
+years past, and the trunk of the pomegranate-tree might long ago
+have been burnt on that wide hearth in the kitchen.</p>
+
+<p>Speaking of the matter to the good doctor, we found our uncertainty
+shared. Throwing out his hands he said humorously:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"Who knows? There is no record. It was <em>one</em> of the cells. That much
+is certain. And this was the house of the Superior. If not this
+house, it was another. That is enough."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72"> [Pg 72]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But as we descended the slope from the monastery we agreed that,
+whether or not the great French <span lang="fr"><i>artistes</i></span> ever lived within the
+walls of that particular cell, there could be no question that they
+had breathed the sweet air of these terrace-gardens, and had known
+the enchantment of that wonderful panoramic view. And that made
+their personalities very real to us.</p>
+
+<p>Bartolomé awaited us smiling, and, insinuating ourselves among our
+medley of belongings, off we set along the three miles of road that
+led to Miramar.</p>
+
+<p>On the outskirts of Valldemosa we saw, for the first time in
+Majorca, vines climbing over tall trees by the wayside, their grapes
+in purple bunches suspended in profusion from the branches. The
+effect was so beautiful that we almost regretted the more prosaic
+vineyards near Palma, with the carefully trained vines that
+resembled well-pruned blackberry bushes.</p>
+
+<p>As we advanced, passing through a succession of olive plantations
+that rose above us towards the grand craggy mountains and fell
+beneath us to the blue sea, glimpses of which we caught over the
+foliage, the beauty of the scene that gradually unfolded surpassed
+all that we had yet seen.</p>
+
+<p>The Man groaned a little, as during the next three days he was fated
+to groan often, and for the same reason.</p>
+
+<p>"This is <em>too</em> grand," he said. "It's hopeless. One could never
+paint it!"</p>
+
+<p>Turning a bend of the road, Bartolomé drew rein with a flourish
+before a quaint dwelling by the wayside; and we realized that we had
+reached the <span lang="es">Hospederia</span>.</p>
+
+<p>"I say! We ought to have sent word we were coming. I hope the house
+isn't full. I hope they'll have room for us," said the Boy, voicing
+the sudden apprehension of us all. But so far from being crowded
+with visitors, the <span lang="es">Hospederia</span> seemed totally deserted. The great
+door was shut and, except for a vagrant cat and a clucking hen,
+there was no sign of life about the place.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73"> [Pg 73]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Shouting lustily for "Fernando," Bartolomé jumped down and, running
+to the door, knocked loudly. Receiving no reply, he did not stand
+upon ceremony but, pushing open the door, went in, beckoning us to
+follow.</p>
+
+<p>Entering, we found ourselves in a large outer hall with a cobbled
+floor and a long well-scrubbed table and benches. Following our
+charioteer, who had opened an inner door, we went into a large
+dimly-lit room which, when the window-shutters had been opened,
+revealed itself as a long narrow dining-room of severely ascetic
+appearance. Tables extended down its length, chairs with seats of
+interwoven string stood round the walls.</p>
+
+<p>"Look, <span lang="es">señora</span>!"</p>
+
+<p>Running to a cupboard, Bartolomé had thrown open the door,
+disclosing shelves laden with china and crystal.</p>
+
+<p>Again&mdash;"Look! <span lang="es">señora</span>."</p>
+
+<p>Hastening to the opposite side of the room, he had opened the doors
+of a big <span lang="es"><i>armário</i></span>, and was pointing to piles of clean table-linen.</p>
+
+<p>It was as though we had strayed into some enchanted castle where all
+had been prepared for our coming by invisible hands. Going off to
+explore further, we found our way into a snug kitchen. The whole of
+one side was occupied by a brown-tiled charcoal stove, on which many
+dinners could have been cooked simultaneously. The shelves were
+laden with cooking-pots and pans, of every description; the walls
+shone with an array of well-polished utensils. Over charcoal embers
+a huge earthenware pot, that for its better preservation had been
+encased in a strait-waistcoat of wire-netting, was slowly bubbling.</p>
+
+<p>Essaying to mount the stair leading from the hall, we peeped into
+closely shuttered apartments in which we could see the dim outlines
+of beds. And what we saw assured us of one thing&mdash;that there were no
+other guests at the <span lang="es">Hospederia</span>.</p>
+
+<p>From the perfect order of the house, and the fact that the fire was
+burning, it was clear that someone must be close at hand. But we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74"> [Pg 74]</a></span>
+had come a long way, and in the meantime we were famishing.</p>
+
+<p>Hastening to our aid, the ubiquitous Bartolomé spread the table,
+putting out plates and glasses, and finding wooden spoons and forks
+in the drawer of a side-table. Opening our packets of sandwiches and
+fruit, we invited him to join us.</p>
+
+<p>We were all seated at table, busily eating, when a swift clatter of
+feet sounded on the cobble stones of the outer hall; and a brisk
+little brown woman ran into the room, voluble with apology for the
+temporary absence of the keepers of the <span lang="es">Hospederia</span>. Netta, she
+explained, was away. Fernando was working at the farm. In their
+absence could she be of any service to our excellencies?</p>
+
+<p>Reassured on that point, the lady&mdash;Catalina was her name&mdash;remained
+to enliven our picnic lunch by rallying Bartolomé, who was an old
+acquaintance of hers, on his unparalleled effrontery in sitting down
+to table with us.</p>
+
+<p>"You have no right to eat with their excellencies," she said. "You
+are only a coachman."</p>
+
+<p>"But if he is a good coachman?" asked the Man.</p>
+
+<p>"Ah, no, <span lang="es">señor</span>. He is not a good coachman. He is a bad coachman.
+And, besides, he cannot spread a table. See! he has given you no
+table-cloth, no napkins, when he knows the cupboard is full of them.
+No, he is a very bad coachman indeed!"</p>
+
+<p>When our scrap meal was finished, Catalina proceeded to show us our
+sleeping accommodation. Unlocking a door that we had not tried, she
+led us through a pleasant room with two beds, to one with two
+windows&mdash;one facing the highroad, where Bartolomé's carriage still
+waited, the other affording a beautiful view of the rugged coast.</p>
+
+<p>Catalina explained that these rooms were usually allotted to
+foreigners such as ourselves, the less attractively situated being
+reserved for natives of the island, who were at liberty to share the
+Archduke's hospitality, although the <span lang="es">Hospederia</span> was originally
+intended for the use of other travellers. A handsome new<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75"> [Pg 75]</a></span>
+dining-room in process of construction, though during our stay no
+one was actually working at it, was also planned for the
+accommodation of those from far countries, but to us the
+appointments of the older building seemed peculiarly in keeping with
+the quaint idea of the <span lang="es">Hospederia</span>.</p>
+
+<p>The bedrooms were simply but sufficiently furnished. Each had two
+single beds, half-a-dozen chairs, a plain wooden table, and a tripod
+washstand holding the smallest basin and ewer we had seen outside
+France. The roofs were raftered. All was the perfection of austere
+cleanliness.</p>
+
+<p>Before our inspection was ended Fernando, the host, a good-looking
+man with the gracious deportment of an operatic tenor, had returned.
+His grandmother had been the original housekeeper of the <span lang="es">Hospederia</span>.
+On her death, at the age of ninety-nine, her office had descended
+upon Fernando and his young wife Netta.</p>
+
+<p>We spent the all too short November afternoon and evening in
+exploring the slopes about Miramar, looking at the glorious views
+that perpetually presented some yet more glorious aspect. The
+<span lang="es">Hospederia</span> was over a thousand feet above the sea, to which the
+ground fell precipitously. Above the house the land rose up and up
+until it ended in towering crags. Northward stretched the
+Mediterranean. Elsewhere the eye met nothing but range upon range of
+mountains.</p>
+
+<p>The extensive grounds of Miramar are well shaded with olive and
+carob trees, but at every point that affords a specially good view
+of some part of the exquisite scenery the Archduke has caused to be
+erected a <span lang="es"><i>mirador</i></span>, or walled enclosure, where one can sit in
+safety and glory in the beauty of the surroundings.</p>
+
+<p>From one of these we watched the after-glow of the setting sun
+illumine distant peaks, bringing into prominence heights whose
+existence we had scarcely realized.</p>
+
+<p>The darkness, falling swiftly, surprised us while a good distance
+from the <span lang="es">Hospederia</span>, and we had to find our way back by untried
+paths. But the fascination of the place held us captive, and when<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76"> [Pg 76]</a></span>
+the moon began to peep out from among the clouds we could not remain
+indoors, as more sensible folks would have done. Wrapping up a
+little, for it was colder on the northern coast of the island than
+at Palma, we went out, determined to reach a headland by the sea, on
+which from above we had caught tantalizing glimpses of a shining
+white temple.</p>
+
+<p>Except from a <span lang="es"><i>mirador</i></span> the temple was not visible, and we wandered
+by many devious ways before we again came in sight of it, perched
+above the sea on a high rock that is reached by a stone bridge
+thrown over a deep gully.</p>
+
+<p>As we felt our way along, for the elusive moon was again behind a
+cloud, all was silent, mysterious. Surely Miramar at nightfall in
+winter is one of the most silent places on the earth. We felt as
+though there was not a human being alive but ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>Crossing the bridge timorously, we found ourselves confronting the
+ghostly white chapel. When we had told Catalina of our desire to
+visit it, she had given us keys, but they did not fit. And as we
+proceeded to fumble with the lock, the silence was so intense that I
+could almost have imagined that someone within was holding his
+breath to listen. Had we knocked upon that closed door I had an
+eerie conviction that the spectre of some long-dead monk would have
+opened it.</p>
+
+<p>But we did not knock. And the moon favouring us with a glimpse of
+her illumining power, we walked round the base of the temple, which
+is securely railed in, and watched the moon outline with silver
+finger-tips each point and pinnacle of the hills and shimmer softly
+on the sea.</p>
+
+<p>When we returned to the <span lang="es">Hospederia</span>, Fernando had gone to fetch his
+wife; and Catalina, who had been left in charge, bustled into the
+dining-room to tell us that two <span lang="es"><i>carabineros</i></span> had come, and were
+resting in the kitchen.</p>
+
+<p>"Have they come after us?" cried the Man; and Catalina, who enjoyed
+even the mildest of humour, wrinkled her brown face in delight.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77"> [Pg 77]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The dining-room where we sat was large and dimly lit by oil lamps.
+After the silence of those wooded slopes the prospect of even the
+company of two <span lang="es"><i>carabineros</i></span> was alluring. So when I went into the
+kitchen to cook the lamb cutlets and tomatoes that comprised our
+modest supper, my men followed me.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 359px;">
+<a href="images/gs16.jpg"><img src="images/gs16-tb.jpg" width="359" height="400" alt="Policemen having a chat" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">CARABINEROS IN THE KITCHEN</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The kitchen, which was the most picturesque part of the <span lang="es">Hospederia</span>,
+was looking particularly snug and cosy. A fire of logs burned on the
+open hearth, below the shining tin pans and the strings of red
+peppers, and lit up the fine bronzed faces of the <span lang="es"><i>carabineros</i></span>, who
+sat close to its warmth.</p>
+
+<p>They rose when we entered, to offer us their seats. One, spreading
+his striped blanket on the low settle, invited the Man to share it;
+and while I grilled the cutlets and Catalina washed dishes at the
+sink, the men chatted as freely as their difference of language<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78"> [Pg 78]</a></span>
+would allow, the <span lang="es"><i>carabineros</i></span> talking of their long hours of
+duty&mdash;for their patrol begins at five or six o'clock in the evening
+and does not end until seven next morning&mdash;and of the constant watch
+that has to be kept for smugglers on that lonely and seemingly
+scarce accessible coast.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving them to resume their night watch, we supped and went to bed,
+to be roused in the early morning by voices. Netta, the
+house-mistress, had returned, and thenceforward the lively Catalina
+would relapse into the position of merely an obliging neighbour.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79"> [Pg 79]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/gs17.jpg"><img src="images/gs17-tb.jpg" width="400" height="338" alt="Large villa set on cliffs over sea" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">LA TRINIDAD, MIRAMAR</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a><abbr title="8">VIII</abbr><br />
+MIRAMAR</h2>
+
+<p>When we went downstairs to breakfast Netta was setting the table;
+setting it, too, after a fashion of her own which never varied, were
+the meal breakfast, luncheon or dinner.</p>
+
+<p>First she spread the cloth, whose lack at luncheon on the previous
+day had so offended Catalina's sense of what was neat and proper.
+Then she put before each place a big tumbler, a little tumbler, two
+soup-plates, and a wooden spoon and fork.</p>
+
+<p>Netta proved to be tall and nice-looking, with tragic dark eyes, and
+a gravity of manner that was in striking contrast to her husband's
+smiling bonhomie. She was an admirable housewife. We never caught
+her at work; yet, without the slightest appearance of fuss and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80"> [Pg 80]</a></span>
+flurry, she managed to keep everything the pink of perfection.</p>
+
+<p>The weather was hardly promising. Rain had fallen in the night;
+veils of mist smothered the crests of the near hills and completely
+obliterated the more distant. But we were resolved to let nothing
+short of an actual downpour keep us indoors. And as the Man wished
+to sketch at Valldemosa, which had captivated us all on the previous
+day, the Boy and I accompanied him thither. Perhaps it is unwise to
+attempt to renew first impressions. Possibly the charm of Miramar
+clouded our eyes to the undoubted beauty of Valldemosa. More likely
+the fact that the sun only peeped out fitfully, and that the wind
+was damp and the sky sullen, influenced our view: but somehow
+Valldemosa seemed to have lost the glamour it cast over us when we
+first saw it basking in the warm sunlight. Everybody seemed chilly,
+and all the children looked as if they had colds in their noses.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the Man working at a water-colour of the old Carthusian
+monastery from rising ground above a covered well, we set off with
+the intention of augmenting our little stock of provisions from the
+shops of the town.</p>
+
+<p>The store we chanced upon sold every likely and unlikely commodity,
+from green and orange boots to radishes. When we inquired where we
+might find a butcher, the shop-mistress, with a majestic wave of her
+hand, signed to us to follow her. And, walking in her footsteps, we
+threaded our way through an apartment, which was partly kitchen and
+partly an overflow stock chamber, into an inner room, where hung
+garlands of black and yellow sausages and the carcasses of two
+lambs.</p>
+
+<p>This was the butcher's shop, she announced, and there was no beef,
+only lamb. So perforce we added yet more cutlets to our diet, and
+humbly craved bread. But the only loaves she had were so large that,
+rejecting them, we went in search of a baker.</p>
+
+<p>In the less important Majorcan towns, shops are difficult to find.
+The fact that a tax is levied upon signs keeps all but the most
+prominent vendors from exhibiting one. The room of an ordinary<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81"> [Pg 81]</a></span>
+house that opens directly to the street usually acts as the place of
+business; and a cabbage, or a basket of striped haricot beans, set
+casually on the doorstep, often serves to indicate the existence of
+a general shop.</p>
+
+<p>After a little searching we succeeded in finding a <span lang="es"><i>panaderia</i></span>, but
+the loaves of the baker, in place of being smaller than those of the
+grocer (which sounds Ollendorffian), were so huge that they
+resembled cartwheels, or, to be more exact, perambulator wheels,
+baked of rye.</p>
+
+<p>For a moment the choice lay between possible starvation and the
+prospect of trundling the mammoth rye loaf up and down the three
+miles of highway that lay between us and the <span lang="es">Hospederia</span>.</p>
+
+<p>While we hesitated, the baker lady, and the half dozen or so of her
+intimate friends who had followed us into the shop to see what the
+foreigners would buy, regarded us interestedly. Then a compromise
+suggested itself.</p>
+
+<p>"Would it be possible to ask the <span lang="es">señora</span> to divide the loaf?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes&mdash;without doubt."</p>
+
+<p>The complacent <span lang="es">señora</span> already had the large knife in her hand. So,
+clutching the half of the still steaming rye loaf, we returned to
+the Man, with whom we had arranged to share an open-air luncheon.</p>
+
+<p>Before we had reached him, the mist that had been threatening to
+swoop down upon us resolved itself into a shower. Taking advantage
+of the near vicinity of the covered well, we boiled our tea-kettle
+under the archway, and drank tea, to the surprise of the people who
+were constantly coming to fill their water-jars.</p>
+
+<p>Then, the sun consenting, rather sulkily, to peep out again, the Man
+returned to his work, while the Boy and I, feeling no further
+temptation to linger at Valldemosa, took up our section of the
+cartwheel and set off for Miramar.</p>
+
+<p>On the way, not far beyond the outskirts of the town, we caught
+sight of a notice-board, which stated that a Museum of Mallorquin
+antiquities might be seen in a house on the side of the road<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82"> [Pg 82]</a></span>
+nearest to the mountains. Following the path indicated, we found
+ourselves, after a few minutes walking, in the courtyard of what had
+evidently been a fine old country seat.</p>
+
+<p>The doors stood open to the world. Except for a beautiful flock of
+cream-coloured turkeys, the place seemed utterly untenanted. There
+was no sign of humanity until the Boy woke the echoes by smiting
+lustily on a cow-bell that hung outside the kitchen door.</p>
+
+<p>Then a little sun-dried old woman popped her head out, and with a
+scared face fled up a broad flight of steps that led from the
+courtyard to the floor above.</p>
+
+<p>She had gone to warn the custodian of the Museum; and that dame,
+quickly appearing, invited us upstairs to see the collection.</p>
+
+<p>The house, Son Moragues, she told us, was one of the many owned by
+the Archduke on the different estates he had bought. He had never
+used it as a residence, and merely kept it as a receptacle for the
+specimens of typical Mallorquin manufactures, such as pottery,
+models of baskets, furniture, etc., he was collecting.</p>
+
+<p>The object that interested us perhaps more than any other exhibit
+was a jar that had been salved from the sea in Palma Harbour.
+Although a genuine antique it was of the shape in use to-day; and
+its unrecorded period of immersion had left it encrusted with a
+marvellous decoration of barnacles and shells.</p>
+
+<p>What really delighted us most in the Museum were the views from the
+balconies; especially those obtained from a great old <span lang="es"><i>terras</i></span> with
+a sloping floor, where we stood in the brilliant sunshine and
+watched the showers sweeping along the mountain tops and up the
+valley.</p>
+
+<p>Down below us was a thick hedge of prickly pear, the edges of the
+fleshy leaves ruched with scarlet fruit. And beside us, as we leant
+on the edge of the balcony, was a wire tray on which a quantity of
+figs, gathered presumably from the trees in the field beneath, were
+drying in the sun.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83"> [Pg 83]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The quaint old garden, which we saw on the way out, had tall box
+hedges and a spreading magnolia, and crumbling stone seats
+surrounded the fountain, whose waters have long run dry.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening I had gone to bed early, leaving the others to follow
+their own devices, and was sleeping the sleep of the woman who had
+been all day in the open air, when an insistent calling of my name
+aroused me back to semi-consciousness, and I gradually gathered that
+I must descend to open the door. The men, who had gone out walking
+in the moonlight, had returned to find that, inadvertently, the
+house door had been locked and barred against them.</p>
+
+<p>Had my room been less accessible, or my sleep more profound, they
+might have knocked and called in vain, for although it was hardly
+nine o'clock, Fernando and Netta were deep in the slumber of the
+agriculturist in some unknown roof-chamber of the tall old house.</p>
+
+<p>Although so isolated in position, Miramar is intimately connected
+with the romantic life-history of Ramon Lull&mdash;rake, recluse,
+scholar, fanatic, martyr, saint&mdash;what you will.</p>
+
+<p>The father of Ramon Lull&mdash;the name is variously spelt: Raymund Lully
+in the English; Ramundo Lulio in the Spanish; and Ramon Lull in the
+Mallorquin, which has a bad habit of chipping the ends off
+words&mdash;was one of those brave young knights of Aragon who fought
+with their King during his invasion and conquest of Majorca. When
+that war had ended happily for all but the Moors, the parent Lull,
+in company with the other nobles who had supported King Jaime the
+Conquistador, was rewarded with an estate in Majorca. And there,
+about six years later, his son Ramon was born.</p>
+
+<p>During his earlier manhood Ramon gave little hint of what he was
+ultimately to become. His behaviour was by no means sedate. Nay,
+more, it is on record that his love affairs were so numerous as to
+become a public scandal, which reached a climax on his riding on
+horseback into church in pursuit of a devout lady whom he madly
+adored.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84"> [Pg 84]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The fatal illness of this lady, by awakening his conscience and
+rousing him to a sense of sin, changed the current of his thoughts,
+and after a period of self-accusation and contrition, he decided not
+only to lead a better life, but to spend that life in the
+reformation of others.</p>
+
+<p>King Jaime, on being applied to, supplied the funds necessary for
+the carrying out of his project, and Lull erected a college at
+Miramar, where close by the house of the Archduke a fragment of the
+original chapel is still to be seen. His scheme was to teach
+thirteen monks Arabic, so that they could go forth as missionaries
+among the infidels. And Miramar, one of the most secluded spots on
+earth, as well as one of the most beautiful, he deemed a suitable
+place for study.</p>
+
+<p>But the scheme failed. Why, the chroniclers do not say. Perhaps the
+students, being merely human, wearied of the restrictions of
+existence in that seminary perched on the hill-side between the
+mountains and the sea, and pined for company.</p>
+
+<p>The project was abandoned. A later record speaks of King Sancho,
+grandson of the Conquistador, visiting Miramar in quest of relief
+from the asthma with which he was afflicted, and residing at the
+Arabic College.</p>
+
+<p>Lull, nothing daunted by the defection of his pupils, alone put into
+execution his plan of carrying the truth into other lands. We hear
+of his preaching Christ in Africa and being rewarded with stripes.
+Then we are told of his travelling in the Holy Land. Later he
+appears in Paris, in Egypt, and even in England, writing books and
+teaching.</p>
+
+<p>In spite of besetting dangers, Lull's life of study and propagandism
+lasted beyond the ordinary term of man. When he was an octogenarian,
+and probably weary of the struggle, he desired to quit the world in
+a blaze of glory; and, as the best means of attaining his end,
+returned to Africa, where earlier he had been received with
+contumely and severely beaten. There Lull met the fate he coveted:
+for continuing to preach openly and persistently, he was stoned to
+death at Bugia in June, 1315.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85"> [Pg 85]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Some Genoese disciples who had begged for his bruised and broken
+body brought it tenderly back to his birthplace. We had seen the
+spot of its interment in the beautiful church of San Francisco, at
+Palma, a Gothic temple of the thirteenth century, that vies in
+antiquity with the Cathedral. One of the chapels in the transept to
+the left of the high altar gives sepulture to the aged martyr. The
+effigy shown is that of an old man lying on his side, as though to
+signify that his unwavering and indomitable spirit had at last
+gained rest.</p>
+
+<p>We had spoken tentatively of Lull to Fernando, and Fernando had not
+only admitted a knowledge of the old-world frequenter of his slopes,
+but had volunteered to take us to visit his cave, a sanctuary high
+on the mountain-side above Miramar, where Lull was wont to go when
+he felt the need of seclusion. And at ten next morning we were
+waiting, expectant.</p>
+
+<p>But at ten Fernando, just returned from his morning's work on the
+farm, was at breakfast. So we went to the <span lang="es"><i>mirador</i></span>, below the
+<span lang="es">Hospederia</span>, and spent the minutes of waiting enjoying the view that,
+no matter how often we saw it, always wore a different aspect.</p>
+
+<p>This morning, though the sun was shining on the sea and on the
+olives that covered the lower slopes, the higher peaks were obscured
+by filmy scarves of mist, and scarcely perceptible wisps were
+floating about the mountain sides, giving an air of mystery and
+grandeur to the lofty heights.</p>
+
+<p>Then Fernando appeared wiping his moustached lips, which already
+held the inevitable cigarette. Under his guidance we moved along the
+highroad until we came to a gate where a cross fixed to the post
+betokened monastery ground. A sandalled monk passing by gave us
+grave greeting. There the ascent began at once, the path zigzagging
+about on the terraced slopes that were thickly planted with olives.
+The undergrowth was bright with the vivid green foliage and
+brilliant scarlet berries of the winter cherry.</p>
+
+<p>Up and up we mounted, Fernando and the Boy walking lightly in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86"> [Pg 86]</a></span>
+advance, we others lagging a little behind, until we felt like birds
+seeking some mountain aerie; till looking down we saw nothing but a
+steeply shelving forest of tree tops, or looking up caught a glimpse
+of mist-obscured crags.</p>
+
+<p>The path wound about along narrow ledges and up crazy, almost
+obliterated steps, until with the suddenness of a surprise the track
+branched off to a ledge on the right, and we saw, set in the face of
+the solid rock, a little wicket gate.</p>
+
+<p>It was so long since the gate had been opened that it necessitated a
+strong effort on the part of Fernando's broad shoulders before it
+would consent to open.</p>
+
+<p>Within, the unexpected awaited us. Set in the wall of the cave
+facing the door was an old bas-relief carving that had evidently
+marked the place of the altar before which the saint had been wont
+to worship. The passing of the centuries has gradually blurred the
+outlines of the carving: still we could see the form of the Virgin
+and Child, and the worshipping figure of an angel. Behind the group
+was a background of palms.</p>
+
+<p>The wall still held a faint trace of fresco, and from the side hung
+the socket&mdash;in the shape of a bird&mdash;for an antique lamp.</p>
+
+<p>There was something so attractive, and even homely, in the cave,
+that we required no great effort of imagination to fancy Lull
+choosing it as his hermitage, and escaping thither when he yearned
+for a space to be free from the society of the thirteen monks who so
+soon had tired of their task.</p>
+
+<p>That raised ledge might have served for a couch; this stone seemed
+the right height for a seat; a small window hewn in the side
+admitted sufficient light did the recluse wish to study. In the wall
+was a natural basin, which to this day, except when long-continued
+drought has dried up all the watercourses, holds a supply of fresh
+water.</p>
+
+<p>It seemed to us that Lull had chosen an ideal place of seclusion in
+the rock-dwelling set far up in the pure air, where no sound save
+the twitter of bird or the far-off murmur of the sea could break the
+solemnity of his thoughts.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87"> [Pg 87]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Everything about the cave bespoke its antiquity. The trees that
+fronted the entrance were hoary with age and fringed with lichen.
+And on the hill-side above, amidst moss-grown trees and blooming
+heath, a tall cross had been erected in memory of the recluse whose
+haven it once had been.</p>
+
+<p>There was yet another cave that Fernando had promised to show us;
+one of worldly, not of religious uses this time. It was the place
+where in not very remote ages smugglers concealed the contraband
+goods that they had succeeded in landing on the coast below. So,
+leaving the cell of Ramon Lull, we followed our guide, clambering
+higher and yet higher, and speedily getting into the dim twilight of
+forests that might have existed since the beginning of the world, so
+venerable were they, so thickly mossed and festooned with grey-green
+lichen.</p>
+
+<p>The signs of foliage were of the scantiest. Many trees revealed no
+more than half a dozen leaves set at the extreme tips of the
+lichen-furred branches. And all about was a huddled waste of
+stones&mdash;the debris that collects at the base of great mountains. In
+these gloomy recesses where daylight never enters there was no
+indication of life&mdash;no flutter of startled bird, not even a
+scurrying beetle. All was still and weird.</p>
+
+<p>On hastened the light-footed Fernando, and on we followed more
+ponderously, marvelling how he knew his way where we could see no
+trace of a path. Suddenly branching off to the right, over the rough
+rocks, he preceded us to where, low down amongst a tumbled heap of
+boulders, a slight crevice showed. Smiling, he glanced back at us,
+then bent down and disappeared. Close on his heels the Boy followed.
+And both had vanished off the face of the earth, leaving us gaping
+at the mouth of the exaggerated rabbit burrow that had seemingly
+swallowed them up. We, wisely, did not attempt to enter. The
+prospect of a rough scramble did not tempt us.</p>
+
+<p>On his return to the surface the Boy described the interior of the
+cave as both wide and lofty. But I must confess the idea of the
+smugglers conveying their illicit cargoes from the beach all that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88"> [Pg 88]</a></span>
+distance up the steep mountain-side to store it in a cavern that was
+on the way to nowhere seemed absurd. It assuredly was inaccessible.
+And it spoke well for the vigilance of the carbineers that the
+<span lang="es"><i>contrabandistas</i></span> could find no more convenient place of
+concealment.</p>
+
+<p>But had Majorca not been free from the bandit plague, what a
+glorious place that would have been for brigands in which to keep
+prisoned the rich foreigners they were holding for ransom!</p>
+
+<p>In some such unattainable holes and crannies of the heights must the
+mountain Moors have existed during the two years that passed before
+their chief surrendered to the Conquistador.</p>
+
+<p>Just beyond the smugglers' cave were the fragmentary remains of a
+monastery, so old and long deserted that the lichen-fringed trees
+had rooted as deeply within the ruined walls of its chambers as
+without in the forest.</p>
+
+<p>Still further we went, keeping close on the heels of our untiring
+leader, for the track sloped downwards now and the going was easier.
+Once more we were in the region of trees that seemed alive, not
+merely fossilized and moss-grown.</p>
+
+<p>Like a born guide, Fernando had reserved the most charming part of
+the excursion to the last. All unexpectedly he brought us to where,
+on an outjutting pinnacle of rock, the Archduke had erected a
+chapel. From the stone seats placed round its base we had an
+enchanting and yet more comprehensive view than ever before of the
+scene that, from whatever point we chanced to see it, never failed
+to give us a fresh thrill of delight.</p>
+
+<p>And wasn't I glad to sit down!</p>
+
+<p>We had felt so much at home at the <span lang="es">Hospederia</span> and so enthralled with
+this new world of steeps and silences that, when the last of our
+three days had come, we felt sincerely sorry to leave it.</p>
+
+<p>In torrid summer weather, when the southern plains of the island lie
+baking in the sun, it would be impossible to imagine a more charming
+way of escape from the heat than to rest under the shades of leafy
+Miramar, or to sit at ease in one of the cunningly placed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89"> [Pg 89]</a></span>
+<span lang="es"><i>miradors</i></span> "looking lazy at the sea" and the everlasting hills.</p>
+
+<p>But the law is inexorable. When his three days' free lodging has
+come to an end each guest must move on to make room for others. A
+wise provision; for, had it not been so ruled, the first travellers
+who filled these beds and ate at these tables would never have left
+the <span lang="es">Hospederia</span>&mdash;they would have been there yet!</p>
+
+<p>Our next stopping-place was to be Sóller, a town that is envalleyed
+amid the highest mountains in the island. Sóller is ten miles
+distant from Miramar, and the question was how we were to get
+transported thither. At the <span lang="es">Hospederia</span> we were quite out of the way
+of traffic. Not even a diligence lumbered by.</p>
+
+<p>Fernando, coming to our rescue, offered to negotiate with a farmer
+for the use of a cart. It was the ploughing season, the busiest time
+of the year for both men and mules, but he succeeded in arranging
+that we could have the loan of a conveyance of some kind at two
+o'clock that afternoon for ten <span lang="es">pesetas</span>.</p>
+
+<p>The morning had been wet. Happily not with the drenching, torrential
+rain of these latitudes, but with an insinuating moisture
+reminiscent of the Scottish Highlands. Disregarding it, we made the
+most of the few hours at our disposal, seeking, and finding, fresh
+walks and wonders in our surroundings.</p>
+
+<p>One thing I remember that specially interested us in the terraced
+olive plantations of Miramar, was the method of throwing a little
+stone bridge from one walled terrace to another across the bed of
+the river. There was no water in the channel, the bed was dry and
+mossy. As we looked up at the succession of bridgelets, each flanked
+on either side by short flights of stone steps, it seemed to typify
+the extreme of the elaborate and painstaking system of culture that
+prevails all over the island.</p>
+
+<p>With appetites sharpened by the famed air of Miramar we had lunched
+off goats' milk, the toasted remains of our half cartwheel of rye
+bread, and something I had confidently expected would prove to be<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90"> [Pg 90]</a></span>
+an omelet, but which turned out to be something entirely different.
+It was eatable, however, even delectable, and we devoured it to the
+last yellow fragment, then waited the arrival of our carriage.</p>
+
+<p>It came at last. And as it drew up in front of the <span lang="es">Hospederia</span> we
+looked first at it, then at each other, in silent dismay.</p>
+
+<p>In place of the roomy farm cart drawn by mules that we had expected
+to see, the conveyance was one of the gaily painted, two-wheeled
+cockleshells in which Majorcan farmers go a-junketing. It would have
+been an admirable vehicle for two people. Viewed as a means of
+carrying four with luggage, it at first sight seemed absolutely
+impracticable.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, it's all right; I'll walk," said the Boy, regardless of the
+fact that ten long miles of wet road lay between us and the Hotel
+Marina at Sóller.</p>
+
+<p>Our luggage was as little as a party of three could be expected to
+require during a week's expedition, comprising as it did only one
+large portmanteau, a suit-case, some sketching materials, and a
+couple of rugs. Yet compared with the size of the conveyance it
+appeared of enormous dimensions.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing daunted by the overwhelming bulk of his prospective load,
+the driver put the suit-case under the seat, propped the big
+portmanteau up on it, and invited me to get in. That done, allowing
+a modicum of space for himself, the carriage was full.</p>
+
+<p>Obviously that plan would not do. Again we looked at each other in
+despair. Fortunately the driver was a man of resource. Hauling out
+the big bag, he wrapped it in a sail-like canvas cover, and,
+producing fragments of rope from all his pockets, proceeded to tie
+it on at the back of the cart. Running into the house, Netta brought
+more rope for its better security. With the load hanging behind, it
+seemed as though the tiny vehicle were already overweighted; but its
+capacity for endurance proved greater than we anticipated. The Man
+got in, the Boy got in, the driver also mounted. All three were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91"> [Pg 91]</a></span>
+jammed into a narrow seat for two. I was squeezed in somewhere at
+the back, and at last our journey began.</p>
+
+<p>As we drove on the feeling of insecurity lessened; we forgot to
+expect the cart to tip up. Our mule proved himself a good goer, and
+we early learned to adapt ourselves to conditions&mdash;to lean forwards
+going uphill, to incline backwards when the way led downwards.</p>
+
+<p>Though the mist still blurred the mountains the coast scenery was
+magnificent. The road, which lay half-way between sea and
+mountain-top, was bordered on either side by olive plantations.
+About three miles from the <span lang="es">Hospederia</span> it curved inwards into the
+most beautiful valley I had ever seen.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/gs18.jpg"><img src="images/gs18-tb.jpg" width="400" height="211" alt="Small carriage being loaded up" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">A TIGHT FIT</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Houses that looked like nests, so thickly were they surrounded by
+luxuriant foliage, were scattered about the lower parts of the hills
+that on three sides rose steeply; on the fourth the land declined
+gently to the Mediterranean.</p>
+
+<p>Here there were no jealous walls to hedge in the gardens. Oranges,
+lemons, and figs in full fruitage overhung the highway. Tall palms
+rose overhead, and down by a fountain women were washing. It was the
+village of Deyá, a sleepy nest seven miles from even a diligence,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92"> [Pg 92]</a></span>
+but, even seen through a blur of rain, a place of exquisite beauty.</p>
+
+<p>"We must come back here."</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, we'll come back&mdash;&mdash;"</p>
+
+<p>"And stay a month," we agreed, as we had done about so many charming
+spots that we had got just a glimpse of, and as we were fated to do
+about so many more before our sojourn in these lovely isles came to
+a close.</p>
+
+<p>We would gladly have lingered to explore the beauties of Deyá, but
+the delay at starting had already encroached on the November
+afternoon, and the greater portion of our journey was yet to come.
+So the men, who had got down to walk through the village, remounted,
+and once more, huddled up together, off we joggled, out of the
+lovely valley and along a cliff-road where, among the grey-green
+olive-trees, girls in skirts of vivid scarlet were gathering the
+fallen fruit.</p>
+
+<p>It was five o'clock and dusk was already falling when we descended
+the zigzag road leading into Sóller and, passing a picturesque old
+cross, turned into a modern-looking street planted on either side
+with trees.</p>
+
+<p>"What I want to see now," I said, deliberately shutting my eyes to
+the scenery, "is a hotel with electric light, and a good fire, and
+German waiters, and French cookery."</p>
+
+<p>"Don't be hateful," retorted the Boy. "But it doesn't matter; you
+won't see it. My only fear is that they won't be able to take us
+in."</p>
+
+<p>The rain, which was now falling more heavily, had sent the townsfolk
+indoors. The only wayfarer in sight was a venerable gentleman who,
+as he sat astride a panniered donkey, protected himself from the
+rain with a large umbrella.</p>
+
+<p>Turning with a final jolt, we drew up in front of the Hotel Marina,
+whose wide glass doors opened hospitably to receive us.</p>
+
+<p>There was no question of lack of room, fortunately, but the
+dinner-hour was yet two hours ahead, and even the satisfaction
+derived from the omelet (which wasn't really an omelet) was already<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93"> [Pg 93]</a></span>
+a vague memory. But we are people of resource. While I boiled the
+unfailing tea-kettle the men foraged, returning with provender in
+the shape of crisply toasted <a name="bizcochos" id="bizcochos"><span lang="es"><i>bizcochos</i></span></a> and <span lang="es"><i>cocas</i></span>, and we had a
+cosy tea that enabled us to possess our bodies in patience until the
+dinner-hour.</p>
+
+<p>The waiter who served us was German, the cookery revealed more than
+a suspicion of French influence, the electric light was brilliant,
+and there was a cheery fire. But even the Boy did not complain.</p><hr class="chap" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94"> [Pg 94]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="IX" id="IX"></a><abbr title="9">IX</abbr><br />
+SÓLLER</h2>
+
+<p>Though a longer acquaintance reveals many charming and wholly
+Majorcan characteristics, at first sight Sóller resembles a Swiss
+town, so closely do the high mountains encircle it. The likeness is
+emphasized when, as occasionally happens in winter, the double crest
+of the Puig Major is tipped with snow.</p>
+
+<p>With the exception of Palma, Sóller was the only Balearic town in
+which we had slept. Half unconsciously we found ourselves putting
+them in comparison, to discover that while each is, after its own
+fashion, delightful, they are entirely dissimilar.</p>
+
+<p>Palma, "compactly built together," stands, crowded a little, within
+its city walls, its feet lapped by the sea, a fertile plain behind
+it, while Sóller stretches itself at ease among its hills, with
+abundant elbow-room, in a fruitful orange grove. Water is a precious
+thing in Palma, where drinking-water in quaint Moorish stone jars is
+hawked through the streets, while a striking and refreshing feature
+of Sóller is the abundance of running water. It flowed&mdash;a little
+sluggishly perhaps, for the rains had not yet come&mdash;over the stony
+bed of the <span lang="es"><i>torrente</i></span>; it gushed unchecked from the street
+fountains; it ran along cunningly contrived stone conduits and
+turned mills.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 289px;">
+<a href="images/col04.jpg"><img src="images/col04-tb.jpg" width="289" height="400" alt="Village nestled in valley under mountains" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">SÓLLER</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>There are no rivers in Majorca. The beds of the <span lang="es"><i>torrentes</i></span> that
+ought to be rivers are often so dry that they resemble rough
+sun-baked roads. It was so many weeks since we had seen even a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95"> [Pg 95]</a></span>
+thread of running water that the sound of its flow was music in our
+ears. As a full and free supply of pure water is essential to the
+well-being of a town, one easily understands how Sóller has the
+advantage of Palma in health conditions. The absorbent soil of
+Sóller ensures freedom from rheumatism, and the old people remain
+hale and hearty to the close of lives that in many cases come within
+nodding distance of a century.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps it was owing to the absence of the military, or the want of
+a railway&mdash;though Sóller has one in the making&mdash;or of the close
+vicinity of a port, but to our cursory view Sóller appeared less
+gay, and its people seemed to lack the irresponsible smiling
+light-heartedness of Palma folks.</p>
+
+<p>There were architectural differences also. To enter one of the
+better-class houses in the larger city one crosses a <span lang="es"><i>patio</i></span>, or
+open courtyard, and having ascended a stair, knocks at a door; while
+in Sóller one steps directly from the street into a large hall, on
+either side of which, close to the wall, are set a long row of
+chairs all of similar design. Here visitors are received, and, as
+far as we could judge, penetrate no further.</p>
+
+<p>Sóller has few of the flat roof-tops or windows that are so
+prominent a feature of the old Moorish capital, but Sóller has more
+chimneys; in the stillness of early morning the faint blue haze of
+wood fires overhangs the town.</p>
+
+<p>Our first day at Sóller opened dull and grey. Much rain had fallen
+in the night. The streets were damp, the mountains mist-shrouded.
+The Boy and I felt depressed and cross. The Man, who had already
+discerned picturesque possibilities in the unique situation of the
+place, put a sketch-book in his pocket and went off in search of a
+typical subject. The Boy and I prowled about the narrow streets,
+allowing ourselves to be annoyed at everything&mdash;at the mud, at the
+Sunday crowds, and at the way they stared at us.</p>
+
+<p>In the square before the church was a busy little market. At the
+corner of the square, near where one gets a lovely view of the
+<span lang="es"><i>torrente</i></span> overhung by the balconies of crooked old houses, some of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96"> [Pg 96]</a></span>
+the ramshackle vehicles that convey marketers to and from the port
+of Sóller were waiting.</p>
+
+<p>"Let's go and have a look at the port," proposed the Boy. "Those
+people look at us as if we were wild beasts. And it will be better
+than hanging about here in the mud."</p>
+
+<p>The shower that had been threatening all the morning was beginning
+to fall, so I agreed. Selecting the coach that seemed on the point
+of starting, we took our seats. A young couple, an old couple, and
+half a dozen market baskets overflowing with greenstuff, shared the
+interior with us. Three more people and several more baskets mounted
+to the box, and, just as the rain began to patter heavily on the
+canvas roof, we drove off, glad to have secured the temporary
+shelter.</p>
+
+<p>The way from Sóller to its port seems to lie through an orange
+grove, so closely is it flanked on either side with gardens full of
+the shining leaves and golden fruit. It was sad to learn that a
+blight had attacked the crop in the lower part of the valley, and to
+see in one orchard a heap of trees, plucked up by the roots with the
+fruit still thick on the branches, waiting to be burnt.</p>
+
+<p>As we drove slowly along we met many country people townwards bent
+to mass or market. Long usage in sunshine and shadow had streaked
+the original hue of their great cotton umbrellas with broad lines of
+lighter tint&mdash;lines that until one guessed the cause looked like
+elaborately decorative stripes.</p>
+
+<p>By the time we had reached the entrance to the landlocked harbour
+the rain had ceased. Fitful gleams of sunshine broke through the
+clouds, and the air was soft and pleasant.</p>
+
+<p>Except from one point of view the natural harbour resembled a quiet
+inland lake. There was no sign of the near proximity of the sea. To
+the left rose a bold headland crowned by a lighthouse. To the right
+was a long sweep of bay lined at the farther end by a row of houses,
+before which small craft lay at anchor. Swart fishermen in red caps<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97"> [Pg 97]</a></span>
+and yellow boots lounged by the doors of the cafés.</p>
+
+<p>Just beyond the houses the steamer <i>Villa de Sóller</i>, that makes
+periodical trips between the port, Barcelona and Cette, was loading
+boxes of the oranges for which the district is famed. Farther on was
+a second lighthouse.</p>
+
+<p>Climbing the steps that rose steeply between the two rows of houses,
+we reached the summit of the rocky promontory. Rusty cannon, their
+work long over, lay at rest in front of the old chapel that crowns
+the eminence. Before us lay the placid land-encircled sheet of
+water, behind us was a wall. Glancing over, we discovered, to our
+surprise and pleasure, that instead of the country landscape we had
+somehow expected to see, the ground fell sheer down to where the
+purple-blue Mediterranean ceaselessly surged beneath.</p>
+
+<p>The unexpected transition from the peaceful inland lake surrounded
+by mist-flecked mountains to a precipitous coast was curiously
+interesting. A moment earlier, with the moisture-laden air blowing
+softly in our faces, we could have imagined ourselves in the heart
+of the Scots Highlands. Now, by the mere turning of a head, we were
+gazing across a great tideless sea.</p>
+
+<p>A capacious coach, in which we chanced to be the only passengers,
+conveyed us back to Sóller and deposited us at the door of the Hotel
+Marina, where the Man, who had spent the morning sketching on a
+mountain-slope, was waiting to join us at luncheon.</p>
+
+<p>The town was busy when, later in the day, we made a tour of
+inspection, finding fresh interest at every turn. A row of bananas
+rich in pod, a group of quaint old-world houses, a great palm
+rearing its stately head, its thick clusters of orange-red fruit
+stems heavily beaded with shining yellow fruit.</p>
+
+<p>There was leisure in the air. It was evidently the visiting hour. In
+the entrance halls, in full view of the passing public, comely dames
+sat chatting all in a row, like the pretty maids in the garden of
+Mary-Mary-Quite-Contrary.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98"> [Pg 98]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>To us it always seemed odd to see the gossipers seated side by side
+in a formal line&mdash;a position that one would imagine was not
+conducive to the exchange of confidences.</p>
+
+<p>The suggestion of French influence in the architecture of certain of
+the newer houses was explained by the fact that when natives of
+Sóller leave the island to seek their fortune they rarely go further
+than France&mdash;an easy journey with the <i>Villa de Sóller</i> sailing at
+frequent intervals from the port to Cette. And when the exiles
+return&mdash;as they invariably do, for the emigrant Majorcan's sole
+desire is to make money that he may settle in his own country&mdash;they
+naturally import some of the ideas and tastes of the nation with
+which they have sojourned.</p>
+
+<p>French influence, too, was noticeable in the way the women dressed
+their hair. In many instances, particularly among the younger women,
+the pigtail and the <span lang="es"><i>rebozillo</i></span>, or head-handkerchief, had given
+place to an elaborately dressed coiffure.</p>
+
+<p>All night the full moon had illumined a sleepy world. When I looked
+out at six o'clock it was still visible, though the light of the
+hidden sun was already flushing with roseate tints the highest
+mountain-tops. Over the valley the azure smoke of wood fires lay
+softly, and the sweet, sickly fragrance of steaming chocolate was in
+the air.</p>
+
+<p>The valley was still partly in shadow when after breakfast the Man
+went out to resume work. Leaving the Boy to his own devices, I went
+with him.</p>
+
+<p>The country immediately surrounding Sóller is so full of roads all
+beautiful, and paths all picturesque, that it is often difficult,
+even for those who know the district well, to find the way they look
+for. After a little winding in and out of the twisted streets we
+came upon the expected road&mdash;a track leading upwards towards the
+olive terraces.</p>
+
+<p>From the steep slope where we sat it was curious to watch the
+progress of the sun as it rose over the mountain-tops to note how,
+as it climbed higher, the shadows shortened, the moist streets<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99"> [Pg 99]</a></span>
+dried, the chill vanished from the atmosphere, and new shadows crept
+over the sunlit sides of the surrounding hills.</p>
+
+<p>Beneath us ran the <span lang="es"><i>torrente</i></span>, and from the roads on either side of
+its banks came the sound of wayfarers entering or leaving the town.
+The air was full of cheerful sounds, of the rattle of wheels, or the
+tinkle of bells and the bleat of lambs as a flock was driven by. The
+atmosphere was so clear that we caught the swift musical note of a
+church clock, and the sound of a gunshot reverberated among the
+hills like a peal of thunder.</p>
+
+<p>The few passers-by gave us kindly greeting. Two old women returning
+from market, a bevy of young girls on their way to gather the fallen
+olives, an old couple trotting briskly beside their panniered
+donkey&mdash;all had time to smile and wish us "Good-day."</p>
+
+<p>As the sun became stronger I rose and wandered on, up the steep,
+cobbled road, past the gardens where the oranges hung golden,
+looking for wild flowers. Even in the days of late November one
+rarely looks in vain for wild flowers in Majorca; and this morning,
+strolling along by the runnels of water, where the delicate
+maidenhair fern grew in profusion, I saw twining about the ivy
+berries in the hedge a lovely creeper that was new to me.</p>
+
+<p>Set at regular intervals on a slender brown stem, it bore clusters
+of glossy green foliage and drooping florets and buds. The blossoms,
+which had four petals, were cream-hued and flecked inside with
+crimson. It was a dainty and distinctive trailer. Even in its
+natural state it <a name="trans_was" id="trans_was">was</a> difficult to imagine a more graceful wreath. A
+passer-by of whom I asked its name called it <i>Sylvestris montana</i>,
+and volunteered the information that, though it luxuriated on dry
+walls, no one could succeed in inducing it to grow in gardens.</p>
+
+<p>Following the path as it wound about the side of the hill, I found
+myself by easy stages rising high amid the olive terraces. There
+were silver-white olives beneath me, silver-white olives above me.
+The voices of the invisible gatherers mingled harmoniously with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100"> [Pg 100]</a></span>
+music of the running water. A soothing sense of peace lay over all.</p>
+
+<p>I think it was then that I fell in love with Sóller.</p>
+
+<p>There are places that at first sight you are entranced with, and in
+two days find you have exhausted. Sóller is decidedly not one of
+these. At the close of the third day of our stay in the
+hill-encradled town we felt as though we had hardly yet had more
+than a glimpse of its beauties, so many and varied are they. It is
+said that you can stay at Sóller for two months and go for a
+different walk every day&mdash;and I believe it.</p>
+
+<p>From the first waking moments, when one could see the rising sun
+illumine the hill-tops, until, with its sinking, the grand crest of
+the Puig Mayor&mdash;the Greater Peak&mdash;was garbed in celestial glory, the
+day was a succession of artistic delights.</p>
+
+<p>Sóller had for us an added charm in the companionship of congenial
+fellow-visitors&mdash;an English lady who appreciates the beauty of the
+place and the homely, good qualities of its people so highly that
+she spends long periods there, and an enthusiastic young artist from
+the Argentine who, with the world to choose from, elects to paint at
+Sóller.</p>
+
+<p>Under their guidance we had driven to Biniaraix and, alighting,
+mounted the <i>Barranco</i>&mdash;a wonderful path by which the peasant
+proprietors reach the olive-trees that their untiring care in the
+preparation of the stony soil and their skill in husbandry have
+persuaded to grow on every possible&mdash;and, one might almost add,
+impossible&mdash;ledge of the rocky steeps.</p>
+
+<p>The Barranco, which was like a series of low, broad steps, zigzagged
+between the mountains like some eccentric, never-ending staircase.
+As we went up and up we paused often to look down to where, deep in
+the valley, Sóller lay embowered in its orange gardens. And while we
+climbed we marvelled at the ceaseless industry of a race that is
+willing to expend so much time and toil to reap so small a return.</p>
+
+<p>On the following afternoon we drove to Fornalutx, a little antique
+town three miles from Sóller. Fornalutx is the point from which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101"> [Pg 101]</a></span>
+expeditions start to climb the Puig Mayor.</p>
+
+<p>The little town, which is built from the warm, amber-brown stone of
+the hill-side on which it perches, is very old. There does not seem
+to be a yard of straight street within its bounds. The houses are
+set down pell-mell, anyhow and anywhere. A delightful lack of
+uniformity reigns supreme. An orange orchard pokes itself in here, a
+vine trellis projects there, a flight of steps interjects its
+crooked way at every corner.</p>
+
+<p>And it is all pictures!</p>
+
+<p>The Painter, who knew the place, reflecting our pleasure, hurried us
+on to see a good subject, and another good subject, and yet another.</p>
+
+<p>As we passed up a quaint side street the tinkle of mandolines fell
+gratefully on our ears, and we paused before the open doorway from
+which the sound issued. Green branches and tissue-paper frills
+decorated the entrance; within, some sort of merrymaking was in
+progress.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 257px;">
+<a href="images/gs19.jpg"><img src="images/gs19-tb.jpg" width="257" height="400" alt="Lady playing a mandoline" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">THE MANDOLINE PLAYER</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>A group of pinafored urchins who were hanging about outside told us
+that it was the <span lang="es"><i>fiesta</i></span> of the master of the house.</p>
+
+<p>It was rude, inquisitive, and wholly inexcusable, of course, but,
+incited thereto by curiosity, we drew nearer and nearer until we
+could see into the room which opened directly from the street, and
+wherein a young girl and a grey-haired man were seated, mandolines
+on knees, playing a duet. They performed without music but in
+perfect harmony.</p>
+
+<p>The girl, who was dark-eyed and pretty, was attired gaily in honour
+of the festivity. She wore a red skirt, a pale-green bodice, and an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102"> [Pg 102]</a></span>
+elaborately embroidered white apron. Blue ribbons adorned her
+well-oiled hair, silver bracelets and rings decorated her slender
+wrists and skilful fingers. The man was evidently her father. In the
+background we got an impression of guests and of a presiding
+matronly presence.</p>
+
+<p>With a final flourish the melody ceased.</p>
+
+<p>"Bravo!" we cried, and clapped our hands.</p>
+
+<p>It was no longer possible to ignore the presence of the impertinent
+foreigners. Indeed, it almost seemed as though the sociable
+Majorcans welcomed the opportunity of recognizing our uninvited
+appearance. For, as we turned to go, the mistress of the house
+hurried out, a hastily vacated chair in either hand, to urge us to
+enter, and would take no refusal.</p>
+
+<p>Within, the guests had rearranged themselves. Retiring further into
+the room, they had left space for us. It would have been
+discourteous to reject the hospitality so unaffectedly offered.</p>
+
+<p>Our little party was soon grouped inside the doorway, and the
+father, whose <span lang="es"><i>fiesta</i></span> it was, laying aside his mandoline, seated
+himself at an old piano, and the concert began afresh, the daughter
+playing the mandoline to her father's accompaniment on the venerable
+instrument. The company, which included two priests, smoked as it
+listened appreciatively.</p>
+
+<p>On the centre table was a liqueur-stand, two decanters of red wine,
+and a large round dish holding a giant <span lang="es"><i>enciamada</i></span>. When the music
+ended and we rose to go, the hostess advanced carrying the
+liqueur-stand, and, doing the honours with an ease of manner and
+dignity of bearing that might have adorned any social rank, she
+insisted on pouring out a little glass of <span lang="es"><i>aniset</i></span> for each of us.
+Having drunk to the health of the hero of the <span lang="es"><i>fiesta</i></span>, we made our
+farewells and departed, delighted with this chance glimpse of placid
+and happy home-life, and wondering what manner of reception a party
+of curious intrusive foreigners who disturbed the peace of a family
+gathering would have met in our own conservative country.</p>
+
+<p>That afternoon at Fornalutx was fated to be one of those that stand<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103"> [Pg 103]</a></span>
+clearly out in the memory, not because of any special adventure or
+of any great occurrence, but simply because it held a succession of
+captivating little incidents, of happy chances.</p>
+
+<p>Passing down a narrow street of steps we came upon an old house
+whose wide outer court tempted us to enter. Exploring, we found
+ourselves in an olive oil factory. In the inner chamber a patient
+mule, his eyes blindfolded by having miniature straw baskets tied
+over them, was walking sedately round, supplying the force that
+crushed the olives, and from the press the oil was gushing in
+streams that went to fill the vats underneath the floor.</p>
+
+<p>On the outside wall of the post office a caged bird was singing
+cheerily. Next door was the prison, but that cage was empty. The
+barred window of its cell opened breast-high on the street, but
+spiders had, undisturbed, woven webs across its bars, and the key
+stood in the door. Evidently malefactors are scarce in the quaint
+hill-town.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the crooked streets, we strolled up the side of the
+<span lang="es"><i>torrente</i></span>, which flowed amidst orange orchards and by the sides of
+picturesque houses. Pomegranate-trees, their dainty foliage flecked
+with autumnal gold, had rooted in the high banks by the water, and
+the unplucked rose-red fruit had already supplied many a luxurious
+meal for the birds. Were I a bird I would elect to build my nest at
+Fornalutx, for there I would be sure to find an abundance of good
+food. Figs bursting with ripeness hung on the trees, and all around
+were oranges, and vines, and yet more oranges.</p>
+
+<p>Far up the precipitous hill-path, at a point so high that it
+afforded a glorious view of Sóller, we came upon a farm-house known
+to our friends.</p>
+
+<p>The occupants, greeting us kindly, took us into the most curious
+kitchen imaginable. Goatskins covered the ceiling, and in the centre
+was a place where seats encircled a charcoal brazier&mdash;a Majorcan
+"cosy corner," where the household could sit and snugly toast their
+toes, when storms blew snell about the mountains and rain obscured
+the valley.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104"> [Pg 104]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The garden space in front of the farm-house had been turned into a
+great bower by a huge vine that, trained along a trellis, cast over
+it a pleasant shade.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 365px;">
+<a href="images/gs20.jpg"><img src="images/gs20-tb.jpg" width="365" height="400" alt="Small village scene" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">AT FORNALUTX</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>It was late in the season&mdash;the last day of November&mdash;yet a few
+glorious clusters of grapes, the berries all golden and pink and
+wearing a bloom unmarred by touch of hand, hung heavy from its
+branches. Here another instance of native generosity awaited us, for
+the housewife, resolutely refusing recompense, sent us away laden
+with bunches. As we descended to where the carriage waited we must
+have presented something of the appearance of the returning spies
+that Moses had sent out to view the land of Canaan.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105"> [Pg 105]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The sun had set when we reached Fornalutx. Looking up from the
+crooked street towards the hills we saw the peak of the Puig Mayor
+stand out against the darkening eastern sky, sublime, magnificent,
+bathed in a flood of roseate light. It was a fitting climax to a day
+of quiet delights.</p>
+
+<p>We had entered Sóller wet and weary on Saturday night, knowing no
+one within many miles. When, on Wednesday afternoon, the diligence
+bound for Palma called at the Marina to pick us up, people of four
+different nationalities assembled round the coach door to bid us
+"God-speed."</p>
+
+<p>We would fain have lingered amid the oranges and palms of Sóller,
+but time was flying and we had much to see elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>The diligence was full&mdash;so full that there would hardly have been
+space for an added thimble. It was our first experience of a
+Majorcan diligence, and we were interested to see how pleasantly the
+already closely packed passengers squeezed together to make room for
+new-comers, and to note how quietly they all sat, without fidgeting,
+with scarcely a change of position, during a drive that lasted over
+four hours.</p>
+
+<p>The window in front and those at the sides were shut, and remained
+so throughout the journey. Fortunately our seats were by the door,
+and through its big window, which we kept open, we had a splendid
+view.</p>
+
+<p>The highroad from Sóller to Palma is, I verily believe, one of the
+most curious ever made. Immediately after leaving the town it has to
+ascend 1,500 feet, which exploit it accomplishes by zigzagging at
+acute angles to the summit. That done, it zigzags down the other
+side.</p>
+
+<p>The progress uphill was necessarily slow, so slow indeed, that the
+driver, who had traversed that road daily for thirty years, left his
+sure-footed mules to guide themselves, and trotted along behind the
+coach smoking the eternal cigarette. And, while we revelled in the
+ever-varying views afforded by the constant change of direction, our
+fellow travellers gently dozed, with the exception of a round-eyed
+little girl, who, oppressed by the glory of her first hat and the
+excitement of her first journey, kept wide-awake.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106"> [Pg 106]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Up we went, every moment revealing some fresh effect of light and
+shadow in the enchanting mountains, past where the embryonic
+workings of the new light railway scarred the hillside. Up we went
+and up, catching little glimpses of the town nestling far beneath in
+its cradle of mountains, and seeing the last flash of sunset
+illumine their crests. As we mounted slowly the somnolence of our
+fellow passengers became more profound, and a portly father who was
+seated beside the little girl, to her evident alarm, lurched farther
+and farther in her direction, threatening altogether to efface her.
+The Man was on the point of going to the rescue, but the coach
+having reached the old carven cross that marks the summit, a sudden
+and vivifying change came over our manner of progress. The driver
+remounted the box beside the two motionless old women, whose
+black-shrouded figures we had seen silhouetted against the light,
+and off we set, at a pace that atoned for our crawl uphill.</p>
+
+<p>The more rapid motion wrought a transformation on our companions.
+All the slumberers awoke. The portly gentleman, simultaneously
+opening eyes and mouth, gazed down in astonishment at the child, as
+though during his doze she had materialized out of nothing. Lively
+expressions lit up the blank faces. The little old man in the corner
+began softly chanting one of the quaint native songs, that to me
+always sound like improvisations.</p>
+
+<p>It was already dusk when we stopped to change our three hardy mules
+at a wayside <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span>: and the lights of Palma were sparkling through
+the December darkness when we drew up at the city gate for the
+<span lang="es"><i>consumero's</i></span> inspection.</p>
+
+<p>During our days of absence the gay little city seemed to have
+decided that winter had come. The soldiers had donned their heavy
+coats, and men were going about muffled in great cloaks: but leaves
+were still thick on the plane-trees in the Borne, and to us the air
+seemed still soft and pleasant.</p>
+
+<p>A few minutes later we were entering the Casa Tranquila with that
+feeling of absolute contentment that return to one's own home alone
+can afford.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107"> [Pg 107]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 376px;">
+<a href="images/gs21.jpg"><img src="images/gs21-tb.jpg" width="376" height="400" alt="Villa on hillside" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">SON MAS, ANDRAITX</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="X" id="X"></a><abbr title="10">X</abbr><br />
+ANDRAITX</h2>
+
+<p>A happy fortune more than good guiding led us to Andraitx. The Boy,
+painting at the port of Palma had seen the diligence, stuffed within
+with country folks and top-heavy without with their bundles, start
+with a gay jingle of bells for that little-known town, and was
+seized with a desire to visit it.</p>
+
+<p>Somewhat precipitately we engaged our seats in the following day's
+coach, and then proceeded to make inquiries about the place. Nobody,
+it seemed, had a good word to say of it, perhaps because no one went
+there. Baedeker scorned even to mention its name. There was only an
+inferior <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span>, one informant said. There was no <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span> at all,
+amended another.</p>
+
+<p>The diligence left Palma at two o'clock, and the fee for the 30<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108"> [Pg 108]</a></span>
+<span lang="es">kilometros</span>&mdash;over 20 miles&mdash;was two <span lang="es">pesetas</span>. Taking only a light
+suit-case, we locked the doors of the Casa Tranquila that glorious
+December afternoon, and walking down, reached in good time the
+little back-street café whence the coach started.</p>
+
+<p>Several passengers were already in waiting&mdash;a pleasant-faced old man
+and his comely wife in native dress, sundry peasant women muffled in
+shawls, one or two men whom the mistress of the café was serving
+with lunch. A little pile of luggage&mdash;bundles tied in brilliant
+kerchiefs, and market baskets&mdash;littered the floor. As we waited,
+more passengers arrived and more. We were glad our places had been
+secured.</p>
+
+<p>At five minutes before two the mail-bag appeared; and at ten minutes
+past, the diligence rattled down the narrow cobbled street and
+pulled up at the door of the café. It was a cumbrous and yet cramped
+vehicle lined with clean striped cotton.</p>
+
+<p>The slender mail-bag having been deposited in a hollow seat, the Man
+and I hopped briskly in and secured the places on either side of the
+door, which had a wide window, arguing away our consciences'
+accusation of selfishness by the excuse that we were probably the
+only passengers to whom the scenery would be new. Then the nice old
+country couple came in, followed by a huge matron with a little son;
+and a pretty young girl took the seat next to me. An old dame, who,
+in spite of the heat, was muffled into a living mummy, mounted
+beside the Boy on the box. The country women were packed into a
+hooded cart that was waiting to receive the overflow, the driver got
+up in front, and we were ready to start. It was already half an hour
+after starting-time, but we delayed until a nice little boy,
+attended by two juvenile shop-lads clad in overalls of check cotton,
+appeared to join us. As fitting preparation for his four-hour
+journey in the stuffy interior of the coach, careful relatives had
+enveloped the urchin in a heavy top-coat and wound a thick muffler
+round his neck. He was hauled into the coach, his luggage, which<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109"> [Pg 109]</a></span>
+consisted of two large round bundles neatly tied in gaily striped
+handkerchiefs, went to swell the mound on the top, and off we set at
+last, only to halt at the bottom of the street to admit a woman of
+such appalling dimensions that she seemed to prove what the Boy
+declares is the Majorcan rule with regard to diligences&mdash;that they
+first fill them quite full, and then add a couple of the fattest
+people procurable.</p>
+
+<p>Clambering ponderously in she subsided with a flop between the other
+massive matron and the pretty girl. "<span lang="es">Caramba</span>!" exclaimed the pretty
+girl, and the journey began in earnest.</p>
+
+<p>Palma was brilliant in sunshine. Looking back as we crawled up the
+heights towards the Terreno, it glowed like a jewel in the strong
+sunlight. The sea was a vivid azure. Beyond the opposite shores of
+the bay the distant isle of Cabrera showed distinctly.</p>
+
+<p>As the road wound onwards in and out, we got glimpses of fairy-like
+inlets of the sea, of beautiful caves and tiny bays all sparkling in
+the sunshine. As we passed the hotel at Cas Catalá a German waiter
+appeared to get the newspaper from our driver, and we felt glad that
+our journey ended in a place where German waiters were unknown.</p>
+
+<p>Turning from the sea, the road passed among rocky slopes crowned
+with pines and olives. Amid the stones we caught sight of rosy heath
+and of great clumps of lavender rich in purple blossom. It was on
+this beautiful sloping country-side that the first great battle was
+fought between the troops of King Jaime and the hosts of the Moorish
+Amir. The fighting was severe; and, though the victory was his, the
+chroniclers of the period tell how the brave young King of Aragon
+wept when he learned of the loss of two nobles, brothers, who had
+been boon companions of his own. A tapestry in one of the chambers
+of the Casa Consistorial at Palma gives a pictorial rendering of the
+scene. And under a large pine by the wayside, nearly half-way
+between the capital and Andraitx, is a monument&mdash;a simple iron<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110"> [Pg 110]</a></span>
+cross set on a stone pedestal&mdash;commemorating the valour of the
+Spaniards who lost their lives to help to free the Christians.</p>
+
+<p>When the way was uphill, and the coach lumbered slowly along,
+slumber crept over the passengers. When we again reached the level
+and the pace quickened, everybody awoke, and conversation became
+general; at least, as far as the native element was concerned. The
+Man and I yearned for a knowledge of Majorcan when the two plump
+ladies, whose tongues were their only active members, took turn
+about in relating what were evidently incidents of dramatic
+interest.</p>
+
+<p>Once or twice, when the road ascended some specially steep slope in
+zigzags, the coach stopped, and most of us got out and, crossing the
+hill by a short cut&mdash;we followed those who knew the way&mdash;rejoined it
+on the farther side. Needless to mention, the only two dames whose
+absence would have made any appreciable lessening in the weight
+remained fixtures.</p>
+
+<p>The two points of difference between Majorcan and British travellers
+that we had noticed on the drive from Sóller again impressed us. One
+was their quiet demeanour. They were not restless, they never
+fidgeted. They sat quite still, their hands placidly folded&mdash;except
+when a little gesticulation was necessary to adorn a tale. The
+second, which was even more unlike the British of the same class,
+was that though the journey was one of about four hours' duration
+they had made no provision for it. Even the small boy, or the little
+child, had not so much as a sweet or a biscuit to break the
+monotony.</p>
+
+<p>When, half-way, we stopped to change horses, the old man, who had
+been pleasantly interested in the feminine gossip, stepped lightly
+out, and returning with a large tin mug of water, handed it round.
+It was the pretty girl who, when it came to her turn to drink,
+gracefully declined the privilege in favour of me, saying, with a
+wave of her hand, "Ah, no! The <span lang="es">señora</span> first."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111"> [Pg 111]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The way was wild and romantic. Only at long intervals was there a
+house even by the road-side. Just at dusk we passed several open
+carts crowded with young olive-gatherers returning from work&mdash;a gay
+band, shouting and singing. After that the night appeared to fall
+suddenly upon the earth, and the new moon, a bright star poised
+above her, shone in the sky.</p>
+
+<p>A second diligence, starting from some other point, had joined us;
+and as we moved slowly along in company, the two lumbering
+heavily-laden coaches and the covered van, the little procession had
+something of the aspect of a party of emigrants travelling in quest
+of a new home.</p>
+
+<p>When the mysterious beauty of the half-lights had vanished, and the
+night gathered, we began to wonder why we had left the Casa
+Tranquila, where we had been so comfortable. We had no special
+reason for coming to Andraitx; there was no attraction to draw us
+thither. And even now we did not know if there was any place where
+we might sleep.</p>
+
+<p>Just before we entered the town the coach stopped a moment and the
+Boy came round to the door.</p>
+
+<p>"I've been consulting the driver," he said. "He recommends a place
+where he says we'll get the best cooking in Andraitx."</p>
+
+<p>"Is it an inn?" we asked.</p>
+
+<p>"No, I don't think it's exactly an <em>inn</em>, but the man has been a
+cook. His house is at this end of the town. The driver says he'll
+stop there if we like. Will that do?"</p>
+
+<p>It was quite dark now. We were cramped and tired, and the refuge
+that wasn't exactly an inn was at least near. We agreed that it
+would do.</p>
+
+<p>Three minutes later the diligence drew up in front of an open door,
+through which the light from a good oil lamp streamed into the
+blackness of the street.</p>
+
+<p>"This seems to be the place," said the Boy. "But it's a shop!"</p>
+
+<p>There was no opportunity for hesitation. Our luggage was already on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112"> [Pg 112]</a></span>
+the pavement. Turning to a tall, bearded man in a white apron who
+appeared in the doorway, we asked if he had accommodation.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, he had room, he replied; would we enter?&mdash;and, following him,
+we found ourselves in a wide, airy shop. On one side were shelves
+filled with delicacies. On the other were three great wine barrels.
+And on the floor stood the usual assortment of hampers and open
+baskets containing fruits and vegetables.</p>
+
+<p>At the back of the shop, sandwiched between it and the kitchen, was
+a neat little dining-room. And when we had been ushered in there the
+Boy, as our spokesman, proceeded, after the custom of the country,
+to ask terms&mdash;"What would be the charge for board and lodging, wine
+included, a day?"</p>
+
+<p>Our host hesitated. He was an exceptionally nice-looking man and
+spoke beautiful Spanish.</p>
+
+<p>"The terms? That would depend upon what one had. He could make any
+terms that suited, from one peseta and a half a day. But for four
+<span lang="es">pesetas</span>&mdash;<em>then</em> he could do us really well."</p>
+
+<p>A bargain was quickly struck. We were to pay three <span lang="es">pesetas</span> and a
+half a day, wine and the little breakfast included; and our first
+meal was to be served as soon as it could be prepared.</p>
+
+<p>After a short stroll through the dark streets, and not a little
+conjecture concerning immediate happenings, we returned to our
+lodging. The glass doors of the little dining-room opened on to the
+shop, its window looked to the kitchen, where our host was already
+busy over the stove. The sound of quick footsteps overhead suggested
+that rooms were being prepared for our reception. Her parents being
+engaged, the shop had been left in charge of the daughter of the
+house, a pretty, dark-eyed child of seven years old.</p>
+
+<p>She made a charming little picture, as she sat amongst the scarlet
+<span lang="es"><i>pimientos</i></span> and the yellow lemons waiting for custom. And when a
+younger child, carrying a quart bottle, entered to buy a pennyworth<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113"> [Pg 113]</a></span>
+of wine, the business-like way in which she placed the funnel in the
+bottle, and filling the measure from the barrel poured it in without
+spilling a drop, delighted us. As also did the accustomed way in
+which she dropped the penny into the table-drawer that served as
+till.</p>
+
+<p>Before we had time to grow impatient our hostess, looking like an
+adult copy of her child, appearing, spread the table neatly with
+clean linen and shining crystal, then set before us a dish of rolls,
+one of olives, and small plates of spiced sausage and ham. Then the
+host entered carrying a bottle of a good brand of imported claret
+that he had taken from his shelves, and a syphon of seltzer.</p>
+
+<p>We were nibbling at the appetizers, trying to restrain ourselves
+from making a meal of them, when an excellent soup was served.</p>
+
+<p>"If I could choose, I know what I'd have next&mdash;a big fat omelet,"
+the Boy said, as he finished his plate of soup. And on the thought,
+as though in answer to his wish, the landlord entered bearing a fine
+opulent omelet stuffed with green peas. When we had eaten that, he
+was waiting to replace it with a dish of delicately browned veal
+cutlets, savoury potatoes fried in butter, and more green peas. A
+sweet course is so rarely served in Majorca that it was a pleasant
+surprise to find the cutlets followed by a mould of the native
+preserve, <span lang="es"><i>membrillo</i></span> (quince) jelly, and pastry turn-overs. The
+dessert consisted of a pyramid of mandarin oranges cut with stems
+and leaves. It was a surprisingly complete meal to be served on an
+hour's notice in the back shop of a little unknown out-of-the-world
+town.</p>
+
+<p>The rooms allotted to us comprised the whole floor above. The
+<span lang="es"><i>salon</i></span>, which was to the front, had two handsome
+wardrobes&mdash;wardrobes would seem to be as often placed in
+sitting-rooms as in bedrooms in Majorca&mdash;a chest of drawers, several
+comfortable chairs. The beds, with their lace-trimmed and
+monogrammed linen, were perfection. As we fell asleep we blessed the
+happy chance that had led us to so much more comfortable quarters<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114"> [Pg 114]</a></span>
+than we had anticipated finding.</p>
+
+<p>Breakfast, of French chocolate and hot buttered rolls, served to
+confirm the good impression of the previous night.</p>
+
+<p>The ambition of my infancy&mdash;to keep a little shop&mdash;threatened to
+return as, from the stronghold of our neat little dining-room, we
+watched the life of the shop, a portion of whose trade appeared to
+consist of barter. First a woman entered with a basket of glowing
+sun-kissed pomegranates which she exchanged for macaroni and other
+groceries. She was quickly followed by a man who had a hamper of
+lemons and a bag of the scarlet waxen pods of the sweet pepper to
+dispose of.</p>
+
+<p>While the chocolate was still in process of consumption our host,
+courteously solicitous respecting our comfort of the night, waited
+on us, his tall, slender form begirt with an apron of spotless
+purity, on which was also embroidered the family monogram.</p>
+
+<p>From our concerns the conversation naturally passed to his, and with
+the simple friendliness of the Majorcan he told us his life-story.
+Told how, like most of the Andraitx lads, he had early left home to
+seek his fortune, but while most of his companions had become
+sailors, he had chosen to make cooking his profession. A course of
+years passed as a <span lang="es"><i>chef</i></span> in Havanna and other places had gained him
+the nest-egg he desired. Returning to his native town while still a
+comparatively young man, he had taken this shop, married to his
+liking, and settled down in comfort.</p>
+
+<p>There was neither sun nor wind. The air was calm and cool. It was a
+splendid day for exploring a new locality. But Andraitx was still a
+sealed letter to us. We did not even know what to look for.</p>
+
+<p>When we arrived on the previous night the town had been shrouded in
+darkness. So it was a charming surprise after we had mounted the
+commonplace street to find that in situation Andraitx resembled a
+miniature Sóller. Hills, some crowned by windmills, enclosed it on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115"> [Pg 115]</a></span>
+every side. Passing through the market square we climbed the
+eminence on which perched the quaint old church, and looking back,
+saw the town lying in the hollow beneath us; and to the north-west,
+its mouth guarded by sentinel hills, the wide inlet of the sea that
+marked the port.</p>
+
+<p>Within the church, gloom and silence held possession. A little
+distance off was the walled cemetery. Leaving an environment that
+threatened to depress us, we scrambled down the farther side of the
+rocky incline, and, finding a path, followed it.</p>
+
+<p>The path, chosen at random, passed in front of Son Mas, a quaint old
+building whose tower bore signs of great antiquity. The place was
+evidently now in use as a farm-house, and the tenant, seeing us
+pause to look in through the wide gateway, came out and cordially
+invited us to enter.</p>
+
+<p>He was a fine specimen of the handsome, robust sons of that gracious
+soil. His sun-tanned skin and workaday garb seemed at variance with
+his courteous dignity of manner, which admirably became the resident
+of so ancient a mansion. He appeared to feel a special pride in his
+surroundings and did not scamp the showing. Through the wide
+courtyard, and up the central staircase that led to the balconies,
+and through the deserted rooms he escorted us.</p>
+
+<p>The tall square tower that now formed part of the house, he told us,
+had in older times been used as a place of refuge by the Christians
+during the attacks of the piratical Moors who infested the coast&mdash;a
+stronghold to which they fled when news reached them that the
+heathen marauders had entered the port and were advancing towards
+the town. Would we like to see it?</p>
+
+<p>Would we not! Following our leader, we passed along more corridors
+and over floors aslant with age, till he stopped before the entrance
+to what was probably the smallest winding stair ever devised for the
+passage of human beings.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116"> [Pg 116]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Up that very stair, our guide assured us, had the Christians fled to
+seek safety in the tower. And as we timorously mounted the narrow
+steps we agreed that the Andraitx early Christians must have been
+the leanest of mankind. For one plump Christian in a hurry would
+assuredly have brought destruction on all the rest by sticking in
+the first bend of that pitch-dark winding staircase.</p>
+
+<p>We emerged, dusty and breathless, into a square room whose window
+framed a magnificent view over the town and the wide fruitful valley
+to the shining waters of the port beyond.</p>
+
+<p>In one of the walls was a groined cavity that had been a shrine. And
+close beside it was the now walled-up doorway that, when the tower
+stood apart, had been connected by a drawbridge with the main
+building.</p>
+
+<p>On the dusty floor in a corner lay some curious earthenware retorts
+of a primitive date. The vessels had been found in an old cabinet in
+company with a quantity of unknown drugs&mdash;presumably the stock of
+some long-dead alchemist. Scientific men, hearing of the discovery,
+had hastened to carry off the chemicals, the farmer told us, leaving
+the earthenware behind.</p>
+
+<p>All the acquisitive Briton in us yearned to possess one of the
+quaint retorts. It was only the thought of their bulky brittleness
+that conquered the covetous feeling.</p>
+
+<p>From the room more pigmy steps wound upwards to a roofed <span lang="es"><i>mirador</i></span>,
+but, as the inner walls of the staircase were broken away in great
+gaps, only the Boy was daring enough to ascend.</p>
+
+<p>Returning, he reported a low roof that sloped down to battlemented
+walls pierced with loop-holes through which arrows and boiling water
+were wont to shower down on the besiegers. On one occasion the
+captain of the Moors was killed with scalding water thrown from the
+tower. To the present day the incident affords matter for intense
+satisfaction at Andraitx.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117"> [Pg 117]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/gs22.jpg"><img src="images/gs22-tb.jpg" width="400" height="192" alt="Boats on the water" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">IN THE PORT OF ANDRAITX</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="XI" id="XI"></a><abbr title="11">XI</abbr><br />
+UP AMONG THE WINDMILLS</h2>
+
+<p>When at noon we returned to the shop our host had a delightful
+little luncheon awaiting us. And it was in high good-humour with
+him, with ourselves, and with all the world, that we set off to walk
+the three miles of level road that lie between the town of Andraitx
+and its port.</p>
+
+<p>Every foot of the way was full of interest. At first it led past
+rustic dwellings set in their orange and lemon gardens. In one
+orchard a life-size, and life-like, male scarecrow was perched high
+up in the branches of a pomegranate-tree. Then the road ran for a
+long way close by the dry bed of a <span lang="es"><i>torrente</i></span>, that in the rainy
+season would be a river, and through groves of almond and
+olive-trees before it reached the wide stretch of fruitful plain
+devoted to the culture of vegetables.</p>
+
+<p>Our path was cheerful with wayfarers. As we strolled along, a
+succession of old vehicles and picturesque folk passed us. Old men
+in suits of faded blue cotton, bright-hued handkerchiefs bound about
+their heads under their wide hats, trotted by beside their panniered
+donkeys. And dotted over the rich, red earth people were busy. In
+one field a man was ploughing, while close on his heels a handsome<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118"> [Pg 118]</a></span>
+dark-eyed woman in a scarlet petticoat followed, dropping yellow
+peas into the newly turned furrows.</p>
+
+<p>Everybody within hailing distance gave us kindly greeting. Even an
+infant, whose age might have been reckoned in months, from where he
+was snugly seated in a basket, clearly echoed his parents' "Bon di
+tenga," much to our amusement and to the frankly evident delight of
+his father and mother.</p>
+
+<p>In the rich, moist soil of that sheltered valley we thought we had
+discovered the mould in which the gross eighteen-inch radishes are
+grown. Perhaps it is the nature of that alluvial plain that accounts
+also for so plentiful a harvest of mosquitoes. Certain it was that
+they positively swarmed, and that being quick to detect a new and, I
+trust, delectable flavour in foreigners, they paid us particularly
+insistent attention, escorting us even to the port, and out on the
+breakwater that cuts across the inlet, and makes snug haven for the
+fishing craft and for the few cargo <span lang="es"><i>pailebots</i></span> that anchor in the
+port. It was fortunate that, unlike those of the Palma mosquitoes,
+their stings proved harmless.</p>
+
+<p>We had brought tea-things with us, and leaving the Man sketching,
+seated on a mast that lay under the sea-wall, the Boy and I took the
+empty kettle, and set off in search of water, and of the men's
+constant need&mdash;tobacco.</p>
+
+<p>The sign over the door of the only shop in the place showed that it
+was authorized to sell the tobacco that is a Government monopoly of
+Spain. Going in, we found ourselves in a long, low-ceilinged
+apartment that might have served for a type of a smugglers' den.</p>
+
+<p>Several people of both sexes were within. From without we had heard
+the gay clamour of voices, but with our unexpected entrance all
+seemed stricken dumb. The woman who had been sweeping out the brood
+of adventurous chickens stopped short, broom in hand, as though
+turned to stone. The girl mixing something in a bowl paused to
+stare. The men ceased their loud discussion and gathered in a silent
+band to learn our business.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119"> [Pg 119]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>We were not altogether unaccustomed to pointed attention. That very
+day in Andraitx our appearance had aroused something of the interest
+accorded in an English country town to a circus procession. But the
+silent scrutiny was distinctly embarrassing. The Boy is rarely
+abashed, yet his voice faltered a little as, in Spanish, he asked
+for cigarettes, naming a good brand. On learning that they were not
+in stock he asked for others, and yet others, lessening the monetary
+value of his demands until he reached those cigarettes that retail
+at seven for a halfpenny. But even these were not to be had. "Then
+what was for sale? Any brand would do."</p>
+
+<p>Hard pressed, the authorized vendor of Government tobacco confessed
+that he had none in stock.</p>
+
+<p>"But this is the Government tobacco shop, and you are all
+smoking&mdash;what on earth do you smoke, then?" demanded the Boy.</p>
+
+<p>There was a momentary hesitation; then&mdash;"We all smoke contraband
+tobacco, <span lang="es">señor</span>," he made reluctant admission.</p>
+
+<p>"That's good enough for me," said the Boy, and with a relieved
+expression the shopkeeper disappeared to return with a three-ounce
+packet of smuggled tobacco, for which he charged
+sevenpence-halfpenny. And vile though it undoubtedly was, the buyer
+declared that it was vastly superior to that usually sold with the
+sanction of the Spanish powers.</p>
+
+<p>When, bearing the full kettle and the contraband tobacco, we
+sauntered back to the breakwater, it was to find the Man the centre
+of an interested crowd of boys. And all the time we waited an
+engrossed audience surrounded us. Even the appearance of a longboat,
+rowed by what to our eyes seemed a crew of pirates, so picturesque
+was their garb, failed to divert a tithe of the attention.</p>
+
+<p>Apart from its beauty, the port of Andraitx impressed us as being
+the least prosperous place we had seen in Majorca. The houses were
+poor and huddled together. And the population seemed large in
+proportion to the probable increment. As one of the natives put it,
+"the fishermen are many and the fish few." The village lads, fine<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120"> [Pg 120]</a></span>
+stalwart fellows all of them, were woefully patched as to attire.
+Majorcan women are marvellously dexterous with the needle. Their
+patches are so neatly inserted as to be works of art; but until that
+afternoon at the port of Andraitx we had never encountered patches
+that threatened to usurp the entire groundwork of a garment.</p>
+
+<p>We had heard of the existence of an official known as the "Captain
+of the Port," yet, one man being as dexterously mended as another,
+failed to distinguish him among the loiterers about the pier. At
+length a gentleman with side whiskers, taking up his stand behind
+the Man, bowed ceremoniously to me, silently raising his time-worn
+hat.</p>
+
+<p>"<span lang="es">Buenos dias</span>," I said; in my desire to be affable forgetting that it
+was already afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>There was a momentary pause. Then, "<span lang="es">Buenas <i>tardes</i>, señora. Buenas
+<i>tardes</i></span>," he corrected, in a tone of gentle reproof.</p>
+
+<p>And I decided that in spite of his plenitude of patches, his total
+lack of waistcoat, and his dilapidated buff slippers, the gentleman
+who revealed so refined a desire for exactitude of speech must be
+the Captain of the Port.</p>
+
+<p>It was on the morning of our second day at Andraitx that we decided
+to go to Arracó, a little town about half an hour's walk farther
+north.</p>
+
+<p>When we spoke of going our host suggested our branching off from the
+road and climbing the hill of the windmills to see the view.
+Antonia, his little daughter, would accompany us to show the way.
+And in a trice Antonia was pronounced ready for the excursion. Her
+head was bare, her feet were encased in smart yellow boots, and in
+the pocket of her red frock there were stowed away, as provision for
+the journey, a roll and a diminutive black-pudding.</p>
+
+<p>It was a lovely day&mdash;sweet and peaceful. Even after two months'
+experience we never seemed to become accustomed to the consistent
+urbanity of the Majorcan weather, and each successive perfect day
+brought a fresh surprise.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121"> [Pg 121]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The road was a beautiful one. Once beyond the outskirts of the town
+it passed between slopes luxuriant in almonds and olives. Here and
+there the falling golden leaves of a pomegranate made an aureate
+glow on the red-brown earth. Perched high in an olive-tree by the
+wayside a man was pruning its branches.</p>
+
+<p>For the first ten minutes Antonia was demurely silent. Then, as her
+shyness wore off, her horns appeared. She was a charming imp of
+seven, the adored of her parents, who knew her variously as Anton,
+Antonia, and Antonetta. Anton, in a tone of reproof when she was
+caught pulling the hair of a friend, Antonia when she was ordinarily
+good, and Antonetta on the many occasions that they found her
+particularly adorable.</p>
+
+<p>She went, apparently only when she had got nothing more interesting
+to do, to a convent school, where she was, with exceeding
+reluctance, beginning to learn Spanish&mdash;a tongue against which she
+naturally cherished a grievance.</p>
+
+<p>"What is the use of learning Spanish?" she demanded of the Boy, who
+was urging her to speak it. "Majorcan&mdash;that is a useful language.
+Spanish? No. Spanish is no use."</p>
+
+<p>By the wayside the curious wild arums known as <span lang="es"><i>frares</i></span> (monks) were
+growing. Picking a handful, Antonia began with great enjoyment
+repeating a native rhyme, the point of which lay in knocking off the
+heads of one of the flowers at the conclusion of each repetition:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"<span lang="es"><i>Frare lleig, frare lleig,</i></span><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><span lang="es"><i>&nbsp;Si no dius se Misa, le tomeré es bech!</i></span>"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>&mdash;of which this is an easy translation:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"<i>Lazy friar, lazy friar,</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>&nbsp;If your Mass is not said I will chop off your head.</i>"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Antonia had a knowledge of vegetables too. Or is it some inherent
+faculty that teaches children the edible fruits? When we chanced to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122"> [Pg 122]</a></span>
+pass a big algarroba-tree she darted under it, and, after a little
+rummaging amid the dry leaves, returned triumphantly bearing some
+long dark-brown pods, in which the Man was amused to recognise a
+fruit known to his experimentive boyhood as "locusts." The pods,
+which are sweet and succulent, are used in Majorca as food for
+cattle.</p>
+
+<p>Just where the road came almost within sight of Arracó the path to
+the hills crowned by the windmills branched off. Deciding to get the
+climbing over first, we left the highway, and mounted amongst most
+beautiful and varied vegetation. All about us tall pink and crimson
+heaths were blooming. Small clumps of palms that we had not before
+seen out of a conservatory grew among the rocks, and great cactus
+rioted in picturesque masses.</p>
+
+<p>The base of the windmills reached, we enjoyed a view that extended
+in every direction. Beneath to one side was Arracó, its houses, save
+where near the church they were huddled closer together, scattered
+widely over the surface of a cup-like valley, that was so closely
+encircled by hills that we could discover no way leading out. Above
+the hills to the north the heights of the island of Dragonera rose
+from the sea. From another point we looked down on Andraitx, and
+marked the wide plain that ended in the placid waters of the port.</p>
+
+<p>We had not meant to stay long on the heights, but the varied
+prospects were so beautiful and the air so placid that we felt
+tempted to linger. Then the Man took out his sketching block, and
+the matter was settled. Arracó would remain unvisited. Like the
+lotus-eaters, we were content and would roam no farther.</p>
+
+<p>We were now so accustomed to Majorcan skilled and thrifty husbandry
+that it was no surprise to find that even the summit of the height
+was planted with fruit trees. On a rocky ledge, close under the
+spreading sails of the windmill, nestled a tiny house, and every
+handful of soil supported its fig-, almond-, pomegranate- or
+apple-tree.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123"> [Pg 123]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The air was soft and gentle. Even at that altitude there was
+scarcely a breath of wind. Butterflies were hovering about. All the
+world seemed at peace. From Arracó arose the faint chime of a bell,
+from beyond the rock-bound coast came the murmur of the sea.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 316px;">
+<a href="images/gs23.jpg"><img src="images/gs23-tb.jpg" width="316" height="400" alt="Windmill on hill" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">ABOVE ANDRAITX</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>I think it was the discovery that just outside the little hut a man
+was eating his dinner that aroused us to the fact that we also were
+hungry. Breakfast had been light, and early dinner, a good way off,
+was not due till two o'clock. Antonia's sharp little white teeth had
+long ago devoured Antonia's roll and black-pudding. We had started
+out with the intention of foraging at Arracó; but Arracó, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124"> [Pg 124]</a></span>
+scattered handful of pigmy dwellings, lay far down in the hollow.</p>
+
+<p>Then an idea occurred to us. The husbandman, who had finished his
+meal, and was now lighting a cigarette, would be sure to have food.
+We would ask him to sell us some bread.</p>
+
+<p>The peasant, who proved to be a kindly soul, had a beard and the
+most dilapidated hat ever worn by mortal man. But he had no bread.
+The hut under the windmill was only a shelter. His home was in the
+valley, and it was evidently his provisions for the day that he had
+just consumed. He did what he thought was next best, and drawing a
+great jar of clean water from his well, brought it to us.</p>
+
+<p>The Boy and Antonia, who had gone off to try their luck at the other
+windmill, returned bringing two shapeless lumps of the stalest rye
+bread ever eaten, and the kindly dilapidated man who, in genuine
+concern for our welfare, had been hovering near, disappeared into
+his shanty, and reappearing with a plate of olives, presented them
+to us. So off olives, water from an antique jar, and mouldy rye
+bread that vied with it in antiquity, we took the edge off our
+appetites.</p>
+
+<p>I must not forget the prickly pears&mdash;or cactus figs&mdash;that we had
+picked on the way up. A certain fearful joy attends the gathering of
+this fruit, which requires the exercise of some ingenuity in dodging
+its insidious prickles. But there the pleasure ends; for the fruit
+is both seedy and insipid. To appreciate the prickly pear one would
+require to meet it in an arid desert.</p>
+
+<p>The sun was sinking when we set out for a final stroll at Andraitx.
+We were to leave early next morning, and we knew that there were
+countless walks we must leave unexplored.</p>
+
+<p>A glory of grey and gold and orange was flushing the sky when we
+turned into the road that wound up the valley. The mountains that
+rose on either side were glowing roseate from the sunset; but under
+any conditions the way would have been very beautiful. It led by a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125"> [Pg 125]</a></span>
+<span lang="es"><i>torrente</i></span> in whose bed there was actually a trickle of water, and
+just beyond a picturesque bridge was a village&mdash;of no social
+importance probably, but assuredly of great artistic charm. The
+village straggling up the side of the valley was such a place as
+nobody ever tells one of&mdash;one of those unexpectedly picturesque
+spots that, with a thrill of delight, one discovers for oneself, and
+feels a proprietorial interest in ever after, almost as though one
+had invented it. We learned later that the name of the hamlet was
+Secoma, and that it was divided into two portions, which were known
+respectively as Secoma Hot and Secoma Cold.</p>
+
+<p>The narrow, winding street was busy. The olive-gatherers were
+returning from work, and those who had remained at home came out to
+gape at us. The barber who was shaving a customer, catching sight of
+our passing reflection in the mirror, abandoned his task and ran to
+the door to stare, with his customer, lathered and pinafored, close
+on his heels.</p>
+
+<p>Already were we beginning to recognize, and to be recognized, in the
+district. An amazingly stately old lady, who appeared to spend her
+days perched sideways on her panniered donkey, bowed with great
+dignity from her perch. A handsome fisher-lad, who had formed one of
+the Man's audience when he was sketching at the port, beamed when we
+encountered him delivering fish in back-of-the-world Secoma.</p>
+
+<p>We had entered Andraitx expecting little, and had found so much that
+was interesting and pleasant that we were reluctant to leave it. But
+an engagement for Sunday afternoon at Palma had to be kept. So
+perforce we bespoke seats in the diligence leaving at the
+extraordinary hour of four in the morning.</p>
+
+<p>An hour earlier three great knocks sounded on the closed door of the
+shop. It was the <span lang="es"><i>vigilante</i></span>, who had been warned to arouse us. When
+we went downstairs it was to find our attentive landlord with a
+comforting meal of chocolate and hot buttered rolls ready to serve.
+And concerning this most excellent host it is only just to say that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126"> [Pg 126]</a></span>
+during our stay we found his efforts on our behalf increase rather
+than diminish. In case any of my readers may ever chance to visit
+this out-of-the-way town, I mention that his name is Gabriel
+Calafill, and his address is Calle Cerda, which, being interpreted,
+means Pig Street.</p>
+
+<p>All the cocks in Andraitx seemed to be awakened when a jingle of
+harness-bells drew us to the door of the lamp-lit shop. It was the
+darkest hour. A single dim lamp was all we saw of the diligence. As
+it drew up an invisible hand opened the coach door, and mounting the
+invisible steps I peered into the solid darkness of the interior. If
+there were any passengers inside, they were dumb and motionless.</p>
+
+<p>Hazarding a greeting, I interjected "Buenos dias" into the darkness.</p>
+
+<p>An instant reply from half a dozen throats showed that the coach was
+already well filled. A minute later we had insinuated ourselves into
+the places kept for us by the door, and the coach rolled off into
+the gloom.</p>
+
+<p>It was the hush before the dawn. The moon had long set. A few pale
+stars sprinkled the sky. Beyond the town the gloom was less
+impenetrable, and the road became a dim, grey ribbon slowly
+unwinding behind us. The trees and mountains were black,
+undistinguishable masses. The air was soft and very still. Within
+the coach all was silent. No one moved. Then, as the miles gradually
+slipped away, the sky began to lighten, and even the deep gloom of
+the interior became less tangible. In the farther corner dull white
+lines proclaimed a collar and shirt-cuffs while the sun-tanned flesh
+they encircled was yet unseen.</p>
+
+<p>As the daylight crept in, our fellow-travellers gradually became
+visible. Two men, vague entities, had left the coach when half-way
+we changed horses. There now remained a couple of quiet, respectable
+market women, a lovely little girl, and a strapping young man.</p>
+
+<p>At the foot of a steep ascent the conveyance stopped, and following<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127"> [Pg 127]</a></span>
+the custom of able-bodied passengers the men got out to take the
+short cut, and rejoined the lightened diligence on the farther side.
+Glancing from the back window, as they passed up the heath slope, I
+noticed that the owner of the brown hands and the white cuffs had
+already entered into conversation with my men-folk. And when, a
+quarter of an hour later, they re-entered the coach, all three were
+on terms of unexpected intimacy.</p>
+
+<p>"This <span lang="es">señor</span>," the Boy explained, with an introductory wave of the
+hand, "is the father of that clever baby. You remember, mother. The
+one we saw yesterday on the way to the port. He sat in a basket and
+said 'Bon di tenga.'"</p>
+
+<p>The father, a strapping, clean-limbed Majorcan, fairly beamed with
+parental pride as he acknowledged the imputation. The boy, he told
+us, was now nearly three years old, but he had spoken as well ever
+since he was two. His own excellent Spanish he accounted for by
+saying that, like so many Andraitx young men, he had been a sailor,
+and had voyaged for several years to and from Cuba. Then, having
+saved some money, he had returned to his native town, had married,
+and was now farming his own bit of land. This morning he was
+journeying to Palma to collect the rent of a house he owned there.</p>
+
+<p>The sun was up when the diligence stopped before the <span lang="es"><i>consumos</i></span>
+station at the entrance to Santa Catalina, and we alighted. It was
+only as we returned to more sophisticated surroundings that I
+realized that since leaving Palma on Thursday I had not seen a
+single hat upon a feminine head. No wonder we were stared at in
+Secoma!</p>
+
+<p>Half an hour later we were sitting at breakfast in the sunshine at
+the Casa Tranquila. We had arrived at Andraitx in the dusk, and had
+quitted it in the dusk, so it seemed as though all that had happened
+during our stay there had been but a pleasant dream.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128"> [Pg 128]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/gs24.jpg"><img src="images/gs24-tb.jpg" width="400" height="380" alt="WIld life market" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">CHRISTMAS TURKEYS</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="XII" id="XII"></a><abbr title="12">XII</abbr><br />
+NAVIDAD</h2>
+
+<p>We returned from Andraitx to find that Christmas had stolen a march
+upon us, taking us unawares.</p>
+
+<p>Our first intimation of it was a communication that reached us from
+the postal authorities. It announced that a parcel awaited us at the
+head post office, and stated that if we called between the hours of
+twelve and thirteen on the following day, and paid the sum of eight
+<span lang="es">pesetas</span> seventy-six <span lang="es">centimos</span> charged as duty, we would be entitled
+to carry it away.</p>
+
+<p>The slip of green paper containing this laconic intimation
+fluttering into our uneventful lives, interested us hugely. To what
+could the notice refer? We expected nothing, and yet the amount of
+the duty&mdash;eight <span lang="es">pesetas</span> seventy-six <span lang="es">centimos</span>&mdash;argued it a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129"> [Pg 129]</a></span>
+possession of notable value. We would not have lost a moment before
+hastening off to pay the impost and claim our property had not the
+notice expressly mentioned the one hour of the morrow on which it
+might be procured.</p>
+
+<p>What could it be? Thinking ourselves discreet people, we professed
+to build no castles on the subject, but we all enjoyed the feeling
+of mystery.</p>
+
+<p>It was with a pleasant sense of expectancy that next day, shortly
+after noon, we entered the post office in the Calle San Felio, and
+after some inquiry discovered the department for the distribution of
+parcels. Two people were in advance of us. A young workman was
+getting a small package, a servant-maid was receiving a couple of
+round, flat boxes so large that a side door in the counter had to be
+opened for their egress.</p>
+
+<p>Watching, we wondered secretly if ours would be as big, or if it
+would be small and precious.</p>
+
+<p>After a preliminary signing of a book and the paying of the money,
+the parcel was produced and solemnly handed over to us. Its
+dimensions exceeded even our most sanguine expectations, and it was
+weighty in proportion. The address on the label showed that it had
+come from the best confectioner in London. This, taken in
+conjunction with its opulent proportions, seemed to presage a
+prolonged period of riotous living.</p>
+
+<p>"It must be cake," the Man said.</p>
+
+<p>"It must be a tremendous lot of cake," opined the Boy, who was
+carrying the bulky parcel. "Let's get home and open it."</p>
+
+<p>Owing, I think, to the cost of sugar, confections of every kind in
+Majorca are expensive and limited in variety. And although in
+England a plethora of good things had made us inclined to be blasé,
+two months of residence in this land where sweets are matters for
+consumption on high-days and holy-days had revealed in each of us
+the possession of an unexpected sweet tooth. And the sight of the
+ample proportions of that confectioner's parcel set them aching<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130"> [Pg 130]</a></span>
+furiously.</p>
+
+<p>"If it's sweets, we must not begin eating them until luncheon is
+over," I said, more by way of counsel to myself than to the others.</p>
+
+<p>"We'll see," said the Boy, who was determined not to commit himself.</p>
+
+<p>When we had entered the Casa Tranquila the carefully packed box was
+lifted on to the table and the exciting task of opening it began.
+The seals had already been broken, but there seemed several miles of
+carefully knotted string to unwind. Beneath the enveloping brown
+paper was an encasing of the corrugated cardboard in which
+breakables are packed. Within that was a thick layer of fine
+shavings. The dimensions of the package had been considerably
+lessened when, all the outer wrappings thrown aside, there was
+revealed a large square tin box. The side presented to us bore no
+sign of an opening. It really seemed as though the elusive gift was
+determined to baffle us.</p>
+
+<p>"The box has been carefully soldered," said the Man. "I can't
+understand how the Customs could fix the amount of the duty without
+knowing what was inside. How are we going to open it, I wonder?"</p>
+
+<p>But when he turned the box over a wide gash in the bottom revealed
+that the task had already been performed. Pressing aside the jagged
+edges of the tin, we saw within yet more shavings. When they had
+been carefully removed, fragments of china, and something tied in a
+rent white cloth met our gaze.</p>
+
+<p>"It's been a plum-pudding, and they've smashed it to atoms," the Man
+said bitterly.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh, what a <em>shame</em>! The mean wretches!" I lamented.</p>
+
+<p>The Boy said nothing, but felt for his pipe.</p>
+
+<p>Having succeeded in widening the gash considerably, the Man drew out
+the remaining enclosures. The pudding&mdash;a particularly fine one&mdash;was
+intact, but the bowl that had encased it was shattered. Splinters of
+the china were adhering to its dark richness. The Spanish Customs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131"> [Pg 131]</a></span>
+at the frontier, in their zeal to discover the nature of the
+contents and their fear of permitting a concealed bomb to escape
+their vigilance, had not only cut open the box and smashed the bowl,
+they had also ripped across the cloth that tied up the pudding.</p>
+
+<p>"Perhaps they were right to charge eight <span lang="es">pesetas</span> seventy-six
+<span lang="es">centimos</span>, but they needn't have made mincemeat of that nice china
+bowl, and rags of the pudding-cloth," I said indignantly.</p>
+
+<p>"Probably they thought that as mincemeat was also seasonable fare it
+would be a proper accompaniment to the pudding," the Man said.</p>
+
+<p>But the proof of the pudding is ever the eating of it. Its
+misadventures over, ours turned out to be a prince of plum-puddings.
+The flavour was perfection, and the size was such that we had to
+call in the aid of our friends to eat it. Formal entertainments were
+outside the scheme of life at the Casa Tranquila, but the Consul and
+his wife came to supper&mdash;menu, hot plum-pudding and flaming brandy.
+And some native friends came to tea&mdash;menu, plum-pudding toasted in
+slices, and coffee.</p>
+
+<p>Should future generations of Majorcans grow up in the quite
+erroneous belief that the British serve rich black plum-pudding hot
+at all meals, I'm afraid the blame must rest with us.</p>
+
+<p>Palma is always bright, but at Christmas-tide an increase of
+liveliness seemed to pervade the town. The shop windows displayed
+new wares, and the streets were full of country folk pricing,
+bargaining, and purchasing. The confectioners' windows were full of
+large round cardboard boxes, each containing a sugar travesty of a
+serpent, a weird reptile, reposing on a bed of sweets.</p>
+
+<p>The market square at night, when it is usually deserted, displayed a
+new and popular species of merchandise. Its outer sides were lined
+with rows of stalls laden with slabs of native sweetmeats all made
+in long blocks, and piles of tempting crystallized fruits. Other<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132"> [Pg 132]</a></span>
+stalls held nothing but the curious little figures of native
+ware&mdash;men, women, animals, poultry, all very small&mdash;that the
+Majorcan children use when, with the aid of cork, they build little
+models of the Nativity in imitation of those seen at Christmastide
+in the churches.</p>
+
+<p>During the days preceding Christmas Day great preparations for the
+feast were made. In the market the price of choice fruits and
+vegetables rose a little. And the wide open space just without the
+gate of San Antonio&mdash;the patron saint of swine&mdash;became a busy fair
+devoted to the sale of pigs, turkeys, sheep and fowls.</p>
+
+<p>The part whose colour and movement rejoiced the artistic soul of the
+Man was that given over to the display of turkeys. The portion whose
+comic element delighted the Boy and me was that devoted to the wards
+of San Antonio, who, to judge by the shrillness and insistence of
+their cries, was proving himself but an irresponsible and callous
+guardian.</p>
+
+<p>The peasant-women, neat in the native costume, gaily coloured
+kerchiefs over their heads, their hair in pigtails, armed with long
+rods, stood beside their flocks of turkeys. At intervals they
+scattered handfuls of grain amongst them; but to do the birds
+justice, they showed little inclination to stray.</p>
+
+<p>On one side a long wall was formed of hooded carts filled with
+turkeys. And round each brood was a little group of townsfolk,
+making critical survey of the birds and, after a good deal of wordy
+chaffering, purchasing. The other side was occupied by a long row of
+fowl-sellers, who treated their wares with less respect; for
+splendid cocks, their burnished plumage gleaming with a thousand
+prismatic hues, lay helpless, their feet tied together, their bills
+in the dust.</p>
+
+<p>Sucking-pig being the favourite Christmas dinner in this land of
+sunshine, by far the larger space was allotted to the swine. And
+swine there were to satisfy all demands, from litters of tiny
+sucking-pigs surrounding their mothers to pigs of quite<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133"> [Pg 133]</a></span>
+considerable bulk. As the pigs were sold by weight, it is safe to
+say that there wasn't a thirsty pig in the market that day. And
+while we saw few pigs being fed, we saw many being encouraged to
+drink. Some of the salesmen stood by their laden carts ready, on the
+approach of a likely customer, to thrust a hand into the mass of
+swart animalism and extract a protesting squeaker. Others sat lazily
+on chairs by their flocks, content to wait to be approached. While
+some of the older herdsmen wore slung over the shoulders the
+distinctive goatskin of their calling, most of the younger were
+attired in suits of corduroy, sun-faded into glorious harmonies of
+golds and browns and blues. We noticed that whilst certain of the
+men dealt in turkeys, none of the women sold pigs.</p>
+
+<p>And out of the city streamed the townsfolk, money in hand for the
+purchase of their Christmas dinner. Ladies in mantillas, attended by
+neat maids, bought turkeys; prosperous-looking tradesmen,
+accompanied by pinafored shop-lads provided with bits of rope,
+walked about pricing pigs; and lean operatives, with a hungry eye
+for the yearly tit-bit.</p>
+
+<p>It was after a pig had changed owners that the fun began. The market
+being held outside the city walls, the purchase had first to be
+taken to the <span lang="es"><i>consumos</i></span> shed to be weighed and have the duty paid on
+it. And the pigs, although comparatively placid while yet in company
+with their old comrades, when severed from them protested with full
+strength of lung and limb. Then woe betide the luckless being whose
+task it was to carry the agitator home. One man only did we see who
+had had the forethought to bring a sack in which to carry home his
+rebellious purchase.</p>
+
+<p>Everybody appeared to have evolved a different method of conveyance.
+Some men wore them as a collar round the neck, grasping the fore
+feet in one hand, the hind in the other. Some tried to lead them,
+with dire results. One flustered woman we saw had a child in her
+arms and was dragging at the end of a string a plump young porker
+that refused to walk. The majority, relinquishing any attempt at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134"> [Pg 134]</a></span>
+suasion, simply clutched the furiously objecting quadrupeds
+desperately in their arms and made the best of their way through the
+streets.</p>
+
+<p>Just as we were leaving the market we encountered a trio of elderly
+ladies, attended by a demure little maid in pigtail and <span lang="es"><i>rebozillo</i></span>,
+whom we had noticed making a careful scrutiny before deciding. Their
+choice seemed at last to have been made, for the young servant
+carried in her arms, as tenderly as though it were a baby, a tiny
+sucking-pig. So far it had uttered no complaint, but just as the
+group turned into the street it awoke to the knowledge that
+something untoward was happening, and with the energy of one thrice
+its fighting weight, began squealing and squirming. In a moment
+consternation fell upon the sedately pacing quartette. When we last
+saw them a man had been hired to carry home the pigling, whose
+lamentations still rent the air.</p>
+
+<p>During the day or two that would elapse before the creatures were
+sacrificed for consumption they appeared to reside in the bosom of
+the family circles and to be treated as honoured guests. The fact
+that a home was in a flat three floors up did not deter its
+occupants from housing a four-footed edible guest. Turkeys strutted
+in doorways and upon high balconies. Proud children escorted pigs
+out for an airing.</p>
+
+<p>Two days before the feast we noticed on a piece of waste ground just
+inside the gate of Santa Catalina an enclosure roughly constructed
+of planks and sacking. From a post fluttered a banner of brown paper
+inscribed with the legend, <span lang="es"><i>Se matan lechonas</i></span> (Little pigs kill
+themselves). And thither, the right moment having arrived, people
+brought their pets. Within the enclosure, but in full view of the
+public, the piglings were killed, soused with the boiling water that
+was kept bubbling over a fire, scraped and made ready for the pot in
+the twinkling of an eye.</p>
+
+<p>On Christmas Eve we attended the midnight service in the Cathedral.
+It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the streets of Palma were
+unusually busy. Groups of people, the women and children all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135"> [Pg 135]</a></span>
+carrying folding stools, or in some cases rush-seated chairs, were
+walking sedately in the direction of the churches.</p>
+
+<p>In the silver light there was something mysterious about the
+succession of black-robed figures&mdash;the women's heads muffled in
+black mantillas or black silk kerchiefs&mdash;that moved steadfastly
+along the narrow mediæval streets.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 369px;">
+<a href="images/gs25.jpg"><img src="images/gs25-tb.jpg" width="369" height="400" alt="Public piglet killing" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">A SCENE OF SLAUGHTER</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>When we reached the Cathedral many people had already gathered. When
+we would have taken our usual seats under the organ, one of the
+canons in a robe of lace and rose-coloured silk approached and
+whispered to me in French that that portion of the church was
+reserved for men, but that I was free to take any place I liked on
+the opposite side. Crossing the foot-high wooden barrier that had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136"> [Pg 136]</a></span>
+been erected down the centre of the nave, under his escort, I set up
+the sketching stool I had brought at the base of one of the great
+pillars, and watched the edifice gradually fill with a reverent
+throng of worshippers.</p>
+
+<p>And now the necessity for the folding stools became evident, for
+while the portion of the building allotted to men was well provided
+with seats, only a great square of matting covered that half of the
+floor-space that had been set apart for the women.</p>
+
+<p>The Cathedral was brilliantly lit with electricity; and although
+there was something inexpressibly affecting in the sight of the
+kneeling multitude, to us the Cathedral lost much of the sombre
+magnificence it had in the daytime, when, except for the candles
+burning on the altar, the only light was that which stole in through
+the stained-glass windows, and the greater part of the grand temple
+was rendered impressive by obscurity.</p>
+
+<p>Later, when we spoke of this to our friend the padre he agreed with
+us. But, as he said in his irreproachable English, "What can we do?
+The Cathedral is very large, and the people are not all good."</p>
+
+<p>There was no respect of persons. Wrinkled old peasant-women and
+lovely young members of the ancient Majorcan nobility knelt side by
+side. The pew my men-folk occupied was shared by a gentleman in a
+fur-lined coat, and two little ragamuffins who, oblivious of their
+sacred surroundings, slumbered peacefully throughout the
+proceedings, curled up snugly together like a pair of monkeys
+nesting in a tree-top.</p>
+
+<p>At a pause in the service a white-robed youth, supposed to represent
+the Angel Gabriel, who was attended by two others carrying lighted
+candles, appeared in a pulpit. He wore a scarlet cap and bore a
+naked sword, and in a melodious voice chanted in Spanish <span lang="es"><i>Sibila</i></span>&mdash;a
+hymn that foretells the varied fates awaiting the evil and the good
+at the end of the world.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137"> [Pg 137]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At one o'clock, when we slipped out of the Cathedral, leaving the
+multitude still at worship, and walked homewards through the
+brilliant moonlight, all was hushed and peaceful. The signs of
+carnage had vanished. The banner with the suicidal legend, <i>Se matan
+lechonas</i>, no longer fluttered by the gate of Santa Catalina; and
+only a few vagrant turkey feathers, blown about the roads, remained
+to tell of the innocents who had been butchered to make a Christian
+holiday.</p>
+
+<p>Christmas, we had been warned, would be a quiet day in Palma: a day
+of family greetings, of indoor festivities, when the streets would
+be deserted. Any feasts we might have shared were far away in
+fog-bound Britain, and neither turkey nor sucking-pig graced the
+larder of the Casa Tranquila. The weather was idyllic, like the most
+perfect of perfect summer days at home&mdash;even after more than two
+months' experience of Balearic Island weather we had not ceased to
+be surprised by its consistent beauty. So we decided to have a
+picnic.</p>
+
+<p>We had heard vaguely of a famous cave in the country behind our own
+district of Son Españolet&mdash;a cave important enough to afford shelter
+to the people of Palma who, in thousands, had fled thither to escape
+from a plague of cholera that sixty or seventy years before had
+devastated the town. But while everybody seemed to know of the
+existence of the cave, no amount of inquiry elicited information as
+to its exact whereabouts. So on this lovely Christmas morning we
+resolved to take luncheon with us and spend the day hunting for it.</p>
+
+<p>I think it was the Rudder Grangers who wished to live in the last
+house of a village, as by doing so they could be in touch with
+humanity on the one side and with Nature on the other. Our own road,
+the Calle de Mas, came very near answering these requirements, for,
+being the last road in the little suburb, it met both town and
+country. By walking to the end of the houses, over whose garden
+walls oranges gleamed golden, and turning to the left by the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138"> [Pg 138]</a></span>
+brand-new Villa Dolores, and past the old farm-house that stood
+hedged in with tall cactus by the wayside, we were at once on the
+verge of the beautiful rural scenery.</p>
+
+<p>Our informant had been right. The street was empty. As we passed
+along, a smell as of roast sucking-pig greeted us; but everybody was
+indoors behind their closely shuttered windows.</p>
+
+<p>The road that leads through the undulating almond and olive groves
+towards Son Puigdorfila and the hills had never been so deserted.
+And never had the air been softer or the mountains more mistily
+blue. The leaves of the gnarled olives shone silver-grey beside the
+dark, rich foliage of the carob-trees, and the white blossoms of a
+honey-scented weed thickly flecked the green of the six-inch high
+grain.</p>
+
+<p>The village of Son Rapiña, perched on its eminence, gleamed like a
+jewel in the strong sunlight; but the path leading towards it showed
+not a single traveller. For once, farm-work had ceased; the only
+sound that reached us was a far-off musical tinkle from the bells of
+a flock of goats as they moved about, seeking for fallen pods under
+the great algarroba-trees.</p>
+
+<p>The cave, we had gathered, was somewhere near Son Puigdorfila, but
+when we had passed that country-house, and had wandered down the
+valley towards the empty bed of the <span lang="es"><i>torrente</i></span>, we found nothing
+that in the most remote way suggested the presence of a cave.</p>
+
+<p>We had almost abandoned the quest when a sound of bells warned us of
+the approach of a herd of plump brindled asses, which appeared under
+the guidance of an old man.</p>
+
+<p>In his suit of faded blue cotton, with a goatskin slung over his
+shoulders and a gaily striped kerchief bound round his brow and
+knotted at the back, the long ends falling beneath his wide-brimmed
+hat, and a tall staff in his wrinkled brown hands, he was a fine
+specimen of the hale Majorcan peasant whose declining years hold no
+greater physical discomfort than a gradual lessening of the full
+strength of manhood.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139"> [Pg 139]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He knew of the cave&mdash;<span lang="es"><i>Cueva Fuente Santa</i></span> he called it. Nay more, he
+knew its history from the making to the present day. And while the
+brindled asses browsed around us he told us the story of the Cave of
+the Holy Well.</p>
+
+<p>The Conquistador, it appeared, on setting out on his perilous
+mission, had vowed to the Virgin that if through her aid he
+succeeded in ousting the heathen from Majorca, he would signalize
+his victory by building a noble Cathedral in her honour; and it was
+in quarrying the stone from the steep ground by the side of the
+<span lang="es"><i>torrente</i></span> that the great cave had been formed. He told us of the
+refugees who, fleeing before the cholera, had camped there in
+safety; and brought the record up to date by mentioning that to the
+present day on the Sunday after Easter great crowds of the townsfolk
+made a little pilgrimage to the Holy Well, to drink its waters and
+to eat their <span lang="es"><i>empanadas</i></span>&mdash;pies made specially of lamb for the
+occasion.</p>
+
+<p>The cave was near&mdash;only a little way, he added, as he hurried to
+overtake his now straying herd. If we would proceed farther down the
+side of the <span lang="es"><i>torrente</i></span> we would discover it, close by the old well.</p>
+
+<p>So in the sunshine, which was warm without a trace of oppression,
+for the sea air agreeably tempered the heat, we wandered on until,
+in the side of a fir-topped bank, we found the cave.</p>
+
+<p>And it was quite unlike anything we had imagined. To enter by the
+wide square portal was to find oneself in a vast, many-chambered
+hall. In quarrying out the interior the long-forgotten workmen had
+left at intervals great rudely sculptured blocks that served as
+supporting pillars to the roof. Four square holes, open to the sky,
+afforded ventilation. Round the walls, and about the bases of the
+pillars, had been hewn ledges which might have served for seats or
+for beds.</p>
+
+<p>At one point the roof had been blackened by smoke from the
+fugitives' fires. But the whole interior was dry and airy. There was
+not a trace of damp anywhere, and the sandy floor was one that<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140"> [Pg 140]</a></span>
+could easily have been kept clean and wholesome. It would have been
+hard to imagine a more secure or a more sanitary place of refuge.</p>
+
+<p>Down below, nearer the river-bed, was the quaint Moorish
+well&mdash;square in form, with a domed roof. And looking down the valley
+of the <span lang="es"><i>torrente</i></span> from the brow of the hill in front of the cave
+where the fig-trees grew, we had a grand prospect of Palma
+Cathedral, that from each variant point of view seems to gain a new
+beauty.</p>
+
+<p>An unwonted silence lay over the sunlit land. For once there was no
+sound of human voice uplifted in song, and that aided the sense of
+peace. The Balearic islander is the most skilful market-gardener in
+the world. He makes roads that enable one to drive up one side of a
+mountain and down the other with perfect ease. He builds walls that
+look as though they would last throughout the ages and successfully
+resist a shock of earthquake at the end of time. But as a vocalist
+he is not attractive.</p>
+
+<p>I must write this heresy in a whisper, for the information would
+surprise him. He is unconscious of his lack of melody, and rather
+fancies himself as a songster. The merry Majorcan plough-boy does
+not "whistle o'er the lea." He sings, or rather chants, in a loud,
+discordant voice, an artless recitative, apparently improvising both
+words and music and weaving the little incidents of the day, the
+trivial happenings of his surroundings, into his interminable lay.</p>
+
+<p>When the Boy was painting in the beautiful undulating country that
+lay between Son Españolet and the mountains, he sometimes discovered
+a reference to himself in the <span lang="fr"><i>pastorale</i></span>.</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"<i>It is the painter English.</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>&nbsp;He is making a picture.</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>&nbsp;He has put Gabriel into it.</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>&nbsp;Perhaps he will put me also,</i><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><i>&nbsp;And my fine pigs.</i>"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>But though the voice of the herdsman might be unmelodious, it
+mingled harmoniously with the jangle of bells as his flock of pigs,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141"> [Pg 141]</a></span>
+goats, sheep, or asses moved slowly over the uplands under the
+fragrant almond-trees.</p>
+
+<p>The air was sweet with perfume of the wild lavender that grew in
+profusion about the entrance to the caves. Not a soul was in sight.
+It was with a quiet scorn of flesh-pots&mdash;even of those that
+contained sucking-pig&mdash;that, sitting in the sunshine, we lunched
+frugally off sandwiches, claret, and big yellow Muscat grapes.</p>
+
+<p>We had left the Casa Tranquila with the understanding that the day
+was to be observed as a complete holiday. Yet when the cave revealed
+picturesque possibilities it would have surprised one unaccustomed
+to the devious ways of the Man and the Boy to have seen how well
+provided they chanced to be with working materials.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving them busily sketching, I wandered about gathering the heads
+of sweet lavender. I had a newly born ambition to fill a cushion
+with the dried blossoms&mdash;an ambition that in England would have been
+extravagant, but one that in this gracious land was to be gained by
+a little charming labour. So with that feeling of absolute mental
+content and of physical well-being that seemed to characterize our
+Balearic days, I picked and picked and picked until the
+luncheon-basket was full to overflowing with the purple-grey
+flowers, and the subtle odour of sweet lavender encompassed me with
+a cloud of fragrance.</p>
+
+<p>Even in these days of late December I had never taken a country walk
+without finding a fresh wild flower. To-day it was a rose-coloured
+cornflower, <i>cyanus</i>; and in addition, growing close to the caves, I
+came upon a fruit, or vegetable, that was quite new to me. The
+latter was splendidly decorative. Imagine a giant tomato plant erect
+and armed with aggressive prickles, that bore a profusion of apples
+whose colour varied from green mottled with white in the unripe, to
+brilliant yellow in the mature. I found afterwards that it is known
+as the "Devil's tomato." Tufts of the pale pink heath flourished
+under the pines, and on the slopes about the fig-trees my favourite
+Japanese-like dwarf asphodel, whose white, starry blossoms were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142"> [Pg 142]</a></span>
+striped with chocolate, were out in profusion.</p>
+
+<p>The far-off tinkle of bells that, to our now accustomed ears, ranked
+almost as a necessary accompaniment to the scenery, had gradually
+been drawing nearer; and soon the troop of donkeys again appeared,
+followed by their patient, kindly-faced herd. They were the only
+living things in sight, and as they moved slowly along they
+harmonized delightfully with the rustic surroundings.</p>
+
+<p>Approaching nightfall drove us homewards, reluctant to end a day
+that had been full of intangible charm. The record of its doings,
+baldly set forth on paper, reveals a total lack of incident. The
+preceding Christmas Day, spent at a seaside hotel in laboriously
+enjoying the festivities of the season, we had almost forgotten.
+These placid hours passed quietly in this country of sweet smells,
+of gentle noises, of pure, soft air, we would always remember.</p>
+
+<p>As we strolled towards Son Españolet the setting sun seemed
+determined, in honour of the day, to give an extra glorious display
+of fireworks. And when the glow had faded from the mountains,
+leaving them purple velvet, a vivid rose flush that melted into the
+blue haze of the distance lingered long in the eastern sky. And just
+above was the nearly full moon, a globe of shining silver. There was
+no actual dusk, hardly any gloaming; for before the sun had sunk to
+rest the moon, her lamp brilliantly burning, was ready to do duty.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143"> [Pg 143]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 286px;">
+<a href="images/col05.jpg"><img src="images/col05-tb.jpg" width="286" height="400" alt="Parade inside church" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">AFTER THE FEAST OF THE CONQUISTADOR, PALMA CATHEDRAL</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="XIII" id="XIII"></a><abbr title="13">XIII</abbr><br />
+THE FEAST OF THE CONQUISTADOR</h2>
+
+<p>It was the 31st of December, and the day was one of a long
+succession of calm summer-like days. The sky was a cloudless blue,
+and the air so warm that in the plantations beyond Son Españolet
+sundry over-zealous almond-trees, deceived by the brilliance of the
+weather, were already bursting into premature bloom.</p>
+
+<p>It was too fine to waste indoors the remaining hours of the year,
+and the gay little town was always interesting. So we walked towards
+Palma, and, after strolling down the mole and revelling in the
+colour and movement of the harbour, we ascended the long flight of
+steps leading to the ramparts, and, passing the Almudaina, reached
+the Cathedral, whose grandeur and sacred beauty ever held a fresh
+fascination for us.</p>
+
+<p>Entering by a side door, we judged from the presence of certain
+extra decorative trappings in front of the high altar that some
+special service was in prospect. People were already seated in the
+pews that filled the front portion of the nave. Finding places at a
+side, we waited, listening to the joyous strains of the grand organ.</p>
+
+<p>Just before eleven o'clock the great doors of the Cathedral were
+thrown open, and the warm sunlight streamed into the sombre
+interior. Then, through the hush of expectancy that had fallen over
+the congregation, we heard the far-off beating of drums. Something
+was, looked for&mdash;was even now on its way&mdash;we knew not what; but we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144"> [Pg 144]</a></span>
+also waited, expectant.</p>
+
+<p>Nearer the sound came, and nearer. From our side seats we could see
+the guard in front of the Almudaina saluting, then from the
+brilliant sunlight into the mysterious half-gloom of the Cathedral
+there passed a quaint little procession, led by a drum-major
+gorgeous in scarlet and gold. Behind him, three and three, came the
+drummers, still&mdash;even within the sacred walls of the
+Cathedral&mdash;keeping up the <i>rat-a-plan</i> with a vigour that seemed
+almost profane.</p>
+
+<p>Half-way up the nave they turned aside and stood, rapidly plying
+their drum-sticks; while, preceded by two mace-bearers in robes of
+scarlet, their symbols of office over their shoulders, came in
+evening dress the Civil Governor and the Alcalde, followed by
+members of the Council. Behind, in uniform, came the Chiefs of
+Police.</p>
+
+<p>When they were seated&mdash;the Civil Governor, as representing the King,
+being placed in a chair under an embroidered canopy, the others in a
+specially draped pew alongside&mdash;the service began. At one portion of
+the ceremony a priest with attendants mounted the pulpit, and in an
+eloquent address related the whole story of the conquest of Majorca
+by Jaime, the young King of Aragon, who on that very day six hundred
+and eighty years before had entered the city.</p>
+
+<p>In picturesque language and in fine declamatory style he told how
+for many hundreds of years the lovely island had suffered under the
+oppression of the wicked and tyrannical Moors. How prosperity had
+rendered them only the more piratical and cruel, so that no
+Christian ship was safe from their assaults. How, rendered yet
+bolder by success, they even raided the Catalan coast, sacking
+Barcelona, and killing its Count. How at length the indignation of
+the Spaniards roused them to take action; and the heads of the
+ecclesiastical, the military, and the royal sections meeting
+together, resolved to fit out a fleet, and to dispatch an expedition
+to wrest the island from the heathen. Under the handsome and daring
+young King of Aragon the fleet of over a hundred and forty vessels,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145"> [Pg 145]</a></span>
+containing an army thirty thousand strong, set sail. They left the
+Spanish coast on the 1st of September, 1229, but the Moors made so
+determined a resistance that it was the last day of the year before
+the hosts of King Jaime succeeded in entering the town.</p>
+
+<p>As in duty bound, the orator ascribed mainly to the influence of the
+Church over the Catholic hearts of the people the success of the
+expedition that had freed the Christians from their oppressors.</p>
+
+<p>The oration ended, service at the high altar proceeded, while at
+intervals gay, almost jocund, music burst forth from the grand
+organ. The lightsome strains were infectious. The Alcalde
+unconsciously beat time with his staff, and the fingers of the
+youngest representative of the municipal government played an
+imaginary instrument in time to the music.</p>
+
+<p>There was such a decidedly Gilbert-and-Sullivan suggestion about the
+sprightly air that one might be pardoned for expecting the chief
+ecclesiastical dignitary to advance singing&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"I am the Bishop of this Diocese"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>or for anticipating the attendant priests making hearty response&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"And a right good Bishop, too!"<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Later in the proceedings the clergy formed into a procession, led by
+white-robed acolytes and choristers carrying crucifixes and lighted
+candles, and walked slowly round the Cathedral, chanting as they
+went; the Civil Governor, the Alcalde, and the other representatives
+of the Government bringing up the rear.</p>
+
+<p>The impressive religious service ended, the drummers again fell into
+line, and the civic dignitaries, with the mace-bearers, marching to
+the sound of the drums, passed out into the sunlit streets.
+Following in their footsteps, we sped towards the Town Hall, in
+front of which, as we now gathered, the annual ceremony of saluting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146"> [Pg 146]</a></span>
+the flagstaff of King Jaime the Conquistador was to take place.</p>
+
+<p>There a gay scene awaited us. Detachments of soldiers, their bands
+playing, lined the laurel-strewn space before the building. All the
+balconies were full of spectators and the street was thronged with
+what appeared to be the entire juvenile population of Palma.</p>
+
+<p>With the arrival of the Governor and his escort the ceremony was
+speedily completed. The flagstaff, which was heavily wreathed in
+laurel, was carried round. Arms having been presented, the historic
+trophy retired into carefully tended seclusion until another
+anniversary would again bring it into prominence. The military
+formed up, and to the sound of inspiriting music marched cheerily
+off. The feast of the Conquistador was over.</p>
+
+<p>The origin of the custom we found reached back into bygone ages. For
+many centuries after King Jaime's death the people of Palma had an
+annual procession on the anniversary of the taking of the city, and
+walked through the streets with the banner under which their
+deliverer had fought so valiantly carried before them, while the
+entire populace prayed for the safety of his soul. The banner has
+long since rotted into dust. Now the staff alone is borne, and apart
+from the promenade inside the Cathedral there is no procession.</p>
+
+<p>The inner chambers of the Cathedral guard a wealth of treasure, the
+collection of centuries, and an inestimable array of relics, which,
+through the courtesy of the church dignitaries, we had the privilege
+of seeing.</p>
+
+<p>One morning about ten o'clock, when we entered the Cathedral from
+the sunlit streets, the faint blue mist of incense hung about the
+high altar, and the sound of chanting echoed through the aisles. At
+first sight the vast building appeared to be empty; but as our eyes
+became accustomed to the perpetual twilight that reigns under the
+great roof we became conscious of kneeling worshippers, dimly seen
+through the obscurity&mdash;a young lady, her mantilla-framed face bent<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147"> [Pg 147]</a></span>
+over her rosary, an old man praying before one of the side chapels
+where a faint light was burning.</p>
+
+<p>We were expected. Our friend the padre, a dignified figure clad in
+vestments of lace and fur, welcoming us with a silent shake of the
+hand, led us noiselessly along a side aisle.</p>
+
+<p>As, passing through a door that led behind the high altar, we caught
+a glimpse of the officiating clergy, it almost seemed as though we
+were behind the scenes at a theatre where some great life-drama was
+being enacted. There were the stately and imposing performers, the
+engrossed and scarcely visible audience.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving us in charge of the brother priest who acts as custodian of
+the treasure, our sponsor returned to resume his part in the
+service. Preceding us through the sacristy, our new guide escorted
+us to an inner chamber where, in an impregnable safe built in the
+wall, the venerated sacred relics of the Cathedral are kept.</p>
+
+<p>Carefully unlocking and throwing open the guardian doors, he
+revealed a cabinet draped with a crimson curtain. Slipping behind
+the drapery, he busied himself lighting candles. Then, reappearing,
+he drew aside the curtain, revealing the almost startling
+magnificence of the precious metal and rare pearls in which the
+relics are enshrined.</p>
+
+<p>One object&mdash;that occupying the place of honour&mdash;was carefully
+enswathed. Bending low before it, the padre, with reverent hands,
+withdrew the covering, showing an exquisite cross of gold, inset
+with priceless gems and hung with strings of costly pearls. In the
+centre of the cross&mdash;faintly perceptible through its encasement of
+crystal&mdash;were some fragments of the true Cross. On certain
+occasions, such as the service on Good Friday afternoon, this relic
+is borne in procession round the Cathedral.</p>
+
+<p>The custodian, who was an enthusiast happy in his appreciation of
+and delight in his mission, proceeded to show us more of the
+wondrous treasures of the old Cathedral. Among the things almost<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148"> [Pg 148]</a></span>
+too sacred to mention were three thorns from Christ's crown of
+thorns, a piece of the purple cloth of His robe, a fragment of His
+swaddling band, and a portion of a garment worn by the Virgin Mary.</p>
+
+<p>A bone, black and shrivelled with age, was from the finger of St.
+Peter. And an extremely interesting relic&mdash;one so veritably antique
+that it is mentioned in the first inventory of the sacred trophies
+belonging to the Cathedral&mdash;is the tip of one of the arrows with
+which St. Sebastian, who is the patron saint of Palma, was killed.
+Like all the other relics, this is carefully enclosed. Another relic
+of the saint is the bone of his fore-arm, which is enclosed in a
+case surmounted by a hand, on whose outstretched fingers are many
+costly rings, votive offerings presented in gratitude by those who
+believe they have benefited by his intercession on their behalf.</p>
+
+<p>Two magnificent crowns, those that on special occasions are worn by
+the effigies of the Virgin and the Holy Child, were also in that
+safe in company with other valuables too many to catalogue.</p>
+
+<p>The Mass was still in progress. While we gazed from the face of the
+priest, which glowed with fervour, to the wondrous things he showed
+us with such tender veneration, came a sound of chanting, the music
+of boys' voices rising sweet and clear. There was still the first
+impression of having been admitted behind the scenes&mdash;an impression
+which the entrance of certain of the officiating clergy who came
+into the sacristy to change their vestments served to deepen.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving an attendant to extinguish the lights and re-lock the great
+iron doors, the padre opened other cupboards and showed us a
+plethora of riches, valuable not only for the material but for the
+beauty and artistic skill of the workmanship. A crucifix bore an
+exquisitely carven ivory figure of the dead Christ, and in the
+hollow of the slender stem of a gold cup a craftsman of surprising
+ingenuity had contrived to mould a representation of the Last
+Supper, so minute in detail that it portrayed not only the table<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149"> [Pg 149]</a></span>
+with the company seated around it but also the food that was placed
+before them. On the inner base of the vase, the executant of this
+triumph of the goldsmith's art had graven his name, which I forget,
+and his age, which at the date of the completion of this intricate
+and original piece of work was sixty-nine.</p>
+
+<p>Our guide did not scamp his task. He appeared to take both pride and
+pleasure in it, and showed us everything, from the vestments, which
+were rigid with gold and embroidery, to the massive silver
+candelabra worth nearly seven thousand pounds, that are so heavy
+that when they are moved into the body of the Cathedral for use
+during special services, it takes four men to carry the top, and six
+men the base, of each.</p>
+
+<p>At three different dates, when long-continued drought had induced
+privation, this silver has been sold for the relief of the poor; and
+three times has it been bought back again, and restored to its place
+in the Cathedral.</p>
+
+<p>Until recently the embalmed body of King Jaime II. (who died in his
+palace of the Almudaina just across the road from the principal
+entrance to the Cathedral), which rested in a marble sarcophagus in
+front of the high altar, was shown to the public on the 31st of
+December, the anniversary of the day on which his father, the
+Conquistador, freed Palma from the Moors.</p>
+
+<p>The mummified corpse is no longer publicly exhibited, and the coffin
+containing the remains has been removed to a recess behind and above
+the high altar, where it rests awaiting burial.</p>
+
+<p>By special permission we were allowed to see the body of the
+monarch. The coffin, taken from the sarcophagus, had been placed on
+a stone bracket. An attendant, mounting a ladder that leant against
+the wall at the head of the coffin, slid back the lid. And in turn
+we climbed up and, bending over, peeped into the open coffin to see,
+through intervening glass&mdash;what? A royal robe of velvet and gold and
+ermine, the lace-trimmed sleeves crossed at the empty wrists, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150"> [Pg 150]</a></span>
+above the neck of the garment a dark fleshless skull, with the brown
+skin tightened over it, closed eyes deep sunk in the sockets, and
+toothless jaws wide agape. A rose-pink velvet nightcap encased the
+shrunken head of the monarch who, six hundred years ago, reigned
+over Majorca.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 384px;">
+<a href="images/gs26.jpg"><img src="images/gs26-tb.jpg" width="384" height="400" alt="Lady looking at skeleton in coffin" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">THE COFFIN OF JAIME II IN PALMA CATHEDRAL</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The reign of this second Jaime, which extended over a period of more
+than thirty years, would appear to have been an exceptionally placid
+one for these warlike days. We know that he brought from Spain
+cunning workmen who converted for his use the castle of the Moorish
+Amir, the Almudaina, into a royal palace, and there a code of Court
+etiquette was formulated and put into practice by the new monarch.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151"> [Pg 151]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The wife of the Captain-General, who now occupies the old Moorish
+palace, a few nights before we saw the remains of the former tenant
+of the Almudaina, gave a reception in the form of a "tea-party"&mdash;the
+guests to arrive at ten o'clock, the tea to be served at midnight.
+One wonders what the nature of King Jaime's Court functions were&mdash;at
+what hour his guests assembled, what the entertainment was, and when
+they dispersed.</p>
+
+<p>The imposing marble sarcophagus in which in times past these
+remnants of royalty were entombed has been removed to a corner of
+the cloisters, where we saw it standing forlorn and forgotten.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152"> [Pg 152]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/gs27.jpg"><img src="images/gs27-tb.jpg" width="400" height="253" alt="Crowded market place" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">MARKET DAY AT POLLENSA</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="XIV" id="XIV"></a><abbr title="14">XIV</abbr><br />
+POLLENSA</h2>
+
+<p>We had intended deferring our expedition to the neighbouring isle of
+Minorca till later in the season; until after the week or two of
+cold weather that we had been warned to expect in January had
+passed. But as the opening days of the year went by in brilliant
+sunshine, and the temperature continued ideal, we felt tempted to
+delay no longer.</p>
+
+<p>It was the Man's suggestion that we should make a roundabout tour of
+it, visiting first the old-world towns of Pollensa and Alcudia, then
+sailing from the port of Alcudia to Minorca and returning from Mahón
+direct to Palma.</p>
+
+<p>So at daybreak on the 8th of January Bartolomé appeared to drive us
+to the station.</p>
+
+<p>The sun had risen, Bartolomé was smiling, and the hills beyond Son
+Españolet shone pink and heliotrope in the morning light as we drove
+along; yet there was a sharp little nip in the air, and the
+<span lang="es"><i>consumeros</i></span> were still shivering in their blankets, covered up to
+their noses and cowering over their braziers. Without these<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153"> [Pg 153]</a></span>
+reminders we would have forgotten that it was the depth of winter in
+the Fortunate Isles.</p>
+
+<p>At Palma station the customary small bustle heralded the departure
+of the morning train. The porter of the Grand Hotel was seeing off a
+French couple who were going to Manacor to visit the Dragon Caves.
+Among the little company of natives with their fringed shawls and
+white muslin <span lang="es"><i>rebozillos</i></span> the French lady, who wore a smart
+flower-trimmed toque on her golden hair and costly furs on her
+shoulders, looked oddly out of place.</p>
+
+<p>On this occasion the 7.40 train left with extreme punctuality, and
+its rate of progress, though slow, was steady. The only other
+passenger in our second-class compartment was a swarthy man who wore
+a yachting cap, white shoes, and a striped blanket. He evidently
+felt cold, and as he sat curled up on the seat his appearance was a
+ludicrous combination of a member of the Royal Yacht Club and an
+Asiatic hospital patient who had risen to have his bed made.</p>
+
+<p>He was journeying to Inca, apparently for the first time, and when
+he asked for information regarding the number of stations to be
+passed before his destination was reached, it seemed reversing the
+natural order of things that we foreigners should be able to give
+it.</p>
+
+<p>Nearly two months had passed since we travelled over the line, and
+it was interesting to note the difference in the appearance of
+things. Then the rich red earth had been furrowed by the plough, or
+was in process of sowing. Now it was covered with long lines of
+sturdy beans, or with springing grain level and green as a tennis
+lawn.</p>
+
+<p>The fig-trees and grape-vines were leafless now; but the evergreen
+carobs showed the tender shades of the new leaves at the tips of the
+well-covered branches. The olives wore their accustomed silver-grey,
+but the first pale blossoms of the year flecked the almond-trees
+with white.</p>
+
+<p>We had taken <span lang="es"><i>combinados</i></span> tickets, and the second-class fare&mdash;two<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154"> [Pg 154]</a></span>
+<span lang="es">pesetas</span> thirty-five <span lang="es">centimos</span>&mdash;included the ten-mile coach drive from
+La Puebla to Pollensa.</p>
+
+<p>When we alighted at the station two diligences were waiting, one for
+Pollensa, the other for Alcudia. Choosing the right one the Man and
+I got inside with six other folk&mdash;three young men, two young women,
+one old man, and a baby too young to count. The Boy went on the box,
+luggage was piled on the roof, and the horses set to work to drag
+their heavy load over the dry, newly mended road.</p>
+
+<p>The Majorcan way of repairing a road is to put a layer of roughly
+broken stones over the worn bits, then to block the smooth places
+with chunks of rock, so that the unhappy travellers are perforce
+obliged to do the work of levelling by driving over the loose
+stones.</p>
+
+<p>But though the way was rough and jolty there was no dust, and there
+were no mosquitoes; and our company, including the brand-new baby,
+was the soul of good nature. The young men and women chatted gaily
+together in the harsh Majorcan dialect; the old man evincing a
+friendly interest in the conversation, which difference of
+nationality unfortunately rendered unintelligible to us. Once or
+twice, when the subject under discussion appeared more than usually
+entertaining, the Man and I whispered to each other, as we had done
+before in similar circumstances, "If we could only understand what
+they are saying!"</p>
+
+<p>Our progress was slow, owing partly to the roughness of the road,
+and partly, as the Boy later explained, to the fact that the driver,
+who was a very old man, fell asleep at intervals, and only awoke
+when the horses stopped.</p>
+
+<p>Half-way to Pollensa we exchanged drivers with the coach that was on
+its way to La Puebla; and our new man being wide-awake, matters
+progressed more briskly. The Boy told us afterwards that, seen from
+his place on the box, the scenery had been glorious; but from the
+interior of the diligence it was impossible to gain more than a
+general impression of lovely wooded slopes, and of distant hills
+that seemed to draw nearer and nearer until, suddenly, while<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155"> [Pg 155]</a></span>
+Pollensa seemed still a long way off, we found ourselves in a narrow
+lane lined with tall houses. In and out of the most tortuous streets
+imaginable the diligence twisted, then abruptly came to a standstill
+at no place in particular, and we realized that we had penetrated to
+the heart of Pollensa.</p>
+
+<p>We had no idea where to go. All the information we had been able to
+gather about the Pollensa <span lang="es"><i>fondas</i></span>&mdash;there were no so-called
+hotels&mdash;was that they were reputed to be bad. But when the coach
+stopped, and we had alighted, and were standing with our luggage on
+the cobble-stones, wondering in what direction to turn for a
+lodging, a young man, plump, clean-shaven, bare-headed, appearing
+from nowhere, begged breathlessly to recommend his <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span>.</p>
+
+<p>Following him through crooked ways we reached the hostelry, which
+was in a little square near the market-place. Mounting a steep
+stair, we entered a large lavishly windowed room furnished with many
+round tables and chairs. It had a little bar and looked to the
+square; behind it was a dining-room.</p>
+
+<p>The Boy, who was our spokesman, following the expected procedure,
+inquired the terms per day.</p>
+
+<p>"Six <span lang="es">pesetas</span>." Our host, following an equally expected procedure
+when arranging with foreigners, had quoted his top price.</p>
+
+<p>"No," said the Boy, whom experience had taught wisdom. "Three
+<span lang="es">pesetas</span>; that is enough. Can you not do it for that?"</p>
+
+<p>The landlord waved his hands. "That depends on what you have," he
+replied, quite reasonably. "Three <span lang="es">pesetas</span>&mdash;yes, if you will be
+content with soup and one other dish at dinner and at supper."</p>
+
+<p>"And is the little breakfast included?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, <span lang="es">señor</span>. Coffee and milk."</p>
+
+<p>So it was decided. Three <span lang="es">pesetas</span> a day was to be the price. And it
+was with a feeling of keen curiosity as to what our host would
+provide for the money that we awaited the appearance of the first<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156"> [Pg 156]</a></span>
+meal, which was to be served immediately. <span lang="es">Señor</span> Calafill at Andraitx
+had given us the perfection of French cookery, the best of wines, at
+three and a half <span lang="es">pesetas</span>. But his house was less pretentious, being
+a shop only and not a <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span>.</p>
+
+<p>Our hostess, a nice, bright little woman who wore her hair in a
+pigtail and the <span lang="es"><i>rebozillo</i></span>, bustled in and began laying the
+marble-topped table with fresh napkins, good cutlery, rolls, a
+bottle of wine, and a syphon of soda-water. Then she added a dish of
+fruit, and running off to the kitchen returned with the soup&mdash;a good
+thick Majorcan soup, full of rice and sweet peppers and chopped
+meat. The second course was a large dish of fish served with fried
+potatoes. Then we had, as a fruit course, apples and mandarin
+oranges. The fare might not be lavish, but it was assuredly all we
+required.</p>
+
+<p>Our rooms, which were the best the house afforded, were small but
+clean, and during our stay proved quite free from mosquitoes.</p>
+
+<p>When we discussed how we would spend the afternoon, the Boy and I
+hotly advocated walking to the port of Pollensa. A traveller from an
+inland town who had shared the box-seat of the diligence with the
+Boy had spoken enthusiastically of its beauty. His family was
+accustomed to spend the hot months there. The fishing, he said, was
+splendid, the fish being of much finer quality than those taken in
+the neighbouring bay of Alcudia.</p>
+
+<p>"A salmonetta caught in the bay of Pollensa <em>is</em> a salmonetta," he
+had declared emphatically.</p>
+
+<p>The Man wisely objected to the expedition. The port, he reminded us,
+was seven <span lang="es">kilometros</span> (nearly five miles) away, and that was too far
+to go and return comfortably in the short winter afternoon. Besides,
+when we had come to see a curious old town, why not stay to look at
+it?</p>
+
+<p>But from my bedroom window I had caught an enchanting glimpse of the
+port&mdash;a segment of blue water hemmed in by steep rocky mountains. It
+seemed so near that I flouted the idea of the five miles, and the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157"> [Pg 157]</a></span>
+afternoon being a glorious one we finally agreed to go.</p>
+
+<p>As we passed along an outlying street an old man, who stood outside
+his house superintending the drying of a great tray of macaroni,
+wished us "Good day."</p>
+
+<p>In returning his greeting the Man added a remark on the beauty of
+the weather, which indeed to us seemed perfect.</p>
+
+<p>"No. This weather is not good. It is bad," the old man said
+severely. "It is rain that is needed. The country suffers. No,
+<span lang="es">señor</span>. This weather is bad, not good."</p>
+
+<p>The way was a relic of the Roman occupation: a splendid wide level
+road that, except for a curve where it left the town, stretched like
+a broad ruled line between us and the blue sea. It could not really
+be so far as seven <span lang="es">kilometros</span>, I assured my vigilant conscience,
+which was inclined to remonstrate. It looked no distance at all.</p>
+
+<p>So we went on our wilful way, journeying gaily between the thorny
+hedges of aloes&mdash;one up among the rocks on the hill-side was in
+bloom&mdash;and beside the little farms that bordered either side of the
+road.</p>
+
+<p>The road was long&mdash;quite five miles&mdash;but there was always something
+interesting at hand, and the enticing strip of blue water drew us
+onward. The hills on the opposite side of the bay had already caught
+the rays of the setting sun, and looked like a bit of some
+dream-world.</p>
+
+<p>The port of Pollensa had a quaint semicircle of houses, divided in
+the middle by the road we had come, which ended only on the bit of
+wharf that ran out into the spacious well-sheltered bay, where the
+British fleet had often found commodious anchorage. Save for a few
+local <span lang="es"><i>falucas</i></span> it was now empty.</p>
+
+<p>In the little enclosed yards in front of the fisher-houses men and
+girls were at work weaving from bright yellow strips of bamboo the
+tall, beehive-looking lobster-traps in local use. Behind the houses,
+on the left side of the bay, rose a precipitous hill. In front,
+between the houses and the water, was a line of fig-trees. Along
+towards the seaward point were some small charmingly situated<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158"> [Pg 158]</a></span>
+summer residences.</p>
+
+<p>When we turned our faces townwards the sun had already set; and
+though we walked smartly, the way that in the going had seemed short
+appeared to lengthen as the shadows crept over the hills and
+darkness encircled us.</p>
+
+<p>Pollensa lies, a close huddle of old sun-dried houses, in a narrow
+curved valley between high mountains. Until you are close upon it,
+it is almost entirely hidden, and that was probably the intention
+with which it was originally planned. During the last mile or two of
+the return journey, when the shades had fallen and we went on and on
+without apparently getting any nearer our habitation, my opinion of
+the distance that divided the port from the town became considerably
+modified. Still, we were only pleasantly tired when the first of the
+town lights appeared, and we found our way to the <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span> through
+the twisted streets, past many well-lit barbers' shops where, in
+full view of the public gaze, men were being shaved or sitting in
+patient rows resignedly awaiting turns that, to judge from the large
+number of customers and the paucity of barbers, would necessarily be
+a long time in coming.</p>
+
+<p>Supper was ready to serve, and the moment the meal was over I went
+upstairs to bed&mdash;to sleep soon and sweetly, in spite of the fact
+that conversation in the bar-room beneath sounded surprisingly
+distinct&mdash;about as loud, indeed, as though the owners of the voices
+were talking at my ear. Morning brought explanation of the
+phenomenon&mdash;one of the flooring tiles just at the head of the bed
+was missing, and through the gap thus left the noise of the unseen
+talkers entered the room as through a speaking-tube.</p>
+
+<p>On the following morning, which was Sunday, the weekly market was
+held at Pollensa. Very early, while it was yet hardly light, the
+little bustle of street traffic awoke me, and, looking from the
+window, I got a misty view of panniered donkeys and of rustic
+conveyances which vague shadowy figures were unloading.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159"> [Pg 159]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When we had breakfasted we went out and, within a few steps of our
+inn, found ourselves in the most picturesque market-place we had
+ever seen.</p>
+
+<p>I do not know what may be the leading article of Pollensa market at
+other seasons, but on this January day the outstanding feature was
+cabbages&mdash;of tremendous proportions. Piled in heaps and hillocks on
+the ground, they fairly dominated the market. Other wares there were
+no doubt, but the things that impressed us were the number and size
+of these giant vegetables and a feeling of wonder as to where the
+people would come from to buy them. As the morning wore on, the
+mounds sensibly diminished in height; but at that early hour the
+stacks of cabbages towered so high that sometimes only the heads of
+the vendors were visible above them.</p>
+
+<p>In the raised portion of the market-square women occupied the stone
+benches, their stock of home-grown fruits and of the finer
+vegetables exhibited in baskets before them.</p>
+
+<p>It was the scarce time for grapes. The field-produce was long over,
+and only garden bunches were still to be had. But without any
+attempt at bargaining we bought two pounds of delicious grapes for
+sixpence-farthing, and large golden oranges were offered us at
+twopence a dozen.</p>
+
+<p>The town was so full of strange and picturesque figures that every
+moment brought fresh entertainment. At the <span lang="es"><i>feria</i></span> into which we
+strayed at Inca we had thought ourselves lucky in seeing one old man
+attired in the curious <span lang="es"><i>colsons en bufer</i></span>, as the voluminous
+zouave-like pantaloons of bright blue cotton are called. Here in
+Pollensa wearers of the delightfully odd old-world dress abounded.
+And it seemed as though they took a special pride in the quaintness
+of their garb, so particular were they about the set of their
+neckties, so trim about the ankles, so careful as to the fit of the
+low black shoes that went so well with the costume.</p>
+
+<p>The women of Pollensa, though less extraordinary of aspect, were
+also a pleasure to behold, for with scarcely an exception they wore
+the becoming native dress, and their heads were neatly covered with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160"> [Pg 160]</a></span>
+either the pretty white muslin head-dress or with handkerchiefs of
+gaily coloured silk.</p>
+
+<p>It was somewhat disconcerting to realize, as we did quite suddenly,
+that it was really we who were the oddities, and that in the eyes of
+the crowd, at whom we were gazing so curiously, I was a ludicrous
+object because I wore a hat!</p>
+
+<p>It was really quite an ordinary travelling-hat, but finding that the
+fact of a woman wearing a hat at all attracted undue attention from
+these unsophisticated folks, I hastened back to the <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span> and
+changed it for a chiffon scarf worn mantilla-fashion. That done, I
+found I could pass almost unnoticed.</p>
+
+<p>Majorca boasts many picturesque old towns, but probably Pollensa is
+the most picturesque of all. It is a beautiful antique: a town made
+for the painter. Its warm golden-brown houses have baked in the hot
+southern sunshine until they seem ready to crumble to pieces. It is
+by no means a rich town. Most of the dwellings appeared to belong to
+the poorer classes. As the Man said&mdash;"It is a city of slums&mdash;but
+what adorable slums!"</p>
+
+<p>The streets were all turnings, and every turn brought a subject
+ready for the brush. Here was a grand old cross, there a curious
+fountain, yonder an ancient stone washing-trough. And round every
+corner, that market-morning, came the quaint old men in their
+broad-brimmed felt hats and baggy breeches, unconsciously adding the
+note of human interest that completed the pictures.</p>
+
+<p>Pollensa is essentially a town of hills. Mountains closely girdle it
+round. To the Calvario, which is perched on a height in the midst of
+the town, one ascends by countless wide, low steps, the town
+ascending also. For on one side houses struggle half-way up the
+steep incline, while cactus plants, the edges of their thick, fleshy
+leaves heavily ruched by blood-red fruit, hedge the other. On the
+rocky slope beyond is a thick growth of <span lang="es"><i>palmettos</i></span>, the dwarf palms
+whose inner stems the natives eat and from whose dried fronds
+baskets are made.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161"> [Pg 161]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 277px;">
+<a href="images/gs28.jpg"><img src="images/gs28-tb.jpg" width="277" height="400" alt="Narrow street with mountain in background" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">THE MAIN STREET OF POLLENSA</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162"> [Pg 162]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>To the dwellers in these sky-parlours the broad steps play the part
+of an extra sitting-room. As we climbed slowly up that hot morning,
+we trod closely upon many domestic scenes, but none of the actors
+therein objected to the intrusion. Fathers were happily employing
+their Sunday leisure in nursing their babies; and mothers, with the
+requisites placed for all the world to see, were washing their
+children's faces, tying up their locks with ribbon, and performing
+other niceties of the toilet that usually take place in the sanctity
+of the home. One old woman, sitting full in the sun, was reciting
+her prayers in a loud voice. Her occupation, however, did not appear
+in the slightest to detract from her interest in the passing of us
+<span lang="es"><i>forasteros</i></span>.</p>
+
+<p>The open doors of the little chapel that perched amidst its guardian
+cypresses on the summit spoke a wordless welcome; and we entered, to
+find ourselves in a beautiful sanctuary.</p>
+
+<p>Above the altar was a very old carved tableau which represented
+Christ suspended on a heavy wooden cross, with Mary, kneeling,
+caressing His wounded feet. On the ceiling were various curious and
+evidently antique emblems of the Redemption.</p>
+
+<p>On either side of the altar was a recess devoted to the display of
+votive offerings. Many of them were akin to those exhibited in other
+churches, though one case was filled with tiny flat silver
+figures&mdash;miniature men in trousers and tiny women in petticoats. But
+on the wall of the chamber to the right was an offering that aroused
+both our interest and our curiosity.</p>
+
+<p>Suspended in a tall, narrow glass case, hung a pleat of dark brown
+hair, tied simply after the local fashion with a knot and ends of
+black ribbon. It was a pigtail such as was worn by most of the women
+in the town; but a pigtail of such unusual length and thickness that
+it might quite laudably have been the pride of its owner's heart.</p>
+
+<p>Beneath was a card bearing the following inscription, written large
+in a fair, round hand:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163"> [Pg 163]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2"><span lang="es"><i>Promesa</i></span><br /></span>
+<span class="i1"><span lang="es"><i>de Francisca</i></span><br /></span>
+<span class="i0"><span lang="es"><i>30 Noviembre 1902</i></span><br /></span>
+<span class="i2"><i>Pollensa.</i></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Now who was Francisca? And why did she promise to cut off her
+beautiful hair? Was it to avert the fatal issue of some illness of
+her own? Or was it because her lover was ill, or in danger by land
+or sea? Or was Francisca merely afraid that he might prove
+faithless?</p>
+
+<p>Whatever the nature of the terror Francisca dreaded, it was happily
+averted. The presence of the severed tresses assured us of that. But
+it was a particularly fine pigtail, and the sight of it tempted one
+to wonder what the feeling of Juan, or Pedro, or Miguel was when he
+first saw his sweetheart with closely cropped locks, and found that
+she had shorn off her glory for his sake. It is to be trusted that
+Francisca's hair was not her only beauty.</p>
+
+<p>From the terraced slope of the Calvario one gets a magnificent view
+of the town. Looking down on the tiled roofs, all tawny-brown with
+the passing of centuries, it is easy to realize the great age of
+Pollensa. The city itself occupies but a circumscribed area, so
+narrow are the streets, so huddled together the houses. There is
+scarcely room for a green leaf to sprout between them. But where the
+town ends abruptly the real country begins, and in the parts that
+are not closely flanked by hills the ancient town is girdled by a
+belt of almond-trees. And all about it the fertile ground is cut up
+into small holdings, each with its little yellow-brown
+dwelling-house.</p>
+
+<p>On every side, as far as the eye can reach, rise mountains, a
+glimpse of blue sea showing here and there between their rocky
+crags. Above one side of the town towers an isolated peak, from
+whose crest a magnificent panoramic view of half of the island of
+Majorca, and even a distant glimpse of Minorca, can be obtained.</p>
+
+<p>A superbly situated building that was once the Convent of <span lang="es">Nuestra
+Señora del Puig</span> (Our Lady of the Peak) crowns the top of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164"> [Pg 164]</a></span>
+height. It was so named because of a marvellous image of the Virgin
+discovered by the nuns who were in residence there. In olden days,
+when the building was in the possession of the Church, the Convent
+of Our Lady of the Peak supported an <span lang="es"><i>hospederia</i></span> for the shelter of
+pilgrims; and now that the holy sisterhood has removed to Palma, the
+authorities of Pollensa continue to uphold their hospitable custom,
+and every traveller who mounts the steep&mdash;rather a stiff climb, by
+the way&mdash;is welcome to free lodging with fire, oil, olives, and
+goat's cheese for three nights and days at the expense of the town.</p>
+
+<p>As we looked from the Calvario where we were standing across the
+valley to the noble pile of the old convent, and thought how sublime
+the sunrises and sunsets would be, viewed from Our Lady of the Peak,
+I registered a vow to make a pilgrimage thither some day. The Man
+chose to be pleasantly sarcastic regarding the fulfilment of the
+intention. He cherishes a perhaps not altogether unfounded belief
+that I wish to revisit every place I have seen in Majorca. But we
+shall see....</p>
+
+<p>As we passed back through the market-square, the business of buying
+and selling was still in progress. In every quarter of the town,
+down back alleys, mounting up the steps towards the Calvario, in the
+farthest-out streets, we had met women carrying home the
+Brobdingnagian cabbages. Dinners were already cooking over the
+little fires of almond shells, and the odour of boiling cabbage came
+from many earthenware cooking-pots, yet the piles seemed scarcely
+diminished.</p>
+
+<p>The cattle-market&mdash;a matter of a score or two of piglings, half a
+dozen sheep, a few horses&mdash;was held in the square before our
+<span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span>, and while it lasted the interest of the wearers of the
+<span lang="es"><i>colsons en bufer</i></span> centred there, though, as far as we could judge
+from our balcony, they took no active part in the trafficking. They
+had all brown, weather-beaten, shrewd old faces, and all gave the
+impression of leading lives of extreme respectability. It was
+impossible to imagine any one of them falling foul of the law.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165"> [Pg 165]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>As the Boy said, "It would be a comic sight to see the old beggars
+flying from Justice in bags like these!"</p>
+
+<p>Since our arrival on the previous noon, the personality of our
+landlord had greatly puzzled us. At first sight he had appeared
+youngish, stout, clean-shaven, and slightly surly in manner, and at
+intervals he still presented the same characteristics. But there
+were other times when he surprised us by seeming rather older,
+slightly greyer, and decidedly more gracious of bearing. The simple
+solution of the little mystery came when we chanced to see him in
+both aspects at once; and learned that we had two hosts&mdash;father and
+son&mdash;who, even when seen in company, so strongly resembled each
+other that we christened them the two Dromios.</p>
+
+<p>In the afternoon we set off on the prowl, with the Town Hall&mdash;in
+which a native guide-book declared there was a collection of antique
+armour&mdash;as our objective.</p>
+
+<p>The Town Hall, which in common with so many important Balearic
+buildings was originally a convent, occupies a commanding position
+at the head of a steep street. Reaching it, we found an open
+doorway, but no sign of any custodian.</p>
+
+<p>We entered and wandered along empty passages and up a great
+staircase so old that the stone steps were worn down, and the lower
+balustrades had fallen quite away.</p>
+
+<p>Still in quest of the collection of ancient armour, we had strayed
+as far as an upper and seemingly deserted corridor, our footsteps
+echoing loudly on the tiled floors. We were about to retrace our
+steps when a door at the end of the passage opened, and a gentleman
+appeared.</p>
+
+<p>To our gratification he accepted our explanation of the intrusion,
+and courteously invited us to enter his house to see the views from
+his windows; for as official telegraphist to the town, he occupied a
+handsome suite of rooms in the old building.</p>
+
+<p>His wife, too, showed no surprise at having three outlandish
+foreigners thus rudely disturb her Sabbath peace. She received us
+most graciously, and, having invited us to be seated, entered into
+conversation with the Man.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166"> [Pg 166]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>"We were from England, then?"</p>
+
+<p>"Yes, but for the winter we were resident at Palma."</p>
+
+<p>"Palma. So we lived in Palma?" Before her husband's translation to
+Pollensa a few months earlier, the <span lang="es">señora</span> explained, they also had
+lived in Palma. "In what part of Palma did we reside?"</p>
+
+<p>"Well, not exactly in the town&mdash;just beyond the walls, at Son
+Españolet."</p>
+
+<p>"At Son Españolet!" The <span lang="es">señora</span> confessed to having had a summer
+residence in Son Españolet.</p>
+
+<p>"Our house is in the Calle de Mas&mdash;Number 23."</p>
+
+<p>"In the Calle de Mas! <span lang="es">Caramba</span>! What a coincidence!" The señora's
+summer home had also been in the Calle de Mas&mdash;Number 26.</p>
+
+<p>With this unexpected interest between us, we were soon all chatting
+away volubly, though, I fear, not always intelligibly. And when we
+bade the <span lang="es">señora "Adios"</span> to resume our quest, the <span lang="es">señor</span> kindly
+accompanied us.</p>
+
+<p>With his aid we succeeded in unearthing an old woman who kept the
+keys that opened the treasures of the town.</p>
+
+<p>One most interesting chamber held the records of Pollensa for many
+hundreds of years&mdash;from the earliest archives that were inscribed on
+parchment now brown with age, to the smart morocco-bound chronicles
+of the day before yesterday. The arms of the city&mdash;the three
+cypresses, the silver star, and the cock with a claw in the air,
+that had already become familiar to us&mdash;were there also.</p>
+
+<p>Among the old cross-bows and halberds were the huge blunderbusses
+that, in accordance with an old custom, are still fired off yearly.
+And with them were specimens of a much older form of offensive
+weapon in the shape of huge rounded stones that in olden times had
+been hurled from the battlements of the Castillo del Rey, aimed at
+the skulls of attacking enemies.</p>
+
+<p>Articles that were specially interesting, because in use to the
+present day, were the big earthenware water-jugs from which are
+drawn by lot the young men whom Pollensa annually contributes to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167"> [Pg 167]</a></span>
+the Majorcan army. There must be anxious hearts, both inside and
+outside of the old building, on that morning in early February when
+the lads whose turn has come go up to draw from the narrow mouths of
+the Moorish jars the numbers that are to decide their manner of life
+for the next three years.</p>
+
+<p>In the Council Chamber was a large painting by a native artist of
+Juan Mas, the townsman to whom belongs the honour of having first
+delivered Pollensa from the Moors.</p>
+
+<p>Juan must either have been a <span lang="fr"><i>malade imaginaire</i></span>, or one whose
+spirit was stronger than his body; for, as the story goes, he was
+sick abed when the Moors reached the town, and leaping from his
+couch, without taking time to change his night-garb, he led the
+people on to victory. The artist shows the hero in what was
+presumably the sleeping-suit of the period&mdash;loose white breeches and
+a shirt.</p>
+
+<p>We were back at the <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span> taking tea when a sound of chanting
+voices in the street beneath drew us to the windows in time to see a
+religious procession passing slowly beneath. Priests in rich
+vestments, carrying banners, walked in front; behind in a double
+line came a long succession of females of all classes&mdash;women with
+<span lang="es"><i>rebozillos</i></span> and pigtails, ladies with mantillas. A band of little
+girls and nuns brought up the rear; and, still singing, the company
+passed on, and entered the adjacent church.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168"> [Pg 168]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="XV" id="XV"></a><abbr title="15">XV</abbr><br />
+THE PORT OF ALCUDIA</h2>
+
+<p>On being consulted respecting a conveyance that would take us to
+Alcudia, the younger Dromio had suggested the possibility of hiring
+one from a friend of his own. The distance was twelve <span lang="es">kilometros</span>,
+the cost would be about six or seven <span lang="es">pesetas</span>. So next morning, when
+we were ready to start, quite a smart trap awaited us.</p>
+
+<p>It was after the fashion of the penitential gig in which we had
+journeyed from the <span lang="es">Hospederia</span> at Miramar to Sóller, but it was twice
+as large. The owner, who drove, had dressed for the occasion. He
+wore a sportive cap of green and gold tartan plush, a well-starched
+white shirt that was lavishly sprinkled with black spots as big as
+sixpences (no collar, of course), and he was smoking a cigar.</p>
+
+<p>Bidding farewell to the two Dromios, who shook us by the hands with
+seeming regret and craved the favour of a recommendation to our
+friends, we drove away through the sweet morning air. The lovely
+road curved about the foot of the hill crowned by the old Convent of
+Our Lady of the Peak, and past many little
+holdings&mdash;one-acre-and-a-goat sort of places&mdash;towards the sea. The
+road was dry, but there was no dust, and the January sun shone
+warmly from a cloudless sky.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 287px;">
+<a href="images/col06.jpg"><img src="images/col06-tb.jpg" width="287" height="400" alt="Castle like wall with gateway" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">THE ROMAN GATEWAY, ALCUDIA</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>When we had reached the broad Roman road that led directly to the
+old walled city of Alcudia, our way led between countless ranks of
+great fig-trees&mdash;their spreading branches now bare and grey. So many
+were they, and so wide an area did they cover, that, if we had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169"> [Pg 169]</a></span>
+not seen figs growing in profusion at other parts of the island, we
+could almost have believed that all the figs in Palma came from
+Alcudia.</p>
+
+<p>Our driver was a genial man who had emigrated and made his money in
+<a name="Buenos_Ayres" id="Buenos_Ayres">Buenos Ayres</a>, and while still young had been able to follow the
+worthy native custom and return with his savings to his native
+district, where he was now comfortably settled, farming his own bit
+of land and driving his own pony-trap.</p>
+
+<p>When we asked his advice as to where we might stay at Alcudia, he
+said there were two hotels at the port, which is a mile beyond the
+old city. The Hotel Miramar was the larger. But the proprietors of
+the Fonda Marina were friends of his own. They were very nice
+people. He could heartily recommend them. And here I may say that
+one of the many nice features of the Majorcans is that they are
+almost invariably on friendly terms with each other. If a shopkeeper
+happens to be out of the commodity a buyer wants, he will put
+himself out of his way to direct the customer to a brother vendor.</p>
+
+<p>Alcudia is a curiously old city&mdash;far older even than Palma, they
+claim. It has a distinct inner wall&mdash;Moorish&mdash;and many substantial
+traces of an outer one&mdash;Roman. Entering by the gate of San
+Sebastian&mdash;near which a much-chipped wooden figure of the saint is
+sheltered in a netting-protected niche in the wall&mdash;we drove through
+the corkscrewy streets and out by a gate on the farther side.</p>
+
+<p>Before coming we had decided not to stay in the ancient city. Its
+sanitary condition was supposed to be doubtful, and we had failed to
+hear of an inn there. But when we had driven through the picturesque
+Roman gateway and past the antique cross beyond, we looked back, and
+the place seemed so enticingly old-world, so like a habitation out
+of another century than ours, that we felt sorry we had made no real
+endeavour to find a lodging within its walls. However, the
+recollection that we would have to start about 3 a.m. in a small<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170"> [Pg 170]</a></span>
+boat to get on board the Minorca steamer reconciled us to the
+prospect of living as close as possible to the harbour.</p>
+
+<p>The Fonda Marina was an attractive-looking new house built at the
+very edge of the bay. As we drove up, the host and hostess,
+recognizing our driver, hastened out to welcome him. Before marrying
+and settling down as hotel-keepers, the husband had been a steward
+on South American steamers, and the wife had been cook to the former
+proprietors of the <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span>. Both were pleasant, frank country folk,
+and terms were quickly arranged.</p>
+
+<p>"We would like to stay here till the boat for Minorca calls
+to-morrow night. Can you take us for three <span lang="es">pesetas</span> a day?" we asked.</p>
+
+<p>"For three <span lang="es">pesetas</span> <em>each</em>?" the host inquired dubiously, as though
+he thought we had suggested his accepting that sum for the trio. "If
+for three <span lang="es">pesetas</span> <em>each</em>&mdash;yes, surely."</p>
+
+<p>So, to the evident satisfaction of everybody concerned, the easy
+bargain was concluded.</p>
+
+<p>The Fonda Marina was particularly bright and airy. Its windows
+overlooked the great Bay of Alcudia, from which, in olden times,
+expeditions were wont to sail for Africa and the Levant. These were
+the days when the kings of Spain built whole fleets from wood grown
+in Majorcan forests.</p>
+
+<p>There was a drawing-room whose three windows each commanded a
+totally different point of view. It had a good balcony, and was lit
+by home-made acetylene gas. Our rooms, which were clean and
+comfortable, faced seawards. With a very long rod one might almost
+have fished from their windows. A more enticing summer residence
+could hardly be imagined.</p>
+
+<p>Our hostess had promised that in a few minutes luncheon would be
+ready. And it was with lively curiosity that we awaited its
+appearance. The two Dromios had entertained us for the same sum; and
+we were interested to see how the catering of the Fonda Marina would
+compare with that of their caravansary.</p>
+
+<p>Seating ourselves in one of the large halls downstairs, we waited<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171"> [Pg 171]</a></span>
+the turn of events. The mistress of the house had disappeared into
+the kitchen, whence frizzling sounds expressive of hurried cooking
+smote cheerily upon our expectant ears.</p>
+
+<p>Presently a slim, dark-eyed young maid, Consuelo by name, hastened
+out bearing an armful of plates which she proceeded to set at
+intervals round a large baize-covered table near us. Then she added
+thick glass tumblers, a tall jug of water, and a large rye loaf.</p>
+
+<p>"I say," said the Boy, "there are <em>six</em> plates. We're evidently
+expected to dine with the family. That'll be fun."</p>
+
+<p>But his hopes of a treat were disappointed by Consuelo reappearing
+to invite us into a neat little dining-room whose existence we had
+not suspected. There we found a table nicely spread for three, with
+the elaborately monogrammed linen one sees in every Majorcan home,
+good cutlery, a bottle of red wine, and a siphon of soda-water.</p>
+
+<p>When we had taken our places our host himself placed before us a
+large dish of <span lang="es"><i>arroz</i></span>&mdash;the excellent native stew of rice mixed with
+anything savoury in the form of fish, flesh, fowl, or vegetable that
+happens to be at hand.</p>
+
+<p>Fried fish followed&mdash;fresh out of the sea, and so delicious of
+flavour that we were inclined to question whether those caught in
+the bay of Pollensa could possibly be better.</p>
+
+<p>While we were eating it, the hostess came in to ask what we would
+have next&mdash;whether we would prefer an omelet or cutlets. We
+unanimously chose omelet, and in a hand-clap one, hot and buoyant,
+was on the table. Oranges and apples and black coffee completed the
+menu.</p>
+
+<p>During the meal, the solicitude of the family to see that we lacked
+nothing that would conduce to our comfort was almost embarrassing.
+The door of our dining-room stood open, and although the host and
+Consuelo, who served us, did not actually remain in the room they
+were continually passing the door with anxious eyes turned on our
+proceedings. And when a dish was removed the <span lang="es">señora</span> would come in
+person to inquire if it had been to our liking.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172"> [Pg 172]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The climax came when the only child of the house&mdash;Cristobal, a dear
+brat of five&mdash;in his desire to see the eccentric strangers eat,
+crept stealthily up the staircase and stationed himself on his knees
+just opposite the open door of the dining-room, gazing down through
+the banisters at us.</p>
+
+<p>This ingenious little man&#339;uvre was discovered by his father.
+There ensued a sound resembling applause, and young hopeful was
+borne off, howling, to be comforted in the kitchen.</p>
+
+<p>Immediately after luncheon the Man walked back towards Alcudia to
+sketch the view of the sea-gate of the old city, that had struck him
+when we drove through. And, left to our devices, the Boy and I went
+boating.</p>
+
+<p>A jolly, flat-bottomed punt belonging to the <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span> was moored
+close at hand, and just across the blue and silver water lay an
+enticing stretch of lovely white sand. Behind it rose a bank of low
+shrubs overtopped by tall pines whose foliage had been so cropped
+that at a little distance they bore a striking resemblance to
+cocoanut palms. Beyond the flat expanse of land rose a line of
+mountains that glowed warm heliotrope and pink in the strong
+sunshine.</p>
+
+<p>The still water was so clear that we could see every grain of the
+sand, every spray of seaweed, beneath. And as we drifted over the
+lagoon we felt as though the intervening decade had slipped back and
+that we were once again on the coral strand of the Pacific Islands.</p>
+
+<p>I had heard that beautiful and, sometimes, very rare shells were to
+be found in the Bay of Alcudia. So, getting the Boy to put me on
+shore, I wandered along by the edge of the water looking for them.
+But my quest proved of little avail. Shells there were, it is true,
+but they were very small, very fragile, and almost colourless; most,
+indeed, were pure white and nearly transparent. I have gathered
+shells in many parts of the world, and I confess I was disappointed.
+Still, it was the only point on which Alcudia did not far exceed any
+expectations I had formed of it. The comparative failure of my
+search must have been owing to the long continuance of calm<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173"> [Pg 173]</a></span>
+weather. As the Mediterranean is almost tideless, it is only after a
+storm that wave-borne treasures are usually to be found washed up on
+her beaches.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps I may not have looked in the right spot, though I did wander
+a long way round the shore in the direction of the Albufera&mdash;the
+tract of marshy land where rice is cultivated. So far, that I was
+glad when the Boy, by skilful navigation, succeeded in avoiding the
+many sandbanks and could run the punt in and, picking me up, row me
+over to the <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span>.</p>
+
+<p>The Man was awaiting our return, and after taking a cup of tea we
+walked eastwards along the coast towards an old Moorish tower that
+we had seen from the distance.</p>
+
+<p>The sun had set. It was in the mysterious half-light of the gloaming
+that we mounted the steps leading to the door and found it open at a
+touch. Within all was darkness. The flame of a match revealed
+chambers showing that the tower had evidently been a home as well as
+a place of defence. One had evidently been the living-room of the
+Moorish tenants, for almost half the floor-space was occupied by the
+wide chimney-corner, where a host might have gathered round the
+blazing logs. I never see an ancient dwelling without experiencing a
+keen desire to know what manner of folks were the first to kindle a
+fire on the deserted hearth.</p>
+
+<p>Feeling our way up the worn stairway, we reached a floor with more
+empty and silent apartments. Two or three broken steps led to a
+cunning opening placed exactly over the front entrance. Besiegers
+essaying to storm the door must have fallen easy victims to the
+alert watchers above; and that wide hearth had room to heat an
+amazing lot of water. At either side of the opening were embrasures
+into which the defender of the fortress might dart after he had
+aimed his missile&mdash;scalding water, arrows, heavy stones, or whatever
+the fashion of his time in projectiles chanced to be.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174"> [Pg 174]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Mounting yet higher, we found ourselves standing in the open air, on
+a flat circular roof overlooking the wide bay. On one side of the
+roof were two chambers and a draw-well.</p>
+
+<p>The view from the top of this ancient Moorish tower was grand. The
+sun had long set, but the sky still held a thousand glorious hues
+that were reflected in the sea. No craft moved on the surface of the
+water, and not a living being was in sight on land. The whole lovely
+world seemed to belong to us. Allured by the romantic beauty of the
+spot, we lingered until the colour had faded and the sky had become
+so dark that we had to stumble our way <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span>-wards over the rough
+field-track, vowing to return on the morrow to see the place by
+daylight.</p>
+
+<p>Supper was waiting when we got indoors&mdash;half-a-dozen fried eggs
+served with fried potatoes, cutlets, cauliflower and cheese. A
+home-made sausage, a mould of <span lang="es"><i>membrillo</i></span> jelly, fruit and
+coffee&mdash;an <span lang="fr"><i>outré</i></span> combination perhaps, but it was all very tempting
+and nicely cooked, and we enjoyed it.</p>
+
+<p>Another of our charming Balearic days had ended. And so, as Pepys
+would say, to bed.</p>
+
+<p>Our wonderful luck in weather continued. We awoke to yet another
+perfect morning. Immediately after breakfast the Man set off to
+sketch one of the countless curious antique Moorish wells&mdash;known as
+<span lang="es"><i>norias</i></span>&mdash;used for the irrigation of the crops: wells whose chains
+of earthenware jars are worked by the motive power supplied by mules
+that, yoked to a long shaft, keep walking in a circle. The mule
+needs no guide, as the rein, which is tied to the beam overhead, at
+intervals gives a gentle tug in the required direction.</p>
+
+<p>It was oddly pathetic to see the patient brutes, their eyes
+blindfolded by having straw saucers fastened over them plodding
+steadfastly round and round, while from the ceaseless filling and
+emptying of the chain of jars the water gushed in a miniature
+waterfall into the trenches dug between the long lines of growing
+vegetables. In this fertile plain near the sea, the crop at this
+mid-winter season appeared to consist mainly of cabbages and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175"> [Pg 175]</a></span>
+cauliflowers. And when we saw those grown at Alcudia we knew where
+the mammoth cabbages that had dominated Pollensa market had been
+reared.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/gs29.jpg"><img src="images/gs29-tb.jpg" width="400" height="236" alt="Mule walking a circular track lifting water" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">A <span lang="es"><i>NORIA</i></span> NEAR ALCUDIA</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The Boy had gone alone to do a sketch on the roof of the Moorish
+tower that had interested us on the previous night. As he sat
+working, there came a sound of steps ascending the crumbling stairs;
+and to his pleasure three pretty Majorcan girls appeared, come to
+fill their earthen water-jars at the old draw-well on the roof, a
+well that even after the lapse of hundreds of years still continued
+to yield an abundant supply of pure water. The girls were exactly
+the figures required to complete the sketch. So to their
+gratification and his own benefit the Boy put them in.</p>
+
+<p>In the afternoon, the Man and I walked the easy mile to Alcudia, and
+wandered about the quaint old town, climbing both the inner and the
+outer walls, wishing we knew more of its history, and lamenting that
+our limitations of language kept us ignorant of the meaning of these
+extensive and variant lines of fortifications. So we made no
+exhaustive inquiries, but prowled about and drew our own rough
+conclusions as to the relative values of the Roman and Moorish<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176"> [Pg 176]</a></span>
+manner of building and defence.</p>
+
+<p>Coming upon a handsome and imposing church, we went in. It was dark
+and silent. Straying through the outer building, which had a vast
+Moorish dome, we entered a curious and beautiful inner church, whose
+sides were lined with the nearest approach to private boxes that we
+had ever seen in a sacred edifice.</p>
+
+<p>Returning to the outer church, we were looking at the decorations in
+the dimness of the side chapels. The Man had struck a match to
+enable us to see a grotto that was rendered still more obscure by
+half-drawn curtains. The sound echoing through the silence brought a
+lad, who was evidently intensely interested in the church and its
+possessions. Lighting a tall candle, he drew aside the curtains, and
+with something of the pride of ownership in his manner revealed to
+us the Christmas tableau of the scene in the stable at Bethlehem.</p>
+
+<p>His glory in the display was so evident that we did not remark on
+the contempt for perspective that had represented the Virgin and
+Child as giants, and the worshipping kings and shepherds as merely
+pigmies; nor did we venture to hint that anything in the nature of
+an anachronism marked the presence of a gay satin cushion at Mary's
+feet.</p>
+
+<p>The lad's soul was evidently in the work of the church. When we
+thanked him, and the Man offered him a coin in recognition of the
+willing services he had rendered us, he at first refused to take it;
+then, when we insisted, accepted and immediately put it into the
+collection-box marked "For the High Altar."</p>
+
+<p>Our landlord had spoken of the remains of a Roman amphitheatre that
+was in the district; and finding that we were interested, he
+volunteered to pilot us thither. And, indeed, without his escort we
+would never have found the place, for it lies in the heart of a
+farm, the way to which leaves the main road half-way between the old
+city and her port.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177"> [Pg 177]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A commonplace path between stone walls led to the farm-house, whose
+quite ordinary exterior gave no suggestion of the strange tracks of
+bygone races that lay hid in the ground all about. Having asked and
+obtained the permission that enabled us to trespass, we passed on
+and reached a rocky slope which bore signs of having at some time
+been used as a quarry.</p>
+
+<p>To our unskilled eyes nothing seemed to promise that our
+surroundings would prove other than the usual Majorcan farm placed
+on a particularly rocky bit of country.</p>
+
+<p>Our guide, who had been walking in advance, stopping suddenly,
+pointed to the ground at his feet.</p>
+
+<p>"There!" he said.</p>
+
+<p>And looking, we saw that we were standing on the top step of a
+barely distinguishable semicircle that had been roughly hewn in the
+rock. With a beautiful disrespect for age, a stone dike had been
+built right across the seats. I think we counted six rows above and
+five below the wall. And in the arena flourishing almond-trees had
+rooted deep in the once blood-stained soil. A hole in the ground
+allowed a peep into a cavern where the wild beasts used in the
+combats had been housed.</p>
+
+<p>But the ground held other secrets. In the solid rock that rose above
+the sides of the amphitheatre there were many graves&mdash;once sealed;
+now, having been desecrated by bygone generations of Moors, merely
+slits gaping to the skies.</p>
+
+<p>About four years earlier a strange finding had taken place within a
+few paces of the farm-house. An untouched Roman grave had been
+discovered; and our guide, who had been present at the opening,
+described the scene in language so graphic, and accompanied by such
+dramatic gesture, that we had not the smallest difficulty in
+following the most minute detail.</p>
+
+<p>He told us how, when the hermetically sealed top stone had been
+lifted away, the complete body of a woman, apparently young, lay
+before them, as she had been placed two thousand years before, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178"> [Pg 178]</a></span>
+a necklace of gold round her throat, earrings in her ears, rings on
+her fingers. And how, as they looked in awed silence, the body that
+throughout these ages had maintained a semblance of humanity, had
+before their eyes slowly crumbled into undistinguishable dust.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179"> [Pg 179]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/gs30.jpg"><img src="images/gs30-tb.jpg" width="400" height="199" alt="A rocky shore with watch-tower" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">CIUDADELA SEEN FROM THE SEA</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="XVI" id="XVI"></a><abbr title="16">XVI</abbr><br />
+MINORCA</h2>
+
+<p>The weekly steamer from Barcelona to Minorca was due to call at the
+port of Alcudia at 3.30 a.m. We went to bed, but not to sleep, for
+half a dozen intending passengers, five of them commercial
+travellers, had arrived by diligence from La Puebla, and the <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span>
+echoed with unwonted noise.</p>
+
+<p>When, about three o'clock, we went downstairs, the large hall was
+brilliantly lit, and men muffled in big cloaks and scarves were
+gulping glasses of hot coffee before leaving the shelter of a roof.
+In the public room beyond, some harbourmen and one of the
+never-absent carbineers sat smoking.</p>
+
+<p>A nondescript being&mdash;faded red cap on head, bare feet thrust into
+hempen sandals&mdash;summoned by the landlord, appeared from the outer
+darkness and, shouldering our baggage, passed out into the night. We
+followed, and walking by faith, at length found ourselves standing
+on the pier, the unseen water lap-lapping at our feet, an increasing
+group of fellow-voyagers gathering about us.</p>
+
+<p>Out of the dense blackness a boat with a lantern burning dimly at
+her prow crept beneath us and paused. Some one lit a match,
+revealing a short flight of steps leading to the water. Descending<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180"> [Pg 180]</a></span>
+with fumbling feet, we reached the elusive craft below.</p>
+
+<p>A curious company we were, vague, indefinable, all closely packed
+together, and all silent. A priest, a party of commercial
+travellers, and a gaunt Moorish-looking being, who was wrapped from
+his head&mdash;on which, as we afterwards saw, he wore, probably to save
+bother in packing, a wide felt <span lang="es">sombrero</span> with a jaunty yachting cap
+set a-top&mdash;to his naked ankles, in a great white blanket.</p>
+
+<p>There was no moon, and the paling stars gave but little light as the
+two boatmen, standing up facing the bow, moved the heavily laden
+boat across the smooth swart water. Urged on with strong, unswerving
+strokes, the boat moved away from the invisible land, the while we
+sat dumb, motionless.</p>
+
+<p>I was just thinking that in something of these attitudes of utter
+and hopeless despair might the unwilling passengers of Charon endure
+the last dread journey across the Styx, when the Boy, who was
+sitting next to me, whispered, "Don't we look exactly as though we
+were shipwrecked people adrift on the ocean?"</p>
+
+<p>Then the bulk of the <i>Monte Toro</i> loomed vaguely ahead, and as our
+bow neared the accommodation ladder the elder boatman, abandoning
+his oar, began collecting his fees of fivepence each (<span lang="es"><i>dos reales</i></span>)
+for piloting us over the bay.</p>
+
+<p>The illusion had vanished. We were everyday human beings once more.</p>
+
+<p>Before we left London a Spanish friend had strongly advised us to
+travel second-class in Balearic Island steamers. He said the second
+saloon accommodation was justly popular with those who knew,
+because, first-class passengers being few, it was better placed and
+more commodious.</p>
+
+<p>The Man has cherished a lifelong theory that when journeying by sea
+the best accommodation is not too good. But on this occasion of our
+crossing from Majorca to Minorca, as the weather was still tranquil,
+he allowed himself to be persuaded to put our friend's advice to the
+test. And the experience of that night was so eminently<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181"> [Pg 181]</a></span>
+satisfactory that it not only added to our immediate comfort but
+saved us much money in the future.</p>
+
+<p>When crossing from Barcelona our first-class cabins, which were
+small and had thwart-ship berths, had been situated in the stern.
+The second-class cabin on the <i>Monte Toro</i>, which I shared with the
+only other lady passenger, was large, airy, and as gay as ivory
+paint, brass rods, and scarlet draperies could make it. It was right
+amidships too, had two port-holes, and berths that for comfort could
+scarcely have been improved upon.</p>
+
+<p>The lighter with a load of pigs being still on the way, the decks of
+the smart little steamer were quiet. A pet donkey, covered with a
+scarlet blanket, was tethered under the sheltering boat deck; a
+glint of gold lace in the galley revealed the captain warming
+himself by the cook's fire.</p>
+
+<p>When I entered the cabin labelled "<span lang="es">Señoras</span>," a pretty girl in a pink
+petticoat was standing before the mirror engaged in exaggerating the
+bulk of her abundant dark hair by padding it out with quite
+unnecessary "rats" and cushions into twice its natural proportions.</p>
+
+<p>Lying down, I fell asleep to the lullaby grunting of the pigs that
+were being hauled on board. When I awoke it was daylight, and a
+glance through a port-hole showed that we were nearing a flat coast.</p>
+
+<p>The pretty pink petticoat had already gone on deck, and putting on a
+cloak and hood, I followed to join my people in a sheltered corner
+of the promenade deck, from where we surveyed the coast that we were
+approaching with the deliberate rate of speed that characterizes
+Balearic Island steamers.</p>
+
+<p>The general aspect of Minorca, the flat country, the white houses,
+the windmills, vividly recalled our first glimpse of Guernsey as we
+had approached it early one winter morning many years ago.</p>
+
+<p>Ciudadela, which is the oldest city in the island, was the capital
+in the time of the Moors. It was to the rulers of Ciudadela that
+King Jaime sent his demand for the submission of Minorca. From our<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182"> [Pg 182]</a></span>
+place on deck we could see Cape Pera, the eastern point of Majorca,
+twenty miles distant, where the young King and his knights kindled
+the huge bonfires that, by alarming the Moors into the belief that a
+hostile army lay encamped there ready to invade them, gained him a
+bloodless subjection. Ciudadela, which was the seat of a bishop in
+423, is still the ecclesiastical capital of Minorca, though Mahón
+has long superseded her in all else.</p>
+
+<p>The sea is rarely smooth on the Minorcan coast. It was within a
+short distance of Ciudadela that, not many days later, the <i>General
+Chanzy</i>, bound from Marseilles to Algiers, was wrecked with the loss
+of every soul on board with the solitary exception of one young man,
+whose escape was surely the most marvellous on record.</p>
+
+<p>As we lay to outside the very narrow entrance to the harbour, the
+five <span lang="es"><i>comerciantes</i></span>, who were preparing to go on shore, eyed askance
+the tossing cockleshells of boats that were advancing ready to
+convey them to land. By taking the motor-car that ran the
+twenty-eight miles connecting Ciudadela with Mahón, which is on the
+opposite extreme of the island, they would save three precious
+hours. With the prospect of a charming sail along the coast before
+us we did not envy them.</p>
+
+<p>After a protracted delay the boats succeeded in approaching near
+enough to the accommodation ladder to enable the commercial men to
+embark. And they were off, clutching at the sides of the little
+boats, as with rueful faces they joggled shorewards over the choppy
+waves.</p>
+
+<p>Our chilly friend of the enveloping blanket and the naked ankles,
+who was a deck passenger, had, as the Man reported, spent the night
+perched on a grating over the engine-room&mdash;a situation where he
+would surely be warm enough. Where he performed his toilet no one
+knows, but as we neared Port Mahón he appeared transformed from a
+shivering bundle into a dandy. Neat black socks covered his ankles,
+and his brown coat, orange shirt, and green velveteen trousers<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183"> [Pg 183]</a></span>
+revealed a nice taste for colour. His yellow-white blanket had
+disappeared, but he still wore his two hats.</p>
+
+<p>Meanwhile the pigs, whose lamentations had rent the silence of the
+night, were being hauled, pulled, jerked, pushed, and dumped along
+the deck, over the side, and into the lighter that was to take them
+ashore, as they went raising their voices in shrill protest. As the
+Boy remarked, quoting Uncle Remus, "These pigs know whar dey come
+from, but dey don' know whar they gwine!"</p>
+
+<p>As the <i>Monte Toro</i> steamed slowly round the low cliffs that seemed
+to descend sheer into deep water, so little sign of broken beach or
+of outlying reef was there, we could see how through the ages the
+restless sea had nibbled and gnawed at the edges of the cliffs,
+which in many places were deeply honeycombed, and even hollowed into
+caves.</p>
+
+<p>There were no first-class passengers. The accommodation reserved for
+them just over the screw was vacant. Third-class included an
+interesting quartette of stubby Spanish soldiers, and one slim naval
+stoker, whose flexible movements and sportive bonhomie were in
+striking contrast to the stolid immobility of his companions.
+Possibly the stoker felt more at home on shipboard. Certainly he had
+all the life of the party; for while the others muffled their heads
+in shawls, and squatted on their carefully spread cotton
+pocket-handkerchiefs, he was never still, helping an overburdened
+young mother by shouldering her small boy and taking him round to
+visit the pet donkey, making friends with the ship's dog, or playing
+good-humoured tricks upon the others.</p>
+
+<p>The sky was flecked with white clouds&mdash;the first we had seen for
+many days&mdash;and the houses scattered over the flat and almost
+treeless table-land were all white&mdash;gleamingly white, after the old
+russet towns of Pollensa and Alcudia. Here and there we could see
+one of the great beehive-like heaps of stones that the sailors have
+christened "watch-towers." Though Majorca was only twenty miles
+distant, we already felt in a new world.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184"> [Pg 184]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>There was something oddly familiar in the nip of the air. And while
+we breakfasted on a satisfying "home" meal of omelet, ham, hot
+buttered toast, and coffee, we recalled what we had heard of the
+lingering effects of British rule in Minorca, and felt inclined to
+give it the credit of the breakfast, even though the ham was served
+raw, and decanters of wine and jars of wooden toothpicks jostled our
+coffee-cups.</p>
+
+<p>When we again went on deck there were signs that the short voyage
+was approaching its end. The bearded mate of the <i>Monte Toro</i>, who
+had made the trip in a red nightcap, had, with a toothpick behind
+his ear, appeared in a uniform cap, though he retained his velveteen
+coat. And the most stolid-looking of the soldiers, producing a comb
+and a tube of pomade, proceeded to make quite an elaborate toilet on
+deck. Still seated on his outspread handkerchief, he combed and
+recombed his hair, and greased it with extreme thoroughness; though
+it must be admitted that when it came to washing he contented
+himself with a cursory dipping of his hands in the water-bucket. His
+face he left to Nature.</p>
+
+<p>The pride of Port Mahón is its three-mile-long harbour. As we
+steamed up its length the trim fortifications recalled certain of
+our own naval and military stations, notably Portsmouth. But never
+did Portsmouth show such a glory of scarlet-blossomed aloes as
+burned on the face of these fortified rocks.</p>
+
+<p>Our first impression of Mahón was one of unexpected brilliance.
+Until we were well up the harbour the town was invisible. Then, as
+it came in sight with its dazzlingly white red-roofed buildings
+perched high on the crest of the brown serrated rock, the unexpected
+picturesque beauty of the scene filled us with surprise and delight.</p>
+
+<p>Already the military influence that is so noticeable a feature of
+Mahón coloured the scene. Boats manned by soldiers were rowing to
+and from the forts on the opposite shore. Soldiers were standing on
+the quay as we stepped down the gangway&mdash;for, happily, there is no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185"> [Pg 185]</a></span>
+need to land by small boats in a harbour of such accommodating
+depth. And as we followed the porter bearing our luggage up the
+rough twisted slope of the Calle Vieja&mdash;that old street whose
+haphazard construction is so different from the carefully planned
+new ones&mdash;we passed a group of officers going down. Throughout our
+stay in Mahón I do not believe we ever glanced up or down a street
+that was not enlivened by the glamour of a uniform.</p>
+
+<p>There isn't a river or even a stream on the entire island, yet, in
+spite of the apparently limited supply of fresh water, the whole
+effect of the town, with its green shutters, red-tiled roofs, its
+pavements and carefully whitened houses, is that of extreme
+cleanliness. To judge by results, the pail of whitewash must be
+almost an equal factor in a Minorcan housewife's daily task with a
+broom or a duster. During our few days in Mahón we became quite
+accustomed to seeing women touching up the street fronts of their
+dwellings with a whitewash brush.</p>
+
+<p>Minorca is said to be rarely visited by tourists, consequently it
+offers but small choice of hotels. The one we had been recommended
+to try&mdash;the Fonda Central&mdash;was a favourite stopping-place with
+commercial travellers. There could be no doubt of that. Their
+iron-clamped chests of samples lumbered the passages and stairway.
+Their sprightly presence filled the large principal table in the
+dining-room.</p>
+
+<p>At a hotel that is popular with these gentlemen of the road the
+cooking is said to be certain to be good. At the Fonda Central it
+could scarcely have been excelled. The proprietor, a
+reverend-looking <span lang="es">señor</span>, superintended it in person. And his efforts
+on their behalf were heartily appreciated by his guests, the summons
+to a meal at the Fonda Central invariably falling on eagerly
+expectant ears.</p>
+
+<p>"<span lang="es"><i>Arroz</i></span> to-day?" I overheard one guest inquire as he entered the
+dining-room for luncheon. And having received an affirmative reply,
+he sat down, adjusted his napkin, grasped his spoon, and awaited<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186"> [Pg 186]</a></span>
+its appearance with an expression of anticipatory satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>The rooms were scrupulously clean, the table service brisk and
+punctual. Yet the house was hardly one that could be recommended to
+ladies. Owing to the popularity of the hotel, all the available
+space had been turned into sleeping accommodation; there was no
+sitting-room proper. One of our bedrooms that faced the street and
+had two good writing-tables made us partly independent, and we had a
+side table to ourselves at meals, but I was the only woman in a
+company that numbered over two dozen.</p>
+
+<p>The beds were comfortable, but there were no bells in the rooms.
+When our chamber-man wanted to attract our attention, he did it by
+clapping his hands loudly in the corridor outside our doors. And
+when we wanted anything the Boy went downstairs and demanded it.</p>
+
+<p>Going out to explore the town, we could not help noticing certain of
+the lingering effects of the British occupations which came to an
+end early in the last century. The windows almost invariably had the
+regulation English window sashes, and many of them showed white lace
+curtains or little muslin window blinds; and the front doors opened
+into passages, not into either <span lang="es"><i>patios</i></span> or sitting-rooms, as in
+Majorca.</p>
+
+<p>The British craving for sweets seemed to have proved infectious. At
+the hotel luncheon we had been agreeably surprised by the appearance
+of a sweet course, and the shop windows revealed a tempting array of
+bon-bons and of jams and pickles, commodities in which Majorca is
+sadly deficient. And one grocer had quite a number of tins of Crosse
+&amp; Blackwell's Scotch oatmeal. Tobacco pipes, which are seldom seen
+in Majorca, were both in use and displayed for sale.</p>
+
+<p>Wandering up and down in the short January afternoon we came upon
+many odd nooks and steep streets that had a picturesque character
+all their own. From the top of the quaint Calle de San Roque we got
+an extensive view inland, with Monte Toro, some eleven hundred
+feet, the higher of the two Minorcan hills, in the distance.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187"> [Pg 187]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 245px;">
+<a href="images/gs31.jpg"><img src="images/gs31-tb.jpg" width="245" height="400" alt="Busy narrow street" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">CALLE SAN ROQUE, MAHÓN</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188"> [Pg 188]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Down by the curve of the bay we found the Alameda, a charming little
+Italian-garden-like promenade, where on summer evenings Mahón
+society assembles. It must be pleasant and shady there under the
+trees by the cool water. Even in winter it was attractive, with its
+close-cropped low hedges and great clumps of the vivid
+scarlet-blossomed aloes.</p>
+
+<p>Just beyond the Alameda is a great cistern, from which is drawn much
+of the water for supplying the town. And from that point mules toil
+patiently up the rock-sided slopes, laden with barrels of water for
+the solace of thirsty folks.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning, while breakfasting, we arranged our plans for the day.
+The Man was bent upon going at once to sketch the town as we had
+first seen it from the harbour. The Boy and I agreed to ramble about
+during the morning; and after luncheon we all arranged to go in
+search of some of the famous stone monuments, respecting whose
+origin nobody appears to have been able to arrive at any
+satisfactory conclusion.</p>
+
+<p>But before breakfast was ended the sky had become darkly overcast.
+We reached our rooms to find hail tapping with ice-tipped fingers at
+the window panes, to see lightning flashing, and to hear the rattle
+of thunder.</p>
+
+<p>Our plans perforce being modified, we waited indoors until the storm
+had abated a little, then sought the <span lang="es"><i>Ateneo Cientifico Literario y
+Artistico</i></span>, of whose existence the landlord had told us. The town,
+which has many cultured inhabitants, boasts three Athenæums. Two are
+for the use of the general public. The third, which we visited, is
+said to be the centre of literary and artistic Mahón, and is
+something of the nature of a club.</p>
+
+<p>The Museum is open to the townsfolk only on stated days. This did
+not happen to be one of those days. It was to the fact that we were
+foreigners that we owed our instant admission. And while the storm
+raged without, we enjoyed a private view of the many interesting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189"> [Pg 189]</a></span>
+things in the <span lang="es"><i>Ateneo</i></span>, notably the old ware and natural history
+specimens.</p>
+
+<p>A very fine private collection of marine flora is housed in the
+Museum, but it is shown only when specially inquired for, and we
+were unfortunate in calling at a time when the custodian of the keys
+chanced to be absent.</p>
+
+<p>Among the pictures and drawings was a merciless but irresistibly
+amusing caricature of what had presumably been the English Governor
+of the date, riding upon a donkey. The nice young lad who was
+showing us round blushed a little when he saw us examine it. Though
+he did not say so, we felt that he would have liked to apologize to
+us for its intrusion in the show; but our withers were unwrung.</p>
+
+<p>The members of the <span lang="es"><i>Ateneo</i></span> were delightfully cosmopolitan in their
+interests. Besides the current Spanish papers the snug reading-room
+showed a comprehensive array of contemporary literature, from the
+<i>Graphic</i>, the <i>Studio</i>, <i>Review of Reviews</i>, and <i>Harper's Weekly</i>,
+to French, German, Belgian, Italian, and South American journals.</p>
+
+<p>When we left the <span lang="es"><i>Ateneo</i></span> the hail had ceased; and though the wind
+was still high, the Man hurried off to see what he could make of his
+subject, while the Boy and I strolled into the vegetable market.</p>
+
+<p>The big open enclosure in the middle was empty. Round the covered
+sides women were sitting beside their little heaps of fruit and
+vegetables. After the prolonged drought from which the island was
+suffering, it was perhaps only natural that the supply of fresh
+vegetables should be limited. But with the recollection still vivid
+in our memory of the mountains of green cabbages that we had seen at
+Pollensa market, the stock appeared especially meagre.</p>
+
+<p>The cactus, a shrub whose existence is almost independent of
+moisture, flourishes on the dry rocky soil, and the specimens of its
+fruit that, prepared in some way, were served at dinner on the
+previous night, seemed larger and much finer than any we had seen in
+Majorca. But even at its finest the prickly pear is hardly a thing
+to pine for.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190"> [Pg 190]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>One thing that struck us as a particularly charming survival of
+English tastes was the discovery of cut flowers&mdash;chiefly little
+clusters of roses&mdash;for sale on several of the stalls. And one woman
+offered us sturdy pansy roots for planting. Up to this period of our
+stay in Palma I had never seen either cut flowers or flower-plants
+offered for sale in the market, though, indeed, we saw them later.</p>
+
+<p>The wind had been steadily increasing. It would have been decidedly
+more comfortable to pass the afternoon indoors, but we were
+determined to seek some of the countless prehistoric remains with
+which Minorca is lavishly sprinkled. And after an unavoidable delay
+we started. The delay, be it explained, was caused by waiting for
+the cleaning of the Boy's boots. The service in the Fonda Central
+had certain limitations. It did not brush boots. The night before,
+the Boy had put his outside his bedroom door, and had taken them in
+in the morning untouched. Before lunch he sent them downstairs with
+special instructions that he wanted them cleaned at once. But when
+luncheon was over and we were ready to go out there was no sign of
+the boots.</p>
+
+<p>Inquiries brought plausible promises of their return in ten
+minutes&mdash;in five minutes&mdash;at once. But still they failed to put in
+an appearance. At length a peremptory demand for their return clean
+or dirty sent Pedro flying down the street, to hasten back
+triumphantly bearing the cleaned boots. They had been sent to a
+shoemaker's to be brushed!</p>
+
+<p>From the deck of the steamer as we rounded the coast we had caught
+many passing glimpses of the great stone heaps called <span lang="es"><i>talayots</i></span>,
+and imagining that they would be easily found, we rashly set off,
+without either guide or direction, in search of them.</p>
+
+<p>After walking a little way along the San Luis road, which we had
+taken partly by chance, and partly, I think, because there the wind
+would be at our backs, we saw in the distance a large <span lang="es"><i>talayot</i></span>, and
+rejoiced at having so quickly come within easy reach of what we were
+looking for. Our rejoicing was premature, for when we sought a path
+that would lead us there we failed utterly to find it. On either<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191"> [Pg 191]</a></span>
+side of the long straight road were high walls a yard thick,
+enclosing small stony fields. Beyond these were walls, and yet again
+walls. It was our first near view of Minorcan country, and the
+impression was one of stones, stones, and yet more stones&mdash;stones
+absolutely without limit.</p>
+
+<p>The attitude of the few olive-trees within sight showed the
+prevalence of the north wind. They bent away from that direction,
+their foliage twisted awry, looking exactly like people cowering
+before a blast that has blown their cloaks over their heads.</p>
+
+<p>The gale was waxing stronger. <em>Our</em> cloaks were blown over our
+heads, but still we struggled on. A peasant boy, on being
+interrogated, directed us to proceed farther, then take a road to
+the left. Hopefully following his instructions, we "gaed and we
+gaed," like the classic Henny-penny, until we ultimately found
+ourselves entangled in a maze of these same thick walls of stone.</p>
+
+<p>And a maddeningly ingenious maze it proved. For as we wound about,
+the <span lang="es"><i>talayot</i></span> appeared to dodge us, sometimes popping up before us,
+sometimes lurking behind; often seeming comparatively near, more
+often looming at a wholly unexpected distance away, and always
+encircled by these impenetrable gateless walls of stone.</p>
+
+<p>Finally, leaving me on the lee-side of a wall&mdash;it wasn't really the
+lee-side: in such a wind there is no lee side; but they thought it
+was the lee-side&mdash;the men departed, determined to scale the
+offending obstacles and to get there somehow. After a time the Boy
+returned to free me from the brambles round which the tempest had
+twisted my veil and chiffon scarf, holding me prisoner; and to
+report that, after some climbing, the Man and he had succeeded in
+reaching the <span lang="es"><i>talayot</i></span>, and that they thought if I didn't mind some
+rough scrambling I <em>might</em> manage to get there.</p>
+
+<p>So ten minutes later, breathless, wind-tossed and earth-stained,
+with torn gloves and scratched boots, I too reached the goal of our
+desires, to find it nothing but an immense heap of stones, with no<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192"> [Pg 192]</a></span>
+trace of opening or any apparent reason for existence.</p>
+
+<p>The Man, who, in spite of the decided opposition offered by the
+elements, had succeeded in scaling the top of the <span lang="es"><i>talayot</i></span>,
+declared it to be merely a greatly magnified cairn, and there and
+then announced his adoption of Dr. Guillemand's theory that the
+primary reason for the origin of these much-disputed heaps was
+simply the need for clearing the fields of stones. I must confess
+that to me the really interesting thing regarding these vast
+memorials of a vanished race is the fact that, while everybody is
+free to conjecture, no one, not even the wisest, can boast the
+smallest knowledge of their meaning.</p>
+
+<p>Just behind the <span lang="es"><i>talayot</i></span>, separated from it by certain thick walls,
+stands another relic of prehistoric times in the shape of a <span lang="es"><i>taula</i></span>,
+or table stone&mdash;one huge slab placed horizontally on the top of a
+massive upright stone. And while the Man held on to something with
+one hand and tried to sketch with the other, I sheltered from the
+blast on the farther side.</p>
+
+<p>It was curious to see flowers blooming even in these conditions.
+Amongst the loose stones at the base of the <span lang="es"><i>taula</i></span> the periwinkle
+was in bloom. On the patch of stone-littered soil we had crossed we
+noticed some small lilac daisies, their heads bent close to the
+ground. And all about the broad tops of the maze of stone dykes
+clambered the curious and beautiful clematis-like creeper that
+delights to luxuriate in the most arid position it can secure, and
+is said to pine away and die when transplanted to a garden.</p>
+
+<p>The sole incident of our return journey was the sudden appearance of
+a cap, which, floating high in air, advanced towards us round a
+corner towards which we were battling.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193"> [Pg 193]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 286px;">
+<a href="images/col07.jpg"><img src="images/col07-tb.jpg" width="286" height="400" alt="Town built on a hill leading to the harbour" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">MAHÓN, MINORCA</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="XVII" id="XVII"></a><abbr title="17">XVII</abbr><br />
+STORM-BOUND</h2>
+
+<p>The Man had declared his fixed intention of taking ship for Palma
+that night, no matter what weather conditions should prevail. So it
+was with unfeigned relief I learned at breakfast that, owing to the
+violence of the tempest, the mail steamer we expected to travel in
+had been unable to leave Barcelona.</p>
+
+<p>The wind still continuing high, there was some doubt as to how long
+we would be held prisoners. But even if the steamer direct to Palma
+was not able to run, we might return by the shorter sea route by
+which we had come, landing at the Port of Alcudia, and, after a
+night passed at our comfortable <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span> there, taking diligence and
+train back to Palma.</p>
+
+<p>A return trip in the steady little <i>Monte Toro</i> would have been a
+pleasure, but when we made inquiry at the shipping-office in the
+harbour we learned that the <i>Monte Toro</i> had already been laid aside
+for cleaning and that the <i>Vicente Sanz</i> had been deputed to take up
+her running.</p>
+
+<p>The young clerk of the shipping company, who was muffled over the
+ears by the upturned collar of his astrakhan-trimmed top-coat and had
+his cap's chin-string in active service, shook a dubious head over
+the prospect of the <i>Isla de Menorca</i> being able to cross from
+Spain, not only on that night but for many nights to come. The
+prevalent wind, according to him, often raged for considerable
+periods. Once for two months, he solemnly declared, no mails had
+been able to reach Minorca.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194"> [Pg 194]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>We devoutly hoped he lied. Still, in case a grain of truth might
+lurk at the bottom of his gloomy prognostications, we decided to
+have a look at the cabin accommodation of the <i>Vicente Sanz</i>, which
+was lying a few yards away.</p>
+
+<p>The black and grimy <i>Vicente Sanz</i> looked what she was&mdash;a cargo-boat
+that had been hastily adapted to the passenger service. One glance
+at her build was enough to convince even a tyro that as a roller she
+would be unequalled. Right aft over the screw a few cramped
+four-berth cabins formed the first-class accommodation, while the
+sailors' bunks in the forecastle head had been fitted up as
+second-class.</p>
+
+<p>We fled the <i>Vicente Sanz</i>, convinced that only dire necessity would
+compel us to voyage in her.</p>
+
+<p>The few people we encountered in the streets were huddled in cloaks
+and shawls, and the custom of muffling the lower part of the face
+gave the women something of an Eastern appearance. Perhaps it was
+due to the chilling effect of the weather, but to us foreigners the
+Minorcans appeared to lack the gracious charm of the Majorcans.
+Though we saw plenty of pretty faces, the girls of Mahón did not
+appear so universally attractive as those of Palma. The conditions
+of life are harder, the climate more severe, and the hard water used
+may have a bad effect on the complexions. There was no distinctive
+native dress either, and we missed it.</p>
+
+<p>The blood of many nations mingles in Minorcan veins&mdash;Vandal,
+Carthaginian, Moorish, Spanish, British and French. Port Mahón was
+originally called after Mago, the youngest son of Hamilcar, brother
+of Hannibal. The passage of time is responsible for the corruption
+of <i>Portus Magonis</i> into Port Mahón.</p>
+
+<p>The island, which is about the size of the Isle of Wight, has known
+many rulers. For several hundred years the Romans held it. About the
+ninth century it lapsed into the hands of the Moors, who possessed
+it until in the thirteenth century King Jaime, the Conquistador of
+Majorca, demanded and received its capitulation. Two hundred years
+later, Barbarossa, the pirate chief, having entered the harbour by<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195"> [Pg 195]</a></span>
+stratagem, besieged Mahón and captured it. Early in the eighteenth
+century the British took Minorca and held it for fifty years, until
+Admiral Byng allowed the French to capture it&mdash;a "misconduct" for
+which, after eight months of close arrest, he was shot.</p>
+
+<p>To her social and commercial advantage Minorca was restored to
+Britain at the peace of 1763, only to be seized by France and Spain
+while Britain was engrossed by the American War. Watching the
+opportunity, Britain retaliated at the time of the French Revolution
+by retaking Minorca, which remained hers until, by the conditions of
+the peace of Amiens, the island was ceded to Spain.</p>
+
+<p>"Well," said the Man, as a fierce gust blew us into the portal of
+the Fonda Central, "when I saw this place I felt grieved that the
+British had ever given it up to Spain, but I must confess that at
+this moment I'd gladly hand it over to any nation that would take a
+gift of it!"</p>
+
+<p>In the afternoon the wind, though still turbulent, had moderated a
+little. We let it blow us out to San Luis, along a fine level and
+absolutely straight road that in summer, when the trees are in leaf,
+must be charming.</p>
+
+<p>San Luis has all the outward semblance of a French village. Even the
+church looked French, and was light and airy, in striking contrast
+to the sombre church interiors of Majorca. The streets of the
+village were broad, and the roads leading to it were planted on
+either side with trees.</p>
+
+<p>The whole atmosphere was so reminiscent of Northern France that it
+was no surprise on entering the general shop to be greeted in French
+by the young man in charge. He, as he confessed, had secretly been
+studying the language for some months, and he was evidently spoiling
+to try his new acquirement upon foreigners of any nationality. The
+French, which he spoke very fairly, but which speedily lapsed into
+Spanish, naturally recalled our first impression of the place, and
+we remarked upon it.</p>
+
+<p>A bright small boy, who with his father was in the shop, explained
+matters. San Luis <em>was</em> a French village, he said. It was named<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196"> [Pg 196]</a></span>
+after the French king and had been built during the French
+occupation of the island. The site had been laid out and the church
+designed by French architects.</p>
+
+<p>For the moment we had forgotten that the French flag had flown over
+Minorca, but the boy's words brought back something we had read of
+the fête Madame de Pompadour gave at the Hermitage of Compiègne,
+where the Court happened to be when the news arrived of the taking
+of Port Mahón. A royal fête, when fountains flowed wine, and ribbons
+and sword-knots <span lang="fr"><i>à la Mahón</i></span> were distributed to the guests.</p>
+
+<p>While buying sweets in the shop, we noticed a glass jar of the black
+sticks of Spanish liquorice beloved of our childhood. And on a shelf
+was a row of genuine English cottage-loaves.</p>
+
+<p>The wind had obligingly blown us on our feet out the three miles to
+San Luis, but we wisely drove back. Sitting snugly inside the closed
+carriage, watching the storm-harried crops and shrubs bend before
+the wind, while the sun beat warmly upon us, we agreed that, if one
+could only travel about in a glass-sided box during gales, life in
+Minorca would be fine. We fully realized the necessity for the
+houses being built of slabs of stone nearly twice as thick as those
+used in the sister island.</p>
+
+<p>In Minorca, somehow, we did not feel quite so much aliens as we did
+at first in Majorca. The greatest prosperity the island had known
+had been under British government, and the native mind seemed to
+cherish a kindly feeling towards our nation. It was curious that
+while in Palma we were always supposed to be French, in Mahón we
+were at once recognized as English.</p>
+
+<p>A few English words have been absorbed into the Minorcan language,
+as people seemed proud to tell us. But the only examples we gathered
+were "stop," "please," and "nuncle."</p>
+
+<p>In the harbour, over the door of a small tavern that bore no other
+sign, we saw suspended a bit of a shrub. Remembering the white wand
+at the door of the change-house in the clachan of Aberfoyle, we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197"> [Pg 197]</a></span>
+wondered if that symbol also had drifted across the seas.</p>
+
+<p>It was with something of the sensation of marooned sailors that on
+Friday night we fell asleep, to awake to changed conditions. The sun
+shone from a clear blue sky. The sting had disappeared from the
+wind, and the air was comparatively mild and calm.</p>
+
+<p>When we descended to breakfast, the young man upon whose fragmentary
+accomplishment the Hotel Central founded its claim to put "English
+Spoken" on its cards hastened to greet us with the welcome news:
+"The sheep 'as arrive."</p>
+
+<p>Going down to the harbour, we found ocular evidence that the report
+was true. The <i>Isla de Menorca</i> had arrived and would sail for Palma
+at 7 o'clock that evening. Our friend of the shipping office was
+silent and despondent. The weather had disappointed him by declining
+to act up to his gloomy anticipations.</p>
+
+<p>Going, under his escort, to look over the ship, we found her a
+great, broad, tubby boat. At small tables placed on trestles on deck
+the crew were seated at breakfast, tall bottles of wine before them.</p>
+
+<p>The first saloon accommodation was gay in red plush. That was its
+only recommendation, for it was woefully cramped in point of space,
+and the cabins were placed directly over the screw. The second
+saloon, which was amidships, occupied far more room. The steward
+suggested the probability of my having the large and cheerful
+ladies' cabin to myself. On the previous night's journey from
+Barcelona there had been only one lady passenger. Greatly daring, we
+hinted that in the event of no other <span lang="es">señora</span> arriving, we three might
+share it.</p>
+
+<p>When we had parted from our escort, leaving him, we felt assured,
+inwardly deploring the comparative calm, and ghoulishly hoping for a
+sudden change of weather, the Man went off to finish his much
+interrupted sketch; while the Boy and I walked up to the
+market-square, from which&mdash;Minorca having no railways&mdash;a constant
+succession of more or less ramshackle vehicles acting as diligences<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198"> [Pg 198]</a></span>
+left for the towns and villages round about.</p>
+
+<p>Accosting the driver of the nearest, we asked its destination.</p>
+
+<p>"Villa Carlos."</p>
+
+<p>"And the charge?"</p>
+
+<p>"Fifteen <span lang="es">centimos</span> each."</p>
+
+<p>"When will the carriage start?"</p>
+
+<p>The driver made the motion of the hands that takes the place of the
+Frenchman's shrug of the shoulders.</p>
+
+<p>"When it is full," he replied, and we got in. A polite Spaniard
+joined us. A little delay, and he was followed by a girl with a
+market basket. The driver, after gazing to east and west, and north
+and south, without discovering sign of any additional passengers,
+mounted the box-seat, which he shared with two big sacks of
+potatoes, and at last we started.</p>
+
+<p>Having jolted up a long long street of white houses, several of
+whose owners were busy with brush and whitewash pail effacing any
+traces of the storm, we rattled out over two miles of glaringly
+white road. Villa Carlos is a white town of small houses grouped
+about a big square of barracks on the top of a cliff, near the mouth
+of the harbour.</p>
+
+<p>The situation is exposed, and as the wind, though childlike and
+bland compared to the icy blasts of the preceding days, was by no
+means asleep, we found our way down to sea-level, and rested on a
+stone bench in the shelter of a great wall close by where the water
+curves into the little bay of Cala Fonts.</p>
+
+<p>The sea was purring at our feet. Between the fortress above us and
+that on the opposite shore, sail-boats, like winged things, skimmed
+past. Producing an unexpected box of pastels, the Boy began to make
+a rapid sketch of the pigmy harbour with its blue water and the half
+circle of houses that outlined its rocky coast.</p>
+
+<p>It was amusing to sit there and try to picture the appearance of the
+various fleets that must have sailed by on victory bent. When
+Barbarossa, the pirate chief, flying Christian banners to deceive<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199"> [Pg 199]</a></span>
+the guardians of the forts, steered his eleven galleys up the
+harbour, he must have passed the very spot where we sat.</p>
+
+<p>Although the scene was tranquil, there was a constant movement of
+life. Two women carrying sacks and small picks came and foraged
+among the rocks for tufts of grass or other green stuff. A military
+water-cart drawn by a white mule, whose harness was resplendent with
+scarlet tassels, moved by, attended by a party of soldiers in white
+fatigue uniforms, their bare feet thrust into sandals.</p>
+
+<p>During a temporary stillness I caught the sound of a soft little
+crooning voice that harmonized sweetly with the murmur of the sea.
+It seemed to come from quite near, but there was no one in sight.
+Advancing to the edge of the bank, I looked down. On a ledge of the
+rock a few feet beneath, a little boy attired in sketchy garments
+sat fishing, and as he fished he crooned softly to himself, after
+the habit of contented children all the world over.</p>
+
+<p>His piscatorial implements were even more rudimentary than was his
+clothing. They consisted of a few inches of rod and a shred of
+string. His bait was a skinny hermit crab that he had scraped out of
+some crevice of the rock. A poor bait doubtless, but I can assure
+you the catch was even poorer. Still, perched on his ledge in the
+warm sunshine, Enrique fished hopefully and was happy.</p>
+
+<p>It was so delightful to be out of the wind that we would gladly have
+lingered. But the hour when the Man and luncheon would be awaiting
+us was near. Returning to the barrack square, which was melodious
+with the strains of a waltz played by an unseen military band, we
+got into a conveyance that was on the point of starting.</p>
+
+<p>A young corporal of Engineers quickly followed us, saluting as he
+entered. He was a good-looking, reddish-fair man, a native of the
+island, and an admirable example of the educated conscript. Hearing
+that we were British, he called to another corporal of the corps who
+was playing with a dog near, and who, on being introduced by his
+friend, spoke to us in surprisingly good English. Not only so, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200"> [Pg 200]</a></span>
+he understood perfectly when spoken to, a much rarer accomplishment
+in a foreign language. He said he had been learning our language for
+ten months only, and without leaving Minorca.</p>
+
+<p>I don't know who his instructor had been; there are said to be no
+English residents in Mahón, yet the soldier certainly spoke good
+colloquial English. As we parted he amused us by saluting and saying
+"Well, so-long!"</p>
+
+<p>Another corporal having got into the conveyance&mdash;whose only flooring
+seemed to be a sagging mat&mdash;we started for Mahón. He, like the
+first, was a specialist in signalling and telegraphy. Both of these
+men struck us as taking their soldiering really seriously. They had
+each served two years in Madrid to learn their business thoroughly,
+and now had charge of telegraph stations on opposite sides of the
+harbour from each other.</p>
+
+<p>On one happy possession Minorca must be most heartily congratulated.
+She has a most excellent British Vice-Consul. When we called on him
+at his house in the Calle Rosario (just off the picturesque Calle de
+San Roque), which was not until the last afternoon of our stay at
+Mahón, his reception of us was so cordial that we sincerely
+regretted not having called sooner.</p>
+
+<p><span lang="es">Señor</span> Bartolomé Escudero has many qualifications for the post he
+holds, and not least among them is a perfect knowledge of the
+language of the country he represents. Not only does the <span lang="es">señor</span> speak
+English, but it is his hobby to teach it to others who show a desire
+to learn.</p>
+
+<p>It was no surprise to hear that on his visit to Minorca the late
+King Edward had made his Consul a Member of the Victorian Order.</p>
+
+<p>From the bustle of departure in the hotel we judged that some of the
+<span lang="es"><i>comerciantes</i></span> might be our fellow-travellers on the <i>Isla de
+Menorca</i>. But when we went on board and, having taken up a position
+on the promenade deck, were watching the passengers arrive, it was
+something of a surprise to see all of them appear. The little man<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201"> [Pg 201]</a></span>
+with the long trousers; the bald man who performed surprising feats
+with wine-flasks, drinking with the slender spout held far from his
+lips in a way that held us fascinated spectators until he chose to
+set it down; the beautiful being who, we were convinced, could
+travel in nothing less refined than perfumery; the man who always,
+even at table, wore the latest thing in smart caps, and whom we had
+seen coming out of a <span lang="es"><i>sombrero</i></span> shop&mdash;all were there. Not even the
+gentleman who, during our voyage together on the <i>Monte Toro</i>, had
+used a dust-coat as a dressing-gown was awanting.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/gs32.jpg"><img src="images/gs32-tb.jpg" width="400" height="251" alt="Gentlemen enjoying themselves around a table" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption"><span lang="es"><i>COMERCIANTES</i></span> IN THE FONDA AT MAHÓN</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>There was little stir on the quay. The departure of a mail boat from
+Mahón does not cause so much commotion as does a like event at
+Palma, where the long breakwater is a favourite promenade, and where
+everybody who has a letter to post seems to delight in rushing on
+board with it at the last possible moment.</p>
+
+<p>Many young men have to leave Minorca to seek their fortune
+elsewhere. I wonder if they return to that rocky island as they love
+to do to fertile Majorca.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202"> [Pg 202]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Just as the siren blew the first warning, a fine well-built young
+Minorcan hastened up the long gangway. A male friend helped him to
+carry his substantial trunk, and three girls followed closely. They
+had barely time to bid him farewell&mdash;one with a lingering embrace,
+the others with a warm handshake, before the gangway was withdrawn
+and water was widening between the exile and his native land.</p>
+
+<p>For a little space he allowed his feelings to govern him, and with
+quivering shoulders wept unrestrainedly into his handkerchief in the
+intervals of waving it. Then, when the boat had rounded the horn of
+the bay and the beautiful city was out of sight, he put away his
+handkerchief, lit a cigarette, and resolutely turned his face
+towards the land of promise.</p>
+
+<p>There were no first-class passengers at all. Our commercial friends,
+taking possession of the after-deck, formed themselves into an
+impromptu concert party, the little man acting as conductor, as with
+admirable voices they sang popular choruses.</p>
+
+<p>Two ladies had come on board; but the steward, taking our hint of
+the morning, had given them a small cabin to themselves, as
+doubtless they preferred, and had reserved the whole of the large
+ladies' cabin for us. So once again we knew the luxury of travelling
+second-class on a Balearic Island steamer!</p>
+
+<p>The voyage was pleasantly uneventful, and not rough enough to
+disturb us. We awoke to find ourselves entering Palma harbour, and
+to see the lovely land bathed in the warm glow of sunrise.</p>
+
+<p>Soon we were in a <span lang="es"><i>carruaje</i></span>, waving farewell to the <span lang="es"><i>comerciantes</i></span>
+as in a band they walked towards their hotel. A few minutes later we
+had reached Son Españolet, had passed the house of our friend the
+Consul with its flagstaff and gaily painted shields, and were back
+again under the homely roof of the Casa Tranquila.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203"> [Pg 203]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 364px;">
+<a href="images/gs33.jpg"><img src="images/gs33-tb.jpg" width="364" height="400" alt="A lady in a small room with beamed ceiling" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">AN INTERIOR IN ALARÓ</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="XVIII" id="XVIII"></a><abbr title="18">XVIII</abbr><br />
+ALARÓ</h2>
+
+<p>The shutters of the Casa windows had been left open that the growing
+light might awaken us in time to catch the morning train to Alaró,
+where we had planned to spend the day with two friends from England.</p>
+
+<p>Looking out while it was yet dark, we were conscious of a lowering
+sky. The pocket barometer had fallen two points, and for the first
+time in many weeks we felt that the downpour which appeared to be
+threatening would be unwelcome.</p>
+
+<p>While we dressed, the rain began to fall sulkily. It had been agreed
+that if the morning opened wet the expedition would be deferred, and
+having had experience of the thoroughness of Majorcan rain, I was
+half inclined to take a gloomy view of the situation and stay at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204"> [Pg 204]</a></span>
+home. But the others pooh-poohed my fears and off we set.</p>
+
+<p>The optimists proved to be right. When we entered the station at
+Palma the rain had ceased, and the sun shone out on the Squire and
+the Lady, who were in the act of alighting from the Grand Hotel
+omnibus.</p>
+
+<p>The town of Alaró, which lies close to the base of the northern
+range of mountains, is connected by a light railway with the main
+line at Consell. Horses drag the single carriage up the slight
+gradient to Alaró; it returns by the force of its own impetus. At
+Consell the funny conveyance with its tandem horses was waiting to
+receive the passengers. It had probably begun its career of
+usefulness by being a tram-car in some other part of the world. Now
+a partition divided the interior into first and second classes.</p>
+
+<p>Disregarding the suggestion of the driver, who followed to remind us
+that first-class was inside, we mounted to the top, where two long
+lines of seats were set back to back.</p>
+
+<p>Our progress towards the still invisible town was slow. The efforts
+of the driver to induce the leading horse to put on speed by
+throwing stones at him happily proved unavailing. With something of
+the smooth motion of a boat on a canal we glided on through fields
+of lush grain in whose midst olives grew luxuriantly. The
+threatening clouds had vanished, the sun was warm, the play of light
+and shade on the mountains was glorious, and there was not a soul in
+sight. The deliberate mode of progress through the lovely country
+was so delightful that when the line ended abruptly where the town
+began we all felt sorry. We agreed that we would have been content
+to glide thus slowly onwards for hours.</p>
+
+<p>But on alighting we found our interest in the surroundings for the
+time being subdued by a stronger and more insistent interest in
+food. Our seven o'clock breakfast had been necessarily scrappy and
+hurried, and our first concern was to find an inn.</p>
+
+<p>The civil guard who had been awaiting the arrival of our car was at<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205"> [Pg 205]</a></span>
+hand. Applied to for direction, he not only recommended a <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span>,
+but in person escorted us there.</p>
+
+<p>The <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span>, which was close at hand, looked clean and inviting; but
+its mistress, overwhelmed by this sudden intrusion of five ravenous
+and unintelligible foreigners, eyed us dubiously. She did not know a
+word of Spanish, and her husband&mdash;who was evidently the linguist of
+the family&mdash;was at Inca market. As she gazed blankly at us her
+children, from the eldest&mdash;a pretty girl in a red frock&mdash;to the
+baby, clustered about her, their faces reflecting the bewilderment
+expressed in hers.</p>
+
+<p>The fact that the youngsters looked round and rosy and that they all
+held little branches of mandarin oranges hinted that we had come to
+the right place for food. Hunger has a universal language. The
+landlady's blank expression gradually gave place to one of
+intelligence. Before we left her she had promised to have a meal
+ready at ten o'clock; and comforting ourselves with that assurance,
+we went out to stroll about until the half hour of waiting had
+passed.</p>
+
+<p>Wandering through the streets of the little town and peeping in at
+the open doors with the unblushing effrontery peculiar to the Briton
+abroad, we were rewarded by glimpses of many quaint interiors. In
+one, beside an unclassable machine, a heap of the thick fleshy
+leaves of the <span lang="es"><i>chumbera</i></span> (cactus) was lying.</p>
+
+<p>The owner of the house, a man toothless and shrivelled, but endowed
+with that aspect and air of juvenility that seems the heritage of
+age in Majorca, cordially invited us in. He had no knowledge of
+Spanish, but he had what was far more valuable&mdash;a keen intelligence.</p>
+
+<p>Indulging our curiosity as to the nature of the odd machine, he ran
+off to return with a handful of macaroni; then darting into the
+machine house, he reappeared with a perforated bowl of burnished
+copper, and by signs proceeded to explain the process of pressing
+the paste through.</p>
+
+<p>"But the <span lang="es"><i>chumberas</i></span>?" somebody asked. "Were they the food of the
+mule who drove the machine?"</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206"> [Pg 206]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The old man shook his head. Evidently the motive power was not
+supplied by a member of the ass tribe. Returning to pantomime, he
+raised his hands to his head and protruded his fore-fingers after
+the manner of horns; then indicating to us to follow, ran out into
+the street, where we found him pointing down into an adjacent
+cellar, in whose depths two sleek grey oxen were placidly chewing
+the cud. So it was the oxen who turned the machine that made the
+macaroni, and it was the prickly foliage of the <span lang="es"><i>chumberas</i></span> that
+their jaws were patiently munching.</p>
+
+<p>The little town that nestles out of sight at the foot of the great
+range of hills is an enterprising one. Through the open front of a
+building in another street we caught sight of a fine dynamo; and
+being invited to enter, found ourselves in the presence of the
+electric plant of the town. As the grey-bearded superintendent told
+us, Alaró was the first town on the island to have electric light
+installed. Manacor was the second.</p>
+
+<p>"And Palma?" we asked.</p>
+
+<p>The superintendent shrugged his shoulders. Evidently the capital
+city had been a bad third.</p>
+
+<p>The half hour of waiting had passed quickly, and even in the passing
+were we conscious that the landlady of the <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span> was exerting
+herself on our behalf. For while we were gazing at the oxen the
+red-frocked eldest girl had hastened by carrying a big dish of fish.</p>
+
+<p>On the marble-topped table of the dining-room was a huge black
+sausage, a pyramid of rolls, a decanter of red wine, siphons of
+soda-water, and a plate of a pickled plant that was new to us all,
+even to the Squire and the Lady, who had a wide experience of many
+countries.</p>
+
+<p>We were in danger of making a meal of the sausage, when the little
+girl brought in a dish of the omelets that every Majorcan housewife
+makes to perfection.</p>
+
+<p>The pickle had proved delicious, but all our little waitress could
+tell us was that it came from the sea. And we had almost reconciled
+ourselves to the idea that we were eating seaweed when the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207"> [Pg 207]</a></span>
+explanation (which proved to be correct) that we might be eating
+samphire occurred to us. In England in Shakespeare's time, and on
+the Continent to this day, the tender young shoots of samphire,
+which grows on rocks by the ocean, are gathered, sprinkled with
+salt, and then preserved in vinegar.</p>
+
+<p>A dish of crisp fried fish followed the omelets. Then came a second
+dish of fish, then an abundance of very sweet mandarin oranges,
+freshly cut, with long stems and plenty of their green leaves.</p>
+
+<p>The moment of repletion having arrived, the men lit their pipes, and
+for a space we lazed. But a few minutes of indolence sufficed.
+Calling for our hostess, we asked for the bill. She was prepared for
+the question, and had the amount at the tip of her tongue&mdash;eight
+<span lang="es">pesetas</span>.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving our wraps in her care, we separated: the Squire and the Boy
+to climb the mountain called the Castle of Alaró, the Man to find a
+subject for his brush, and the Lady and I to prowl about and enjoy
+ourselves in a feminine way.</p>
+
+<p>Our prowl first led through a part of the town where at the open
+doors women, and little boys with aprons tied about their thin
+waists, were busy making boots. I wonder how it is that the sight of
+a small boy at work always makes me sad. I think it is the thought
+of the immensity of the task he has to accomplish before his labour
+ends.</p>
+
+<p>Once clear of the town, we sauntered along a path that crossed a
+field, and ended at a fine old mansion overlooking an orange grove.
+The trees were heavy with fruit, and the air was perfumed with the
+fragrance of the blossoms that starred the glossy foliage. A giant
+bougainvillea draped a complete wall with a mantle of royal purple.</p>
+
+<p>The front windows were closely shuttered. Except for three dogs the
+place might have been deserted. But on making our way round to the
+back we found ourselves in the midst of the bevy of
+people&mdash;caretakers, gardeners, labourers, and their families&mdash;who
+live about and in a big country house.</p>
+
+<p>The wife of the caretaker, supported by her half-dozen children and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208"> [Pg 208]</a></span>
+an old dame who was presumably their grandmother, advanced to the
+wide doorway of the kitchen to greet us. From the vicinity of the
+stables and outhouses men and lads gathered, and stood a silent
+group, attentive to our attempts at Spanish conversation, which
+attempts, it must be admitted, were puerile.</p>
+
+<p>We were merely asking if we might have the privilege of seeing over
+the house, but we failed to make our meaning clear. Calling her
+little dark-eyed <span lang="es"><i>chica</i></span>, who was evidently the educated member of
+the family, the mother conjured her to translate; but the <span lang="es"><i>chica</i></span>,
+for the first time removing her eyes from the Lady's hat and flowing
+veil, only blushed and hung her pretty head.</p>
+
+<p>At our wits' end, we were reduced to helpless laughter, when
+comprehension suddenly flashed upon the mother.</p>
+
+<p>"<span lang="es">Si, si, señoras</span>," she said, and trotted briskly off, with us close
+upon her heels and the children and the grandmother bringing up the
+rear, across the spacious kitchen, along a passage, and up a stair
+so dark that we had to grope our way.</p>
+
+<p>Passing quickly from one room to another, she threw open the
+jealously closed shutters of the windows, admitting the light. The
+house was one of the many delightfully unpretentious country seats
+to which Majorcan aristocrats migrate during the hot weather.
+Everything was arranged for the sake of coolness. There were no
+carpets or curtains. The tiled floors and lofty raftered ceilings of
+the large airy rooms made it an ideal summer residence. The windows
+and balconies afforded beautiful and varied views towards the
+romantic mountains, across the fragrant orange groves, or over the
+far-stretching fertile plains.</p>
+
+<p>The noble family, we gathered, had other homes: one at Palma, and
+yet another at Madrid, but still they liked to return to the house
+that nestled so close to the great frowning mountains.</p>
+
+<p>When we left she sent the pretty dark-eyed <span lang="es"><i>chica</i></span> to show us the
+path through the orange groves, and dispatched the eldest son<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209"> [Pg 209]</a></span>
+hotfoot after to pick us a gift of oranges from the trees whose
+fruit was sweetest.</p>
+
+<p>Neither the Lady nor I was inclined for much exertion. Climbing a
+little way up the hill, we sat down in the shade of an olive-tree
+and ate oranges and gossiped.</p>
+
+<p>At our feet the ground slipped down into the valley, to rise on the
+farther side in the mountains, on whose crest we could see the
+remains of the towered battlements above which, in the seventeenth
+century, the two heroes Cabritt and Bassa kept the Majorcan flag
+flying, after the remainder of the island had surrendered to the
+usurper Alphonso IV of Aragon.</p>
+
+<p>We scanned the hill-side in vain for any trace of the climbers. And
+while we lingered the clouds began again to gather, and scarves of
+mist hid the summit. The air had turned a little chilly, and we were
+passing the mansion on our way back to the town when we noticed a
+charming loggia that was built over a barn in which men seemed to be
+crushing olives.</p>
+
+<p>Climbing the few steps that led to the open-sided loggia, we found
+it furnished with a couple of rush-bottomed chairs. Carrying them to
+the front of the balcony over which the gorgeous bougainvillea ran
+riot, we sat, under the row of bottle gourds that hung up to dry,
+looking across the wealth of rich purple blossom in which the bees
+were busy, and over the orange grove towards the luxuriant plain.</p>
+
+<p>A shower at length drove us back to the shelter of the dining-room
+at the <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span>, where the big logs that burned on the open hearth
+glowed a welcome. There the Squire and the Boy joined us, wet from
+the rain that had caught them when half-way down the mountain, but
+by no means weary. They described the path as having been a zigzag
+mule-track all the way. It was rough walking, but presented no
+difficulty whatever.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210"> [Pg 210]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 321px;">
+<a href="images/gs34.jpg"><img src="images/gs34-tb.jpg" width="321" height="400" alt="Town with large church at foot of mountain" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">ALARÓ</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Near the foot of the precipitous part of the climb they had passed
+the first of the fourteen stations of the Cross, the final one being
+at the Chapel of Our Lady of the Refuge on the summit of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211"> [Pg 211]</a></span>
+mountain. Each station was marked with an iron cross set in a rough
+cairn of stones, and each exhibited a pictorial tile representing
+the incident commemorated.</p>
+
+<p>The rough mule-track had ended at the towered gateway, which was in
+fine preservation. Just within was a piece of smooth turf shaded by
+trees. The remainder of the narrow crest of the mountain was rocky
+and tumbled. Round the less precipitous sides were the remains of
+battlements and watch-towers. The side farthest from the plain was
+naturally so steep and impossible of assault as to need no
+artificial defence.</p>
+
+<p>The views from the mountain-top they had found magnificent, and
+worthy of a much harder climb. To the north the great mountainous
+range that culminates in the double peaks of the Puig Mayor had
+barred the prospect; otherwise most of the island had lain open
+before them. Inca, Binisalem, Muró, and other cities of the plain
+were visible, and the bays of Pollensa, Alcudia, and Palma. The
+hills beyond Artá, the hill behind Lluchmayor, Cabo Blanco, and the
+outlying island of Cabrera were all distinctly seen.</p>
+
+<p>The point that struck the climbers as curious was that, though all
+lay so clearly before them, the height prevented their being able to
+distinguish any sign of life or to hear any sound from below. The
+effect was almost as though the lovely land on which they looked had
+been deserted.</p>
+
+<p>When they turned their attention to their immediate surroundings,
+the only sentient creatures they discovered were a small boy who was
+in charge of the chapel, a great eagle that soared overhead, and a
+few hens that clucked and scraped the barren ground outside the
+building that had once been the abode of some hermit monks, but
+which was now an <span lang="es"><i>hospederia</i></span> in the care of the boy's parents.</p>
+
+<p>In the little chapel was a beautiful statue of the Virgin, while the
+sacristy held a sad relic in the form of two rib-bones of the brave
+defenders of the Castle of Alaró, who, after having been starved
+into surrender, were cruelly burned to death.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212"> [Pg 212]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The chapel, perched up among the mist-wreaths and mountain eagles,
+was very small; so small that a large covered veranda had been added
+to the front for the shelter of the pilgrims who flock thither in
+order to obtain the forty days' absolution gained by the attainment
+of its summit. Just beyond the veranda is a sheer drop down. The
+prospect to be obtained from the out-jutting rock our climbers
+described as awesome.</p>
+
+<p>They were half-way down on the return journey before the mist that
+had been floating about caught them in its clammy embrace. The
+ascent had occupied about two hours, the descent nearly one.</p>
+
+<p>Bidding our hostess farewell, we went up the street to a café for
+afternoon coffee.</p>
+
+<p>It was an unlucky hour. The schools had just closed for the day, and
+though the café was only a dozen paces from the <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span>, we reached
+it with a train of children in close attendance.</p>
+
+<p>Our demands for coffee with milk and cakes and <span lang="es"><i>enciamadas</i></span> caused a
+flutter in the breast of the comely mistress of the café. Summoning
+her daughter Catalina&mdash;who was just seventeen and even more than
+usually attractive&mdash;from the corner where she was making
+pillow-lace, the mother thrust a large decanter into one hand, a big
+basket into the other, and dispatched her for supplies. Then she
+fanned the charcoal stove, placed a tall wine-glass, in which were
+two pieces of sugar and a spoon, before each of us, and retired
+behind the little bar to await the return of Catalina.</p>
+
+<p>As we too waited, our attention was attracted to the window nearest
+our table, to find a row of small girls' heads, the eyes gazing
+fixedly on us, lining the bottom of the lower panes. As the moments
+passed the numbers increased. Girls with babies in their arms
+augmented the back row. Taller girls peeped furtively from the
+sides, and when caught affected to be engaged in reprimanding the
+curiosity of their juniors. Two little girls, who had arrived too
+late to secure any place, in desperation opened the café door and
+peeped in. Needless to say, their boldness was rewarded with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213"> [Pg 213]</a></span>
+ignominious expulsion.</p>
+
+<p>It was with something of the sensation of menagerie animals when
+awaiting the meal that people have paid extra to see them consume
+that we looked for the return of Catalina.</p>
+
+<p>It came at last, and in the twinkling of an eye the milk was emptied
+from the decanter into a tin pannikin and set on the fire; and the
+contents of her basket&mdash;which proved to be neither <span lang="es"><i>enciamadas</i></span> nor
+cakes but rather limp <span lang="es"><i>bizcochos</i></span>&mdash;were heaped on a dish on the
+table before us.</p>
+
+<p>The children who had been so lucky as to secure front places to see
+the lions fed got good value. We were all thirsty; the coffee-pot
+was kept busy, the pile of <span lang="es"><i>bizcochos</i></span> steadily diminished. When we
+had finished and went over to where Catalina had modestly resumed
+her lace weaving, the spectators changed their window the better to
+accommodate their desires to the altered conditions. When we said
+good-bye and left they accompanied us&mdash;babies and all. One
+gipsy-looking child ran in front, glancing back at us. The rest
+trotted in our wake, making occasional momentary delays to call
+round corners and into doorways for their friends to come and see
+the wild beasts.</p>
+
+<p>When the circus, as the Squire called it, had reached the outskirts
+of the town, many of our adherents fell away. But a staunch band of
+eight or ten remained faithful, and not only escorted us on our walk
+and back to the car station, but whiled away the time by chanting
+and performing dances for our better entertainment, one male infant,
+known phonetically as <i>Tomeow</i>, gravely turning a succession of
+somersaults before us, and we wondered if the religious dances that
+are annually performed in the church on the feast of San Roch, the
+patron saint of the town, which occurs on the 16th of August,
+accounted for their rudimentary knowledge of the art.</p>
+
+<p>Constant to the last, they formed a semicircle about us while we
+awaited the departure of the train, which took the place of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214"> [Pg 214]</a></span>
+tram-car in which we had arrived, and listened wide-eared as we
+chatted with a corporal of the Civil Guard.</p>
+
+<p>"The children of Alaró seem good," remarked the Lady, who has the
+gift of saying graceful things.</p>
+
+<p>"Good&mdash;perhaps," allowed the corporal, frowning disapprovingly at
+our satellites, "but curious!"</p>
+
+<p>There was no possible repetition of our delightful canalboat cruise
+of the morning. Night had fallen when we began the return journey in
+one of the smallest railway carriages in existence.</p>
+
+<p>When we reached Palma rain was falling, and the view from the
+carriage window, of a wet platform with the lamplight falling on
+dripping umbrellas, vividly recalled the moist far-off land of our
+birth.</p>
+
+<p>But a few hours later, when we left the Grand Hotel, where we had
+dined, the stars were shining above the dimly lit mediæval streets.
+Palma was herself again.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215"> [Pg 215]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/gs35.jpg"><img src="images/gs35-tb.jpg" width="400" height="313" alt="Cavern with stalactites over pool" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">IN THE DRAGON&#39;S CAVE</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="XIX" id="XIX"></a><abbr title="19">XIX</abbr><br />
+THE DRAGON CAVES AND MANACOR</h2>
+
+<p>Majorca has two groups of stalactite caves that are reputed to rank
+among the finest in Europe&mdash;the Dragon Caves at Manacor, and the
+Caves of Artá which are near the most easterly point of the island
+and far from a railway.</p>
+
+<p>Life at the Casa Tranquila was so pleasant that none of us really
+wished to leave it; yet a sense of duty urged that these sights must
+not be ignored. At first we thought of visiting one or other of the
+series of subterranean wonders, but opinion seemed so equally
+divided as to which was the finer that, in perplexity, we finally
+decided to see both and judge for ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>The weather favoured our reluctant departure. The sun had just risen
+into a cloudless blue sky when the bells of Bartolomé's chariot<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216"> [Pg 216]</a></span>
+jingled at the door, and with the crumbs of a hasty breakfast still
+clinging to our lips we hurried stationwards to catch the morning
+train for Manacor.</p>
+
+<p>We had spoken of going first to Artá, and a day or two later
+returning to Manacor and the Dragon Caves; but on the journey we
+made a chance acquaintance that had the effect of changing our
+plans. Two Englishmen, arrived that morning from Barcelona and
+giving five days to a rapid survey of the island, were going to the
+Dragon Caves. It was quickly arranged that we should view them in
+their congenial company.</p>
+
+<p>As a place to stay at in Manacor our Majorcan friends had
+recommended the Fonda Feminias, and there we went on arrival, to eat
+an early lunch and secure rooms for our return.</p>
+
+<p>The <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span>, which has an architecture peculiarly its own, is
+situated right in the centre of the town. The large loggia, off
+which most of the sleeping apartments open directly, overlooks the
+fine church that is the pride of Manacor. My room, which was on the
+floor beneath, had a nice little sitting-room attached. I mention
+this specially because a lack of sitting-rooms is usually the weak
+point of Balearic <span lang="es"><i>fondas</i></span>. The charge, arranged on arrival, was
+four <span lang="es">pesetas</span> a day, including the little breakfast.</p>
+
+<p>Lunch was quickly served in a large dining-room that was as quaintly
+original as the rest of the house. It had ten doors, four corner
+cupboards, and no windows. Light was admitted through two small
+cupolas in the roof.</p>
+
+<p>No time was lost. When we had eaten, a carriage was waiting to
+convey us to the caves. Just at the moment of starting a man,
+appearing from nowhere, silently seated himself on the box. He
+turned out to be the guide for the caves, an indispensable
+individual.</p>
+
+<p>The road to the coast, for one that was neither particularly steep
+nor crooked, was amazingly uncomfortable to drive over. Cruel
+patches of the sharp stones with which the roads are mended scarred
+the way. We bounced here, and bounced there; now surmounting an
+acclivity and catching a glimpse of the blue sea, now dipping into<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217"> [Pg 217]</a></span>
+a hollow. It was a gratuitously bad road; evil alike for driving,
+walking, or cycling over.</p>
+
+<p>When we reached Puerto Cristo the carriage drew up beside two empty
+vehicles at the back door of a little <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span> that is said to be
+famed for its omelets and its pretty girls.</p>
+
+<p>Passing through a room where a table was set for lunch, we reached a
+trellised enclosure overlooking a charming little cove on whose
+waters a boat was sailing.</p>
+
+<p>The silent guide, who had lingered indoors to prepare his acetylene
+lamps, appeared with them already lit; and, following in his wake,
+we set off, past a few fisher houses in whose doorways sun-tanned
+boys were baiting lines, across a bridgelet that spanned a slender
+arm of the sea, and up a rough track over a moor so brown and bare
+that it might have been in Devon. Judging by outward appearance, it
+was the last place where one would have anticipated finding a cave
+of even the smallest dimensions.</p>
+
+<p>As we went we met two parties of Spaniards who had been seeing the
+caves and were now returning. It was for them that the carriages
+waited and the omelets were being prepared at the <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span> of the
+three pretty girls.</p>
+
+<p>Just as we were wondering if our taciturn guide would ever consent
+to humour us by producing a cave, he headed for an opening in a
+stone wall. Entering, we were confronted with a barred window and a
+locked door set in the side of a slope.</p>
+
+<p>Producing a key, the guide unlocked the door, then when we were all
+inside he carefully re-locked it. A breath of warm exhausted air met
+our faces. The guide, still preserving his impenetrable reserve,
+removed his coat, and the Boy, fortunately remembering the advice of
+an experienced friend, counselled us to follow his example. An hour
+and a half of hard going was before us. The temperature, which was
+high even in the entrance hall, was likely to increase as we got
+farther underground. So the men in shirt-sleeves and myself in a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218"> [Pg 218]</a></span>
+thin net blouse meekly pursued our dumb conductor down a flight of
+roughly cut steps that seemed to lead right into the bowels of the
+earth.</p>
+
+<p>Walking in advance, the guide flashed his light upon all sorts of
+varied wonders, from caverns so hideous and grimy that they looked
+as though coated with the refuse of a coal mine, to banks of
+glittering crystals or stalactites of glistening semi-transparent
+amber.</p>
+
+<p>At one point he drew aside, and stood mutely pointing in advance.
+Thinking he meant us to move on, I was walking forward, when he drew
+me back just in time to prevent my stepping into a lake so clear and
+pellucid as to be absolutely imperceptible.</p>
+
+<p>That was the beginning of the water effects that lend enchantment to
+the Caves of the Dragon. The Dragon himself is but a poor thing,
+diminutive and wholly unworthy his surroundings. We saw him. He was
+pointed out, sneaking up a pillar, a truly undignified position for
+any creature owning the romantic and awe-inspiring cognomen of
+dragon. And, speaking confidentially, the humble name of lizard
+would suit him better.</p>
+
+<p>The lakes and pools are indisputably lovely, and the charm of the
+Cave of Delights quite roused our enthusiasm. Imagine an azure lake
+overhung by myriads of glistening pendants. Near the centre a low
+pile of stalagmites suggestive of a fortress rose out of the water;
+from the miniature fortress extended a reef in the form of a cross.
+Stepping thereon, the guide set fire to a piece of ribbon which
+illumined the farthest recess of the cave, revealing new and
+unguessed beauties, and rendering the scene one of almost
+supernatural loveliness.</p>
+
+<p>Then came more caves and yet more. Up steps we went or down steps,
+getting hotter and hotter in these airless depths as in single file
+we "ducky-daidled" after our laconic conductor. Once, deep in some
+gruesome cavern, he announced that the name of the place was the
+Cave of the Catalans, and in reply to our question explained, with<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219"> [Pg 219]</a></span>
+something of animation in the recital, that some years ago, before
+the entrance to the caves was guarded by lock and key, two young
+visitors from Spain had conceived the idea of exploring the caves
+without the aid of a guide. Twenty-seven hours later they were
+discovered in that repellent spot, deep in a dismal subterranean
+passage.</p>
+
+<p>It must have been soon after hearing this suggestive story that some
+one asked the guide if he could find his way out without a light.
+And when he confessed that he could not, we all secretly wondered
+how long the gas in the lamps we carried was calculated to burn; but
+we were all too considerate of the feelings of each other to express
+our thoughts.</p>
+
+<p>It was distinctly reassuring to remember that if the worst had
+befallen, if the man on whose guidance we trusted had been seized
+with illness or had met with an accident and the lamps had gradually
+flickered out, all we need do would be to sit down and wait; for the
+driver of our carriage, finding we did not return, would have routed
+out another guide, and we would soon have seen the lights of the
+search party gleaming among the pendants and pillars.</p>
+
+<p>At one point we were refreshed with water from a cleft in the rocks,
+served in a tumbler that was kept inverted over a conveniently
+placed stalagmite. Then we resumed the tramp. The sights seemed to
+be endless, and one of the best&mdash;the Lake of Miramar&mdash;was reserved
+for the last. About fourteen years ago this extensive waterway was
+made the subject of special exploration by M. Martel, the French
+expert. With the aid of a collapsible boat he spent a week in
+investigation, and at its close was obliged to leave the farthest
+reaches of the caves yet unexploited.</p>
+
+<p>Hot, clammy and tired, we had returned to the cooler air, and,
+resting upon the stone benches within the doorway, were refreshing
+ourselves with tea hot from a Thermos bottle, when the guide,
+suddenly dropping the mantle of reserve that had cloaked his
+pilotage, told us the story of the discovery of the Dragon's Caves.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220"> [Pg 220]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>As he sat, a <span lang="es"><i>coca</i></span> in one hand, a square of chocolate in the other,
+he became almost loquacious for so taciturn a being. The history
+proved curiously limited for such remarkably extensive caverns.</p>
+
+<p>It began one wet day about thirty years earlier, when his father,
+who had been out shooting, took shelter in a cleft of the rocks to
+eat his breakfast. Happening to drop a loose pebble through a chink
+in the ground, he was surprised to hear by the sound that it had
+fallen into a cavity of unexpected dimensions. That accidental
+observation led to the research that opened the Dragon's Caves to
+the admiration of a curious world.</p>
+
+<p>Clothed and cool, though dusty and soil-stained, we regained the
+open air, where a group of small orchid plants growing beside the
+path attracted us. They were the fly orchis, and unusually perfect
+specimens. The neatest, most insect-like little flies I have ever
+seen poised amid the green leaflets on the slender stems.</p>
+
+<p>A glorious sunset was flooding the sky with colour as we lurched
+towards Manacor over the brutal road. The tall towers of the church
+of this city of the plain stood out sombre and imposing against
+glowing roseate banks of cloud.</p>
+
+<p>We had been discussing the puzzling appearance of the building,
+which had a faint resemblance to the Russian style of ecclesiastical
+architecture, and none at all to any other known school. Scaffolding
+still encircled the high steeple, and as we drew near the church it
+appeared as though exciting operations were in process. A constant
+stream of people entering the edifice was jostled in the passing by
+a rush of men, lads and boys, who were hurrying out propelling or
+dragging hand-carts and trolleys laden with blocks of stone, of
+which heaps were already piled about the exterior of the church.</p>
+
+<p>A useful rule in travelling, if you want to see what is going on, is
+to follow the crowd. Moving with the throng into the church, we
+stood astounded at the scene of destruction before us.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221"> [Pg 221]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The interior of the lofty building was a riot of wild commotion. The
+air was full of fine dust. By the light of the lanterns which showed
+dimly through the obscurity, we saw the great white dome rising to
+the sky; and on the floor beneath, two huge pyramids of broken stone
+and mortar.</p>
+
+<p>On the crest of the mounds vague figures were visible, working with
+almost feverish energy to remove the vast heap of <span lang="fr"><i>débris</i></span>. The air
+was vocal with the noise indispensable to violent and concerted
+action. And the raucous sound of the wheels grinding on the stone
+floor as a willing band seized each laden truck to propel it out of
+the church added to the unholy din.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/gs36.jpg"><img src="images/gs36-tb.jpg" width="400" height="275" alt="Town with windmills and scaffolding around church tower" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">MANACOR</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>The whole scene was so unexpected, so foreign to the manners of the
+twentieth century, that to our bewildered minds it almost appeared
+as though history had slipped back and we had become spectators of
+some iconoclastic mob engaged in the sacking of the church.</p>
+
+<p>It was a relief to find the labour sanctioned by the presence of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222"> [Pg 222]</a></span>
+priests, who looked with benign approval at the frenzied efforts of
+the workers.</p>
+
+<p>One of the number, seeing that we were strangers, and probably
+guessing at our bewilderment, kindly approached, and, with quiet
+pride illumining his fine old face, volunteered an explanation of
+the exciting scene before us.</p>
+
+<p>The clergy of Manacor, seeing the need of enlarging their already
+important church, had appealed to the people. The people promptly
+agreed to help, and the work of extension was quickly proceeded
+with, the labour being entirely local, even the statues that adorned
+the niches having been carved by one of the priests.</p>
+
+<p>The walls of the new church, gradually rising, enclosed the ancient
+building, in which service continued without intermission to be
+conducted. When the new walls were complete, the floor of the
+edifice was thickly covered with pine branches; and after Mass had
+been celebrated on the very morning of our arrival at Manacor, the
+ancient walls that had so well served their purpose were pulled
+down.</p>
+
+<p>After the inevitable blinding dust had settled a little, the labour
+of clearing away the <span lang="fr"><i>débris</i></span> began. And we had returned from the
+Dragon Caves just in time to witness the multitude of helpers
+exerting their utmost strength to restore by lamplight the interior
+of the church from chaos to order.</p>
+
+<p>When we first viewed the scene of demolition the labour required
+appeared so herculean that it seemed as though toil that was merely
+human could make but little impression. But four hundred willing
+hands can accomplish marvels, and when we returned two hours later
+one great mound had been mostly cleared away, and the other was
+visibly diminished.</p>
+
+<p>With unabated enthusiasm the work was proceeding. When roused to
+their utmost effort there is no lassitude about these sturdy
+Majorcans. Strapping lads, shouting the while, seized each laden
+barrow and dashed off to empty it outside. Small boys imagined they
+were helping by pushing behind with an admirable assumption of
+strength, and adding their shrill voices to the clamour. Some of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223"> [Pg 223]</a></span>
+the smallest, with an air of importance, carried out single stones.</p>
+
+<p>Near where we stood a hole had been opened in the floor, and into
+the vacuum beneath a band of youthful assistants was emptying
+baskets of small stones and dust.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the labourers were of the thick-set Majorcan type, but at
+regular intervals a tall handsome young man&mdash;a veritable son of
+Anak&mdash;clad in a pink shirt, light blue trousers, and a wide felt
+hat, appearing out of the mist, advanced to the edge of the gaping
+hole and discharged into it the contents of a large basket of
+rubbish. He seemed to work alone, speaking to no one, and moving
+with the silent precision of a machine.</p>
+
+<p>The women kept strictly aside, taking no part in the work. In dark
+corners of the ancient chapels that had been left untouched, a few
+black-robed old women knelt in prayer. And near us a group of pretty
+girls stood tittering and whispering. At one moment human nature
+proved too much for some of the youths who had been passing us in
+relays, bearing on their heads great bundles of the pine branches
+that had been laid down for the preservation of the flooring. Making
+a species of organized sortie, they rushed towards the girls,
+brushing their faces with the ends of the dusty greenery. The girls,
+giggling and squeaking, fled before the onslaught, but soon stole
+back to resume their position as spectators.</p>
+
+<p>When work ceased for the night an incredible change had taken place
+in the interior of the church. And next morning, as we dressed, the
+sound of boys' voices chanting came in through our open windows. The
+people were already worshipping in their new church. For one evening
+only had service been suspended.</p>
+
+<p>During the labours of the previous night the women had perforce
+remained quiescent. It was now their turn to help. Active females
+carrying brooms were to be seen hastening through the sacred
+portals, to emerge later vigorously sweeping clouds of dust before
+them. One small girl had a baby tucked under one arm, while she<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224"> [Pg 224]</a></span>
+industriously plied a broom with the other.</p>
+
+<p>When we took a final peep into the church before seeking the
+afternoon diligence for Artá, the yawning fissure in the floor had
+been cemented over, and rows of benches stood ready placed for
+evening service. An inconsiderable heap of rubbish in a side aisle
+was all that remained of the apparent desolation of the day before.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225"> [Pg 225]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/gs37.jpg"><img src="images/gs37-tb.jpg" width="400" height="252" alt="Town set on top of hill" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">ART�</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="XX" id="XX"></a><abbr title="20">XX</abbr><br />
+ART� AND ITS CAVES</h2>
+
+<p>We met the diligence for Artá at Manacor station, where the
+single-line railway ends on a track so grass-grown as to suggest
+that it had, inadvertently, strayed into a field. Were the engine to
+diverge a yard or two from the rails it would wreck the
+stationmaster's goat, make havoc of his family washing, and
+devastate his prickly-pear patch.</p>
+
+<p>The Artá diligence, a spacious vehicle, supplied with good horses
+and a capital driver, leaves the station yard immediately after the
+arrival of the afternoon train from Palma. Should a sufficiency of
+passengers arrive by the morning train, a diligence would start then
+also; but the afternoon coach is a certainty. The distance is 20
+<span lang="es">kilometros</span>, and the fare is three <span lang="es">reales</span> (sevenpence-halfpenny).</p>
+
+<p>The Man and I had secured the front seats. The Boy was inside with a
+typical set of travellers by diligence&mdash;a priest, a soldier, one of
+the very new recruits who had a six days' leave to visit his home; a
+specimen of the pleasant elderly countryman who is the inevitable
+accessory of such a journey, and two commercial travellers that we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226"> [Pg 226]</a></span>
+stopped to pick up as we passed a draper's shop in town.</p>
+
+<p>Our driver was a man of decision. Little time was lost over
+starting. Five minutes after the train had entered the station we
+dashed out of it at a pace that threatened to make the distance
+between us and Artá seem far too short.</p>
+
+<p>It was a perfect evening for driving. There was no wind, and the
+rain of the previous night had laid the dust. The road was a good
+one, broad and level&mdash;very different from that over which we had
+bumped and joggled on the previous day. The sinking sun cast a
+glamour over a land that was at any time beautiful. The swift motion
+was gloriously exhilarating. Perched up on the box seat, the Man and
+I felt radiant with the sheer joy of being alive as we drank in the
+sweet bean-scented air, and watched the approach of the picturesque
+groups of farm folk who were returning townwards from their day's
+work in the fields. Our driver, Canet by name, seemed to be popular.
+Sunburnt faces looked up to smile him a greeting. Laughing girls
+crowded into ramshackle carts exchanged gay repartee in the passing.</p>
+
+<p>As we drove onwards the surroundings became less flat, and in the
+distance a range of sugar-loaf hills&mdash;the mountains of
+Artá&mdash;appeared. About half-way on the journey we jingled through a
+nice little town, San Lorenzo, where grape-vines grew on the walls
+of the houses that lined the narrow streets, and old, old wives sat
+on the doorsteps taking their ease.</p>
+
+<p>Beyond San Lorenzo hills rose about us, and the road ran between
+tracts of uncultivated ground. Here, too, the road was busy with
+returning labourers in delightfully quaint groups. Many of the men
+wore their blue cotton shirts outside, like blouses, and all wore
+wide-brimmed hats of straw or felt.</p>
+
+<p>Each family party was accompanied by an animal&mdash;an ass or an ox, a
+goat or a black pig. What struck us as being funniest of all was to
+see the understanding way in which, in every instance, the pigs<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227"> [Pg 227]</a></span>
+trotted sedately beside their owners, exactly like well-bred dogs.</p>
+
+<p>Then the road rose high between pine woods whose undergrowth was
+thick with the withered blossoms of heath, and we traversed a
+mountain pass up which the men walked, before rattling inspiritingly
+down the farther side.</p>
+
+<p>We were still some distance from the town, and the wayfarers we
+overtook had their faces turned towards it, when it became quite
+dark&mdash;too dark to distinguish anything except vague outlines of
+mountains.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the smooth white road along which we had sped so bravely, we
+entered a narrow street thickly strewn with a misery of sharp jagged
+stones that made advance a penitential progress for both man and
+beast. And Canet, turning towards us, said impressively:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"We are in Artá!"</p>
+
+<p>Our destination in Artá was the Fonda de Rande, which had been
+warmly recommended by our friend the padre at Palma, but when the
+coach drew up in front of the Café Mangol we alighted, to find
+ourselves literally in the embrace of its voluble landlord. By
+pledging our word to hire a carriage from him on the morrow we
+obtained our release, and with Canet acting the dual part of guide
+and porter, we retraced our steps for a few yards along the dark,
+stony streets.</p>
+
+<p>In speaking of the Fonda de Rande the padre had described the Señora
+Rande's cooking as being excellent, her charges moderate, and her
+house the cleanest in Artá. After two nights' experience we not only
+endorse his statements, but go further, and say that her house is
+the cleanest in all Majorca, and that is saying a very great deal.</p>
+
+<p>Within half an hour a meal was before us&mdash;a dish of pickled fish,
+another of fresh fish, hot lamb cutlets and fried potatoes, sweet
+oranges, and plums of the <span lang="es">señora's</span> own drying.</p>
+
+<p>Our rest that night was luxurious. The beds were soft, the blankets
+light and downy. We slept until the hour when a man promenaded the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228"> [Pg 228]</a></span>
+town blowing blasts on a seashell to call the people to their work.</p>
+
+<p>Before we had left our rooms ponderous steps resounded in the
+passage outside our doors. It was the proprietor of the diligence,
+brother to the host of the Café Mangol, come in person to ask at
+what time we would require a carriage for our visit to the caves.</p>
+
+<p>Having promised to be ready an hour later, we descended to the
+dining-room, where, after we had drunk our glasses of coffee, the
+<span lang="es">señora</span> insisted on refilling them: an attention without precedent in
+our experience of Spanish hostelries.</p>
+
+<p>Breakfast over, we sallied out in quest of provisions for our little
+expedition, a somewhat difficult matter, for the shops at Artá are
+even more independent of signs than those of the other Balearic
+towns.</p>
+
+<p>A little questioning revealed a quite unexpected house to be a
+baker's. The apartment next to the street was fitted up with a
+counter; but its window was closely shuttered, its shelves empty. To
+all appearance the entire business of the establishment was carried
+on in the bakehouse at the back, where, in full view of a pile of
+egg-shells and other evidences that proclaimed the genuineness of
+the ingredients employed, we bought little square sponge-cakes hot
+from the oven.</p>
+
+<p>Boldly entering another shop, which we knew to be a greengrocer's by
+the orange-hued gourd and basin of parsley on the doorstep, we found
+it half shop, half weaver's workroom. In one part the mistress and
+her daughter sold vegetables, boots, and many other requirements of
+both outer and inner man. In the other the portly father wrought at
+his hand-loom, weaving the strong dark-blue cotton material so much
+in use locally.</p>
+
+<p>Having bought a supply of sweet little mandarin oranges at twopence
+a dozen&mdash;just half the Palma price&mdash;we returned to the <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span> to
+find the carriage, with Canet and the two horses that had made such
+light work of the diligence, waiting in readiness to take us to the
+caves.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229"> [Pg 229]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 295px;">
+<a href="images/gs38.jpg"><img src="images/gs38-tb.jpg" width="295" height="400" alt="Girls walking up stairs in a narrow street , heading to church" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">TOWARDS THE PARISH CHURCH, ART�</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230"> [Pg 230]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It had been so dark when we entered Artá that it was not until we
+left the town and looked back that we realized how picturesquely it
+was situated. The blue mountains form a wide circle round it, and in
+the centre of the clustered houses a hill crowned with church towers
+rises grandly.</p>
+
+<p>Artá is a district of rural occupations. The fresh butter of the
+island is made at Son Servera, a village close by. On our way
+coastwards we met many interesting and paintable figures. Here an
+old man with a scarlet and yellow handkerchief tied under his hat,
+and a shaggy goatskin bag slung over his shoulder, herding a flock
+of kids; there a handsome girl, whose petticoat had faded to an
+adorable shade of crimson, and whose fingers were busy plaiting the
+strands of the palm-leaves as she watched by a cow that looked, as
+so many of the island cattle do, like an Alderney.</p>
+
+<p>The fields on either side of the road were planted with flourishing
+trees of almond and olive and fig. Assuredly in their season no
+traveller need go hungry in any Majorcan road. He has only to help
+himself. They say that if a native sees a stranger taking his fruit,
+in place of upbraiding he will volunteer with sincere good-will to
+show him the tree the flavour of whose fruit is finest.</p>
+
+<p>At a lonely bit of the way a contented-looking little group,
+consisting of a fine, stalwart lad in light-blue cotton, a smiling
+matron in workaday dress, and a plump black pig, stood at the corner
+of a field by the road to watch us go past.</p>
+
+<p>As we neared them the radiance that illumined their faces found
+reflection in those of the Boy and Canet.</p>
+
+<p>"It's the soldier who travelled in the diligence last night," the
+Boy explained. "That must be his home. He is one of the new
+recruits, and had six days' leave to spend with his mother. Don't
+they seem to be enjoying it?"</p>
+
+<p>And they did. Even the black pig radiated supreme contentment.</p>
+
+<p>High up on the left as we journeyed we saw a little ancient-looking
+town grouped about the lower slopes of an eminence whose height<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231"> [Pg 231]</a></span>
+seemed to be crowned by a castle surrounded by defences. It was
+Capdepera, a relic of antiquity of which we knew but little, and
+instantly resolved to learn more.</p>
+
+<p>The way to the Dragon Caves had been across a bald moorland. That
+leading towards the Caves of Artá was down a fertile valley, that
+through the efforts of skilled husbandmen had been brought to a high
+state of cultivation. In a field by the wayside clumps of narcissus
+were blooming unappreciated, and as we came near the cliffs we saw
+that their rocky sides were yellow with a species of gorse which
+grew in cushioning clumps.</p>
+
+<p>When we were within easy distance of a fine, sandy bay, flanked on
+the east by a towering cliff, a man left the solitary house which
+stood in the middle of the valley and came towards us.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the guide," Canet said, pointing his whip-handle in his
+direction.</p>
+
+<p>The guide to the Caves of Artá was a lean, middle-aged man, whose
+well-cut face suggested an innate appreciation of humour. When we
+stopped he mounted to the box, and we went on slowly, for the sandy
+road was heavy.</p>
+
+<p>A little farther on we drew up again. A woman, supporting with both
+hands a tray containing something edible, had left the house and was
+hurrying towards us across the field. When she got near we saw that
+the tray contained three of the large pastry turnovers that, in
+outward appearance, at least, so strongly resemble Cornish pasties.</p>
+
+<p>"I could do with one of these turnovers. I wonder if she sells
+them?" said the Boy, as she climbed to the box beside her husband
+and the genial Canet.</p>
+
+<p>"A turnover wouldn't come amiss," agreed the Man. "I suppose she
+sells them."</p>
+
+<p>But the woman did not offer her provender to us. The guide got one.
+I suspect Canet of getting another. The third was probably the
+cook's own dinner.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the carriage, we turned to the left of the lovely bay, on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232"> [Pg 232]</a></span>
+whose sands rollers were breaking, and walked along the mile of
+delightful path that runs along the side of a precipitous
+pine-covered cliff. Beneath us roared the sea; from above came the
+murmur of wind-tossed pines, with whose perfume the air was
+fragrant, but the way was warm and sheltered.</p>
+
+<p>Our guide, who accompanied us, kept modestly in the rear. It was
+only when we waited for him, and discovered that he was engaged
+lunching on one of the hot pasties, that we understood his
+reluctance to join us. To judge by eyesight, the pasty was stuffed
+with spinach and prunes. To judge by another sense it was stuffed
+with garlic.</p>
+
+<p>We were naturally eager to compare the attractions of the Caves of
+Artá with their rivals of Manacor. A striking contrast was evident
+from the first sight. The approach to the Dragon Caves had offered
+no suggestion of the glories within. The exterior of the Caves of
+Artá, viewed when, turning away from the sun, one mounted the big
+flight of steps leading to the vast opening in the face of the
+cliff, was sublime.</p>
+
+<p>When we had climbed the steps and were standing in the entrance-hall
+under the great overhanging roof, where maidenhair-fern grows green,
+the guide, kneeling on the ground before a lot of tin vessels, made
+a stock of acetylene gas to light our journey through the darkness.
+He had removed his hat, and as, with his mind intent on his work, he
+carefully mixed the ingredients, he suggested some magician
+preparing for some uncanny rite.</p>
+
+<p>While he was occupied with his incantations we surveyed our
+surroundings, and for the first time were able to understand how the
+Moorish refugees, who at the capture of Palma fled in vast numbers
+to the caves, were able, for so protracted a period, to defy the
+army of the Conquistador that had followed them thither.</p>
+
+<p>Beneath the wide opening the cliff falls precipitously to the sea.
+High above it the overhanging roof forms a protective hood.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233"> [Pg 233]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The rocky sides and floor of the caves afforded an endless supply of
+the rough-and-ready missiles popular in those days. A more perfect
+natural stronghold could hardly be imagined. And but for a clever
+stratagem on the part of two brothers, members of that band of
+intrepid young nobles who so ardently supported their valiant
+leader, the Moors might have held out interminably. These two
+brothers scaled the cliff, and, having reached the point directly
+above the mouth of the cave, threw lighted firebrands down upon the
+huts and defences that were clustered on the rocky shelf beneath,
+with the object of setting the huts on fire and filling the caves
+with suffocating smoke. But the caves were so extensive that even
+this ruse did not quickly prevail. And it was not until Palm Sunday,
+1230, three months after the taking of Palma, that the fugitives
+surrendered.</p>
+
+<p>Shouldering an iron rod, from which were suspended two lamps, the
+guide announced that he was ready to start. There was no need to
+take off coats. The caves were so spacious and lofty that the
+temperature was pleasant, and although the distance to be traversed
+was considerable, the work of seeing them was not fatiguing.</p>
+
+<p>The attitude of our present guide was different from that of the
+former. The guide who showed us the Dragon Caves trotted us through
+them in the business-like fashion of a man who is paid a fixed sum
+for performing a stated task. He wasted few words, and was, we
+thought, a trifle stingy in the matter of magnesium wire. The moment
+of his expansion came only after unexpected tips had been added to
+the amount of the regulation fees. But Amoras, guide to these Caves
+of Artá, showed them as though, after even thirty-five years of
+performance, he still joyed to reveal their glories. His interest
+also was a hereditary one; his father, who had held the post before
+him, had been killed by falling from the cliff path to the rocks
+beneath. Half-way between the bay and the caves, a cross set in the
+side of the cliff marks the place of the tragedy.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234"> [Pg 234]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 309px;">
+<a href="images/gs39.jpg"><img src="images/gs39-tb.jpg" width="309" height="400" alt="Guide with lantern leading the party into the cave" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">ENTERING THE CAVES OF ART�</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>Amoras took the pace slowly, and after lighting us through a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235"> [Pg 235]</a></span>
+succession of vast caverns, paused to remark, with a quiet smile of
+enjoyment at our surprise, "We are only now at the end of the
+entrance-hall."</p>
+
+<p>The drought that prevailed without appeared to have had a malign
+influence even on the water supply of the Caves of Artá. Pointing to
+a hollow enclosed by stones, Amoras told us that was the well,
+which, for the first time in his thirty-five years of experience, he
+now saw dry.</p>
+
+<p>Before we had traversed a tithe of the extent of these capacious
+caverns we understood how the fifteen hundred Moorish refugees, men,
+women, and children, with their flocks and herds, an immense
+quantity of grain, and many precious belongings, had found
+hiding-place within.</p>
+
+<p>The Manacor Caves are fantastic and wonderful. Those of Artá are
+stupendous, overwhelming in their gloom and grandeur. Any conception
+I had ever formed of cavernous magnificence was far exceeded; and to
+me the Caves of Artá were infinitely more impressive than the Caves
+of Manacor. When I tried to express this, Amoras said devoutly:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>"The Cave of the Dragon is an oratory chapel. This is a cathedral."</p>
+
+<p>Countless glories are concealed in the vast caverns. Stalactites so
+large that to try to calculate the length of time occupied in their
+formation makes the brain reel. Statues as complete in detail as
+though carven by the chisel of a sculptor. Cascades of glistening
+crystal. The huge crouching figure of a winged Mephistopheles, and
+in the Hall of the Banners flags&mdash;marvels of immobile drapery&mdash;that
+stood out at right angles from the pillar whence they were
+suspended.</p>
+
+<p>It was in the Hall of the Banners that Amoras, warning us not to
+follow, disappeared from sight, leaving us in the dark. Then from a
+height came strange noises designed to strike terror into the
+breasts of the timid. Then the light of a Roman candle threw into
+weird effect the great maze of stalactite pillars, cones, and
+festoons that rose about and above us to unimagined heights.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236"> [Pg 236]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But perhaps the most beautiful if not the most amazing of the sights
+was that contained in the Salon of the Queen of the Columns, where,
+in a lofty hall, there stood alone, as though conscious of its
+exquisite beauty and holding aloof, a stately pillar twenty-two
+metros&mdash;over sixty feet&mdash;in height. About the base were grouped
+curiously modelled clusters of flowers, and above, as far as the eye
+could distinguish, the same delicate tracing was revealed.</p>
+
+<p>"Under it we are as nothing," Amoras had said reverently, as he
+stood beneath it, and one felt that had he worn a hat he would have
+uncovered before the column.</p>
+
+<p>There was a delightfully nerve-soothing effect in the absolute
+stillness of the caves. Not a sound from the outer world could
+penetrate these vast recesses.</p>
+
+<p>"All the neighbours are asleep," Amoras replied drily when the Man
+remarked on the silence.</p>
+
+<p>Though the Caves of Artá are astonishing in their immensity, there
+is nothing alarming or gruesome about them. It did not occur to
+anybody to speculate secretly on what would happen if the guide were
+seized with illness or anything happened to the lights.</p>
+
+<p>Both sets of caves&mdash;the Dragon and the Artá&mdash;are well worthy a
+special expedition. If it were possible to see only one I would give
+the preference to the Caves of Artá. But that is a matter of mere
+personal taste. I must confess that men seem more impressed by the
+fantastic marvels concealed in the Dragon Caves.</p>
+
+<p>I had promised to show <span lang="es">Señora</span> Rande the English way of serving
+spinach as a vegetable course. So when we reached the <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span>, only
+a quarter of an hour late for lunch, the <span lang="es">señora</span> was waiting to hold
+me to my word.</p>
+
+<p>Fortunately the cooking of spinach is the simplest of culinary
+devices, and while the fresh green leaves were sinking to a pulp in
+the earthen pipkin, I had the privilege of watching the <span lang="es">señora</span> make
+one of her excellent omelets&mdash;an invaluable lesson, and one that I
+humbly trust will render impossible my again making such an
+egregious failure as I did when attempting to cook an omelet at the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237"> [Pg 237]</a></span>
+<span lang="es">Hospederia</span> at Miramar.</p>
+
+<p>Being certain of a good driver and good horses, we had engaged Canet
+to return for us at three o'clock. We were anxious to get a near
+view of the quaint old town, Capdepera, whose distant appearance had
+attracted us as we drove to the caves in the morning. And we wished
+also to visit Cala Retjada, a little fishing village a mile or two
+farther away, that we had heard was celebrated for its known fish
+and for its suspected smugglers.</p>
+
+<p>The short drive was full of the life and interest that characterize
+an agricultural district. About the stone dikes, sloe blossom lay in
+drifts, looking strangely home-like beside the giant clumps of
+cactus.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the carriage when we had reached Capdepera, we walked about
+briskly, for the wind was fresh, bent on exploration. A peep into
+the church revealed nothing of special note. Turning away, we
+climbed a steep street, and found ourselves outside the old gateway
+leading to the fortified enclosure that in bygone days had evidently
+been the place of refuge for the citizens when danger threatened.
+And of a truth the space enclosed within these battlemented walls
+would have afforded shelter to a great community.</p>
+
+<p>To the well-preserved ramparts Nature had added an impregnable
+defence in the form of a thick growth of cactus. Both without and
+within the wall their prickly leaves luxuriated.</p>
+
+<p>From the flat roofs of the watch-towers that surmounted the
+battlements the watchers must have been able to see to a surprising
+distance. A white line across the sea revealed the coast of Minorca,
+twenty miles away. Close by was Cabo de Pera, the eastmost point of
+the island. With a vigilant guard stationed in these watch-towers no
+enemy, either from land or sea, could have reached Capdepera before
+the inhabitants had timely warning to remove themselves and their
+valuables within the safety of the stronghold.</p>
+
+<p>The old parish church&mdash;Our Lady of the Hope&mdash;is within the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238"> [Pg 238]</a></span>
+enclosure, close by a modern house that bore signs of occupation. In
+pockets of hungry soil a little spindly grain grew about the roots
+of hoary fig-trees. While all the fig-trees outside were still
+naked, one in a sheltered corner already showed bursting leaves and
+the diminutive knubbly warts that were to swell into fruit. Besides
+tufts of wild mignonette, henbane reared its downy foliage and
+evil-smelling creamy blossom.</p>
+
+<p>Seated in the open doorways of the houses, the women of this remote
+town were making baskets from the dried leaves of the palmetto
+(garbayous), a dwarf palm-tree that abounds on the mountains of
+Artá. Some were pleating the split fronds into long strips that
+others were sewing into the baskets, which besides being largely
+used in Majorca are exported by ship-loads to France.</p>
+
+<p>The pleasant and cleanly little industry seemed the ruling influence
+of the town. In the street we passed men carrying great numbers of
+the baskets fitted snugly inside one another. A glimpse into the
+open door of a warehouse revealed the place close packed from floor
+to rafters with the baskets. On the way to Cala Retjada we drove
+past a cart piled high with stock ready for shipment; and in a
+sheltered cove beyond the fishing village we saw, lying at anchor,
+the <span lang="es"><i>pailebot</i></span> that was waiting to convey the goods to an over-seas
+market.</p>
+
+<p>When we reached Cala Retjada the wind was blowing in fresh from the
+sea, and the boats lay snugly drawn up on the beach of a tiny haven.
+A number of small shut-up houses lining the semicircle of the bay
+showed that the stone-washed shore was a favourite place of summer
+residence. To the west is the imposing headland of Cape Vermay.
+Westwards pine woods clothe the rocky slopes about the sea. Truly a
+pleasant place to fly to when the interior of the island is hot and
+relaxing.</p>
+
+<p>The people of the eastern town struck us as being more Moorish in
+type than those of the more northern or western parts of Majorca. In
+Cala Retjada, in the person of the handsome bronzed captain of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239"> [Pg 239]</a></span>
+<span lang="es"><i>pailebot</i></span>, we saw and instantly recognized our ideal of a pirate
+chief&mdash;the heroic pirate who treats his enemies nobly. He wore a
+scarlet nightcap with a grass-green band, a golden brown velvet
+suit, an orange cummerbund, and yellow string-soled shoes. Truly he
+was a joy to behold.</p>
+
+<p>Daylight was fading when we turned our faces towards Artá; and as we
+approached the romantically situated town, we passed many parties of
+returning labourers, and many little bands of pretty girls, who had
+presumably strolled out to meet them, though each sex kept
+rigorously apart.</p>
+
+<p>It is the rarest thing to see an unmarried man and a girl walking
+alone in Majorca. The strict system of chaperonage that prevails in
+the higher classes evidently has its prototype in the lower also,
+for the maidens walked with twined arms&mdash;like some Maeterlinck
+chorus&mdash;and the men, as far as we could judge, confined their
+attentions to admiring glances.</p>
+
+<p>We had heard that the remains of a Ph&#339;nician village still
+existed in an ancient forest of ilex not far from Artá. When we
+questioned the <span lang="es">señora</span> next morning, as she poured out the coffee,
+regarding its whereabouts, she promptly suggested that her husband
+would take us there. So when we sallied forth it was in company with
+<span lang="es">Señor</span> Rande and the <span lang="es"><i>perro de Rande</i></span>&mdash;a fine specimen of the ancient
+hunting dogs that are still prevalent in the island. It amused us to
+see him leap high into the air to sight his prey.</p>
+
+<p>The way, though it covered a bare half mile, was devious, and
+without assistance would have been difficult to find. But it ended
+in something far more wonderful than we had been led to anticipate.</p>
+
+<p>Near the summit of a gentle mound that was covered with ilex and
+low-growing scrub we found ourselves confronted by a wall built of
+vast, roughly hewn blocks of stone. Before us was an open portal,
+formed of two huge blocks supporting a third stone, one end of which
+was pierced by an orifice that had two openings towards the sky.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240"> [Pg 240]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Within this gateway were the tumbled remains of a city that had been
+encircled by walls constructed of great single blocks of stone&mdash;a
+city so old that all tradition of its builders was lost. We had
+thought the Roman remains at Alcudia and Pollensa as of surpassing
+antiquity. Here was evidence of an occupation far older still.</p>
+
+<p>An eminence in the centre of the enclosure revealed the site of the
+inevitable, and at that date indispensable, watch-tower. From its
+top, though now lowered by the passing of centuries and overgrown
+with herbage, we saw through the gaps in the trees beyond how
+comprehensive a view the watchers had commanded of the surrounding
+country.</p>
+
+<p>The top of the mound on which we stood had been hollowed out, and
+<span lang="es">Señor</span> Rande remarked that children came up from Artá to dig for
+treasures.</p>
+
+<p>"Do they find any?" we asked innocently.</p>
+
+<p>Raising his forefinger, the <span lang="es">señor</span> shook it before his face in the
+gesture we had grown to think characteristically Majorcan.</p>
+
+<p>"<span lang="es"><i>Nada!</i></span>" he made laconic reply.</p>
+
+<p>Devil's tomatoes, heavy with golden fruit, and beautiful
+large-blossomed lavender periwinkle grew in great profusion about
+the devastated homes of the vanished people. And it seemed a curious
+coincidence to remember that the last periwinkles I had seen were
+those growing about the base of the megalithic monuments in Minorca.
+One wonders what connection this starry-eyed flower could have had
+with these prehistoric races.</p>
+
+<p>I had received the information that begonias grew wild in Majorca,
+with the mental reservation natural to a native of a less gracious
+climate. So it was a pleasant surprise to recognize a leaf or two of
+their distinctive marled foliage thrust out from between the heaped
+stones of the ruined Ph&#339;nician village.</p>
+
+<p>Our return journey from Artá was not worthy to rank in our memories<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241"> [Pg 241]</a></span>
+with our triumphal progress thither. We had a special conveyance,
+but as Canet was already in Manacor, having driven the diligence
+that left Artá at three o'clock that morning, he could not act as
+our charioteer, and his employer, who drove us, set the pace
+sedately.</p>
+
+<p>The wind was high, dust was more than a possibility, and the box
+seat held no attractions. So we sat inside and yawned a little as
+the <span lang="es">kilometros</span> crept slowly past.</p>
+
+<p>In the little grass-grown station at Manacor the afternoon crowd was
+beginning to gather. And in the station yard the diligences for
+Artá, for Capdepera, for San Lorenzo, were drawn up prepared to
+start as soon as the train had arrived and their passengers had
+climbed into their seats.</p>
+
+<p>We had taken our places in one of the empty carriages that were
+standing ready to be attached to the train for Palma, when the
+smiling sun-tanned face of Canet appeared at the window. He had come
+to bid us good-speed, and remained to share our tea, and to puzzle
+over the powers of the Thermos bottle. Though he politely praised
+the tea, I am convinced that he secretly scorned the bad taste of
+the "Ingleses" who chose to drink so uninteresting a decoction in a
+land overflowing with good red wine.</p>
+
+<p>Our little excursion, undertaken though it had been with something
+of reluctance, had proved like others a charming one, and one whose
+every moment had been full of new interests.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242"> [Pg 242]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 380px;">
+<a href="images/gs40.jpg"><img src="images/gs40-tb.jpg" width="380" height="400" alt="Children at worship carrying fronds" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">PALM-SUNDAY AT SÓLLER</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="XXI" id="XXI"></a><abbr title="21">XXI</abbr><br />
+AMONG THE HILLS</h2>
+
+<p>March was more than half over; we had already reluctantly begun to
+measure our stay in the Fortunate Isles by weeks instead of months
+when we drove to Sóller to spend a few days with an English friend,
+who, with all the world to choose from, elects to make her home at
+Sóller.</p>
+
+<p>When we left Sóller on our previous visit in early December,
+darkness had fallen long before we reached Palma, so the first half
+of this return journey was new to us. And as the day was beautiful,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243"> [Pg 243]</a></span>
+we sat luxuriously back in the open carriage and enjoyed it to the
+full. The shower that had fallen had greatly refreshed the land, and
+though more rain was eagerly hoped for, the almond-trees were heavy
+in leafage and thickly ruched with the green-velvet casings of the
+embryonic fruit.</p>
+
+<p>During the winter we had noticed few wild birds. Now, amongst the
+olive-trees that lined the highway as we approached the rising
+ground, many were flying. A brightly plumaged bird with a crested
+head crossed our path like a flash of gold, and disappeared among
+the trees. It was the hoo-poo, the typical Balearic bird, known
+locally as the <span lang="es"><i>pu-put</i></span>.</p>
+
+<p>The highway between Palma and Valldemosa passes through a
+picturesque gulch. The road between Palma and Sóller climbs a
+considerable mountain, up whose steep sides the native makers of
+roads&mdash;surely the most ingenious in the world&mdash;have carried the path
+in a series of amazing zigzags, so that the view of the traveller
+varies incessantly. As we mounted higher and massive crags rose
+about us, we sometimes stopped the carriage to look down over the
+vast orchard that covers the plain, to where the far distant spires
+of Palma Cathedral showed against the sea.</p>
+
+<p>As our altitude increased the air became colder. The wind that met
+us at the top was almost keen, and we were glad to rattle down the
+farther side of the hill up which we had climbed so slowly.</p>
+
+<p>A few turns down the zigzag, a fine old cross, its carvings gnawed
+by the corroding tooth of time, stands overlooking the valley and
+the tawny-roofed houses of Sóller, as they lie surrounded by their
+orange gardens. A poor cottage was hard by, and while we paused to
+let the Man make a rapid sketch, two children, a boy and girl, crept
+nearer and nearer, until at last they grouped themselves in
+conventional attitudes at the foot of the cross. It did not require
+words to tell us that they must have posed in the foreground of many
+photographs of the same subject.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244"> [Pg 244]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>At the Hotel Marina, where our friend was staying, three good things
+awaited us&mdash;a gracious welcome, a glorious fire of almond shells,
+and a daintily spread tea-table.</p>
+
+<p>In the evening we went to Son Angelats, a beautiful "possession"
+dating back to the Moorish occupation. Son Angelats nestles snugly
+into the side of the mountain, and all the year round it is bowered
+in roses of every shade and hue. The air was fragrant with the
+mingled odours of flowers innumerable; and when we walked down to
+Sóller through the gloaming the sweet essence of the blossoms
+accompanied us, for our hands were full of roses and violets.</p>
+
+<p>As we strolled through the grounds I noticed what I thought was a
+blue bead lying on the path. Picking it up, I discovered it to be
+the seed of a small grassy-leaved plant new to me, but much used in
+Majorca for covering the sides of banks where grass refuses to grow.
+The seed, which was about the size of a pea, was of the pure deep
+blue of the sapphire.</p>
+
+<p>The name of the plant the gardener declared to be <span lang="es"><i>convoladia</i></span>. I
+spell the word phonetically. And when I asked what the appearance of
+the flower was, he made the incredible statement&mdash;and stuck to
+it&mdash;that the plant had none.</p>
+
+<p>It is impossible to stay in Sóller without feeling the magnetic
+attraction of the Puig Mayor, which is higher than any mountain in
+the British Isles. A dozen times in an hour we found ourselves
+turning to see how it looked, for its aspect held the charm of
+exhaustless variety. One might leave it a purple shadow amid
+light-hued satellite hills and turn again a few minutes later to
+discover it rose-tipped and the others in shadow.</p>
+
+<p>Next morning I looked out on a lovely scene. In the growing light of
+dawn the encompassing mountains showed clearly their outlines,
+unblurred save by a wanton wisp of mist that seemed too trivial to
+bear any meaning. But when my breakfast tray was brought in, rain
+was falling with the quiet persistence of rain that has come to<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245"> [Pg 245]</a></span>
+stay. So we spent the morning indoors enjoying refreshing gossip,
+and refreshing peeps into English books, and in watching from the
+windows and balconies the ever-changing cloud effects on the
+mountains.</p>
+
+<p>There were moments when the crest of the Puig Mayor rose majestic
+above a rolling fleece of vapour that blotted out all the lesser
+heights; and times when, though the clouds hung heavy over the town,
+and the few passers-by huddled beneath time-worn umbrellas, every
+red rock and cleft of the mountain glowed under a sun that shone for
+it alone. Or again the Puig Mayor itself might vanish, and some
+nearer height stand out against the wall of mist in unexpected
+beauty of contour&mdash;imposing only because of its temporary isolation.</p>
+
+<p>In the afternoon the sky cleared a little and we ventured out. The
+Good Fairy, our hostess, who abounds in individualities that are as
+charming as they are original, possessed, by right of purchase, the
+fruit of a tree of sweet oranges. Her tree grew in an orchard on the
+outskirts of the town that is itself an orange garden. And hither we
+went to listen to the sweet clamour of the nightingales while eating
+the fruit we had plucked.</p>
+
+<p>Among the glossy-green leaves Keats's "light-wingéd Dryads of the
+trees" were singing "of summer in full-throated ease." We would
+gladly have lingered long, but heavy rain again encompassed us; and
+we returned to the comforts of the hotel, reluctant to leave the
+melodious plot, but rejoicing for the sake of the islanders, in
+whose expectant ears the sound of the rain falling on their thirsty
+land must have been much more musical than the song of the immortal
+bird.</p>
+
+<p>Next day was Palm Sunday&mdash;the children's day. Yet when we left the
+hotel in the morning and ventured out into the rain-washed streets,
+there was not a child in sight. Old people&mdash;grandmothers, formless
+figures muffled from forehead to ankle in black shawls, moved
+decorously along carrying folding stools; grandfathers, protecting<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246"> [Pg 246]</a></span>
+their Sabbath garb with rose-coloured umbrellas of a silk so fine
+and antique that one longed to implore them not to ruin it by
+exposure to the weather, were hastening towards the church. But the
+narrow streets of the quaint old town were curiously empty of
+children.</p>
+
+<p>To our uncomprehending eyes it appeared more the day of the
+grandparents than of the children. I blush now to acknowledge that,
+for the moment, we had forgotten that the day of the children is
+always, and in almost greater measure, the day of the grandparents
+also.</p>
+
+<p>We entered the church to find both the outer absence of youth and
+the presence of the aged explained. Above even the pungent odour of
+incense, the savour of sweet flowers perfumed the air. The centre of
+the church was a seething mass of greenery. Tall spikes of palm
+arose like sword blades from out a forest of green branches&mdash;a
+forest that looked as though ruffled by a strong wind, so restless
+was its incessant motion.</p>
+
+<p>Closer observance revealed the motive power to be a multitude of
+small boys who sat, closely packed together, on benches, holding
+aloft branches, many of which were wreathed with flowers. Most of
+the trophies showed the grey-green of olive&mdash;a shapely bough chosen
+with care from the family possession, with all the available
+blossoms of the garden twined about the stem. And many revealed
+ingenuity and artistic taste in the garlanding of the flowers.
+Certain of the palm fronds had a piece fixed athwart the tip to
+represent a cross. A proportion, happily but a small proportion, of
+the trophies carried struck the blatant note of artificiality, for
+in their case the palm frond was split and twisted into ornamental
+shapes, and out of all semblance of that they were supposed to
+represent. A few were travesties of Christmas-trees, for their
+fictitious branches were laden with silvered and gilt sweets, toys
+and trinkets, seemingly trivial, but doubtless owning a significance
+of their own.</p>
+
+<p>Beside the rows of close-cropped dark heads moved priests and<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247"> [Pg 247]</a></span>
+black-robed teachers. And on the outskirts of the throng hovered
+bigger boys, torn betwixt two opinions&mdash;whether it were better to
+continue to assert their claim to have reached an age exempt from
+such childish matters, or to yield to their natural desire to join
+the palm-bearers and have a place in the procession that was to
+follow.</p>
+
+<p>One urchin, but recently advanced to the dignity of his first long
+trousers, held half-concealed a scrap of olive, to which he added by
+furtive gleanings from the fallen blossoms that littered the floor,
+garnering a battered, but still recognizable rose here, a gaudy
+marigold there, until he had achieved a trophy that, if not one to
+court careful examination, yet at a little distance presented quite
+a respectable appearance.</p>
+
+<p>When the rose-red umbrellas had dripped themselves almost dry, and
+the branches supported by the hot hands of restless boys were waving
+faster than ever, the black-robed teachers and a nun, moving
+noiselessly amongst their pupils, began to marshal them into a
+double line.</p>
+
+<p>Standing at the side, in company with grandfathers whose fine old
+weather-beaten faces gazed proudly intent at those who were to carry
+their names to succeeding generations, we watched as the little
+forest of branches, borne sedately, passed in front of the altar,
+and then moved in procession round the church. The smallest boys
+walked in front, and many of them were burdened with the care of
+umbrellas in addition to the proud glory of the decorated branch
+that wobbled in their tired hands; while boys of larger growth,
+unable to resist, yielded to a natural desire to shoulder their
+boughs as muskets.</p>
+
+<p>Very few girls took an active part in the proceedings. The
+half-dozen who did belonged to the class that have hats for Sunday
+wear, and the palms they carried had cost money. Little girls whom
+fortune had denied the envied possession of either ugly hats or
+ornamental palms looked on with longing in their soft dark eyes as
+the favoured ones marched by.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248"> [Pg 248]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>When the complete circuit of the edifice had been made the
+palm-bearers moved to a side, and a band of clergy advancing paused
+just within the great doors, through which certain of their number
+had slipped outside.</p>
+
+<p>Standing thus, their resplendent robes of purple and scarlet thrown
+into strong relief against the old wood of the door, the group began
+chanting. When they ceased there came from without the sound of
+answering voices. Again were the voices within raised in recitative.
+From outside came again the reply.</p>
+
+<p>Then, reverberating solemnly through the deep silence that ensued,
+came the sound of a thrice repeated knock on the closed door. At the
+summons the wide doors were thrown open and the outside band
+admitted. Then, the symbol of the release of repentant souls from
+purgatory having been thus impressively enacted, the band, now
+chanting in unison, moved towards the high altar.</p>
+
+<p>The ceremony of the blessing of the palms is a beautiful one, and
+one of which no child who has taken part can ever forget the
+meaning.</p>
+
+<p>The last we saw of it was a hale old grandfather, who carried in his
+arms, under the shelter of his big rose-hued umbrella, a sleepy
+little boy, whose weary hand still grasped his flower-wreathed
+olive-branch as they took the path leading to the mountains.</p>
+
+<p>The earnestly prayed for rain, when it did come, came in unstinted
+quantity. It had rained all night, and on Monday rain was still
+falling, but more softly&mdash;almost, one might say, reluctantly&mdash;on the
+little white-robed first communicants who, sheltered by the
+umbrellas of mothers or aunts, were threading their way delicately
+among the pools of water that lay as traps for their white-shod
+feet.</p>
+
+<p>But the Majorcan climate is too beneficent to spoil the notable day
+for the young communicants. Before noon the clouds had drifted away
+from the mountains; and though the sun did not appear, the air was
+mild and balmy, and through the wonderfully absorbent nature of the
+Sóller soil the streets speedily became dry enough to enable the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249"> [Pg 249]</a></span>
+dainty white shoes to trip about almost without blemish.</p>
+
+<p>And all day long, everywhere one looked, young girls, some in
+expensive raiment, others in evidently home-made garments, but all
+with long white veils flowing from their wreathed heads, moved
+sedately from house to house, accompanied by an admiring train of
+female relatives, as they paid visits of ceremony to all their
+friends.</p>
+
+<p>And as for the boys!&mdash;words fail to tell of the glories of their
+harshly new suits, their shining patent leather boots, of their
+spreading collars, of the elaborate bow of gold embroidered white
+ribbon that decorated their left arms; or, greatest of all&mdash;of their
+self-importance.</p>
+
+<p>They, too, had their public promenade, and paid their visits. They,
+too, had their attendant group of appreciative relatives. On meeting
+any friends the little party would pause, and the graceful ceremony
+of asking forgiveness for past misdeeds be gone through, when the
+young communicant, bending and kissing the hand of the elder, would
+say, "If I have ever done you any harm, forgive me now."</p>
+
+<p>My men had gone off to see Biniaraix, a hamlet of brown houses
+grouped about the white tower of a church on the mountain-side, and
+to enjoy a reminiscent glance at Fornalutx, the quaint hill-town
+where, on our previous visit to Sóller, we had spent a well
+remembered afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>So the Good Fairy and I, left to our own devices, passed the
+afternoon in rambling about this town of amazing contrasts. As I
+said before, Sóller is endowed with a curiously absorbent soil&mdash;a
+soil that acts as a charm in cases of inflammatory rheumatism and is
+prime factor in the remarkable longevity of the inhabitants. The
+roads were already so dry and pleasant to walk on that, but for the
+evidence of the <span lang="es"><i>torrente</i></span>, which was a raging river, it would have
+been hard to credit that for two days and nights thrice-blessed rain
+had fallen without intermission. Snow covered the crest of the Puig
+Mayor and lay heavy on its shoulders, yet down in the valley the
+soft air was sweet with the fragrance of orange blossoms, and all<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250"> [Pg 250]</a></span>
+about the golden or copper-coloured fruit hung in profusion on the
+trees. Truly Sóller is a place of piquant contrasts.</p>
+
+<p>The trespasser is welcomed in Majorca. There are no
+notice-boards&mdash;except a few <span lang="es"><i>vedados</i></span> to warn against hunting&mdash;no
+padlocked gates. So we wandered about, following bypaths that led
+from one small "possession" to another; and never, after we left it,
+returning to the highroad until it was time to return home.</p>
+
+<p>That the Good Fairy is widely beloved was evident at every turn. Her
+diplomatic powers are great, but she had to exercise them all to
+avoid spending the afternoon indoors in the hospitable homes of her
+humble acquaintances, who, catching a glimpse of her as she passed,
+hastened out to entreat her to enter.</p>
+
+<p>Living in this place of natural delight must be cheaper even than in
+Palma. One courteous dame took us all over her house, that we might
+see the views from her windows. The house, which was in the town,
+was a comparatively new dwelling in a good airy street. It had a
+large high-ceilinged <span lang="es"><i>zaguan</i></span>&mdash;the entrance chamber that is a
+combination of hall and reception-room&mdash;from which opened a neat
+kitchen. A few steps up from the <span lang="es"><i>zaguan</i></span> was a cosy parlour from
+which a stair led down to the <span lang="es"><i>terras</i></span>. Above, on the first floor,
+were two bedrooms, and on the second floor two more, all well lit
+and affording exquisite views. Being in town the house had no
+garden; but the <span lang="es"><i>terras</i></span> with its big jars of plants seemed a
+favourite place for taking the air.</p>
+
+<p>When I indulged my curiosity by asking the rent, the good dame told
+us that for all this excellence she paid twenty-four dollars a
+year&mdash;less than five pounds; and the rent included taxes!</p>
+
+<p>As we strolled farther afield the wealth of the land was heaped upon
+us. Our hands overflowed with the Balearic violets, that are the
+sweetest in the world, and the Balearic pansies, that are, I verily
+believe, the poorest. For pansies love a cold damp soil, and rarely
+flourish south of the River Tweed; and the Tweed is a far, far cry<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251"> [Pg 251]</a></span>
+from these sun-loved isles.</p>
+
+<p>We had sprays of orange blossom given us too, and ripe oranges,
+whose golden sides the beneficent sun had tanned to copper. And we
+sat in a garden and ate them, while the aged donor, who still
+possessed the fine features and limpid eyes of her bygone youth,
+talked to us, illustrating her stories by a pantomime of feature and
+gesture so expressive that even I, with my meagre knowledge of her
+language, could hardly fail to grasp their meaning.</p>
+
+<p>In the kitchen of her house the wide hearth was almost shut in by a
+three-sided settle, whose seats were strewn with fleecy white
+sheepskins. On the kitchen shelves the native ware of brown,
+decorated in crude patterns of red and yellow, was arranged with
+unconscious artistic effect.</p>
+
+<p>Mounting gradually higher, we rested at a point where the town lay
+open before us. Hills rose steeply behind us; in front the ground
+sloped down in terraces; and, far beyond, the fruitful gardens and
+russet houses of the town rose again towards the snow-crested
+mountains, or at one point fell gradually to the cleft beyond which
+showed the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Becoming suddenly conscious that we had let the tea hour slip past
+unheeded, we were hastening back to the hotel, when, crossing the
+bridge that spans the <span lang="es"><i>torrente</i></span>, we caught the promise of a sight
+that made us quickly return to the open space of the market square
+that we might obtain a less interrupted view. Over the roofs of the
+houses the snow-capped mountain summits, struck by some magic shaft
+from the hidden sun, glowed rose-red, and the unearthly beauty of
+the transfiguration held us mute and spell-bound.</p>
+
+<p>The curious thing was, that though little groups of people stood
+gossiping in the market-place no one appeared to have eyes for this
+refulgence but ourselves. Seeing us standing gazing silently towards
+the mountains, they turned also to see what had attracted our
+attention, then turned away uncomprehending.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252"> [Pg 252]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="XXII" id="XXII"></a><abbr title="22">XXII</abbr><br />
+DEY�, AND A PALMA PROCESSION</h2>
+
+<p>The last lingering trails of rain-clouds had vanished and the sun
+shone from a cloudless blue sky when next day we drove off behind
+Pepe and his pair of white horses to picnic at Deyá, the curiously
+distinctive little town that perches on a hill betwixt mountain and
+sea, half-way between Sóller and Miramar.</p>
+
+<p>The road was a good one, and as the way, though steep, was set in
+zigzag fashion, its ascent would have been easy but for the
+barbarous way in which, acting with the empty cunning of these
+would-be crafty island road-menders, someone had littered the road
+with lumps of stone, thus forcing the passing vehicle to act the
+ignominious part of road-roller by threading its way out and in over
+the newly mended parts. Sometimes the stones were so evilly placed
+as to impel us to venture perilously near the edge of the
+precipitous track.</p>
+
+<p>It was a relief as we slowly mounted upwards to come upon the
+perpetrator of the crime in the very act of further blocking our
+path. Taken thus red-handed, he was not one whit dismayed, but
+complacently stepped aside to let us pass.</p>
+
+<p>The opportunity was not one to be missed. Half drawing up and
+turning round on the box, Pepe launched towards him a few
+objurgations in trenchant Majorcan. And the Good Fairy, putting her
+head out of the carriage, added the weight of her gentle reproach.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253"> [Pg 253]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 268px;">
+<a href="images/gs41.jpg"><img src="images/gs41-tb.jpg" width="268" height="400" alt="Town set on hill top nestled in a valley" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">DEY�</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>"What is this you do?" she asked in her pretty Spanish. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254] </a></span>"Placing
+stones on the road to welcome the strangers! Is this the way you
+show them the delicacy of the Spaniard?"</p>
+
+<p>Thus doubly reproached, the <span lang="es"><i>caminero</i></span> stood transfixed; and our
+emotions having found vent, we drove on, leaving him with his hand
+raised to his brass-bound hat, his mouth open but speechless.</p>
+
+<p>Having reached the summit, we began the descent, losing sight of our
+grand mountains, but gaining a glimpse of the Mediterranean, which
+glowed in that warm blue that makes one wonder&mdash;until one tries the
+temperature&mdash;why sea-bathing should be confined to the summer
+months.</p>
+
+<p>The tawny-roofed houses of Deyá cluster on a high rock that rises
+like an island from out a sea of valley which is girdled by
+precipitous mountains. Streams in cascades were rushing down in a
+joyful pell-mell, the cherry-trees were heavy with blossom, and the
+pomegranates were opening their first delicate copper-tinted leaves
+as we drove along the highroad that follows the curve of the valley.</p>
+
+<p>The attentive <span lang="es"><i>chef</i></span> of the Marina had made us independent of
+<span lang="es"><i>fondas</i></span>, and Pepe had promised to find us a good place to lunch in.
+So when he drew up at a path that branched off from the highway on
+the Miramar side of Deyá, we took our hamper, from which the neck of
+a bottle protruded alluringly, and started to explore it.</p>
+
+<p>The path ended at a gate that opened into private grounds. In any
+other country the most presumptuous among us would have hesitated
+before invading the garden of unknown owners. But we were in the
+Fortunate Isles and the charm of their unconventionality influenced
+us. Walking in, we found some conveniently placed stone seats under
+the shade of a huge lemon-tree, and there we spread our feast of
+lamb cutlets, potato omelets, cakes and fruit.</p>
+
+<p>The house, of one corner of whose quaintly terraced garden we had
+taken possession, appeared to be untenanted. Its windows were
+closely shuttered, its stable empty; but soon from the highest
+terrace an old head peeped at us. A little later it appeared on a
+terrace lower, then nearer still, the attached body becoming<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255"> [Pg 255]</a></span>
+gradually more and more visible, until the owner appeared before us
+in the person of an aged woman whose frivolously abbreviated
+petticoats seemed incompatible with her sober face.</p>
+
+<p>It was the caretaker, come not to warn us that we were intruding,
+but to urge us to leave the place we had chosen for one where there
+was a proper table and much water.</p>
+
+<p>We resisted her enticements and she trotted off, her appearance a
+ludicrous combination of propriety and indecorum, with her serious
+face swathed in its black kerchief and her lavishly displayed light
+drab ankles.</p>
+
+<p>She did not quite abandon us, however; and when the men had gone off
+to paint she returned, and was so evidently desirous that we would
+not leave before seeing the marvels of the garden, that we consented
+to allow her to show them.</p>
+
+<p>And, indeed, the arrangement of the grounds revealed much ingenuity.
+The spot where she would have had us eat was a stone-built
+<span lang="es"><i>mirador</i></span>, through a shallow cave, at whose back a mountain torrent
+had been induced to flow. As she had promised, there was both "a
+table" and "much water." In summer the suggestion of coolness
+imparted by even a trickle of water would be charming. Then, with
+the torrent rushing at breakneck speed, the effect was a little
+overpowering and the noise positively deafening. Our chosen place
+under the big lemon-tree might not be so extraordinary, but it had a
+placid charm that soothed while it did not detract from the matter
+in hand.</p>
+
+<p>The nephew of our unconsciously serio-comic cicerone, in the person
+of a one-eyed <em>calender</em>&mdash;I beg his pardon, gardener&mdash;joined us to
+reveal fresh attractions of summer-house and rivulets, and of a
+grotto where, amid a perfect cascade of maidenhair-fern, a graceful
+statue of Our Lady of Lourdes was embowered. From every point the
+view was lovely, but I defy anybody to find a spot about Deyá that
+does not afford a lovely prospect.</p>
+
+<p>When we left the place our lady of the stockings, eager to do
+something for the generous tip the Good Fairy had slipped into her<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256"> [Pg 256]</a></span>
+hand, insisted on carrying our hamper. And during the remainder of
+our afternoon at Deyá, whether we went up hill or down dale, amongst
+the picturesque houses clustered on the church-crowned hill or
+through the gardens that lined the side of the river, we seemed
+always to be encountering her. Whether she was paying a round of
+visits to display her coin, or bound on an exhaustive shopping
+expedition to squander it, we did not know; but at every turn of the
+road we seemed to see the twinkle of those drab ankles.</p>
+
+<p>One of the many charms of Deyá is the proximity of the sea, which
+laves the foot of its valley. Another is its delicious irregularity.
+I do not believe there are a half-dozen yards of straight road in
+Deyá. Every house has its own elevation, its individual bypaths.
+Another and an invaluable charm to artists is the manageable quality
+of its pictorial effects. The extensive grandeur of Miramar is
+almost unpaintable, but Deyá has a complete picture at every turn.
+We saw many in the course of that afternoon stroll. Women washing,
+men gathering oranges, a handsome woman in a petticoat of vivid
+scarlet leading a recalcitrant black goat: all ready for
+transference to canvas.</p>
+
+<p>The hours flew past. Almost before we knew, dusk was falling and we
+were on our way back to where the snow-capped Puig Mayor presides
+over the wonderful Sóller valley.</p>
+
+<p>We had been a little apprehensive, expecting a repetition of the
+somewhat hazardous morning journey. But the Good Fairy's appeal to
+the chivalry of the Spaniard had borne immediate result. Every stone
+had been laboriously removed from the path. So without hindrance we
+rattled gaily down into the valley, where lights were already
+twinkling through the dusk.</p>
+
+<p>The final day of our visit to Sóller brought yet another experience
+of unusual interest. Our hostess had still another surprise in store
+for us. We had viewed the high mountains from beneath, now we were
+going to see them from the crest of one of their number.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257"> [Pg 257]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Pepe took the reins in his skilled hands and guided the surefooted
+mules, who, for this expedition, replaced the white horses, up a
+perilous road that curved about the mountain-side, rising higher and
+ever higher until we looked down over the many terraces of olives
+into the valley that lay placidly basking in the afternoon sunshine.</p>
+
+<p>Our ascent was necessarily very deliberate. As we wound slowly up we
+passed neither dwelling nor human being; and those of us to whom the
+way was new began to wonder why any road should have existed on so
+lonely a height. Then when we had got so high that it seemed as
+though an eaglet's aerie would be the most likely habitation, the
+road ended on a flat plateau, and we found ourselves driving into
+the outer courtyard of a farm-house so old and weather-beaten that
+in appearance it resembled the rocks and crags that surrounded it.</p>
+
+<p>We alighted unnoticed. Doves were flying overhead. A dog greeted our
+advent with an interrogative growl; fowls clucked about unheeding.
+Pepe, rolling himself up in a striped blanket, curled up on the box
+to await the hour when it might be our pleasure to return. And we
+walked on, wondering if we had left the everyday world behind in the
+valley and had all unwittingly climbed to the palace of the sleeping
+beauty.</p>
+
+<p>A stone-cast from the house was a <span lang="es"><i>mirador</i></span> known to our
+conductress. Securely seated therein, poised right on the edge of
+the mountain-crest, we looked at the vast panorama. Crags rose high
+about us. Behind and above us towered an unfamiliar side of the Puig
+Mayor, its massive shoulders deep in drifted snow.</p>
+
+<p>Far beneath, looking like some gaily coloured map when seen from
+that height, lay the port of Sóller with its lake-like harbour and
+pigmy headlands. And northwards spread the far-reaching sea, whose
+grandeur no altitude could dwarf.</p>
+
+<p>The sensation of being above the world was gloriously exhilarating.
+When a bird flew overhead we almost felt as though we too had<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258"> [Pg 258]</a></span>
+wings, and two lines from Davidson's <i>Ballad of a Nun</i> kept running
+through my mind:</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">"I am sister to the mountains now,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">&nbsp;And sister to the sun and moon."</span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Leaving the <span lang="es"><i>mirador</i></span>, we wandered happily about the plateau. Among
+the grass a strange flower was blooming, and it seemed quite natural
+that this amazing location should boast a flower of its own. It was
+an orchid whose sugarloaf-shaped spike was covered with florets of
+dull purple, close-packed after the manner of a grape hyacinth. In
+many of the plants the flowers burst into a tuft at the top. It was
+strange and not pretty, but curiously in keeping with its isolated
+situation.</p>
+
+<p>When we returned to the house Pepe, swathed in his blanket, was
+still deep in the slumber of the man of tranquil mind: but the
+mistress of the house was at hand. Approaching, she greeted us with
+grave courtesy. She had the remains of much beauty. The soft bloom
+of girlhood lingered on her matronly cheeks, and the retrospective
+look of one accustomed to deep solitude was in her fine dark eyes.</p>
+
+<p>On her invitation we entered the house, whose tall sides surrounded
+an inner courtyard. One end of the big cool kitchen was partitioned
+off with high-backed settles, and right on the middle of the floor
+of the "cosy corner" thus formed a pile of logs was glowing. Looking
+up, we saw that overhead the roof contracted until it became a wide
+chimney, through which a glimpse of blue sky was visible. A gun hung
+on the whitewashed wall, and on one of the seats which was thickly
+spread with skins a shepherd lad was resting.</p>
+
+<p>Returning to the <span lang="es"><i>mirador</i></span>, we watched the sun sink in a golden
+glory over the misty blue sea. Then, lamenting the inevitable close
+of another perfect day, we drove back down the vagrant deviating
+way, feeling as though we had for a brief space been translated to a
+new and inspiring world.</p>
+
+<p>It was with sincere regret that on the morning of Holy Thursday we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259"> [Pg 259]</a></span>
+bade the Good Fairy farewell and, with Pepe again as charioteer,
+started on our drive back by way of Deyá, Miramar, and Valldemosa to
+Palma, where we had an afternoon engagement.</p>
+
+<p>The scenery of this coast road must rank with the finest in the
+world, and on that March morning it was looking its loveliest. There
+was no wind, and both sea and sky were of that deep warm azure that
+makes so fitting a background to Balearic Island vistas.</p>
+
+<p>On reaching the first houses of Deyá, we stopped the carriage, and
+alighting, climbed the easy ascent to the church. Halfway up the
+slope a French artist was painting, filling in his canvas with a
+delicate mosaic of heliotropes and pinks and purples.</p>
+
+<p>He was enthusiastic about the pictorial quality of his surroundings.
+"Deyá," he declared, was "<span lang="fr"><i>un paradis pour les peintres</i></span>."</p>
+
+<p>When we peeped into the church Mass was being celebrated, and from
+the dusk of the interior the eyes of young communicants looked
+gravely at us from under their white wreaths.</p>
+
+<p>Amid the clustered houses halfway down the hill a quaint old
+building proclaimed itself the Casa Consistorial. A worm-eaten stair
+led to the town hall. The iron-barred door of the dungeon opened at
+a touch, revealing its abandonment to the base uses of a
+lumber-shed. As far as we could see, the sole person in charge of
+the municipal chambers of Deyá was a year-old infant who occupied a
+low chair in the wide-roofed porch. He, however, maintained a
+magisterial dignity of demeanour throughout our cursory inspection
+of the premises.</p>
+
+<p>As we left the valley the lofty crags and olive-clad slopes of
+Miramar rose about us. Their appearance was already familiar, and it
+was with a positive thrill of pleasure that we saw them again.
+Across the smooth surface of the Mediterranean a liner was passing,
+and we wondered what impression the passengers would get of the
+island.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260"> [Pg 260]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>We reached the <span lang="es">Hospederia</span> to find that for the moment the solitude
+that in November we had found so attractive had vanished. Evidently
+some periodic household inspection was in process, for in the wide
+doorway women sat mending house-linen, and children clinging to
+their skirts glanced shyly at us.</p>
+
+<p>Fernando was absent, but Netta remembered us, and brought a large
+glass jug of the matchless Miramar water out to the <span lang="es"><i>mirador</i></span>
+overhanging the sea just beyond the house whither Pepe had already
+carried our lunch.</p>
+
+<p>Valldemosa was looking lovely in the fresh green beauty of spring,
+when an hour later we drove through its steep streets. The terrace
+gardens of the old Carthusian monastery were sweet with bud and
+blossom; and on the road beneath, a couple of bearded brown-robed
+Franciscan monks, treading softly on sandalled feet, gave us
+greeting.</p>
+
+<p>As we left the gorge whose precipitous sides rose high overhead, an
+eagle, clearly outlined against the azure sky, gave the finishing
+touch to the wild beauty of the spot.</p>
+
+<p>After the soul-inspiring grandeur of the everlasting hills, the
+plain, in spite of its luxuriant verdure, seemed tame; and even
+Palma appeared almost uninteresting. But it must be admitted that we
+were approaching it by the back way&mdash;by the kitchen entrance, so to
+speak&mdash;and in strict justice Palma should be entered by the front
+door, which is the port.</p>
+
+<p>We had been invited to the palace of one of the noble Majorcan
+families to witness the passing of the Holy Thursday procession, and
+as we walked into Palma in the early evening, signs of preparation
+for the ceremonial were in evidence. Strangely clad figures, looking
+supernaturally tall in their long robes and high pointed hoods, were
+advancing towards the city. And their odd garb and masked faces gave
+them the appearance of beings strayed from out the dread days of the
+Spanish Inquisition.</p>
+
+<p>By the gate of Santa Catalina one of the masked men&mdash;his
+face-covering thrown back&mdash;was having a heated argument with a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261"> [Pg 261]</a></span>
+<span lang="es"><i>consumero</i></span> respecting a demand for payment of duty on the tall
+candle he carried. And within the gates like figures were to be seen
+all advancing towards some given point.</p>
+
+<p>Outside the walls, where the buildings were comparatively new, the
+weirdly garbed shapes had seemed anachronisms, with more than a hint
+of the fancy dress carnival about them; but once within the walls of
+the ancient city, its narrow streets and tall closely shuttered
+dwellings made fitting setting for their mediæval guise.</p>
+
+<p>In the streets ladies wearing mantillas and the costumes of black
+brocaded satin that they reserve for religious ceremonials were
+hastening, rosaries in hand, from one church to another. It is the
+custom to visit as many churches as possible on Holy Thursday. One
+lady we knew told us she had entered twenty-two that day.</p>
+
+<p>Just opposite the old palace on whose balconies we were placed was
+one of the five churches through which the procession was to pass.
+In the roadway beneath, people had already gathered in expectation
+of its approach, and as we waited a sound of distant music,
+monotonous, penetrating, reached us. Then the town drummers, led by
+a small body of mounted civil guards (who defiled to a side and rode
+on to await their exit from the farther door of the building)
+appeared, and still vigorously plying their drum-sticks, marched
+into the church.</p>
+
+<p>Very few members of the clergy were to be seen. The participants in
+the solemnity were almost entirely laymen. Representatives of many
+municipal bodies took part in the procession. There were civic
+authorities who carried a well-brushed silk hat in one of their
+white-gloved hands and a lighted candle in the other: doctors,
+members of the Red Cross Society, the town band, firemen, police,
+boys from the orphanage, old men from the workhouse&mdash;all evidently
+proudly conscious of the importance of their position.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262"> [Pg 262]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 393px;">
+<a href="images/gs42.jpg"><img src="images/gs42-tb.jpg" width="393" height="400" alt="Figures in dark cloaks with masks and pointed hats carrying lit candles" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">PROCESSIONISTS OF HOLY THURSDAY</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>At intervals a platform supporting one of the fine carved images
+from the Cathedral was borne by. When the beautiful effigy of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263"> [Pg 263]</a></span>
+Crucified Christ from the Church of La Sangre&mdash;that exquisite statue
+to whose flowing hair so many women have gloried to contribute their
+tresses&mdash;was carried past, the expectant crowd fell upon its knees
+before it.</p>
+
+<p>To our untutored eyes a striking feature of the observance was the
+long succession of masked penitents, who, bearing tall lighted
+candles, walked in a double line. The hue of their robes varied from
+almost bright blue to the more effective black and white. Some were
+handsomely embroidered, others plain. Two of the men were laden with
+chains; and one at least trod the cobble stones with naked feet, in
+public fulfilment of a vow taken in a time of impending danger.</p>
+
+<p>Most of the penitents held lace-edged handkerchiefs to protect the
+candles from the warmth of their hands; but in spite of the
+precaution certain of the candles already showed signs of softening.
+Many of the processionists bore emblems of the Passion, and one
+group as it entered the church broke into a mournful chant.</p>
+
+<p>One of the observances of the function appeared to be the
+distribution of sweets. It was curiously incongruous to see the
+masked figures drop comfits into outstretched hands. We noted one
+pause before a pretty pink-clad <span lang="es">señorita</span>, who with her <span lang="es"><i>dueña</i></span> was
+standing opposite our balcony, and signing to her to open the silver
+chain-bag she held, he poured into it a great handful of sugared
+almonds, to her blushing satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>The ceremony was imposing, touching, full of affecting suggestion;
+but even as we looked we could not help regretting that night had
+not fallen. Then the sight of a long sequence of quaint figures
+bearing the tall lighted tapers through the sombre crooked streets
+of the old town would have been much more impressive.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264"> [Pg 264]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/gs43.jpg"><img src="images/gs43-tb.jpg" width="400" height="293" alt="A happy crowd" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">DURING THE CARNIVAL AT PALMA</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="XXIII" id="XXIII"></a><abbr title="23">XXIII</abbr><br />
+OF FAIR WOMEN AND FINE WEATHER</h2>
+
+<p>The first thing that impresses the traveller regarding the
+inhabitants of Majorca is the prevalence of good-looking young men
+and of pretty and graceful young women. Legend tells that in
+long-past days the people of Majorca were induced to make a treaty
+with the Dey of Algiers, by whose terms they yearly paid him a
+tribute of a hundred virgins, on condition that he restrained his
+piratical hordes from molesting the island. One feels that the Dey
+had an eye for beauty, for in these favoured isles to be handsome
+seems to be the rule, not the exception.</p>
+
+<p>While young the Majorcan women are charming after a peculiarly
+feminine fashion. Compared with them French working women of the
+same class are hard of feature and masculine and ungainly of form.
+Their features are refined, their complexions clear, their feet<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265"> [Pg 265]</a></span>
+slender, their hands small, shapely, and well-cared for. When I
+mentally compared the condition of their hands with those of the
+rough toil-hardened hands of the women of the British working
+classes, I wondered if the substitution of charcoal for coal and of
+olive oil for grease in cooking could account for their better
+preservation.</p>
+
+<p>To rise to the admired standard of aristocratic Majorca a man should
+look as though he had never done a day's work in his life. His hands
+should be soft, his skin untanned. A youth who had been yachting
+declared regretfully that on his return to Palma he was so brown
+that none of the girls would look at him!</p>
+
+<p>To judge from a letter written to the Palma paper, <i>La Almudaina</i>,
+by a Majorcan on board an Italian liner bound for the Argentine, the
+delicacy and fine modelling of Majorcan hands would seem to be
+locally recognized and even gloried in.</p>
+
+<blockquote><p>"What a misfortune," lamented the Voyager, "that the
+Italians have feet and hands so large, and fingers so
+twisted. Oh, hands of my country, with slender fingers
+and blushing nails, how my eyes feel home-sick to look
+upon you!"</p></blockquote>
+
+<p>Women of all classes wear long skirts, which on being daintily held
+up reveal natty petticoats; and all show a pleasing taste in
+footgear. Boots are cheap in Majorca, and the servant maid or the
+work-girl on their Sunday afternoon promenade on the Borne will wear
+smart shoes of patent leather or high-heeled boots of cream-hued
+kid.</p>
+
+<p>Nothing more charming or more suitable for everyday wear than the
+native head-dresses&mdash;a mantilla of black lace for the mistress, a
+<span lang="es"><i>rebozillo</i></span> of white muslin for her maid&mdash;could possibly be devised.
+While for gala occasions, such as a bull-fight, the white lace
+blossom-bedecked mantilla is positively captivating. And one
+sincerely regrets that, in Palma at least, the hat is gradually<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266"> [Pg 266]</a></span>
+making its way. The ladies who lead Palma fashion wear hats, and
+where they lead others hasten to follow.</p>
+
+<p>A positive thrill of excitement runs through fashionable Palma when
+notice is received of the approaching visit of a milliner or
+costumier from Paris or Madrid. The hotel where the private view of
+the new season's styles is held is thronged with eager buyers. When
+the cream of the stock has been secured, the enterprising adventurer
+disposes of the skim milk to the second-rate local shops, and sets
+sail with full pockets. The pity is that, with both the tradition
+and the usage of so picturesque a national custom for guidance,
+matrons who themselves rigidly adhere to the mantilla should,
+doubtless from the best possible motives, condemn their young
+daughters to wear hats.</p>
+
+<p>Even at the best the prevalent mode in hats was ugly, and possibly
+the choice in Palma was limited, but it must be admitted that in the
+matter of hat selection their customary refinement of taste appeared
+occasionally to have deserted the Palma mothers. It was sad to see
+the nice modest face of a young girl overshadowed by a huge erection
+of green or red felt that was trimmed with a wild scurry of
+dishevelled plumage&mdash;a style of headgear that might not have looked
+out of place in the Old Kent Road, but which looked hopelessly
+incongruous over the grave expectant eyes of a young Majorcan lady.</p>
+
+<p>Contrasted with the life of an English maiden, which is full of
+varied employments and endless social entertainments, the existence
+of a Majorcan young lady would appear to be needlessly lacking in
+interests.</p>
+
+<p>She does not ride, or shoot, or golf, or cycle, or play tennis or
+croquet, or do gardening, or smoke cigarettes. She has little
+concern with politics, and she is content to leave the care of the
+poor to an efficient staff of clergy.</p>
+
+<p>She has been carefully and thoroughly educated. She has probably had
+a special governess to teach her English, another for French or
+Italian. The private chaplain may have instructed her in Spanish,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267"> [Pg 267]</a></span>
+and she probably has a good knowledge of classical music.</p>
+
+<p>But, her course of study over, there seems little left for her to
+do. In the morning she goes to Mass; later she performs miracles of
+intricate embroidery. In the afternoon she drives out, in winter
+always in a closed carriage, and nearly always in the same
+direction, which is westwards towards Ben Dinat. Sometimes the
+carriage stops, and the occupants, alighting, take a little
+promenade; then, re-entering the carriage, drive back to the tall
+old palace in some narrow street in the city. After Mass on Sundays
+she strolls on the Borne; from four o'clock till sunset she may
+promenade on the ramparts or on the mole. That is the substance of a
+Palma girl's exercise, and everywhere she goes her footsteps are
+carefully shadowed by those of her <span lang="es"><i>dueña</i></span>.</p>
+
+<p>Private dances, musical evenings, afternoon "At Homes," private
+theatricals, are almost unknown. There are plenty of house-parties,
+especially in summer, when the family is living at one or other of
+its country seats; but those gatherings are usually confined to
+relatives. Then there are the infrequent bull-fights; and
+occasionally a dance is given at the fashionable club, the <i>Circulo
+Mallorquin</i>&mdash;a festivity that begins at four o'clock in the
+afternoon and ends at eight o'clock in the evening.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes the wife of the Captain-General gives an evening
+reception; or the rare function of a real ball sends a flutter
+through the higher circles of the island. Then and then only does
+the aristocratic Majorcan maiden permit her graceful shoulders to be
+seen. Frequently, carefully chaperoned, she goes to a theatre, and
+sits in the family box throughout the interminable waits between the
+acts. At the Carnival, which occupies three afternoons in the week
+preceding Lent, she can appear on a balcony or in a carriage on the
+Borne; and even, such is the <em>abandon</em> of that time of licence, go
+to the extreme length of exchanging repartee in the form of confetti
+or paper streamers with an admiring foe.</p>
+
+<p>Yet already there are signs of the far-reaching influence of an<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268"> [Pg 268]</a></span>
+English queen. Certain of the noble families have young English
+ladies to teach their language to their daughters, and the few
+Majorcans we heard speaking English in Palma spoke it beautifully.
+Nowadays a Majorcan lady is not ashamed to admit that she dislikes
+bull-fights. A few years ago such an admission would have been
+accounted the rankest heresy. And Palma residents say they can tell
+the girls who have English governesses&mdash;they always walk so quickly!</p>
+
+<p>And here I may say that any young English lady, of good family and
+of the Roman Catholic religion, who is so adventurous as to journey
+to Majorca to fill a post as companion or governess can do so with
+the assurance of meeting with every possible consideration. She will
+not get a large salary, for money has a higher value in Majorca than
+in Britain, but she will be treated like a princess. I know of one
+case where a Palma family, who had engaged an English governess,
+went to the trouble and expense of having a bedroom specially
+decorated and furnished for her, after a high-art chamber pictured
+in the <span lang="es"><i>Studio</i></span>, that the expected guest might feel more at home
+than if her room had been fitted up in the native fashion.</p>
+
+<p>To our emancipated way of thinking there was something curiously
+mediæval in the careful chaperonage to which the lovely and graceful
+Majorcan girls were subjected. And the scrupulous separation of the
+sexes seemed to argue distrust, of the maidens as well as of the
+men.</p>
+
+<p>Matrimony is a popular institution in Majorca, and when a damsel has
+reached a marriageable age an eligible suitor is rarely awanting. It
+is when that suitor has cast the glad eye upon the lady of his
+choice that matters would appear to proceed after an unsatisfactory
+and yet most conspicuous fashion.</p>
+
+<p>Suppose Don Sebastian desires to pay court to a lady whom he has
+seen taking her carefully chaperoned walks, he writes a letter
+asking her permission to do so. If the reply is in the negative the
+matter ends. If it is in the affirmative the Don puts on his cloak,
+which is frequently picturesquely lined with scarlet, and hies<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269"> [Pg 269]</a></span>
+himself to the palace of his inamorata, but in place of boldly
+knocking at the front door and being ushered into one of the
+reception-rooms, he takes up his position beneath the balcony on
+which she is most likely to take the air.</p>
+
+<p>When the object of his desire appears&mdash;and you may be certain the
+<span lang="es"><i>dueña</i></span> is close at hand&mdash;the lady looks down, the lover gazes up,
+and only those who have put the matter to the test can judge how
+physically harassing it is to breathe impassioned nothings to
+someone who is suspended above your head.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 224px;">
+<a href="images/gs44.jpg"><img src="images/gs44-tb.jpg" width="224" height="400" alt="Gentleman courting lady under her balcony" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">THE WOOER</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>At this stage the matter halts for a period that sometimes runs into
+years&mdash;for in these restful latitudes even the course of true love
+moves slowly. Then, permission having been asked and granted, Don
+Sebastian may accompany the lady and her chaperon in their walks for
+a period approaching six months. When this point is reached, the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270"> [Pg 270]</a></span>
+parents of Don Sebastian, carrying a handsome present, which most
+frequently takes the form of a ring, call on the guardians of the
+lady, and, their consent to the prospective union having been
+gained, the suitor is at length admitted to the house, and the
+public cease to see his love-lorn figure beneath the balcony. Even
+when matters have crawled to this advanced stage the visits of the
+Don are merely ceremonious calls, paid strictly under the watchful
+eyes of the <span lang="es"><i>dueña</i></span>. And I am told it is not until the night before
+the wedding that he is favoured with an invitation to dine at the
+home of his bride.</p>
+
+<p>In order to impart the proper aspect of romance to this oft-played
+balcony scene, the actors ought to be, and often are, young and
+graceful. When they are otherwise it is only too easy to give a
+ludicrous rendering of the drama.</p>
+
+<p>During our early months at the Casa Tranquila we sometimes, in the
+evenings, passed a tall house, from a balcony on whose third storey
+a plump lady would be shouting down coy replies to the blandishments
+of an elderly swain who had to stand out in the middle of the road
+in order to see his sweetheart. After a time both balcony and street
+were vacant; presumably the suitor had been admitted inside. Then a
+<i>to-let</i> bill appeared on the balcony. The little romance had
+evidently ended happily, and the mature lovebirds had built a nest
+elsewhere.</p>
+
+<p>Our six months' experience of the Balearic Isles fostered the belief
+that we had discovered the ideal winter climate. Perhaps we had
+chanced upon an abnormally fine season, though I question that; but
+certain it is that from the middle of October, when we entered the
+bay and saw Palma looking celestial in the rosy light of dawn, until
+the second week in January, the weather was perfect.</p>
+
+<p>Spain is proverbially sunny. Against England's 1,400 and Italy's
+2,300 annual hours of sunshine, Spain offers 3,000. With this grand
+allowance of sunshine the Majorcan heat is temperate. Statistics
+show that during the Balearic summer the thermometer rarely rises
+above 90° Fahr., while in winter it seldom falls below 40° Fahr. A<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271"> [Pg 271]</a></span>
+gentleman who has passed his life in Palma told us that twice only
+had he seen snow fall&mdash;once when he was twelve year old, and again a
+few years ago.</p>
+
+<p>Except for a sultry day or two in the end of October the atmosphere
+was only pleasantly warm. Week succeeded week when the sea reflected
+a sky of cloudless glowing azure, when the air was soft and yet
+exhilarating, and we could both walk and bask with pleasure.</p>
+
+<p>Rain never comes before it is welcome in Majorca. Sometimes the
+welcome waits long before it is claimed.</p>
+
+<p>When after an unbroken succession of days or weeks, or it may be
+months, of unbroken fine weather, one is awakened by the sound of
+rain falling in torrents on the tiled roofs, it is to rejoice with
+the knowledge that the thirsty crops are already drinking in the
+moisture, that the diminished store in the wells is being
+replenished, that your oranges are swelling, and that your lemons
+will soon lose the hardness of the nether millstone and become
+available for lemonade.</p>
+
+<p>There is no hesitation about Majorcan rain. It does not play at
+being wet; it is simply drenching. And when rain comes, no man,
+however distinguished the uniform he wears or elevated his position
+(he may even be mounted on a panniered mule), hesitates to carry an
+umbrella. <span lang="es"><i>Consumeros</i></span>, carbineers, farm labourers, postmen, all
+shelter under them. Nobody thinks it funny to meet a solemn
+policeman carrying a sword, a revolver, <em>and</em> an umbrella.</p>
+
+<p>After the middle of January the weather changed. The temperature
+fell, and for nearly a fortnight cold winds raged. Warm wraps were
+brought out of the trunks where they had hitherto lain, and in the
+evenings a wood fire became a much appreciated luxury.</p>
+
+<p>It was curious to note how speedily even this only comparatively
+cold weather made its malign influence felt on a people accustomed
+to warmth and sunshine. Colds and coughs abounded. Most of our
+Majorcan acquaintances appeared to suffer. As one lady said<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272"> [Pg 272]</a></span>
+resignedly, "It is the tribute we must pay to winter."</p>
+
+<p>Even the Boy spent several days in bed with a cold, reading all the
+French and Spanish novels he could beg or borrow, and comforting
+himself with the reflection that had he been well the weather for
+the first time during the winter would have made it impossible for
+him to paint outside.</p>
+
+<p>Yet, had three months of sunshine not made us critical, we would
+never have grumbled at these few days of cold wind. Adopting
+unconsciously the local opinion of the weather, I found myself
+commiserating the Squire and his Lady, who had recently arrived from
+England.</p>
+
+<p>"What a pity you didn't come earlier than you did. There was no bad
+weather till you came."</p>
+
+<p>"But we've had <em>lovely</em> weather!" the Lady said, opening wide eyes
+of surprise. "Why, we've been out long walks every day. It isn't
+really cold, and there's only been one shower, and that fell at
+night."</p>
+
+<p>Remembering our British standard I was dumb.</p>
+
+<p>Though Majorca was free from fog, sometimes on an absolutely
+windless morning a light mist would envelop Palma and the smoke from
+the works in the Calle de la Fábrica would hang heavy in the still
+air. Then the Boy would hasten to say that we might be in
+Bradford&mdash;a town, by the way, that he knows only by repute. But with
+the rising of even the faintest breeze the highest spires of the
+Cathedral would appear out of the mist as though, through some
+supernal agency, they were suspended in mid-air. Then gradually, as
+if a veil were being slowly drawn aside, the city would again become
+visible.</p>
+
+<p>With early February our radiant weather returned, and heads were
+shaken, for the young crops showed sign of wilting under the
+long-continued drought. Over a period of fifteen days the churches
+sent up special petitions for rain&mdash;petitions that must have been
+echoed in the heart of every man that owned a "possession," or
+farmed a patch of ground, or even rented a garden plot.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273"> [Pg 273]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>We were at Sóller when for two days and two nights the rain fell
+incessantly, soaking the parched soil and transforming the dry
+<span lang="es"><i>torrentes</i></span> into raging rivers. Then it suddenly ceased, leaving us
+with the glory of snow-tipped mountains seen against a glowing blue
+sky.</p>
+
+<p>Late in March and early in April rain again fell, delaying the
+annual ceremony of the Swearing to the Flag, but making the
+spindling corn fill out in a magical fashion and the beans that had
+begun to shrivel and blacken become erect and juicy. When we left
+Majorca on the last day of April all fears of the fate of the crops
+had been removed; figs and vines were budding, almond-trees were
+luxuriant in foliage, and the far-spreading meadows were covered
+with grain that gave promise of a rich harvest.</p>
+
+<p>We had thought vegetables and fruit so cheap that it astonished us
+to hear the natives declare that <em>now</em> prices would fall&mdash;that it
+was through the past two successive dry summers that they had risen
+so high!</p>
+
+<p>Residents told us that for nine months out of the year the weather
+in Palma might be relied upon to be delightful, but that during the
+three hot months&mdash;which were July, August, and September&mdash;the moist,
+damp heat was very relaxing. Then it is that the aristocracy,
+temporarily vacating their sombre palaces in the narrow streets,
+remove their entire establishment to one or other of their country
+seats, while people of smaller social importance flock to their
+villas at the Terreno, or Porto Pi, or Son Rapiña, or even to modest
+cottages at our little Son Españolet.</p>
+
+<p>To us there seemed something funny in the notion of people having
+coast residences that were within a twopence-halfpenny car-drive of
+their town homes. But it is undoubtedly pleasant to live in a land
+where, by a change of locality entailing, at the most, a two hours'
+drive, one can avoid any extreme of either heat or cold.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274"> [Pg 274]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/gs45.jpg"><img src="images/gs45-tb.jpg" width="400" height="310" alt="Bullfighting scene" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">THE NATIONAL SPORT</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="XXIV" id="XXIV"></a><abbr title="24">XXIV</abbr><br />
+OF ODDS AND ENDS</h2>
+
+<p>In Majorca there are hotels to suit all purses. At Palma the Grand
+Hotel is probably the best suited to tourists, especially if there
+are ladies in the party; while those who would like to see a real
+Majorcan <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span> of the better class and eat good native cooking
+should go to Barnils' in the Calle del Conquistador.</p>
+
+<p>The sum charged is invariably by the day, and varies according to
+the pretensions of the establishment. In most hotels it includes
+both wine and aerated waters. On arrival it is always well to
+inquire what the rate will be and whether it includes the little
+breakfast. If the traveller thinks the terms asked too high and says
+frankly what he is prepared to pay, he is almost certain to be
+accommodated at his own price.</p>
+
+<p>Our experience of the country <span lang="es"><i>fondas</i></span> was that they were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275"> [Pg 275]</a></span>
+infinitely superior to British inns of similar standing. The cooking
+was far better and the prices much lower. If one knows a little
+Spanish and can make a bargain, three <span lang="es">pesetas</span> a day is quite a usual
+price for a country <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span>. The best should not charge more than
+four, and the catering is surprisingly good. In remote places beef
+may be scarce, but fish are generally plentiful, the rye bread is
+good, and the omelets are always excellent.</p>
+
+<p>Here I might say that in every instance we found the beds admirably
+appointed and comfortable. The Majorcan housewife takes special
+pride in her daintily embroidered house-linen. Toilet arrangements
+are apt to be primitive, and, except at the larger hotels, baths are
+unknown. An india-rubber bath is easy to pack and will be found
+invaluable. In obedience to Baedeker's advice to travellers in
+Spain, we carried round a tin of insect-powder. But though the
+Balearic Isles are in Spain in one respect, at least they are not of
+it, for at the end of our wanderings the tin was still unopened.</p>
+
+<p>In Palma there are several clubs, notably the <i>Circulo Mallorquin</i>,
+the <i>Club Real de Regatas</i>, the <i>Veda</i>, and others, political,
+military, and social, to which the desirable foreigner would find
+little difficulty in being elected. The subscriptions, which are
+collected monthly, would strike a London clubman as ridiculously
+low. He would find his fellow-members both courteous and charming,
+but disinclined to join in any exertion. And unless in very
+exceptional instances their acquaintance would begin and end at the
+club.</p>
+
+<p>The Majorcan does not go in for sport, though there is a sports
+club. He detests walking, and very infrequently plays tennis. The
+entire group of islands does not boast a golf course. An English
+resident who was trying to get up a golf club found the natives
+apathetic; but the invasion of half a dozen good enthusiasts would
+probably change this attitude. Many of the Palma men keep boats.
+Yachting seems to be the only occupation they incline to; and it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276"> [Pg 276]</a></span>
+would be hard to conceive of a more delightful pastime than cruising
+about that picturesque coast.</p>
+
+<p>Furnished houses are difficult to find, anywhere in Majorca. But in
+Palma unfurnished flats can be had. We saw quite a nice one in a
+good locality that was let at forty <span lang="es">pesetas</span> a month&mdash;a rent that
+included all taxes. At the delightful suburbs of the Terreno and
+Porto Pi, houses with exquisite views of the sea can be obtained.
+But everywhere to the foreigner who does not speak Spanish terms are
+said to rise.</p>
+
+<p>Even in the capital town the wages of both male and female servants
+are very low. For about twelve pounds a year I imagine one might
+have the pick of ordinary female servants, the price paid men being
+alike small. But it would be futile to expect to find the carefully
+drilled attendance with which home usage has accustomed us.</p>
+
+<p>To our more conservative minds, the attitude of the island servitors
+towards their employers seems strangely familiar. And their dress is
+apt to be informal. Once when I was paying an afternoon call in
+Palma the man-servant entered the drawing-room to receive an order
+sketchily attired in a pink undervest and trousers. And throughout
+the visit his voice trilling roundelays in the adjacent pantry made
+unusual accompaniment to our polite conversation. At the moment I
+confess I was surprised, but that was during our very early days in
+Majorca. A few months later I doubt if I would have noticed anything
+odd in either occurrence.</p>
+
+<p>The cost of living strikes any one accustomed to British
+housekeeping as small&mdash;not perhaps because food is so very cheap,
+for it is dearer in Palma than in the country towns and rural
+districts, and much dearer than in Minorca and Iviza; but because
+life is much simpler and less pretentious and conventional than in
+England.</p>
+
+<p>Certain imported commodities such as sugar are expensive,
+consequently the sweets that with people of the same class at home<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277"> [Pg 277]</a></span>
+would be an everyday article of diet are reserved for special
+occasions, particularly the frequently recurring feast days.</p>
+
+<p>Residence in Majorca entails no exhausting social demands on either
+the strength or the bank account. Even among themselves the
+inhabitants but rarely entertain beyond the circle of their own
+relatives. And their meetings with friends seem confined to the
+theatre, the promenade, the bull-fights, or at one of the infrequent
+entertainments given at the principal clubs.</p>
+
+<p>The payment of fourpence secured a stall at the combination of
+cinematograph and variety show that during our stay in Palma was the
+fashionable form of amusement. And without further disbursement the
+visitor who inclined that way was entitled to wait on through the
+interval between the two houses and witness the whole performance
+over again. For plays or for light opera the fees advanced a little,
+though I doubt if they ever rose to the sum charged for the pit of a
+London theatre.</p>
+
+<p>The bull-fights patronized by Majorcan society are those given in
+summer. We went to one held at Easter, and though society was absent
+the people were there in numbers that filled two-thirds of the Plaza
+de Toros,which seats five thousand. The action was mercifully
+modified, for no horses were exposed to the attacks of the bulls. We
+entered the place with our national prejudices strong upon us, and
+left it with a conflict of mingled attraction and repulsion. When a
+bull knocked down a clumsy <span lang="es"><i>matador</i></span> who had been making painful but
+futile attempts to give him the fatal stroke, we lamented that the
+bull failed to kill his torturer. Yet when another and more skilful
+<span lang="es"><i>matador</i></span> by a single thrust mercifully vanquished his bull, we
+shared something of the enthusiasm of the spectators, who threw hats
+and cigars into the arena, and finally bursting in, carried the hero
+of the moment shoulder-high round the ring.</p>
+
+<p>It had certainly not been a fashionable function. From a
+neighbouring box our Vigilante bowed graciously, and Bartolomé, who<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278"> [Pg 278]</a></span>
+was of the Vigilante's party, beamed broadly upon us. When we left
+the Plaza de Toros we encountered Maria, who was chaperoning two
+tall daughters in mantillas. And as we walked back along the
+ramparts we overtook Mrs. Mundo trotting homewards with her twin
+girls, whose uncovered locks were tied up with ribbons till they
+looked like a couple of nice little ponies on their way to a horse
+show.</p>
+
+<p>For certain temperaments Majorca has a curious magnetic attraction.
+People who have first set foot upon its shores with comparative
+indifference find themselves returning again and yet again; with
+each visit becoming more under the thraldom of its charm. The Squire
+and his Lady, who half a dozen years ago visited the island because
+so many other Mediterranean resorts were already known to them, have
+returned with increased anticipation of pleasure each successive
+spring since. And during our stay in Palma we made the congenial
+acquaintance of a Scots lady and gentleman who find the glamour of
+these fair islands strong enough to induce them to make a yearly
+pilgrimage thither from the North of Scotland.</p>
+
+<p>Majorca is a delightful place to loaf in. I know no place where one
+more keenly experiences the mere joy of being alive. In that ideal
+temperature, under those cloudless skies, one at first feels content
+to let the days drift past, taking no heed for the things of the
+morrow. But the air has an amazingly rejuvenating effect. In a short
+time years drop off&mdash;one loses superfluous weight and regains
+colour. Exercise ceases to be exertion and becomes a keen delight.
+Walks that formerly ranked as a day's excursion become merely a
+pleasant stroll, to be undertaken between an early tea and a late
+dinner.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 205px;">
+<a href="images/gs46.jpg"><img src="images/gs46-tb.jpg" width="205" height="400" alt="Street with balconies and houses crossing with arches at ground level to allow passage" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">CALLE DE LA PORTELLA, PALMA</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279"> [Pg 279]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In Palma something to interest or touch one was always happening.
+Once&mdash;it was on the first day of February&mdash;we entered the usually
+deserted Rambla to find a crowd composed chiefly of young men, all
+of the same age, gathered in front of the barracks. The majority had
+the sunburnt complexion of the rustic. A few were evidently of
+higher social standing. Many girls and a few old peasants fringed<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280"> [Pg 280]</a></span>
+the crowd. It was the occasion of the annual drawing of lots for the
+enrolment of the young men of the Palma district, who were to spend
+their next three years in the army.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the lads peered anxiously in at the closed gates of the
+barracks; others concealed their concern and chatted gaily with
+their friends. Military service in that land of sunshine is not
+arduous. Recruits thus drawn by lot are never sent off their native
+island, and to flirt with pretty maidservants on the Borne on a
+Sunday afternoon&mdash;which to the casual observer appears to be the
+leading labour of the Majorcan force&mdash;can hardly be termed hard
+labour. So no doubt many of the rustics were already wondering if
+they would not look better in shakos and crimson breeches than they
+did in the blue cotton and goatskins of their shepherds' dress.</p>
+
+<p>At length the gates were thrown open and sergeants called upon the
+conscripts to enter. Many paused to wave farewells, and almost all
+saluted or raised their hats as they advanced to put their fortunes
+to the test. A few of the more smartly dressed strolled nonchalantly
+in, smoking cigarettes, and we guessed that they, following the
+native love of a gamble, had already paid a hundred crowns to the
+insurance company that, in the event of their drawing an unlucky
+number, would forfeit to the State the three hundred crowns that
+would purchase their exemption from the three years of service.</p>
+
+<p>A period of suspense dragged past. Then a sympathetic movement of
+the crowd intimated the deliverance of the first two freed men, who,
+as they left the gate, threw high in air the couple of breakfast
+rolls that, with two <span lang="es">reales</span>, are presented to every man who has
+drawn a lucky number. Others relieved and hilarious followed
+quickly, but many pretty girls and old men waited in vain for the
+return of the candidates that fate had decreed were to swell the
+ranks of the standing army. The barracks had swallowed them up and
+they were seen no more. Perhaps they also had rolls and <span lang="es">reales</span>;<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281"> [Pg 281]</a></span>
+perhaps they were elated at the prospect of town life; perhaps they
+already looked back with longing to their almond-trees and
+goatskins!</p>
+
+<p>For the adventurous, Majorca has plenty of peaks to climb, coasts to
+navigate, shrines to visit, caves to explore. The distances between
+the known points of interest&mdash;and there are very many places still
+unexploited&mdash;are so easy that a tourist with only a few days at his
+disposal can visit the most noted parts.</p>
+
+<p>The two brothers in whose interesting company we visited the Dragon
+Caves had only five days to spend in Majorca. But even in so brief a
+space of time they succeeded in seeing and in doing much. Their
+method of mapping out their time was so admirable that I am tempted
+to quote it.</p>
+
+<p>On Monday night they crossed from Barcelona, arriving at Palma early
+on Tuesday morning. Having breakfasted on the steamer, they caught
+the early train for Manacor, where they lunched before driving to
+the caves. After dining and sleeping at Manacor they took the train
+on Wednesday morning to the railway terminus at La Puebla, and from
+there drove to the old towns of Pollensa and Alcudia. That
+accomplished, they journeyed by rail to Inca, where they passed the
+night, returning on Thursday by the morning train to Palma, where
+they spent the day visiting as many places of interest as possible.
+On Friday they drove to Sóller by way of Valldemosa, Miramar, and
+Deyá. Rising early on Saturday morning they drove to Fornalutx, and
+starting from there, climbed the Puig Mayor, getting a superb view
+from the summit. In the afternoon they drove back to Palma in time
+to catch the mail boat to Barcelona. The weather had been perfect,
+and they were able to carry out their well-planned expedition
+without interruption.</p>
+
+<p>For those who enjoy gentle exploration Palma makes an admirable
+centre. A good pedestrian could encompass the island on foot, and a
+journey more full of varied scenery or among pleasanter or more
+unsophisticated folk could hardly be imagined. Those of less<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282"> [Pg 282]</a></span>
+energetic nature would find much of interest within very easy
+walking distance.</p>
+
+<p>It is almost impossible&mdash;in Palma at least&mdash;to hire mules, but
+driving is comparatively cheap. Every few minutes tramcars run to
+Porto Pi, where there is a good aquarium, with, when we saw it, a
+splendid display of writhing octopi.</p>
+
+<p>A mile beyond the car terminus is Cas Catalá, where there is a
+delightfully situated hotel. Just beyond the hotel are lovely walks
+through the pine woods that border the sea, and pretty little bays,
+in one of which&mdash;that a little way past the <span lang="es"><i>carabineros'</i></span> hut, I
+think&mdash;I got some nice little shells and quite a lot of sponges that
+had been washed up by the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Genova, which is a very short walk inland from the car terminus at
+Porto Pi, makes an attractive point for a little excursion. In a
+garden off one of the by-ways is the entrance to a recently
+discovered cave, which is the property of the landlord of the little
+<span lang="es"><i>taverna</i></span>&mdash;the Casa Morena&mdash;who discovered it when he was digging a
+well. The cave, though small in extent, resembles the Dragon Caves
+in miniature, and has beautiful stalactites and stalagmites which
+are both fine in form and quite unblackened by smoke.</p>
+
+<p>The village church, which until lately was a favourite place of
+pilgrimage, has many fine altar-pieces and other paintings, and it
+has the rare quality of being so well-lighted that visitors are able
+to admire their beauties.</p>
+
+<p>In one of the side chapels is a delicately modelled recumbent wax
+figure of a young girl. Another chapel has a small square glass case
+containing a representation of the Nativity that is peculiarly
+interesting because of the purely local dress of certain of the
+figures. The Virgin holding the Holy Child is seated in the centre.
+At her right stands an elderly man, apparently meant for Joseph. It
+was surely without humorous intent that the devotee who fashioned
+his garments garbed him in the quaint old Majorcan dress of
+abnormally wide blue breeches. After seeing Joseph's dress it is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283"> [Pg 283]</a></span>
+not the least surprising to notice that two women who are less
+important actors in the scene wear their hair in pigtails and the
+native <span lang="es"><i>rebozillos</i></span>.</p>
+
+<p>From the hill-side that rises behind the church, where the prickly
+pear grows in great profusion, one can enjoy a glorious panoramic
+view of the coast.</p>
+
+<p>For slightly longer excursions diligences leave Palma almost daily
+for all sorts of out-of-the-way and wholly charming places, such as
+Esporlas, Andraitx, Lluchmayor, Sóller, Estallenchs, Calviá, and
+Valldemosa. And if the traveller is wise and hastens to book the
+front seat he will escape danger of death by compression, and be in
+a position to enjoy a leisurely and comprehensive view of the
+country.</p>
+
+<p>It is well worth while, when intending to remain overnight at a
+town, to arrange to arrive on the eve of the weekly market. For
+market morning brings many quaint rural people flocking into town on
+panniered mules or in odd ramshackle conveyances. Sunday is the
+market at Pollensa, and there the traveller may see a profusion of
+the old men of the zouave-like breeches. San Sellas and Binisalem
+hold their markets on Sunday also. That of Manacor is on Monday.
+Artá, Montuiri, Llubí, and Porreras hold market on Tuesday.
+Wednesday is the day at Sineu, and Thursday at Inca, Muró, and
+Andraitx. Lluchmayor has Friday, and the day of the week at Palma is
+Saturday, when the country folk bring in the harvest of their fields
+and hold a little market of their own in the Plaza del Mercado,
+under the shadow of the high-towered Church of San Nicolas. Early in
+May Sóller holds a three days' <span lang="es"><i>fiesta</i></span>, when a historic incident of
+the landing and repulsion of a band of piratical Moors is enacted
+with great spirit by the people of the town.</p>
+
+<p>A hint that may prove useful to any one arriving at some remote
+place where there is no <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span> is to ask to be directed to the
+schoolmaster. He is certain to know Spanish, may be pleased to meet
+a foreigner, and is sure to be able to recommend a lodging. It is<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284"> [Pg 284]</a></span>
+to the courteous schoolmaster of Santañy that we were indebted for
+this suggestion.</p>
+
+<p>Failing the presence of a schoolmaster, the civil guard is a good
+person to apply to. They are said to be a fine and absolutely
+reliable class of men. An artist friend chancing at nightfall to
+light upon a village where there was no inn, applied to the civil
+guard, who not only gave him a room in his own house, but appeared
+in the morning to offer the use of toilet appliances in the form of
+a comb and a pot of pomade.</p>
+
+<p>The Balearic Islands appear to offer a good field to the
+entomologist. A friend who visited Majorca during February has given
+me this list of the butterflies and moths that, even at that early
+season, he saw in plenty, mostly within a few miles of Palma: Bath
+White, Cabbage or Common White, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Clouded
+Yellow, Brimstone, Wall Brown, Holly Blue, Small Copper, Swallow
+Tail, and the Humming-bird Hawk Moth.</p>
+
+<p>As the spring advanced and the giant poppies I had sown in November
+became a four-feet-high hedge, butterflies&mdash;strange, to me at least,
+and very beautiful&mdash;fluttered into the little garden of the Casa
+Tranquila, and probably not finding the poppies so luscious as their
+brilliant appearance had led them to expect, speedily fluttered out
+again. They did not make their home with us, as had the big locust
+that, in the late autumn, I captured when he was feasting on a moth
+in the shrubby field behind the convent. Bringing the prisoner home
+in my handkerchief, I set him on a pink ivy-geranium that flourished
+in one of the big green flower-pots on the veranda.</p>
+
+<p>He seemed well content with his new quarters, for there he stayed
+all winter, taking up his position first in the tall scented
+verbena, and, when that lost its leaves, changing his perch to an
+adjacent almond-tree, as though he knew that would be the first to
+bloom.</p>
+
+<p>Very early in the year he vanished, and we thought he had gone for
+good. But just as the first pale blossoms were opening in the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285"> [Pg 285]</a></span>
+almond groves he re-appeared, bringing with him the female of his
+species, and together in connubial amity they shared his old home in
+the almond-tree. When the pale rose-tinted blossoms had fallen, and
+the grey-green velvet pods of the young almonds were emerging from
+the crimson calyxes, the locust and his bride deserted us to seek a
+wider pasturage.</p>
+
+<p>Though we wandered far from beaten tracks, the sole trace of
+reptiles encountered was an occasional discarded snakeskin. In Iviza
+lovely green and golden lizards and highly-varnished toy frogs in
+all "art" shades abounded, but we saw none of either in Majorca.</p>
+
+<p>Our only insect pests were mosquitoes&mdash;who, probably recognizing an
+alien and attractive flavour in our blood, were a disturbing
+nocturnal influence until, with the aid of a few yards of mosquito
+netting, we succeeded in frustrating their knavish tricks. Even by
+day they were not invariably quiescent; but the mosquito is a
+gentleman. He always gives warning before attacking an enemy, and
+when we met in open combat, there was something of the joy of battle
+in the defence. According to local report, the tenure of his days
+should have ended with November; but it was not until a fall of the
+temperature about the middle of January that our assailant withdrew
+his battalions and left us in peace.</p>
+
+<p>Though our visit was a winter one, the wild flowers were an
+unfailing source of pleasure. The season was unusually dry, yet I
+never took a country walk without finding some blossom that was new
+to me.</p>
+
+<p>When we arrived in October the rocky slopes about Porto Pi were
+covered by a royal carpet of the purple autumnal crocus. The last of
+the sea lavender was fading, but horned poppies and chicory were in
+bloom. It was there, too, that in November we found the curiously
+shaped brown and green wild arums that are known in America as
+"Dutchmen's pipes," and locally referred to as <span lang="es"><i>frares</i></span>, whose
+acquaintance we afterwards made at Andraitx. In April, when we left
+Majorca, pretty little white and lavender iris starred the ground<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286"> [Pg 286]</a></span>
+and rich purple mallows and golden mesembryanthemums covered the
+rocks of Porto Pi.</p>
+
+<p>The beautiful coast about Cas Catalá had a herbage of its own. Tall
+flowering heath, a persistently blooming plant with dark blue
+buttons, and delicate yellow rock roses were, as the months slipped
+past, succeeded by a fine display of cistus.</p>
+
+<p>Throughout the whole time of our stay a constant succession of sweet
+lavender blossomed on the grey-green bushes. Asphodel, too,
+abounded. The first to open was the smaller species, with its rushy
+foliage and slender spikes of bloom. In January the tall rods of the
+poet's asphodel rose in such profusion that we were forced to give
+it place as the typical island flower. Forced reluctantly, I
+confess, for to some the odour of the tall asphodel, when growing in
+quantity, is far from pleasant.</p>
+
+<p>It was at Sóller, that district of piquant contrasts, that we saw
+the delicate greenhouse maidenhair-fern growing in masses with
+English ivy along walls, or draping the moist sides of the water
+runnels.</p>
+
+<p>It was at Sóller, too, that we first made the acquaintance of the
+ten-inch-high daisy. There was little of the character of its Scots
+relative, the "wee, modest, crimson-tippéd flower," in this aspiring
+plant. But the Balearic Islands have another form of the <i>Bellis
+perennis</i>, a lavender daisy, that sustains the family reputation for
+humility by cowering close to the soil.</p>
+
+<p>The winter had been so dry that the flowers of early spring were
+disappointing. I found a few purple anemones where I had expected to
+see hundreds, and gleaned a handful or two of narcissus from the dry
+bed of the torrent where I had hoped to gather baskets full.</p>
+
+<p>But with the coming of the long-hoped-for rain the earth gave up her
+secrets, and secrets worth knowing they proved themselves. There
+were amazing orchids&mdash;little round-bellied flies, so life-like that
+one half-expected to hear them buzz; or glorious travesties of
+insects that never were, some with bodies of glittering metallic<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287"> [Pg 287]</a></span>
+blue daintily edged with brown fur, others with delicate wings of
+rosy heliotrope.</p>
+
+<p>It was odd to find garden pets&mdash;grape hyacinths, gladiolus,
+iris&mdash;leading a gipsy life on those sunny slopes, and odder still to
+discover begonias, or even <i>Nigella damascena</i>, camping out, as it
+were. One felt inclined to demand to be told why they were shirking
+their obvious duty of beautifying gloomy British gardens.</p>
+
+<p>The following list of the rarer Balearic plants, given me by a noted
+Scottish gardener, is specially interesting as showing the wide
+range of the island flora: Anthyllis cytisoides, Astragalus
+poterium, Cynoglossum pictum, Daphne vallæoides, Delphinium pictum,
+Digitalis dubia, Genista cineria, Hedysarum coronarium, Hedysarum
+spinosissimum, Helianthemum serræ, Helianthemum salicifolium,
+Helichrysum Lamarkii, Hippocrepis balearica, Hypericum balearicum,
+Lavatera cretica, Lavatera minoricensis, Leucojum Hernandezii,
+Linaria triphylla, Linaria fragilis, Lotus creticus, Melilotus
+messanensis, Micromeria Rodriguezii, Micromeria filiformis, Ononis
+crispa, Ononis breviflora, Ononis minutissima, Pastinæa lucida,
+Phlomis italica, Polygala rupestris, Scutellaria Vigineuxii, Sencio
+Rodriguezii, Sibthorpia africana, Silene rubella, Sonchus spinosus,
+Vicia atropurpurea.</p>
+
+<p>Perhaps it was because wild flowers bloomed all through the months
+that the native children did not care to gather them, and that
+indifference to natural blossoms prevailed in all classes of the
+community. It seemed as though the Majorcans had not yet realized
+the decorative value of flowers. One rarely saw cut flowers used on
+the table or in the reception-rooms even of people on whose country
+estates roses and violets blossomed all the year round. I never saw
+flowers for sale in the big daily market, and the few clusters that
+in spring the countryfolk brought in to the Saturday market would
+scarcely have sufficed to trim one fashionable hat.</p>
+
+<p>In February, when the rose-coloured blossoms of the cistus were<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288"> [Pg 288]</a></span>
+beginning to open on the uplands, the brown-cheeked shepherd boys
+began to look for the young shoots of the wild asparagus, which they
+made into little bunches for sale, bound round with broad asphodel
+leaves fastened with long, sharp prickles.</p>
+
+<p>Though a gourmet could hardly have taken exception to the flavour of
+the asparagus thus gathered, he might have objected to the size, for
+the shoots were seldom larger than that sold in London under the
+mysterious name of "sprue." But the flavour was delicious, and when
+one added the pleasure of gathering to the value when found, the
+wild asparagus was worth its weight in gold. While the season lasted
+we often brought in a bunch or two from our sunset strolls, and
+these occasions were signalized by the appearance of asparagus
+omelet at supper.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289"> [Pg 289]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 284px;">
+<a href="images/col08.jpg"><img src="images/col08-tb.jpg" width="284" height="400" alt="People heading towards a large walled town built on a hill" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">SUNDAY MORNING AT IVIZA</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="XXV" id="XXV"></a><abbr title="25">XXV</abbr><br />
+IVIZA&mdash;A FORGOTTEN ISLE</h2>
+
+<p>With regard to Iviza, the third in importance of the Balearic Isles,
+even the usually omniscient Baedeker maintains a dignified reserve.
+And indeed Iviza is so little visited that while the <i>Isleña
+Marítima Compania Mallorquina de Vapores</i> convey passengers thither
+from Majorca for fifteen <span lang="es">pesetas</span> first class, or eleven <span lang="es">pesetas</span>
+second, they charge eighteen and thirteen <span lang="es">pesetas</span> respectively to
+bring them back to Majorca, which looks as though they thought
+voyagers might require to be cajoled into going to Iviza, but would
+need no inducement to return.</p>
+
+<p>From the records in existence one gathers that no relics of the
+Stone Age have been discovered in Iviza, though traces left by many
+dynasties prove that from very early times occupation of the lovely
+and fertile isle was hotly contested. Chaldeans, Egyptians,
+Ph&#339;nicians, Romans, Greeks, Vandals, Saracens, and Moors fought
+for its possession, but since the Aragonese invasion of the
+thirteenth century Iviza has belonged to Spain.</p>
+
+<p>We had heard strange tales of the Ivizans&mdash;told, it must be
+admitted, by people who avowedly had never set foot on the
+island&mdash;grim stories of ferocity, of the crack of the ready pistol,
+of the slash of the handy knife. We had also heard that these grim
+islanders were invariably kind to strangers. Now we were on the way
+to judge for ourselves.</p>
+
+<p>While the departure of the Barcelona boat lures all Palma to the
+mole, only a handful of spectators was assembled when, at noon on<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290"> [Pg 290]</a></span>
+the 8th of April, the <i>Lulio</i> steamed westwards.</p>
+
+<p>It was a fine day with a brisk head-wind. Like the high mountains
+around Sóller, the waves were white-crested, and for the first three
+hours the voyage was a delight. As the <i>Lulio</i> skirted the coast we
+enjoyed identifying the places now familiar to us by land. The
+little bays beyond Cas Catalá, Ben Dinat among its woods, the
+windmills above the town of Andraitx, and the long, high islet of
+Dragonera.</p>
+
+<p>As the heliotrope mountains of Majorca receded into the distance,
+the brilliance faded. From warm azure the sea changed to purple,
+from purple to grey, and the wind blew keenly against us. The
+<i>Lulio</i> is only some 600 tons, and there was little shelter on the
+saloon deck, which is forward of the funnel. We felt inclined to
+envy the Ivizan passengers, who, camped on the snug lower deck,
+first ate strange messes, then after a brief but busy interlude of
+regret, curled up on their bundles and went snugly to sleep.</p>
+
+<p>With us there were half a dozen men and one lady. And when the
+captain invited her to share the cover of the chart-house which
+abutted on our promenade, I envied her also until, after the dubious
+enjoyment of a few moments of splendid detachment from the common
+herd, she revealed signs of inward discomfort and fled to seek a
+less conspicuous position.</p>
+
+<p>Before the land we had left was out of sight, two little clouds low
+on the western horizon were recognized as outlying islets of the
+Ivizan group. Then, as we gradually approached nearer, hills upon
+hills, promontories, more islets, appeared; and still we steadily
+steamed westwards. The sun sank in golds and greys behind the Ivizan
+heights, and still we went on through the grey gloom, past a rocky,
+indented coast on which we saw no sign of habitation.</p>
+
+<p>Then, out of the darkness arose the vision of a town piled on an
+eminence&mdash;a town of unexpected beauty, for from the tranquil waters
+of the almost landlocked bay to the highest point it was sparkling
+with lights. It was Iviza, the one important town of the main
+island.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291"> [Pg 291]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>To the hoarse grating of her anchor chain the <i>Lulio</i> swung to, and
+through the darkness the vague outlines of rowing boats could be
+seen approaching.</p>
+
+<p>The young boatman who was the first to accost us secured our custom,
+and we stepped down the accommodation-ladder into the swaying boat.
+Half a dozen natives followed, carrying their belongings in big
+cotton handkerchiefs, a form of Balearic travelling case that to me
+always seemed peculiarly alluring, for when not in actual service,
+the handkerchief-portmanteau could be folded and stowed in the
+pocket; or even, did occasion require, be put to other uses.</p>
+
+<p>The behaviour of the boatman who rows him ashore in a new country
+serves the experienced traveller as symbol of the treatment awaiting
+him in that country. Our boatman asked one real
+each&mdash;twopence-halfpenny&mdash;as his fee, which was exactly the sum
+required of the native passengers. And that served as our token of
+Iviza. We would be treated with strict honesty&mdash;there was but one
+price either for native or stranger.</p>
+
+<p>The arrival of the steamer, whose departure from Palma had attracted
+so little attention, was a matter of importance at Iviza. People
+clustered on the pier, and the steps leading to the water's edge
+were so densely crowded that it was difficult for those landing to
+find foot-room.</p>
+
+<p>A burly Ivizan took the luggage, and after a cursory custom's
+inspection we reached the <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span>, which was only a stone's-cast
+away. The <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span>, which appeared to be the only one in the town,
+was delightfully situated on the harbour. The rooms allotted to us
+were the best in the house. Two opened from the drawing-room and one
+had a balcony overlooking the water. The inclusive charge was six
+<span lang="es">pesetas</span> a day&mdash;about four shillings and sixpence of English money.</p>
+
+<p>Supper was in process of serving. Going downstairs, we entered the
+dining-room, to find one long table at which were seated about a
+dozen men. Judging rashly by our Minorcan experience, we classified
+them collectively as commercial travellers, and concluded that Iviza
+must be a more important place than we had imagined, if it gave<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292"> [Pg 292]</a></span>
+employment to so many.</p>
+
+<p>The meal, which revealed a lack of inspiration on the part of the
+cook, was served by a solitary waiter. When it was over, we went out
+and felt our way about the streets. The capital town of Iviza, which
+is built on a high rock, faces the sea. It has no back, no other
+side. The old town, which is surmounted by the Cathedral and the
+castle, is entirely surrounded by a perfectly preserved Roman wall.
+The newer portion of the town, which is built on land reclaimed from
+the sea, lies just below the principal gate of the old city.</p>
+
+<p>Passing the quaint circular fish market and the vacant market-place,
+which consisted of a red-tiled and raftered shed, supported on white
+pillars and surrounded by trees, we walked up the slope leading to
+the great gate in the Roman wall that encircles the ancient town.</p>
+
+<p>In a niche on either side of the opening stood a massive marble
+figure. The heads were gone and certain other members had not
+outlasted the ravages of the centuries, but enough still remained to
+show the beauty of the workmanship. From the neck-socket of the
+draped figure foliage was springing, and the statue of the legionary
+had the scarce dignified effect of carrying a bundle of fodder, so
+boldly had the weeds sprouted from under his right arm.</p>
+
+<p>The streets within the old city walls were dark and steep and
+twisted. In their secretive recesses something of the atmosphere of
+the Middle Ages seemed still to linger.</p>
+
+<p>The Ivizans go early to bed. The lights that illumed our landing had
+already been extinguished, and finding our progress over these
+tortuous steeps a protracted stumble, we groped our way back to the
+<span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span>, resigned to leaving further exploration to the morrow.</p>
+
+<p>We slept soundly. When our early coffee came we drank it on the
+balcony as we watched two boys fishing from a boat in a shallow just
+beneath our windows. The bait seemed to be shell-fish, and the boy
+in the Carlist cap who held the rod was catching little wriggling<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293"> [Pg 293]</a></span>
+fish as quickly as he could re-cast his hook into the water.</p>
+
+<p>Then for the first time we awoke to the picturesque charm of the
+Ivizan's choice of material and love of colour in dress. The fishing
+boy wore plush trousers of a lovely pinky-fawn shade. His
+companion's were moss-green, and his waist scarf was scarlet. A crew
+of fishermen, their garments a kaleidoscope of gay hues, were
+breakfasting in their boat near. And along the beach beneath, a boy
+clad in faded blue velvet was carrying in one hand a basket of
+beautiful rose-coloured fish and dangling a hideously suggestive
+octopus in the other.</p>
+
+<p>Our good friend the padre, a <span lang="es">presbítero</span> of Palma Cathedral, had
+kindly recommended us to his chosen friend, who was a beneficiado of
+Iviza Cathedral. So our first walk, on the morning after our
+arrival, led up the precipitous paths towards the superbly situated
+old church.</p>
+
+<p>Seen by daylight the streets were vaguely reminiscent of both Palma
+and Mahón, without resembling either. While the whitewashed walls
+recalled the austere cleanliness of the Minorcan capital, the
+condition of the streets gave one the impression that the
+inhabitants subsisted chiefly upon oranges. The plenitude of
+balconies held more than a hint of Palma, though most of the Ivizan
+balconies were heavily fashioned of wood; and from many the entire
+family washing (which in Palma would be dried on the flat roof),
+even to sheets, hung out to dry. The Ivizans showed both taste and
+skill in floriculture. Quite a number of the balconies were prettily
+decorated with pot plants, from cinerarias to peonies, in full
+bloom.</p>
+
+<p>The market was busy when we passed. Grave-looking women, with
+wide-brimmed white hats perched rakishly a-top the handkerchief that
+covered their heads, were selling oranges or vegetables. One, with a
+row of moist water-jars balanced on either side of the furriest
+donkey I ever saw, was plying the trade of water-carrier.</p>
+
+<p>We reached the Cathedral during morning service, and we waited,<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294"> [Pg 294]</a></span>
+enjoying the music and the tuneful clamour of the great wheel of
+bells that mingled so harmoniously with the sound of the organ, and
+wondering in which of the officiating clergy we would discover the
+friend of our friend. He also had been looking out for us, and as
+we, along with two old men, were the entire congregation, he had no
+difficulty in distinguishing us.</p>
+
+<p>When Mass was over we met on the <span lang="es"><i>mirador</i></span> outside, and though by
+force of nationality, religion, language, and training we ought to
+have been poles asunder, from almost the first moment of our
+acquaintance we recognised a congenial spirit in Don Pepe, as the
+young choristers, who clustered round, affectionately called the
+padre.</p>
+
+<p>Under his care we re-entered the Cathedral, which, despite, or
+perhaps because of belonging to no known school of architecture, is
+very beautiful, the interior with its canopied Virgin having an
+inspiring sense of light. Then, accompanied by the sacristan, a
+grave man with a charming smile, we saw some of the treasures of the
+church, climbed the tower to see the comprehensive view from the
+top, and visited the adjacent castle, which is now used as a
+military barracks.</p>
+
+<p>While within the fortifications we were introduced to an especially
+interesting specimen of the cunning traps prepared by the Romans for
+their unwary invaders. From one portion of the castle, which is
+perched high within the strong fortifications, we were guided
+through a long, dark, shelving passage, down, down, down, until on
+passing through a massive door we entered an alley, lit from above,
+that ended abruptly in a four-feet-high portal deep set in the great
+city wall, and from without partly secured by a bastion.</p>
+
+<p>The ingenious plan of the ancient defenders had evidently been to
+leave unguarded the inconspicuous door, and when the besiegers,
+discovering it and imagining themselves in luck, had crept through
+the secret door into the alley, to shower missiles on them from the
+circular opening overhead. It was a shrewd device, but one hardly
+calculated to endear the Romans to their enemies.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295"> [Pg 295]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Leaving the heights, we walked down towards the church of Santo
+Domingo, an antique building with curious red-tiled domes. The
+priceless treasure of this old Dominican convent is an image of
+Christ which for ages has been the object of great devotion. Until
+the last century ships on leaving or entering the harbour of Iviza
+were in the custom of saluting it with their flag and a shot from
+their cannon.</p>
+
+<p>As we neared the church we saw approaching from a side street a
+peasant family of such attractively quaint appearance that we paused
+and, affecting to be admiring the prospect, waited for them to pass.
+They were all attired in the gala dress of the island. The
+sun-tanned farmer father wore a suit of old-gold embossed velvet and
+a purple scarf was wound about his waist. The mother wore the
+immoderately wide skirt gathered into a plain high-waisted bodice,
+the short green silk apron, the little shoulder shawl with its
+prettily flowered border and long fringe, and the gay embroidered
+head-wrap that make up the distinctive Ivizan costume. From the tip
+of her pigtail a brightly coloured ribbon hung down to the hem of
+her spreading skirts. The eldest child, a girl of eight or nine, was
+a diminutive facsimile of her mother. The elder boy wore a man's
+suit in miniature of very light blue, and a wide-brimmed yellow hat.
+The group tapered off with a wee boy in a quaintly cut long frock
+and a white Carlist cap, and a baby in bunching petticoats and a
+muslin cap with wings. The father, who smiled pleasantly when he saw
+us notice the children, carried with evident care a liqueur bottle.
+Moving decorously, as though bound on some important mission, they
+preceded us into the church.</p>
+
+<p>We had paused to examine a fine old painting, and when we reached
+the special chapel that contained the celebrated image we found the
+little family already kneeling before the altar, even the youngest
+apparently impressed by the solemnity of the occasion.</p>
+
+<p>After a few moments the father, rising from his knees and still
+holding the bottle, approached the padre to crave a private word<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296"> [Pg 296]</a></span>
+with him, and they quitted the chapel together, leaving the mother
+and children still on their knees.</p>
+
+<p>A great silver lamp, suspended from the roof, burned in front of the
+<span lang="es"><i>Cristo</i></span>, and all around the walls were votive offerings&mdash;models of
+hearts, of legs, of arms, even of heads, and little silver figures,
+some in peasant dress, one in a smart frockcoat. Oddest, perhaps, of
+all was a pair of silver trousers.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/gs47.jpg"><img src="images/gs47-tb.jpg" width="400" height="394" alt="Family at prayer" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">THANKSGIVING</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>There were medals, a fine model of a full rigged ship, a little
+muslin frock, another of rich satin in a glass case, all presented
+in token of succour prayed for and obtained in time of imminent
+danger to life or limb.</p>
+
+<p>While we lingered, a female attendant entered the chapel carrying<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297"> [Pg 297]</a></span>
+the liqueur bottle, and drawing down the great silver lamp,
+proceeded to fill its reservoir from the store in the bottle, the
+family, who still maintained their devotional attitude, half turning
+with something of proprietary interest to watch her movements.</p>
+
+<p>Returning to the body of the church, we found the padre and the
+father of the family in earnest converse. During a recent serious
+illness, explained the padre, the peasant had vowed the gift of a
+bottle of olive oil for the sacred lamp. Now, on his recovery, his
+first action had been to make a little pilgrimage to the chapel,
+bringing his entire family to give thanks for his restoration to
+health and to deliver the promised gift.</p>
+
+<p>The exhibition of such unquestioning faith and gratitude in this
+world of scepticism was inexpressibly touching. And our hearts
+melted and were glad with the little household. Still, though the
+father declared himself again robust, a sickly pallor showed beneath
+his tan, and when he grasped our hands in farewell his touch was
+ice-cold.</p>
+
+<p>Walking back along the ramparts we noticed a gentleman who, though
+personally unknown to us, yet bore a remarkable racial resemblance
+to many people we had known in Britain. He was well dressed after
+the English fashion, wore fawn kid gloves, and though the sky was
+cloudless, carried a neatly rolled umbrella.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the <span lang="es">Señor</span> Wallis, a member of an illustrious family here.
+They all speak English. Shall I introduce you?" asked the padre,
+seeing that we were interested.</p>
+
+<p>To our gratification the <span lang="es">Señor</span> Wallis not only spoke English
+admirably, but also understood it perfectly.</p>
+
+<p>"My grandfather came here as British Consul," he explained. "He
+married and settled here. My father was Consul after him. We have
+always spoken the English language at home."</p>
+
+<p>Here then was a family, living in a remote island where they might
+not hear English spoken once a year, who because their ancestor had
+been English carefully maintained the language and traditions of<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298"> [Pg 298]</a></span>
+their forebears. As the Boy said afterwards, it reminded one of
+Kipling's tale of Namgay Doola!</p>
+
+<p>A little farther along, a massive figure, joyously arrayed in a suit
+of maize-coloured corduroy, a lilac-check shirt and a green hat,
+gladdened our vision.</p>
+
+<p>"That is the present English Consul," said the padre, who seemed to
+be on good terms with everybody. "I shall introduce him to you."</p>
+
+<p>The British Vice-Consul blushed when presented to genuine natives of
+the country he represented. His knowledge of the language was
+rudimentary, and after a few tentative efforts the conversation
+lapsed into Spanish. As the Boy said, it was quicker.</p>
+
+<p>The padre had promised to call at three to take us to see the
+excavations in process on a slope just outside the city. And after
+lunch I strolled out to the fields in search of Ivizan wild flowers.
+Within a five minutes' walk of the town I soon gathered an
+armful&mdash;purple and yellow and white and yellow toad-flaxes, pink
+asters, blood-red poppies, big cream chrysanthemums, little blue and
+white iris, a handsome garlic-smelling pink flower, wild mignonette,
+both the tall and the dwarf asphodel, a yellow pheasant's eye, one
+or two unfamiliar blossoms, and, best of all, many regal spikes of
+the tall crimson gladioli that were growing among the green corn.</p>
+
+<p>The padre was punctual to a moment, and we were soon mounting the
+rocky hill just beyond the city wall where the excavations were
+going on.</p>
+
+<p>There was nothing in the appearance of the place to suggest that
+underneath our feet there existed Ph&#339;nician catacombs. Great
+spikes of the handsome evil-smelling asphodel were blooming all
+around, and two men in wide felt hats and abbreviated blouses,
+standing by some heaps of soil, were the only visible sign of the
+important work that was being done.</p>
+
+<p>When we reached them we saw that their labour consisted of passing<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299"> [Pg 299]</a></span>
+the earth that had been brought to the surface through a fine
+sifter, and that close by yawned a hole overhung by a rope running
+on a wheel attached to a rough tripod.</p>
+
+<p>The Boy was the only one of the party daring enough to accept the
+invitation to descend. Leaving his coat behind, he slid down the
+rope and vanished through a hole in the bottom of the shaft. The
+younger workman followed. While we awaited their re-appearance we
+noticed that many bones, earth-coloured, light in weight and brittle
+to the touch, mingled with the mounds of refuse, and that bits of
+broken pottery and fragments of iridescent glass leavened the heaps.</p>
+
+<p>Soon the Boy and his guide, earth-stained and perspiring, for the
+underground atmosphere was close and hot, scrambled their way back
+to the surface.</p>
+
+<p>The Boy's account was that when he had swung himself down the shaft
+he and his guide entered the subterranean passage, feeling as though
+he were entering his own grave, in place of merely going to view
+that of other people. Passing through an outer hall, they came to a
+narrow chamber where, by the light of an acetylene lamp, a being
+looking like a gnome or a ghoul was sitting on the edge of a long
+stone coffin grubbing in the dust and ashes that filled it.</p>
+
+<p>Resting on the rim of the coffin were the relics that he had already
+recovered from the debris&mdash;bits of shattered pottery, and a
+beautiful but mutilated statuette of terra-cotta about five inches
+in height.</p>
+
+<p>From that cell they descended to a large chamber on a lower level,
+where there were many coffins and a plenitude of bones.</p>
+
+<p>When in recent years three Ph&#339;nician catacombs were discovered it
+was found that their existence had been known to the Moors, who at
+some unknown date had already despoiled them of treasure, leaving
+traces of their appropriation in the form of broken water jars and
+other worthless relics. Fortunately the Moors valued only the gold,
+so that, in spite of the damage caused by their rough handling, a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300"> [Pg 300]</a></span>
+mine of precious things still remains to gladden the archæologist.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the sunny hill-side, where spring flowers were blooming among
+the crumbling bones of these nameless dead, we mounted to the house
+by the windmills, where the treasures found in the graves are
+primarily housed.</p>
+
+<p>There also was the padre a welcome guest, and in a small dark room
+wonderful things were shown us. Tiny jars delicately figured;
+perfect vases of iridescent glass; strange bas-relief recumbent
+figures with stiffly extended hands; antique coins, scarabs that the
+Moors had bereft of their setting, ornaments that had escaped their
+rapacity, and old lamps enough to have satisfied even the covetous
+Abanazer.</p>
+
+<p>It was oddly suggestive to think that, while the people who were
+entombed in these stone coffins thousands of years ago had known
+delicate arts and worn costly jewellery, their successors on the
+land lived in primitive dwellings and drew the water they drank in
+earthenware jars that in form were exact copies of those so long
+buried in the tombs. Truly in some things the world has not
+progressed!</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301"> [Pg 301]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 386px;">
+<a href="images/gs48.jpg"><img src="images/gs48-tb.jpg" width="386" height="400" alt="Three young men admiring four young ladies" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">A TRIO AND A QUARTETTE</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="XXVI" id="XXVI"></a><abbr title="26">XXVI</abbr><br />
+AN IVIZAN SABBATH</h2>
+
+<p>Sunday morning was as calm and beautiful as could be desired by
+visitors with only a few days in which to explore an island.</p>
+
+<p>With quite unwonted energy we rose before seven o'clock, and after
+dressing and taking a cup of tea in our own little sitting-room,
+went out to the Alameda to see the countryfolk coming in to Mass or
+market.</p>
+
+<p>On the ships in the harbour flags were flying. Everybody was in gala
+dress. The very air felt gay. And as we sat on one of the stone
+seats in the leafy Alameda and watched the people streaming into
+town from the broad white roads that lead to San Antonio, Santa
+Eulalia and other villages, we chirruped with irrepressible delight,
+so unexpectedly and deliciously quaint were the figures that passed
+before us.</p>
+
+<p>Some of the women rode mules, and sat perched high on a pile of
+sheepskins, their multi-coloured petticoats billowing about their<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302"> [Pg 302]</a></span>
+neat ankles. Others were packed closely into open carts that had
+cushions placed low on either side of their sagging floor-matting.
+Many walked, accompanied by vigilant elderly relatives. And oh! how
+demure and decorous they all looked, with their dark hair parted in
+the middle and severely plastered down the sides of their rosy young
+faces.</p>
+
+<p>An object of fervent admiration in my childhood was a pincushion
+made of a little china doll, whose placid head and insignificant
+body appeared from a widely distended skirt. And on this brilliant
+Sunday morning the Ivizan women and girls in their exaggerated
+skirts seemed to me like a procession of walking dolls.</p>
+
+<p>The dresses appeared to be fashioned from any material that boasted
+a pattern, for the Ivizan detests a plain material. Even the velvet
+or plush used in the men's clothes was in many instances flowered or
+striped. The short broad aprons were of bright-coloured silk
+elaborately tucked above the hem. Their deeply fringed shawls and
+head wraps were bordered with wreaths of gaily tinted flowers. The
+chains of big oblong gold beads and elaborate gold pendants in the
+form of crosses and crowns gave a blatant and contradictory note to
+the staid costume, while the gaudy hue of the ribbon that tied the
+end of the pigtail and fell in long ends nearly to the hem of the
+skirt suggested a hint of the original Eve lurking behind all this
+apparent demureness. Gold buttons closely set ran from the wrist of
+the long sleeve, which was often of green, to the elbow. And the
+white sandalled shoes, whose toes were caught up by a cord bound
+round the ankles, had a suggestion of sabots that added a Dutch
+touch to the picture.</p>
+
+<p>Sometimes a mother in sober garments or a smiling father in a wide
+hat marched past in proud chaperonage of a diffident young daughter
+rigged out in all the family jewellery. One girl, who enjoyed the
+personal care of her mother, wore a gown of old rose-spotted brocade
+looped up in pannier form to show a pink petticoat.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303"> [Pg 303]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>To our thinking the extreme of quaintness was reached in the person
+of a little maid of seven or eight, whose dress was a travesty of
+that of her widowed mother; with the sole difference that, while the
+mother's mourning garb was of unrelieved black, the kerchief and
+tiny shawl of the child had bordering wreaths of white flowers. As
+she walked slowly by, a tiny entity in over-voluminous garments, the
+Man declared that, despite her superhuman sobriety, and the "papa,
+prunes, prisms" expression of her infant lips, he felt convinced
+that it was with difficulty she resisted a desire to skip!</p>
+
+<p>They say there are ten men for every woman on the island, and our
+experience of that Sunday morning inclined us to believe it. From
+every direction came fine strapping lads moving in droves. A
+distinct resemblance in the dress, taken in combination with the
+rakish dare-devil air with which these young bloods set their wide
+hats to one side and swaggered along, vividly suggested the Mexican
+cowboy.</p>
+
+<p>In striking contrast to the expansive attire of the women, the men's
+dress appeared designed to accentuate their natural slimness. The
+trousers of velvet or plush in all manner of rich shades fitted
+closely to the figure except at the ankle, where they spread widely.
+Gaily hued shirts or short full blouse jackets, usually black or
+blue, were worn. Red or striped sashes were wound about their
+waists. Most of the hats were large and adorned with gold cords. And
+in addition to one necktie for use, it was customary to add a second
+and sometimes even a third for show.</p>
+
+<p>We were sincerely sorry to find that nine o'clock, the hour when we
+were due at the hotel for coffee, had rushed upon us. When we came
+out again on our way to visit the Museum, the streets about the
+market were busy with a moving throng resplendent in colour.</p>
+
+<p>For the moment the girls appeared to have got rid of their chaperons
+and were parading about in quartettes, sextettes, even septettes,
+their tightly pleated pigtails streaming stiffly behind, their
+hands, holding pocket-handkerchiefs heavily edged with substantial
+crochet lace, sedately crossed in front.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304"> [Pg 304]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>One group that particularly rejoiced the artistic soul of the Man
+was made up of four demure damsels who walked in a row, the tallest
+at one end, the others decreasing in height till the row ended in a
+dear dot. Their outlines were so much alike that they had the effect
+of having been stencilled in a diminishing scale.</p>
+
+<p>It was perhaps only to be expected that wherever one saw a bevy of
+girls a corresponding cluster of men would not be far distant. Yet
+we rarely saw them address each other.</p>
+
+<p>The modern etiquette of peasant courtship in Iviza runs on strict
+though simple lines. A plenitude of suitors being assured, it is the
+maiden who makes the selection. The admirers of a marriageable girl
+wait for her outside the church door on Sunday. When she leaves Mass
+the one who has the premier claim attaches himself to her, and trots
+beside her for the first portion of the homeward journey, then at a
+fixed point or within a stated time-limit he gives place to the
+second, and so on until the number is exhausted. If any man seeks to
+exceed his allotted space, or in any other way tries to transgress
+the unwritten law, pistols may flare and knives are apt to spring!
+Apart from this the people of Iviza are peaceable, and on all points
+moral and virtuous. It must be admitted that certain of the more
+frolicsome spirits still keep up the old custom of saluting the
+maidens of their choice with a charge of rock salt fired at the
+ankles. And it is devoutly to be hoped that the unwieldy masses of
+petticoats serve at least one useful purpose by shielding their
+wearers from the saline missiles of love's artillery.</p>
+
+<p>When we had reached the Cathedral square, where the Museum is
+situated, we found the door open and the custodian&mdash;in whom we were
+surprised to recognize one of our fellow-guests at the
+<span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span>&mdash;waiting to receive us.</p>
+
+<p>Though the Museum at Iviza has been in existence for little more
+than two years it already contains a notable collection of
+Ph&#339;nician, Roman, Byzantine and Moorish remains. To an
+archæologist, inspection of the contents would have been a special<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305"> [Pg 305]</a></span>
+treat. Even to us who had little knowledge of the subject it was
+intensely interesting.</p>
+
+<p>Within the centre cases and in the glass-doored cupboards that line
+the walls were many things whose worth we could not venture to
+guess. The varied assortment of coins seemed especially valuable.
+One jar found during the process of excavation had contained over
+six hundred specimens.</p>
+
+<p>Among the other exhibits were several primitive bas-relief figures
+with abruptly out-jutting hands, resembling those we had seen on the
+previous day. Two figures had the hands clasped on the bust over
+something suggesting a loaf, and one had a ring through the nose.</p>
+
+<p>Many of the vases and slender vials from the tombs were beautiful,
+both in outline and in decoration. And we saw a particularly fine
+scarab that had been found in one of the stone coffins immediately
+after our visit to the catacombs on the previous afternoon.</p>
+
+<p>In the second room were some curious old documents and certain of
+the more bulky exhibits. And from a top shelf a row of skulls of
+these bygone races grinned down upon us creatures of to-day, as
+though their owners found something ludicrous in the idea of a
+special house being set apart in which to guard as treasures what to
+them had been but everyday possessions.</p>
+
+<p>When we left the Museum the padre, with kindly thought and subtle
+intuition of what is most likely to interest the stranger in a
+foreign land, took us a-visiting. First he introduced us to the only
+professional artist on the island, who like everybody else in the
+place seemed a special friend of our sponsor.</p>
+
+<p>And in the artist of this far-off southern islet we rejoiced to meet
+the romantic painter of fiction&mdash;the picturesque hero one reads
+about but rarely has the good fortune to encounter.</p>
+
+<p>Don Narciso&mdash;his very name was in keeping&mdash;was young, buoyant of
+spirit, charming in manner, and enthusiastic regarding art. He had a
+thick curly black beard, abundant wavy black hair. He wore a<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306"> [Pg 306]</a></span>
+becoming blouse, and his loosely knotted silk tie was of <i>amarilla</i>
+silk.</p>
+
+<p>The painter welcomed us cordially, and took us into his studio,
+where he was at work upon a full-length portrait of a bishop who had
+been a native of the island.</p>
+
+<p>Round the walls were brilliant studies both in figure and landscape.
+We had been living close to Nature for six months. It was a pleasure
+to breathe again the studio atmosphere. In less than two minutes the
+three artists were deep in discussion of kindred interests. Their
+nationalities might be different, but Art has only one language.
+Names&mdash;Velasquez, Goya, and others of more recent date&mdash;were bandied
+between them, the while the padre and I sat dumbly attentive.</p>
+
+<p>When we were leaving, Narciso took us into the artistically unkempt
+garden attached to the studio, and from the line of orange-trees
+beyond the old well plucked a spray heavy with the luscious blossom.
+This he presented to me with a grace that dignified the sprig into a
+bouquet. And we all parted with promise of an early reunion.</p>
+
+<p>A few yards farther down the road we passed a group of ladies, whose
+smart Paris hats and modern raiment, seen in that land of quaint
+attire, gave the wearers an oddly foreign look.</p>
+
+<p>"Son la familia Wallis," murmured the padre, as he raised his hat to
+them.</p>
+
+<p>The house of the padre, our next place of call, was just beyond the
+seminary where the students whom we had seen leaving the Cathedral
+in their robes of black and scarlet were undergoing their thirteen
+years of probation before entering the Church.</p>
+
+<p>The padre's home in all its appointments impressed us as being
+exactly suited to the quiet refinement of its master. From the
+windows one gained a superb view of the rippling waters of the
+landlocked harbour and of the undulating country beyond.</p>
+
+<p>We had the honour of meeting the padre's mother, a lady who, though<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307"> [Pg 307]</a></span>
+shrunk a little by weight of years, was still hale and bright. And
+his sister, the widow of a distinguished officer. And his niece, who
+was so vivacious and charming, that when she waved to us from her
+balcony as we left we wondered if the <span lang="es"><i>novio</i></span> who was standing in
+the street, whispering love up to a maiden in a mantilla on the
+balcony just beneath hers, had not made the mistake of a floor!</p>
+
+<p>It was evidently the feast-day of one of our fellow-guests at the
+hotel, for at the close of the midday meal a tray of dainty Spanish
+sweetmeats in frilled paper cases was passed round&mdash;being handed,
+evidently by special instructions, to us also.</p>
+
+<p>When we had helped ourselves we bowed indecisively towards the
+farther end of the table, saying vaguely&mdash;in the hope that our
+gratitude might reach the donor&mdash;<span lang="es">"<a name="Muchos" id="Muchos">Muchos</a> gracias, señor."</span> The other
+<span lang="es">señores</span> were quick to indicate the benefactor, who flushed a little
+as he acknowledged our thanks.</p>
+
+<p>While lunch was being served a dark silent young man, who was one of
+the regular company, several times left his place, and from our
+seats at table we saw him go to the open front door of the hotel and
+glance up and down the street, as though on the look-out for
+somebody. Seeing him return alone for the third time, we whispered
+hints of a dilatory sweetheart.</p>
+
+<p>But when the eagerly expected guest did appear it was not some
+graceful doña, but a little baby girl, the sleeves of her white
+frock tied with black ribbon, who was carried in in the arms of a
+stout peasant nurse. As the padre told us later, our taciturn
+fellow-guest was the postmaster, who had lost his young wife, and
+this was their babe come to pay the bereaved father her weekly
+visit.</p>
+
+<p>When we went out in the afternoon the townsfolk were promenading
+under the shade of the Alameda, but the <span lang="es"><i>payeses</i></span> had all
+vanished&mdash;gone back to the rural homes whither we would like to have
+followed them. With the disappearance of the quaint figures the
+charm seemed to have vanished, and when we met our new friend the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308"> [Pg 308]</a></span>
+sacristan we cajoled him into going for a stroll along the
+watercourses that intersect the reclaimed land beyond the harbour.</p>
+
+<p>These are a curious feature of a delightfully curious country. On
+either side of the raised centre path were broad ditches full of
+clear water, whose yellow sand was speckled with black shell-fish.
+Shoals of little fish darted in and out among the rushes, and on
+every patch of floating weed a tiny frog sat and croaked.</p>
+
+<p>The fertile ground on either side of the ditches was divided into
+small holdings, or <span lang="es"><i>feixas</i></span> as they are locally called. And there
+mixed crops of fruit and vegetables flourished abundantly. Vines
+trained to trellises bordered the water, and at frequent intervals
+tall whitewashed gateways, reached by little bridges and quite
+unsupported by walls, reared their gleaming bulk with something of
+the self-conscious air that might be attributed to whited
+sepulchres. As in Majorca, the small agriculturists appeared to live
+in the towns. There were no dwellings on the <span lang="es"><i>feixas</i></span>, though a few
+had sheds from which issued the grunts of unseen animals.</p>
+
+<p>The evening glow was on the hills when we left the watercourses and
+followed a track that led between fields of full-bearded rye dotted
+with blood-red poppies towards a picturesque white-walled <span lang="es"><i>noria</i></span>.
+In the shadow of the trees close by the old Moorish well, which was
+encircled by a trellised vine, sat the farm folk enjoying the rest
+of the Sabbath. A guest in a mantilla was with them.</p>
+
+<p>So far from resenting our intrusion they welcomed it. Seeing that we
+were interested in the working of the <span lang="es"><i>noria</i></span>, the farmer ran
+forward and, seizing the long wooden donkey shaft, set the wheel
+revolving, and made the circle of buckets (which were not fashioned
+of earthenware as in Majorca, but formed from lengths of hollowed
+pine stem&mdash;a peseta each they cost, he told us) discharge their
+contents for our benefit, the primitive machinery, which made
+laudable objection to Sunday labour, protesting the while with
+groans and squeaks.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309"> [Pg 309]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 337px;">
+<a href="images/gs49.jpg"><img src="images/gs49-tb.jpg" width="337" height="400" alt="Whitewashed gateways reached by small bridges" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">THE GATES OF THE <span lang="es"><i>FEIXAS</i></span>, IVIZA</span>
+</div>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310"> [Pg 310]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>His wife&mdash;who had received us with friendly looks and kindly
+greeting in the Ivizan dialect, that, while greatly resembling
+Majorcan, omits the harsher sounds, hastened further to reveal her
+good will by picking me the few blossoms within reach. Even the
+townified guest in the mantilla added a genial word of greeting.</p>
+
+<p>Yes, the Majorcans had spoken truly when they said the people of the
+sister isle were courteous to strangers.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311"> [Pg 311]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 362px;">
+<a href="images/gs50.jpg"><img src="images/gs50-tb.jpg" width="362" height="400" alt="Three men talking outside a churched with large arched entrances" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">THE CHURCH OF SAN ANTONIO, IVIZA</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="XXVII" id="XXVII"></a><abbr title="27">XXVII</abbr><br />
+AT SAN ANTONIO</h2>
+
+<p>It was Monday morning, and when the Man went out in search of a
+subject to sketch, I lured him along by my favourite watercourses.</p>
+
+<p>The sun beat warmly on the limpid water, in which the swarms of
+little fish, looking like vivified marks of exclamation, were
+ceaselessly flashing about. And on the surface herbage countless
+glistening frogs, green, golden, bronze, and chocolate, were
+perched, like little kings, each on his floating throne. It was with
+lamentable lack of monarchical dignity that each in turn, as he got<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312"> [Pg 312]</a></span>
+hint of our approach, took an agile header into the water and
+disappeared.</p>
+
+<p>Going on past the tall whitewashed gates that seemed to have so
+scant reason for existence, we reached the San Antonio road, and
+there in the shadow of a wall at the side of a bean-field the Man
+sat down to paint.</p>
+
+<p>Against the cloudless sky the Cathedral-crowned town rose grandly.
+From where we sat the encircling ramparts appeared as complete and
+impregnable as they did in the time of the Roman occupation.</p>
+
+<p>From our point of view, which afforded no glimpse of the newer
+houses sheltered close between the ancient gate and the harbour, the
+city looked much as it must have done in those bygone days when the
+ground on which the lower portion of the town is built was still
+lapped by the salt water of the bay.</p>
+
+<p>While the Man painted I sat by, well content. The bean blossoms made
+sweet savour in our nostrils, and the gentle swish of falling water
+from the <span lang="es"><i>noria</i></span> in an adjacent field gave a refreshing suggestion
+of coolness. And as we sat near the roadside quaint figures passed
+by in slow succession. Perched sideways on their panniered mules
+came broad-hatted women. The local convention that proscribes hats
+for Sunday female wear permits them on weekdays; and so, set
+jauntily on top of the sober handkerchief that covered the head,
+most of the peasant women wore a wide white hat, bound with black,
+and encircled with a black ribbon that hung in long ends
+behind&mdash;women whose grave sun-browned faces argued that the day for
+protecting the complexion was surely past.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the Man at work, I crossed to where in the raised <span lang="es"><i>noria</i></span>, a
+dozen yards beyond the white highroad, a blindfold mule was
+patiently at work. All alone there by the creaking old Moorish well
+he was walking round and round the path, already worn to dust by the
+passage of his willing feet.</p>
+
+<p>But if one chanced to be born a mule and had to draw water for a
+living, a pleasanter place in which to carry out one's vocation<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313"> [Pg 313]</a></span>
+could hardly be imagined. For close about the stone-sided platform
+that surrounded the well grew two immense fig-trees and a large
+pomegranate; and for many months of the year the <span lang="es"><i>noria</i></span> must have
+been an oasis of leafy shade in the midst of sun-baked fields.</p>
+
+<p>Even on that April day the fig leaves were unfolding, and the small
+green knobs of the first crop of fruit had sprouted close under the
+foliage at the tips of the ash-grey branches. The big
+pomegranate-tree held its spreading branches over the mule-track, as
+though desirous of warding off the sun from the patient worker. On
+the delicate tracery of branches the leaves, that always seem too
+minute and finely fashioned to be in perfect accord with the heavy
+roseate fruit, were showing rich copper hues.</p>
+
+<p>In humid spots about the stone bastions of the well moisture-loving
+maidenhair fern was clinging. As the shaft, slowly revolving, turned
+the wheel, the chain of wooden buckets emptied themselves with a
+musical tinkle of falling water into the wooden trough beneath, from
+which it flowed into a big square tank.</p>
+
+<p>At first sight the enduring mule had seemed the only sentient being
+near, but a second glance revealed abounding life. The water in the
+reservoir was dotted with lively black entities that proved to be
+tadpoles. On a decaying log sat a handsome frog with a panel of
+green, of so vivid a tint as to seem as though freshly enamelled,
+neatly let into his glistening brown back. Along the sandy bottom of
+the clear water a great warted toad moved sluggishly. Close in the
+shadow a dark trout was lurking. Within reach of my hand a golden
+lizard lazily sunned himself; and on the top of the wall rested a
+dragon-fly with a broken wing.</p>
+
+<p>A swallow swooped overhead. Among the poppy-strewn barley
+grasshoppers were chirping merrily. In the sunshine a newly-hatched
+swarm of insects gyrated, tentatively exercising their wings&mdash;all
+Nature seemed indolently happy. But still the patient mule trod on
+its way. Sometimes it paused a space, and I rejoiced; but the moment
+the listening ears ceased to hear the trickle of the falling water<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314"> [Pg 314]</a></span>
+the persevering beast had again started upon the monotonous circular
+tour.</p>
+
+<p>It must have been a case of conscience, for nobody was at hand to
+see whether the task was accomplished or not; but still, with eyes
+blinded to the beauty around, the patient mule pursued the ceaseless
+round, until, ashamed of my own inactivity, I longed to loosen the
+halter, to take off the straw blinders that covered his eyes, and to
+turn him into the cornfields to eat his fill.</p>
+
+<p>"What have you done with yourself?" asked the Man, as he closed his
+colour-box and prepared to return to the hotel for lunch; "I'm
+afraid you must have had a dull morning."</p>
+
+<p>But when I would have explained to him how excellently well I had
+been entertained I found it difficult. So I said nothing, for, after
+all, what possible social community could one find in a blindfold
+old mule and a handful of saltant or fluttering creatures?<br /></p>
+
+<p>In the afternoon the padre came with us, and we drove right across
+the island to San Antonio, the town that ranks second in importance.
+From Iviza diligences run to San Antonio, to Santa Eulalia, to San
+Carlos, San José, and San Juan, and the fare is fivepence. But
+Ivizan diligences are impossible things. We had seen them and
+shuddered, for they were merely rough carts with matted floors and
+close airless canvas covers. And any we had seen were so crammed
+that segments of squashed passengers protruded from every opening.</p>
+
+<p>To secure the services of a two-wheeled carriage, a horse, and a man
+for a complete day costs a <span lang="es">douro</span> (four shillings) in Iviza, and the
+charge for a half-day is the same.</p>
+
+<p>The padre, Don Pepe, accompanied us, and in the care of a
+grave-faced Ivizan clad in a mourning suit of black ribbed velvet we
+set off, pausing at the hamlet of San Rafael to see the fine vista
+of the town from the plateau before the church.</p>
+
+<p>I must confess that at first sight San Antonio was disappointing.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315"> [Pg 315]</a></span>
+What we had expected I do not know. What we found was a whitewashed
+village set on a rocky slope by an enclosed bay. The situation was
+delightful; but after the grandly characteristic city of Iviza this
+zealously whitewashed town, in spite of its antiquity, seemed
+insignificant and <em>new</em>.</p>
+
+<p>Antonio, the friend whom Don Pepe sought, was away on his
+"possession." So while a willing messenger sped to fetch him, we
+visited the church. The cura was absent, though his lace-trimmed
+vestments&mdash;which, like the town, were white as the driven snow&mdash;were
+hanging to dry within the precincts by the church porch.</p>
+
+<p>The church of San Antonio shares the attractive informality which is
+the distinctive feature of Ivizan architecture. It was once a
+fortress of defence against the Moors. From the flat roof we had a
+magnificent survey of the country about, saw the bay, which, like
+all the water about the island, abounds in fish, and the lighthouse,
+to which Don Pepe promised to take us, and the rough track up the
+solid rock towards the <i>Cueva de Santa Inés</i>, into whose recesses
+Antonio was going to guide us.</p>
+
+<p>We had left the church and were moving in the direction of the
+lighthouse, when the padre's quick eyes noted a figure hastening
+towards us. The messenger had done his work. Antonio had returned.</p>
+
+<p>The <span lang="es">señor</span> was in the prime of manhood and on the eve of marriage.
+After our other sightseeing was done, we were promised a glimpse of
+his chosen one&mdash;or, to speak quite correctly, of the damsel who had
+selected him; for, as I have said before, in Iviza it is the lady
+who chooses.</p>
+
+<p>On the sunny bank near the lighthouse we encountered an interesting
+and venerable trio&mdash;the Alcalde, the Captain of the Port, who wore
+earrings, and the cura of San Antonio. With them also our padre was
+a favourite. The cura urged us to return to the <span lang="es"><i>curato</i></span> and take
+coffee with him. But the afternoon was passing and there was still
+much to see.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316"> [Pg 316]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>So we said good-bye and left them with something of envy in our
+hearts, to resume their dawdle among the white flowering asters and
+butterflies, by the shores of the placid bay. Wherever their lives
+had been passed, they seemed at length to have found anchorage in a
+spot remote from the storms and dissensions that agitate and perplex
+the world.</p>
+
+<p>The men walked the mile to the cave. I drove, but many times during
+the short journey I realized that it would have been far less
+exertion to walk. The road lay over wickedly disposed rock, and when
+my hat was not butting the canvas sides of the trap it was violently
+colliding with that of the driver, who, though he bounced up and
+down on his seat, still managed to preserve his air of imperturbable
+calm.</p>
+
+<p>The story of this subterranean chapel is a curious and interesting
+one. It is believed that in the early years following the conquest,
+before the fortress was converted into a church, the inner chamber
+of the cave was used as a temple where Mass and other religious
+services were held. Some time later&mdash;probably towards the end of the
+sixteenth century&mdash;a wooden image of the martyred Saint Inés was
+discovered in the cave, an image that, though it was several times
+removed to the Church of San Antonio, always mysteriously reappeared
+in the cave. This was ultimately accepted as a sign that the saint
+desired her image to remain in the cave, which then received her
+name.</p>
+
+<p>On the anniversary of San Bartolomé's day&mdash;the very day on which the
+image had been discovered&mdash;in the height of a violent tempest, a
+foreign barque found safe harbourage in the bay of San Antonio. On
+board the distressed ship was a gentleman who had in his possession
+a beautiful painting of Santa Inés. In his extremity he made a
+definite bargain with the saint, vowing that, if through her
+intercession the whole ship's company landed without scath, he would
+present her portrait to the church of the first port where they
+disembarked in safety.</p>
+
+<p>It was on hearing of this miraculous intervention, and of the
+widespread notice it attracted, that the ecclesiastical authorities<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317"> [Pg 317]</a></span>
+at Iviza gave permission for the little subterranean cavern to be
+used as a place of worship.</p>
+
+<p>After that time, on the annual recurrence of San Bartolomé's day,
+people in great numbers journeyed from all parts of the island to
+the little town, and after attending Mass in the parish church went
+with the inhabitants of the town to the cave, near which they
+picnicked. Then, after having taken a draught of water from the holy
+well in the interior of the cave, they assembled outside and danced
+until sunset.</p>
+
+<p>This quaint custom continued until 1865, when it was modified
+because the roof of the cave showed signs of collapse, and the
+natives of Iviza had a superstitious belief that the impending
+catastrophe would occur on the day of the annual gathering. Since
+then the dance has been held in the town, but is only attended by
+those from a distance, as, since the scene of the festival has been
+changed, the girls of San Antonio refuse to take part in it.</p>
+
+<p>When we had secured the key from a silent woman at the farm-house
+near by, we gained the mouth of the cave by treading unconventional
+paths&mdash;first walking in single file along the broad top of a stone
+wall, then treading across a tobacco patch, where, warmly sheltered
+by surrounding walls, the broad young leaves were growing strongly.</p>
+
+<p>At the entrance to the cave Antonio and a companion who had joined
+him&mdash;we knew him only as "Charles, his friend"&mdash;lit candles, and
+close on each other's heels we crept, doubled up and with stumbling
+feet, through the burrow-like passage that led to the inner shrine.</p>
+
+<p>Many changes must have taken place of late years, for the chapel was
+cumbered with fallen refuse. The arch of the roof masonry and the
+hollow where the altar had stood could still be distinguished,
+otherwise there was little token left of the strange history of this
+underground place of devotion. As we crawled back towards the light
+and the outer air, Antonio pointed to where, at the bottom of a
+tortuous and shelving passage, was situated the holy well.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318"> [Pg 318]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The climax of our visit to the little white town was the promised
+introduction to the beloved of Antonio, whom we met in the house of
+her mother, in the street near the church.</p>
+
+<p>Antonia could not have been more than twenty, if indeed she had
+quitted her teens, but in sobriety of dress and demureness of outer
+deportment she was a facsimile of her comely mother. It was only
+when you noticed that her full red lips had difficulty in refraining
+from curving into smiles, just as the dark hair so smoothly
+plastered down on either side of her rosy face seemed rebelliously
+determined to ripple into waves, that you realized that Antonia was
+overflowing with exuberant young life.</p>
+
+<p>Antonio knew it, though. No disguise of decorous matronly garments
+or assumption of a demure manner could conceal from him Antonia's
+real girlish charm. One could see that by the way his string-seated
+chair edged imperceptibly nearer hers, and by the ingenious manner
+in which, without seeming to do so, he yet managed to watch her
+every motion.</p>
+
+<p>It was at this juncture that a happy thought occurred to the padre.</p>
+
+<p>Would it be possible for the Man to do a sketch&mdash;just the smallest
+jotting&mdash;of Antonia, as a memento of the occasion?</p>
+
+<p>"Of course it would," agreed the Man. "And of Antonio, too!"</p>
+
+<p>At this the lips that Antonia had been trying so hard to keep prim
+broke apart in irrepressible giggles and her hand slipped up to see
+if her rebellious hair was smooth enough to do her credit. And
+Antonio straightened his shoulders and gave a furtive twist to the
+ends of his moustache.</p>
+
+<p>The light was fading, and the chairs had to be placed&mdash;close enough
+together to satisfy even Antonio's desires&mdash;near by the open door;
+just outside which a row of children had already secured front
+places to view the show.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319"> [Pg 319]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The sketch was necessarily hurried, even perfunctory, but it gave
+immense satisfaction.</p>
+
+<p>"Oh! Look at Antonio," Antonia gurgled joyously. "See his moustache!
+Is it not fine?"</p>
+
+<p>"It is like the moustache of an officer of <span lang="es"><i>carabineros</i></span>," said
+Antonio, feeling it to see if it were actually more imposing than he
+had thought. "If I really look like that I ought to be a Minister of
+State; but&mdash;I prefer to be the husband of Antonia!"</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320"> [Pg 320]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 400px;">
+<a href="images/gs51.jpg"><img src="images/gs51-tb.jpg" width="400" height="227" alt="Large church set in fields" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">THE CHURCH OF JESUS, IVIZA</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="XXVIII" id="XXVIII"></a><abbr title="28">XXVIII</abbr><br />
+WELCOME AND FAREWELL</h2>
+
+<p>The shimmer of the sunrise and the reflection of the hills in the
+unruffled waters of the harbour were so ethereally beautiful in
+these Ivizan mornings, that I found it impossible to stay in bed. On
+the last day of our stay I was early out on the balcony.</p>
+
+<p>Scarcely anybody was about. A man in a red cap and a coat of yellow
+velvet was baiting lobster-pots. And a boy in velvet trousers that
+sun and the passage of time had faded to an inimitable shade of pale
+moss-green was playing with a dog. Otherwise the town seemed asleep.
+The scene was the perfection of drowsy restfulness, when the sudden
+blast of a steam-siren broke in upon the placidity, and with the
+sound a steamer, looking gigantic in these miniature surroundings,
+entered the bay.</p>
+
+<p>With her appearance the world awoke. As the ship moved slowly in
+towards her berth, which was just below my balcony, people appeared
+from all directions, as though they had been lying in ambush
+awaiting the signal to concentrate upon a given point. Probably the
+fact that the military element was present in force suggested the<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321"> [Pg 321]</a></span>
+simile. A band of officers in full dress, with short natty
+astrakhan-lined overcoats and white gloves, stood a little apart
+from, and in advance of, the general public. Among them were the
+lieutenant in command of the carbineers, and the tall chief of the
+civil guard, who looked immense in a heavy cloak lined with scarlet.</p>
+
+<p>The municipal authorities had assembled in force, also
+representatives of the Church, the British Consul&mdash;"Good morning,
+sir!" to me on the balcony&mdash;and a comprehensive gathering of
+townsfolk, all with the air of being pleasantly excited about
+something that was going to happen.</p>
+
+<p>The steamer&mdash;it was the <i>Cataluña</i>&mdash;was close to the wharf now, but
+there was no sign on deck of any unusual occurrence. Except for the
+crew, a few steerage passengers, and a knot of priests who clustered
+on the boat deck amidships, nobody appeared to be on board. But
+still the crowd waited expectant.</p>
+
+<p>Then just as the gangway connected the <i>Cataluña</i> with the land a
+solitary martial figure, a uniformed officer whose breast was
+decorated with several medals, appeared on the poop. And towards the
+ship and up the gangway, in slow and ceremonial order, moved the
+officers. The lieutenant-colonel of the Ivizan battalion of the
+<span lang="es"><i>cazadores</i></span> led. Over the gangway, across the deck, up the
+companion, and into the arms of the decorated officer, which were
+outstretched to receive him. In quick succession the others passed
+up, to be received cordially, if not so affectionately as their
+colonel. Then, as in turn the waiting authorities followed, it
+dawned upon us that we had been close spectators of the arrival of
+the new Governor of Iviza, and that from our point of vantage we had
+witnessed his first official reception.</p>
+
+<p>It was about this stage of the proceedings that among the men in
+uniform who were surrounding the new Governor on the poop we began
+to recognize different members of our hotel party.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322"> [Pg 322]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The imposing captain of infantry was the tall man who sat next to us
+and spoke to nobody. The man with the bellowing voice and the
+beautiful eyes was the lieutenant in command of the Ivizan
+carbineers. The man at the end of the table was a captain of
+engineers. The man with the eye-glasses was the captain of the
+medical corps.</p>
+
+<p>So much for our fancied astuteness. In place of sharing the table
+with a party of commercial travellers, as we had imagined, we had
+really been eating at the Ivizan equivalent to an officers' mess!</p>
+
+<p>When everybody with any claim to the distinction had been presented
+and the company on the poop had dwindled down to a few, the family
+of the newly arrived Governor made its appearance, in the persons of
+three lively boys and a baby in a nurse's arms. Then, coincident
+with the appearance on deck of a lady in a hat and motor-veil, the
+six soldiers in fatigue uniform who had been in waiting sped up the
+gangway, to return laden with hand baggage, which, with other
+femininities, included a blue bandbox. And in their wake the
+Governor and his little tribe, accompanied by the colonel, stepped
+in stately measure across the wharf, and disappeared into the door
+of the hotel that gaped hospitably open beneath us.</p>
+
+<p>As we drank the coffee that the overworked Paco had just brought us,
+we wondered a little what the new Governor's impressions of Iviza
+would be. He looked worn, we thought, as though weary with years of
+service; and we hoped that he would find his new home in this remote
+island a place of peace.</p>
+
+<p>The little breakfast over, our black-garbed driver and the British
+Consul, who had suggested taking us to see the <i>Salinas</i>, were
+waiting. And we drove out in the sweet morning towards the curious
+series of lagoons where two great harvests of salt are yearly
+reaped.</p>
+
+<p>The day was glorious, the air crisp, exhilarating, as we drove out
+over the country roads towards the wide stretch of flat land where
+the sea-water, prisoned by a cunning sequence of locks into vast<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323"> [Pg 323]</a></span>
+shallow vats, was slowly evaporating in the strong sunshine.</p>
+
+<p>Although lead and zinc are mined near Santa Eulalia, the Salinas at
+Iviza and at Formentera form the great industry of the Ivizan group
+of islands, salt to the amount of nine thousand tons being shipped
+each year to various parts of the world.</p>
+
+<p>The history of these vast salt lagoons reaches back to before the
+conquest. In 1871 the Salinas, which for many years previously had
+belonged to the State, became the property of a private company, now
+known as the <i>Salinera Española</i>.</p>
+
+<p>The road, which led between green fields, had been lovely. An
+occasional girl perched on a donkey comprised almost the entire
+traffic. We reached the Salinas to find a scene of great brilliancy.
+All along the sides of the pools rose pyramids of salt, their
+glistening sides clearly reflected in the still water with something
+of the effect of carefully moulded icebergs. And along the portable
+line of rails strings of trucks laden with the sharp-faceted
+crystals of the rough salt were moving towards the wharf.</p>
+
+<p>Down by the wharf everything was white&mdash;the roads, the few houses,
+the great stores of salt that lay awaiting shipment, the shoes of
+the men that stood in the flat-bottomed barges beneath with long
+rakes, packing away the salt as it streamed down in a sparkling
+white torrent from the pulverizing machine on the staging of the
+quay above.</p>
+
+<p>From Iviza salt is shipped in great quantities to many distant
+countries. It was interesting to hear that even in salt the taste of
+the nations varies&mdash;Russia liking hers large in crystal, America
+preferring that supplied her to be as fine as possible.</p>
+
+<p>We stood on the pier that jutted out over the clear green waters of
+the islet-studded bay, watching the men at work filling the barges
+with the salt that was to be transhipped to the Italian barque that
+lay in the bay of Iviza. A fine, robust, brown-faced smiling lot of
+men they were. And the work on which they were at the moment<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324"> [Pg 324]</a></span>
+engaged seemed mechanical and easy. Hanging on the railing close by
+were fishing nets, and they told us they caught many fish in the
+bay.</p>
+
+<p>On that bright airy morning the work seemed pleasant and not
+over-arduous: different from what it must be when the fierce
+southern heat has dried up the sea-water and the labour consists of
+standing under the burning sun, beset by mosquitoes, scooping up the
+salt from the floor of the lagoons and building it up into pyramids.
+If ever there was specially thirsty work it must be salt salving.</p>
+
+<p>There seemed to be surprisingly little accommodation for the
+labourers near the Salinas. In summer, when close upon a thousand
+labourers are employed, a large proportion of them are forced to
+live in the town of Iviza and add a walk of many miles to the
+exertion of the day.</p>
+
+<p>At the hotel at luncheon the newly installed Governor with all his
+family (except the baby) and the colonel sat by us at table. The
+elder men were still in uniform, but the <span lang="fr"><i>habitués</i></span> of the board had
+been quick to return to mufti.</p>
+
+<p>Our walk that afternoon was in the care of Don Narciso, and under
+his guidance we walked through pleasant country byways towards the
+few clustered houses that comprise the little village of Jesus, to
+see a notable picture in the church there.</p>
+
+<p>It was through a fair green world that Narciso led us that radiant
+afternoon&mdash;under trees heavy with great green velvet almonds, and
+through fields deep in full-bearded grain and rich in blood-red
+poppies and crimson gladioli, among which wide-hatted women, the
+upper of their many skirts tucked up pannier fashion, were busy
+working.</p>
+
+<p>Just outside the Church of Jesus, at a <span lang="es"><i>noria</i></span> in the shade of a
+tall palm, trellised vines, and budding pomegranate-trees, a
+sun-browned man, his little brown son, and an old brown mule were
+working in happy unison. The church itself belonged to that informal
+type of architecture in which Iviza abounds. The roof was<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325"> [Pg 325]</a></span>
+red-tiled, and without and within the building was severely
+whitewashed. The special panel which formed the centre of the great
+altar-piece was the work of an unknown painter of the early
+Valencian school.</p>
+
+<p>In a broad, simple composition it represented the Virgin and Holy
+Child surrounded by angels. The details were obscure, even after Don
+Narciso had thrown open the big door of the church to allow more
+light to enter; but the colour was remarkably rich and full. And
+though the surrounding subjects were inferior in workmanship, their
+subdued tones harmonized well with the dignity of the central panel.</p>
+
+<p>The cura was not at home, but his parents, a dear old peasant couple
+who lived with him, received us warmly, offering that ready and
+insistent hospitality that struck us as being a special feature of
+the Ivizan life. Our winter in Majorca had accustomed us to the
+polite but purely perfunctory fashion in which, like the Spaniard,
+the Majorcan tenders food to all comers, secure in the knowledge
+that it will be declined. But when the Ivizan offers refreshment to
+the visitor he means it to be accepted.</p>
+
+<p>The moment we were all seated on chairs set round the walls of the
+wide, airy room into which the large door directly opened, the good
+old father hastened to bring out a tray of tiny glasses and a
+decanter of the pure, amber-hued Ivizan wine&mdash;wine that had been
+pressed from grapes ripened close by. And the mother ran to fetch a
+plate of sweet biscuits and goblets of clear water. Then they
+watched with genuine pleasure while we sipped the wine, and, having
+praised it in all sincerity, followed the custom of the country and
+drank of the water.</p>
+
+<p>The sole family of the worthy couple had been two sons, both of whom
+had shown a vocation for the Church. The one in whose house they
+lived was now cura of Jesus, the other that of San Raphael, only a
+short walk distant.</p>
+
+<p>Our casual visit to the little hamlet left in our minds an unfading
+picture of rustic sweetness of atmosphere and of modest pride that
+had attained its ideal.</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326"> [Pg 326]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>From there we went to see a fine old country house, one of the
+"possessions" of a friend of Don Narciso, who, though he does not
+live there, courteously cycled over to do the honours. From the
+roofed <span lang="es"><i>mirador</i></span> we had a good view of the town rising on its rocky
+height above the sea.</p>
+
+<p>Here, too, we had evidence of the Ivizan spirit of hospitality.
+Native wine was again offered us, and from the orange gardens down
+by the palm-encircled <span lang="es"><i>noria</i></span> we got abundance of huge oranges, and
+a curious fruit that, with the outward appearance of the lemon,
+boasted the sweetness of the orange allied to a floating essence of
+bergamot.</p>
+
+<p>There the kindly Don Pepe joined us, and together we walked back
+through the gloaming.</p>
+
+<p>At dinner the new Governor, still in uniform, his handsome wife and
+their three nice boys again were present. After the State reception
+of the morning, it amazed us to see with what an utter lack of
+consideration they were treated. The very officers who had risen at
+daybreak and donned their best uniforms to honour his arrival sat at
+table with the Governor as though unconscious of his presence.</p>
+
+<p>The sole sign of deference that we could discover was that the
+landlord and Paco had put on their best coats in which to wait at
+table. But there the distinction ended. In common with the others,
+the Governor and his family patiently endured the tedious service.
+To me it was almost painful to see the representative of official
+power sit uncomplainingly, until the overworked Paco, having made
+the round of the long table, handed the few chilled fragments still
+remaining in the dish to the hero of the imposing little ceremony of
+the morning. It made us inclined to wonder if the hospitality of the
+Ivizans was confined to the humbler classes, or whether it would
+have been a breach of Ivizan etiquette had one or other of the
+principal residents offered these new-comers the freedom of their
+homes.</p>
+
+<p>So ended our visit to Iviza. For when dinner was over and our
+farewells said, the <i>Cataluña</i> was ready to take us back to Palma.<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327"> [Pg 327]</a></span>
+Our experience of the remote island that we had approached with
+doubts had been a thoroughly delightful one, and when we steamed out
+over the placid water we watched the lights of Iviza sink in the
+distance with the feeling that we left real friends among the kindly
+islanders.</p>
+
+<p>Our visit had been a short one, yet our minds held precious memories
+of the sincere and kindly people&mdash;of the padre, Don Pepe, and his
+affectionate care for his flock; of Narciso and his pictures, of the
+loves of Antonia and Antonio, and of the dear old father and mother
+of the cura of Jesus.</p>
+
+<p>Though it lacks the savage grandeur of some parts of Majorca, Iviza
+has beautiful and romantic scenery, and life in the lovely island is
+sweet and simple and wholesome. There is little money in
+circulation, but more is not needed. The ground is fertile, the
+climate gracious, the water-supply is unfailing, and fish may be had
+for the catching. So food is plentiful and cheap. House rent in the
+town of Iviza may be counted at about a half less than in Palma, and
+when the townsfolk speak of the cost of living in the smaller towns,
+such as San Antonio, they hold up their hands at the amazing
+cheapness of it.</p>
+
+<p>This, then, was our impression of Iviza, the remote island about
+which such extravagant tales are circulated. That fire-arms and
+knives still play a part when the interests of rival lovers clash is
+openly acknowledged. But during our visit the course of true love
+must have run smoothly, for no echo of pistol shot or clash of
+weapon marred the peace of our stay.</p>
+
+<p>As we found the people of that forgotten isle&mdash;honest, courteous,
+generous, and hospitable, quaint of dress and soft of voice&mdash;so have
+I written.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328"> [Pg 328]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 333px;">
+<a href="images/gs52.jpg"><img src="images/gs52-tb.jpg" width="333" height="400" alt="Old round tower on hills overlooking the sea" /></a>
+<br />
+<span class="caption">MOORISH TOWER AT THE PORT OF ALCUDIA</span>
+</div>
+
+<h2 class="chap"><a name="XXIX" id="XXIX"></a><abbr title="29">XXIX</abbr><br />
+LAST DAYS</h2>
+
+<p>The golden months had flown past, speeding so swiftly that we felt
+as though time must have defrauded us. Scarcely a day seemed to have
+elapsed after our return from Iviza before we were saying, "Next
+week we must go home."</p>
+
+<p>But before beginning preparation for departure, three days were our
+own. Three clear days in which to take a real lazy holiday; for
+though the holiday spirit had pervaded our wanderings, we had all
+been working hard. To be really idle we knew we must seek a spot
+already familiar to us, one that offered no temptation to register
+fresh impressions. And a brief family conclave found us unanimous in
+the opinion that the port of Alcudia, from which, in January, we<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329"> [Pg 329]</a></span>
+had sailed to Minorca, was the ideal place.</p>
+
+<p>Friday morning found us at La Puebla station, mounting the little
+one-horse diligence that runs to and from Alcudia in connection with
+the trains.</p>
+
+<p>I shared the box-seat with a semi-comatose driver, a big box, a
+bigger sack, a loaf of bread, and sundry nondescript parcels.
+Besides my people, the only occupant of the interior was a bronzed
+young man who had travelled in the same compartment with us from
+Palma.</p>
+
+<p>In the train the studied perfection of his dress had made me wonder
+on what errand of ceremony he was bound. His trousers and waistcoat
+were of very light piqué, his coat of shining black alpaca. His
+linen was new, his tie resplendent; his watch-chain of linked metals
+was an inch broad; his face beamed with expectancy; his whole being
+seemed to vibrate with glad impatience.</p>
+
+<p>The way to Alcudia passed through a rural district, running at first
+by many small holdings, where patient mules were turning
+water-wheels to irrigate the little fields where their masters were
+hard at work.</p>
+
+<p>The driver, curling himself up in his corner of the box-seat, dozed
+off after the manner of diligence drivers who have started on their
+first journey long before dawn. The horse, taking advantage of his
+master's somnolence, walked more and more and more slowly, until at
+intervals the driver, unwillingly opening half an eye to see how far
+we had progressed and finding us almost at a standstill, would urge
+him on with opprobrious words.</p>
+
+<p>The day was lovely&mdash;how often I seem to have written that! In the
+lush green corn grasshoppers were chirping. By the wayside the
+convolvulus was opening its big pink cups. And in the dark interior
+of the diligence the bronzed man was telling his story.</p>
+
+<p>He was a son of the district towards which we were slowly advancing.
+His parents had a wayside <span lang="es"><i>taverna</i></span> and a tiny farm. But in the
+family there were many mouths to feed, and though in Majorca there<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330"> [Pg 330]</a></span>
+was always food for all, money was scarce. So five years ago he had
+gone to Algeria to push his fortunes. Now, having made a little
+money, he was returning, without warning of his coming, to his old
+home. As to the future? Well, that was for his parents to decide.</p>
+
+<p>One did not require to be told that the five years of exile had been
+industrious and frugal ones. Now the great moment was at hand. He
+was already experiencing the expectant joy of the returning
+wanderer.</p>
+
+<p>When the small holdings had been left far in the rear and rocky
+hills rose beyond the fertile fields, his assumed composure
+vanished. He became frankly excited, eagerly watching the lonely
+road and scanning the fields for sign of familiar forms and faces.</p>
+
+<p>As the coach made a momentary pause while the driver delivered a
+loaf and an amorphous parcel to a road-mender, the Exile, thrusting
+his head from the back window, shouted greeting. And the roadman,
+recognizing an old friend, ran after the already receding coach to
+grasp him warmly by the hand.</p>
+
+<p>The driver was wide-awake now, and evidently determined to make up
+for lost time. And the cigars our Exile wished to give the
+<span lang="es"><i>caminero</i></span> had to be thrown on the road, from which with grateful
+nods and smiles he picked them up.</p>
+
+<p>As he drew near his old home the Exile, though even more keenly
+alert, became silent. When the little <span lang="es"><i>taverna</i></span> by the wayside came
+in sight the driver, rising to the occasion, put on pace and pulled
+up before the door in grand style.</p>
+
+<p>The unusual sight of the coach stopping brought the old <span lang="es"><i>tavernero</i></span>
+and his wife to the wide doorway. From my perch on the box I saw
+their expressions change from surprise to amazed delight. It was the
+father&mdash;a typical Majorcan with a hale spare figure and shrewd
+kindly face&mdash;who, advancing first, seized his exultant son in his
+arms. The mother held back a moment, quivering with joyous<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331"> [Pg 331]</a></span>
+emotions, her lips parted in speechless welcome. Then, running
+forward, she fell upon his neck.</p>
+
+<p>The host and hostess of the Fonda Marina gave us hearty welcome,
+and, as before, heaped benefits upon us. In our three months of
+absence young Cristobal had grown perceptibly. He was at school now,
+and had already learned to recite in Spanish sing-song the days of
+the week and the months of the year.</p>
+
+<p>Our former rooms overlooking the bay were vacant, and for three long
+summer days we wandered as we listed&mdash;over the white sands, which
+were now rich with the rare shells and scarlet coral for which, on
+our previous visit, I had looked in vain; or among the pines, whose
+sun-distilled fragrance mingled with the sea air. One radiant
+morning we took a luncheon basket and wandered as far as the
+Albufera, but at all other times the excellent cooking of the
+mistress of the <span lang="es"><i>fonda</i></span> lured us back in time for meals.</p>
+
+<p>The few people we encountered looked pleasantly at us. And the
+Captain of the Port&mdash;a retired naval officer who spent much of his
+time fishing from a boat moored at his own front door&mdash;most
+courteously called, and presented me with a bouquet sent by the
+ladies of his house.</p>
+
+<p>Monday evening saw us back at the Casa Tranquila. With Tuesday began
+the uncongenial labour of dissolution; for the little house that
+during the never-to-be-forgotten months had been our headquarters
+had to be emptied of its contents. Our belongings were few in
+number, but our manner of living had brought us into such intimate
+relations with them that we felt personal interest in each article.
+We had developed quite an affection for our yellow cups and saucers
+with their crude bunches of red and blue flowers; and our
+chocolate-pot of brown and yellow native ware, with its perforated
+lid and wooden pestle, ranked as a family friend.</p>
+
+<p>The great vine that during the first months of our stay had
+converted the veranda into an airy bower was again covered with
+foliage and with embryonic clusters of grapes that some more lucky
+tenants would enjoy. The rose-bushes that had bloomed all winter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332"> [Pg 332]</a></span>
+were sending out an abundance of bud-laden shoots. Ripe lemons still
+clung to the higher branches of the tree, though the new fruit was
+already formed.</p>
+
+<p>There was scant time for all we had to do. Yet we managed to pay
+good-bye visits; to take final peeps at our favourite haunts; to
+secure on behalf of a poultry-fancying friend a setting of the eggs
+of certain Moorish-looking fowls whose jet black bodies were topped
+by huge white feather turbans; to dig up bulbs of the most curious
+kinds of fly orchis for another friend who is so fortunate as to
+possess a "wonder garden."</p>
+
+<p>Our final day, which rushed upon us before we had steeled ourselves
+to meet it, was deplorably wet. It seemed as though the climate that
+had treated us so generously was weeping at the thought of our
+departure.</p>
+
+<p>We lunched daintily at the home of our good friends the Consul and
+his wife. Then came the moment when, for the last time, the bells of
+Bartolomé's chariot jingled at the door of the Casa Tranquila, and
+the neighbours came out to wish us God-speed. None of them came
+empty-handed. Pepe brought his finest carnations. The Andalusian
+lady, her entire brood clinging to her matronly skirts, also offered
+flowers, and the retired gentleman who lived in the lordly mansion
+across the way hastened to cut his choicest roses.</p>
+
+<p>So with the carriage full of fragrant evidence of good will, we
+drove off, to pause a moment at Apolonia's door to bid her farewell.
+At the distribution of odds and ends a rug and a hat had been
+allotted to Apolonia. And when she seized this opportunity of
+thanking us for the trifles sent her, Apolonia spoke appreciatively
+of the rug, but there were tears in her bright eyes when she
+referred to the <span lang="es"><i>sombrero</i></span>. And that makes one wonder how it is that
+the utterly useless and incongruous gifts are often the most valued.
+The dear old soul had never worn a hat in her life and certainly
+never would. The article could be of no possible use to her, but
+perhaps, like Jess in the <i>Window in Thrums</i> with her mantle, she
+"would aye ken it was there."</p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333"> [Pg 333]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>As we turned the corner we got a glimpse of Mr. and Mrs. Pepe
+carrying a gaily coloured handkerchief containing the discarded suit
+of the Boy's that had fallen to Pepe's share. Waving the bundle,
+they indicated that they were already on their way to the tailor's
+to have the suit altered.</p>
+
+<p>The Angelus was ringing as the <i>Miramar</i> steamed out into the mist.
+Standing at the stern, we looked back while the rain-clouds
+gradually blotted out the town, and thought of the little house at
+Son Españolet standing empty and forlorn.</p>
+
+<p>We had hoped that when the inevitable hour of parting came we might
+leave in one of those magnificent sunsets under which we had so
+often watched the mail-boat start for Barcelona. But though our last
+sight of Majorca was veiled with rain and tears, we will always
+remember it as a land of sunshine and of smiles.</p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335"> [Pg 335]</a></span></p>
+
+<h2 class="nopagebreak"><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX">INDEX</a></h2>
+
+<p>Afterglow, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></p>
+
+<p>Alaró, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Castle of, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Children of, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></p>
+
+<p>Albufera, the, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></p>
+
+<p>Alcudia, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Port of, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></p>
+
+<p>Almudaina Palace, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></p>
+
+<p><i>Almudaina, La</i>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></p>
+
+<p>Aloes, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_188">188</a></p>
+
+<p>Amphitheatre, Roman, <a href="#Page_176">176</a></p>
+
+<p>Amusements, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></p>
+
+<p>Andalusia, family from, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></p>
+
+<p>Andraitx, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Port of, <a href="#Page_117">117</a></p>
+
+<p>Aquarium at Porto Pi, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></p>
+
+<p>Archduke Luis Salvador, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></p>
+
+<p>Arracó, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></p>
+
+<p>Artá, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Caves of, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></p>
+
+<p>Asparagus, wild, <a href="#Page_288">288</a></p>
+
+<p>Asphodel, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a></p>
+
+<p>Astronomers, British, <a href="#Page_55">55</a></p>
+
+<p>Banners, Hall of the, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></p>
+
+<p>Barbarossa, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></p>
+
+<p>Barcelona, <a href="#Page_1">1</a></p>
+
+<p>Barnils, Hotel, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></p>
+
+<p>Barranco, the, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></p>
+
+<p>Basket-making, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></p>
+
+<p>Begonias, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></p>
+
+<p>Bellver, Castle of, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a></p>
+
+<p>Biniaraix, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a></p>
+
+<p>Birthday party, <a href="#Page_102">102</a></p>
+
+<p>Boot-brushing, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></p>
+
+<p>Borrow, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></p>
+
+<p>Breeches, baggy, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></p>
+
+<p>British Consul at Iviza, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;Mahón, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;influence in Minorca, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></p>
+
+<p>Bull-fighting, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></p>
+
+<p>Butterflies, <a href="#Page_284">284</a></p>
+
+<p>Byng, Admiral, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></p>
+
+<p>Cabo Blanco, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></p>
+
+<p>Cabo de Pera, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></p>
+
+<p>Cabrera, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></p>
+
+<p>Cabritt and Bassa, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></p>
+
+<p>Cactus (prickly pear), <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a></p>
+
+<p>Cala Fonts, Minorca, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></p>
+
+<p>Cala Retjada, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></p>
+
+<p>Calvario at Pollensa, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></p>
+
+<p>Candelabra, silver, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></p>
+
+<p>Capdepera, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a></p>
+
+<p>Cape Vermay, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></p>
+
+<p><span lang="es">Carabineros</span>, <a href="#Page_77">77</a></p>
+
+<p>Carthusian Monastery, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></p>
+
+<p>Cas Catalá, <a href="#Page_109">109</a></p>
+
+<p>Castle of Alaró, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Bellver, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;and fortifications, Iviza, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></p>
+
+<p>Catalans, Cave of the, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></p>
+
+<p>Cathedral, Palma, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Iviza, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></p>
+
+<p>Cave at Genova, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;of the Holy Well, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Ramon Lull, <a href="#Page_86">86</a><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336"> [Pg 336]</a></span>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Santa Inés, Iviza, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Smugglers', <a href="#Page_87">87</a></p>
+
+<p>Caves of Artá, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;the Dragon, Manacor, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></p>
+
+<p>Chaperonage, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></p>
+
+<p>Charcoal stove, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></p>
+
+<p>Charioteer, our, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></p>
+
+<p>Chopin, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>,<a href="#Page_70">70</a></p>
+
+<p>Christians, early, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></p>
+
+<p>Christmas Eve, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;market, <a href="#Page_132">132</a></p>
+
+<p>Church of Jesus, Iviza, <a href="#Page_324">324</a></p>
+
+<p>Ciudadela, Minorca, <a href="#Page_181">181</a></p>
+
+<p>Clubs, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></p>
+
+<p>Cobbler and his wife, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a></p>
+
+<p>Coinage, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></p>
+
+<p>Columns, Queen of the, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></p>
+
+<p>Commercial travellers, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></p>
+
+<p>Conquistador, the, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Feast of, <a href="#Page_143">143</a></p>
+
+<p>Conscripts, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></p>
+
+<p>Consell, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></p>
+
+<p>Consul, our friend the, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></p>
+
+<p><span lang="es">Consumos</span>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></p>
+
+<p>Cookery, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a></p>
+
+<p>Coral, <a href="#Page_331">331</a></p>
+
+<p>Cost of living, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></p>
+
+<p>Courtship, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></p>
+
+<p>Customs, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></p>
+
+<p>Dances, religious, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></p>
+
+<p>Dancing at San Antonio, Iviza, <a href="#Page_317">317</a></p>
+
+<p>Delights, Cave of, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></p>
+
+<p>Deyá, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></p>
+
+<p>Diligence, travelling by, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></p>
+
+<p>Dogs for hunting, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></p>
+
+<p>Dress, fashionable, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></p>
+
+<p>Dress, native, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a></p>
+
+<p>Dromios, the two, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a></p>
+
+<p>Eagles, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></p>
+
+<p>Electric light, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></p>
+
+<p>Enciamada, the, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></p>
+
+<p>Esglayeta, <a href="#Page_68">68</a></p>
+
+<p>Exile, returned, <a href="#Page_330">330</a></p>
+
+<p>Fairy, the Good, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></p>
+
+<p>Ferrer, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></p>
+
+<p>Firewood, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></p>
+
+<p>First communicants, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></p>
+
+<p>Flowers, wild, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a></p>
+
+<p>Fonda de Mallorca, Palma, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Rande, Artá, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Central, Mahón, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Feminias, Manacor, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Marina, Alcudia, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;at Iviza, <a href="#Page_291">291</a></p>
+
+<p><span lang="es">Fondas</span>, country, <a href="#Page_274">274</a></p>
+
+<p>Footgear, <a href="#Page_10">10</a></p>
+
+<p>Fornalutx, <a href="#Page_100">100</a></p>
+
+<p>French influence, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></p>
+
+<p>Frogs at Iviza, <a href="#Page_311">311</a></p>
+
+<p>Furnishing, <a href="#Page_17">17</a></p>
+
+<p>Gardening, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></p>
+
+<p><i>General Chanzy</i>, wreck of, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></p>
+
+<p>Genova, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></p>
+
+<p>Governesses, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></p>
+
+<p>Governor of Iviza, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>, <a href="#Page_326">326</a></p>
+
+<p>Grand Hotel, Palma, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a></p>
+
+<p>Gymnesias, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></p>
+
+<p>Holy Thursday, procession on, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></p>
+
+<p>Hoo-poo, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></p>
+
+<p><span lang="es">Hospederia</span>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></p>
+
+<p>Hospitality, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a></p>
+
+<p>Hotel Barnils, Palma, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Grand, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Marina, Sóller, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337"> [Pg 337]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Hot months, the, <a href="#Page_273">273</a></p>
+
+<p>House-hiring, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></p>
+
+<p>Housekeeping, <a href="#Page_23">23</a></p>
+
+<p>Ilex, forest of, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></p>
+
+<p>Inca, <a href="#Page_63">63</a></p>
+
+<p>Iviza, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;British Consul at, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Castle and fortification, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Cathedral, <a href="#Page_294">294</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Cave of Santa Inés, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Church of Jesus, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Cost of living, <a href="#Page_327">327</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Courtship, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Dress, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Driving, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Early occupation of, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Fonda, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Frogs, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Hospitality, <a href="#Page_325">325</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Market, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Museum, <a href="#Page_304">304</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;New Governor, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>, <a href="#Page_326">326</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span lang="es">Noria</span>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Ph&#339;nician catacombs, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Roman wall and statues, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Salinas, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;San Antonio, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;San Rafael, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Santo Domingo, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Small holdings, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Wild flowers, <a href="#Page_298">298</a></p>
+
+<p>King Alphonso IV, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Jaime, el Conquistador, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Jaime II, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Sancho, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a></p>
+
+<p>Kitchen, farm, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></p>
+
+<p>Language, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></p>
+
+<p>Laundress, our, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_332">332</a></p>
+
+<p>Lavender, sweet, <a href="#Page_141">141</a></p>
+
+<p>Locusts, <a href="#Page_284">284</a></p>
+
+<p>Lonja, the, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></p>
+
+<p>Lull, Ramon, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></p>
+
+<p>Mahón, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></p>
+
+<p>Mallorquin antiquities, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;prices, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></p>
+
+<p>Manacor, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></p>
+
+<p>Marketing, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a></p>
+
+<p>Martel, French expert, <a href="#Page_219">219</a></p>
+
+<p>Mas, Juan, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></p>
+
+<p>Masked penitents, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></p>
+
+<p>Military service, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></p>
+
+<p>Minorca, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Athenæum at Mahón, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Barbarossa, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Boot-brushing, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;British Consul, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;influence, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Byng, Admiral, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Cala Fonts, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Ciudadela, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Commercial travellers, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;English words, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Fonda Central Mahón, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Market at Mahón, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;San Luis, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Talyots, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Taula, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Villa Carlos, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Whitewash, <a href="#Page_185">185</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Wreck of the <i>General Chanzy</i>, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></p>
+
+<p>Miramar, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></p>
+
+<p>Monastery, Carthusian, <a href="#Page_71">71</a></p>
+
+<p>Montjuich, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></p>
+
+<p>Moorish oppression, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;refugees, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;tower, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></p>
+
+<p>Mosquitoes, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></p>
+
+<p>Music, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></p>
+
+<p>Navidad, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></p>
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338"> [Pg 338]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Nightingales, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></p>
+
+<p><span lang="es">Noria</span>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a></p>
+
+<p>Offerings, votive, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></p>
+
+<p>Olive-oil factory, <a href="#Page_103">103</a></p>
+
+<p>Operations in church, exciting, <a href="#Page_220">220</a></p>
+
+<p>Orchis, fly, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></p>
+
+<p>Our Lady of the Peak, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Refuge, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></p>
+
+<p>Palma de Mallorca, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Almudaina, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Body of Jaime II, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Cathedral, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;treasures of, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<span lang="es">Consumeros</span>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Customs office, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;First impression, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Grand Hotel, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>, <a href="#Page_274">274</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Hotel Barnils, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Lonja, the, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Markets, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Port, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Post-office, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;San Francisco, church of, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Social life, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Tavern at the port, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></p>
+
+<p>Palmettos, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></p>
+
+<p>Palm Sunday, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></p>
+
+<p>Peak, Our Lady of the, <a href="#Page_164">164</a></p>
+
+<p>Penitents, masked, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></p>
+
+<p>Phoenician catacombs, Iviza, <a href="#Page_298">298</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;village, <a href="#Page_239">239</a></p>
+
+<p>Pigs, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>, <a href="#Page_181">181</a>, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></p>
+
+<p>Plants, the rarer Balearic, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></p>
+
+<p>Plum pudding, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></p>
+
+<p>Pollensa, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Port of, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Town hall of, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></p>
+
+<p>Port of Palma, <a href="#Page_27">27</a></p>
+
+<p>Porto Pi, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></p>
+
+<p>Post-office, Palma, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></p>
+
+<p>Prices, Majorcan, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a></p>
+
+<p>Puebla, La, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_329">329</a></p>
+
+<p>Puerto Cristo, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></p>
+
+<p>Puig Mayor, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></p>
+
+<p>Queen of the Columns, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;of Spain, birthday of, <a href="#Page_14">14</a></p>
+
+<p>Rain, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></p>
+
+<p>Ramon Lull, <a href="#Page_83">83</a></p>
+
+<p>Refuge, Our Lady of the, <a href="#Page_209">209</a></p>
+
+<p>Refugees, Moorish, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></p>
+
+<p>Relics, sacred, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></p>
+
+<p>Rent, house, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_250">250</a></p>
+
+<p>Road-mending, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></p>
+
+<p>Roman amphitheatre, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;gateway, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;graves, <a href="#Page_177">177</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;statues, Iviza, <a href="#Page_292">292</a></p>
+
+<p>Salinas, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></p>
+
+<p>Saloon accommodation, first, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;"&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;second, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></p>
+
+<p>Salt, shipping, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></p>
+
+<p>Samphire, <a href="#Page_207">207</a></p>
+
+<p>San Antonio, Iviza, <a href="#Page_314">314</a></p>
+
+<p>San Francisco, church of, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></p>
+
+<p>San Lorenzo, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></p>
+
+<p>San Luis, Minorca, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></p>
+
+<p>San Rafael, Iviza, <a href="#Page_314">314</a></p>
+
+<p>San Roch, Feast of, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></p>
+
+<p>Sand, George, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a></p>
+
+<p>Santa Catalina, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></p>
+
+<p>Santa Maria, <a href="#Page_62">62</a></p>
+
+<p>Santo Domingo, Iviza, <a href="#Page_295">295</a></p>
+
+<p>Scots visitors, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></p>
+
+<p>Secoma, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></p>
+
+<p><span lang="es">Sereno</span>, the, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></p>
+
+<p>Servants, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></p>
+
+<p>Shells, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_331">331</a></p>
+
+<p>Smugglers' cave, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></p>
+
+<p>Snow, <a href="#Page_271">271</a></p>
+
+<p>Social life, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></p>
+
+<p>Sóller, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Port of, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Fiesta at, <a href="#Page_283">283</a></p>
+
+<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339"> [Pg 339]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Son Españolet, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a></p>
+
+<p>Son Mas, Andraitx, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></p>
+
+<p>Son Moragues, <a href="#Page_82">82</a></p>
+
+<p>Son Puigdorfila, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></p>
+
+<p>Son Rapiña, <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a></p>
+
+<p>Son Servera, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></p>
+
+<p>Sponges, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></p>
+
+<p>Squire and Lady, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></p>
+
+<p>Steamer <i>Ancona</i> of Leith, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Balear</i>, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Cataluña</i>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Isla de Menorca</i>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Lulio</i>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Miramar</i>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_333">333</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Monte Toro</i>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Vicente Sanz</i>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>
+<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Villa de Sóller</i>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a></p>
+
+<p>Sunshine, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></p>
+
+<p><span lang="es">Talyots</span>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></p>
+
+<p>Taula, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></p>
+
+<p>Taylor, Bayard, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></p>
+
+<p>Tea, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a></p>
+
+<p>Temple, the white, <a href="#Page_76">76</a></p>
+
+<p>Terreno, the, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></p>
+
+<p>Tobacco, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_317">317</a></p>
+
+<p><span lang="es">Torrentes</span>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a></p>
+
+<p>Tourists, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a></p>
+
+<p>Tower, Moorish, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></p>
+
+<p>Town Hall, Pollensa, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></p>
+
+<p>Train, travelling by, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a></p>
+
+<p>Travellers, commercial, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></p>
+
+<p>Travelling by diligence, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a></p>
+
+<p>Valldemosa, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></p>
+
+<p>Vegetable man, our, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></p>
+
+<p>Vermay, Cape, <a href="#Page_238">238</a></p>
+
+<p><span lang="es">Vigilante</span>, our, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></p>
+
+<p>Villa Carlos, Minorca, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></p>
+
+<p>Votive offerings, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></p>
+
+<p>Wells, chain (<span lang="es">norias</span>), <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_308">308</a>, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a></p>
+
+<p>Whitewash, <a href="#Page_185">185</a></p>
+
+<p>Wild asparagus, <a href="#Page_288">288</a></p>
+
+<p>Wild flowers, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_298">298</a></p>
+
+<p>Wind at Minorca, <a href="#Page_191">191</a></p>
+
+<p>Windmills, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></p>
+
+<p>Wine shop, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></p>
+
+<p>Winter climate, ideal, <a href="#Page_270">270</a></p>
+
+<p>Yachting, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></p>
+
+<p>Yacht of the Czar, <a href="#Page_28">28</a></p>
+
+<hr class="chap" />
+
+<p class="h3"><br /><br /><br /><br />The Gresham Press<br />
+UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED,<br />
+WOKING AND LONDON.<br /><br /><br /><br /></p>
+
+<div class="transnote">
+<h2><a name="Transcribers_note" id="Transcribers_note">Transcriber's note</a></h2>
+
+<p>Times are shown using a period notation e.g. 7.40, these have been
+left unchanged.</p>
+
+<p>Changed quatro to <span lang="es">cuatro</span> in the second repetition of "<span lang="es">Onza reals,
+<a href="#cuatro">cuatro</a> centims, dos centims</span>". (Ch. <abbr title="4">IV</abbr> Housekeeping.)</p>
+
+<p>Changed jewelry to jewellery in "conjunction with handsome
+<a href="#jewellery">jewelry</a>" for consistency with the rest of the book. (Ch. <abbr title="6">VI</abbr> THE
+FAIR AT INCA.)</p>
+
+<p><span lang="es"><i>En el nombre del Padre, y del <a href="#Higo">Higo</a>, y del Espiritu Santo</i></span> was left
+unchanged, but this is normally written <span lang="es"><i>En el nombre del Padre, y del
+ <a href="#Higo">Hijo</a>, y del Espiritu Santo</i></span>. (Ch. <abbr title="6">VI</abbr> THE FAIR AT INCA.)</p>
+
+<p>Changed biscochos to <span lang="es">bizcochos</span> in "crisply toasted <span lang="es"><i><a href="#bizcochos">bizcochos</a></i></span>".
+(Ch. <abbr title="8">VIII</abbr> MIRAMAR.)</p>
+
+<p>Changed 'were' to 'was' in "Even in its natural state it <a href="#trans_was">was</a>
+difficult". (Ch. <abbr title="9">IX</abbr> SÓLLER.)</p>
+
+<p>"made his money in <a href="#Buenos_Ayres">Buenos Ayres</a>" was left unchanged, although more
+commonly known as <a href="#Buenos_Ayres">Buenos Aires</a>. (Ch. <abbr title="15">XV</abbr> THE PORT OF ALCUDIA.)</p>
+
+<p>�<span lang="es"><a href="#Muchos">Muchos gracias</a>, señor.</span>� was left unchanged, but this is
+correctly said - �<span lang="es"><a href="#Muchos">Muchas gracias</a>, señor.</span>� (Ch. <abbr title="26">XXVI</abbr> AN IVIZAN SABBATH.)</p>
+
+<p>There is quite a lot of inconsistency in the book with words that are
+hyphenated or spaced and/or joined. These have been left unchanged.</p>
+
+<p>Likewise, accents and indication of foreign words (using italics) are
+inconsistent. These have been corrected for placenames without
+comment; all others have been left unchanged.</p>
+
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<p>&nbsp;</p>
+<hr class="full" />
+</div>
+<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FORTUNATE ISLES***</p>
+<p>******* This file should be named 39199-h.txt or 39199-h.zip *******</p>
+<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br />
+<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/9/1/9/39199">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/9/1/9/39199</a></p>
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@@ -0,0 +1,12689 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Fortunate Isles, by Mary Stuart Boyd,
+Illustrated by A. S. Boyd
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: The Fortunate Isles
+       Life and Travel in Majorca, Minorca and Iviza
+
+
+Author: Mary Stuart Boyd
+
+
+
+Release Date: March 19, 2012  [eBook #39199]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FORTUNATE ISLES***
+
+
+E-text prepared by Dave Hobart, Suzanne Shell, and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made
+available by Internet Archive/American Libraries
+(http://www.archive.org/details/americana)
+
+
+
+Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this
+      file which includes the original illustrations.
+      See 39199-h.htm or 39199-h.zip:
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/39199/39199-h/39199-h.htm)
+      or
+      (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/39199/39199-h.zip)
+
+
+      Images of the original pages are available through
+      Internet Archive/American Libraries. See
+      http://www.archive.org/details/fortunateislesli00boydiala
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+      Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
+
+
+
+
+
+THE FORTUNATE ISLES
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  BY THE SAME AUTHOR
+
+
+      _Travel_
+
+  OUR STOLEN SUMMER
+
+  A VERSAILLES CHRISTMAS-TIDE
+
+
+      _Novels_
+
+  THE GLEN
+
+  THE FIRST STONE
+
+  WITH CLIPPED WINGS
+
+  THE MAN IN THE WOOD
+
+  BACKWATERS
+
+  HER BESETTING VIRTUE
+
+  THE MISSES MAKE-BELIEVE
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+[Illustration: Calle Del Calvario, Pollensa]
+
+
+THE FORTUNATE ISLES
+
+Life and Travel in Majorca, Minorca and Iviza
+
+by
+
+MARY STUART BOYD
+
+With Eight Illustrations in Colour and Fifty-Two Pen Drawings
+by A. S. Boyd, R.S.W.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Methuen & Co. Ltd.
+36 Essex Street W.C.
+London
+
+First Published in 1911
+
+
+
+
+FOREWARNING
+
+
+"I hear you think of spending the winter in the Balearic Islands?"
+said the only Briton we met who had been there. "Well, I warn you,
+you won't enjoy them. They are quite out of the world. There are no
+tourists. Not a soul understands a word of English, and there's
+nothing whatever to do. If you take my advice you won't go."
+
+So we went. And what follows is a faithful account of what befell us
+in these fortunate isles.
+
+                                                        M. S. B.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+                                                PAGE
+
+       I. SOUTHWARDS                               1
+
+      II. OUR CASA IN SPAIN                       14
+
+     III. PALMA, THE PEARL OF THE MEDITERRANEAN   26
+
+      IV. HOUSEKEEPING                            39
+
+       V. TWO HISTORIC BUILDINGS                  51
+
+      VI. THE FAIR AT INCA                        60
+
+     VII. VALLDEMOSA                              66
+
+    VIII. MIRAMAR                                 79
+
+      IX. SOLLER                                  94
+
+       X. ANDRAITX                               107
+
+      XI. UP AMONG THE WINDMILLS                 117
+
+     XII. NAVIDAD                                128
+
+    XIII. THE FEAST OF THE CONQUISTADOR          143
+
+     XIV. POLLENSA                               152
+
+      XV. THE PORT OF ALCUDIA                    168
+
+     XVI. MINORCA                                179
+
+    XVII. STORM-BOUND                            193
+
+   XVIII. ALARO                                  203
+
+     XIX. THE DRAGON CAVES AND MANACOR           215
+
+      XX. ARTA AND ITS CAVES                     225
+
+     XXI. AMONG THE HILLS                        242
+
+    XXII. DEYA, AND A PALMA PROCESSION           252
+
+   XXIII. OF FAIR WOMEN AND FINE WEATHER         264
+
+    XXIV. OF ODDS AND ENDS                       274
+
+     XXV. IVIZA--A FORGOTTEN ISLE                289
+
+    XXVI. AN IVIZAN SABBATH                      301
+
+   XXVII. AT SAN ANTONIO                         311
+
+  XXVIII. WELCOME AND FAREWELL                   320
+
+    XXIX. LAST DAYS                              328
+
+          INDEX                                  335
+
+
+
+
+LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+                                IN COLOUR
+
+  CALLE DEL CALVARIO, POLLENSA                _Frontispiece_
+
+                                                FACING PAGE
+
+  PALMA DE MALLORCA, FROM THE TERRENO                    26
+
+  VALLDEMOSA                                             70
+
+  SOLLER                                                 94
+
+  AFTER THE FEAST OF THE CONQUISTADOR, PALMA CATHEDRAL  143
+
+  THE ROMAN GATEWAY, ALCUDIA                            168
+
+  MAHON, MINORCA                                        193
+
+  SUNDAY MORNING AT IVIZA                               289
+
+
+
+
+                              PEN DRAWINGS
+                                                       PAGE
+
+  THE CATHEDRAL AND THE LONJA, PALMA                      1
+
+  A PALMA _PATIO_                                         9
+
+  THE SERENO                                             13
+
+  THE CASA TRANQUILA                                     14
+
+  THE GATE OF SANTA CATALINA, PALMA                      19
+
+  OUR SUBURBAN STREET                                    24
+
+  CALLE DE LA ALMUDAINA, PALMA                           29
+
+  A SUPPER PARTY                                         37
+
+  THE SATURDAY MARKET, PALMA                             39
+
+  A CONSUMOS STATION                                     47
+
+  THE CASTLE OF BELLVER                                  51
+
+  PALMA, FROM THE WOODS OF BELLVER                       57
+
+  SECOND CLASS                                           60
+
+  A CORNER OF THE FAIR AT INCA                           64
+
+  WHERE THE HILLS MEET THE PLAIN, ESGLAYETA              66
+
+  CARABINEROS IN THE KITCHEN                             77
+
+  LA TRINIDAD, MIRAMAR                                   79
+
+  A TIGHT FIT                                            91
+
+  THE MANDOLINE PLAYER                                  101
+
+  AT FORNALUTX                                          104
+
+  SON MAS, ANDRAITX                                     107
+
+  IN THE PORT OF ANDRAITX                               117
+
+  ABOVE ANDRAITX                                        123
+
+  CHRISTMAS TURKEYS                                     128
+
+  A SCENE OF SLAUGHTER                                  135
+
+  THE COFFIN OF JAIME II IN PALMA CATHEDRAL             150
+
+  MARKET DAY AT POLLENSA                                152
+
+  THE MAIN STREET OF POLLENSA                           161
+
+  A _NORIA_ NEAR ALCUDIA                                175
+
+  CIUDADELA SEEN FROM THE SEA                           179
+
+  CALLE SAN ROQUE, MAHON                                187
+
+  _COMERCIANTES_ IN THE FONDA AT MAHON                  201
+
+  AN INTERIOR IN ALARO                                  203
+
+  ALARO                                                 210
+
+  IN THE DRAGON'S CAVE                                  215
+
+  MANACOR                                               221
+
+  ARTA                                                  225
+
+  TOWARDS THE PARISH CHURCH, ARTA                       229
+
+  ENTERING THE CAVES OF ARTA                            234
+
+  PALM-SUNDAY AT SOLLER                                 242
+
+  DEYA                                                  253
+
+  PROCESSIONISTS OF HOLY THURSDAY                       262
+
+  DURING THE CARNIVAL AT PALMA                          264
+
+  THE WOOER                                             269
+
+  THE NATIONAL SPORT                                    274
+
+  CALLE DE LA PORTELLA, PALMA                           279
+
+  THANKSGIVING                                          296
+
+  A TRIO AND A QUARTETTE                                301
+
+  THE GATES OF THE _FEIXAS_, IVIZA                      309
+
+  THE CHURCH OF SAN ANTONIO, IVIZA                      311
+
+  THE CHURCH OF JESUS, IVIZA                            320
+
+  MOORISH TOWER AT THE PORT OF ALCUDIA                  328
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The Cathedral and the Lonja, Palma]
+
+THE FORTUNATE ISLES
+
+
+I
+
+SOUTHWARDS
+
+
+We had left London on a tempestuous mid-October Saturday morning,
+and Sunday night found us walking on the Rambla at Barcelona, a
+purple velvet star-spangled sky overhead, and crowds of gay
+promenaders all about us.
+
+When the Boy and I had planned our journey to the Balearic Isles
+(the Man never plans), our imaginings always began as we embarked at
+Barcelona harbour on the Majorcan steamer that was to carry us to
+the islands of our desire. So when we had strolled to where the
+Rambla ends amid the palm-trees of the port, it seemed like the
+materializing of a dream to see the steamer _Balear_ lying there,
+right under the great column of Columbus, with her bow pointing
+seawards, as though waiting for us to step on board.
+
+When at sunset next day the hotel omnibus deposited us at the port,
+the _Balear_ appeared to be the centre of attraction. It still
+lacked half an hour of sailing time, yet her decks, which were
+ablaze with electric light, were covered with people. Ingress was a
+matter of so much difficulty that our inexperience of the ways of
+Spanish ports anticipated an uncomfortably crowded passage.
+
+There was scarcely room on board to move, yet up the species of
+hen-ladder that acted as gangway people were still streaming--ladies
+in mantillas, ladies with fans, ladies with babies, and men of every
+age, the men all smoking cigarettes.
+
+Fortunately a recognized etiquette made those whose visits to the
+ship were of a purely complimentary nature confine themselves to the
+deck. When we descended to inspect our sleeping accommodation it was
+to find an individual cabin reserved for each of us; and to learn
+that, in spite of the mob on board, there were but four other saloon
+passengers. These, as we afterwards discovered, were a French
+honeymoon couple and a young Majorcan lady who was accompanied by
+her _duena_.
+
+Rain had been predicted, and was eagerly looked for, as none had
+fallen for many weeks. Yet it was a perfect evening. There was
+hardly a ripple on the water, and the air was soft and balmy. Behind
+the brilliant city with its myriads of lights rose the dark
+Catalonian mountains. Clustered near us in the harbour the crews of
+the fishing boats made wonderfully picturesque groups as they supped
+by the light of hanging lamps. And over all, high above the tall
+palms of the Paseo de Colon, the statue of Columbus pointed ever
+westwards.
+
+Looking at the sparkling scene, it was difficult to credit that
+Barcelona, with its surface aspect of light-hearted gaiety, was
+under martial law, even though we had seen that alert-eyed armed
+soldiers guarded every street and alley, and knew that but a day or
+two earlier bombs had exploded with deadly effect where the crowds
+were now promenading. It was hard, too, to believe that at that
+moment the interest of all Europe was centred upon that sombre
+fortress to the south-west of the town, within whose walls, only
+five days earlier, Ferrer had, rightly or wrongly, met the death of
+a traitor.
+
+The warning siren sounded. The visitors reluctantly scuttled down
+the ridiculous hen-ladder. The moorings were cast away, the screw
+revolved, and we were off--bound for the Fortunate Isles.
+
+Out of many wondrous nights passed on strange waters I remember none
+more beautiful. We were almost alone on deck. So far as solitude
+went the _Balear_ might have been chartered for our exclusive use.
+The second-cabin passengers had all disappeared forward. The French
+bride and bridegroom had found a secluded nook in which to coo; and
+the vigilant _duena_ had led her charge into retirement.
+
+We three sat late into the night watching the lights of the
+beautiful city of unrest fade away into the distance, while over the
+sinister fortress of Montjuich the golden sickle of the new moon
+hung like a note of interrogation.
+
+The Spanish coast had vanished. The ship's bow was pointing towards
+Africa, and wild-fire was flashing about the horizon when at last we
+descended to our cabins. The lightning was still flashing, but it
+was far in our wake, when we awoke about four in the morning to find
+the _Balear_ sailing along on an even keel, close by a mountainous
+coast whose highest promontory was crowned by a lighthouse.
+
+Having dressed and refreshed ourselves with biscuits, and chocolate
+made over a spirit-lamp, we went on deck while it was yet dark, and
+watched the land gradually become more and more distinct with the
+broadening dawn. The Boy, who had early recognised something British
+in the build of our steamer, made the interesting discovery from the
+unobliterated lettering on her bell that, though now known as the
+_Balear_, the vessel had begun her career as the _Princess Maud_,
+one of a line of steamers coasting between Glasgow and Liverpool.
+
+As the steamer skirted the picturesque coast we tried, not very
+effectively, it must be admitted, to pick out the bays and
+headlands history connects with Jaime, the valorous young King of
+Aragon, who, accompanied by a great fleet, set sail from Barcelona
+one September day early in the thirteenth century, determined to
+wrest Majorca from the tyranny of the Moors, who for hundreds of
+years had dominated it. But when we had decided that it must
+have been round _that_ point that his ships, with all lights
+extinguished, had crept at midnight to anchor in _this_ bay, the
+appearance of yet another point and another bay made us waver.
+Still, there could be no mistaking Porto Pi, with its beacon tower
+on the point where the Moors, warned of the approach of the enemy,
+gathered in force to resist his landing.
+
+The sun was illumining the wooded slopes about the ancient castle of
+Bellver, and shining radiantly upon Palma, lighting up the spires of
+the noble Cathedral and the encompassing city walls, and shining
+upon the mountains beyond, as about half-past six we entered the
+harbour, to find the wharf already busy with people.
+
+We had left grey gloom in London and in Paris. Here all was vivid
+and sparkling. The air was exhilarating, the port, with its
+nondescript craft, was a feast of colour. Voices speaking the island
+tongue sounded strangely in our unaccustomed ears. Our first
+impression of Palma was one of brightness: an impression conveyed
+partly by the warm amber and golden tints of the stone of which the
+charming city is built.
+
+On the previous night we had thought the _Balear_ half empty; but
+with the morning many unguessed passengers made their appearance
+forward. The _guardia civil_, who was travelling with his little
+boy, producing a pocket-handkerchief, dipped it in a bucket of water
+and scrubbed his son's face till it shone, the child keeping up an
+excited chatter the while.
+
+The honeymoon couple were early on deck looking out for the Grand
+Hotel omnibus. But we were nearly alongside the wharf before the
+young Majorcan lady, closely shadowed by her _duena_, left her
+cabin.
+
+After the manner of Spanish aristocrats when travelling, she was
+dressed in black, and carried a fan that seemed to go oddly with her
+smart hat. She had a beautiful figure, and the graceful carriage of
+her race. But an expression of discontent, as though she were
+already weary looking for something that might have been expected to
+happen but did not, lent an unbecoming droop to her well cut lips.
+
+Her companion was a shrivelled little woman, whose gums were
+toothless and whose cheeks bore the pallor of enforced seclusion,
+but whose alert expression betokened generations of watchful
+patience. He would be an ingenious as well as an ardent lover whose
+attentions could escape the glint of those quiet eyes. A black
+mantilla covered her scant hair, a long semi-transparent shawl
+draped her narrow shoulders. In addition to her fan she held two
+parcels, one wrapped in green, the other in orange tissue-paper--a
+flimsy covering, surely, for a sea-passage.
+
+We put ourselves in the care of the first porter who mounted the
+gangway--a handsome brigand with a slouch hat, curled moustaches,
+and yellow boots. Gathering up a mountain of light luggage in either
+hand, he tripped airily on shore, we meekly following.
+
+A Spanish friend in London had recommended the _Fonda de Mallorca_
+(locally known as "Barnils'") as the best specimen of a typical
+Majorcan hotel, and there we had decided to stay until our plans for
+the next few months were matured.
+
+As we left the harbour the hotel omnibus drew up in front of the
+Customs Office, and for the third and last time on the journey the
+solemn farce of the examination of our luggage was gone through.
+This time it was altogether perfunctory. Not an article was opened.
+The trunks, which followed on a cart, must have been treated with
+like trustful generosity, for their keys never left our possession.
+
+As our baggage included a double supply of artist's materials
+requisite for a six months' stay, it turned the scale at three
+hundred pounds. Between Charing Cross and Paris the overweight was
+charged 15s. 6d. From Paris to Barcelona we paid 35 francs. From
+there to Palma it travelled free. But though we saw fellow-travellers
+in variant stages of exasperation over vexatious claims, we paid no
+duty anywhere. Even the China tea that, unknown to my men-folk, I had
+smuggled, travelled unsuspected. And as tea in Majorca is a ransom,
+and Indian at the best, I had, while my small store lasted, an
+unfailing sense of satisfaction in my contraband possession.
+
+The Hotel Barnils gave us a cordial welcome. The grateful fragrance
+of hot coffee was in the air as we were taken upstairs and delivered
+into the care of Pedro, the chamber-man, who was smoking a cigarette
+as he cleaned the tiled corridors with a basin of damp sawdust and
+an ineffectual-looking broom.
+
+Our suite of rooms on the second floor consisted of a tiny _salon_,
+from which on either side opened a bedroom. The smaller had a window
+to the Calle del Conquistador, the larger overlooked the inner
+courtyard with its potted palms and ginger-plants. All three rooms
+were papered alike in a pattern of large black and brown leaves on a
+yellow ground. The effect was decidedly bizarre. To those of a
+melancholy temperament it would assuredly have proved trying, even
+though there was a certain relief in the collection of French
+coloured lithographs that further adorned the walls.
+
+Our sitting-room, which, like the bedrooms, was paved with tiles,
+had a tall window that opened to the floor and was guarded by an
+iron railing. It had two red-covered easy-chairs, four fawn brocade
+small chairs, and a round table with a yellow and drab tablecloth.
+
+In an amazingly brief space we were seated round that table drinking
+coffee out of tall glasses, and making acquaintance with the
+_enciamada_, a local breakfast dainty which is neither pastry,
+bread, nor bun, yet appears to enjoy something of the good qualities
+of all three. In form it somewhat resembles the fossil known to our
+nursery days as an ammonite. To picture a nicely baked and browned
+ammonite that has been well dusted with icing-sugar is to see an
+_enciamada_.
+
+The little breakfast over, we went out to explore the city. Up the
+street of the Conquistador people were hurrying: men bearing on
+their heads flat baskets filled with pink or silver fish that were
+still dripping from the Mediterranean, and women carrying empty
+baskets. Following the stream, we found ourselves in the market,
+which is surrounded by tall, many-storied buildings.
+
+It was an animated scene. Everybody was busy--all the people who were
+not buying were selling. And round about were commodities that were
+strange to us. The fish-stalls, which were clustered in a corner by
+themselves, displayed odd fish, many of them repulsive-looking, and
+all, in our eyes, undersized. The meat stalls revealed joints of
+puzzling cut, and were garlanded with gamboge and vermilion sausages,
+as though the Majorcans' love of bright colours manifested itself
+even in the food they ate.
+
+The more attractive aspect of the fruit and vegetables drew us up
+the alleys where the salesfolk sat placidly surrounded by huge
+gourds, radishes eighteen inches long, strange and unappetizing
+fungi. They had a varied assortment of goods, but the vegetable that
+appeared to dominate the market was the sweet pepper, or _pimiento_;
+everywhere it lay in heaps whose colour shaded from a vivid green to
+glowing scarlets and orange.
+
+One or two ladies in mantillas were marketing, attended by maids
+whose hair, dressed in a single pleat, showed beneath the
+_rebozillo_ that is the national head-covering of the country-women.
+
+One piece of buying, and one only, did I venture on. The Man's
+favourite fruit is the green fig, a commodity that in London costs
+on an average eighteenpence a dozen. Seeing a woman with a hamper of
+choice fresh figs, I proceeded to try how Majorcan prices compared
+with those of Britain. Taking warning by the experience of a friend
+who, having asked for half-a-crown's worth of grapes in a foreign
+market, found himself confronted with the impossibility of carrying
+away his purchase, I discreetly held out the local equivalent of a
+penny and pointed to the figs.
+
+The vendor, seeing that I had no basket, held a brief colloquy with
+a neighbouring salesman, which resulted in the production of a piece
+of crumpled newspaper. Signing to me to open my hands, she spread it
+over them and began counting the figs into it, carefully selecting
+the finest specimens from her stock. Having heard that food was
+cheap in these fortunate isles, I confidently expected that my penny
+might purchase four green figs: but instead of stopping at a
+reasonable number, the woman went on piling them up until I felt
+inclined to say "Hold, enough!" When she desisted, the paper held a
+dozen juicy purple figs, and half a dozen of the golden green ones
+that are considered the more delicate in flavour.
+
+A Spanish proverb declares that to reach perfection a ripe fig must
+have three qualifications: "A neck for the hangman, a robe for the
+beggar, a tear for the penitent." These had all the required
+attributes: the slender neck, the rent in the skin, the oozing drop
+of juice. Better figs, we imagined, were never eaten than the
+experimental pennyworth we bought that October day in Palma market.
+
+The mind easily adjusts itself to existing conditions. A few minutes
+later it scarcely surprised us to see an old woman buy ten fine
+tomatoes for a halfpenny--or to hear her demand an eleventh as just
+value for her coin.
+
+Leaving the market square, we wandered about the narrow streets,
+which, with their tall old houses and quaint _patios_--the spacious
+central courtyards--are full of picturesque scenes. Palma is densely
+populated, and the moving crowds gave us the impression of a people
+good-looking and well dressed as well as healthy and happy. Few of
+the ladies we met wore hats, and to me it appeared odd to see a lady
+in a well-cut tailor suit wearing a mantilla as, accompanied by
+her maid, she did her shopping.
+
+[Illustration: A Palma _Patio_]
+
+Many of the native women had their hair in a long pigtail, and wore
+either the _rebozillo_--a neat white muslin headdress, in form like
+a diminutive hood with a collarette attached--or a coloured silk
+handkerchief, or both. A small fringed shawl usually covered their
+shoulders. But it was in the matter of footgear that the Majorcan
+fancy appeared to run riot. Yellow boots, green boots, cream-hued
+boots, elastic-sided orange boots were displayed on the feet of
+otherwise sedately-garbed people of both sexes; and the children
+wore slippers of lively shades embroidered with gay flowers.
+
+When a sudden shower, descending with tropical force made us seek
+shelter in a doorway whence we watched the passers-by, we had the
+opportunity of noting that, though all marketing dames wore smart
+boots, many of them had dispensed with stockings.
+
+A sharp distinction seemed to be drawn in the dress of the classes.
+As we passed the church of San Miguel, troops of ladies who had been
+attending morning service were leaving it. With almost the
+uniformity of a livery, they wore black gowns of brocaded satin.
+Black mantillas covered their beautifully-dressed hair, and in
+addition to their rosaries, each carried a fan.
+
+Our temporary shelter chanced to be close to the gate of Santa
+Margarita, and when the rain cloud had passed over, we went near to
+read the inscription graven in Spanish on the stone on one side of
+the gateway:--
+
+    _By this gate entered into the city on the 31st day of
+    December, 1229, the hosts of King Don Jaime I. of
+    Aragon, Conquistador of Majorca. As a remembrance of
+    that memorable occasion, on which Majorca was restored
+    to the faith and civilization of Christianity, this
+    gate, called "Bab-al-Kofol" in the time of the Islamite
+    dominion, since then "Esuchidor" and "Pintador," and in
+    modern times "Santa Margarita," was declared a national
+    monument on the 28th of July, 1908, and restored at the
+    expense of the State._
+
+The records of the more ancient races who inhabited the island seem
+to have almost vanished. The Gymnesias, known as the people whose
+gracious climate rendered the wearing of clothes a superfluity; the
+Phoenicians, the Romans, even the Balearic slingers, are well-nigh
+forgotten, while memorials of the valiant young King of Aragon meet
+one at every turn.
+
+Hunger sent us back to the hotel to have our first experience of the
+Majorcan cookery for which it is justly noted.
+
+The cheerful dining-room opened into the square courtyard, whose
+walls were striped in broad lines of blue and white like the bandbox
+of a French milliner. On each of the six tables was a large decanter
+of red wine.
+
+The first dish set before us required a certain amount of courage to
+tackle. It was a mound of amber-tinted rice in which was visible a
+weird conglomeration of fish, flesh, fowl, and chopped vegetables.
+The queer part was the preponderance of empty seashells, for while
+their contents had doubtless become incorporated with the other
+ingredients, the empty shells remained insistent and uninviting.
+
+But hunger had made us reckless, and on venturing, we found the _arroz
+con mariscos_ worthy the national esteem in which it is held. Highly
+seasoned meat of some sort followed. Then came delicately-cooked
+little fish; then something that defied us to discover whether it
+belonged to the animal or the vegetable kingdom. There were no sweets,
+but the dessert was abundant and delicious. Apricots, curiously
+exotic-looking apples that were streaked with crimson on a pink
+ground, great clusters of little yellow grapes that seemed as though
+the sunshine were imprisoned in their skins, and the tempting little
+baked almonds that are a speciality of Barnils'.
+
+The rain, that in a few minutes had turned the narrow streets into
+rivers, had ceased as suddenly as it began. The sky was again a deep
+glowing blue, and the pure soft air was a pleasure to breathe, when
+ascending a stair we found ourselves on the flat roof of the hotel,
+which commanded an extensive view over the city. About us were many
+flat Moorish roofs, some used as gardens, others bearing great cages
+full of pigeons. To the south was the port with its gay display of
+shipping and the sparkling waters of the Mediterranean. To north,
+east, and west, the towers and domes and city walls encircled us.
+Beyond were the fruitful plains, and farther still the blue
+mountains.
+
+Around us rose the softened murmur of the town, the chiming of
+bells, the whisper of the sea, the sound of voices speaking in
+strange tongues. All was charming, novel, and wholly delightful.
+
+Chopin's description of Palma, written seventy years ago when, with
+George Sand, he spent a winter in Majorca, needs no correction
+to-day:--
+
+"Here I am at Palma," he wrote to his friend Fontana, "in the midst
+of palms, and cedars and cactuses, and olives and oranges, and
+lemons and figs and pomegranates.... The sky is like a turquoise,
+the sea is like lazuli, and the mountains are like emeralds. The air
+is pure like the air of Paradise. All day long the sun shines and it
+is warm, and everybody walks about in summer clothes. At night one
+hears guitars and serenades. Vines are festooned on immense
+balconies. Moorish walls rise all about us. The town, like
+everything here, looks towards Africa. In a word, it is an enchanted
+life that we are living."
+
+Soon after midnight a deep sonorous cry awoke me from the sleep of
+the pleasantly fatigued:--
+
+    _Alabado sea Dios....
+     Las doce y media....
+     Sereno...._
+
+it rang out in the stillness.
+
+Jumping out of bed, I reached the open window in time to see the
+passing of a black figure wrapped in a great cloak, the rays from
+the lantern he carried throwing a wavering circle of light on the
+pavement beside him. It was the _sereno_, the guardian of the
+sleeping city.
+
+Pausing before one of the closed doors, he smote on it three times
+with his staff. Then he turned, and passed out of sight, his long
+wailing cry again rising into the night.
+
+[Illustration: The Sereno]
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The Casa Tranquila]
+
+II
+
+OUR CASA IN SPAIN
+
+
+Palma was gay with bunting in honour of the birthday of the young
+Queen of Spain, when on the afternoon of our second day in Majorca
+we set out to deliver a letter of introduction that was fated to
+have an important influence on our future arrangements.
+
+Much might be, and probably much has been written on the uses and
+abuses of letters of introduction. Sometimes the given letter proves
+a boon both to him who carries and him who receives it. Was not one
+of our best friends made known to us through the medium of a
+perfunctory note from a man we had not seen for many years, and whom
+the presenter of the note had never even met? When we left London we
+bore a letter of introduction to an Englishman resident in
+Barcelona, and he in turn gave us a letter to an American friend of
+his at Palma, who was Consul for certain of the Southern Republics.
+
+The home of the Consul was at Son Espanolet, an attractive little
+residential suburb about a mile beyond the city walls. The busy
+district of Santa Catalina lies between it and the sea. Undulating
+groves of almond and olive separate it from the hills.
+
+Taking the mule-drawn tram-car that plies between Palma and Porto
+Pi, we alighted at Santa Catalina; and, after making various
+inquiries, found ourselves ringing the gate-bell of the house, over
+whose tower fluttered the gay banner of the Consulate.
+
+Had the Consul and his wife guessed that these three British
+invaders were going to trespass on their endurance for a period of
+six months, I doubt if they would have received us with such
+courteous geniality. As it was, their reception was so cordial that
+within half an hour of our meeting I felt emboldened to reveal what
+had been my secret desire--that we might rent a furnished house near
+Palma for the winter. Not a fine house--merely a roof under which we
+could stow our belongings, a centre from which our wanderings about
+the islands might radiate.
+
+Could they advise us? Did they think such an idea was feasible?
+
+The Consul shook his head.
+
+"Not near Palma," he said. "At Porto Pi or the Terreno you might
+chance on one. But these are summer seaside places. Most of the
+houses there are shut up now. You'd find it dull and inconvenient in
+winter."
+
+"This district seems delightful, and near town. Would there be a
+chance of our getting a house here?"
+
+"Unfurnished, yes--furnished, no. But why not take a vacant house
+and hire what you need? There's only three of you. You don't want
+much."
+
+"Say, Luis!" said pretty Mrs. Consul, "what about the house the
+Major left last week? That's empty now. Would that suit?"
+
+For a moment the Consul looked meditative.
+
+"I'm thinking," he said. "You're right. That's the very place. Nice
+little house. Got a garden. Stable too. And a fine view from the
+veranda."
+
+"Is the house near? Could we see it?" we asked.
+
+"It's close by, in the Calle de Mas. We'll see about it, right away,
+now."
+
+The Consul, happily for us, was a man of action. Ringing the bell,
+he summoned Isidoro, his man-servant, who summoned Margarita, his
+cook. And Margarita, having received instructions to search the wide
+world till she found the caretaker of the empty house and to bring
+her hither, departed at once on her quest. In an incredibly brief
+space of time she returned in company with a little old woman and
+two large door-keys.
+
+Following her guidance we walked in procession round the corners of
+several secluded roads, whose yellow stone walls, flat roofs, and
+almost tropical foliage looked Oriental under the evening glow.
+
+Viewed from the street, the house we sought, with its green shutters
+and tiled roof, resembled a hundred others. But when the big keys
+had performed their task, and we had passed through the two centre
+rooms and found ourselves on a wide stone-pillared veranda looking
+across the orange and lemon trees of the gardens to where the
+Mediterranean lay azure under the setting sun, our minds held no
+further hesitation. We knew that it was our own house.
+
+Merely to assure ourselves that the house had no equal, we
+investigated the claims of two other vacant dwellings before
+returning to the Consulate. One had a basement in which a native
+family lived--apparently wholly upon garlic. The other attempted to
+make up in stucco images what it lacked in view.
+
+It was too late that night to take any steps towards securing the
+house. The Consul, himself a versatile linguist, knowing that our
+meagre Spanish could hardly be expected to prove equal to the
+subtleties of house-hiring, arranged to accompany the Man and the
+Boy next day to interview the owner, and if possible to see the
+negotiations completed.
+
+I think we were all secretly uneasy until we learned that, on the
+personal recommendation of the Consul, the landlord had
+unhesitatingly accepted us as tenants, and that he had agreed to
+have the garden put in order, to mend any broken panes of glass in
+the doors or windows, to see that the well was clean, and to permit
+us to enter upon our tenancy at once.
+
+And then, the house being secured, the important subject of
+furniture had to be considered. Knowing that with hired goods we
+would feel conscious of certain restrictions, we had resolved to buy
+what was absolutely necessary. And the question was--how much or how
+little furniture would three unexacting people require during six
+months of a picnicking existence in a gracious climate?
+
+Already there were several indispensable articles in the house--two
+tables, one large enough to serve as dining-table, a bench, and a
+tall glass-doored corner cupboard. Beds would be needed, washstands,
+two more tables of the plainest description, half-a-dozen
+rush-seated chairs of local make for utility, lounge chairs for our
+laziness, and looking-glasses for our vanity.
+
+Still under the Consul's skilled guidance we visited an
+upholsterer's, a dark and narrow shop where the closely packed stock
+took up so much room that there was hardly space for a single
+customer. The shopkeeper, a smiling little round man in a pink
+shirt, and his daughter, a smiling big round girl in a white frock,
+entered heartily into the spirit of our requirements; and with the
+Consul's aid in the reduction of prices, we speedily acquired what
+was necessary.
+
+We had landed on Majorca on Tuesday morning. Before dusk fell on
+Thursday our house was not only taken, but the furniture purchased.
+Electric light is a cheap luxury in Palma, and for our comfort in
+the winter nights we were having it put in. Knowing that the
+installation of the light, the scrubbing out of the house, and the
+raking up of the garden would occupy a day or two, we decided to
+remain at Barnils' until Monday, on which morning we would journey
+out to Son Espanolet and take possession. Meanwhile we roamed about
+Palma with our eyes open to the necessities of our bare
+establishment, picking up a broom here, a coffee-strainer there,
+some wooden cooking-spoons yonder.
+
+Matters moved with surprising briskness. Monday morning found the
+electric light fixed, the tiled floors well scrubbed, the scant
+provision of furniture in the rooms, and the garden dug. So, leaving
+our heavier luggage to follow by cart, we packed ourselves and our
+smaller baggage into a _carruaje_, and set out for our new home. The
+progress thither was circuitous, as first we had to journey up and
+down the narrow streets of the town collecting the smaller purchases
+we had made.
+
+First we called at a grocer's to pick up the supply of provisions
+that were to form the nucleus of our housekeeping. Then we meant to
+drive to the china shop where our store of crockery awaited us.
+Unfortunately the china shop, being situated on a street so steep
+that it ascended in a series of wide steps, was unapproachable by
+our two-horse conveyance. Leaving the carriage at the foot of the
+steps the Man and the Boy mounted to the shop, and by and by
+reappeared accompanied by a man and a maiden, all four laden with
+dishes.
+
+Space in the conveyance had been limited before. Now, surrounded by
+earthenware cooking-pots, and basins, and jugs, and plates, we were
+jolted over the primitively paved streets, and out beyond the gate
+of Santa Catalina to the little house in Son Espanolet.
+
+Perhaps our sense of possession threw a glamour over the dwelling,
+but already it seemed to wear a look of home. The scanty furniture
+was in place, a few minutes sufficed to put the groceries on the
+shelves, the dishes in the glass cupboard, the earthenware
+cooking-pots and pans on the kitchen shelf. Then, when the table was
+spread with our new tea-cups, and decorated with roses and scented
+verbena from the garden, set in a jug, and the kettle was a-boil
+over our trusty spirit-lamp, we sat down, in great contentment, to
+enjoy the first meal in our _casa_ in Spain.
+
+The lines even of a foreign householder in Majorca are cast in
+pleasant places. From our point of view the Majorcan landlord has
+the worse of the bargain, his tenant the better.
+
+[Illustration: The Gate of Santa Catalina, Palma]
+
+We took our little house for three months, paying in advance the
+very moderate rent--it was twenty pesetas, about fifteen shillings,
+a month--and agreeing to give, or take, a month's warning. This
+done, our obligations appeared to cease. There were no taxes, at
+least none that the tenant was expected to pay. There was no water
+rate. The well in the garden afforded a supply of pure and wholesome
+rain-water. If windows were broken the landlord sent, or promised to
+send, a glazier to put in new panes. In the rare event of a chimney
+requiring cleaning, the accommodating landlord was expected to
+employ a mason to do the work. And with the arrival of the season
+locally considered best for the annual pruning of the vines--which
+is the period between the 15th and the 20th of January--a duly
+qualified gardener, instructed by the owner of the house, appeared
+and clipped those within our walls.
+
+Our Majorcan home proved to be full of the most charming
+informalities. Its architecture was the perfection of simplicity; a
+child might have designed it. It was on one floor only, and measured
+fifteen paces square. There were neither hall nor passages, and in a
+short time we found ourselves wondering why we had ever considered
+such things necessary. All the doors were glazed. The front door
+opened directly into a sitting-room, whose wide glass door led to
+another room that opened on to the veranda. To the right of the
+front door was the Boy's bedroom, to the left an apartment that
+served as studio. From the back sitting-room opened, on one side, a
+bedroom that had a useful dress closet; and on the other a compact
+little kitchen with a cool larder that was almost as big as itself.
+The kitchen walls were lined breast-high with blue and white tiles;
+and under the window that looked towards the sea was a neat range of
+stoves, for the consumption of both coal and charcoal.
+
+The two sitting-rooms boasted the distinction of wall papers, and
+the ceiling of our favourite room--that which opened on to the
+veranda--represented an azure sky among whose fluffy white clouds
+flitted birds and butterflies. At one side of the house was a
+stable, and an enclosure fitted with stone tubs and jars, meant to
+be used in the washing of clothes.
+
+The veranda, or _terras_, bade fair to become a perpetual joy to us.
+It was roofed by a spreading vine, whose foliage even in November
+was luxuriant. The former tenants had eaten all the grapes except
+one bunch, of which the wasps had taken possession; and we were
+either too generous or too timid to dispute their claim.
+
+On the broad ledge of the veranda, on either side of the short
+flight of steps leading down to the garden, were great green
+flower-pots. Three held pink ivy-leaved geraniums, one contained a
+cactus that had exactly the appearance of four prickly sea-urchins
+set in mould, the others were empty.
+
+The garden measured nineteen paces by twenty-two. Raised paths of
+concrete divided it into eight beds. The four larger encircled the
+quaint draw-well; the four smaller were in a row, two on either side
+of the veranda steps. The beds held a number of fruit trees. There
+was a sturdy lemon that bore both fruit and blossom, and three
+orange-trees; one carrying about sixty mandarin oranges. And besides
+a second vine there were seven almond-trees and two apricots. A
+shrub in whose racemes of hawthorn-scented blossom bees were busy,
+we had never before seen. Later we learned that it was the loquat.
+
+Some rose bushes, which obligingly flowered all winter, a jasmine, a
+tall scented verbena, a long row of sweet peppers, two clumps of
+artichokes, and sundry tufts of herbs completed our vegetable
+kingdom.
+
+Majorca is a paradise for the gardener--or would be, were the
+rainfall more assured--for the climate varies so little that almost
+anything can be planted at any season.
+
+The day we took possession of the house I sowed some rows of dwarf
+peas. In a week they were above the ground and continued to flourish
+exceedingly, until brought to a standstill by the long-continued
+drought. The rain in January set them a-growing again, and from
+early February till April we had dishes of green peas from our own
+ground.
+
+At the foot of the garden, separated from it by a high stone wall,
+were two small dwellings. One was empty. In the other there resided
+a cobbler named Pepe, his wife, and a lean red kitten.
+
+The sudden arrival of us foreigners proved an event of extraordinary
+interest in the circumscribed lives of the pair, and of the skinny
+kitten, who developed into quite a handsome cat on our scraps. Mr.
+and Mrs. Pepe had no veranda, but from their patch of garden a tiny
+staircase led to a _mirador_--a species of roof watch-tower--from
+which they had a capital view of the town, the port, and of their
+neighbours.
+
+As in these sunny November days we lived with the wide glass doors
+open to the veranda, there was so much to observe in our doings that
+for the first week at least of our stay Pepe's customers must have
+been neglected; for morning, noon, and night he was at his post of
+supervision. As we sat at table we got quite accustomed to seeing
+his squat figure outlined against the sky as he undisguisedly
+watched our movements. Sometimes he even carried his quaint spouted
+wine-bottle and hunk of rye bread up to the _mirador_, and enjoyed
+his breakfast with a vigilant eye on us.
+
+Pepe had a taste for gardening, and grew chrysanthemums and
+carnations in the few feet of soil attached to his dwelling.
+Sometimes, with due ceremonial, he presented us with one of his
+striped carnations. And one day, when I was in the garden, he
+hastened down from his post of observation to reappear, smiling
+broadly, at our side gate, bearing the gift of a sturdy root of
+French marigold. We showed our appreciation of the compliment by
+sending him a boot to mend; and, courteous preliminaries having been
+thus exchanged, we continued to live on terms of distant amity. The
+marigold I promptly planted in one of the empty green flower-pots,
+where throughout the winter it bore a constant succession of its
+brown and orange velvet flowers.
+
+A family from Andalusia--a father, mother, and four children--occupied
+the house adjoining ours. They seemed good-tempered, easy-going folks,
+living a happy careless life in this land of sunshine. Their somewhat
+extensive garden was well kept and fruitful.
+
+The father, like so many of the residents in these islands, was a
+bird-fancier. And when, on sunny mornings, assisted by his children,
+he had carried out the dozens of cages containing his pets, and had
+hung them on his pomegranate-trees, and on the pergola, where the
+purple convolvulus twined about branches heavy with golden oranges,
+our world was vocal with their song.
+
+At the foot of their garden was a flourishing little poultry-yard,
+in which, with laudable success, they reared chickens and ducks and
+rabbits. They supplied us regularly with eggs, and when any of the
+live stock was ripe for the pot we always had the first offer of
+purchase.
+
+The method of procedure was to catch the beast--plump rabbit, young
+rooster, or whatever it chanced to be--and to carry it, suspended by
+the legs and vigorously protesting, to the door of our _casa_ to
+exhibit its proportions, and to inquire if we would like to
+purchase. On the sale being effected, as it usually was, for the
+quality of their live stock was unequalled, the victim would be
+taken away, to reappear half an hour later stripped of fur or
+feather, and with its members decorously dressed for cooking.
+
+Early in the year the Andalusian family was increased by one--a fine
+boy. A few weeks after, the mother paid me a state visit to receive
+congratulations and exhibit the baby. Going into the studio, I said:
+
+"Our neighbour has brought her new baby to show us."
+
+The Man waved me away with a protesting paint-brush.
+
+"No," he said. "Don't buy it. Send her away. I don't mind the ducks
+and the chickens, but I absolutely refuse to eat the baby!"
+
+Life in the Casa Tranquila, as we had christened our winter home,
+was a pleasant irresponsible matter compared with existence in
+ceremonial Britain. Social pleasures we undoubtedly had, but no
+social duties. Housekeeping ran on the simplest of lines. Maria, the
+woman who had been key-keeper of the house while it was empty, came
+in to do the rough work. Apolonia, a smiling, rubicund old dame,
+with a keen sense of humour, acted as laundress. It was all so easy
+and unconventional and open-airy that we never quite got over the
+impression that we were enjoying a prolonged camping-out, and that
+it was by accident that our roof was of tiles and not of canvas.
+
+[Illustration: Our Suburban Street]
+
+Our morning began with the arrival of a baker who brought the bread,
+rolls, and _enciamadas_ for the day's consumption. We did not use
+the milk of goats, though, twice daily, a little flock, with
+tinkling bells, their udders tied up in neat bags of check cotton
+for protection against the unauthorised raids of their thirsty kids,
+was driven past our door to be milked before the eyes of each
+customer. A sprightly matron served us morning and evening with the
+milk of a cow, which her husband spent his days herding on any stray
+patches of herbage in the district.
+
+Each day at noon, Mundo, the greengrocer, called with a donkey-cart
+containing quite a comprehensive assortment of fruit and vegetables.
+Three kinds of potatoes he always brought--new, old, and
+sweet--pumpkins that were sold in slices, egg-plants, garlic strung
+in long festoons, spinach, cauliflowers, sweet peppers, curious
+fungi, purple carrots, sugar beans; all at astonishingly low prices.
+I shall always remember the November day when, in a moment of
+forgetfulness, I asked for a whole pennyworth of tomatoes, and was
+afterwards confronted by the difficulty of disposing of so many.
+
+A popular article of diet seemed to be the gigantic radishes, in
+which not only Mundo but all the little shops appeared to do a big
+trade. We puzzled long over the way in which they could be used
+before making the chance discovery that they are cut in round slices
+and eaten raw with soup or meat, as one would eat bread.
+
+
+
+
+III
+
+PALMA, THE PEARL OF THE MEDITERRANEAN
+
+
+As a place of winter residence for those who like sunshine, and are
+not enamoured of society, Palma could hardly be excelled.
+
+For one thing, the town is just the right size. It is not so small
+as to allow the visitor to feel dull, or so large as to permit him
+to become conscious of his own insignificance.
+
+While Palma is bright and full of movement and of cheerful sounds,
+it is an adorable place to be lazy in. The sunshine and soft air
+foster indolence; and though there is no stagnation, everybody takes
+life easily in this walled city by the southern sea. There is no
+bustle, no need to hurry. What is not accomplished to-day can be
+done to-morrow. And if to-morrow finds it still undone--why, what is
+the future made up of, if not of an illimitable succession of
+to-morrows?
+
+When the ancients christened Palma "the Pearl of the Mediterranean,"
+they gave it a title that to this day it deserves.
+
+Something of the resplendence of the town is due to the
+warm-coloured stone of which it is built--a stone that shades from
+the palest cream to warm amber. Every stroll we took through its
+mediaeval streets, every walk along its antique ramparts, every
+saunter down the mole, made us more and more in love with its
+beauty, which we seemed always to be viewing under some new
+condition of light or atmosphere.
+
+[Illustration: Palma de Mallorca, from the Terreno]
+
+The Man never wearied of the crooked secret-looking streets and fine
+buildings of the old, old city. By day or night they held for him
+an inexplicable charm. He was always discovering some new "bit"--a
+quaint _patio_, a Moorish arch, an antique gateway, a curious
+interior, a sculptured window.
+
+And the streets were always full of life. A cluster of officers in
+full dress chattering on the Borne; a company of soldiers marching
+to the strains of an inspiriting band; a priest, under a great
+rose-coloured silk umbrella, on the way to administer extreme
+unction to someone sick unto death--all the spectators falling on
+their knees as the solemn little procession passed by; or a party of
+queerly attired natives of Iviza, just arrived by the thrice-a-week
+boat, and curiously foreign both in speech and appearance, though
+their island home was only sixty or seventy miles distant; or a
+string of carriages whose occupants were on the way to a morning
+reception at the Almudaina, the old Moorish palace, now the
+residence of the Captain-General.
+
+Everything in the place was new to us, and the feeling of novelty
+never waned.
+
+As for the Boy, from the moment of our arrival his interest centred
+in the port. Its constantly changing array of shipping, and the fine
+sun-tanned buccaneers who did business on its blue waters, supplied
+him with endless congenial subjects for pictures.
+
+The port of Palma nestles, one might almost say, right into the
+heart of the city. The chief promenade, the Borne, ends on its
+brink. The Cathedral and the Lonja dignify its banks.
+
+The gay life of the harbour lies open to the casual observer. Under
+the ramparts, by the side of the public road, old men in red caps
+and suits of velveteen that the sun has faded to marvellous hues sit
+at their placid occupation of net-mending. There, too, when the
+_falucas_ are moored at the edge of the wharf, come the families of
+the fishermen to join them at lunch--the women bringing down wine
+and bread and the men supplying a tasty hot dish from the less
+saleable items of their catch. Sometimes a cloth is spread, and
+then the _al fresco_ repast assumes quite a ceremonious air.
+
+Stern on to the _muelle_, the long breakwater that partitions off
+the water of the harbour from the open bay, lie the larger craft:
+the most important of which are the white-painted steamers of the
+_Islena Maritima_, the fleet of boats belonging to a Majorcan
+Company that carry mails and passengers between the island and Spain
+or Algeria.
+
+Once Palma was a great maritime centre. Now little foreign shipping
+does business in her port. But though the bulk of the traffic is
+local, an open port always holds the element of the unexpected.
+
+Sometimes a leviathan-like liner, making a holiday tour of
+Mediterranean ports, anchors by the wharf, and her tourists, eager
+to make the most of the hours at their disposal, hasten on shore to
+pack themselves into every available form of conveyance and drive
+off, enclosed in a pillar of dust of their own raising, to enjoy a
+hasty glance at Valldemosa, Miramar and Soller. When at sunset they
+steam out of the harbour it is with the pleasantly erroneous
+conviction that they have exhausted the attractions of the island.
+
+Once a fine ship that sharp eyes recognized as the private yacht of
+the Czar of Russia quietly entered the bay, and after a brief stay,
+during which her voyagers held no intercourse with land, as quietly
+departed. And after a spring gale a Greek sailing ship, her
+main-mast gone, was towed in by a French tug. Sometimes it was the
+capture of a smuggler's _faluca_ caught in the act of trying to run
+a cargo of contraband tobacco that furnished the excitement.
+
+On the frequent feast days Palma was gay with flags. Every Consulate
+in the town--and they were many--mounted its special banner. The
+gun-boats sported strings of bunting out of all proportion to their
+size, the merchantmen flew their ensigns, and though the business of
+the town was transacted with its customary air of casual
+lightheartedness, the never-lacking holiday feeling was
+intensified.
+
+[Illustration: Calle de la Almudaina, Palma]
+
+One November feast day the Boy, who was painting at the port,
+discovered among the decorated craft a ship flying the British flag;
+a closer inspection revealed her to be the _Ancona_ of Leith, just
+arrived with a cargo of coal. Nearer home I doubt if the proximity
+of a Leith collier would have appealed strongly to our patriotism.
+In that southern latitude things were different. A sudden and
+fervent desire to hear our own northern accent awoke within us, and,
+incited by our adventurous son, we determined to board the _Ancona_
+and pay our respects to her captain.
+
+It was a glorious morning, one of those wonderful mornings when the
+world seems newly born, that we three went down the mole. Lying
+beyond the schooner from Soller, and the _pailebot_ from Valencia
+that was shipping a cargo of empty wicker-cased wine flasks, we came
+to the _Ancona_.
+
+Three railless plank gangways connected her with the wharf, and down
+two of the planks Majorcans in their elaborately bepatched blue
+linen suits were carrying straw baskets of coal. We ventured up the
+third. Our gangway ended on a six-feet-high platform situated on the
+verge of a hold still brimful of coal. As we hesitated on our perch,
+wondering what to do next, a bronzed man in slippers appeared. It
+was the first mate.
+
+"It's a fine day," the Man gave colloquial greeting. "Is the skipper
+on board?"
+
+"Ay. It's a real bonnie day," the mate made truthful reply. "No.
+He's just gone up the quay to see the ship's agents."
+
+The homely words, the familiar accent, fell like music on our ears.
+A few words of explanation brought the mate to our elevated
+platform, where he spoke with the inherent appreciation of the Scot
+of the beauty of the town.
+
+"Ay. It's a bonnie place this. I think it's as pretty a place as
+I've seen. No. We've been busy on board and I haven't had time to
+see the town yet. But I'm enjoyin' the view fine from here. The
+captain? Oh, you couldn't miss him. You're sure to come across him.
+He's just up on the front."
+
+So, in quest of a compatriot whom we couldn't miss, we set off up
+the street. And sure enough, before we had proceeded very far we met
+the captain face to face.
+
+If the captain of the _Ancona_ was surprised at being accosted by a
+trio of complete strangers, he was too much a Highland gentleman and
+a man of the world to reveal any astonishment. In five minutes we
+were all on a friendly footing, our nationality the firm basis of
+good-fellowship; a little later we were all seated outside the
+Lirico, over tall glasses of vermouth and seltzer, recalling
+familiar scenes and discovering mutual acquaintances.
+
+The captain was at a loose end. We were going to the fruit market,
+to the bookseller's, to the Cathedral. So he came too.
+
+In the market, as he saw me buy big bunches of yellow grapes at
+twopence-halfpenny a kilo (nearly two and a quarter pounds) his face
+lit up--"I'll be for sending the steward up here," he said.
+
+Chance favoured us. We turned into the Borne just in time to see an
+infantry battalion march past to the strains of a good military
+band. A general had died and the soldiers were on their way to
+escort his body to the cemetery. The music, which was appropriately
+solemn, was played with great feeling. And as the procession moved
+slowly up the street the closed window shutters were thrown open and
+fair senoras in light dresses thronged the balconies.
+
+It was as though Palma had determined to reveal herself at her best
+to our companion. Even the interior of the Cathedral, lit by the
+brilliant sunshine that filtered through the stained-glass windows,
+seemed grander than ever.
+
+"I've had a splendid time," the captain said when we parted. "Though
+I've been here two or three times, I never saw so much of the town
+before."
+
+We were leaving next morning for Miramar, and before our return the
+_Ancona_ would have sailed. But we said good-bye with the promise
+of meeting again--a promise that was fulfilled, for on two
+subsequent voyages the captain was a welcome guest at the Casa
+Tranquila.
+
+"The captain is a gentleman," the Boy said half-a-dozen hours later
+when he returned from the ship, where, by special invitation, he had
+been having a smoke and a chat with her master. "See what he
+insisted on giving me. I refused, of course, but he made me take
+_that_ and _this_."
+
+"That" was a batch of thrice precious literature in the shape of
+sixpenny editions of novels and magazines. "This" was a tin of
+tobacco marked "full strength," that class of dark-complexioned
+rum-odorous tobacco that the Boy specially affects, and whose lack
+in Majorca had formed the theme of his only regret.
+
+Life on the native craft in the port is entertaining to watch. The
+dark-skinned rovers of the deep contrast so oddly with the mildly
+domestic aspect given by the presence on board of the _patron's_
+wife, and by her way of keeping hens loose on deck, and of hanging
+feminine garments to dry on the poop.
+
+One Sunday morning we had been scrutinizing their doings with the
+open stare that life in Spain teaches one both to give and to take
+composedly, when we discovered that luncheon-time had stolen
+unawares upon us. As we walked back down the pier we glanced
+inquiringly at the cafes that lined the lower part of the way; they
+were all crowded with jovial seamen and uninviting. We had resolved
+to eat at the Lirico, and were leaving the pier, when something in
+the situation of a little open-air eating-place just on the brink of
+the sea, almost in the shadow of the city wall, attracted us; and
+advancing to the awning, under which little groups of people were
+seated, we demanded food.
+
+The proprietress, a plump, smiling woman with a purple silk kerchief
+on her head and a green apron, welcomed us in fluent but,
+unfortunately, unintelligible Majorcan. She knew no Spanish. All we
+could gather was that if we seated ourselves she would give us to
+eat. And nothing loth, we sat down at an unoccupied table whose
+bare boards were scrubbed as clean as hands could make them.
+
+Beyond the shade of the roof-awning the sun was shining; the pure
+air filtered through its matting sides, and in our full view the
+waves were dashing against the rocky shore. At a table close by,
+three old cronies were dining. Scorning the use of tumblers, they
+passed the quaint wine-flask from hand to hand, each in turn
+throwing back his head and letting the red wine fall in a stream,
+from what to us seemed an unbridgeable distance, between his parted
+lips. Four soldiers were eating macaroni. Two men who had been
+fishing off the breakwater were supping thick soup.
+
+A pretty little girl, her hair caught up in a business-like "bun,"
+darted in and out amongst her mother's customers, her dark eyes
+quick to discern their wants. From inside the shanty that served as
+kitchen came an appetizing sound of frizzling.
+
+Turning her attention to us, the little girl put the inevitable dish
+of olives and a flask of red wine on the table; then she placed a
+wooden fork and spoon, a plate, a tumbler, and a roll, before each
+of us. Then, with the suggestion of an air of ceremony, she
+carefully laid at the Man's right hand something resembling a folded
+piece of clean canvas. It was not until the meal was nearing a
+conclusion that we discovered it was intended to be used as a
+napkin.
+
+The table thus spread, she darted into the kitchen and returned
+bearing a huge flat earthen dish, which held as inviting a mess as
+we had ever tasted. The main portion of its contents consisted of
+small thin slices of beef-steak, mushrooms, and strips of potatoes
+that had all been fried together, after the native fashion, in
+boiling oil. Daintily chopped green herbs lent a savoury garnish to
+the whole. After a momentary hesitation, due solely to lack of the
+customary cutlery, we helped each other with our wooden spoons, and
+fell to work with good will.
+
+Perhaps there was some charm in the oddity of our surroundings, in
+the fresh breath of the sea air, in the sparkle of the blue water;
+perhaps it may have lain in the discovery that if meat is tender and
+well-cooked, a fork--and wooden at that--is all the implement
+required. Certain it is that as we cleared the last chip of potato
+from the earthen dish we all agreed that we had enjoyed the simple
+meal more than anything we had eaten in Palma.
+
+When we asked for the bill our little waitress received the sign of
+departure with dismay; and the mother, running out, added her
+protest. Something else was evidently in active preparation.
+
+Fully convinced that to eat anything more would be an insult to the
+dish we had just finished, we waited.
+
+A moment later she triumphantly carried out and set before us a
+plate containing a slab of fish, thickly covered with minced garlic
+and floating in a pool of rich red oil. It may have been a delicacy
+for which the establishment was famed. Our fellow guests were
+devouring it with evident enjoyment, zealously sopping up the oil
+with their rolls, and leaving their plates polished clean. But to us
+it came as an anti-climax.
+
+Carefully inculcated politeness, combined with the knowledge that
+from the doorway the cook was eagerly watching us for sign of
+appreciation, induced us to choke it down with an outward
+affectation of gusto. But we left the garlic and the red oil. Even
+an exaggerated idea of the obligations of courtesy could not have
+prevailed upon us to swallow them.
+
+We paid the modest bill and fled, lest worse should follow.
+
+A few days later we returned to the quaint open-air cafe. It was a
+lovely evening early in November. All day out of a cloudless sky the
+sun had beat warmly upon Palma, and the sea had glowed a soft misty
+azure. We had been busy indoors letter-writing, for it was a mail
+day. It was only after dusk that we were free and, leaving the Casa
+Tranquila, set off port-wards to post our letters.
+
+The _Miramar_, the crack ship of the _Islena Maritima_, was on the
+point of starting for Barcelona, and all the world of Palma was
+hastening towards the harbour to post letters on board; and then,
+while promenading the mole, to watch her departure.
+
+After the _Miramar_ had vanished into the darkness and the
+spectators had streamed towards the land, we still lingered on the
+breakwater. There was no moon, the stars were bright, the wavelets
+softly lapped the stones, and we felt placid and restful until quite
+suddenly we became aware that we were hungry.
+
+Our proximity suggested the little shanty under the city wall by the
+sea, and thither we went.
+
+It was the quiet hour there too. Except for three of the hussars we
+had seen before, the well-scrubbed tables were vacant. The soldiers,
+recognizing us, gave us friendly greeting, accompanied with the
+offer of their tobacco packets. Bright-eyed little Catalina ran to
+fetch the napkin, surely the sole emblem of gentility belonging to
+the establishment, and the senora herself appeared at the door of
+the shed, where she presided over the cooking-pots, to give us "Bona
+nit tengan" and to consult with us as to what we would like her to
+prepare.
+
+She shook her head when we suggested beef-steaks and mushrooms. At
+that hour, apparently, beef was "off."
+
+"Would we have soup?--Majorcan soup," she asked.
+
+We shook our heads. No. We did not fancy soup.
+
+Promising us fresh fish, and something with an untranslatable name,
+she disappeared into the shed. And, content to leave the selection
+to her, we awaited events.
+
+The comrades in arms had gone, and a pale slender girl, beautiful in
+the small-featured, refined type so common in Palma, had taken her
+place at the next table. With her was a friend of the same style,
+but doubly attractive in that she was overflowing with vivacity. The
+younger girl sat silent, her hands folded, her head drooping, while
+the elder--who was knitting a petticoat gay with coloured
+stripes--chatted briskly. They did not eat, and we guessed they were
+waiting for some one to join them.
+
+Sitting near them was a handsome taciturn man with a slouch hat,
+long curled moustaches, and a gaudy kerchief twisted about his neck.
+That the girls knew him was evident, for though he did not join in
+their conversation he seemed to listen to all that was said.
+
+Just as we were served with crisp little fried fish, a figure,
+coming from the darkness where the waves were washing the stones,
+entered the circle of light. It was the expected man. Hanging up his
+rod and fishing basket, he took his place at the table beside the
+girls.
+
+His skin was deeply bronzed, his garments were of blue cotton that
+sun and sea air had faded to a delicate hue. A scarlet sash was
+wound about his waist. His naked brown feet were thrust into
+string-soled green shoes.
+
+Catalina, who had been watching for his arrival, ran out with a
+slender-spouted bottle of wine and three wooden spoons. Her mother
+followed close with an earthenware pipkin of the thick Majorcan soup
+that we had declined.
+
+Grouped in an amicable trio, they ate from the same dish, and in
+turn drank from the slender spout of the green glass bottle. The
+pale girl remained pensively silent, but the other continued to
+talk, punctuating her conversation with dramatic movements of her
+hands. How we wished we could have understood what she was saying!
+
+When the combined efforts of the three wooden spoons had searched
+the red earthenware vessel to its depths, the man who came from the
+sea rose and, lifting it in his hand without a word, walked to the
+edge of the water and threw the pipkin far into the Mediterranean.
+Then returning, he resumed his seat.
+
+No one made any comment upon this inexplicable proceeding. Had the
+inoffending pipkin not been empty it might have seemed as though he
+were offering a libation to some unseen spirit of the water. But the
+actively plied spoons had succeeded in scooping out the last vestige
+of the soup.
+
+In the meantime we had been occupied with our second course, which
+consisted of lengths of orange-coloured sausage, served hot with
+fried potatoes. And a new-comer, an old man, was eating a big plate
+of macaroni.
+
+The nimble Catalina, flashing out, set a flat dish, heaped with some
+sort of stew, before the trio. What its contents were we could only
+guess. The lively maiden and the man were already poking among them
+with their wooden forks. The pensive girl had produced a silver fork
+and was delicately helping herself, fastidiously turning over the
+ingredients. The handsome reticent man sat motionless but observant.
+
+[Illustration: A Supper Party]
+
+They ate in leisurely fashion--nobody hurries in Palma. The gay girl
+rattled on in her musical voice, gesticulating with her pretty hands
+the while, only occasionally dropping the thread of her dramatic
+recital to send her fork foraging with the others, or to throw back
+her head and let the red wine trickle down her throat.
+
+"Will he throw that dish away when it is empty?" we were wondering,
+when the senora, who was making a special effort on our behalf,
+appeared in person carrying a tempting combination of sweet peppers
+and young pork.
+
+The question answered itself. When they had finished, the dish stood
+empty and ignored. The wine flask was refilled, and when we had paid
+our score--wine included, it came to about sevenpence each--we left
+the quartette still sitting under the flickering light by the edge
+of the unseen waves: the charming girl still lively, the pretty one
+distraite, the fisherman amiable, and the handsome listener still
+silently attentive.
+
+It had been an odd little interlude--nothing to relate, indeed, but
+one of those petty excursions beyond one's own stereotyped world
+that make the observers feel, for the moment, as though they were
+living in somebody else's life, not in their own.
+
+We finished the evening at what chanced to be the popular
+entertainment. If I remember correctly, it combined the attractions
+of a cinematograph and a variety show.
+
+We were again out in the starlight, and walking briskly westwards
+towards Son Espanolet, when the Boy said abruptly:--
+
+"I wish I knew why that man threw the pipkin into the sea!"
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The Saturday Market, Palma]
+
+IV
+
+HOUSEKEEPING
+
+
+Although, at Son Espanolet, we were subject to no police or other
+rate, a small weekly tax was levied with extreme punctuality, on
+behalf of himself, by a functionary called the _vigilante_.
+
+The most onerous labour of this alleged guardian of the public would
+appear to have been the collection, on Sunday mornings, of a penny
+from each householder. I trust I do not malign a worthy citizen,
+when I hint that these periodic visits were the only occasions on
+which most of his supporters were made conscious of the
+_vigilante's_ existence.
+
+His professed duties were to protect the interests of the residents
+in the district by prowling about at night, to escort timid
+wayfarers home by the light of his lantern, and, like the _sereno_,
+to call those who wished to be roused at an early hour. But what
+manner of need a community already rich in police, _serenos_,
+_carabineros_, and _consumeros_, had of a _vigilante_, was hard to
+imagine.
+
+Nobody seemed to know who appointed the _vigilantes_. The Boy had a
+theory that our _vigilante_ had assigned himself to the post, and
+that his sole exertion lay in calling to collect the fees.
+
+On the morning of our first Sunday at the Casa Tranquila an
+imperative knock sounded at the front door. It was the _vigilante_,
+a good-looking white-bearded man clad in blue cotton. His
+designation was inscribed in bold letters on his cap-band. Having
+been forewarned of the custom, I handed over the expected ten
+centimos, which he accepted with the dignified courtesy of one who
+receives a right, and departed.
+
+Two hours later the Boy, who had been out at the time of the visit,
+answered a second summons.
+
+"It's the _vigilante_," he said, returning to the veranda where we
+were sitting. "Has anybody got a copper?"
+
+"But I gave the _vigilante_ his penny this morning," I said,
+hastening to the door.
+
+At my approach the applicant, recognizing me, waved the matter
+aside, as though the mistake had been mine, and he was graciously
+pleased to ignore it.
+
+"The houses are so many--one forgets," he said, and strutted off
+without loss of dignity.
+
+On Christmas Day he paid us an extra visit, and, sending in a card
+with his best wishes, awaited, not in vain, a monetary expression of
+our good-will.
+
+The card, which was resplendent in rainbow tints, and richly
+emblazoned in gold, bore a representation of a young, dapper, and
+exquisitely dressed _vigilante_ who was smoking a cigar. At his feet
+were portrayed a noble turkey, several bottles of champagne, and
+other seasonable dainties. A side tableau showed the _vigilante_,
+armed with his staff of office and a huge bunch of keys, opening a
+street door to a belated couple who, presumably, had been locked
+out.
+
+On the reverse side of the card was a long poem, which, on behalf of
+its presenter, claimed many good offices; notably, that he captured
+the evil-doer, and that, filled with fervent zeal, he watched over
+our repose. It concluded by stating:--
+
+    "_I try to be in all
+      A perfect Vigilante._"
+
+Apart from similar curious and amusing conventions, with which one
+has to become acquainted, the early days of housekeeping in Majorca
+find the foreign resident grappling with a succession of petty
+difficulties. Besides the differences of language, of coinage, of
+weights and measures, the dissimilarity of climate renders
+advisable, even necessary, a mode of living that would be quite
+unsuited to dwellers in Britain.
+
+To begin with the morning--the customary Majorcan breakfast, which
+even at the best hotels consists of a glass of coffee, or a tiny cup
+of very thick chocolate, and tumbler of water taken with a single
+roll, or an _enciamada_, is a meal from which the ordinary Briton
+rises hungry. And one wonders why the Spanish landlord, whose table
+is so lavishly spread at other meals, should practise a false
+economy in the matter of breakfast. For, after all, a roll costs
+only a halfpenny. Dinner is invariably an early function, and an
+extensive one, for at their two later meals Spaniards make up for
+their abstinence at breakfast. Between the two o'clock dinner and
+supper, which is served at any time between eight and ten o'clock,
+there is a long blank, which the English visitor usually bridges
+with a cup of tea.
+
+To return to the question of breakfast. At the Casa Tranquila we
+compromised the matter, and broke our fast on an unstinted quantity
+of coffee or chocolate and milk, taken with fruit, rolls and butter,
+and _enciamadas_. Majorcan breakfast rolls are of two kinds--the
+ordinary crisp ones, and, what we liked better, a soft species
+called _panecillos de aceite_.
+
+Bacon is unknown in Majorca, though ham, of strong flavour and
+repellent aspect, may be had. It sells at twopence an ounce; and if
+you wish to astonish the vendor, you can do so by ordering more
+than a quarter of a pound.
+
+We had been warned that we would be forced to do without butter
+while in the islands. But matters have progressed--in Palma at
+least--since the old butterless days. Now the better class grocers
+sell a peculiarly white butter that is made at Son Servera, near
+Arta; and almost every provision shop stocks a tinned salt butter
+that comes from Copenhagen. By the way, the purchaser must not be
+surprised when asked if it is "pig's butter" he wants. The salesman
+only means lard.
+
+Cow's milk, another article of diet that used to be scarce in the
+islands, can easily be obtained. The price charged is almost the
+same as in London and the milk is much richer.
+
+With the aid of a Spanish dictionary it had been a comparatively
+simple matter to make out a list of groceries with which to furnish
+the shelves of our empty larder. But I must confess that a first
+visit to a butcher's shop made me wonder if Majorcan sheep and oxen
+differed in construction from British animals, such odd forms did
+their dead flesh present.
+
+Cold storage is unknown in Palma. The beasts are killed, cut up, and
+sold almost before they have had time to cool. And, if they were not
+invariably killed young, their flesh could hardly be so good as it
+is, the lamb especially being sweet and tender.
+
+A fact that forcibly strikes anyone from a meat-eating country is
+the small quantities of animal food consumed. Where the wife of a
+British working-man might spend a shilling on beef, a Majorcan would
+spend twopence. Naturally the meat is sold in small pieces, and
+inspection is courted. The east-end butcher's printed command to his
+customers--"Keep your hands off the beef," would be scorned in the
+Balearic Isles. If you shop in native fashion, you walk about the
+shop, turning over and critically examining the pieces exposed
+within easy reach. When your selection is made you need not invest
+in any great quantity. If you fancy calf's head, custom does not
+compel you to buy a half head. You can have a pound, a half-pound,
+or even a slice.
+
+If your taste turns to fowl, at your request the bird suspended by
+its heels is halved, quartered, or wholly dismembered. Its limbs may
+lack the noble proportions of a Surrey capon, but they will be well
+flavoured and succulent, and you can acquire a wing and slice of the
+breast, or a leg, or a yet smaller portion, as your fancy inclines.
+
+We had heard that Majorcans were apt to tax foreigners by making
+them pay more than was customary for anything purchased, but such
+occurrences were quite outside our experience; though I did come
+across an example of Majorcan reasoning that was so amusingly
+illogical that I am tempted to repeat it here.
+
+Finding in our picnicking style of housekeeping that a cold tongue
+was a useful thing to have in the larder, I frequently ordered one
+from the estimable butcher who served us. For a time the price
+charged was moderate. One day without warning it was increased by a
+half.
+
+My Spanish unaided did not enable me to argue the matter, but Mrs.
+Consul chancing to be with me next time I called at the shop, I got
+her to inquire the reason of this sudden and unexplained change of
+rate.
+
+"Yes. The tongue was a small one, and the price high," admitted the
+plump wife of the butcher, who acted as his accountant. "But then I
+had charged the senora too little for those we had supplied her with
+at first. And though we have many customers, each ox we kill has
+only one tongue. And, as I had charged the senora too little for the
+others, to be just to myself I was obliged to ask more than the true
+price for the last one!"
+
+The method of reasoning was so delightfully irrational and absurd
+that I cheerfully paid the confessed overcharge, and we left the
+shop laughing. Probably the worthy dame wonders to this day what we
+found entertaining in the situation.
+
+Many good and cheap eatables are to be had in Palma if one knows
+where to look for them. By degrees we found out the best place to
+buy the tasty little pies filled with fish, or meat, and herbs,
+raisins and pine-seeds, or the funny turn-overs stuffed with spinach,
+that all the bakers make; and discovered the confectioner who sold
+the nicest cakes and sweets, and where to buy freshly-baked almonds,
+and who had the best quince preserve.
+
+A little investigation introduced us to articles of food that we
+would never have met had we continued to live in a hotel--to the
+_cocas_ that so closely resemble the Scottish "cookies"; and the
+_bizcochos_, that are just crisp freshly toasted slices of the
+largest sized _cocas_.
+
+When we arrived in October, fruit was plentiful. Delicious grapes
+were selling at twopence-halfpenny a kilo (about a penny a pound),
+and ripe purple or golden figs were eighteen a penny. As the winter
+advanced the price of grapes gradually rose. And though one day in
+early December I bought for fivepence in the market four pounds of
+well-flavoured yellow grapes, by the end of January the finest were
+a peseta (about ninepence) a kilo.
+
+Fresh figs gradually declined in flavour as they rose in price. And
+towards Christmas the country folks, who come in on Saturday
+mornings to the smaller market that is held in the Plaza de Mercado,
+began to bring in rush baskets of the home-dried figs that have been
+ripened in the sun and packed between fig leaves.
+
+The continued drought raised the price of vegetables, though small
+cauliflowers were still only a halfpenny each, and a good sized
+bunch of carrots could be bought for the coin that is rather less in
+value than a farthing. Most Majorcan carrots are purple in hue, so
+deep a purple as to be almost black. They have to be partially
+cooked alone, before being added to anything else, as their colour
+dyes the water black. It is their only fault. Their flavour is
+excellent.
+
+Early in February we began to use the green peas and turnips that in
+November I had sown in our garden; but for the lack of rain they
+would have been ready a month earlier. And an occasional sowing of
+spinach yielded a quick and unfailing supply throughout the winter.
+
+The question of firing in so genial a climate is an easy one to
+answer.
+
+For cleanliness, coolness, convenience and economy in cooking there
+is no fuel that compares with charcoal. As a charcoal stove has no
+flue, the lighting is attended with a certain amount of smoke from
+the resinous sticks that are sold specially for the purpose of
+kindling. But once the charcoal is lit it gives no further trouble.
+It will cook slowly or quickly, as desired, scarcely soiling the
+outside of the vessels used in the process: and will stay alight,
+without much attention, as long as the cook requires. Further, it
+has the exceptional merit of keeping its heat concentrated within a
+small area, so that the temperatures of both the kitchen and the
+cook remain normal.
+
+Our favourite sitting-room--the one that opened directly to the
+veranda--had the unusual advantage of an open hearth, and a few
+chilly days that occurred in November made us hasten in search of
+logs for burning.
+
+Inquiry in the neighbourhood directed us to a large saw mill in the
+Calle de la Fabrica, where we ordered what to us was an unknown
+quantity of firewood. The price paid was less than five shillings.
+When the wood was delivered we were amazed to find that it half
+filled a cart; and that, in addition to an abundant supply of both
+logs and rough wood all cut into convenient sizes, the kindly
+saw-miller had included four little slabs of the resinous wood used
+for kindling.
+
+The wood was built up on the floor under the lower shelves of our
+roomy larder, and there, all through November, December, and the
+first half of January, it lay untouched.
+
+We had got to the point of discussing what we would do with it on
+our leaving for England, when the weather turned chilly enough to
+afford us excuse for indulging in the luxury of a log fire. But
+though we had a fire on every occasion when artificial heat was
+necessary, there were still logs remaining when at the end of April
+we quitted the Casa.
+
+A prominent feature of our district, which lay just without the
+walls of Palma, was the elaborate system employed to guard against
+the smuggling of contraband goods into the city.
+
+The boundary of Son Espanolet, which joined the country, was heavily
+guarded. In addition to high walls and much intricate zigzagging of
+barbed wire, wherever two roads met there was a little station-house,
+or, to be more exact, a shanty, for the shelter of _consumeros_, both
+male and female, whose duty it was to examine all goods entering the
+city limits. And at frequent intervals all along the boundary roads
+was a species of sentry-box, usually containing a chair and a
+water-jar, in which for sixteen hours a day a _consumero_ was supposed
+to keep watch over his own bit of boundary, and to be ready, if
+anything suspicious attracted his notice, to warn the others, by a
+series of shrill whistles, to be on the alert.
+
+During the long hours passed in enforced idleness at their posts,
+many of the men had contrived to give their surroundings quite a
+home-like appearance. A pleasant man, whose location was at the end
+of our road, always seemed to have his children playing about him;
+and often his wife used to take her knitting and the newest baby,
+and the family goat and a big earthenware pan of amber-tinted rice,
+and make quite a picnic under the trees near his watch-box.
+
+Another _consumero_ had a stripling vine that he was carefully
+training up the trellis over his shed. We sometimes saw him watering
+it. And one, a tall silent man, whose station abutted on a piece of
+vacant ground, had gradually erected quite a long range of hen-coops
+along the base of a warm wall; and there he would stroll in the
+sunshine attended by a flock of flourishing poultry, chiefly of the
+Plymouth Rock breed.
+
+But these were exceptions. The majority of the _consumeros_ seemed
+content to lazy away their days and doze away their nights as
+comfortably as possible. When the early winter darkness had fallen,
+it was picturesque to see them lighting a brazier, or sitting
+huddled up in their warm brown blankets beside its glowing embers
+fast asleep.
+
+When we had been spending the evening in town and were coming home
+late, we sometimes enjoyed waiting until we were close upon one of
+these muffled figures, and then, in chorus, saying politely "Buenas
+noches."
+
+[Illustration: A Consumos Station]
+
+Then we would see the comatose form galvanize into a semblance of
+life, and hear a drowsy voice from the midst of the enwrappings
+reply "Buenas noches tengan."
+
+The discovery that the monetary recompense for the sixteen hours
+that the _consumero_ worked or played was only two pesetas--or about
+eighteenpence of English money--showed that if he was not
+overwrought neither was he overpaid.
+
+At nightfall these guardians of our district were reinforced by the
+addition of two active young _carabineros_ who carried loaded
+rifles. So between the police, the armed soldiers, the sleepy
+_consumeros_, the elusive _sereno_ and the ornamental _vigilante_,
+the residents of Son Espanolet ought to have gone to bed with a
+feeling of security.
+
+The question of language is a somewhat grave one in Majorca, where
+the inhabitants naturally, but inconsiderately from our point of
+view, insist upon speaking their native tongue, which is neither
+Spanish nor French, but sounds like a corruption of both.
+
+Majorcan, which is said to be much older than _Castellano_, the
+official language of Spain, is closely allied to _Catalan_. And
+though many words suggest French, Spanish, and even Italian
+influence, the islanders seem, by an ingenious chipping of
+terminations and the addition of weird sounds entirely their own, to
+have evolved a tongue which goes far towards outdoing all others in
+unmelodious sounds. A peacefully animated conversation in Majorcan
+suggests impending bloodshed. To overhear a quarrel would be
+horrific. Happily discord is rare in Majorca. As far as our six
+months of experience showed, a better natured or more harmonious
+people never existed.
+
+The dialect in use in Minorca and Iviza, though practically the same
+as that of Majorca, varies in each island. So it is not surprising
+that the visitor to the Balearic Islands is strongly advised to
+confine his efforts to the acquirement of Spanish, not even to
+attempt to learn Majorcan. And indeed the facilities for doing so
+are few. We could find no Majorcan dictionary, though a weekly paper
+in the language, _Pu-Put_, is published in Palma.
+
+All the educated classes speak Spanish fluently. Yet in most of the
+shops, even in Palma, and in the country districts, the native
+language prevails.
+
+Very few of the working women understand Spanish. Their lives having
+been passed on the islands, they remain ignorant of any but their
+mother tongue; though it is common to find their menfolk speaking
+Spanish well, owing to their having been in the army, or to their
+having passed the period of voluntary exile that most of them serve
+almost as they do the demands of the State.
+
+Those who know, say that Majorca is a bad place to learn Spanish in;
+that in order to have a good accent the intending traveller is best
+to acquire it elsewhere. And as Borrow says, you must open your
+mouth and take your hands out of your pockets to speak Spanish.
+
+Before leaving London we tried, after a very desultory fashion, to
+pick up a little Spanish. The Boy, who took Berlitz lessons, got on
+famously and was our mainstay from the moment we crossed the Spanish
+frontier at Port Bou. But he declares that he had not been long in
+Palma before he found himself speaking Spanish with a Majorcan
+accent.
+
+For my part, in point of language I found the direction of even so
+small an establishment as the Casa Tranquila very puzzling,
+especially at first. After carefully gleaning a knowledge of the
+Spanish coinage that enabled me to count up to say ten, in pesetas
+and centimos, it was bewildering to find sums calculated in _reals_
+and in _perros grandes_ and _perros pequenas_.
+
+I shall never forget the first time Apolonia, the laundress,
+appeared to deliver up our clean linen and to receive her just
+recompense. When I inquired how much we owed her, Apolonia told me
+the sum, but she did it in Majorcan.
+
+"Onza reals, cuatro centims, dos centims."
+
+"Que vale en pesetas?" I asked, but Apolonia could not reckon in
+pesetas. Raising her stubby fingers, she proceeded to make
+cabalistic signs in the air, repeating the whole "Onza reals, cuatro
+centims, dos centims," in a voice that grew louder and louder, as
+though the more noise she made the more likely was she to pierce my
+thick understanding.
+
+Maria, hearing the discussion, left her dusting, and running swiftly
+on her string-soled _alpargatas_, came to the rescue.
+
+If matters had been bad before, they were now worse. Four hands were
+in the air. Two voices in Majorcan, that became momentarily more
+strident, kept repeating the tale of reals and centims until,
+feeling undecided whether to laugh or to cry, I cut the matter short
+by emptying the contents of my housekeeping purse on the table and
+imploring Apolonia to help herself.
+
+After many protestations she agreed to do so. And with much
+reluctant and timorous hovering of her fingers over the coins, at
+last selected the exact sum; which, before taking possession of, she
+carefully spread before my eyes, calling upon Maria to witness that
+she had not abused my trust.
+
+The calculations of Mundo, the vegetable man, were--if
+possible--more distracting; for having inherited the national
+characteristic of honesty to an almost unnatural degree, the worthy
+Mundo, in his desire to be strictly just in his dealings, had a way
+of splitting farthings that sometimes proved inexplicable, not only
+to his customers but also to himself.
+
+How often, when he stood puzzling over some fraction of a penny,
+have I felt impelled to say rashly: "Bother the expense, Mundo. I'll
+make you a present of the half farthing!"
+
+Fortunately for Mundo's opinion of my sanity, the spirit of economy
+that tinctures the balmy air of these Fortunate Isles prevented any
+such extravagant proceeding.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The Castle of Bellver]
+
+V
+
+TWO HISTORIC BUILDINGS
+
+
+After we were fairly settled in our house our first excursion
+naturally was to the Castle of Bellver, the ancient fortress that,
+from the veranda, we saw clearly silhouetted against the western
+sky.
+
+The afternoon was glorious. The sky was a cloudless blue, the
+sunlight cast deep shadows; to drive there in one of the quaint,
+open-sided tramcars would have been a treat. But there had been
+thunder in the night, and the apprehensive authorities had decided
+that it was a day for bringing out the closed vehicles. So we sat in
+the stuffy little car, and drove out through crowded Santa Catalina
+and across the bridge that spanned the dry _torrente_ of San Magin,
+and past the _consumos_ sheds towards the Terreno, the favourite
+summer resort of Palma folks, whose charming villas clothe the
+slope leading to the steep hill on whose summit stands the old
+castle.
+
+The sun was hot, the air exhilarating. Flowers--roses, zinnias,
+plumbago, chrysanthemums, geraniums--still bloomed in the villa
+gardens. To us it was a glorious summer day. To the Majorcans it was
+already winter. The pretty houses were nearly all empty. Their
+owners had returned to town.
+
+The old road to the Castle is a stiff climb up a rocky slope. The
+new road is an excellent carriage drive that winds round the hill.
+We chose the steep way, and found ourselves frequently pausing and
+turning to look back across the sparkling waters of the bay to
+Palma, which at that moment was looking, as it so often does, like
+some celestial city.
+
+The air was fragrant with the essence of the pines that clothed the
+slopes--at their feet tall pink heath and wild lavender were in
+bloom.
+
+When Jaime the First built Bellver for a summer palace, he made it
+an invincible fortress. One thing only could one imagine as more
+difficult than getting into the Castle, and that would be getting
+out of it. Yet, had we so willed, on this balmy afternoon the
+hitherto impregnable stronghold with its deep moat, its implacable
+walls, might have been ours without even a show of resistance; for
+when we reached the gateway we found it open and unguarded.
+
+But fortunately for the reputation of Bellver our mood was pacific;
+and we were content to linger without until an old woman, who had
+espied us as she was leaving the Castle with what was presumably the
+washing of the custodian in a chequered handkerchief under her arm,
+ran back calling loudly for "Bordoi."
+
+Bordoi appeared in the person of the custodian of the Castle. He was
+an old soldier, gaunt, lean, courteous, and evidently possessing a
+genuine pride in his charge.
+
+The first thing to which he called our attention was the grating set
+high over the entrance, through which, after the endearing fashion
+of their time, the occupants of the Castle were accustomed to shower
+a gentle hint to depart, in the form of arrows or boiling water,
+upon the heads of any visitors whose appearance they did not fancy.
+
+The Castle, which is in the form of a circle, is built round a
+courtyard containing a great draw-well. Looking down, it was
+interesting to me to see that the moist sides of the interior were
+thickly coated with luxuriant maidenhair fern, such as we had years
+before noticed growing inside the mouth of the well in the house of
+the maker of amphorae in Pompeii.
+
+Reaching down his long arm, the custodian picked me a frond,
+explaining that it made a wholesome medicinal drink--"quite as good
+as sarsaparilla."
+
+And here an odd query occurs to me. Does the office of caretaker
+conduce to dyspepsia, or does the enforced leisure of the occupation
+dispose to hypochondria? During a little journey through the
+Shakespeare country, for instance, it was impossible--even for such
+very polite people as ourselves--to avoid noticing the boxes of
+patent pills or of much-vaunted lotions that figured prominently
+amongst the private possessions of the people who showed us the
+places of interest.
+
+The stern face of the old keep has frowned on many tragic sights. It
+was up these rocky slopes that the headless body of the third Jaime
+was borne, after his luckless attempt, at the battle of Lluchmayor,
+to wrest his kingdom from a usurper. And it was there, too, that the
+boy son who had fought so bravely by his father's side was carried,
+desperately wounded.
+
+In more recent times Bellver has acted the part of a State prison.
+Political prisoners, numbering as many as three or four hundred at a
+time, have been immured within its massive walls. It was easy to
+picture them clustering in the spacious courtyard about the well, or
+pacing the open-sided gallery overlooking it, or lingering on the
+flat roof, from which such an amazingly comprehensive view may be
+had.
+
+Seen from beneath, the height of the Castle is dwarfed by its
+encircling walls. It is only on looking down from the battlements
+and seeing the immense depths of the surrounding moats that one
+realizes the strength of the inflexible grip in which captives would
+be held.
+
+In these days a rescue by means of airship might be feasible. For an
+aviator to alight on the vast flat circle of the Castle roof, to
+pick up a prisoner, and fly off again, would presumably be an easy
+matter. But in those days airships were unknown, and it must have
+been maddening to be pent so near Palma that every building might be
+distinguished, to be able to note the coming and going of the ships,
+to view the fair fertile country in every direction, and yet know
+that the deep encompassing moat rendered any attempt at escape a
+futility.
+
+In one of the rooms a memorial tablet had been inserted in the wall
+in remembrance of a deposed Minister of State, who endured six years
+of incarceration before dying there in 1808.
+
+In his chamber a window, reached by steps and stone-seated, afforded
+a lovely prospect across the blue waters of the harbour to the
+stately Cathedral and the town. It was pitiful to see that the gaudy
+tiles that paved the embrasure were worn bare, and to note that, by
+some curious coincidence, the face in the bas-relief looked
+longingly towards the window.
+
+In the immense kitchen the most remarkable feature was the
+chimney--a space like a large room--of which the smoke-blackened
+sides narrowed up and up, until far overhead its orifice appeared a
+mere eyelet of light against the sky. But this ancient fireplace had
+been superseded by a long range of charcoal stoves, and the savour
+of roasting oxen will never again ascend that giant chimney.
+
+The Castle of Bellver is full of interest, but it is the roof that
+holds the visitor fascinated. On its surface one can walk round and
+round in perfect security, meeting a fresh and glorious picture at
+every turn. To the north the high velvet hills bar the view.
+Southwards, beyond the clustered roofs of the Terreno, the
+Mediterranean ripples away towards the African coast. Towards the
+west amid the hills lies Ben Dinat, where, after the historic
+battle, the Conquistador dined well off bread and garlic; and east
+is the lovely plain of Palma, with Santa Catalina and Son Espanolet
+(and the quite inconspicuous Casa Tranquila) in the middle distance.
+
+Round the battlements many names, both of the bond and of the free,
+were carven. Our guide proudly pointed out three that, coming
+amongst the Spanish designations, we read with a curious sense of
+familiarity:--
+
+    "JOHN SUTHERLAND BLACK.
+     JAMES HUNTER.
+     JAMES HUNTER, JUNR."
+
+The date was August, 1905. And the owners of the British names, our
+guide told us, were scientific men who had journeyed to Palma to
+witness the total eclipse of the sun. And in so doing they assuredly
+showed wisdom, for it would have been difficult to find a better
+place from which to observe the phenomenon than this wide roof that
+seemed so near the sky.
+
+When the men essayed to climb the high tower I waited below on the
+roof, and was idly leaning over the battlements when a stonecrop
+fast-rooted in the interstices of the wall attracted me. Wondering
+what manner of plant would choose to live in that arid situation, I
+was examining it closely when I discovered that, even in that
+seemingly inaccessible spot, a caterpillar had found it out, and was
+busily feeding on its succulent foliage.
+
+The caterpillar might be a common one--I have little knowledge of
+entomology--but it was new to me; and its appearance was so
+unusually gay as to appear to merit description. The body, which
+showed alternate stripes of light and dark grey, was girdled by
+black bands, which were further decorated by spots of vivid scarlet;
+while the head--or was it the tail?--flaunted a double scarlet
+plume.
+
+When the men again joined me, I drew the attention of the custodian
+to the gaudy insect, and asked if he knew the species.
+
+He shook his head dubiously, confessing that he had never noticed
+one like it before. Then his eyes caught sight of the plant on which
+it fed, and he instantly brightened up.
+
+"I know that plant," he said. "It is valuable, senora, very
+valuable. It makes a good medicine."
+
+Our next visit was to the Lonja. In the good old days when Palma was
+a great mercantile centre--the days when thirty thousand sailors
+found employment from its port--a Majorcan architect designed the
+Lonja to serve as an exchange.
+
+This old-time architect and his builders must have been past masters
+of their art, for though hundreds of years have slipped by since
+then, and the Lonja no more serves any active purpose, it still
+survives to delight by the simple grandeur of its design. Seen as it
+stands with only a wide thoroughfare separating it from the
+sparkling waters of the port, with its palm-trees in front and a
+cloudless blue sky overhead, the antique building is one of the most
+beautiful sights in a city that abounds in beautiful things.
+
+We had been told that the Lonja was open to the public on the
+afternoons of Thursdays and Sundays. So one Sunday evening, early in
+our stay, the Man and I stopped in front of the great door, and
+tried to push it open. It did not yield a hair's-breadth. Indeed, it
+seemed to wear an expression of stolid immobility, as though
+secretly defying our puny efforts to induce it to reveal the
+treasures it guarded.
+
+Sitting in a chair in the shadow of the building an old policeman
+was dozing. Him the Man roused and interrogated.
+
+He shook his head over the idea of the Lonja being on view on stated
+days. But the Lonja was at the _disposicion_ of the senor. The
+senor could see it on any day. He would fetch the keeper of the
+keys.
+
+[Illustration: Palma, from the Woods of Bellver]
+
+Toddling off across the square of the palm-trees, he disappeared,
+and in a few minutes returned, followed by that official, bearing
+the emblem of his office in the form of a massive key.
+
+The great door opened and closed behind us, and we found ourselves
+in a vast square hall, from whose dark marble floor six noble
+pillars rose to meet the high vaulted roof.
+
+Like the Cathedral, the Lonja was built of the warm, buff-hued
+native stone, and the marble flooring was also of Majorcan origin,
+for it was quarried in the mountains of the island. The materials
+used in the construction were the same; but while the Cathedral
+impresses by its solemn majesty of conception, the Lonja charms with
+its beautiful simplicity of design, its inspiriting sense of light
+and air. The four wide windows were partly boarded up, the light
+entering only through the open carving at the tops. Yet the hall was
+so well illuminated that it was easy to see every detail of the
+pictures that covered a great portion of the walls.
+
+The collection of pictures, though of no great importance, one
+imagines might be better hung, better framed, and in some way
+catalogued. Certain of the canvasses lacked frames. A soiled card
+inscribed with the name of the artist was stuck in the frames of
+others. One portion of the wall-space was covered by interesting old
+paintings that had been removed from the antique church of San
+Domingo. And a large modern picture by a well-known Spanish painter
+attracted us both by the excellence of its workmanship and by the
+peculiarity of its subject: a bride and bridegroom--the man old,
+uninviting, and with strangely deformed feet; the woman young,
+attractive, and evidently of a lower social position--were standing
+before a brilliantly lit altar joining hands in marriage. On the
+bride's left stood her peasant mother, proud almost to arrogance at
+the wealthy marriage her pretty daughter was making. Behind were two
+workmen brothers, whispering and giggling.
+
+The satire of the artist's intention was revealed in the title, _En
+el nombre del Padre, y del Higo, y del Espiritu Santo_, which was
+conspicuously painted on the frame.
+
+High on the wall over the door that opens on to the garden two
+grotesque gargoyles look down on a finely sculptured bas-relief of
+the Virgin and Child. Across the little enclosure with its
+fruit-laden palm-tree, its tired-looking olive--how is it that
+olives always seem to pine for mountain slopes?--and its aloes, is a
+strikingly antique gate.
+
+As the keeper of the keys pointed out, it was the original gate of
+the mole of the ancient port, and when in the seventeenth century
+the harbour was reconstructed, it was wisely deemed worthy of
+preservation. Behind it is the antique Concilio del Mar, which is
+now the Escuela Superior de Comercio.
+
+Showing us a door leading to a staircase, the custodian suggested
+that the view to be obtained from the roof of the Lonja was fine.
+
+He did not attempt to join our climb, and when we had mounted the
+eighty-two steps of the spiral stair we did not wonder that he had
+refrained. But the sight from the path which extended round the four
+sides of the square roof was wonderful. Each point of view held
+fresh interest--whether it was the harbour with the shipping and the
+shining sea beyond, or the grand Cathedral seen across the lively
+Marina, or the eight-storey-high houses, whose upper-floor dwellings
+opened to roof terraces or blossomed out in poultry-houses and
+dove-cots. But best of all, I think, was the vista of the road
+leading towards Santa Catalina, and the Terreno, and the Castle of
+Bellver, behind which the sun was setting.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Second Class]
+
+VI
+
+THE FAIR AT INCA
+
+
+Our first experience of the Majorcan railway system was a curious
+and unexpected one.
+
+Having a fancy to see Inca, a thriving town situated in the very
+heart of the island, we called at Palma station one November day and
+asked for a time-table. The one handed us--it was the latest
+issued--bore the date of July, 1907. But even although it was well
+over two years old there appeared to have been no alteration either
+in the hours of departure or of arrival.
+
+Learning that Thursday was the market-day at Inca, we got up before
+sunrise on a Thursday morning and reached the station in good time
+for the train that was timed to leave at 7.40. The _other_ train,
+for only two trains a day leave Palma, was out of the question, as
+it did not start until two o'clock.
+
+We had imagined that the paucity of trains argued a corresponding
+scarcity of travellers, but to our surprise the station was already
+crowded with a pleasantly excited mob of people, all in gala dress.
+
+The women had their mantillas or lace-embroidered _rebozillos_
+fastened to the hair with little gold pins, and many wore long white
+gloves reaching to the sleeves, which were decorated at the elbows
+with a row of gold or silver buttons. The little shawls that are
+always a feature of native full dress were of all colours and
+materials, from silk with long fringes to richly-hued plush or
+delicate light brocades.
+
+The trains of Majorca resemble those of most other civilized
+countries in providing first, second, and third-class carriages. The
+first are cramped and stuffy. The second are inferior to some
+old-fashioned uncushioned English third-class. The third closely
+resemble cattle-trucks with benches running along the sides and down
+the middle. They have no windows; leather curtains protect their
+open sides.
+
+We went second-class, as did the majority of our fellow-travellers.
+Long before the hour of starting, every carriage, with the exception
+of the firsts, which were almost empty, was packed full of
+passengers, all talking at the pitch of their voices. But nothing
+happened until quite forty minutes after the time fixed for
+departure, when the engine gave a violent jerk, as though putting
+all its strength into a superhuman effort, the women crossed
+themselves devoutly, and the train moved slowly out of the station.
+So slowly indeed, that three late-comers, arriving on the platform
+after the train was in motion, not only succeeded in entering the
+train but were able, by running forward, to secure places in the
+front carriages.
+
+Inca is separated from the capital by twenty miles of fertile
+orchard land. The single line of rail cuts through great tracts of
+country planted with fig-trees, with almonds, and with olives. In
+many cases the ground underneath the trees was red and golden with
+autumn tinted leaves of grape vines, or verdant with the green of
+shooting corn.
+
+As the moments passed, and the sun rose higher, the mist wreaths
+that had lain about the plain dispersed; and the blue hills to the
+north made noble background for the spreading plantations. Within
+our crowded carriage all was good humour. Nobody seemed to find
+anything to grumble at in the slow rate of progress.
+
+An early stopping-place was Santa Maria. We had only come a few
+miles, yet girls were waiting to sell nuts, and biscuits put up in
+neat paper cylinders, to those of the travellers--and they were
+many--who had already had time to be hungry; while an old woman
+carrying a water-jar and tumbler attended, ready for the smallest
+coin to supply the thirsty with water.
+
+The little journey was hardly begun, and there seemed but small reason
+to tarry at Santa Maria, yet the delay became so extended that the
+passengers, still maintaining their perfect good humour, began
+exchanging visits from one portion of the train to another. An old
+gentleman clad in a complete suit of striped mustard-colour plush and
+yellow elastic-sided boots called at our compartment to exchange
+compliments with a comely elderly dame, who in conjunction with
+handsome jewellery had her hair--which was in a pigtail--covered with
+a gaily striped silk handkerchief.
+
+So the minutes wore on. At intervals a warning bell rang, but nobody
+accorded it the slightest attention, and wisely so, for nothing
+happened. At length, with a joint-dislocating jerk, we again got
+under-way, only to come to a dead stop a hundred yards further on.
+
+The train, it was at length admitted, was too heavy for the motive
+power. The empty first-class carriages were detached; that
+accomplished, we actually progressed. The twenty miles were
+ultimately covered, and we succeeded in reaching Inca, with its
+picturesque row of windmills and grand setting of purple mountains,
+only two hours late.
+
+Joining the stream of people, we entered the town, to discover what
+spectators less accustomed to crowds would long ago have
+discovered--that by some lucky chance we had come to Inca on the
+great day of its year--the annual _feria_. All the ways leading
+towards the centre of the town were lined with empty vehicles and
+up-tilted carts, and in the narrow streets the owners were
+promenading.
+
+The fair was largely a business matter. It presented few of the
+elements of entertainment common to that of an English country town.
+The only thing in the way of amusement that we saw was a
+merry-go-round, and that was being quietly ignored.
+
+One interesting feature was that each street held its own species of
+merchandise. In one, clothing and brightly-hued foot-gear were sold.
+Another was wholly given up to sweet stalls, whose principal article
+was a species of white confection composed apparently of chopped
+almonds and sugar. That it was good the myriads of bees that were
+tasting its sweetness bore testimony. In yet another street we had
+to walk between a long double row of women seated on rush-bottomed
+chairs, each bearing in her lap an earthenware cooking-pot full of a
+puzzling commodity that had something of the appearance of crimson
+threads. It appeared to be the only commodity they had to offer, and
+I own we never succeeded in discovering what it was.
+
+The square in front of the principal church was the centre of
+attraction for us. On one side the ground was covered with a fine
+display of native ware. Jars, and plates, and pots, and vases, in
+the greens and yellows and browns that look so tempting and are so
+cheap. The touch of vermilion, artistically so valuable to the busy
+scene, was given by the huge sacks bulging with scarlet and orange
+sweet peppers that form such an important part of Majorcan food.
+
+Two maimed beggars, the first we had seen in the island, were
+hobbling about reaping a harvest; and, raised on a little platform,
+a travelling dentist was extracting juvenile teeth free; to the
+satisfaction of certain thrifty parents, and to the visible distress
+of their offspring.
+
+Just below the square was the cattle-market; and on its outskirts we
+saw, for the first time, a peasant clad in the native male dress
+that unfortunately has become so rare. The jolly old fellow wore the
+extremely baggy blue cotton pantaloons, the short black jacket, and
+wide-brimmed hat that make up so distinctive a costume. He even wore
+the quaint black shoes that suit the costume, and that seemed a
+blessed relief from the green and orange elastic-sided boots in
+vogue.
+
+[Illustration: A Corner of the Fair at Inca]
+
+A threatened shower and an actual thirst gave excuse for seeking
+refuge in a cafe. Most of those we glanced into were crowded with
+peasants, and we hesitated about forcing our way in. Finding at last
+one that looked more exclusive than the others, we entered and
+seated ourselves at one of the little tables set under the
+overhanging tissue-paper decorations.
+
+The Boy and I wanted wine, the Man chose cognac. The active waiter
+quickly served us with huge tumblers of red wine set in saucers; and
+placing before the Man a bottle of brandy in which were immersed
+spiky herbs, left him to help himself. The wine was rich and
+fruity, the liqueur the Man declared delicious; and while the rain,
+which was now falling in earnest, pattered down, we sipped and
+watched the passing life of the street.
+
+Just across the way, at the side entrance to a flourishing baker's
+shop, two women were frying dough-nuts in a big pan of boiling oil.
+The elder woman, scraping a segment of batter from the full basin at
+her elbow, deftly twisted it round her finger, then threw it into
+the oil, from which a minute later her assistant lifted it out with
+a long-handled spoon, transformed into a crisp golden ring.
+
+The shower had ceased, the sun was again shining out, and there was
+much to see; so we paid for our drinks and departed.
+
+"Fourpence!" said the Man, as he pocketed his change. "A penny each
+for the wine and twopence for the liqueur! It's enough to drive one
+to drink!"
+
+The one drawback to the complete enjoyment of the fair was the mud.
+The previous night had been wet, and the streets were inches deep in
+it. It was a buff-coloured slime of persistently adhesive nature,
+and not content with thickly coating one's shoes, it tried to drag
+them off. To walk about in mud three inches deep is fatiguing, so we
+decided to take the train that was due to leave Inca at one o'clock,
+instead of waiting for that leaving at four.
+
+It was a merciful fortune that guided us, for the one o'clock train
+took three hours to cover its twenty miles. Yet the scenery, with
+its grey-green olive plantations set against a background of
+beautiful mountains and enlivened with quaintly attired
+olive-gatherers, was so fine that we did not tire of feasting our
+eyes upon it.
+
+Our companions on the return journey were mainly men--Palma
+merchants probably, who had visited the fair as buyers and were
+anxious to return with the greatest possible expedition. When those
+who were so adventurous as to wait until the later train would get
+back to town, or whether they ever reached it at all, history does
+not relate.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Where the Hills Meet the Plain, Esglayeta]
+
+VII
+
+VALLDEMOSA
+
+
+The fertile plain that occupies the greater portion of the island of
+Majorca is sheltered from cold winds by the range of mountains that
+runs along the northern coast. The scenery on the farther side of
+the mountains is of unusual grandeur, the tracts of precipitous
+country bordering the sea between Valldemosa and Soller being
+exceptionally lovely.
+
+The district, which is almost entirely devoted to olive plantations,
+is a scantily populated one. And as there are no _fondas_ for a
+considerable distance, the Austrian Archduke Luis Salvador, who owns
+much land on the northern coast, has turned a large farm-house on
+his estate of Miramar into an _hospederia_, or free lodging-house,
+for the use of travellers.
+
+There are many _hospederias_ in Spain, but they are generally
+attached to monasteries and intended for the use of pilgrims to some
+shrine. That at Miramar is the only instance I know of one supported
+by a private individual, and many sojourners from far lands like
+ourselves must have felt grateful to the royal owner for the kindly
+provision he has made for them.
+
+Within the friendly walls of the Hospederia any sojourner can for
+three nights find free accommodation, the Archduke providing
+house-room, linen, service, and fuel. The apartments are always
+ready, the guest need send no warning of his intended arrival. All
+he requires to do is to supply himself with food sufficient for the
+sustenance of his party throughout the visit, as there are no shops
+within several miles of Miramar, and the servants at the Hospederia
+are forbidden to sell to the guests.
+
+Very early during our stay at Palma we had purposed journeying
+northwards to see the places of whose wonders we had heard; but we
+were so pleasantly interested in our new home and strange
+environment that it was nearing the close of November before we felt
+disposed to take the journey.
+
+At stated times diligences run the twelve miles between Palma and
+Valldemosa, and the charge is only sevenpence-halfpenny. But the
+diligence goes no farther than Valldemosa, and that is three miles
+distant from the Hospederia. So, when we had decided to go on the
+Tuesday morning, we engaged Bartolome, a good-looking bachelor
+charioteer, who stabled his carriage and pair of horses in Son
+Espanolet, to drive us thither.
+
+But Tuesday morning, when it came, brought a sudden change of
+weather. A strong easterly wind was blowing, and the temperature,
+for the first time since our arrival on these favoured isles, nearly
+approached cold. Bartolome was warned that the journey was postponed
+for a day at least, and we spent the hours of uncertainty in
+grumbling at the weather, and in consuming the most perishable of
+the stock of provisions we had laid in for the expedition.
+
+Judging the Majorcan climate by our knowledge of that of other
+countries, we were all secretly convinced that we had delayed too
+long, that the weather had probably changed for the winter, and that
+our little excursion might require to be postponed until spring.
+
+But to our surprise and relief the succeeding morning proved calm
+and sunny. Having been duly instructed, Bartolome drove up at ten
+o'clock precisely, with a jingling of bells that I am convinced set
+every feminine head in the Calle de Mas a-peer behind its discreetly
+closed venetian shutters. In appearance Bartolome was the embodiment
+of buoyant geniality. His black hair curled in rings about his
+smiling face, and he had dressed for the occasion in a white suit, a
+pink shirt, and a pair of bright yellow elastic-sided boots.
+
+Bartolome's carriage, the sides of whose interior were decorated
+with four antimacassars on each of which was embroidered a
+flamboyant representation of a rampant steed, proved both roomy and
+comfortable, and we were only three in number. Yet when we had got
+packed in with our luggage, which included sketching materials as
+well as comestibles, there was scarcely room to stir. Never before
+had we realized what a cumbersome article food was: or calculated
+the bulk of--say--the bread even so small a family will consume in
+three days. And when you add to the loaves the meat and groceries,
+the vegetables and fruit, necessary for three days' moderate
+consumption, they will be found to occupy a surprisingly large
+amount of space.
+
+The first portion of the journey led through the broad, fertile
+plain north of Palma, where plantations of almond, fig, and olive
+succeed each other with scarcely a break--that wide expanse whose
+fruitfulness has gained Majorca the title of the orchard of the
+Mediterranean. Near where the hills meet the plain we passed the
+village of Esglayeta, an attractive hamlet consisting of little more
+than a church and a wayside _fonda_.
+
+The noses of the horses had been pointing directly towards a
+precipitous cleft in the range of mountains, and almost unexpectedly
+we entered the valley that divided two great hills. As we drove on,
+the winding road gradually ascended, until we found ourselves in the
+midst of the mountains and within sight of the outlying portion of
+lovely Valldemosa.
+
+In his _Byways of Europe_ Bayard Taylor said: "Verily there is
+nothing in all Europe so beautiful as Valldemosa." And indeed the
+ancient town, rising on its heights amid still higher heights above
+the valley that runs seawards, is strikingly beautiful.
+
+It is only when taking Valldemosa in detail that one notices that
+its people are not quite so handsome, that they lack the gracious
+and light-hearted bearing of the inhabitants of Palma, that their
+dress is poorer, and the streets more squalid. Perhaps the
+difference in climate may account for the difference in appearance,
+for Valldemosa stands high among the mountains, and its climate is
+both colder and damper than that of Palma. The situation is supposed
+to be extremely healthy. It was at Valldemosa, on the site
+afterwards occupied by the Carthusian monastery, that in 1311 King
+Sancho, who was afflicted with asthma, built a palace to which he
+removed his Court, and from which he gave his hawking parties.
+
+At the suggestion of Bartolome, we paused to visit the church
+attached to the old monastery, which was shown us by an elderly
+woman, who, unlike most of the country people, spoke excellent
+Spanish and understood our efforts in that language.
+
+Under her guidance we visited the chapel, a fine old treasure-house
+of carved effigies of saints, of paintings, and of relics in glass
+cases all carefully wrapped up and labelled. The colours of the
+paintings that adorn the walls and ceiling, the work of two
+Carthusian monks, are as vivid as though still wet from the brush.
+And the remarkable altar-piece, with its life-size figures in wax,
+is worth a special visit.
+
+Walking through the cloisters of the Carthusian monastery, we passed
+the doors of the cells, which are now used as dwelling-houses, and
+it occurred to us to ask if our old woman knew in which of the
+cells George Sand had passed her memorable winter in company with
+her children and with Chopin, and if it would be possible for us to
+see it.
+
+Our guide appeared to be familiar with both questions. She had no
+hesitation in answering them in the affirmative; and preceding us
+briskly down the long, ascetic-looking corridor (that accorded so
+ill with our notion of Madame Dudevant), knocked at the door
+numbered 1.
+
+"But if people are living in the house, will they not object? We
+must not disturb them," we demurred.
+
+Our guardian thrust aside our protest as trivial, and in truth it
+was offered in a perfunctory spirit.
+
+"No, no," she assured us. "The senor will be pleased. He is a nice
+gentleman. He was the doctor of Valldemosa for thirty years, till he
+retired. He will show you the house himself."
+
+And indeed the senor, when he appeared, was graciousness itself.
+Welcoming us after the Spanish fashion, he put his house and what it
+contained at our disposal. In this case the courtesy proved more
+than a form of words, for he personally conducted us over all his
+domain.
+
+First he showed us the terrace garden, from whose low boundary-wall,
+as from a balcony, one could look over the scattered houses that
+nestled among their laden orange-trees, towards the distant sea. The
+sun was shining; the air was heavy with the perfume of the loquat
+blossoms; a delicious languor lay over all. It was easy to imagine
+George Sand leaning on that wall, whose base was so thickly fringed
+with luxuriant maidenhair fern, revelling in the beauty of her
+surroundings. But my thoughts and sympathy were most with the monks
+who, on the suppression of the convents in 1835, were obliged to
+leave their quiet cells and the gardens that must have been a
+perpetual delight to them, and go elsewhere to subsist on the scant
+pension of a franc a day.
+
+[Illustration: Valldemosa]
+
+Taking us indoors, the doctor showed us the living-rooms, five of
+which looked out to the terrace-garden. The name of "cell"
+suggests accommodation that is cramped and austere, but nothing
+could have been more cheerful than these sunlit chambers.
+
+In the large, airy _salon_, with its domed ceiling, one could easily
+imagine both musician and novelist finding abundant space to work,
+he with his "velvet fingers," as his companion christened them, she
+with her facile pen. And in the quaint kitchen, with its range of
+charcoal stoves and big, open fireplace, one could picture them
+gathering on the nights of that cold winter.
+
+It would have been impossible to find a more idyllic setting for a
+romantic episode. Still, I must confess that doubts assailed me; for
+in November, 1838, when writing to a friend, George Sand had said:--
+
+    "I have a cell, that is to say, three rooms and a
+    garden full of oranges and lemons, for thirty-five
+    francs a year, in the large monastery of Valldemosa."
+
+And this house of the doctor's, with its spacious _salon_, its large
+dining-room, its many sleeping-apartments? No, much though we
+desired it, the descriptions hardly tallied. Then in her account of
+the unusually severe winter Madame Dudevant wrote of the "eagles and
+vultures that came down to feast on the poor sparrows that sheltered
+in their pomegranate trees from the snow."
+
+Now in the garden there was a _kake_ tree laden with ripe rose-red
+fruit, and other trees, but no pomegranate. But then that was many
+years past, and the trunk of the pomegranate-tree might long ago
+have been burnt on that wide hearth in the kitchen.
+
+Speaking of the matter to the good doctor, we found our uncertainty
+shared. Throwing out his hands he said humorously:--
+
+"Who knows? There is no record. It was _one_ of the cells. That much
+is certain. And this was the house of the Superior. If not this
+house, it was another. That is enough."
+
+But as we descended the slope from the monastery we agreed that,
+whether or not the great French _artistes_ ever lived within the
+walls of that particular cell, there could be no question that they
+had breathed the sweet air of these terrace-gardens, and had known
+the enchantment of that wonderful panoramic view. And that made
+their personalities very real to us.
+
+Bartolome awaited us smiling, and, insinuating ourselves among our
+medley of belongings, off we set along the three miles of road that
+led to Miramar.
+
+On the outskirts of Valldemosa we saw, for the first time in
+Majorca, vines climbing over tall trees by the wayside, their grapes
+in purple bunches suspended in profusion from the branches. The
+effect was so beautiful that we almost regretted the more prosaic
+vineyards near Palma, with the carefully trained vines that
+resembled well-pruned blackberry bushes.
+
+As we advanced, passing through a succession of olive plantations
+that rose above us towards the grand craggy mountains and fell
+beneath us to the blue sea, glimpses of which we caught over the
+foliage, the beauty of the scene that gradually unfolded surpassed
+all that we had yet seen.
+
+The Man groaned a little, as during the next three days he was fated
+to groan often, and for the same reason.
+
+"This is _too_ grand," he said. "It's hopeless. One could never
+paint it!"
+
+Turning a bend of the road, Bartolome drew rein with a flourish
+before a quaint dwelling by the wayside; and we realized that we had
+reached the Hospederia.
+
+"I say! We ought to have sent word we were coming. I hope the house
+isn't full. I hope they'll have room for us," said the Boy, voicing
+the sudden apprehension of us all. But so far from being crowded
+with visitors, the Hospederia seemed totally deserted. The great
+door was shut and, except for a vagrant cat and a clucking hen,
+there was no sign of life about the place.
+
+Shouting lustily for "Fernando," Bartolome jumped down and, running
+to the door, knocked loudly. Receiving no reply, he did not stand
+upon ceremony but, pushing open the door, went in, beckoning us to
+follow.
+
+Entering, we found ourselves in a large outer hall with a cobbled
+floor and a long well-scrubbed table and benches. Following our
+charioteer, who had opened an inner door, we went into a large
+dimly-lit room which, when the window-shutters had been opened,
+revealed itself as a long narrow dining-room of severely ascetic
+appearance. Tables extended down its length, chairs with seats of
+interwoven string stood round the walls.
+
+"Look, senora!"
+
+Running to a cupboard, Bartolome had thrown open the door,
+disclosing shelves laden with china and crystal.
+
+Again--"Look! senora."
+
+Hastening to the opposite side of the room, he had opened the doors
+of a big _armario_, and was pointing to piles of clean table-linen.
+
+It was as though we had strayed into some enchanted castle where all
+had been prepared for our coming by invisible hands. Going off to
+explore further, we found our way into a snug kitchen. The whole of
+one side was occupied by a brown-tiled charcoal stove, on which many
+dinners could have been cooked simultaneously. The shelves were
+laden with cooking-pots and pans, of every description; the walls
+shone with an array of well-polished utensils. Over charcoal embers
+a huge earthenware pot, that for its better preservation had been
+encased in a strait-waistcoat of wire-netting, was slowly bubbling.
+
+Essaying to mount the stair leading from the hall, we peeped into
+closely shuttered apartments in which we could see the dim outlines
+of beds. And what we saw assured us of one thing--that there were no
+other guests at the Hospederia.
+
+From the perfect order of the house, and the fact that the fire was
+burning, it was clear that someone must be close at hand. But we
+had come a long way, and in the meantime we were famishing.
+
+Hastening to our aid, the ubiquitous Bartolome spread the table,
+putting out plates and glasses, and finding wooden spoons and forks
+in the drawer of a side-table. Opening our packets of sandwiches and
+fruit, we invited him to join us.
+
+We were all seated at table, busily eating, when a swift clatter of
+feet sounded on the cobble stones of the outer hall; and a brisk
+little brown woman ran into the room, voluble with apology for the
+temporary absence of the keepers of the Hospederia. Netta, she
+explained, was away. Fernando was working at the farm. In their
+absence could she be of any service to our excellencies?
+
+Reassured on that point, the lady--Catalina was her name--remained
+to enliven our picnic lunch by rallying Bartolome, who was an old
+acquaintance of hers, on his unparalleled effrontery in sitting down
+to table with us.
+
+"You have no right to eat with their excellencies," she said. "You
+are only a coachman."
+
+"But if he is a good coachman?" asked the Man.
+
+"Ah, no, senor. He is not a good coachman. He is a bad coachman.
+And, besides, he cannot spread a table. See! he has given you no
+table-cloth, no napkins, when he knows the cupboard is full of them.
+No, he is a very bad coachman indeed!"
+
+When our scrap meal was finished, Catalina proceeded to show us our
+sleeping accommodation. Unlocking a door that we had not tried, she
+led us through a pleasant room with two beds, to one with two
+windows--one facing the highroad, where Bartolome's carriage still
+waited, the other affording a beautiful view of the rugged coast.
+
+Catalina explained that these rooms were usually allotted to
+foreigners such as ourselves, the less attractively situated being
+reserved for natives of the island, who were at liberty to share the
+Archduke's hospitality, although the Hospederia was originally
+intended for the use of other travellers. A handsome new
+dining-room in process of construction, though during our stay no
+one was actually working at it, was also planned for the
+accommodation of those from far countries, but to us the
+appointments of the older building seemed peculiarly in keeping with
+the quaint idea of the Hospederia.
+
+The bedrooms were simply but sufficiently furnished. Each had two
+single beds, half-a-dozen chairs, a plain wooden table, and a tripod
+washstand holding the smallest basin and ewer we had seen outside
+France. The roofs were raftered. All was the perfection of austere
+cleanliness.
+
+Before our inspection was ended Fernando, the host, a good-looking
+man with the gracious deportment of an operatic tenor, had returned.
+His grandmother had been the original housekeeper of the Hospederia.
+On her death, at the age of ninety-nine, her office had descended
+upon Fernando and his young wife Netta.
+
+We spent the all too short November afternoon and evening in
+exploring the slopes about Miramar, looking at the glorious views
+that perpetually presented some yet more glorious aspect. The
+Hospederia was over a thousand feet above the sea, to which the
+ground fell precipitously. Above the house the land rose up and up
+until it ended in towering crags. Northward stretched the
+Mediterranean. Elsewhere the eye met nothing but range upon range of
+mountains.
+
+The extensive grounds of Miramar are well shaded with olive and
+carob trees, but at every point that affords a specially good view
+of some part of the exquisite scenery the Archduke has caused to be
+erected a _mirador_, or walled enclosure, where one can sit in
+safety and glory in the beauty of the surroundings.
+
+From one of these we watched the after-glow of the setting sun
+illumine distant peaks, bringing into prominence heights whose
+existence we had scarcely realized.
+
+The darkness, falling swiftly, surprised us while a good distance
+from the Hospederia, and we had to find our way back by untried
+paths. But the fascination of the place held us captive, and when
+the moon began to peep out from among the clouds we could not remain
+indoors, as more sensible folks would have done. Wrapping up a
+little, for it was colder on the northern coast of the island than
+at Palma, we went out, determined to reach a headland by the sea, on
+which from above we had caught tantalizing glimpses of a shining
+white temple.
+
+Except from a _mirador_ the temple was not visible, and we wandered
+by many devious ways before we again came in sight of it, perched
+above the sea on a high rock that is reached by a stone bridge
+thrown over a deep gully.
+
+As we felt our way along, for the elusive moon was again behind a
+cloud, all was silent, mysterious. Surely Miramar at nightfall in
+winter is one of the most silent places on the earth. We felt as
+though there was not a human being alive but ourselves.
+
+Crossing the bridge timorously, we found ourselves confronting the
+ghostly white chapel. When we had told Catalina of our desire to
+visit it, she had given us keys, but they did not fit. And as we
+proceeded to fumble with the lock, the silence was so intense that I
+could almost have imagined that someone within was holding his
+breath to listen. Had we knocked upon that closed door I had an
+eerie conviction that the spectre of some long-dead monk would have
+opened it.
+
+But we did not knock. And the moon favouring us with a glimpse of
+her illumining power, we walked round the base of the temple, which
+is securely railed in, and watched the moon outline with silver
+finger-tips each point and pinnacle of the hills and shimmer softly
+on the sea.
+
+When we returned to the Hospederia, Fernando had gone to fetch his
+wife; and Catalina, who had been left in charge, bustled into the
+dining-room to tell us that two _carabineros_ had come, and were
+resting in the kitchen.
+
+"Have they come after us?" cried the Man; and Catalina, who enjoyed
+even the mildest of humour, wrinkled her brown face in delight.
+
+The dining-room where we sat was large and dimly lit by oil lamps.
+After the silence of those wooded slopes the prospect of even the
+company of two _carabineros_ was alluring. So when I went into the
+kitchen to cook the lamb cutlets and tomatoes that comprised our
+modest supper, my men followed me.
+
+[Illustration: Carabineros in the Kitchen]
+
+The kitchen, which was the most picturesque part of the Hospederia,
+was looking particularly snug and cosy. A fire of logs burned on the
+open hearth, below the shining tin pans and the strings of red
+peppers, and lit up the fine bronzed faces of the _carabineros_, who
+sat close to its warmth.
+
+They rose when we entered, to offer us their seats. One, spreading
+his striped blanket on the low settle, invited the Man to share it;
+and while I grilled the cutlets and Catalina washed dishes at the
+sink, the men chatted as freely as their difference of language
+would allow, the _carabineros_ talking of their long hours of
+duty--for their patrol begins at five or six o'clock in the evening
+and does not end until seven next morning--and of the constant watch
+that has to be kept for smugglers on that lonely and seemingly
+scarce accessible coast.
+
+Leaving them to resume their night watch, we supped and went to bed,
+to be roused in the early morning by voices. Netta, the
+house-mistress, had returned, and thenceforward the lively Catalina
+would relapse into the position of merely an obliging neighbour.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: La Trinidad, Miramar]
+
+VIII
+
+MIRAMAR
+
+
+When we went downstairs to breakfast Netta was setting the table;
+setting it, too, after a fashion of her own which never varied, were
+the meal breakfast, luncheon or dinner.
+
+First she spread the cloth, whose lack at luncheon on the previous
+day had so offended Catalina's sense of what was neat and proper.
+Then she put before each place a big tumbler, a little tumbler, two
+soup-plates, and a wooden spoon and fork.
+
+Netta proved to be tall and nice-looking, with tragic dark eyes, and
+a gravity of manner that was in striking contrast to her husband's
+smiling bonhomie. She was an admirable housewife. We never caught
+her at work; yet, without the slightest appearance of fuss and
+flurry, she managed to keep everything the pink of perfection.
+
+The weather was hardly promising. Rain had fallen in the night;
+veils of mist smothered the crests of the near hills and completely
+obliterated the more distant. But we were resolved to let nothing
+short of an actual downpour keep us indoors. And as the Man wished
+to sketch at Valldemosa, which had captivated us all on the previous
+day, the Boy and I accompanied him thither. Perhaps it is unwise to
+attempt to renew first impressions. Possibly the charm of Miramar
+clouded our eyes to the undoubted beauty of Valldemosa. More likely
+the fact that the sun only peeped out fitfully, and that the wind
+was damp and the sky sullen, influenced our view: but somehow
+Valldemosa seemed to have lost the glamour it cast over us when we
+first saw it basking in the warm sunlight. Everybody seemed chilly,
+and all the children looked as if they had colds in their noses.
+
+Leaving the Man working at a water-colour of the old Carthusian
+monastery from rising ground above a covered well, we set off with
+the intention of augmenting our little stock of provisions from the
+shops of the town.
+
+The store we chanced upon sold every likely and unlikely commodity,
+from green and orange boots to radishes. When we inquired where we
+might find a butcher, the shop-mistress, with a majestic wave of her
+hand, signed to us to follow her. And, walking in her footsteps, we
+threaded our way through an apartment, which was partly kitchen and
+partly an overflow stock chamber, into an inner room, where hung
+garlands of black and yellow sausages and the carcasses of two
+lambs.
+
+This was the butcher's shop, she announced, and there was no beef,
+only lamb. So perforce we added yet more cutlets to our diet, and
+humbly craved bread. But the only loaves she had were so large that,
+rejecting them, we went in search of a baker.
+
+In the less important Majorcan towns, shops are difficult to find.
+The fact that a tax is levied upon signs keeps all but the most
+prominent vendors from exhibiting one. The room of an ordinary
+house that opens directly to the street usually acts as the place of
+business; and a cabbage, or a basket of striped haricot beans, set
+casually on the doorstep, often serves to indicate the existence of
+a general shop.
+
+After a little searching we succeeded in finding a _panaderia_, but
+the loaves of the baker, in place of being smaller than those of the
+grocer (which sounds Ollendorffian), were so huge that they
+resembled cartwheels, or, to be more exact, perambulator wheels,
+baked of rye.
+
+For a moment the choice lay between possible starvation and the
+prospect of trundling the mammoth rye loaf up and down the three
+miles of highway that lay between us and the Hospederia.
+
+While we hesitated, the baker lady, and the half dozen or so of her
+intimate friends who had followed us into the shop to see what the
+foreigners would buy, regarded us interestedly. Then a compromise
+suggested itself.
+
+"Would it be possible to ask the senora to divide the loaf?"
+
+"Yes--without doubt."
+
+The complacent senora already had the large knife in her hand. So,
+clutching the half of the still steaming rye loaf, we returned to
+the Man, with whom we had arranged to share an open-air luncheon.
+
+Before we had reached him, the mist that had been threatening to
+swoop down upon us resolved itself into a shower. Taking advantage
+of the near vicinity of the covered well, we boiled our tea-kettle
+under the archway, and drank tea, to the surprise of the people who
+were constantly coming to fill their water-jars.
+
+Then, the sun consenting, rather sulkily, to peep out again, the Man
+returned to his work, while the Boy and I, feeling no further
+temptation to linger at Valldemosa, took up our section of the
+cartwheel and set off for Miramar.
+
+On the way, not far beyond the outskirts of the town, we caught
+sight of a notice-board, which stated that a Museum of Mallorquin
+antiquities might be seen in a house on the side of the road
+nearest to the mountains. Following the path indicated, we found
+ourselves, after a few minutes walking, in the courtyard of what had
+evidently been a fine old country seat.
+
+The doors stood open to the world. Except for a beautiful flock of
+cream-coloured turkeys, the place seemed utterly untenanted. There
+was no sign of humanity until the Boy woke the echoes by smiting
+lustily on a cow-bell that hung outside the kitchen door.
+
+Then a little sun-dried old woman popped her head out, and with a
+scared face fled up a broad flight of steps that led from the
+courtyard to the floor above.
+
+She had gone to warn the custodian of the Museum; and that dame,
+quickly appearing, invited us upstairs to see the collection.
+
+The house, Son Moragues, she told us, was one of the many owned by
+the Archduke on the different estates he had bought. He had never
+used it as a residence, and merely kept it as a receptacle for the
+specimens of typical Mallorquin manufactures, such as pottery,
+models of baskets, furniture, etc., he was collecting.
+
+The object that interested us perhaps more than any other exhibit
+was a jar that had been salved from the sea in Palma Harbour.
+Although a genuine antique it was of the shape in use to-day; and
+its unrecorded period of immersion had left it encrusted with a
+marvellous decoration of barnacles and shells.
+
+What really delighted us most in the Museum were the views from the
+balconies; especially those obtained from a great old _terras_ with
+a sloping floor, where we stood in the brilliant sunshine and
+watched the showers sweeping along the mountain tops and up the
+valley.
+
+Down below us was a thick hedge of prickly pear, the edges of the
+fleshy leaves ruched with scarlet fruit. And beside us, as we leant
+on the edge of the balcony, was a wire tray on which a quantity of
+figs, gathered presumably from the trees in the field beneath, were
+drying in the sun.
+
+The quaint old garden, which we saw on the way out, had tall box
+hedges and a spreading magnolia, and crumbling stone seats
+surrounded the fountain, whose waters have long run dry.
+
+In the evening I had gone to bed early, leaving the others to follow
+their own devices, and was sleeping the sleep of the woman who had
+been all day in the open air, when an insistent calling of my name
+aroused me back to semi-consciousness, and I gradually gathered that
+I must descend to open the door. The men, who had gone out walking
+in the moonlight, had returned to find that, inadvertently, the
+house door had been locked and barred against them.
+
+Had my room been less accessible, or my sleep more profound, they
+might have knocked and called in vain, for although it was hardly
+nine o'clock, Fernando and Netta were deep in the slumber of the
+agriculturist in some unknown roof-chamber of the tall old house.
+
+Although so isolated in position, Miramar is intimately connected
+with the romantic life-history of Ramon Lull--rake, recluse,
+scholar, fanatic, martyr, saint--what you will.
+
+The father of Ramon Lull--the name is variously spelt: Raymund Lully
+in the English; Ramundo Lulio in the Spanish; and Ramon Lull in the
+Mallorquin, which has a bad habit of chipping the ends off
+words--was one of those brave young knights of Aragon who fought
+with their King during his invasion and conquest of Majorca. When
+that war had ended happily for all but the Moors, the parent Lull,
+in company with the other nobles who had supported King Jaime the
+Conquistador, was rewarded with an estate in Majorca. And there,
+about six years later, his son Ramon was born.
+
+During his earlier manhood Ramon gave little hint of what he was
+ultimately to become. His behaviour was by no means sedate. Nay,
+more, it is on record that his love affairs were so numerous as to
+become a public scandal, which reached a climax on his riding on
+horseback into church in pursuit of a devout lady whom he madly
+adored.
+
+The fatal illness of this lady, by awakening his conscience and
+rousing him to a sense of sin, changed the current of his thoughts,
+and after a period of self-accusation and contrition, he decided not
+only to lead a better life, but to spend that life in the
+reformation of others.
+
+King Jaime, on being applied to, supplied the funds necessary for
+the carrying out of his project, and Lull erected a college at
+Miramar, where close by the house of the Archduke a fragment of the
+original chapel is still to be seen. His scheme was to teach
+thirteen monks Arabic, so that they could go forth as missionaries
+among the infidels. And Miramar, one of the most secluded spots on
+earth, as well as one of the most beautiful, he deemed a suitable
+place for study.
+
+But the scheme failed. Why, the chroniclers do not say. Perhaps the
+students, being merely human, wearied of the restrictions of
+existence in that seminary perched on the hill-side between the
+mountains and the sea, and pined for company.
+
+The project was abandoned. A later record speaks of King Sancho,
+grandson of the Conquistador, visiting Miramar in quest of relief
+from the asthma with which he was afflicted, and residing at the
+Arabic College.
+
+Lull, nothing daunted by the defection of his pupils, alone put into
+execution his plan of carrying the truth into other lands. We hear
+of his preaching Christ in Africa and being rewarded with stripes.
+Then we are told of his travelling in the Holy Land. Later he
+appears in Paris, in Egypt, and even in England, writing books and
+teaching.
+
+In spite of besetting dangers, Lull's life of study and propagandism
+lasted beyond the ordinary term of man. When he was an octogenarian,
+and probably weary of the struggle, he desired to quit the world in
+a blaze of glory; and, as the best means of attaining his end,
+returned to Africa, where earlier he had been received with
+contumely and severely beaten. There Lull met the fate he coveted:
+for continuing to preach openly and persistently, he was stoned to
+death at Bugia in June, 1315.
+
+Some Genoese disciples who had begged for his bruised and broken
+body brought it tenderly back to his birthplace. We had seen the
+spot of its interment in the beautiful church of San Francisco, at
+Palma, a Gothic temple of the thirteenth century, that vies in
+antiquity with the Cathedral. One of the chapels in the transept to
+the left of the high altar gives sepulture to the aged martyr. The
+effigy shown is that of an old man lying on his side, as though to
+signify that his unwavering and indomitable spirit had at last
+gained rest.
+
+We had spoken tentatively of Lull to Fernando, and Fernando had not
+only admitted a knowledge of the old-world frequenter of his slopes,
+but had volunteered to take us to visit his cave, a sanctuary high
+on the mountain-side above Miramar, where Lull was wont to go when
+he felt the need of seclusion. And at ten next morning we were
+waiting, expectant.
+
+But at ten Fernando, just returned from his morning's work on the
+farm, was at breakfast. So we went to the _mirador_, below the
+Hospederia, and spent the minutes of waiting enjoying the view that,
+no matter how often we saw it, always wore a different aspect.
+
+This morning, though the sun was shining on the sea and on the
+olives that covered the lower slopes, the higher peaks were obscured
+by filmy scarves of mist, and scarcely perceptible wisps were
+floating about the mountain sides, giving an air of mystery and
+grandeur to the lofty heights.
+
+Then Fernando appeared wiping his moustached lips, which already
+held the inevitable cigarette. Under his guidance we moved along the
+highroad until we came to a gate where a cross fixed to the post
+betokened monastery ground. A sandalled monk passing by gave us
+grave greeting. There the ascent began at once, the path zigzagging
+about on the terraced slopes that were thickly planted with olives.
+The undergrowth was bright with the vivid green foliage and
+brilliant scarlet berries of the winter cherry.
+
+Up and up we mounted, Fernando and the Boy walking lightly in
+advance, we others lagging a little behind, until we felt like birds
+seeking some mountain aerie; till looking down we saw nothing but a
+steeply shelving forest of tree tops, or looking up caught a glimpse
+of mist-obscured crags.
+
+The path wound about along narrow ledges and up crazy, almost
+obliterated steps, until with the suddenness of a surprise the track
+branched off to a ledge on the right, and we saw, set in the face of
+the solid rock, a little wicket gate.
+
+It was so long since the gate had been opened that it necessitated a
+strong effort on the part of Fernando's broad shoulders before it
+would consent to open.
+
+Within, the unexpected awaited us. Set in the wall of the cave
+facing the door was an old bas-relief carving that had evidently
+marked the place of the altar before which the saint had been wont
+to worship. The passing of the centuries has gradually blurred the
+outlines of the carving: still we could see the form of the Virgin
+and Child, and the worshipping figure of an angel. Behind the group
+was a background of palms.
+
+The wall still held a faint trace of fresco, and from the side hung
+the socket--in the shape of a bird--for an antique lamp.
+
+There was something so attractive, and even homely, in the cave,
+that we required no great effort of imagination to fancy Lull
+choosing it as his hermitage, and escaping thither when he yearned
+for a space to be free from the society of the thirteen monks who so
+soon had tired of their task.
+
+That raised ledge might have served for a couch; this stone seemed
+the right height for a seat; a small window hewn in the side
+admitted sufficient light did the recluse wish to study. In the wall
+was a natural basin, which to this day, except when long-continued
+drought has dried up all the watercourses, holds a supply of fresh
+water.
+
+It seemed to us that Lull had chosen an ideal place of seclusion in
+the rock-dwelling set far up in the pure air, where no sound save
+the twitter of bird or the far-off murmur of the sea could break the
+solemnity of his thoughts.
+
+Everything about the cave bespoke its antiquity. The trees that
+fronted the entrance were hoary with age and fringed with lichen.
+And on the hill-side above, amidst moss-grown trees and blooming
+heath, a tall cross had been erected in memory of the recluse whose
+haven it once had been.
+
+There was yet another cave that Fernando had promised to show us;
+one of worldly, not of religious uses this time. It was the place
+where in not very remote ages smugglers concealed the contraband
+goods that they had succeeded in landing on the coast below. So,
+leaving the cell of Ramon Lull, we followed our guide, clambering
+higher and yet higher, and speedily getting into the dim twilight of
+forests that might have existed since the beginning of the world, so
+venerable were they, so thickly mossed and festooned with grey-green
+lichen.
+
+The signs of foliage were of the scantiest. Many trees revealed no
+more than half a dozen leaves set at the extreme tips of the
+lichen-furred branches. And all about was a huddled waste of
+stones--the debris that collects at the base of great mountains. In
+these gloomy recesses where daylight never enters there was no
+indication of life--no flutter of startled bird, not even a
+scurrying beetle. All was still and weird.
+
+On hastened the light-footed Fernando, and on we followed more
+ponderously, marvelling how he knew his way where we could see no
+trace of a path. Suddenly branching off to the right, over the rough
+rocks, he preceded us to where, low down amongst a tumbled heap of
+boulders, a slight crevice showed. Smiling, he glanced back at us,
+then bent down and disappeared. Close on his heels the Boy followed.
+And both had vanished off the face of the earth, leaving us gaping
+at the mouth of the exaggerated rabbit burrow that had seemingly
+swallowed them up. We, wisely, did not attempt to enter. The
+prospect of a rough scramble did not tempt us.
+
+On his return to the surface the Boy described the interior of the
+cave as both wide and lofty. But I must confess the idea of the
+smugglers conveying their illicit cargoes from the beach all that
+distance up the steep mountain-side to store it in a cavern that was
+on the way to nowhere seemed absurd. It assuredly was inaccessible.
+And it spoke well for the vigilance of the carbineers that the
+_contrabandistas_ could find no more convenient place of
+concealment.
+
+But had Majorca not been free from the bandit plague, what a
+glorious place that would have been for brigands in which to keep
+prisoned the rich foreigners they were holding for ransom!
+
+In some such unattainable holes and crannies of the heights must the
+mountain Moors have existed during the two years that passed before
+their chief surrendered to the Conquistador.
+
+Just beyond the smugglers' cave were the fragmentary remains of a
+monastery, so old and long deserted that the lichen-fringed trees
+had rooted as deeply within the ruined walls of its chambers as
+without in the forest.
+
+Still further we went, keeping close on the heels of our untiring
+leader, for the track sloped downwards now and the going was easier.
+Once more we were in the region of trees that seemed alive, not
+merely fossilized and moss-grown.
+
+Like a born guide, Fernando had reserved the most charming part of
+the excursion to the last. All unexpectedly he brought us to where,
+on an outjutting pinnacle of rock, the Archduke had erected a
+chapel. From the stone seats placed round its base we had an
+enchanting and yet more comprehensive view than ever before of the
+scene that, from whatever point we chanced to see it, never failed
+to give us a fresh thrill of delight.
+
+And wasn't I glad to sit down!
+
+We had felt so much at home at the Hospederia and so enthralled with
+this new world of steeps and silences that, when the last of our
+three days had come, we felt sincerely sorry to leave it.
+
+In torrid summer weather, when the southern plains of the island lie
+baking in the sun, it would be impossible to imagine a more charming
+way of escape from the heat than to rest under the shades of leafy
+Miramar, or to sit at ease in one of the cunningly placed
+_miradors_ "looking lazy at the sea" and the everlasting hills.
+
+But the law is inexorable. When his three days' free lodging has
+come to an end each guest must move on to make room for others. A
+wise provision; for, had it not been so ruled, the first travellers
+who filled these beds and ate at these tables would never have left
+the Hospederia--they would have been there yet!
+
+Our next stopping-place was to be Soller, a town that is envalleyed
+amid the highest mountains in the island. Soller is ten miles
+distant from Miramar, and the question was how we were to get
+transported thither. At the Hospederia we were quite out of the way
+of traffic. Not even a diligence lumbered by.
+
+Fernando, coming to our rescue, offered to negotiate with a farmer
+for the use of a cart. It was the ploughing season, the busiest time
+of the year for both men and mules, but he succeeded in arranging
+that we could have the loan of a conveyance of some kind at two
+o'clock that afternoon for ten pesetas.
+
+The morning had been wet. Happily not with the drenching, torrential
+rain of these latitudes, but with an insinuating moisture
+reminiscent of the Scottish Highlands. Disregarding it, we made the
+most of the few hours at our disposal, seeking, and finding, fresh
+walks and wonders in our surroundings.
+
+One thing I remember that specially interested us in the terraced
+olive plantations of Miramar, was the method of throwing a little
+stone bridge from one walled terrace to another across the bed of
+the river. There was no water in the channel, the bed was dry and
+mossy. As we looked up at the succession of bridgelets, each flanked
+on either side by short flights of stone steps, it seemed to typify
+the extreme of the elaborate and painstaking system of culture that
+prevails all over the island.
+
+With appetites sharpened by the famed air of Miramar we had lunched
+off goats' milk, the toasted remains of our half cartwheel of rye
+bread, and something I had confidently expected would prove to be
+an omelet, but which turned out to be something entirely different.
+It was eatable, however, even delectable, and we devoured it to the
+last yellow fragment, then waited the arrival of our carriage.
+
+It came at last. And as it drew up in front of the Hospederia we
+looked first at it, then at each other, in silent dismay.
+
+In place of the roomy farm cart drawn by mules that we had expected
+to see, the conveyance was one of the gaily painted, two-wheeled
+cockleshells in which Majorcan farmers go a-junketing. It would have
+been an admirable vehicle for two people. Viewed as a means of
+carrying four with luggage, it at first sight seemed absolutely
+impracticable.
+
+"Oh, it's all right; I'll walk," said the Boy, regardless of the
+fact that ten long miles of wet road lay between us and the Hotel
+Marina at Soller.
+
+Our luggage was as little as a party of three could be expected to
+require during a week's expedition, comprising as it did only one
+large portmanteau, a suit-case, some sketching materials, and a
+couple of rugs. Yet compared with the size of the conveyance it
+appeared of enormous dimensions.
+
+Nothing daunted by the overwhelming bulk of his prospective load,
+the driver put the suit-case under the seat, propped the big
+portmanteau up on it, and invited me to get in. That done, allowing
+a modicum of space for himself, the carriage was full.
+
+Obviously that plan would not do. Again we looked at each other in
+despair. Fortunately the driver was a man of resource. Hauling out
+the big bag, he wrapped it in a sail-like canvas cover, and,
+producing fragments of rope from all his pockets, proceeded to tie
+it on at the back of the cart. Running into the house, Netta brought
+more rope for its better security. With the load hanging behind, it
+seemed as though the tiny vehicle were already overweighted; but its
+capacity for endurance proved greater than we anticipated. The Man
+got in, the Boy got in, the driver also mounted. All three were
+jammed into a narrow seat for two. I was squeezed in somewhere at
+the back, and at last our journey began.
+
+As we drove on the feeling of insecurity lessened; we forgot to
+expect the cart to tip up. Our mule proved himself a good goer, and
+we early learned to adapt ourselves to conditions--to lean forwards
+going uphill, to incline backwards when the way led downwards.
+
+Though the mist still blurred the mountains the coast scenery was
+magnificent. The road, which lay half-way between sea and
+mountain-top, was bordered on either side by olive plantations.
+About three miles from the Hospederia it curved inwards into the
+most beautiful valley I had ever seen.
+
+[Illustration: A Tight Fit]
+
+Houses that looked like nests, so thickly were they surrounded by
+luxuriant foliage, were scattered about the lower parts of the hills
+that on three sides rose steeply; on the fourth the land declined
+gently to the Mediterranean.
+
+Here there were no jealous walls to hedge in the gardens. Oranges,
+lemons, and figs in full fruitage overhung the highway. Tall palms
+rose overhead, and down by a fountain women were washing. It was the
+village of Deya, a sleepy nest seven miles from even a diligence,
+but, even seen through a blur of rain, a place of exquisite beauty.
+
+"We must come back here."
+
+"Yes, we'll come back----"
+
+"And stay a month," we agreed, as we had done about so many charming
+spots that we had got just a glimpse of, and as we were fated to do
+about so many more before our sojourn in these lovely isles came to
+a close.
+
+We would gladly have lingered to explore the beauties of Deya, but
+the delay at starting had already encroached on the November
+afternoon, and the greater portion of our journey was yet to come.
+So the men, who had got down to walk through the village, remounted,
+and once more, huddled up together, off we joggled, out of the
+lovely valley and along a cliff-road where, among the grey-green
+olive-trees, girls in skirts of vivid scarlet were gathering the
+fallen fruit.
+
+It was five o'clock and dusk was already falling when we descended
+the zigzag road leading into Soller and, passing a picturesque old
+cross, turned into a modern-looking street planted on either side
+with trees.
+
+"What I want to see now," I said, deliberately shutting my eyes to
+the scenery, "is a hotel with electric light, and a good fire, and
+German waiters, and French cookery."
+
+"Don't be hateful," retorted the Boy. "But it doesn't matter; you
+won't see it. My only fear is that they won't be able to take us
+in."
+
+The rain, which was now falling more heavily, had sent the townsfolk
+indoors. The only wayfarer in sight was a venerable gentleman who,
+as he sat astride a panniered donkey, protected himself from the
+rain with a large umbrella.
+
+Turning with a final jolt, we drew up in front of the Hotel Marina,
+whose wide glass doors opened hospitably to receive us.
+
+There was no question of lack of room, fortunately, but the
+dinner-hour was yet two hours ahead, and even the satisfaction
+derived from the omelet (which wasn't really an omelet) was already
+a vague memory. But we are people of resource. While I boiled the
+unfailing tea-kettle the men foraged, returning with provender in
+the shape of crisply toasted _bizcochos_ and _cocas_, and we had a
+cosy tea that enabled us to possess our bodies in patience until the
+dinner-hour.
+
+The waiter who served us was German, the cookery revealed more than
+a suspicion of French influence, the electric light was brilliant,
+and there was a cheery fire. But even the Boy did not complain.
+
+
+
+
+IX
+
+SOLLER
+
+
+Though a longer acquaintance reveals many charming and wholly
+Majorcan characteristics, at first sight Soller resembles a Swiss
+town, so closely do the high mountains encircle it. The likeness is
+emphasized when, as occasionally happens in winter, the double crest
+of the Puig Major is tipped with snow.
+
+With the exception of Palma, Soller was the only Balearic town in
+which we had slept. Half unconsciously we found ourselves putting
+them in comparison, to discover that while each is, after its own
+fashion, delightful, they are entirely dissimilar.
+
+Palma, "compactly built together," stands, crowded a little, within
+its city walls, its feet lapped by the sea, a fertile plain behind
+it, while Soller stretches itself at ease among its hills, with
+abundant elbow-room, in a fruitful orange grove. Water is a precious
+thing in Palma, where drinking-water in quaint Moorish stone jars is
+hawked through the streets, while a striking and refreshing feature
+of Soller is the abundance of running water. It flowed--a little
+sluggishly perhaps, for the rains had not yet come--over the stony
+bed of the _torrente_; it gushed unchecked from the street
+fountains; it ran along cunningly contrived stone conduits and
+turned mills.
+
+[Illustration: Soller]
+
+There are no rivers in Majorca. The beds of the _torrentes_ that
+ought to be rivers are often so dry that they resemble rough
+sun-baked roads. It was so many weeks since we had seen even a
+thread of running water that the sound of its flow was music in our
+ears. As a full and free supply of pure water is essential to the
+well-being of a town, one easily understands how Soller has the
+advantage of Palma in health conditions. The absorbent soil of
+Soller ensures freedom from rheumatism, and the old people remain
+hale and hearty to the close of lives that in many cases come within
+nodding distance of a century.
+
+Perhaps it was owing to the absence of the military, or the want of
+a railway--though Soller has one in the making--or of the close
+vicinity of a port, but to our cursory view Soller appeared less
+gay, and its people seemed to lack the irresponsible smiling
+light-heartedness of Palma folks.
+
+There were architectural differences also. To enter one of the
+better-class houses in the larger city one crosses a _patio_, or
+open courtyard, and having ascended a stair, knocks at a door; while
+in Soller one steps directly from the street into a large hall, on
+either side of which, close to the wall, are set a long row of
+chairs all of similar design. Here visitors are received, and, as
+far as we could judge, penetrate no further.
+
+Soller has few of the flat roof-tops or windows that are so
+prominent a feature of the old Moorish capital, but Soller has more
+chimneys; in the stillness of early morning the faint blue haze of
+wood fires overhangs the town.
+
+Our first day at Soller opened dull and grey. Much rain had fallen
+in the night. The streets were damp, the mountains mist-shrouded.
+The Boy and I felt depressed and cross. The Man, who had already
+discerned picturesque possibilities in the unique situation of the
+place, put a sketch-book in his pocket and went off in search of a
+typical subject. The Boy and I prowled about the narrow streets,
+allowing ourselves to be annoyed at everything--at the mud, at the
+Sunday crowds, and at the way they stared at us.
+
+In the square before the church was a busy little market. At the
+corner of the square, near where one gets a lovely view of the
+_torrente_ overhung by the balconies of crooked old houses, some of
+the ramshackle vehicles that convey marketers to and from the port
+of Soller were waiting.
+
+"Let's go and have a look at the port," proposed the Boy. "Those
+people look at us as if we were wild beasts. And it will be better
+than hanging about here in the mud."
+
+The shower that had been threatening all the morning was beginning
+to fall, so I agreed. Selecting the coach that seemed on the point
+of starting, we took our seats. A young couple, an old couple, and
+half a dozen market baskets overflowing with greenstuff, shared the
+interior with us. Three more people and several more baskets mounted
+to the box, and, just as the rain began to patter heavily on the
+canvas roof, we drove off, glad to have secured the temporary
+shelter.
+
+The way from Soller to its port seems to lie through an orange
+grove, so closely is it flanked on either side with gardens full of
+the shining leaves and golden fruit. It was sad to learn that a
+blight had attacked the crop in the lower part of the valley, and to
+see in one orchard a heap of trees, plucked up by the roots with the
+fruit still thick on the branches, waiting to be burnt.
+
+As we drove slowly along we met many country people townwards bent
+to mass or market. Long usage in sunshine and shadow had streaked
+the original hue of their great cotton umbrellas with broad lines of
+lighter tint--lines that until one guessed the cause looked like
+elaborately decorative stripes.
+
+By the time we had reached the entrance to the landlocked harbour
+the rain had ceased. Fitful gleams of sunshine broke through the
+clouds, and the air was soft and pleasant.
+
+Except from one point of view the natural harbour resembled a quiet
+inland lake. There was no sign of the near proximity of the sea. To
+the left rose a bold headland crowned by a lighthouse. To the right
+was a long sweep of bay lined at the farther end by a row of houses,
+before which small craft lay at anchor. Swart fishermen in red caps
+and yellow boots lounged by the doors of the cafes.
+
+Just beyond the houses the steamer _Villa de Soller_, that makes
+periodical trips between the port, Barcelona and Cette, was loading
+boxes of the oranges for which the district is famed. Farther on was
+a second lighthouse.
+
+Climbing the steps that rose steeply between the two rows of houses,
+we reached the summit of the rocky promontory. Rusty cannon, their
+work long over, lay at rest in front of the old chapel that crowns
+the eminence. Before us lay the placid land-encircled sheet of
+water, behind us was a wall. Glancing over, we discovered, to our
+surprise and pleasure, that instead of the country landscape we had
+somehow expected to see, the ground fell sheer down to where the
+purple-blue Mediterranean ceaselessly surged beneath.
+
+The unexpected transition from the peaceful inland lake surrounded
+by mist-flecked mountains to a precipitous coast was curiously
+interesting. A moment earlier, with the moisture-laden air blowing
+softly in our faces, we could have imagined ourselves in the heart
+of the Scots Highlands. Now, by the mere turning of a head, we were
+gazing across a great tideless sea.
+
+A capacious coach, in which we chanced to be the only passengers,
+conveyed us back to Soller and deposited us at the door of the Hotel
+Marina, where the Man, who had spent the morning sketching on a
+mountain-slope, was waiting to join us at luncheon.
+
+The town was busy when, later in the day, we made a tour of
+inspection, finding fresh interest at every turn. A row of bananas
+rich in pod, a group of quaint old-world houses, a great palm
+rearing its stately head, its thick clusters of orange-red fruit
+stems heavily beaded with shining yellow fruit.
+
+There was leisure in the air. It was evidently the visiting hour. In
+the entrance halls, in full view of the passing public, comely dames
+sat chatting all in a row, like the pretty maids in the garden of
+Mary-Mary-Quite-Contrary.
+
+To us it always seemed odd to see the gossipers seated side by side
+in a formal line--a position that one would imagine was not
+conducive to the exchange of confidences.
+
+The suggestion of French influence in the architecture of certain of
+the newer houses was explained by the fact that when natives of
+Soller leave the island to seek their fortune they rarely go further
+than France--an easy journey with the _Villa de Soller_ sailing at
+frequent intervals from the port to Cette. And when the exiles
+return--as they invariably do, for the emigrant Majorcan's sole
+desire is to make money that he may settle in his own country--they
+naturally import some of the ideas and tastes of the nation with
+which they have sojourned.
+
+French influence, too, was noticeable in the way the women dressed
+their hair. In many instances, particularly among the younger women,
+the pigtail and the _rebozillo_, or head-handkerchief, had given
+place to an elaborately dressed coiffure.
+
+All night the full moon had illumined a sleepy world. When I looked
+out at six o'clock it was still visible, though the light of the
+hidden sun was already flushing with roseate tints the highest
+mountain-tops. Over the valley the azure smoke of wood fires lay
+softly, and the sweet, sickly fragrance of steaming chocolate was in
+the air.
+
+The valley was still partly in shadow when after breakfast the Man
+went out to resume work. Leaving the Boy to his own devices, I went
+with him.
+
+The country immediately surrounding Soller is so full of roads all
+beautiful, and paths all picturesque, that it is often difficult,
+even for those who know the district well, to find the way they look
+for. After a little winding in and out of the twisted streets we
+came upon the expected road--a track leading upwards towards the
+olive terraces.
+
+From the steep slope where we sat it was curious to watch the
+progress of the sun as it rose over the mountain-tops to note how,
+as it climbed higher, the shadows shortened, the moist streets
+dried, the chill vanished from the atmosphere, and new shadows crept
+over the sunlit sides of the surrounding hills.
+
+Beneath us ran the _torrente_, and from the roads on either side of
+its banks came the sound of wayfarers entering or leaving the town.
+The air was full of cheerful sounds, of the rattle of wheels, or the
+tinkle of bells and the bleat of lambs as a flock was driven by. The
+atmosphere was so clear that we caught the swift musical note of a
+church clock, and the sound of a gunshot reverberated among the
+hills like a peal of thunder.
+
+The few passers-by gave us kindly greeting. Two old women returning
+from market, a bevy of young girls on their way to gather the fallen
+olives, an old couple trotting briskly beside their panniered
+donkey--all had time to smile and wish us "Good-day."
+
+As the sun became stronger I rose and wandered on, up the steep,
+cobbled road, past the gardens where the oranges hung golden,
+looking for wild flowers. Even in the days of late November one
+rarely looks in vain for wild flowers in Majorca; and this morning,
+strolling along by the runnels of water, where the delicate
+maidenhair fern grew in profusion, I saw twining about the ivy
+berries in the hedge a lovely creeper that was new to me.
+
+Set at regular intervals on a slender brown stem, it bore clusters
+of glossy green foliage and drooping florets and buds. The blossoms,
+which had four petals, were cream-hued and flecked inside with
+crimson. It was a dainty and distinctive trailer. Even in its
+natural state it was difficult to imagine a more graceful wreath. A
+passer-by of whom I asked its name called it _Sylvestris montana_,
+and volunteered the information that, though it luxuriated on dry
+walls, no one could succeed in inducing it to grow in gardens.
+
+Following the path as it wound about the side of the hill, I found
+myself by easy stages rising high amid the olive terraces. There
+were silver-white olives beneath me, silver-white olives above me.
+The voices of the invisible gatherers mingled harmoniously with the
+music of the running water. A soothing sense of peace lay over all.
+
+I think it was then that I fell in love with Soller.
+
+There are places that at first sight you are entranced with, and in
+two days find you have exhausted. Soller is decidedly not one of
+these. At the close of the third day of our stay in the
+hill-encradled town we felt as though we had hardly yet had more
+than a glimpse of its beauties, so many and varied are they. It is
+said that you can stay at Soller for two months and go for a
+different walk every day--and I believe it.
+
+From the first waking moments, when one could see the rising sun
+illumine the hill-tops, until, with its sinking, the grand crest of
+the Puig Mayor--the Greater Peak--was garbed in celestial glory, the
+day was a succession of artistic delights.
+
+Soller had for us an added charm in the companionship of congenial
+fellow-visitors--an English lady who appreciates the beauty of the
+place and the homely, good qualities of its people so highly that
+she spends long periods there, and an enthusiastic young artist from
+the Argentine who, with the world to choose from, elects to paint at
+Soller.
+
+Under their guidance we had driven to Biniaraix and, alighting,
+mounted the _Barranco_--a wonderful path by which the peasant
+proprietors reach the olive-trees that their untiring care in the
+preparation of the stony soil and their skill in husbandry have
+persuaded to grow on every possible--and, one might almost add,
+impossible--ledge of the rocky steeps.
+
+The Barranco, which was like a series of low, broad steps, zigzagged
+between the mountains like some eccentric, never-ending staircase.
+As we went up and up we paused often to look down to where, deep in
+the valley, Soller lay embowered in its orange gardens. And while we
+climbed we marvelled at the ceaseless industry of a race that is
+willing to expend so much time and toil to reap so small a return.
+
+On the following afternoon we drove to Fornalutx, a little antique
+town three miles from Soller. Fornalutx is the point from which
+expeditions start to climb the Puig Mayor.
+
+The little town, which is built from the warm, amber-brown stone of
+the hill-side on which it perches, is very old. There does not seem
+to be a yard of straight street within its bounds. The houses are
+set down pell-mell, anyhow and anywhere. A delightful lack of
+uniformity reigns supreme. An orange orchard pokes itself in here, a
+vine trellis projects there, a flight of steps interjects its
+crooked way at every corner.
+
+And it is all pictures!
+
+The Painter, who knew the place, reflecting our pleasure, hurried us
+on to see a good subject, and another good subject, and yet another.
+
+As we passed up a quaint side street the tinkle of mandolines fell
+gratefully on our ears, and we paused before the open doorway from
+which the sound issued. Green branches and tissue-paper frills
+decorated the entrance; within, some sort of merrymaking was in
+progress.
+
+[Illustration: The Mandoline Player]
+
+A group of pinafored urchins who were hanging about outside told us
+that it was the _fiesta_ of the master of the house.
+
+It was rude, inquisitive, and wholly inexcusable, of course, but,
+incited thereto by curiosity, we drew nearer and nearer until we
+could see into the room which opened directly from the street, and
+wherein a young girl and a grey-haired man were seated, mandolines
+on knees, playing a duet. They performed without music but in
+perfect harmony.
+
+The girl, who was dark-eyed and pretty, was attired gaily in honour
+of the festivity. She wore a red skirt, a pale-green bodice, and an
+elaborately embroidered white apron. Blue ribbons adorned her
+well-oiled hair, silver bracelets and rings decorated her slender
+wrists and skilful fingers. The man was evidently her father. In the
+background we got an impression of guests and of a presiding
+matronly presence.
+
+With a final flourish the melody ceased.
+
+"Bravo!" we cried, and clapped our hands.
+
+It was no longer possible to ignore the presence of the impertinent
+foreigners. Indeed, it almost seemed as though the sociable
+Majorcans welcomed the opportunity of recognizing our uninvited
+appearance. For, as we turned to go, the mistress of the house
+hurried out, a hastily vacated chair in either hand, to urge us to
+enter, and would take no refusal.
+
+Within, the guests had rearranged themselves. Retiring further into
+the room, they had left space for us. It would have been
+discourteous to reject the hospitality so unaffectedly offered.
+
+Our little party was soon grouped inside the doorway, and the
+father, whose _fiesta_ it was, laying aside his mandoline, seated
+himself at an old piano, and the concert began afresh, the daughter
+playing the mandoline to her father's accompaniment on the venerable
+instrument. The company, which included two priests, smoked as it
+listened appreciatively.
+
+On the centre table was a liqueur-stand, two decanters of red wine,
+and a large round dish holding a giant _enciamada_. When the music
+ended and we rose to go, the hostess advanced carrying the
+liqueur-stand, and, doing the honours with an ease of manner and
+dignity of bearing that might have adorned any social rank, she
+insisted on pouring out a little glass of _aniset_ for each of us.
+Having drunk to the health of the hero of the _fiesta_, we made our
+farewells and departed, delighted with this chance glimpse of placid
+and happy home-life, and wondering what manner of reception a party
+of curious intrusive foreigners who disturbed the peace of a family
+gathering would have met in our own conservative country.
+
+That afternoon at Fornalutx was fated to be one of those that stand
+clearly out in the memory, not because of any special adventure or
+of any great occurrence, but simply because it held a succession of
+captivating little incidents, of happy chances.
+
+Passing down a narrow street of steps we came upon an old house
+whose wide outer court tempted us to enter. Exploring, we found
+ourselves in an olive oil factory. In the inner chamber a patient
+mule, his eyes blindfolded by having miniature straw baskets tied
+over them, was walking sedately round, supplying the force that
+crushed the olives, and from the press the oil was gushing in
+streams that went to fill the vats underneath the floor.
+
+On the outside wall of the post office a caged bird was singing
+cheerily. Next door was the prison, but that cage was empty. The
+barred window of its cell opened breast-high on the street, but
+spiders had, undisturbed, woven webs across its bars, and the key
+stood in the door. Evidently malefactors are scarce in the quaint
+hill-town.
+
+Leaving the crooked streets, we strolled up the side of the
+_torrente_, which flowed amidst orange orchards and by the sides of
+picturesque houses. Pomegranate-trees, their dainty foliage flecked
+with autumnal gold, had rooted in the high banks by the water, and
+the unplucked rose-red fruit had already supplied many a luxurious
+meal for the birds. Were I a bird I would elect to build my nest at
+Fornalutx, for there I would be sure to find an abundance of good
+food. Figs bursting with ripeness hung on the trees, and all around
+were oranges, and vines, and yet more oranges.
+
+Far up the precipitous hill-path, at a point so high that it
+afforded a glorious view of Soller, we came upon a farm-house known
+to our friends.
+
+The occupants, greeting us kindly, took us into the most curious
+kitchen imaginable. Goatskins covered the ceiling, and in the centre
+was a place where seats encircled a charcoal brazier--a Majorcan
+"cosy corner," where the household could sit and snugly toast their
+toes, when storms blew snell about the mountains and rain obscured
+the valley.
+
+The garden space in front of the farm-house had been turned into a
+great bower by a huge vine that, trained along a trellis, cast over
+it a pleasant shade.
+
+[Illustration: At Fornalutx]
+
+It was late in the season--the last day of November--yet a few
+glorious clusters of grapes, the berries all golden and pink and
+wearing a bloom unmarred by touch of hand, hung heavy from its
+branches. Here another instance of native generosity awaited us, for
+the housewife, resolutely refusing recompense, sent us away laden
+with bunches. As we descended to where the carriage waited we must
+have presented something of the appearance of the returning spies
+that Moses had sent out to view the land of Canaan.
+
+The sun had set when we reached Fornalutx. Looking up from the
+crooked street towards the hills we saw the peak of the Puig Mayor
+stand out against the darkening eastern sky, sublime, magnificent,
+bathed in a flood of roseate light. It was a fitting climax to a day
+of quiet delights.
+
+We had entered Soller wet and weary on Saturday night, knowing no
+one within many miles. When, on Wednesday afternoon, the diligence
+bound for Palma called at the Marina to pick us up, people of four
+different nationalities assembled round the coach door to bid us
+"God-speed."
+
+We would fain have lingered amid the oranges and palms of Soller,
+but time was flying and we had much to see elsewhere.
+
+The diligence was full--so full that there would hardly have been
+space for an added thimble. It was our first experience of a
+Majorcan diligence, and we were interested to see how pleasantly the
+already closely packed passengers squeezed together to make room for
+new-comers, and to note how quietly they all sat, without fidgeting,
+with scarcely a change of position, during a drive that lasted over
+four hours.
+
+The window in front and those at the sides were shut, and remained
+so throughout the journey. Fortunately our seats were by the door,
+and through its big window, which we kept open, we had a splendid
+view.
+
+The highroad from Soller to Palma is, I verily believe, one of the
+most curious ever made. Immediately after leaving the town it has to
+ascend 1,500 feet, which exploit it accomplishes by zigzagging at
+acute angles to the summit. That done, it zigzags down the other
+side.
+
+The progress uphill was necessarily slow, so slow indeed, that the
+driver, who had traversed that road daily for thirty years, left his
+sure-footed mules to guide themselves, and trotted along behind the
+coach smoking the eternal cigarette. And, while we revelled in the
+ever-varying views afforded by the constant change of direction, our
+fellow travellers gently dozed, with the exception of a round-eyed
+little girl, who, oppressed by the glory of her first hat and the
+excitement of her first journey, kept wide-awake.
+
+Up we went, every moment revealing some fresh effect of light and
+shadow in the enchanting mountains, past where the embryonic
+workings of the new light railway scarred the hillside. Up we went
+and up, catching little glimpses of the town nestling far beneath in
+its cradle of mountains, and seeing the last flash of sunset
+illumine their crests. As we mounted slowly the somnolence of our
+fellow passengers became more profound, and a portly father who was
+seated beside the little girl, to her evident alarm, lurched farther
+and farther in her direction, threatening altogether to efface her.
+The Man was on the point of going to the rescue, but the coach
+having reached the old carven cross that marks the summit, a sudden
+and vivifying change came over our manner of progress. The driver
+remounted the box beside the two motionless old women, whose
+black-shrouded figures we had seen silhouetted against the light,
+and off we set, at a pace that atoned for our crawl uphill.
+
+The more rapid motion wrought a transformation on our companions.
+All the slumberers awoke. The portly gentleman, simultaneously
+opening eyes and mouth, gazed down in astonishment at the child, as
+though during his doze she had materialized out of nothing. Lively
+expressions lit up the blank faces. The little old man in the corner
+began softly chanting one of the quaint native songs, that to me
+always sound like improvisations.
+
+It was already dusk when we stopped to change our three hardy mules
+at a wayside _fonda_: and the lights of Palma were sparkling through
+the December darkness when we drew up at the city gate for the
+_consumero's_ inspection.
+
+During our days of absence the gay little city seemed to have
+decided that winter had come. The soldiers had donned their heavy
+coats, and men were going about muffled in great cloaks: but leaves
+were still thick on the plane-trees in the Borne, and to us the air
+seemed still soft and pleasant.
+
+A few minutes later we were entering the Casa Tranquila with that
+feeling of absolute contentment that return to one's own home alone
+can afford.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Son Mas, Andraitx]
+
+X
+
+ANDRAITX
+
+
+A happy fortune more than good guiding led us to Andraitx. The Boy,
+painting at the port of Palma had seen the diligence, stuffed within
+with country folks and top-heavy without with their bundles, start
+with a gay jingle of bells for that little-known town, and was
+seized with a desire to visit it.
+
+Somewhat precipitately we engaged our seats in the following day's
+coach, and then proceeded to make inquiries about the place. Nobody,
+it seemed, had a good word to say of it, perhaps because no one went
+there. Baedeker scorned even to mention its name. There was only an
+inferior _fonda_, one informant said. There was no _fonda_ at all,
+amended another.
+
+The diligence left Palma at two o'clock, and the fee for the 30
+kilometros--over 20 miles--was two pesetas. Taking only a light
+suit-case, we locked the doors of the Casa Tranquila that glorious
+December afternoon, and walking down, reached in good time the
+little back-street cafe whence the coach started.
+
+Several passengers were already in waiting--a pleasant-faced old man
+and his comely wife in native dress, sundry peasant women muffled in
+shawls, one or two men whom the mistress of the cafe was serving
+with lunch. A little pile of luggage--bundles tied in brilliant
+kerchiefs, and market baskets--littered the floor. As we waited,
+more passengers arrived and more. We were glad our places had been
+secured.
+
+At five minutes before two the mail-bag appeared; and at ten minutes
+past, the diligence rattled down the narrow cobbled street and
+pulled up at the door of the cafe. It was a cumbrous and yet cramped
+vehicle lined with clean striped cotton.
+
+The slender mail-bag having been deposited in a hollow seat, the Man
+and I hopped briskly in and secured the places on either side of the
+door, which had a wide window, arguing away our consciences'
+accusation of selfishness by the excuse that we were probably the
+only passengers to whom the scenery would be new. Then the nice old
+country couple came in, followed by a huge matron with a little son;
+and a pretty young girl took the seat next to me. An old dame, who,
+in spite of the heat, was muffled into a living mummy, mounted
+beside the Boy on the box. The country women were packed into a
+hooded cart that was waiting to receive the overflow, the driver got
+up in front, and we were ready to start. It was already half an hour
+after starting-time, but we delayed until a nice little boy,
+attended by two juvenile shop-lads clad in overalls of check cotton,
+appeared to join us. As fitting preparation for his four-hour
+journey in the stuffy interior of the coach, careful relatives had
+enveloped the urchin in a heavy top-coat and wound a thick muffler
+round his neck. He was hauled into the coach, his luggage, which
+consisted of two large round bundles neatly tied in gaily striped
+handkerchiefs, went to swell the mound on the top, and off we set at
+last, only to halt at the bottom of the street to admit a woman of
+such appalling dimensions that she seemed to prove what the Boy
+declares is the Majorcan rule with regard to diligences--that they
+first fill them quite full, and then add a couple of the fattest
+people procurable.
+
+Clambering ponderously in she subsided with a flop between the other
+massive matron and the pretty girl. "Caramba!" exclaimed the pretty
+girl, and the journey began in earnest.
+
+Palma was brilliant in sunshine. Looking back as we crawled up the
+heights towards the Terreno, it glowed like a jewel in the strong
+sunlight. The sea was a vivid azure. Beyond the opposite shores of
+the bay the distant isle of Cabrera showed distinctly.
+
+As the road wound onwards in and out, we got glimpses of fairy-like
+inlets of the sea, of beautiful caves and tiny bays all sparkling in
+the sunshine. As we passed the hotel at Cas Catala a German waiter
+appeared to get the newspaper from our driver, and we felt glad that
+our journey ended in a place where German waiters were unknown.
+
+Turning from the sea, the road passed among rocky slopes crowned
+with pines and olives. Amid the stones we caught sight of rosy heath
+and of great clumps of lavender rich in purple blossom. It was on
+this beautiful sloping country-side that the first great battle was
+fought between the troops of King Jaime and the hosts of the Moorish
+Amir. The fighting was severe; and, though the victory was his, the
+chroniclers of the period tell how the brave young King of Aragon
+wept when he learned of the loss of two nobles, brothers, who had
+been boon companions of his own. A tapestry in one of the chambers
+of the Casa Consistorial at Palma gives a pictorial rendering of the
+scene. And under a large pine by the wayside, nearly half-way
+between the capital and Andraitx, is a monument--a simple iron
+cross set on a stone pedestal--commemorating the valour of the
+Spaniards who lost their lives to help to free the Christians.
+
+When the way was uphill, and the coach lumbered slowly along,
+slumber crept over the passengers. When we again reached the level
+and the pace quickened, everybody awoke, and conversation became
+general; at least, as far as the native element was concerned. The
+Man and I yearned for a knowledge of Majorcan when the two plump
+ladies, whose tongues were their only active members, took turn
+about in relating what were evidently incidents of dramatic
+interest.
+
+Once or twice, when the road ascended some specially steep slope in
+zigzags, the coach stopped, and most of us got out and, crossing the
+hill by a short cut--we followed those who knew the way--rejoined it
+on the farther side. Needless to mention, the only two dames whose
+absence would have made any appreciable lessening in the weight
+remained fixtures.
+
+The two points of difference between Majorcan and British travellers
+that we had noticed on the drive from Soller again impressed us. One
+was their quiet demeanour. They were not restless, they never
+fidgeted. They sat quite still, their hands placidly folded--except
+when a little gesticulation was necessary to adorn a tale. The
+second, which was even more unlike the British of the same class,
+was that though the journey was one of about four hours' duration
+they had made no provision for it. Even the small boy, or the little
+child, had not so much as a sweet or a biscuit to break the
+monotony.
+
+When, half-way, we stopped to change horses, the old man, who had
+been pleasantly interested in the feminine gossip, stepped lightly
+out, and returning with a large tin mug of water, handed it round.
+It was the pretty girl who, when it came to her turn to drink,
+gracefully declined the privilege in favour of me, saying, with a
+wave of her hand, "Ah, no! The senora first."
+
+The way was wild and romantic. Only at long intervals was there a
+house even by the road-side. Just at dusk we passed several open
+carts crowded with young olive-gatherers returning from work--a gay
+band, shouting and singing. After that the night appeared to fall
+suddenly upon the earth, and the new moon, a bright star poised
+above her, shone in the sky.
+
+A second diligence, starting from some other point, had joined us;
+and as we moved slowly along in company, the two lumbering
+heavily-laden coaches and the covered van, the little procession had
+something of the aspect of a party of emigrants travelling in quest
+of a new home.
+
+When the mysterious beauty of the half-lights had vanished, and the
+night gathered, we began to wonder why we had left the Casa
+Tranquila, where we had been so comfortable. We had no special
+reason for coming to Andraitx; there was no attraction to draw us
+thither. And even now we did not know if there was any place where
+we might sleep.
+
+Just before we entered the town the coach stopped a moment and the
+Boy came round to the door.
+
+"I've been consulting the driver," he said. "He recommends a place
+where he says we'll get the best cooking in Andraitx."
+
+"Is it an inn?" we asked.
+
+"No, I don't think it's exactly an _inn_, but the man has been a
+cook. His house is at this end of the town. The driver says he'll
+stop there if we like. Will that do?"
+
+It was quite dark now. We were cramped and tired, and the refuge
+that wasn't exactly an inn was at least near. We agreed that it
+would do.
+
+Three minutes later the diligence drew up in front of an open door,
+through which the light from a good oil lamp streamed into the
+blackness of the street.
+
+"This seems to be the place," said the Boy. "But it's a shop!"
+
+There was no opportunity for hesitation. Our luggage was already on
+the pavement. Turning to a tall, bearded man in a white apron who
+appeared in the doorway, we asked if he had accommodation.
+
+Yes, he had room, he replied; would we enter?--and, following him,
+we found ourselves in a wide, airy shop. On one side were shelves
+filled with delicacies. On the other were three great wine barrels.
+And on the floor stood the usual assortment of hampers and open
+baskets containing fruits and vegetables.
+
+At the back of the shop, sandwiched between it and the kitchen, was
+a neat little dining-room. And when we had been ushered in there the
+Boy, as our spokesman, proceeded, after the custom of the country,
+to ask terms--"What would be the charge for board and lodging, wine
+included, a day?"
+
+Our host hesitated. He was an exceptionally nice-looking man and
+spoke beautiful Spanish.
+
+"The terms? That would depend upon what one had. He could make any
+terms that suited, from one peseta and a half a day. But for four
+pesetas--_then_ he could do us really well."
+
+A bargain was quickly struck. We were to pay three pesetas and a
+half a day, wine and the little breakfast included; and our first
+meal was to be served as soon as it could be prepared.
+
+After a short stroll through the dark streets, and not a little
+conjecture concerning immediate happenings, we returned to our
+lodging. The glass doors of the little dining-room opened on to the
+shop, its window looked to the kitchen, where our host was already
+busy over the stove. The sound of quick footsteps overhead suggested
+that rooms were being prepared for our reception. Her parents being
+engaged, the shop had been left in charge of the daughter of the
+house, a pretty, dark-eyed child of seven years old.
+
+She made a charming little picture, as she sat amongst the scarlet
+_pimientos_ and the yellow lemons waiting for custom. And when a
+younger child, carrying a quart bottle, entered to buy a pennyworth
+of wine, the business-like way in which she placed the funnel in the
+bottle, and filling the measure from the barrel poured it in without
+spilling a drop, delighted us. As also did the accustomed way in
+which she dropped the penny into the table-drawer that served as
+till.
+
+Before we had time to grow impatient our hostess, looking like an
+adult copy of her child, appearing, spread the table neatly with
+clean linen and shining crystal, then set before us a dish of rolls,
+one of olives, and small plates of spiced sausage and ham. Then the
+host entered carrying a bottle of a good brand of imported claret
+that he had taken from his shelves, and a syphon of seltzer.
+
+We were nibbling at the appetizers, trying to restrain ourselves
+from making a meal of them, when an excellent soup was served.
+
+"If I could choose, I know what I'd have next--a big fat omelet,"
+the Boy said, as he finished his plate of soup. And on the thought,
+as though in answer to his wish, the landlord entered bearing a fine
+opulent omelet stuffed with green peas. When we had eaten that, he
+was waiting to replace it with a dish of delicately browned veal
+cutlets, savoury potatoes fried in butter, and more green peas. A
+sweet course is so rarely served in Majorca that it was a pleasant
+surprise to find the cutlets followed by a mould of the native
+preserve, _membrillo_ (quince) jelly, and pastry turn-overs. The
+dessert consisted of a pyramid of mandarin oranges cut with stems
+and leaves. It was a surprisingly complete meal to be served on an
+hour's notice in the back shop of a little unknown out-of-the-world
+town.
+
+The rooms allotted to us comprised the whole floor above. The _salon_,
+which was to the front, had two handsome wardrobes--wardrobes would
+seem to be as often placed in sitting-rooms as in bedrooms in
+Majorca--a chest of drawers, several comfortable chairs. The beds,
+with their lace-trimmed and monogrammed linen, were perfection. As we
+fell asleep we blessed the happy chance that had led us to so much
+more comfortable quarters than we had anticipated finding.
+
+Breakfast, of French chocolate and hot buttered rolls, served to
+confirm the good impression of the previous night.
+
+The ambition of my infancy--to keep a little shop--threatened to
+return as, from the stronghold of our neat little dining-room, we
+watched the life of the shop, a portion of whose trade appeared to
+consist of barter. First a woman entered with a basket of glowing
+sun-kissed pomegranates which she exchanged for macaroni and other
+groceries. She was quickly followed by a man who had a hamper of
+lemons and a bag of the scarlet waxen pods of the sweet pepper to
+dispose of.
+
+While the chocolate was still in process of consumption our host,
+courteously solicitous respecting our comfort of the night, waited
+on us, his tall, slender form begirt with an apron of spotless
+purity, on which was also embroidered the family monogram.
+
+From our concerns the conversation naturally passed to his, and with
+the simple friendliness of the Majorcan he told us his life-story.
+Told how, like most of the Andraitx lads, he had early left home to
+seek his fortune, but while most of his companions had become
+sailors, he had chosen to make cooking his profession. A course of
+years passed as a _chef_ in Havanna and other places had gained him
+the nest-egg he desired. Returning to his native town while still a
+comparatively young man, he had taken this shop, married to his
+liking, and settled down in comfort.
+
+There was neither sun nor wind. The air was calm and cool. It was a
+splendid day for exploring a new locality. But Andraitx was still a
+sealed letter to us. We did not even know what to look for.
+
+When we arrived on the previous night the town had been shrouded in
+darkness. So it was a charming surprise after we had mounted the
+commonplace street to find that in situation Andraitx resembled a
+miniature Soller. Hills, some crowned by windmills, enclosed it on
+every side. Passing through the market square we climbed the
+eminence on which perched the quaint old church, and looking back,
+saw the town lying in the hollow beneath us; and to the north-west,
+its mouth guarded by sentinel hills, the wide inlet of the sea that
+marked the port.
+
+Within the church, gloom and silence held possession. A little
+distance off was the walled cemetery. Leaving an environment that
+threatened to depress us, we scrambled down the farther side of the
+rocky incline, and, finding a path, followed it.
+
+The path, chosen at random, passed in front of Son Mas, a quaint old
+building whose tower bore signs of great antiquity. The place was
+evidently now in use as a farm-house, and the tenant, seeing us
+pause to look in through the wide gateway, came out and cordially
+invited us to enter.
+
+He was a fine specimen of the handsome, robust sons of that gracious
+soil. His sun-tanned skin and workaday garb seemed at variance with
+his courteous dignity of manner, which admirably became the resident
+of so ancient a mansion. He appeared to feel a special pride in his
+surroundings and did not scamp the showing. Through the wide
+courtyard, and up the central staircase that led to the balconies,
+and through the deserted rooms he escorted us.
+
+The tall square tower that now formed part of the house, he told us,
+had in older times been used as a place of refuge by the Christians
+during the attacks of the piratical Moors who infested the coast--a
+stronghold to which they fled when news reached them that the
+heathen marauders had entered the port and were advancing towards
+the town. Would we like to see it?
+
+Would we not! Following our leader, we passed along more corridors
+and over floors aslant with age, till he stopped before the entrance
+to what was probably the smallest winding stair ever devised for the
+passage of human beings.
+
+Up that very stair, our guide assured us, had the Christians fled to
+seek safety in the tower. And as we timorously mounted the narrow
+steps we agreed that the Andraitx early Christians must have been
+the leanest of mankind. For one plump Christian in a hurry would
+assuredly have brought destruction on all the rest by sticking in
+the first bend of that pitch-dark winding staircase.
+
+We emerged, dusty and breathless, into a square room whose window
+framed a magnificent view over the town and the wide fruitful valley
+to the shining waters of the port beyond.
+
+In one of the walls was a groined cavity that had been a shrine. And
+close beside it was the now walled-up doorway that, when the tower
+stood apart, had been connected by a drawbridge with the main
+building.
+
+On the dusty floor in a corner lay some curious earthenware retorts
+of a primitive date. The vessels had been found in an old cabinet in
+company with a quantity of unknown drugs--presumably the stock of
+some long-dead alchemist. Scientific men, hearing of the discovery,
+had hastened to carry off the chemicals, the farmer told us, leaving
+the earthenware behind.
+
+All the acquisitive Briton in us yearned to possess one of the
+quaint retorts. It was only the thought of their bulky brittleness
+that conquered the covetous feeling.
+
+From the room more pigmy steps wound upwards to a roofed _mirador_,
+but, as the inner walls of the staircase were broken away in great
+gaps, only the Boy was daring enough to ascend.
+
+Returning, he reported a low roof that sloped down to battlemented
+walls pierced with loop-holes through which arrows and boiling water
+were wont to shower down on the besiegers. On one occasion the
+captain of the Moors was killed with scalding water thrown from the
+tower. To the present day the incident affords matter for intense
+satisfaction at Andraitx.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: In the Port of Andraitx]
+
+XI
+
+UP AMONG THE WINDMILLS
+
+
+When at noon we returned to the shop our host had a delightful
+little luncheon awaiting us. And it was in high good-humour with
+him, with ourselves, and with all the world, that we set off to walk
+the three miles of level road that lie between the town of Andraitx
+and its port.
+
+Every foot of the way was full of interest. At first it led past
+rustic dwellings set in their orange and lemon gardens. In one
+orchard a life-size, and life-like, male scarecrow was perched high
+up in the branches of a pomegranate-tree. Then the road ran for a
+long way close by the dry bed of a _torrente_, that in the rainy
+season would be a river, and through groves of almond and
+olive-trees before it reached the wide stretch of fruitful plain
+devoted to the culture of vegetables.
+
+Our path was cheerful with wayfarers. As we strolled along, a
+succession of old vehicles and picturesque folk passed us. Old men
+in suits of faded blue cotton, bright-hued handkerchiefs bound about
+their heads under their wide hats, trotted by beside their panniered
+donkeys. And dotted over the rich, red earth people were busy. In
+one field a man was ploughing, while close on his heels a handsome
+dark-eyed woman in a scarlet petticoat followed, dropping yellow
+peas into the newly turned furrows.
+
+Everybody within hailing distance gave us kindly greeting. Even an
+infant, whose age might have been reckoned in months, from where he
+was snugly seated in a basket, clearly echoed his parents' "Bon di
+tenga," much to our amusement and to the frankly evident delight of
+his father and mother.
+
+In the rich, moist soil of that sheltered valley we thought we had
+discovered the mould in which the gross eighteen-inch radishes are
+grown. Perhaps it is the nature of that alluvial plain that accounts
+also for so plentiful a harvest of mosquitoes. Certain it was that
+they positively swarmed, and that being quick to detect a new and, I
+trust, delectable flavour in foreigners, they paid us particularly
+insistent attention, escorting us even to the port, and out on the
+breakwater that cuts across the inlet, and makes snug haven for the
+fishing craft and for the few cargo _pailebots_ that anchor in the
+port. It was fortunate that, unlike those of the Palma mosquitoes,
+their stings proved harmless.
+
+We had brought tea-things with us, and leaving the Man sketching,
+seated on a mast that lay under the sea-wall, the Boy and I took the
+empty kettle, and set off in search of water, and of the men's
+constant need--tobacco.
+
+The sign over the door of the only shop in the place showed that it
+was authorized to sell the tobacco that is a Government monopoly of
+Spain. Going in, we found ourselves in a long, low-ceilinged
+apartment that might have served for a type of a smugglers' den.
+
+Several people of both sexes were within. From without we had heard
+the gay clamour of voices, but with our unexpected entrance all
+seemed stricken dumb. The woman who had been sweeping out the brood
+of adventurous chickens stopped short, broom in hand, as though
+turned to stone. The girl mixing something in a bowl paused to
+stare. The men ceased their loud discussion and gathered in a silent
+band to learn our business.
+
+We were not altogether unaccustomed to pointed attention. That very
+day in Andraitx our appearance had aroused something of the interest
+accorded in an English country town to a circus procession. But the
+silent scrutiny was distinctly embarrassing. The Boy is rarely
+abashed, yet his voice faltered a little as, in Spanish, he asked
+for cigarettes, naming a good brand. On learning that they were not
+in stock he asked for others, and yet others, lessening the monetary
+value of his demands until he reached those cigarettes that retail
+at seven for a halfpenny. But even these were not to be had. "Then
+what was for sale? Any brand would do."
+
+Hard pressed, the authorized vendor of Government tobacco confessed
+that he had none in stock.
+
+"But this is the Government tobacco shop, and you are all
+smoking--what on earth do you smoke, then?" demanded the Boy.
+
+There was a momentary hesitation; then--"We all smoke contraband
+tobacco, senor," he made reluctant admission.
+
+"That's good enough for me," said the Boy, and with a relieved
+expression the shopkeeper disappeared to return with a three-ounce
+packet of smuggled tobacco, for which he charged sevenpence-halfpenny.
+And vile though it undoubtedly was, the buyer declared that it was
+vastly superior to that usually sold with the sanction of the Spanish
+powers.
+
+When, bearing the full kettle and the contraband tobacco, we
+sauntered back to the breakwater, it was to find the Man the centre
+of an interested crowd of boys. And all the time we waited an
+engrossed audience surrounded us. Even the appearance of a longboat,
+rowed by what to our eyes seemed a crew of pirates, so picturesque
+was their garb, failed to divert a tithe of the attention.
+
+Apart from its beauty, the port of Andraitx impressed us as being
+the least prosperous place we had seen in Majorca. The houses were
+poor and huddled together. And the population seemed large in
+proportion to the probable increment. As one of the natives put it,
+"the fishermen are many and the fish few." The village lads, fine
+stalwart fellows all of them, were woefully patched as to attire.
+Majorcan women are marvellously dexterous with the needle. Their
+patches are so neatly inserted as to be works of art; but until that
+afternoon at the port of Andraitx we had never encountered patches
+that threatened to usurp the entire groundwork of a garment.
+
+We had heard of the existence of an official known as the "Captain
+of the Port," yet, one man being as dexterously mended as another,
+failed to distinguish him among the loiterers about the pier. At
+length a gentleman with side whiskers, taking up his stand behind
+the Man, bowed ceremoniously to me, silently raising his time-worn
+hat.
+
+"Buenos dias," I said; in my desire to be affable forgetting that it
+was already afternoon.
+
+There was a momentary pause. Then, "Buenas _tardes_, senora. Buenas
+_tardes_," he corrected, in a tone of gentle reproof.
+
+And I decided that in spite of his plenitude of patches, his total
+lack of waistcoat, and his dilapidated buff slippers, the gentleman
+who revealed so refined a desire for exactitude of speech must be
+the Captain of the Port.
+
+It was on the morning of our second day at Andraitx that we decided
+to go to Arraco, a little town about half an hour's walk farther
+north.
+
+When we spoke of going our host suggested our branching off from the
+road and climbing the hill of the windmills to see the view.
+Antonia, his little daughter, would accompany us to show the way.
+And in a trice Antonia was pronounced ready for the excursion. Her
+head was bare, her feet were encased in smart yellow boots, and in
+the pocket of her red frock there were stowed away, as provision for
+the journey, a roll and a diminutive black-pudding.
+
+It was a lovely day--sweet and peaceful. Even after two months'
+experience we never seemed to become accustomed to the consistent
+urbanity of the Majorcan weather, and each successive perfect day
+brought a fresh surprise.
+
+The road was a beautiful one. Once beyond the outskirts of the town
+it passed between slopes luxuriant in almonds and olives. Here and
+there the falling golden leaves of a pomegranate made an aureate
+glow on the red-brown earth. Perched high in an olive-tree by the
+wayside a man was pruning its branches.
+
+For the first ten minutes Antonia was demurely silent. Then, as her
+shyness wore off, her horns appeared. She was a charming imp of
+seven, the adored of her parents, who knew her variously as Anton,
+Antonia, and Antonetta. Anton, in a tone of reproof when she was
+caught pulling the hair of a friend, Antonia when she was ordinarily
+good, and Antonetta on the many occasions that they found her
+particularly adorable.
+
+She went, apparently only when she had got nothing more interesting
+to do, to a convent school, where she was, with exceeding
+reluctance, beginning to learn Spanish--a tongue against which she
+naturally cherished a grievance.
+
+"What is the use of learning Spanish?" she demanded of the Boy, who
+was urging her to speak it. "Majorcan--that is a useful language.
+Spanish? No. Spanish is no use."
+
+By the wayside the curious wild arums known as _frares_ (monks) were
+growing. Picking a handful, Antonia began with great enjoyment
+repeating a native rhyme, the point of which lay in knocking off the
+heads of one of the flowers at the conclusion of each repetition:--
+
+    "_Frare lleig, frare lleig,
+      Si no dius se Misa, le tomere es bech!_"
+
+--of which this is an easy translation:--
+
+    "_Lazy friar, lazy friar,
+      If your Mass is not said I will chop off your head._"
+
+Antonia had a knowledge of vegetables too. Or is it some inherent
+faculty that teaches children the edible fruits? When we chanced to
+pass a big algarroba-tree she darted under it, and, after a little
+rummaging amid the dry leaves, returned triumphantly bearing some
+long dark-brown pods, in which the Man was amused to recognise a
+fruit known to his experimentive boyhood as "locusts." The pods,
+which are sweet and succulent, are used in Majorca as food for
+cattle.
+
+Just where the road came almost within sight of Arraco the path to
+the hills crowned by the windmills branched off. Deciding to get the
+climbing over first, we left the highway, and mounted amongst most
+beautiful and varied vegetation. All about us tall pink and crimson
+heaths were blooming. Small clumps of palms that we had not before
+seen out of a conservatory grew among the rocks, and great cactus
+rioted in picturesque masses.
+
+The base of the windmills reached, we enjoyed a view that extended
+in every direction. Beneath to one side was Arraco, its houses, save
+where near the church they were huddled closer together, scattered
+widely over the surface of a cup-like valley, that was so closely
+encircled by hills that we could discover no way leading out. Above
+the hills to the north the heights of the island of Dragonera rose
+from the sea. From another point we looked down on Andraitx, and
+marked the wide plain that ended in the placid waters of the port.
+
+We had not meant to stay long on the heights, but the varied
+prospects were so beautiful and the air so placid that we felt
+tempted to linger. Then the Man took out his sketching block, and
+the matter was settled. Arraco would remain unvisited. Like the
+lotus-eaters, we were content and would roam no farther.
+
+We were now so accustomed to Majorcan skilled and thrifty husbandry
+that it was no surprise to find that even the summit of the height
+was planted with fruit trees. On a rocky ledge, close under the
+spreading sails of the windmill, nestled a tiny house, and every
+handful of soil supported its fig-, almond-, pomegranate- or
+apple-tree.
+
+The air was soft and gentle. Even at that altitude there was
+scarcely a breath of wind. Butterflies were hovering about. All the
+world seemed at peace. From Arraco arose the faint chime of a bell,
+from beyond the rock-bound coast came the murmur of the sea.
+
+[Illustration: Above Andraitx]
+
+I think it was the discovery that just outside the little hut a man
+was eating his dinner that aroused us to the fact that we also were
+hungry. Breakfast had been light, and early dinner, a good way off,
+was not due till two o'clock. Antonia's sharp little white teeth had
+long ago devoured Antonia's roll and black-pudding. We had started
+out with the intention of foraging at Arraco; but Arraco, a
+scattered handful of pigmy dwellings, lay far down in the hollow.
+
+Then an idea occurred to us. The husbandman, who had finished his
+meal, and was now lighting a cigarette, would be sure to have food.
+We would ask him to sell us some bread.
+
+The peasant, who proved to be a kindly soul, had a beard and the
+most dilapidated hat ever worn by mortal man. But he had no bread.
+The hut under the windmill was only a shelter. His home was in the
+valley, and it was evidently his provisions for the day that he had
+just consumed. He did what he thought was next best, and drawing a
+great jar of clean water from his well, brought it to us.
+
+The Boy and Antonia, who had gone off to try their luck at the other
+windmill, returned bringing two shapeless lumps of the stalest rye
+bread ever eaten, and the kindly dilapidated man who, in genuine
+concern for our welfare, had been hovering near, disappeared into
+his shanty, and reappearing with a plate of olives, presented them
+to us. So off olives, water from an antique jar, and mouldy rye
+bread that vied with it in antiquity, we took the edge off our
+appetites.
+
+I must not forget the prickly pears--or cactus figs--that we had
+picked on the way up. A certain fearful joy attends the gathering of
+this fruit, which requires the exercise of some ingenuity in dodging
+its insidious prickles. But there the pleasure ends; for the fruit
+is both seedy and insipid. To appreciate the prickly pear one would
+require to meet it in an arid desert.
+
+The sun was sinking when we set out for a final stroll at Andraitx.
+We were to leave early next morning, and we knew that there were
+countless walks we must leave unexplored.
+
+A glory of grey and gold and orange was flushing the sky when we
+turned into the road that wound up the valley. The mountains that
+rose on either side were glowing roseate from the sunset; but under
+any conditions the way would have been very beautiful. It led by a
+_torrente_ in whose bed there was actually a trickle of water, and
+just beyond a picturesque bridge was a village--of no social
+importance probably, but assuredly of great artistic charm. The
+village straggling up the side of the valley was such a place as
+nobody ever tells one of--one of those unexpectedly picturesque
+spots that, with a thrill of delight, one discovers for oneself, and
+feels a proprietorial interest in ever after, almost as though one
+had invented it. We learned later that the name of the hamlet was
+Secoma, and that it was divided into two portions, which were known
+respectively as Secoma Hot and Secoma Cold.
+
+The narrow, winding street was busy. The olive-gatherers were
+returning from work, and those who had remained at home came out to
+gape at us. The barber who was shaving a customer, catching sight of
+our passing reflection in the mirror, abandoned his task and ran to
+the door to stare, with his customer, lathered and pinafored, close
+on his heels.
+
+Already were we beginning to recognize, and to be recognized, in the
+district. An amazingly stately old lady, who appeared to spend her
+days perched sideways on her panniered donkey, bowed with great
+dignity from her perch. A handsome fisher-lad, who had formed one of
+the Man's audience when he was sketching at the port, beamed when we
+encountered him delivering fish in back-of-the-world Secoma.
+
+We had entered Andraitx expecting little, and had found so much that
+was interesting and pleasant that we were reluctant to leave it. But
+an engagement for Sunday afternoon at Palma had to be kept. So
+perforce we bespoke seats in the diligence leaving at the
+extraordinary hour of four in the morning.
+
+An hour earlier three great knocks sounded on the closed door of the
+shop. It was the _vigilante_, who had been warned to arouse us. When
+we went downstairs it was to find our attentive landlord with a
+comforting meal of chocolate and hot buttered rolls ready to serve.
+And concerning this most excellent host it is only just to say that
+during our stay we found his efforts on our behalf increase rather
+than diminish. In case any of my readers may ever chance to visit
+this out-of-the-way town, I mention that his name is Gabriel
+Calafill, and his address is Calle Cerda, which, being interpreted,
+means Pig Street.
+
+All the cocks in Andraitx seemed to be awakened when a jingle of
+harness-bells drew us to the door of the lamp-lit shop. It was the
+darkest hour. A single dim lamp was all we saw of the diligence. As
+it drew up an invisible hand opened the coach door, and mounting the
+invisible steps I peered into the solid darkness of the interior. If
+there were any passengers inside, they were dumb and motionless.
+
+Hazarding a greeting, I interjected "Buenos dias" into the darkness.
+
+An instant reply from half a dozen throats showed that the coach was
+already well filled. A minute later we had insinuated ourselves into
+the places kept for us by the door, and the coach rolled off into
+the gloom.
+
+It was the hush before the dawn. The moon had long set. A few pale
+stars sprinkled the sky. Beyond the town the gloom was less
+impenetrable, and the road became a dim, grey ribbon slowly
+unwinding behind us. The trees and mountains were black,
+undistinguishable masses. The air was soft and very still. Within
+the coach all was silent. No one moved. Then, as the miles gradually
+slipped away, the sky began to lighten, and even the deep gloom of
+the interior became less tangible. In the farther corner dull white
+lines proclaimed a collar and shirt-cuffs while the sun-tanned flesh
+they encircled was yet unseen.
+
+As the daylight crept in, our fellow-travellers gradually became
+visible. Two men, vague entities, had left the coach when half-way
+we changed horses. There now remained a couple of quiet, respectable
+market women, a lovely little girl, and a strapping young man.
+
+At the foot of a steep ascent the conveyance stopped, and following
+the custom of able-bodied passengers the men got out to take the
+short cut, and rejoined the lightened diligence on the farther side.
+Glancing from the back window, as they passed up the heath slope, I
+noticed that the owner of the brown hands and the white cuffs had
+already entered into conversation with my men-folk. And when, a
+quarter of an hour later, they re-entered the coach, all three were
+on terms of unexpected intimacy.
+
+"This senor," the Boy explained, with an introductory wave of the
+hand, "is the father of that clever baby. You remember, mother. The
+one we saw yesterday on the way to the port. He sat in a basket and
+said 'Bon di tenga.'"
+
+The father, a strapping, clean-limbed Majorcan, fairly beamed with
+parental pride as he acknowledged the imputation. The boy, he told
+us, was now nearly three years old, but he had spoken as well ever
+since he was two. His own excellent Spanish he accounted for by
+saying that, like so many Andraitx young men, he had been a sailor,
+and had voyaged for several years to and from Cuba. Then, having
+saved some money, he had returned to his native town, had married,
+and was now farming his own bit of land. This morning he was
+journeying to Palma to collect the rent of a house he owned there.
+
+The sun was up when the diligence stopped before the _consumos_
+station at the entrance to Santa Catalina, and we alighted. It was
+only as we returned to more sophisticated surroundings that I
+realized that since leaving Palma on Thursday I had not seen a
+single hat upon a feminine head. No wonder we were stared at in
+Secoma!
+
+Half an hour later we were sitting at breakfast in the sunshine at
+the Casa Tranquila. We had arrived at Andraitx in the dusk, and had
+quitted it in the dusk, so it seemed as though all that had happened
+during our stay there had been but a pleasant dream.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Christmas Turkeys]
+
+XII
+
+NAVIDAD
+
+
+We returned from Andraitx to find that Christmas had stolen a march
+upon us, taking us unawares.
+
+Our first intimation of it was a communication that reached us from
+the postal authorities. It announced that a parcel awaited us at the
+head post office, and stated that if we called between the hours of
+twelve and thirteen on the following day, and paid the sum of eight
+pesetas seventy-six centimos charged as duty, we would be entitled
+to carry it away.
+
+The slip of green paper containing this laconic intimation
+fluttering into our uneventful lives, interested us hugely. To what
+could the notice refer? We expected nothing, and yet the amount of
+the duty--eight pesetas seventy-six centimos--argued it a
+possession of notable value. We would not have lost a moment before
+hastening off to pay the impost and claim our property had not the
+notice expressly mentioned the one hour of the morrow on which it
+might be procured.
+
+What could it be? Thinking ourselves discreet people, we professed
+to build no castles on the subject, but we all enjoyed the feeling
+of mystery.
+
+It was with a pleasant sense of expectancy that next day, shortly
+after noon, we entered the post office in the Calle San Felio, and
+after some inquiry discovered the department for the distribution of
+parcels. Two people were in advance of us. A young workman was
+getting a small package, a servant-maid was receiving a couple of
+round, flat boxes so large that a side door in the counter had to be
+opened for their egress.
+
+Watching, we wondered secretly if ours would be as big, or if it
+would be small and precious.
+
+After a preliminary signing of a book and the paying of the money,
+the parcel was produced and solemnly handed over to us. Its
+dimensions exceeded even our most sanguine expectations, and it was
+weighty in proportion. The address on the label showed that it had
+come from the best confectioner in London. This, taken in
+conjunction with its opulent proportions, seemed to presage a
+prolonged period of riotous living.
+
+"It must be cake," the Man said.
+
+"It must be a tremendous lot of cake," opined the Boy, who was
+carrying the bulky parcel. "Let's get home and open it."
+
+Owing, I think, to the cost of sugar, confections of every kind in
+Majorca are expensive and limited in variety. And although in
+England a plethora of good things had made us inclined to be blase,
+two months of residence in this land where sweets are matters for
+consumption on high-days and holy-days had revealed in each of us
+the possession of an unexpected sweet tooth. And the sight of the
+ample proportions of that confectioner's parcel set them aching
+furiously.
+
+"If it's sweets, we must not begin eating them until luncheon is
+over," I said, more by way of counsel to myself than to the others.
+
+"We'll see," said the Boy, who was determined not to commit himself.
+
+When we had entered the Casa Tranquila the carefully packed box was
+lifted on to the table and the exciting task of opening it began.
+The seals had already been broken, but there seemed several miles of
+carefully knotted string to unwind. Beneath the enveloping brown
+paper was an encasing of the corrugated cardboard in which
+breakables are packed. Within that was a thick layer of fine
+shavings. The dimensions of the package had been considerably
+lessened when, all the outer wrappings thrown aside, there was
+revealed a large square tin box. The side presented to us bore no
+sign of an opening. It really seemed as though the elusive gift was
+determined to baffle us.
+
+"The box has been carefully soldered," said the Man. "I can't
+understand how the Customs could fix the amount of the duty without
+knowing what was inside. How are we going to open it, I wonder?"
+
+But when he turned the box over a wide gash in the bottom revealed
+that the task had already been performed. Pressing aside the jagged
+edges of the tin, we saw within yet more shavings. When they had
+been carefully removed, fragments of china, and something tied in a
+rent white cloth met our gaze.
+
+"It's been a plum-pudding, and they've smashed it to atoms," the Man
+said bitterly.
+
+"Oh, what a _shame_! The mean wretches!" I lamented.
+
+The Boy said nothing, but felt for his pipe.
+
+Having succeeded in widening the gash considerably, the Man drew out
+the remaining enclosures. The pudding--a particularly fine one--was
+intact, but the bowl that had encased it was shattered. Splinters of
+the china were adhering to its dark richness. The Spanish Customs
+at the frontier, in their zeal to discover the nature of the
+contents and their fear of permitting a concealed bomb to escape
+their vigilance, had not only cut open the box and smashed the bowl,
+they had also ripped across the cloth that tied up the pudding.
+
+"Perhaps they were right to charge eight pesetas seventy-six
+centimos, but they needn't have made mincemeat of that nice china
+bowl, and rags of the pudding-cloth," I said indignantly.
+
+"Probably they thought that as mincemeat was also seasonable fare it
+would be a proper accompaniment to the pudding," the Man said.
+
+But the proof of the pudding is ever the eating of it. Its
+misadventures over, ours turned out to be a prince of plum-puddings.
+The flavour was perfection, and the size was such that we had to
+call in the aid of our friends to eat it. Formal entertainments were
+outside the scheme of life at the Casa Tranquila, but the Consul and
+his wife came to supper--menu, hot plum-pudding and flaming brandy.
+And some native friends came to tea--menu, plum-pudding toasted in
+slices, and coffee.
+
+Should future generations of Majorcans grow up in the quite
+erroneous belief that the British serve rich black plum-pudding hot
+at all meals, I'm afraid the blame must rest with us.
+
+Palma is always bright, but at Christmas-tide an increase of
+liveliness seemed to pervade the town. The shop windows displayed
+new wares, and the streets were full of country folk pricing,
+bargaining, and purchasing. The confectioners' windows were full of
+large round cardboard boxes, each containing a sugar travesty of a
+serpent, a weird reptile, reposing on a bed of sweets.
+
+The market square at night, when it is usually deserted, displayed a
+new and popular species of merchandise. Its outer sides were lined
+with rows of stalls laden with slabs of native sweetmeats all made
+in long blocks, and piles of tempting crystallized fruits. Other
+stalls held nothing but the curious little figures of native
+ware--men, women, animals, poultry, all very small--that the
+Majorcan children use when, with the aid of cork, they build little
+models of the Nativity in imitation of those seen at Christmastide
+in the churches.
+
+During the days preceding Christmas Day great preparations for the
+feast were made. In the market the price of choice fruits and
+vegetables rose a little. And the wide open space just without the
+gate of San Antonio--the patron saint of swine--became a busy fair
+devoted to the sale of pigs, turkeys, sheep and fowls.
+
+The part whose colour and movement rejoiced the artistic soul of the
+Man was that given over to the display of turkeys. The portion whose
+comic element delighted the Boy and me was that devoted to the wards
+of San Antonio, who, to judge by the shrillness and insistence of
+their cries, was proving himself but an irresponsible and callous
+guardian.
+
+The peasant-women, neat in the native costume, gaily coloured
+kerchiefs over their heads, their hair in pigtails, armed with long
+rods, stood beside their flocks of turkeys. At intervals they
+scattered handfuls of grain amongst them; but to do the birds
+justice, they showed little inclination to stray.
+
+On one side a long wall was formed of hooded carts filled with
+turkeys. And round each brood was a little group of townsfolk,
+making critical survey of the birds and, after a good deal of wordy
+chaffering, purchasing. The other side was occupied by a long row of
+fowl-sellers, who treated their wares with less respect; for
+splendid cocks, their burnished plumage gleaming with a thousand
+prismatic hues, lay helpless, their feet tied together, their bills
+in the dust.
+
+Sucking-pig being the favourite Christmas dinner in this land of
+sunshine, by far the larger space was allotted to the swine. And
+swine there were to satisfy all demands, from litters of tiny
+sucking-pigs surrounding their mothers to pigs of quite
+considerable bulk. As the pigs were sold by weight, it is safe to
+say that there wasn't a thirsty pig in the market that day. And
+while we saw few pigs being fed, we saw many being encouraged to
+drink. Some of the salesmen stood by their laden carts ready, on the
+approach of a likely customer, to thrust a hand into the mass of
+swart animalism and extract a protesting squeaker. Others sat lazily
+on chairs by their flocks, content to wait to be approached. While
+some of the older herdsmen wore slung over the shoulders the
+distinctive goatskin of their calling, most of the younger were
+attired in suits of corduroy, sun-faded into glorious harmonies of
+golds and browns and blues. We noticed that whilst certain of the
+men dealt in turkeys, none of the women sold pigs.
+
+And out of the city streamed the townsfolk, money in hand for the
+purchase of their Christmas dinner. Ladies in mantillas, attended by
+neat maids, bought turkeys; prosperous-looking tradesmen,
+accompanied by pinafored shop-lads provided with bits of rope,
+walked about pricing pigs; and lean operatives, with a hungry eye
+for the yearly tit-bit.
+
+It was after a pig had changed owners that the fun began. The market
+being held outside the city walls, the purchase had first to be
+taken to the _consumos_ shed to be weighed and have the duty paid on
+it. And the pigs, although comparatively placid while yet in company
+with their old comrades, when severed from them protested with full
+strength of lung and limb. Then woe betide the luckless being whose
+task it was to carry the agitator home. One man only did we see who
+had had the forethought to bring a sack in which to carry home his
+rebellious purchase.
+
+Everybody appeared to have evolved a different method of conveyance.
+Some men wore them as a collar round the neck, grasping the fore
+feet in one hand, the hind in the other. Some tried to lead them,
+with dire results. One flustered woman we saw had a child in her
+arms and was dragging at the end of a string a plump young porker
+that refused to walk. The majority, relinquishing any attempt at
+suasion, simply clutched the furiously objecting quadrupeds
+desperately in their arms and made the best of their way through the
+streets.
+
+Just as we were leaving the market we encountered a trio of elderly
+ladies, attended by a demure little maid in pigtail and _rebozillo_,
+whom we had noticed making a careful scrutiny before deciding. Their
+choice seemed at last to have been made, for the young servant
+carried in her arms, as tenderly as though it were a baby, a tiny
+sucking-pig. So far it had uttered no complaint, but just as the
+group turned into the street it awoke to the knowledge that
+something untoward was happening, and with the energy of one thrice
+its fighting weight, began squealing and squirming. In a moment
+consternation fell upon the sedately pacing quartette. When we last
+saw them a man had been hired to carry home the pigling, whose
+lamentations still rent the air.
+
+During the day or two that would elapse before the creatures were
+sacrificed for consumption they appeared to reside in the bosom of
+the family circles and to be treated as honoured guests. The fact
+that a home was in a flat three floors up did not deter its
+occupants from housing a four-footed edible guest. Turkeys strutted
+in doorways and upon high balconies. Proud children escorted pigs
+out for an airing.
+
+Two days before the feast we noticed on a piece of waste ground just
+inside the gate of Santa Catalina an enclosure roughly constructed
+of planks and sacking. From a post fluttered a banner of brown paper
+inscribed with the legend, _Se matan lechonas_ (Little pigs kill
+themselves). And thither, the right moment having arrived, people
+brought their pets. Within the enclosure, but in full view of the
+public, the piglings were killed, soused with the boiling water that
+was kept bubbling over a fire, scraped and made ready for the pot in
+the twinkling of an eye.
+
+On Christmas Eve we attended the midnight service in the Cathedral.
+It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the streets of Palma were
+unusually busy. Groups of people, the women and children all
+carrying folding stools, or in some cases rush-seated chairs, were
+walking sedately in the direction of the churches.
+
+In the silver light there was something mysterious about the
+succession of black-robed figures--the women's heads muffled in
+black mantillas or black silk kerchiefs--that moved steadfastly
+along the narrow mediaeval streets.
+
+[Illustration: A Scene of Slaughter]
+
+When we reached the Cathedral many people had already gathered. When
+we would have taken our usual seats under the organ, one of the
+canons in a robe of lace and rose-coloured silk approached and
+whispered to me in French that that portion of the church was
+reserved for men, but that I was free to take any place I liked on
+the opposite side. Crossing the foot-high wooden barrier that had
+been erected down the centre of the nave, under his escort, I set up
+the sketching stool I had brought at the base of one of the great
+pillars, and watched the edifice gradually fill with a reverent
+throng of worshippers.
+
+And now the necessity for the folding stools became evident, for
+while the portion of the building allotted to men was well provided
+with seats, only a great square of matting covered that half of the
+floor-space that had been set apart for the women.
+
+The Cathedral was brilliantly lit with electricity; and although
+there was something inexpressibly affecting in the sight of the
+kneeling multitude, to us the Cathedral lost much of the sombre
+magnificence it had in the daytime, when, except for the candles
+burning on the altar, the only light was that which stole in through
+the stained-glass windows, and the greater part of the grand temple
+was rendered impressive by obscurity.
+
+Later, when we spoke of this to our friend the padre he agreed with
+us. But, as he said in his irreproachable English, "What can we do?
+The Cathedral is very large, and the people are not all good."
+
+There was no respect of persons. Wrinkled old peasant-women and
+lovely young members of the ancient Majorcan nobility knelt side by
+side. The pew my men-folk occupied was shared by a gentleman in a
+fur-lined coat, and two little ragamuffins who, oblivious of their
+sacred surroundings, slumbered peacefully throughout the
+proceedings, curled up snugly together like a pair of monkeys
+nesting in a tree-top.
+
+At a pause in the service a white-robed youth, supposed to represent
+the Angel Gabriel, who was attended by two others carrying lighted
+candles, appeared in a pulpit. He wore a scarlet cap and bore a
+naked sword, and in a melodious voice chanted in Spanish _Sibila_--a
+hymn that foretells the varied fates awaiting the evil and the good
+at the end of the world.
+
+At one o'clock, when we slipped out of the Cathedral, leaving the
+multitude still at worship, and walked homewards through the
+brilliant moonlight, all was hushed and peaceful. The signs of
+carnage had vanished. The banner with the suicidal legend, _Se matan
+lechonas_, no longer fluttered by the gate of Santa Catalina; and
+only a few vagrant turkey feathers, blown about the roads, remained
+to tell of the innocents who had been butchered to make a Christian
+holiday.
+
+Christmas, we had been warned, would be a quiet day in Palma: a day
+of family greetings, of indoor festivities, when the streets would
+be deserted. Any feasts we might have shared were far away in
+fog-bound Britain, and neither turkey nor sucking-pig graced the
+larder of the Casa Tranquila. The weather was idyllic, like the most
+perfect of perfect summer days at home--even after more than two
+months' experience of Balearic Island weather we had not ceased to
+be surprised by its consistent beauty. So we decided to have a
+picnic.
+
+We had heard vaguely of a famous cave in the country behind our own
+district of Son Espanolet--a cave important enough to afford shelter
+to the people of Palma who, in thousands, had fled thither to escape
+from a plague of cholera that sixty or seventy years before had
+devastated the town. But while everybody seemed to know of the
+existence of the cave, no amount of inquiry elicited information as
+to its exact whereabouts. So on this lovely Christmas morning we
+resolved to take luncheon with us and spend the day hunting for it.
+
+I think it was the Rudder Grangers who wished to live in the last
+house of a village, as by doing so they could be in touch with
+humanity on the one side and with Nature on the other. Our own road,
+the Calle de Mas, came very near answering these requirements, for,
+being the last road in the little suburb, it met both town and
+country. By walking to the end of the houses, over whose garden
+walls oranges gleamed golden, and turning to the left by the
+brand-new Villa Dolores, and past the old farm-house that stood
+hedged in with tall cactus by the wayside, we were at once on the
+verge of the beautiful rural scenery.
+
+Our informant had been right. The street was empty. As we passed
+along, a smell as of roast sucking-pig greeted us; but everybody was
+indoors behind their closely shuttered windows.
+
+The road that leads through the undulating almond and olive groves
+towards Son Puigdorfila and the hills had never been so deserted.
+And never had the air been softer or the mountains more mistily
+blue. The leaves of the gnarled olives shone silver-grey beside the
+dark, rich foliage of the carob-trees, and the white blossoms of a
+honey-scented weed thickly flecked the green of the six-inch high
+grain.
+
+The village of Son Rapina, perched on its eminence, gleamed like a
+jewel in the strong sunlight; but the path leading towards it showed
+not a single traveller. For once, farm-work had ceased; the only
+sound that reached us was a far-off musical tinkle from the bells of
+a flock of goats as they moved about, seeking for fallen pods under
+the great algarroba-trees.
+
+The cave, we had gathered, was somewhere near Son Puigdorfila, but
+when we had passed that country-house, and had wandered down the
+valley towards the empty bed of the _torrente_, we found nothing
+that in the most remote way suggested the presence of a cave.
+
+We had almost abandoned the quest when a sound of bells warned us of
+the approach of a herd of plump brindled asses, which appeared under
+the guidance of an old man.
+
+In his suit of faded blue cotton, with a goatskin slung over his
+shoulders and a gaily striped kerchief bound round his brow and
+knotted at the back, the long ends falling beneath his wide-brimmed
+hat, and a tall staff in his wrinkled brown hands, he was a fine
+specimen of the hale Majorcan peasant whose declining years hold no
+greater physical discomfort than a gradual lessening of the full
+strength of manhood.
+
+He knew of the cave--_Cueva Fuente Santa_ he called it. Nay more, he
+knew its history from the making to the present day. And while the
+brindled asses browsed around us he told us the story of the Cave of
+the Holy Well.
+
+The Conquistador, it appeared, on setting out on his perilous
+mission, had vowed to the Virgin that if through her aid he
+succeeded in ousting the heathen from Majorca, he would signalize
+his victory by building a noble Cathedral in her honour; and it was
+in quarrying the stone from the steep ground by the side of the
+_torrente_ that the great cave had been formed. He told us of the
+refugees who, fleeing before the cholera, had camped there in
+safety; and brought the record up to date by mentioning that to the
+present day on the Sunday after Easter great crowds of the townsfolk
+made a little pilgrimage to the Holy Well, to drink its waters and
+to eat their _empanadas_--pies made specially of lamb for the
+occasion.
+
+The cave was near--only a little way, he added, as he hurried to
+overtake his now straying herd. If we would proceed farther down the
+side of the _torrente_ we would discover it, close by the old well.
+
+So in the sunshine, which was warm without a trace of oppression,
+for the sea air agreeably tempered the heat, we wandered on until,
+in the side of a fir-topped bank, we found the cave.
+
+And it was quite unlike anything we had imagined. To enter by the
+wide square portal was to find oneself in a vast, many-chambered
+hall. In quarrying out the interior the long-forgotten workmen had
+left at intervals great rudely sculptured blocks that served as
+supporting pillars to the roof. Four square holes, open to the sky,
+afforded ventilation. Round the walls, and about the bases of the
+pillars, had been hewn ledges which might have served for seats or
+for beds.
+
+At one point the roof had been blackened by smoke from the
+fugitives' fires. But the whole interior was dry and airy. There was
+not a trace of damp anywhere, and the sandy floor was one that
+could easily have been kept clean and wholesome. It would have been
+hard to imagine a more secure or a more sanitary place of refuge.
+
+Down below, nearer the river-bed, was the quaint Moorish
+well--square in form, with a domed roof. And looking down the valley
+of the _torrente_ from the brow of the hill in front of the cave
+where the fig-trees grew, we had a grand prospect of Palma
+Cathedral, that from each variant point of view seems to gain a new
+beauty.
+
+An unwonted silence lay over the sunlit land. For once there was no
+sound of human voice uplifted in song, and that aided the sense of
+peace. The Balearic islander is the most skilful market-gardener in
+the world. He makes roads that enable one to drive up one side of a
+mountain and down the other with perfect ease. He builds walls that
+look as though they would last throughout the ages and successfully
+resist a shock of earthquake at the end of time. But as a vocalist
+he is not attractive.
+
+I must write this heresy in a whisper, for the information would
+surprise him. He is unconscious of his lack of melody, and rather
+fancies himself as a songster. The merry Majorcan plough-boy does
+not "whistle o'er the lea." He sings, or rather chants, in a loud,
+discordant voice, an artless recitative, apparently improvising both
+words and music and weaving the little incidents of the day, the
+trivial happenings of his surroundings, into his interminable lay.
+
+When the Boy was painting in the beautiful undulating country that
+lay between Son Espanolet and the mountains, he sometimes discovered
+a reference to himself in the _pastorale_.
+
+    "_It is the painter English.
+      He is making a picture.
+      He has put Gabriel into it.
+      Perhaps he will put me also,
+      And my fine pigs._"
+
+But though the voice of the herdsman might be unmelodious, it
+mingled harmoniously with the jangle of bells as his flock of pigs,
+goats, sheep, or asses moved slowly over the uplands under the
+fragrant almond-trees.
+
+The air was sweet with perfume of the wild lavender that grew in
+profusion about the entrance to the caves. Not a soul was in sight.
+It was with a quiet scorn of flesh-pots--even of those that
+contained sucking-pig--that, sitting in the sunshine, we lunched
+frugally off sandwiches, claret, and big yellow Muscat grapes.
+
+We had left the Casa Tranquila with the understanding that the day
+was to be observed as a complete holiday. Yet when the cave revealed
+picturesque possibilities it would have surprised one unaccustomed
+to the devious ways of the Man and the Boy to have seen how well
+provided they chanced to be with working materials.
+
+Leaving them busily sketching, I wandered about gathering the heads
+of sweet lavender. I had a newly born ambition to fill a cushion
+with the dried blossoms--an ambition that in England would have been
+extravagant, but one that in this gracious land was to be gained by
+a little charming labour. So with that feeling of absolute mental
+content and of physical well-being that seemed to characterize our
+Balearic days, I picked and picked and picked until the
+luncheon-basket was full to overflowing with the purple-grey
+flowers, and the subtle odour of sweet lavender encompassed me with
+a cloud of fragrance.
+
+Even in these days of late December I had never taken a country walk
+without finding a fresh wild flower. To-day it was a rose-coloured
+cornflower, _cyanus_; and in addition, growing close to the caves, I
+came upon a fruit, or vegetable, that was quite new to me. The
+latter was splendidly decorative. Imagine a giant tomato plant erect
+and armed with aggressive prickles, that bore a profusion of apples
+whose colour varied from green mottled with white in the unripe, to
+brilliant yellow in the mature. I found afterwards that it is known
+as the "Devil's tomato." Tufts of the pale pink heath flourished
+under the pines, and on the slopes about the fig-trees my favourite
+Japanese-like dwarf asphodel, whose white, starry blossoms were
+striped with chocolate, were out in profusion.
+
+The far-off tinkle of bells that, to our now accustomed ears, ranked
+almost as a necessary accompaniment to the scenery, had gradually
+been drawing nearer; and soon the troop of donkeys again appeared,
+followed by their patient, kindly-faced herd. They were the only
+living things in sight, and as they moved slowly along they
+harmonized delightfully with the rustic surroundings.
+
+Approaching nightfall drove us homewards, reluctant to end a day
+that had been full of intangible charm. The record of its doings,
+baldly set forth on paper, reveals a total lack of incident. The
+preceding Christmas Day, spent at a seaside hotel in laboriously
+enjoying the festivities of the season, we had almost forgotten.
+These placid hours passed quietly in this country of sweet smells,
+of gentle noises, of pure, soft air, we would always remember.
+
+As we strolled towards Son Espanolet the setting sun seemed
+determined, in honour of the day, to give an extra glorious display
+of fireworks. And when the glow had faded from the mountains,
+leaving them purple velvet, a vivid rose flush that melted into the
+blue haze of the distance lingered long in the eastern sky. And just
+above was the nearly full moon, a globe of shining silver. There was
+no actual dusk, hardly any gloaming; for before the sun had sunk to
+rest the moon, her lamp brilliantly burning, was ready to do duty.
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: After the Feast of the Conquistador, Palma
+Cathedral]
+
+XIII
+
+THE FEAST OF THE CONQUISTADOR
+
+
+It was the 31st of December, and the day was one of a long
+succession of calm summer-like days. The sky was a cloudless blue,
+and the air so warm that in the plantations beyond Son Espanolet
+sundry over-zealous almond-trees, deceived by the brilliance of the
+weather, were already bursting into premature bloom.
+
+It was too fine to waste indoors the remaining hours of the year,
+and the gay little town was always interesting. So we walked towards
+Palma, and, after strolling down the mole and revelling in the
+colour and movement of the harbour, we ascended the long flight of
+steps leading to the ramparts, and, passing the Almudaina, reached
+the Cathedral, whose grandeur and sacred beauty ever held a fresh
+fascination for us.
+
+Entering by a side door, we judged from the presence of certain
+extra decorative trappings in front of the high altar that some
+special service was in prospect. People were already seated in the
+pews that filled the front portion of the nave. Finding places at a
+side, we waited, listening to the joyous strains of the grand organ.
+
+Just before eleven o'clock the great doors of the Cathedral were
+thrown open, and the warm sunlight streamed into the sombre
+interior. Then, through the hush of expectancy that had fallen over
+the congregation, we heard the far-off beating of drums. Something
+was, looked for--was even now on its way--we knew not what; but we
+also waited, expectant.
+
+Nearer the sound came, and nearer. From our side seats we could see
+the guard in front of the Almudaina saluting, then from the brilliant
+sunlight into the mysterious half-gloom of the Cathedral there passed
+a quaint little procession, led by a drum-major gorgeous in scarlet
+and gold. Behind him, three and three, came the drummers, still--even
+within the sacred walls of the Cathedral--keeping up the _rat-a-plan_
+with a vigour that seemed almost profane.
+
+Half-way up the nave they turned aside and stood, rapidly plying
+their drum-sticks; while, preceded by two mace-bearers in robes of
+scarlet, their symbols of office over their shoulders, came in
+evening dress the Civil Governor and the Alcalde, followed by
+members of the Council. Behind, in uniform, came the Chiefs of
+Police.
+
+When they were seated--the Civil Governor, as representing the King,
+being placed in a chair under an embroidered canopy, the others in a
+specially draped pew alongside--the service began. At one portion of
+the ceremony a priest with attendants mounted the pulpit, and in an
+eloquent address related the whole story of the conquest of Majorca
+by Jaime, the young King of Aragon, who on that very day six hundred
+and eighty years before had entered the city.
+
+In picturesque language and in fine declamatory style he told how
+for many hundreds of years the lovely island had suffered under the
+oppression of the wicked and tyrannical Moors. How prosperity had
+rendered them only the more piratical and cruel, so that no
+Christian ship was safe from their assaults. How, rendered yet
+bolder by success, they even raided the Catalan coast, sacking
+Barcelona, and killing its Count. How at length the indignation of
+the Spaniards roused them to take action; and the heads of the
+ecclesiastical, the military, and the royal sections meeting
+together, resolved to fit out a fleet, and to dispatch an expedition
+to wrest the island from the heathen. Under the handsome and daring
+young King of Aragon the fleet of over a hundred and forty vessels,
+containing an army thirty thousand strong, set sail. They left the
+Spanish coast on the 1st of September, 1229, but the Moors made so
+determined a resistance that it was the last day of the year before
+the hosts of King Jaime succeeded in entering the town.
+
+As in duty bound, the orator ascribed mainly to the influence of the
+Church over the Catholic hearts of the people the success of the
+expedition that had freed the Christians from their oppressors.
+
+The oration ended, service at the high altar proceeded, while at
+intervals gay, almost jocund, music burst forth from the grand
+organ. The lightsome strains were infectious. The Alcalde
+unconsciously beat time with his staff, and the fingers of the
+youngest representative of the municipal government played an
+imaginary instrument in time to the music.
+
+There was such a decidedly Gilbert-and-Sullivan suggestion about the
+sprightly air that one might be pardoned for expecting the chief
+ecclesiastical dignitary to advance singing--
+
+    "I am the Bishop of this Diocese"
+
+or for anticipating the attendant priests making hearty response--
+
+    "And a right good Bishop, too!"
+
+Later in the proceedings the clergy formed into a procession, led by
+white-robed acolytes and choristers carrying crucifixes and lighted
+candles, and walked slowly round the Cathedral, chanting as they
+went; the Civil Governor, the Alcalde, and the other representatives
+of the Government bringing up the rear.
+
+The impressive religious service ended, the drummers again fell into
+line, and the civic dignitaries, with the mace-bearers, marching to
+the sound of the drums, passed out into the sunlit streets.
+Following in their footsteps, we sped towards the Town Hall, in
+front of which, as we now gathered, the annual ceremony of saluting
+the flagstaff of King Jaime the Conquistador was to take place.
+
+There a gay scene awaited us. Detachments of soldiers, their bands
+playing, lined the laurel-strewn space before the building. All the
+balconies were full of spectators and the street was thronged with
+what appeared to be the entire juvenile population of Palma.
+
+With the arrival of the Governor and his escort the ceremony was
+speedily completed. The flagstaff, which was heavily wreathed in
+laurel, was carried round. Arms having been presented, the historic
+trophy retired into carefully tended seclusion until another
+anniversary would again bring it into prominence. The military
+formed up, and to the sound of inspiriting music marched cheerily
+off. The feast of the Conquistador was over.
+
+The origin of the custom we found reached back into bygone ages. For
+many centuries after King Jaime's death the people of Palma had an
+annual procession on the anniversary of the taking of the city, and
+walked through the streets with the banner under which their
+deliverer had fought so valiantly carried before them, while the
+entire populace prayed for the safety of his soul. The banner has
+long since rotted into dust. Now the staff alone is borne, and apart
+from the promenade inside the Cathedral there is no procession.
+
+The inner chambers of the Cathedral guard a wealth of treasure, the
+collection of centuries, and an inestimable array of relics, which,
+through the courtesy of the church dignitaries, we had the privilege
+of seeing.
+
+One morning about ten o'clock, when we entered the Cathedral from
+the sunlit streets, the faint blue mist of incense hung about the
+high altar, and the sound of chanting echoed through the aisles. At
+first sight the vast building appeared to be empty; but as our eyes
+became accustomed to the perpetual twilight that reigns under the
+great roof we became conscious of kneeling worshippers, dimly seen
+through the obscurity--a young lady, her mantilla-framed face bent
+over her rosary, an old man praying before one of the side chapels
+where a faint light was burning.
+
+We were expected. Our friend the padre, a dignified figure clad in
+vestments of lace and fur, welcoming us with a silent shake of the
+hand, led us noiselessly along a side aisle.
+
+As, passing through a door that led behind the high altar, we caught
+a glimpse of the officiating clergy, it almost seemed as though we
+were behind the scenes at a theatre where some great life-drama was
+being enacted. There were the stately and imposing performers, the
+engrossed and scarcely visible audience.
+
+Leaving us in charge of the brother priest who acts as custodian of
+the treasure, our sponsor returned to resume his part in the
+service. Preceding us through the sacristy, our new guide escorted
+us to an inner chamber where, in an impregnable safe built in the
+wall, the venerated sacred relics of the Cathedral are kept.
+
+Carefully unlocking and throwing open the guardian doors, he
+revealed a cabinet draped with a crimson curtain. Slipping behind
+the drapery, he busied himself lighting candles. Then, reappearing,
+he drew aside the curtain, revealing the almost startling
+magnificence of the precious metal and rare pearls in which the
+relics are enshrined.
+
+One object--that occupying the place of honour--was carefully
+enswathed. Bending low before it, the padre, with reverent hands,
+withdrew the covering, showing an exquisite cross of gold, inset
+with priceless gems and hung with strings of costly pearls. In the
+centre of the cross--faintly perceptible through its encasement of
+crystal--were some fragments of the true Cross. On certain
+occasions, such as the service on Good Friday afternoon, this relic
+is borne in procession round the Cathedral.
+
+The custodian, who was an enthusiast happy in his appreciation of
+and delight in his mission, proceeded to show us more of the
+wondrous treasures of the old Cathedral. Among the things almost
+too sacred to mention were three thorns from Christ's crown of
+thorns, a piece of the purple cloth of His robe, a fragment of His
+swaddling band, and a portion of a garment worn by the Virgin Mary.
+
+A bone, black and shrivelled with age, was from the finger of St.
+Peter. And an extremely interesting relic--one so veritably antique
+that it is mentioned in the first inventory of the sacred trophies
+belonging to the Cathedral--is the tip of one of the arrows with
+which St. Sebastian, who is the patron saint of Palma, was killed.
+Like all the other relics, this is carefully enclosed. Another relic
+of the saint is the bone of his fore-arm, which is enclosed in a
+case surmounted by a hand, on whose outstretched fingers are many
+costly rings, votive offerings presented in gratitude by those who
+believe they have benefited by his intercession on their behalf.
+
+Two magnificent crowns, those that on special occasions are worn by
+the effigies of the Virgin and the Holy Child, were also in that
+safe in company with other valuables too many to catalogue.
+
+The Mass was still in progress. While we gazed from the face of the
+priest, which glowed with fervour, to the wondrous things he showed
+us with such tender veneration, came a sound of chanting, the music
+of boys' voices rising sweet and clear. There was still the first
+impression of having been admitted behind the scenes--an impression
+which the entrance of certain of the officiating clergy who came
+into the sacristy to change their vestments served to deepen.
+
+Leaving an attendant to extinguish the lights and re-lock the great
+iron doors, the padre opened other cupboards and showed us a
+plethora of riches, valuable not only for the material but for the
+beauty and artistic skill of the workmanship. A crucifix bore an
+exquisitely carven ivory figure of the dead Christ, and in the
+hollow of the slender stem of a gold cup a craftsman of surprising
+ingenuity had contrived to mould a representation of the Last
+Supper, so minute in detail that it portrayed not only the table
+with the company seated around it but also the food that was placed
+before them. On the inner base of the vase, the executant of this
+triumph of the goldsmith's art had graven his name, which I forget,
+and his age, which at the date of the completion of this intricate
+and original piece of work was sixty-nine.
+
+Our guide did not scamp his task. He appeared to take both pride and
+pleasure in it, and showed us everything, from the vestments, which
+were rigid with gold and embroidery, to the massive silver
+candelabra worth nearly seven thousand pounds, that are so heavy
+that when they are moved into the body of the Cathedral for use
+during special services, it takes four men to carry the top, and six
+men the base, of each.
+
+At three different dates, when long-continued drought had induced
+privation, this silver has been sold for the relief of the poor; and
+three times has it been bought back again, and restored to its place
+in the Cathedral.
+
+Until recently the embalmed body of King Jaime II. (who died in his
+palace of the Almudaina just across the road from the principal
+entrance to the Cathedral), which rested in a marble sarcophagus in
+front of the high altar, was shown to the public on the 31st of
+December, the anniversary of the day on which his father, the
+Conquistador, freed Palma from the Moors.
+
+The mummified corpse is no longer publicly exhibited, and the coffin
+containing the remains has been removed to a recess behind and above
+the high altar, where it rests awaiting burial.
+
+By special permission we were allowed to see the body of the
+monarch. The coffin, taken from the sarcophagus, had been placed on
+a stone bracket. An attendant, mounting a ladder that leant against
+the wall at the head of the coffin, slid back the lid. And in turn
+we climbed up and, bending over, peeped into the open coffin to see,
+through intervening glass--what? A royal robe of velvet and gold and
+ermine, the lace-trimmed sleeves crossed at the empty wrists, and
+above the neck of the garment a dark fleshless skull, with the brown
+skin tightened over it, closed eyes deep sunk in the sockets, and
+toothless jaws wide agape. A rose-pink velvet nightcap encased the
+shrunken head of the monarch who, six hundred years ago, reigned
+over Majorca.
+
+
+[Illustration: The Coffin of Jaime II in Palma Cathedral]
+
+
+The reign of this second Jaime, which extended over a period of more
+than thirty years, would appear to have been an exceptionally placid
+one for these warlike days. We know that he brought from Spain
+cunning workmen who converted for his use the castle of the Moorish
+Amir, the Almudaina, into a royal palace, and there a code of Court
+etiquette was formulated and put into practice by the new monarch.
+
+The wife of the Captain-General, who now occupies the old Moorish
+palace, a few nights before we saw the remains of the former tenant
+of the Almudaina, gave a reception in the form of a "tea-party"--the
+guests to arrive at ten o'clock, the tea to be served at midnight.
+One wonders what the nature of King Jaime's Court functions were--at
+what hour his guests assembled, what the entertainment was, and when
+they dispersed.
+
+The imposing marble sarcophagus in which in times past these
+remnants of royalty were entombed has been removed to a corner of
+the cloisters, where we saw it standing forlorn and forgotten.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Market Day at Pollensa]
+
+XIV
+
+POLLENSA
+
+
+We had intended deferring our expedition to the neighbouring isle of
+Minorca till later in the season; until after the week or two of
+cold weather that we had been warned to expect in January had
+passed. But as the opening days of the year went by in brilliant
+sunshine, and the temperature continued ideal, we felt tempted to
+delay no longer.
+
+It was the Man's suggestion that we should make a roundabout tour of
+it, visiting first the old-world towns of Pollensa and Alcudia, then
+sailing from the port of Alcudia to Minorca and returning from Mahon
+direct to Palma.
+
+So at daybreak on the 8th of January Bartolome appeared to drive us
+to the station.
+
+The sun had risen, Bartolome was smiling, and the hills beyond Son
+Espanolet shone pink and heliotrope in the morning light as we drove
+along; yet there was a sharp little nip in the air, and the
+_consumeros_ were still shivering in their blankets, covered up to
+their noses and cowering over their braziers. Without these
+reminders we would have forgotten that it was the depth of winter in
+the Fortunate Isles.
+
+At Palma station the customary small bustle heralded the departure
+of the morning train. The porter of the Grand Hotel was seeing off a
+French couple who were going to Manacor to visit the Dragon Caves.
+Among the little company of natives with their fringed shawls and
+white muslin _rebozillos_ the French lady, who wore a smart
+flower-trimmed toque on her golden hair and costly furs on her
+shoulders, looked oddly out of place.
+
+On this occasion the 7.40 train left with extreme punctuality, and
+its rate of progress, though slow, was steady. The only other
+passenger in our second-class compartment was a swarthy man who wore
+a yachting cap, white shoes, and a striped blanket. He evidently
+felt cold, and as he sat curled up on the seat his appearance was a
+ludicrous combination of a member of the Royal Yacht Club and an
+Asiatic hospital patient who had risen to have his bed made.
+
+He was journeying to Inca, apparently for the first time, and when
+he asked for information regarding the number of stations to be
+passed before his destination was reached, it seemed reversing the
+natural order of things that we foreigners should be able to give
+it.
+
+Nearly two months had passed since we travelled over the line, and
+it was interesting to note the difference in the appearance of
+things. Then the rich red earth had been furrowed by the plough, or
+was in process of sowing. Now it was covered with long lines of
+sturdy beans, or with springing grain level and green as a tennis
+lawn.
+
+The fig-trees and grape-vines were leafless now; but the evergreen
+carobs showed the tender shades of the new leaves at the tips of the
+well-covered branches. The olives wore their accustomed silver-grey,
+but the first pale blossoms of the year flecked the almond-trees
+with white.
+
+We had taken _combinados_ tickets, and the second-class fare--two
+pesetas thirty-five centimos--included the ten-mile coach drive from
+La Puebla to Pollensa.
+
+When we alighted at the station two diligences were waiting, one for
+Pollensa, the other for Alcudia. Choosing the right one the Man and
+I got inside with six other folk--three young men, two young women,
+one old man, and a baby too young to count. The Boy went on the box,
+luggage was piled on the roof, and the horses set to work to drag
+their heavy load over the dry, newly mended road.
+
+The Majorcan way of repairing a road is to put a layer of roughly
+broken stones over the worn bits, then to block the smooth places
+with chunks of rock, so that the unhappy travellers are perforce
+obliged to do the work of levelling by driving over the loose
+stones.
+
+But though the way was rough and jolty there was no dust, and there
+were no mosquitoes; and our company, including the brand-new baby,
+was the soul of good nature. The young men and women chatted gaily
+together in the harsh Majorcan dialect; the old man evincing a
+friendly interest in the conversation, which difference of
+nationality unfortunately rendered unintelligible to us. Once or
+twice, when the subject under discussion appeared more than usually
+entertaining, the Man and I whispered to each other, as we had done
+before in similar circumstances, "If we could only understand what
+they are saying!"
+
+Our progress was slow, owing partly to the roughness of the road,
+and partly, as the Boy later explained, to the fact that the driver,
+who was a very old man, fell asleep at intervals, and only awoke
+when the horses stopped.
+
+Half-way to Pollensa we exchanged drivers with the coach that was on
+its way to La Puebla; and our new man being wide-awake, matters
+progressed more briskly. The Boy told us afterwards that, seen from
+his place on the box, the scenery had been glorious; but from the
+interior of the diligence it was impossible to gain more than a
+general impression of lovely wooded slopes, and of distant hills
+that seemed to draw nearer and nearer until, suddenly, while
+Pollensa seemed still a long way off, we found ourselves in a narrow
+lane lined with tall houses. In and out of the most tortuous streets
+imaginable the diligence twisted, then abruptly came to a standstill
+at no place in particular, and we realized that we had penetrated to
+the heart of Pollensa.
+
+We had no idea where to go. All the information we had been able to
+gather about the Pollensa _fondas_--there were no so-called
+hotels--was that they were reputed to be bad. But when the coach
+stopped, and we had alighted, and were standing with our luggage on
+the cobble-stones, wondering in what direction to turn for a
+lodging, a young man, plump, clean-shaven, bare-headed, appearing
+from nowhere, begged breathlessly to recommend his _fonda_.
+
+Following him through crooked ways we reached the hostelry, which
+was in a little square near the market-place. Mounting a steep
+stair, we entered a large lavishly windowed room furnished with many
+round tables and chairs. It had a little bar and looked to the
+square; behind it was a dining-room.
+
+The Boy, who was our spokesman, following the expected procedure,
+inquired the terms per day.
+
+"Six pesetas." Our host, following an equally expected procedure
+when arranging with foreigners, had quoted his top price.
+
+"No," said the Boy, whom experience had taught wisdom. "Three
+pesetas; that is enough. Can you not do it for that?"
+
+The landlord waved his hands. "That depends on what you have," he
+replied, quite reasonably. "Three pesetas--yes, if you will be
+content with soup and one other dish at dinner and at supper."
+
+"And is the little breakfast included?"
+
+"Yes, senor. Coffee and milk."
+
+So it was decided. Three pesetas a day was to be the price. And it
+was with a feeling of keen curiosity as to what our host would
+provide for the money that we awaited the appearance of the first
+meal, which was to be served immediately. Senor Calafill at Andraitx
+had given us the perfection of French cookery, the best of wines, at
+three and a half pesetas. But his house was less pretentious, being
+a shop only and not a _fonda_.
+
+Our hostess, a nice, bright little woman who wore her hair in a
+pigtail and the _rebozillo_, bustled in and began laying the
+marble-topped table with fresh napkins, good cutlery, rolls, a
+bottle of wine, and a syphon of soda-water. Then she added a dish of
+fruit, and running off to the kitchen returned with the soup--a good
+thick Majorcan soup, full of rice and sweet peppers and chopped
+meat. The second course was a large dish of fish served with fried
+potatoes. Then we had, as a fruit course, apples and mandarin
+oranges. The fare might not be lavish, but it was assuredly all we
+required.
+
+Our rooms, which were the best the house afforded, were small but
+clean, and during our stay proved quite free from mosquitoes.
+
+When we discussed how we would spend the afternoon, the Boy and I
+hotly advocated walking to the port of Pollensa. A traveller from an
+inland town who had shared the box-seat of the diligence with the
+Boy had spoken enthusiastically of its beauty. His family was
+accustomed to spend the hot months there. The fishing, he said, was
+splendid, the fish being of much finer quality than those taken in
+the neighbouring bay of Alcudia.
+
+"A salmonetta caught in the bay of Pollensa _is_ a salmonetta," he
+had declared emphatically.
+
+The Man wisely objected to the expedition. The port, he reminded us,
+was seven kilometros (nearly five miles) away, and that was too far
+to go and return comfortably in the short winter afternoon. Besides,
+when we had come to see a curious old town, why not stay to look at
+it?
+
+But from my bedroom window I had caught an enchanting glimpse of the
+port--a segment of blue water hemmed in by steep rocky mountains. It
+seemed so near that I flouted the idea of the five miles, and the
+afternoon being a glorious one we finally agreed to go.
+
+As we passed along an outlying street an old man, who stood outside
+his house superintending the drying of a great tray of macaroni,
+wished us "Good day."
+
+In returning his greeting the Man added a remark on the beauty of
+the weather, which indeed to us seemed perfect.
+
+"No. This weather is not good. It is bad," the old man said
+severely. "It is rain that is needed. The country suffers. No,
+senor. This weather is bad, not good."
+
+The way was a relic of the Roman occupation: a splendid wide level
+road that, except for a curve where it left the town, stretched like
+a broad ruled line between us and the blue sea. It could not really
+be so far as seven kilometros, I assured my vigilant conscience,
+which was inclined to remonstrate. It looked no distance at all.
+
+So we went on our wilful way, journeying gaily between the thorny
+hedges of aloes--one up among the rocks on the hill-side was in
+bloom--and beside the little farms that bordered either side of the
+road.
+
+The road was long--quite five miles--but there was always something
+interesting at hand, and the enticing strip of blue water drew us
+onward. The hills on the opposite side of the bay had already caught
+the rays of the setting sun, and looked like a bit of some
+dream-world.
+
+The port of Pollensa had a quaint semicircle of houses, divided in
+the middle by the road we had come, which ended only on the bit of
+wharf that ran out into the spacious well-sheltered bay, where the
+British fleet had often found commodious anchorage. Save for a few
+local _falucas_ it was now empty.
+
+In the little enclosed yards in front of the fisher-houses men and
+girls were at work weaving from bright yellow strips of bamboo the
+tall, beehive-looking lobster-traps in local use. Behind the houses,
+on the left side of the bay, rose a precipitous hill. In front,
+between the houses and the water, was a line of fig-trees. Along
+towards the seaward point were some small charmingly situated
+summer residences.
+
+When we turned our faces townwards the sun had already set; and
+though we walked smartly, the way that in the going had seemed short
+appeared to lengthen as the shadows crept over the hills and
+darkness encircled us.
+
+Pollensa lies, a close huddle of old sun-dried houses, in a narrow
+curved valley between high mountains. Until you are close upon it,
+it is almost entirely hidden, and that was probably the intention
+with which it was originally planned. During the last mile or two of
+the return journey, when the shades had fallen and we went on and on
+without apparently getting any nearer our habitation, my opinion of
+the distance that divided the port from the town became considerably
+modified. Still, we were only pleasantly tired when the first of the
+town lights appeared, and we found our way to the _fonda_ through
+the twisted streets, past many well-lit barbers' shops where, in
+full view of the public gaze, men were being shaved or sitting in
+patient rows resignedly awaiting turns that, to judge from the large
+number of customers and the paucity of barbers, would necessarily be
+a long time in coming.
+
+Supper was ready to serve, and the moment the meal was over I went
+upstairs to bed--to sleep soon and sweetly, in spite of the fact
+that conversation in the bar-room beneath sounded surprisingly
+distinct--about as loud, indeed, as though the owners of the voices
+were talking at my ear. Morning brought explanation of the
+phenomenon--one of the flooring tiles just at the head of the bed
+was missing, and through the gap thus left the noise of the unseen
+talkers entered the room as through a speaking-tube.
+
+On the following morning, which was Sunday, the weekly market was
+held at Pollensa. Very early, while it was yet hardly light, the
+little bustle of street traffic awoke me, and, looking from the
+window, I got a misty view of panniered donkeys and of rustic
+conveyances which vague shadowy figures were unloading.
+
+When we had breakfasted we went out and, within a few steps of our
+inn, found ourselves in the most picturesque market-place we had
+ever seen.
+
+I do not know what may be the leading article of Pollensa market at
+other seasons, but on this January day the outstanding feature was
+cabbages--of tremendous proportions. Piled in heaps and hillocks on
+the ground, they fairly dominated the market. Other wares there were
+no doubt, but the things that impressed us were the number and size
+of these giant vegetables and a feeling of wonder as to where the
+people would come from to buy them. As the morning wore on, the
+mounds sensibly diminished in height; but at that early hour the
+stacks of cabbages towered so high that sometimes only the heads of
+the vendors were visible above them.
+
+In the raised portion of the market-square women occupied the stone
+benches, their stock of home-grown fruits and of the finer
+vegetables exhibited in baskets before them.
+
+It was the scarce time for grapes. The field-produce was long over,
+and only garden bunches were still to be had. But without any
+attempt at bargaining we bought two pounds of delicious grapes for
+sixpence-farthing, and large golden oranges were offered us at
+twopence a dozen.
+
+The town was so full of strange and picturesque figures that every
+moment brought fresh entertainment. At the _feria_ into which we
+strayed at Inca we had thought ourselves lucky in seeing one old man
+attired in the curious _colsons en bufer_, as the voluminous
+zouave-like pantaloons of bright blue cotton are called. Here in
+Pollensa wearers of the delightfully odd old-world dress abounded.
+And it seemed as though they took a special pride in the quaintness
+of their garb, so particular were they about the set of their
+neckties, so trim about the ankles, so careful as to the fit of the
+low black shoes that went so well with the costume.
+
+The women of Pollensa, though less extraordinary of aspect, were
+also a pleasure to behold, for with scarcely an exception they wore
+the becoming native dress, and their heads were neatly covered with
+either the pretty white muslin head-dress or with handkerchiefs of
+gaily coloured silk.
+
+It was somewhat disconcerting to realize, as we did quite suddenly,
+that it was really we who were the oddities, and that in the eyes of
+the crowd, at whom we were gazing so curiously, I was a ludicrous
+object because I wore a hat!
+
+It was really quite an ordinary travelling-hat, but finding that the
+fact of a woman wearing a hat at all attracted undue attention from
+these unsophisticated folks, I hastened back to the _fonda_ and
+changed it for a chiffon scarf worn mantilla-fashion. That done, I
+found I could pass almost unnoticed.
+
+Majorca boasts many picturesque old towns, but probably Pollensa is
+the most picturesque of all. It is a beautiful antique: a town made
+for the painter. Its warm golden-brown houses have baked in the hot
+southern sunshine until they seem ready to crumble to pieces. It is
+by no means a rich town. Most of the dwellings appeared to belong to
+the poorer classes. As the Man said--"It is a city of slums--but
+what adorable slums!"
+
+The streets were all turnings, and every turn brought a subject
+ready for the brush. Here was a grand old cross, there a curious
+fountain, yonder an ancient stone washing-trough. And round every
+corner, that market-morning, came the quaint old men in their
+broad-brimmed felt hats and baggy breeches, unconsciously adding the
+note of human interest that completed the pictures.
+
+Pollensa is essentially a town of hills. Mountains closely girdle it
+round. To the Calvario, which is perched on a height in the midst of
+the town, one ascends by countless wide, low steps, the town
+ascending also. For on one side houses struggle half-way up the
+steep incline, while cactus plants, the edges of their thick, fleshy
+leaves heavily ruched by blood-red fruit, hedge the other. On the
+rocky slope beyond is a thick growth of _palmettos_, the dwarf palms
+whose inner stems the natives eat and from whose dried fronds
+baskets are made.
+
+[Illustration: The Main Street of Pollensa]
+
+To the dwellers in these sky-parlours the broad steps play the part
+of an extra sitting-room. As we climbed slowly up that hot morning,
+we trod closely upon many domestic scenes, but none of the actors
+therein objected to the intrusion. Fathers were happily employing
+their Sunday leisure in nursing their babies; and mothers, with the
+requisites placed for all the world to see, were washing their
+children's faces, tying up their locks with ribbon, and performing
+other niceties of the toilet that usually take place in the sanctity
+of the home. One old woman, sitting full in the sun, was reciting
+her prayers in a loud voice. Her occupation, however, did not appear
+in the slightest to detract from her interest in the passing of us
+_forasteros_.
+
+The open doors of the little chapel that perched amidst its guardian
+cypresses on the summit spoke a wordless welcome; and we entered, to
+find ourselves in a beautiful sanctuary.
+
+Above the altar was a very old carved tableau which represented
+Christ suspended on a heavy wooden cross, with Mary, kneeling,
+caressing His wounded feet. On the ceiling were various curious and
+evidently antique emblems of the Redemption.
+
+On either side of the altar was a recess devoted to the display of
+votive offerings. Many of them were akin to those exhibited in other
+churches, though one case was filled with tiny flat silver
+figures--miniature men in trousers and tiny women in petticoats. But
+on the wall of the chamber to the right was an offering that aroused
+both our interest and our curiosity.
+
+Suspended in a tall, narrow glass case, hung a pleat of dark brown
+hair, tied simply after the local fashion with a knot and ends of
+black ribbon. It was a pigtail such as was worn by most of the women
+in the town; but a pigtail of such unusual length and thickness that
+it might quite laudably have been the pride of its owner's heart.
+
+Beneath was a card bearing the following inscription, written large
+in a fair, round hand:--
+
+    _Promesa de Francisca 30 Noviembre 1902 Pollensa._
+
+Now who was Francisca? And why did she promise to cut off her
+beautiful hair? Was it to avert the fatal issue of some illness of
+her own? Or was it because her lover was ill, or in danger by land
+or sea? Or was Francisca merely afraid that he might prove
+faithless?
+
+Whatever the nature of the terror Francisca dreaded, it was happily
+averted. The presence of the severed tresses assured us of that. But
+it was a particularly fine pigtail, and the sight of it tempted one
+to wonder what the feeling of Juan, or Pedro, or Miguel was when he
+first saw his sweetheart with closely cropped locks, and found that
+she had shorn off her glory for his sake. It is to be trusted that
+Francisca's hair was not her only beauty.
+
+From the terraced slope of the Calvario one gets a magnificent view of
+the town. Looking down on the tiled roofs, all tawny-brown with the
+passing of centuries, it is easy to realize the great age of Pollensa.
+The city itself occupies but a circumscribed area, so narrow are the
+streets, so huddled together the houses. There is scarcely room for a
+green leaf to sprout between them. But where the town ends abruptly
+the real country begins, and in the parts that are not closely flanked
+by hills the ancient town is girdled by a belt of almond-trees. And
+all about it the fertile ground is cut up into small holdings, each
+with its little yellow-brown dwelling-house.
+
+On every side, as far as the eye can reach, rise mountains, a
+glimpse of blue sea showing here and there between their rocky
+crags. Above one side of the town towers an isolated peak, from
+whose crest a magnificent panoramic view of half of the island of
+Majorca, and even a distant glimpse of Minorca, can be obtained.
+
+A superbly situated building that was once the Convent of Nuestra
+Senora del Puig (Our Lady of the Peak) crowns the top of the
+height. It was so named because of a marvellous image of the Virgin
+discovered by the nuns who were in residence there. In olden days,
+when the building was in the possession of the Church, the Convent
+of Our Lady of the Peak supported an _hospederia_ for the shelter of
+pilgrims; and now that the holy sisterhood has removed to Palma, the
+authorities of Pollensa continue to uphold their hospitable custom,
+and every traveller who mounts the steep--rather a stiff climb, by
+the way--is welcome to free lodging with fire, oil, olives, and
+goat's cheese for three nights and days at the expense of the town.
+
+As we looked from the Calvario where we were standing across the
+valley to the noble pile of the old convent, and thought how sublime
+the sunrises and sunsets would be, viewed from Our Lady of the Peak,
+I registered a vow to make a pilgrimage thither some day. The Man
+chose to be pleasantly sarcastic regarding the fulfilment of the
+intention. He cherishes a perhaps not altogether unfounded belief
+that I wish to revisit every place I have seen in Majorca. But we
+shall see....
+
+As we passed back through the market-square, the business of buying
+and selling was still in progress. In every quarter of the town,
+down back alleys, mounting up the steps towards the Calvario, in the
+farthest-out streets, we had met women carrying home the
+Brobdingnagian cabbages. Dinners were already cooking over the
+little fires of almond shells, and the odour of boiling cabbage came
+from many earthenware cooking-pots, yet the piles seemed scarcely
+diminished.
+
+The cattle-market--a matter of a score or two of piglings, half a
+dozen sheep, a few horses--was held in the square before our
+_fonda_, and while it lasted the interest of the wearers of the
+_colsons en bufer_ centred there, though, as far as we could judge
+from our balcony, they took no active part in the trafficking. They
+had all brown, weather-beaten, shrewd old faces, and all gave the
+impression of leading lives of extreme respectability. It was
+impossible to imagine any one of them falling foul of the law.
+
+As the Boy said, "It would be a comic sight to see the old beggars
+flying from Justice in bags like these!"
+
+Since our arrival on the previous noon, the personality of our
+landlord had greatly puzzled us. At first sight he had appeared
+youngish, stout, clean-shaven, and slightly surly in manner, and at
+intervals he still presented the same characteristics. But there
+were other times when he surprised us by seeming rather older,
+slightly greyer, and decidedly more gracious of bearing. The simple
+solution of the little mystery came when we chanced to see him in
+both aspects at once; and learned that we had two hosts--father and
+son--who, even when seen in company, so strongly resembled each
+other that we christened them the two Dromios.
+
+In the afternoon we set off on the prowl, with the Town Hall--in
+which a native guide-book declared there was a collection of antique
+armour--as our objective.
+
+The Town Hall, which in common with so many important Balearic
+buildings was originally a convent, occupies a commanding position
+at the head of a steep street. Reaching it, we found an open
+doorway, but no sign of any custodian.
+
+We entered and wandered along empty passages and up a great
+staircase so old that the stone steps were worn down, and the lower
+balustrades had fallen quite away.
+
+Still in quest of the collection of ancient armour, we had strayed
+as far as an upper and seemingly deserted corridor, our footsteps
+echoing loudly on the tiled floors. We were about to retrace our
+steps when a door at the end of the passage opened, and a gentleman
+appeared.
+
+To our gratification he accepted our explanation of the intrusion,
+and courteously invited us to enter his house to see the views from
+his windows; for as official telegraphist to the town, he occupied a
+handsome suite of rooms in the old building.
+
+His wife, too, showed no surprise at having three outlandish
+foreigners thus rudely disturb her Sabbath peace. She received us
+most graciously, and, having invited us to be seated, entered into
+conversation with the Man.
+
+"We were from England, then?"
+
+"Yes, but for the winter we were resident at Palma."
+
+"Palma. So we lived in Palma?" Before her husband's translation to
+Pollensa a few months earlier, the senora explained, they also had
+lived in Palma. "In what part of Palma did we reside?"
+
+"Well, not exactly in the town--just beyond the walls, at Son
+Espanolet."
+
+"At Son Espanolet!" The senora confessed to having had a summer
+residence in Son Espanolet.
+
+"Our house is in the Calle de Mas--Number 23."
+
+"In the Calle de Mas! Caramba! What a coincidence!" The senora's
+summer home had also been in the Calle de Mas--Number 26.
+
+With this unexpected interest between us, we were soon all chatting
+away volubly, though, I fear, not always intelligibly. And when we
+bade the senora "Adios" to resume our quest, the senor kindly
+accompanied us.
+
+With his aid we succeeded in unearthing an old woman who kept the
+keys that opened the treasures of the town.
+
+One most interesting chamber held the records of Pollensa for many
+hundreds of years--from the earliest archives that were inscribed on
+parchment now brown with age, to the smart morocco-bound chronicles
+of the day before yesterday. The arms of the city--the three
+cypresses, the silver star, and the cock with a claw in the air,
+that had already become familiar to us--were there also.
+
+Among the old cross-bows and halberds were the huge blunderbusses
+that, in accordance with an old custom, are still fired off yearly.
+And with them were specimens of a much older form of offensive
+weapon in the shape of huge rounded stones that in olden times had
+been hurled from the battlements of the Castillo del Rey, aimed at
+the skulls of attacking enemies.
+
+Articles that were specially interesting, because in use to the
+present day, were the big earthenware water-jugs from which are
+drawn by lot the young men whom Pollensa annually contributes to
+the Majorcan army. There must be anxious hearts, both inside and
+outside of the old building, on that morning in early February when
+the lads whose turn has come go up to draw from the narrow mouths of
+the Moorish jars the numbers that are to decide their manner of life
+for the next three years.
+
+In the Council Chamber was a large painting by a native artist of
+Juan Mas, the townsman to whom belongs the honour of having first
+delivered Pollensa from the Moors.
+
+Juan must either have been a _malade imaginaire_, or one whose
+spirit was stronger than his body; for, as the story goes, he was
+sick abed when the Moors reached the town, and leaping from his
+couch, without taking time to change his night-garb, he led the
+people on to victory. The artist shows the hero in what was
+presumably the sleeping-suit of the period--loose white breeches and
+a shirt.
+
+We were back at the _fonda_ taking tea when a sound of chanting
+voices in the street beneath drew us to the windows in time to see a
+religious procession passing slowly beneath. Priests in rich
+vestments, carrying banners, walked in front; behind in a double
+line came a long succession of females of all classes--women with
+_rebozillos_ and pigtails, ladies with mantillas. A band of little
+girls and nuns brought up the rear; and, still singing, the company
+passed on, and entered the adjacent church.
+
+
+
+
+XV
+
+THE PORT OF ALCUDIA
+
+
+On being consulted respecting a conveyance that would take us to
+Alcudia, the younger Dromio had suggested the possibility of hiring
+one from a friend of his own. The distance was twelve kilometros,
+the cost would be about six or seven pesetas. So next morning, when
+we were ready to start, quite a smart trap awaited us.
+
+It was after the fashion of the penitential gig in which we had
+journeyed from the Hospederia at Miramar to Soller, but it was twice
+as large. The owner, who drove, had dressed for the occasion. He
+wore a sportive cap of green and gold tartan plush, a well-starched
+white shirt that was lavishly sprinkled with black spots as big as
+sixpences (no collar, of course), and he was smoking a cigar.
+
+Bidding farewell to the two Dromios, who shook us by the hands with
+seeming regret and craved the favour of a recommendation to our
+friends, we drove away through the sweet morning air. The lovely road
+curved about the foot of the hill crowned by the old Convent of Our
+Lady of the Peak, and past many little holdings--one-acre-and-a-goat
+sort of places--towards the sea. The road was dry, but there was no
+dust, and the January sun shone warmly from a cloudless sky.
+
+[Illustration: The Roman Gateway, Alcudia]
+
+When we had reached the broad Roman road that led directly to the
+old walled city of Alcudia, our way led between countless ranks of
+great fig-trees--their spreading branches now bare and grey. So many
+were they, and so wide an area did they cover, that, if we had
+not seen figs growing in profusion at other parts of the island, we
+could almost have believed that all the figs in Palma came from
+Alcudia.
+
+Our driver was a genial man who had emigrated and made his money in
+Buenos Ayres, and while still young had been able to follow the
+worthy native custom and return with his savings to his native
+district, where he was now comfortably settled, farming his own bit
+of land and driving his own pony-trap.
+
+When we asked his advice as to where we might stay at Alcudia, he
+said there were two hotels at the port, which is a mile beyond the
+old city. The Hotel Miramar was the larger. But the proprietors of
+the Fonda Marina were friends of his own. They were very nice
+people. He could heartily recommend them. And here I may say that
+one of the many nice features of the Majorcans is that they are
+almost invariably on friendly terms with each other. If a shopkeeper
+happens to be out of the commodity a buyer wants, he will put
+himself out of his way to direct the customer to a brother vendor.
+
+Alcudia is a curiously old city--far older even than Palma, they
+claim. It has a distinct inner wall--Moorish--and many substantial
+traces of an outer one--Roman. Entering by the gate of San
+Sebastian--near which a much-chipped wooden figure of the saint is
+sheltered in a netting-protected niche in the wall--we drove through
+the corkscrewy streets and out by a gate on the farther side.
+
+Before coming we had decided not to stay in the ancient city. Its
+sanitary condition was supposed to be doubtful, and we had failed to
+hear of an inn there. But when we had driven through the picturesque
+Roman gateway and past the antique cross beyond, we looked back, and
+the place seemed so enticingly old-world, so like a habitation out
+of another century than ours, that we felt sorry we had made no real
+endeavour to find a lodging within its walls. However, the
+recollection that we would have to start about 3 a.m. in a small
+boat to get on board the Minorca steamer reconciled us to the
+prospect of living as close as possible to the harbour.
+
+The Fonda Marina was an attractive-looking new house built at the
+very edge of the bay. As we drove up, the host and hostess,
+recognizing our driver, hastened out to welcome him. Before marrying
+and settling down as hotel-keepers, the husband had been a steward
+on South American steamers, and the wife had been cook to the former
+proprietors of the _fonda_. Both were pleasant, frank country folk,
+and terms were quickly arranged.
+
+"We would like to stay here till the boat for Minorca calls
+to-morrow night. Can you take us for three pesetas a day?" we asked.
+
+"For three pesetas _each_?" the host inquired dubiously, as though
+he thought we had suggested his accepting that sum for the trio. "If
+for three pesetas _each_--yes, surely."
+
+So, to the evident satisfaction of everybody concerned, the easy
+bargain was concluded.
+
+The Fonda Marina was particularly bright and airy. Its windows
+overlooked the great Bay of Alcudia, from which, in olden times,
+expeditions were wont to sail for Africa and the Levant. These were
+the days when the kings of Spain built whole fleets from wood grown
+in Majorcan forests.
+
+There was a drawing-room whose three windows each commanded a
+totally different point of view. It had a good balcony, and was lit
+by home-made acetylene gas. Our rooms, which were clean and
+comfortable, faced seawards. With a very long rod one might almost
+have fished from their windows. A more enticing summer residence
+could hardly be imagined.
+
+Our hostess had promised that in a few minutes luncheon would be
+ready. And it was with lively curiosity that we awaited its
+appearance. The two Dromios had entertained us for the same sum; and
+we were interested to see how the catering of the Fonda Marina would
+compare with that of their caravansary.
+
+Seating ourselves in one of the large halls downstairs, we waited
+the turn of events. The mistress of the house had disappeared into
+the kitchen, whence frizzling sounds expressive of hurried cooking
+smote cheerily upon our expectant ears.
+
+Presently a slim, dark-eyed young maid, Consuelo by name, hastened
+out bearing an armful of plates which she proceeded to set at
+intervals round a large baize-covered table near us. Then she added
+thick glass tumblers, a tall jug of water, and a large rye loaf.
+
+"I say," said the Boy, "there are _six_ plates. We're evidently
+expected to dine with the family. That'll be fun."
+
+But his hopes of a treat were disappointed by Consuelo reappearing
+to invite us into a neat little dining-room whose existence we had
+not suspected. There we found a table nicely spread for three, with
+the elaborately monogrammed linen one sees in every Majorcan home,
+good cutlery, a bottle of red wine, and a siphon of soda-water.
+
+When we had taken our places our host himself placed before us a
+large dish of _arroz_--the excellent native stew of rice mixed with
+anything savoury in the form of fish, flesh, fowl, or vegetable that
+happens to be at hand.
+
+Fried fish followed--fresh out of the sea, and so delicious of
+flavour that we were inclined to question whether those caught in
+the bay of Pollensa could possibly be better.
+
+While we were eating it, the hostess came in to ask what we would
+have next--whether we would prefer an omelet or cutlets. We
+unanimously chose omelet, and in a hand-clap one, hot and buoyant,
+was on the table. Oranges and apples and black coffee completed the
+menu.
+
+During the meal, the solicitude of the family to see that we lacked
+nothing that would conduce to our comfort was almost embarrassing.
+The door of our dining-room stood open, and although the host and
+Consuelo, who served us, did not actually remain in the room they
+were continually passing the door with anxious eyes turned on our
+proceedings. And when a dish was removed the senora would come in
+person to inquire if it had been to our liking.
+
+The climax came when the only child of the house--Cristobal, a dear
+brat of five--in his desire to see the eccentric strangers eat,
+crept stealthily up the staircase and stationed himself on his knees
+just opposite the open door of the dining-room, gazing down through
+the banisters at us.
+
+This ingenious little manoeuvre was discovered by his father.
+There ensued a sound resembling applause, and young hopeful was
+borne off, howling, to be comforted in the kitchen.
+
+Immediately after luncheon the Man walked back towards Alcudia to
+sketch the view of the sea-gate of the old city, that had struck him
+when we drove through. And, left to our devices, the Boy and I went
+boating.
+
+A jolly, flat-bottomed punt belonging to the _fonda_ was moored
+close at hand, and just across the blue and silver water lay an
+enticing stretch of lovely white sand. Behind it rose a bank of low
+shrubs overtopped by tall pines whose foliage had been so cropped
+that at a little distance they bore a striking resemblance to
+cocoanut palms. Beyond the flat expanse of land rose a line of
+mountains that glowed warm heliotrope and pink in the strong
+sunshine.
+
+The still water was so clear that we could see every grain of the
+sand, every spray of seaweed, beneath. And as we drifted over the
+lagoon we felt as though the intervening decade had slipped back and
+that we were once again on the coral strand of the Pacific Islands.
+
+I had heard that beautiful and, sometimes, very rare shells were to
+be found in the Bay of Alcudia. So, getting the Boy to put me on
+shore, I wandered along by the edge of the water looking for them.
+But my quest proved of little avail. Shells there were, it is true,
+but they were very small, very fragile, and almost colourless; most,
+indeed, were pure white and nearly transparent. I have gathered
+shells in many parts of the world, and I confess I was disappointed.
+Still, it was the only point on which Alcudia did not far exceed any
+expectations I had formed of it. The comparative failure of my
+search must have been owing to the long continuance of calm
+weather. As the Mediterranean is almost tideless, it is only after a
+storm that wave-borne treasures are usually to be found washed up on
+her beaches.
+
+Perhaps I may not have looked in the right spot, though I did wander
+a long way round the shore in the direction of the Albufera--the
+tract of marshy land where rice is cultivated. So far, that I was
+glad when the Boy, by skilful navigation, succeeded in avoiding the
+many sandbanks and could run the punt in and, picking me up, row me
+over to the _fonda_.
+
+The Man was awaiting our return, and after taking a cup of tea we
+walked eastwards along the coast towards an old Moorish tower that
+we had seen from the distance.
+
+The sun had set. It was in the mysterious half-light of the gloaming
+that we mounted the steps leading to the door and found it open at a
+touch. Within all was darkness. The flame of a match revealed
+chambers showing that the tower had evidently been a home as well as
+a place of defence. One had evidently been the living-room of the
+Moorish tenants, for almost half the floor-space was occupied by the
+wide chimney-corner, where a host might have gathered round the
+blazing logs. I never see an ancient dwelling without experiencing a
+keen desire to know what manner of folks were the first to kindle a
+fire on the deserted hearth.
+
+Feeling our way up the worn stairway, we reached a floor with more
+empty and silent apartments. Two or three broken steps led to a
+cunning opening placed exactly over the front entrance. Besiegers
+essaying to storm the door must have fallen easy victims to the
+alert watchers above; and that wide hearth had room to heat an
+amazing lot of water. At either side of the opening were embrasures
+into which the defender of the fortress might dart after he had
+aimed his missile--scalding water, arrows, heavy stones, or whatever
+the fashion of his time in projectiles chanced to be.
+
+Mounting yet higher, we found ourselves standing in the open air, on
+a flat circular roof overlooking the wide bay. On one side of the
+roof were two chambers and a draw-well.
+
+The view from the top of this ancient Moorish tower was grand. The
+sun had long set, but the sky still held a thousand glorious hues
+that were reflected in the sea. No craft moved on the surface of the
+water, and not a living being was in sight on land. The whole lovely
+world seemed to belong to us. Allured by the romantic beauty of the
+spot, we lingered until the colour had faded and the sky had become
+so dark that we had to stumble our way _fonda_-wards over the rough
+field-track, vowing to return on the morrow to see the place by
+daylight.
+
+Supper was waiting when we got indoors--half-a-dozen fried eggs
+served with fried potatoes, cutlets, cauliflower and cheese. A
+home-made sausage, a mould of _membrillo_ jelly, fruit and
+coffee--an _outre_ combination perhaps, but it was all very tempting
+and nicely cooked, and we enjoyed it.
+
+Another of our charming Balearic days had ended. And so, as Pepys
+would say, to bed.
+
+Our wonderful luck in weather continued. We awoke to yet another
+perfect morning. Immediately after breakfast the Man set off to
+sketch one of the countless curious antique Moorish wells--known as
+_norias_--used for the irrigation of the crops: wells whose chains
+of earthenware jars are worked by the motive power supplied by mules
+that, yoked to a long shaft, keep walking in a circle. The mule
+needs no guide, as the rein, which is tied to the beam overhead, at
+intervals gives a gentle tug in the required direction.
+
+It was oddly pathetic to see the patient brutes, their eyes
+blindfolded by having straw saucers fastened over them plodding
+steadfastly round and round, while from the ceaseless filling and
+emptying of the chain of jars the water gushed in a miniature
+waterfall into the trenches dug between the long lines of growing
+vegetables. In this fertile plain near the sea, the crop at this
+mid-winter season appeared to consist mainly of cabbages and
+cauliflowers. And when we saw those grown at Alcudia we knew where
+the mammoth cabbages that had dominated Pollensa market had been
+reared.
+
+[Illustration: A _Noria_ Near Alcudia]
+
+The Boy had gone alone to do a sketch on the roof of the Moorish
+tower that had interested us on the previous night. As he sat
+working, there came a sound of steps ascending the crumbling stairs;
+and to his pleasure three pretty Majorcan girls appeared, come to
+fill their earthen water-jars at the old draw-well on the roof, a
+well that even after the lapse of hundreds of years still continued
+to yield an abundant supply of pure water. The girls were exactly
+the figures required to complete the sketch. So to their
+gratification and his own benefit the Boy put them in.
+
+In the afternoon, the Man and I walked the easy mile to Alcudia, and
+wandered about the quaint old town, climbing both the inner and the
+outer walls, wishing we knew more of its history, and lamenting that
+our limitations of language kept us ignorant of the meaning of these
+extensive and variant lines of fortifications. So we made no
+exhaustive inquiries, but prowled about and drew our own rough
+conclusions as to the relative values of the Roman and Moorish
+manner of building and defence.
+
+Coming upon a handsome and imposing church, we went in. It was dark
+and silent. Straying through the outer building, which had a vast
+Moorish dome, we entered a curious and beautiful inner church, whose
+sides were lined with the nearest approach to private boxes that we
+had ever seen in a sacred edifice.
+
+Returning to the outer church, we were looking at the decorations in
+the dimness of the side chapels. The Man had struck a match to
+enable us to see a grotto that was rendered still more obscure by
+half-drawn curtains. The sound echoing through the silence brought a
+lad, who was evidently intensely interested in the church and its
+possessions. Lighting a tall candle, he drew aside the curtains, and
+with something of the pride of ownership in his manner revealed to
+us the Christmas tableau of the scene in the stable at Bethlehem.
+
+His glory in the display was so evident that we did not remark on
+the contempt for perspective that had represented the Virgin and
+Child as giants, and the worshipping kings and shepherds as merely
+pigmies; nor did we venture to hint that anything in the nature of
+an anachronism marked the presence of a gay satin cushion at Mary's
+feet.
+
+The lad's soul was evidently in the work of the church. When we
+thanked him, and the Man offered him a coin in recognition of the
+willing services he had rendered us, he at first refused to take it;
+then, when we insisted, accepted and immediately put it into the
+collection-box marked "For the High Altar."
+
+Our landlord had spoken of the remains of a Roman amphitheatre that
+was in the district; and finding that we were interested, he
+volunteered to pilot us thither. And, indeed, without his escort we
+would never have found the place, for it lies in the heart of a
+farm, the way to which leaves the main road half-way between the old
+city and her port.
+
+A commonplace path between stone walls led to the farm-house, whose
+quite ordinary exterior gave no suggestion of the strange tracks of
+bygone races that lay hid in the ground all about. Having asked and
+obtained the permission that enabled us to trespass, we passed on
+and reached a rocky slope which bore signs of having at some time
+been used as a quarry.
+
+To our unskilled eyes nothing seemed to promise that our
+surroundings would prove other than the usual Majorcan farm placed
+on a particularly rocky bit of country.
+
+Our guide, who had been walking in advance, stopping suddenly,
+pointed to the ground at his feet.
+
+"There!" he said.
+
+And looking, we saw that we were standing on the top step of a
+barely distinguishable semicircle that had been roughly hewn in the
+rock. With a beautiful disrespect for age, a stone dike had been
+built right across the seats. I think we counted six rows above and
+five below the wall. And in the arena flourishing almond-trees had
+rooted deep in the once blood-stained soil. A hole in the ground
+allowed a peep into a cavern where the wild beasts used in the
+combats had been housed.
+
+But the ground held other secrets. In the solid rock that rose above
+the sides of the amphitheatre there were many graves--once sealed;
+now, having been desecrated by bygone generations of Moors, merely
+slits gaping to the skies.
+
+About four years earlier a strange finding had taken place within a
+few paces of the farm-house. An untouched Roman grave had been
+discovered; and our guide, who had been present at the opening,
+described the scene in language so graphic, and accompanied by such
+dramatic gesture, that we had not the smallest difficulty in
+following the most minute detail.
+
+He told us how, when the hermetically sealed top stone had been
+lifted away, the complete body of a woman, apparently young, lay
+before them, as she had been placed two thousand years before, with
+a necklace of gold round her throat, earrings in her ears, rings on
+her fingers. And how, as they looked in awed silence, the body that
+throughout these ages had maintained a semblance of humanity, had
+before their eyes slowly crumbled into undistinguishable dust.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Ciudadela Seen from the Sea]
+
+XVI
+
+MINORCA
+
+
+The weekly steamer from Barcelona to Minorca was due to call at the
+port of Alcudia at 3.30 a.m. We went to bed, but not to sleep, for
+half a dozen intending passengers, five of them commercial
+travellers, had arrived by diligence from La Puebla, and the _fonda_
+echoed with unwonted noise.
+
+When, about three o'clock, we went downstairs, the large hall was
+brilliantly lit, and men muffled in big cloaks and scarves were
+gulping glasses of hot coffee before leaving the shelter of a roof.
+In the public room beyond, some harbourmen and one of the
+never-absent carbineers sat smoking.
+
+A nondescript being--faded red cap on head, bare feet thrust into
+hempen sandals--summoned by the landlord, appeared from the outer
+darkness and, shouldering our baggage, passed out into the night. We
+followed, and walking by faith, at length found ourselves standing
+on the pier, the unseen water lap-lapping at our feet, an increasing
+group of fellow-voyagers gathering about us.
+
+Out of the dense blackness a boat with a lantern burning dimly at
+her prow crept beneath us and paused. Some one lit a match,
+revealing a short flight of steps leading to the water. Descending
+with fumbling feet, we reached the elusive craft below.
+
+A curious company we were, vague, indefinable, all closely packed
+together, and all silent. A priest, a party of commercial
+travellers, and a gaunt Moorish-looking being, who was wrapped from
+his head--on which, as we afterwards saw, he wore, probably to save
+bother in packing, a wide felt sombrero with a jaunty yachting cap
+set a-top--to his naked ankles, in a great white blanket.
+
+There was no moon, and the paling stars gave but little light as the
+two boatmen, standing up facing the bow, moved the heavily laden
+boat across the smooth swart water. Urged on with strong, unswerving
+strokes, the boat moved away from the invisible land, the while we
+sat dumb, motionless.
+
+I was just thinking that in something of these attitudes of utter
+and hopeless despair might the unwilling passengers of Charon endure
+the last dread journey across the Styx, when the Boy, who was
+sitting next to me, whispered, "Don't we look exactly as though we
+were shipwrecked people adrift on the ocean?"
+
+Then the bulk of the _Monte Toro_ loomed vaguely ahead, and as our
+bow neared the accommodation ladder the elder boatman, abandoning
+his oar, began collecting his fees of fivepence each (_dos reales_)
+for piloting us over the bay.
+
+The illusion had vanished. We were everyday human beings once more.
+
+Before we left London a Spanish friend had strongly advised us to
+travel second-class in Balearic Island steamers. He said the second
+saloon accommodation was justly popular with those who knew,
+because, first-class passengers being few, it was better placed and
+more commodious.
+
+The Man has cherished a lifelong theory that when journeying by sea
+the best accommodation is not too good. But on this occasion of our
+crossing from Majorca to Minorca, as the weather was still tranquil,
+he allowed himself to be persuaded to put our friend's advice to the
+test. And the experience of that night was so eminently
+satisfactory that it not only added to our immediate comfort but
+saved us much money in the future.
+
+When crossing from Barcelona our first-class cabins, which were
+small and had thwart-ship berths, had been situated in the stern.
+The second-class cabin on the _Monte Toro_, which I shared with the
+only other lady passenger, was large, airy, and as gay as ivory
+paint, brass rods, and scarlet draperies could make it. It was right
+amidships too, had two port-holes, and berths that for comfort could
+scarcely have been improved upon.
+
+The lighter with a load of pigs being still on the way, the decks of
+the smart little steamer were quiet. A pet donkey, covered with a
+scarlet blanket, was tethered under the sheltering boat deck; a
+glint of gold lace in the galley revealed the captain warming
+himself by the cook's fire.
+
+When I entered the cabin labelled "Senoras," a pretty girl in a pink
+petticoat was standing before the mirror engaged in exaggerating the
+bulk of her abundant dark hair by padding it out with quite
+unnecessary "rats" and cushions into twice its natural proportions.
+
+Lying down, I fell asleep to the lullaby grunting of the pigs that
+were being hauled on board. When I awoke it was daylight, and a
+glance through a port-hole showed that we were nearing a flat coast.
+
+The pretty pink petticoat had already gone on deck, and putting on a
+cloak and hood, I followed to join my people in a sheltered corner
+of the promenade deck, from where we surveyed the coast that we were
+approaching with the deliberate rate of speed that characterizes
+Balearic Island steamers.
+
+The general aspect of Minorca, the flat country, the white houses,
+the windmills, vividly recalled our first glimpse of Guernsey as we
+had approached it early one winter morning many years ago.
+
+Ciudadela, which is the oldest city in the island, was the capital
+in the time of the Moors. It was to the rulers of Ciudadela that
+King Jaime sent his demand for the submission of Minorca. From our
+place on deck we could see Cape Pera, the eastern point of Majorca,
+twenty miles distant, where the young King and his knights kindled
+the huge bonfires that, by alarming the Moors into the belief that a
+hostile army lay encamped there ready to invade them, gained him a
+bloodless subjection. Ciudadela, which was the seat of a bishop in
+423, is still the ecclesiastical capital of Minorca, though Mahon
+has long superseded her in all else.
+
+The sea is rarely smooth on the Minorcan coast. It was within a
+short distance of Ciudadela that, not many days later, the _General
+Chanzy_, bound from Marseilles to Algiers, was wrecked with the loss
+of every soul on board with the solitary exception of one young man,
+whose escape was surely the most marvellous on record.
+
+As we lay to outside the very narrow entrance to the harbour, the
+five _comerciantes_, who were preparing to go on shore, eyed askance
+the tossing cockleshells of boats that were advancing ready to
+convey them to land. By taking the motor-car that ran the
+twenty-eight miles connecting Ciudadela with Mahon, which is on the
+opposite extreme of the island, they would save three precious
+hours. With the prospect of a charming sail along the coast before
+us we did not envy them.
+
+After a protracted delay the boats succeeded in approaching near
+enough to the accommodation ladder to enable the commercial men to
+embark. And they were off, clutching at the sides of the little
+boats, as with rueful faces they joggled shorewards over the choppy
+waves.
+
+Our chilly friend of the enveloping blanket and the naked ankles,
+who was a deck passenger, had, as the Man reported, spent the night
+perched on a grating over the engine-room--a situation where he
+would surely be warm enough. Where he performed his toilet no one
+knows, but as we neared Port Mahon he appeared transformed from a
+shivering bundle into a dandy. Neat black socks covered his ankles,
+and his brown coat, orange shirt, and green velveteen trousers
+revealed a nice taste for colour. His yellow-white blanket had
+disappeared, but he still wore his two hats.
+
+Meanwhile the pigs, whose lamentations had rent the silence of the
+night, were being hauled, pulled, jerked, pushed, and dumped along
+the deck, over the side, and into the lighter that was to take them
+ashore, as they went raising their voices in shrill protest. As the
+Boy remarked, quoting Uncle Remus, "These pigs know whar dey come
+from, but dey don' know whar they gwine!"
+
+As the _Monte Toro_ steamed slowly round the low cliffs that seemed
+to descend sheer into deep water, so little sign of broken beach or
+of outlying reef was there, we could see how through the ages the
+restless sea had nibbled and gnawed at the edges of the cliffs,
+which in many places were deeply honeycombed, and even hollowed into
+caves.
+
+There were no first-class passengers. The accommodation reserved for
+them just over the screw was vacant. Third-class included an
+interesting quartette of stubby Spanish soldiers, and one slim naval
+stoker, whose flexible movements and sportive bonhomie were in
+striking contrast to the stolid immobility of his companions.
+Possibly the stoker felt more at home on shipboard. Certainly he had
+all the life of the party; for while the others muffled their heads
+in shawls, and squatted on their carefully spread cotton
+pocket-handkerchiefs, he was never still, helping an overburdened
+young mother by shouldering her small boy and taking him round to
+visit the pet donkey, making friends with the ship's dog, or playing
+good-humoured tricks upon the others.
+
+The sky was flecked with white clouds--the first we had seen for
+many days--and the houses scattered over the flat and almost
+treeless table-land were all white--gleamingly white, after the old
+russet towns of Pollensa and Alcudia. Here and there we could see
+one of the great beehive-like heaps of stones that the sailors have
+christened "watch-towers." Though Majorca was only twenty miles
+distant, we already felt in a new world.
+
+There was something oddly familiar in the nip of the air. And while
+we breakfasted on a satisfying "home" meal of omelet, ham, hot
+buttered toast, and coffee, we recalled what we had heard of the
+lingering effects of British rule in Minorca, and felt inclined to
+give it the credit of the breakfast, even though the ham was served
+raw, and decanters of wine and jars of wooden toothpicks jostled our
+coffee-cups.
+
+When we again went on deck there were signs that the short voyage
+was approaching its end. The bearded mate of the _Monte Toro_, who
+had made the trip in a red nightcap, had, with a toothpick behind
+his ear, appeared in a uniform cap, though he retained his velveteen
+coat. And the most stolid-looking of the soldiers, producing a comb
+and a tube of pomade, proceeded to make quite an elaborate toilet on
+deck. Still seated on his outspread handkerchief, he combed and
+recombed his hair, and greased it with extreme thoroughness; though
+it must be admitted that when it came to washing he contented
+himself with a cursory dipping of his hands in the water-bucket. His
+face he left to Nature.
+
+The pride of Port Mahon is its three-mile-long harbour. As we
+steamed up its length the trim fortifications recalled certain of
+our own naval and military stations, notably Portsmouth. But never
+did Portsmouth show such a glory of scarlet-blossomed aloes as
+burned on the face of these fortified rocks.
+
+Our first impression of Mahon was one of unexpected brilliance.
+Until we were well up the harbour the town was invisible. Then, as
+it came in sight with its dazzlingly white red-roofed buildings
+perched high on the crest of the brown serrated rock, the unexpected
+picturesque beauty of the scene filled us with surprise and delight.
+
+Already the military influence that is so noticeable a feature of
+Mahon coloured the scene. Boats manned by soldiers were rowing to
+and from the forts on the opposite shore. Soldiers were standing on
+the quay as we stepped down the gangway--for, happily, there is no
+need to land by small boats in a harbour of such accommodating
+depth. And as we followed the porter bearing our luggage up the
+rough twisted slope of the Calle Vieja--that old street whose
+haphazard construction is so different from the carefully planned
+new ones--we passed a group of officers going down. Throughout our
+stay in Mahon I do not believe we ever glanced up or down a street
+that was not enlivened by the glamour of a uniform.
+
+There isn't a river or even a stream on the entire island, yet, in
+spite of the apparently limited supply of fresh water, the whole
+effect of the town, with its green shutters, red-tiled roofs, its
+pavements and carefully whitened houses, is that of extreme
+cleanliness. To judge by results, the pail of whitewash must be
+almost an equal factor in a Minorcan housewife's daily task with a
+broom or a duster. During our few days in Mahon we became quite
+accustomed to seeing women touching up the street fronts of their
+dwellings with a whitewash brush.
+
+Minorca is said to be rarely visited by tourists, consequently it
+offers but small choice of hotels. The one we had been recommended
+to try--the Fonda Central--was a favourite stopping-place with
+commercial travellers. There could be no doubt of that. Their
+iron-clamped chests of samples lumbered the passages and stairway.
+Their sprightly presence filled the large principal table in the
+dining-room.
+
+At a hotel that is popular with these gentlemen of the road the
+cooking is said to be certain to be good. At the Fonda Central it
+could scarcely have been excelled. The proprietor, a reverend-looking
+senor, superintended it in person. And his efforts on their behalf
+were heartily appreciated by his guests, the summons to a meal at the
+Fonda Central invariably falling on eagerly expectant ears.
+
+"_Arroz_ to-day?" I overheard one guest inquire as he entered the
+dining-room for luncheon. And having received an affirmative reply,
+he sat down, adjusted his napkin, grasped his spoon, and awaited
+its appearance with an expression of anticipatory satisfaction.
+
+The rooms were scrupulously clean, the table service brisk and
+punctual. Yet the house was hardly one that could be recommended to
+ladies. Owing to the popularity of the hotel, all the available
+space had been turned into sleeping accommodation; there was no
+sitting-room proper. One of our bedrooms that faced the street and
+had two good writing-tables made us partly independent, and we had a
+side table to ourselves at meals, but I was the only woman in a
+company that numbered over two dozen.
+
+The beds were comfortable, but there were no bells in the rooms.
+When our chamber-man wanted to attract our attention, he did it by
+clapping his hands loudly in the corridor outside our doors. And
+when we wanted anything the Boy went downstairs and demanded it.
+
+Going out to explore the town, we could not help noticing certain of
+the lingering effects of the British occupations which came to an
+end early in the last century. The windows almost invariably had the
+regulation English window sashes, and many of them showed white lace
+curtains or little muslin window blinds; and the front doors opened
+into passages, not into either _patios_ or sitting-rooms, as in
+Majorca.
+
+The British craving for sweets seemed to have proved infectious. At
+the hotel luncheon we had been agreeably surprised by the appearance
+of a sweet course, and the shop windows revealed a tempting array of
+bon-bons and of jams and pickles, commodities in which Majorca is
+sadly deficient. And one grocer had quite a number of tins of Crosse
+& Blackwell's Scotch oatmeal. Tobacco pipes, which are seldom seen
+in Majorca, were both in use and displayed for sale.
+
+Wandering up and down in the short January afternoon we came upon
+many odd nooks and steep streets that had a picturesque character
+all their own. From the top of the quaint Calle de San Roque we got
+an extensive view inland, with Monte Toro, some eleven hundred
+feet, the higher of the two Minorcan hills, in the distance.
+
+[Illustration: Calle San Roque, Mahon]
+
+Down by the curve of the bay we found the Alameda, a charming little
+Italian-garden-like promenade, where on summer evenings Mahon society
+assembles. It must be pleasant and shady there under the trees by the
+cool water. Even in winter it was attractive, with its close-cropped
+low hedges and great clumps of the vivid scarlet-blossomed aloes.
+
+Just beyond the Alameda is a great cistern, from which is drawn much
+of the water for supplying the town. And from that point mules toil
+patiently up the rock-sided slopes, laden with barrels of water for
+the solace of thirsty folks.
+
+Next morning, while breakfasting, we arranged our plans for the day.
+The Man was bent upon going at once to sketch the town as we had
+first seen it from the harbour. The Boy and I agreed to ramble about
+during the morning; and after luncheon we all arranged to go in
+search of some of the famous stone monuments, respecting whose
+origin nobody appears to have been able to arrive at any
+satisfactory conclusion.
+
+But before breakfast was ended the sky had become darkly overcast.
+We reached our rooms to find hail tapping with ice-tipped fingers at
+the window panes, to see lightning flashing, and to hear the rattle
+of thunder.
+
+Our plans perforce being modified, we waited indoors until the storm
+had abated a little, then sought the _Ateneo Cientifico Literario y
+Artistico_, of whose existence the landlord had told us. The town,
+which has many cultured inhabitants, boasts three Athenaeums. Two are
+for the use of the general public. The third, which we visited, is
+said to be the centre of literary and artistic Mahon, and is
+something of the nature of a club.
+
+The Museum is open to the townsfolk only on stated days. This did
+not happen to be one of those days. It was to the fact that we were
+foreigners that we owed our instant admission. And while the storm
+raged without, we enjoyed a private view of the many interesting
+things in the _Ateneo_, notably the old ware and natural history
+specimens.
+
+A very fine private collection of marine flora is housed in the
+Museum, but it is shown only when specially inquired for, and we
+were unfortunate in calling at a time when the custodian of the keys
+chanced to be absent.
+
+Among the pictures and drawings was a merciless but irresistibly
+amusing caricature of what had presumably been the English Governor
+of the date, riding upon a donkey. The nice young lad who was
+showing us round blushed a little when he saw us examine it. Though
+he did not say so, we felt that he would have liked to apologize to
+us for its intrusion in the show; but our withers were unwrung.
+
+The members of the _Ateneo_ were delightfully cosmopolitan in their
+interests. Besides the current Spanish papers the snug reading-room
+showed a comprehensive array of contemporary literature, from the
+_Graphic_, the _Studio_, _Review of Reviews_, and _Harper's Weekly_,
+to French, German, Belgian, Italian, and South American journals.
+
+When we left the _Ateneo_ the hail had ceased; and though the wind
+was still high, the Man hurried off to see what he could make of his
+subject, while the Boy and I strolled into the vegetable market.
+
+The big open enclosure in the middle was empty. Round the covered
+sides women were sitting beside their little heaps of fruit and
+vegetables. After the prolonged drought from which the island was
+suffering, it was perhaps only natural that the supply of fresh
+vegetables should be limited. But with the recollection still vivid
+in our memory of the mountains of green cabbages that we had seen at
+Pollensa market, the stock appeared especially meagre.
+
+The cactus, a shrub whose existence is almost independent of
+moisture, flourishes on the dry rocky soil, and the specimens of its
+fruit that, prepared in some way, were served at dinner on the
+previous night, seemed larger and much finer than any we had seen in
+Majorca. But even at its finest the prickly pear is hardly a thing
+to pine for.
+
+One thing that struck us as a particularly charming survival of
+English tastes was the discovery of cut flowers--chiefly little
+clusters of roses--for sale on several of the stalls. And one woman
+offered us sturdy pansy roots for planting. Up to this period of our
+stay in Palma I had never seen either cut flowers or flower-plants
+offered for sale in the market, though, indeed, we saw them later.
+
+The wind had been steadily increasing. It would have been decidedly
+more comfortable to pass the afternoon indoors, but we were
+determined to seek some of the countless prehistoric remains with
+which Minorca is lavishly sprinkled. And after an unavoidable delay
+we started. The delay, be it explained, was caused by waiting for
+the cleaning of the Boy's boots. The service in the Fonda Central
+had certain limitations. It did not brush boots. The night before,
+the Boy had put his outside his bedroom door, and had taken them in
+in the morning untouched. Before lunch he sent them downstairs with
+special instructions that he wanted them cleaned at once. But when
+luncheon was over and we were ready to go out there was no sign of
+the boots.
+
+Inquiries brought plausible promises of their return in ten
+minutes--in five minutes--at once. But still they failed to put in
+an appearance. At length a peremptory demand for their return clean
+or dirty sent Pedro flying down the street, to hasten back
+triumphantly bearing the cleaned boots. They had been sent to a
+shoemaker's to be brushed!
+
+From the deck of the steamer as we rounded the coast we had caught
+many passing glimpses of the great stone heaps called _talayots_,
+and imagining that they would be easily found, we rashly set off,
+without either guide or direction, in search of them.
+
+After walking a little way along the San Luis road, which we had
+taken partly by chance, and partly, I think, because there the wind
+would be at our backs, we saw in the distance a large _talayot_, and
+rejoiced at having so quickly come within easy reach of what we were
+looking for. Our rejoicing was premature, for when we sought a path
+that would lead us there we failed utterly to find it. On either
+side of the long straight road were high walls a yard thick,
+enclosing small stony fields. Beyond these were walls, and yet again
+walls. It was our first near view of Minorcan country, and the
+impression was one of stones, stones, and yet more stones--stones
+absolutely without limit.
+
+The attitude of the few olive-trees within sight showed the
+prevalence of the north wind. They bent away from that direction,
+their foliage twisted awry, looking exactly like people cowering
+before a blast that has blown their cloaks over their heads.
+
+The gale was waxing stronger. _Our_ cloaks were blown over our
+heads, but still we struggled on. A peasant boy, on being
+interrogated, directed us to proceed farther, then take a road to
+the left. Hopefully following his instructions, we "gaed and we
+gaed," like the classic Henny-penny, until we ultimately found
+ourselves entangled in a maze of these same thick walls of stone.
+
+And a maddeningly ingenious maze it proved. For as we wound about,
+the _talayot_ appeared to dodge us, sometimes popping up before us,
+sometimes lurking behind; often seeming comparatively near, more
+often looming at a wholly unexpected distance away, and always
+encircled by these impenetrable gateless walls of stone.
+
+Finally, leaving me on the lee-side of a wall--it wasn't really the
+lee-side: in such a wind there is no lee side; but they thought it
+was the lee-side--the men departed, determined to scale the
+offending obstacles and to get there somehow. After a time the Boy
+returned to free me from the brambles round which the tempest had
+twisted my veil and chiffon scarf, holding me prisoner; and to
+report that, after some climbing, the Man and he had succeeded in
+reaching the _talayot_, and that they thought if I didn't mind some
+rough scrambling I _might_ manage to get there.
+
+So ten minutes later, breathless, wind-tossed and earth-stained,
+with torn gloves and scratched boots, I too reached the goal of our
+desires, to find it nothing but an immense heap of stones, with no
+trace of opening or any apparent reason for existence.
+
+The Man, who, in spite of the decided opposition offered by the
+elements, had succeeded in scaling the top of the _talayot_,
+declared it to be merely a greatly magnified cairn, and there and
+then announced his adoption of Dr. Guillemand's theory that the
+primary reason for the origin of these much-disputed heaps was
+simply the need for clearing the fields of stones. I must confess
+that to me the really interesting thing regarding these vast
+memorials of a vanished race is the fact that, while everybody is
+free to conjecture, no one, not even the wisest, can boast the
+smallest knowledge of their meaning.
+
+Just behind the _talayot_, separated from it by certain thick walls,
+stands another relic of prehistoric times in the shape of a _taula_,
+or table stone--one huge slab placed horizontally on the top of a
+massive upright stone. And while the Man held on to something with
+one hand and tried to sketch with the other, I sheltered from the
+blast on the farther side.
+
+It was curious to see flowers blooming even in these conditions.
+Amongst the loose stones at the base of the _taula_ the periwinkle
+was in bloom. On the patch of stone-littered soil we had crossed we
+noticed some small lilac daisies, their heads bent close to the
+ground. And all about the broad tops of the maze of stone dykes
+clambered the curious and beautiful clematis-like creeper that
+delights to luxuriate in the most arid position it can secure, and
+is said to pine away and die when transplanted to a garden.
+
+The sole incident of our return journey was the sudden appearance of
+a cap, which, floating high in air, advanced towards us round a
+corner towards which we were battling.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Mahon, Minorca]
+
+XVII
+
+STORM-BOUND
+
+
+The Man had declared his fixed intention of taking ship for Palma
+that night, no matter what weather conditions should prevail. So it
+was with unfeigned relief I learned at breakfast that, owing to the
+violence of the tempest, the mail steamer we expected to travel in
+had been unable to leave Barcelona.
+
+The wind still continuing high, there was some doubt as to how long
+we would be held prisoners. But even if the steamer direct to Palma
+was not able to run, we might return by the shorter sea route by
+which we had come, landing at the Port of Alcudia, and, after a
+night passed at our comfortable _fonda_ there, taking diligence and
+train back to Palma.
+
+A return trip in the steady little _Monte Toro_ would have been a
+pleasure, but when we made inquiry at the shipping-office in the
+harbour we learned that the _Monte Toro_ had already been laid aside
+for cleaning and that the _Vicente Sanz_ had been deputed to take up
+her running.
+
+The young clerk of the shipping company, who was muffled over the
+ears by the upturned collar of his astrakhan-trimmed top-coat and had
+his cap's chin-string in active service, shook a dubious head over
+the prospect of the _Isla de Menorca_ being able to cross from
+Spain, not only on that night but for many nights to come. The
+prevalent wind, according to him, often raged for considerable
+periods. Once for two months, he solemnly declared, no mails had
+been able to reach Minorca.
+
+We devoutly hoped he lied. Still, in case a grain of truth might
+lurk at the bottom of his gloomy prognostications, we decided to
+have a look at the cabin accommodation of the _Vicente Sanz_, which
+was lying a few yards away.
+
+The black and grimy _Vicente Sanz_ looked what she was--a cargo-boat
+that had been hastily adapted to the passenger service. One glance
+at her build was enough to convince even a tyro that as a roller she
+would be unequalled. Right aft over the screw a few cramped
+four-berth cabins formed the first-class accommodation, while the
+sailors' bunks in the forecastle head had been fitted up as
+second-class.
+
+We fled the _Vicente Sanz_, convinced that only dire necessity would
+compel us to voyage in her.
+
+The few people we encountered in the streets were huddled in cloaks
+and shawls, and the custom of muffling the lower part of the face
+gave the women something of an Eastern appearance. Perhaps it was
+due to the chilling effect of the weather, but to us foreigners the
+Minorcans appeared to lack the gracious charm of the Majorcans.
+Though we saw plenty of pretty faces, the girls of Mahon did not
+appear so universally attractive as those of Palma. The conditions
+of life are harder, the climate more severe, and the hard water used
+may have a bad effect on the complexions. There was no distinctive
+native dress either, and we missed it.
+
+The blood of many nations mingles in Minorcan veins--Vandal,
+Carthaginian, Moorish, Spanish, British and French. Port Mahon was
+originally called after Mago, the youngest son of Hamilcar, brother
+of Hannibal. The passage of time is responsible for the corruption
+of _Portus Magonis_ into Port Mahon.
+
+The island, which is about the size of the Isle of Wight, has known
+many rulers. For several hundred years the Romans held it. About the
+ninth century it lapsed into the hands of the Moors, who possessed
+it until in the thirteenth century King Jaime, the Conquistador of
+Majorca, demanded and received its capitulation. Two hundred years
+later, Barbarossa, the pirate chief, having entered the harbour by
+stratagem, besieged Mahon and captured it. Early in the eighteenth
+century the British took Minorca and held it for fifty years, until
+Admiral Byng allowed the French to capture it--a "misconduct" for
+which, after eight months of close arrest, he was shot.
+
+To her social and commercial advantage Minorca was restored to
+Britain at the peace of 1763, only to be seized by France and Spain
+while Britain was engrossed by the American War. Watching the
+opportunity, Britain retaliated at the time of the French Revolution
+by retaking Minorca, which remained hers until, by the conditions of
+the peace of Amiens, the island was ceded to Spain.
+
+"Well," said the Man, as a fierce gust blew us into the portal of
+the Fonda Central, "when I saw this place I felt grieved that the
+British had ever given it up to Spain, but I must confess that at
+this moment I'd gladly hand it over to any nation that would take a
+gift of it!"
+
+In the afternoon the wind, though still turbulent, had moderated a
+little. We let it blow us out to San Luis, along a fine level and
+absolutely straight road that in summer, when the trees are in leaf,
+must be charming.
+
+San Luis has all the outward semblance of a French village. Even the
+church looked French, and was light and airy, in striking contrast
+to the sombre church interiors of Majorca. The streets of the
+village were broad, and the roads leading to it were planted on
+either side with trees.
+
+The whole atmosphere was so reminiscent of Northern France that it
+was no surprise on entering the general shop to be greeted in French
+by the young man in charge. He, as he confessed, had secretly been
+studying the language for some months, and he was evidently spoiling
+to try his new acquirement upon foreigners of any nationality. The
+French, which he spoke very fairly, but which speedily lapsed into
+Spanish, naturally recalled our first impression of the place, and
+we remarked upon it.
+
+A bright small boy, who with his father was in the shop, explained
+matters. San Luis _was_ a French village, he said. It was named
+after the French king and had been built during the French
+occupation of the island. The site had been laid out and the church
+designed by French architects.
+
+For the moment we had forgotten that the French flag had flown over
+Minorca, but the boy's words brought back something we had read of
+the fete Madame de Pompadour gave at the Hermitage of Compiegne,
+where the Court happened to be when the news arrived of the taking
+of Port Mahon. A royal fete, when fountains flowed wine, and ribbons
+and sword-knots _a la Mahon_ were distributed to the guests.
+
+While buying sweets in the shop, we noticed a glass jar of the black
+sticks of Spanish liquorice beloved of our childhood. And on a shelf
+was a row of genuine English cottage-loaves.
+
+The wind had obligingly blown us on our feet out the three miles to
+San Luis, but we wisely drove back. Sitting snugly inside the closed
+carriage, watching the storm-harried crops and shrubs bend before
+the wind, while the sun beat warmly upon us, we agreed that, if one
+could only travel about in a glass-sided box during gales, life in
+Minorca would be fine. We fully realized the necessity for the
+houses being built of slabs of stone nearly twice as thick as those
+used in the sister island.
+
+In Minorca, somehow, we did not feel quite so much aliens as we did
+at first in Majorca. The greatest prosperity the island had known
+had been under British government, and the native mind seemed to
+cherish a kindly feeling towards our nation. It was curious that
+while in Palma we were always supposed to be French, in Mahon we
+were at once recognized as English.
+
+A few English words have been absorbed into the Minorcan language,
+as people seemed proud to tell us. But the only examples we gathered
+were "stop," "please," and "nuncle."
+
+In the harbour, over the door of a small tavern that bore no other
+sign, we saw suspended a bit of a shrub. Remembering the white wand
+at the door of the change-house in the clachan of Aberfoyle, we
+wondered if that symbol also had drifted across the seas.
+
+It was with something of the sensation of marooned sailors that on
+Friday night we fell asleep, to awake to changed conditions. The sun
+shone from a clear blue sky. The sting had disappeared from the
+wind, and the air was comparatively mild and calm.
+
+When we descended to breakfast, the young man upon whose fragmentary
+accomplishment the Hotel Central founded its claim to put "English
+Spoken" on its cards hastened to greet us with the welcome news:
+"The sheep 'as arrive."
+
+Going down to the harbour, we found ocular evidence that the report
+was true. The _Isla de Menorca_ had arrived and would sail for Palma
+at 7 o'clock that evening. Our friend of the shipping office was
+silent and despondent. The weather had disappointed him by declining
+to act up to his gloomy anticipations.
+
+Going, under his escort, to look over the ship, we found her a
+great, broad, tubby boat. At small tables placed on trestles on deck
+the crew were seated at breakfast, tall bottles of wine before them.
+
+The first saloon accommodation was gay in red plush. That was its
+only recommendation, for it was woefully cramped in point of space,
+and the cabins were placed directly over the screw. The second
+saloon, which was amidships, occupied far more room. The steward
+suggested the probability of my having the large and cheerful
+ladies' cabin to myself. On the previous night's journey from
+Barcelona there had been only one lady passenger. Greatly daring, we
+hinted that in the event of no other senora arriving, we three might
+share it.
+
+When we had parted from our escort, leaving him, we felt assured,
+inwardly deploring the comparative calm, and ghoulishly hoping for a
+sudden change of weather, the Man went off to finish his much
+interrupted sketch; while the Boy and I walked up to the
+market-square, from which--Minorca having no railways--a constant
+succession of more or less ramshackle vehicles acting as diligences
+left for the towns and villages round about.
+
+Accosting the driver of the nearest, we asked its destination.
+
+"Villa Carlos."
+
+"And the charge?"
+
+"Fifteen centimos each."
+
+"When will the carriage start?"
+
+The driver made the motion of the hands that takes the place of the
+Frenchman's shrug of the shoulders.
+
+"When it is full," he replied, and we got in. A polite Spaniard
+joined us. A little delay, and he was followed by a girl with a
+market basket. The driver, after gazing to east and west, and north
+and south, without discovering sign of any additional passengers,
+mounted the box-seat, which he shared with two big sacks of
+potatoes, and at last we started.
+
+Having jolted up a long long street of white houses, several of
+whose owners were busy with brush and whitewash pail effacing any
+traces of the storm, we rattled out over two miles of glaringly
+white road. Villa Carlos is a white town of small houses grouped
+about a big square of barracks on the top of a cliff, near the mouth
+of the harbour.
+
+The situation is exposed, and as the wind, though childlike and
+bland compared to the icy blasts of the preceding days, was by no
+means asleep, we found our way down to sea-level, and rested on a
+stone bench in the shelter of a great wall close by where the water
+curves into the little bay of Cala Fonts.
+
+The sea was purring at our feet. Between the fortress above us and
+that on the opposite shore, sail-boats, like winged things, skimmed
+past. Producing an unexpected box of pastels, the Boy began to make
+a rapid sketch of the pigmy harbour with its blue water and the half
+circle of houses that outlined its rocky coast.
+
+It was amusing to sit there and try to picture the appearance of the
+various fleets that must have sailed by on victory bent. When
+Barbarossa, the pirate chief, flying Christian banners to deceive
+the guardians of the forts, steered his eleven galleys up the
+harbour, he must have passed the very spot where we sat.
+
+Although the scene was tranquil, there was a constant movement of
+life. Two women carrying sacks and small picks came and foraged
+among the rocks for tufts of grass or other green stuff. A military
+water-cart drawn by a white mule, whose harness was resplendent with
+scarlet tassels, moved by, attended by a party of soldiers in white
+fatigue uniforms, their bare feet thrust into sandals.
+
+During a temporary stillness I caught the sound of a soft little
+crooning voice that harmonized sweetly with the murmur of the sea.
+It seemed to come from quite near, but there was no one in sight.
+Advancing to the edge of the bank, I looked down. On a ledge of the
+rock a few feet beneath, a little boy attired in sketchy garments
+sat fishing, and as he fished he crooned softly to himself, after
+the habit of contented children all the world over.
+
+His piscatorial implements were even more rudimentary than was his
+clothing. They consisted of a few inches of rod and a shred of
+string. His bait was a skinny hermit crab that he had scraped out of
+some crevice of the rock. A poor bait doubtless, but I can assure
+you the catch was even poorer. Still, perched on his ledge in the
+warm sunshine, Enrique fished hopefully and was happy.
+
+It was so delightful to be out of the wind that we would gladly have
+lingered. But the hour when the Man and luncheon would be awaiting
+us was near. Returning to the barrack square, which was melodious
+with the strains of a waltz played by an unseen military band, we
+got into a conveyance that was on the point of starting.
+
+A young corporal of Engineers quickly followed us, saluting as he
+entered. He was a good-looking, reddish-fair man, a native of the
+island, and an admirable example of the educated conscript. Hearing
+that we were British, he called to another corporal of the corps who
+was playing with a dog near, and who, on being introduced by his
+friend, spoke to us in surprisingly good English. Not only so, but
+he understood perfectly when spoken to, a much rarer accomplishment
+in a foreign language. He said he had been learning our language for
+ten months only, and without leaving Minorca.
+
+I don't know who his instructor had been; there are said to be no
+English residents in Mahon, yet the soldier certainly spoke good
+colloquial English. As we parted he amused us by saluting and saying
+"Well, so-long!"
+
+Another corporal having got into the conveyance--whose only flooring
+seemed to be a sagging mat--we started for Mahon. He, like the
+first, was a specialist in signalling and telegraphy. Both of these
+men struck us as taking their soldiering really seriously. They had
+each served two years in Madrid to learn their business thoroughly,
+and now had charge of telegraph stations on opposite sides of the
+harbour from each other.
+
+On one happy possession Minorca must be most heartily congratulated.
+She has a most excellent British Vice-Consul. When we called on him
+at his house in the Calle Rosario (just off the picturesque Calle de
+San Roque), which was not until the last afternoon of our stay at
+Mahon, his reception of us was so cordial that we sincerely
+regretted not having called sooner.
+
+Senor Bartolome Escudero has many qualifications for the post he
+holds, and not least among them is a perfect knowledge of the
+language of the country he represents. Not only does the senor speak
+English, but it is his hobby to teach it to others who show a desire
+to learn.
+
+It was no surprise to hear that on his visit to Minorca the late
+King Edward had made his Consul a Member of the Victorian Order.
+
+From the bustle of departure in the hotel we judged that some of the
+_comerciantes_ might be our fellow-travellers on the _Isla de
+Menorca_. But when we went on board and, having taken up a position
+on the promenade deck, were watching the passengers arrive, it was
+something of a surprise to see all of them appear. The little man
+with the long trousers; the bald man who performed surprising feats
+with wine-flasks, drinking with the slender spout held far from his
+lips in a way that held us fascinated spectators until he chose to
+set it down; the beautiful being who, we were convinced, could
+travel in nothing less refined than perfumery; the man who always,
+even at table, wore the latest thing in smart caps, and whom we had
+seen coming out of a _sombrero_ shop--all were there. Not even the
+gentleman who, during our voyage together on the _Monte Toro_, had
+used a dust-coat as a dressing-gown was awanting.
+
+[Illustration: _Comerciantes_ in the Fonda at Mahon]
+
+There was little stir on the quay. The departure of a mail boat from
+Mahon does not cause so much commotion as does a like event at
+Palma, where the long breakwater is a favourite promenade, and where
+everybody who has a letter to post seems to delight in rushing on
+board with it at the last possible moment.
+
+Many young men have to leave Minorca to seek their fortune
+elsewhere. I wonder if they return to that rocky island as they love
+to do to fertile Majorca.
+
+Just as the siren blew the first warning, a fine well-built young
+Minorcan hastened up the long gangway. A male friend helped him to
+carry his substantial trunk, and three girls followed closely. They
+had barely time to bid him farewell--one with a lingering embrace,
+the others with a warm handshake, before the gangway was withdrawn
+and water was widening between the exile and his native land.
+
+For a little space he allowed his feelings to govern him, and with
+quivering shoulders wept unrestrainedly into his handkerchief in the
+intervals of waving it. Then, when the boat had rounded the horn of
+the bay and the beautiful city was out of sight, he put away his
+handkerchief, lit a cigarette, and resolutely turned his face
+towards the land of promise.
+
+There were no first-class passengers at all. Our commercial friends,
+taking possession of the after-deck, formed themselves into an
+impromptu concert party, the little man acting as conductor, as with
+admirable voices they sang popular choruses.
+
+Two ladies had come on board; but the steward, taking our hint of
+the morning, had given them a small cabin to themselves, as
+doubtless they preferred, and had reserved the whole of the large
+ladies' cabin for us. So once again we knew the luxury of travelling
+second-class on a Balearic Island steamer!
+
+The voyage was pleasantly uneventful, and not rough enough to
+disturb us. We awoke to find ourselves entering Palma harbour, and
+to see the lovely land bathed in the warm glow of sunrise.
+
+Soon we were in a _carruaje_, waving farewell to the _comerciantes_
+as in a band they walked towards their hotel. A few minutes later we
+had reached Son Espanolet, had passed the house of our friend the
+Consul with its flagstaff and gaily painted shields, and were back
+again under the homely roof of the Casa Tranquila.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: An Interior in Alaro]
+
+XVIII
+
+ALARO
+
+
+The shutters of the Casa windows had been left open that the growing
+light might awaken us in time to catch the morning train to Alaro,
+where we had planned to spend the day with two friends from England.
+
+Looking out while it was yet dark, we were conscious of a lowering
+sky. The pocket barometer had fallen two points, and for the first
+time in many weeks we felt that the downpour which appeared to be
+threatening would be unwelcome.
+
+While we dressed, the rain began to fall sulkily. It had been agreed
+that if the morning opened wet the expedition would be deferred, and
+having had experience of the thoroughness of Majorcan rain, I was
+half inclined to take a gloomy view of the situation and stay at
+home. But the others pooh-poohed my fears and off we set.
+
+The optimists proved to be right. When we entered the station at
+Palma the rain had ceased, and the sun shone out on the Squire and
+the Lady, who were in the act of alighting from the Grand Hotel
+omnibus.
+
+The town of Alaro, which lies close to the base of the northern
+range of mountains, is connected by a light railway with the main
+line at Consell. Horses drag the single carriage up the slight
+gradient to Alaro; it returns by the force of its own impetus. At
+Consell the funny conveyance with its tandem horses was waiting to
+receive the passengers. It had probably begun its career of
+usefulness by being a tram-car in some other part of the world. Now
+a partition divided the interior into first and second classes.
+
+Disregarding the suggestion of the driver, who followed to remind us
+that first-class was inside, we mounted to the top, where two long
+lines of seats were set back to back.
+
+Our progress towards the still invisible town was slow. The efforts
+of the driver to induce the leading horse to put on speed by
+throwing stones at him happily proved unavailing. With something of
+the smooth motion of a boat on a canal we glided on through fields
+of lush grain in whose midst olives grew luxuriantly. The
+threatening clouds had vanished, the sun was warm, the play of light
+and shade on the mountains was glorious, and there was not a soul in
+sight. The deliberate mode of progress through the lovely country
+was so delightful that when the line ended abruptly where the town
+began we all felt sorry. We agreed that we would have been content
+to glide thus slowly onwards for hours.
+
+But on alighting we found our interest in the surroundings for the
+time being subdued by a stronger and more insistent interest in
+food. Our seven o'clock breakfast had been necessarily scrappy and
+hurried, and our first concern was to find an inn.
+
+The civil guard who had been awaiting the arrival of our car was at
+hand. Applied to for direction, he not only recommended a _fonda_,
+but in person escorted us there.
+
+The _fonda_, which was close at hand, looked clean and inviting; but
+its mistress, overwhelmed by this sudden intrusion of five ravenous
+and unintelligible foreigners, eyed us dubiously. She did not know a
+word of Spanish, and her husband--who was evidently the linguist of
+the family--was at Inca market. As she gazed blankly at us her
+children, from the eldest--a pretty girl in a red frock--to the
+baby, clustered about her, their faces reflecting the bewilderment
+expressed in hers.
+
+The fact that the youngsters looked round and rosy and that they all
+held little branches of mandarin oranges hinted that we had come to
+the right place for food. Hunger has a universal language. The
+landlady's blank expression gradually gave place to one of
+intelligence. Before we left her she had promised to have a meal
+ready at ten o'clock; and comforting ourselves with that assurance,
+we went out to stroll about until the half hour of waiting had
+passed.
+
+Wandering through the streets of the little town and peeping in at
+the open doors with the unblushing effrontery peculiar to the Briton
+abroad, we were rewarded by glimpses of many quaint interiors. In
+one, beside an unclassable machine, a heap of the thick fleshy
+leaves of the _chumbera_ (cactus) was lying.
+
+The owner of the house, a man toothless and shrivelled, but endowed
+with that aspect and air of juvenility that seems the heritage of
+age in Majorca, cordially invited us in. He had no knowledge of
+Spanish, but he had what was far more valuable--a keen intelligence.
+
+Indulging our curiosity as to the nature of the odd machine, he ran
+off to return with a handful of macaroni; then darting into the
+machine house, he reappeared with a perforated bowl of burnished
+copper, and by signs proceeded to explain the process of pressing
+the paste through.
+
+"But the _chumberas_?" somebody asked. "Were they the food of the
+mule who drove the machine?"
+
+The old man shook his head. Evidently the motive power was not
+supplied by a member of the ass tribe. Returning to pantomime, he
+raised his hands to his head and protruded his fore-fingers after
+the manner of horns; then indicating to us to follow, ran out into
+the street, where we found him pointing down into an adjacent
+cellar, in whose depths two sleek grey oxen were placidly chewing
+the cud. So it was the oxen who turned the machine that made the
+macaroni, and it was the prickly foliage of the _chumberas_ that
+their jaws were patiently munching.
+
+The little town that nestles out of sight at the foot of the great
+range of hills is an enterprising one. Through the open front of a
+building in another street we caught sight of a fine dynamo; and
+being invited to enter, found ourselves in the presence of the
+electric plant of the town. As the grey-bearded superintendent told
+us, Alaro was the first town on the island to have electric light
+installed. Manacor was the second.
+
+"And Palma?" we asked.
+
+The superintendent shrugged his shoulders. Evidently the capital
+city had been a bad third.
+
+The half hour of waiting had passed quickly, and even in the passing
+were we conscious that the landlady of the _fonda_ was exerting
+herself on our behalf. For while we were gazing at the oxen the
+red-frocked eldest girl had hastened by carrying a big dish of fish.
+
+On the marble-topped table of the dining-room was a huge black
+sausage, a pyramid of rolls, a decanter of red wine, siphons of
+soda-water, and a plate of a pickled plant that was new to us all,
+even to the Squire and the Lady, who had a wide experience of many
+countries.
+
+We were in danger of making a meal of the sausage, when the little
+girl brought in a dish of the omelets that every Majorcan housewife
+makes to perfection.
+
+The pickle had proved delicious, but all our little waitress could
+tell us was that it came from the sea. And we had almost reconciled
+ourselves to the idea that we were eating seaweed when the
+explanation (which proved to be correct) that we might be eating
+samphire occurred to us. In England in Shakespeare's time, and on
+the Continent to this day, the tender young shoots of samphire,
+which grows on rocks by the ocean, are gathered, sprinkled with
+salt, and then preserved in vinegar.
+
+A dish of crisp fried fish followed the omelets. Then came a second
+dish of fish, then an abundance of very sweet mandarin oranges,
+freshly cut, with long stems and plenty of their green leaves.
+
+The moment of repletion having arrived, the men lit their pipes, and
+for a space we lazed. But a few minutes of indolence sufficed.
+Calling for our hostess, we asked for the bill. She was prepared for
+the question, and had the amount at the tip of her tongue--eight
+pesetas.
+
+Leaving our wraps in her care, we separated: the Squire and the Boy
+to climb the mountain called the Castle of Alaro, the Man to find a
+subject for his brush, and the Lady and I to prowl about and enjoy
+ourselves in a feminine way.
+
+Our prowl first led through a part of the town where at the open
+doors women, and little boys with aprons tied about their thin
+waists, were busy making boots. I wonder how it is that the sight of
+a small boy at work always makes me sad. I think it is the thought
+of the immensity of the task he has to accomplish before his labour
+ends.
+
+Once clear of the town, we sauntered along a path that crossed a
+field, and ended at a fine old mansion overlooking an orange grove.
+The trees were heavy with fruit, and the air was perfumed with the
+fragrance of the blossoms that starred the glossy foliage. A giant
+bougainvillea draped a complete wall with a mantle of royal purple.
+
+The front windows were closely shuttered. Except for three dogs
+the place might have been deserted. But on making our way round to
+the back we found ourselves in the midst of the bevy of
+people--caretakers, gardeners, labourers, and their families--who
+live about and in a big country house.
+
+The wife of the caretaker, supported by her half-dozen children and
+an old dame who was presumably their grandmother, advanced to the
+wide doorway of the kitchen to greet us. From the vicinity of the
+stables and outhouses men and lads gathered, and stood a silent
+group, attentive to our attempts at Spanish conversation, which
+attempts, it must be admitted, were puerile.
+
+We were merely asking if we might have the privilege of seeing over
+the house, but we failed to make our meaning clear. Calling her
+little dark-eyed _chica_, who was evidently the educated member of
+the family, the mother conjured her to translate; but the _chica_,
+for the first time removing her eyes from the Lady's hat and flowing
+veil, only blushed and hung her pretty head.
+
+At our wits' end, we were reduced to helpless laughter, when
+comprehension suddenly flashed upon the mother.
+
+"Si, si, senoras," she said, and trotted briskly off, with us close
+upon her heels and the children and the grandmother bringing up the
+rear, across the spacious kitchen, along a passage, and up a stair
+so dark that we had to grope our way.
+
+Passing quickly from one room to another, she threw open the
+jealously closed shutters of the windows, admitting the light. The
+house was one of the many delightfully unpretentious country seats
+to which Majorcan aristocrats migrate during the hot weather.
+Everything was arranged for the sake of coolness. There were no
+carpets or curtains. The tiled floors and lofty raftered ceilings of
+the large airy rooms made it an ideal summer residence. The windows
+and balconies afforded beautiful and varied views towards the
+romantic mountains, across the fragrant orange groves, or over the
+far-stretching fertile plains.
+
+The noble family, we gathered, had other homes: one at Palma, and
+yet another at Madrid, but still they liked to return to the house
+that nestled so close to the great frowning mountains.
+
+When we left she sent the pretty dark-eyed _chica_ to show us the
+path through the orange groves, and dispatched the eldest son
+hotfoot after to pick us a gift of oranges from the trees whose
+fruit was sweetest.
+
+Neither the Lady nor I was inclined for much exertion. Climbing a
+little way up the hill, we sat down in the shade of an olive-tree
+and ate oranges and gossiped.
+
+At our feet the ground slipped down into the valley, to rise on the
+farther side in the mountains, on whose crest we could see the
+remains of the towered battlements above which, in the seventeenth
+century, the two heroes Cabritt and Bassa kept the Majorcan flag
+flying, after the remainder of the island had surrendered to the
+usurper Alphonso IV of Aragon.
+
+We scanned the hill-side in vain for any trace of the climbers. And
+while we lingered the clouds began again to gather, and scarves of
+mist hid the summit. The air had turned a little chilly, and we were
+passing the mansion on our way back to the town when we noticed a
+charming loggia that was built over a barn in which men seemed to be
+crushing olives.
+
+Climbing the few steps that led to the open-sided loggia, we found
+it furnished with a couple of rush-bottomed chairs. Carrying them to
+the front of the balcony over which the gorgeous bougainvillea ran
+riot, we sat, under the row of bottle gourds that hung up to dry,
+looking across the wealth of rich purple blossom in which the bees
+were busy, and over the orange grove towards the luxuriant plain.
+
+A shower at length drove us back to the shelter of the dining-room
+at the _fonda_, where the big logs that burned on the open hearth
+glowed a welcome. There the Squire and the Boy joined us, wet from
+the rain that had caught them when half-way down the mountain, but
+by no means weary. They described the path as having been a zigzag
+mule-track all the way. It was rough walking, but presented no
+difficulty whatever.
+
+[Illustration: Alaro]
+
+Near the foot of the precipitous part of the climb they had passed
+the first of the fourteen stations of the Cross, the final one being
+at the Chapel of Our Lady of the Refuge on the summit of the
+mountain. Each station was marked with an iron cross set in a rough
+cairn of stones, and each exhibited a pictorial tile representing
+the incident commemorated.
+
+The rough mule-track had ended at the towered gateway, which was in
+fine preservation. Just within was a piece of smooth turf shaded by
+trees. The remainder of the narrow crest of the mountain was rocky
+and tumbled. Round the less precipitous sides were the remains of
+battlements and watch-towers. The side farthest from the plain was
+naturally so steep and impossible of assault as to need no
+artificial defence.
+
+The views from the mountain-top they had found magnificent, and
+worthy of a much harder climb. To the north the great mountainous
+range that culminates in the double peaks of the Puig Mayor had
+barred the prospect; otherwise most of the island had lain open
+before them. Inca, Binisalem, Muro, and other cities of the plain
+were visible, and the bays of Pollensa, Alcudia, and Palma. The
+hills beyond Arta, the hill behind Lluchmayor, Cabo Blanco, and the
+outlying island of Cabrera were all distinctly seen.
+
+The point that struck the climbers as curious was that, though all
+lay so clearly before them, the height prevented their being able to
+distinguish any sign of life or to hear any sound from below. The
+effect was almost as though the lovely land on which they looked had
+been deserted.
+
+When they turned their attention to their immediate surroundings,
+the only sentient creatures they discovered were a small boy who was
+in charge of the chapel, a great eagle that soared overhead, and a
+few hens that clucked and scraped the barren ground outside the
+building that had once been the abode of some hermit monks, but
+which was now an _hospederia_ in the care of the boy's parents.
+
+In the little chapel was a beautiful statue of the Virgin, while the
+sacristy held a sad relic in the form of two rib-bones of the brave
+defenders of the Castle of Alaro, who, after having been starved
+into surrender, were cruelly burned to death.
+
+The chapel, perched up among the mist-wreaths and mountain eagles,
+was very small; so small that a large covered veranda had been added
+to the front for the shelter of the pilgrims who flock thither in
+order to obtain the forty days' absolution gained by the attainment
+of its summit. Just beyond the veranda is a sheer drop down. The
+prospect to be obtained from the out-jutting rock our climbers
+described as awesome.
+
+They were half-way down on the return journey before the mist that
+had been floating about caught them in its clammy embrace. The
+ascent had occupied about two hours, the descent nearly one.
+
+Bidding our hostess farewell, we went up the street to a cafe for
+afternoon coffee.
+
+It was an unlucky hour. The schools had just closed for the day, and
+though the cafe was only a dozen paces from the _fonda_, we reached
+it with a train of children in close attendance.
+
+Our demands for coffee with milk and cakes and _enciamadas_ caused a
+flutter in the breast of the comely mistress of the cafe. Summoning
+her daughter Catalina--who was just seventeen and even more than
+usually attractive--from the corner where she was making
+pillow-lace, the mother thrust a large decanter into one hand, a big
+basket into the other, and dispatched her for supplies. Then she
+fanned the charcoal stove, placed a tall wine-glass, in which were
+two pieces of sugar and a spoon, before each of us, and retired
+behind the little bar to await the return of Catalina.
+
+As we too waited, our attention was attracted to the window nearest
+our table, to find a row of small girls' heads, the eyes gazing
+fixedly on us, lining the bottom of the lower panes. As the moments
+passed the numbers increased. Girls with babies in their arms
+augmented the back row. Taller girls peeped furtively from the
+sides, and when caught affected to be engaged in reprimanding the
+curiosity of their juniors. Two little girls, who had arrived too
+late to secure any place, in desperation opened the cafe door and
+peeped in. Needless to say, their boldness was rewarded with
+ignominious expulsion.
+
+It was with something of the sensation of menagerie animals when
+awaiting the meal that people have paid extra to see them consume
+that we looked for the return of Catalina.
+
+It came at last, and in the twinkling of an eye the milk was emptied
+from the decanter into a tin pannikin and set on the fire; and the
+contents of her basket--which proved to be neither _enciamadas_ nor
+cakes but rather limp _bizcochos_--were heaped on a dish on the
+table before us.
+
+The children who had been so lucky as to secure front places to see
+the lions fed got good value. We were all thirsty; the coffee-pot
+was kept busy, the pile of _bizcochos_ steadily diminished. When we
+had finished and went over to where Catalina had modestly resumed
+her lace weaving, the spectators changed their window the better to
+accommodate their desires to the altered conditions. When we said
+good-bye and left they accompanied us--babies and all. One
+gipsy-looking child ran in front, glancing back at us. The rest
+trotted in our wake, making occasional momentary delays to call
+round corners and into doorways for their friends to come and see
+the wild beasts.
+
+When the circus, as the Squire called it, had reached the outskirts
+of the town, many of our adherents fell away. But a staunch band of
+eight or ten remained faithful, and not only escorted us on our walk
+and back to the car station, but whiled away the time by chanting
+and performing dances for our better entertainment, one male infant,
+known phonetically as _Tomeow_, gravely turning a succession of
+somersaults before us, and we wondered if the religious dances that
+are annually performed in the church on the feast of San Roch, the
+patron saint of the town, which occurs on the 16th of August,
+accounted for their rudimentary knowledge of the art.
+
+Constant to the last, they formed a semicircle about us while we
+awaited the departure of the train, which took the place of the
+tram-car in which we had arrived, and listened wide-eared as we
+chatted with a corporal of the Civil Guard.
+
+"The children of Alaro seem good," remarked the Lady, who has the
+gift of saying graceful things.
+
+"Good--perhaps," allowed the corporal, frowning disapprovingly at
+our satellites, "but curious!"
+
+There was no possible repetition of our delightful canalboat cruise
+of the morning. Night had fallen when we began the return journey in
+one of the smallest railway carriages in existence.
+
+When we reached Palma rain was falling, and the view from the
+carriage window, of a wet platform with the lamplight falling on
+dripping umbrellas, vividly recalled the moist far-off land of our
+birth.
+
+But a few hours later, when we left the Grand Hotel, where we had
+dined, the stars were shining above the dimly lit mediaeval streets.
+Palma was herself again.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: In the Dragon's Cave]
+
+XIX
+
+THE DRAGON CAVES AND MANACOR
+
+
+Majorca has two groups of stalactite caves that are reputed to rank
+among the finest in Europe--the Dragon Caves at Manacor, and the
+Caves of Arta which are near the most easterly point of the island
+and far from a railway.
+
+Life at the Casa Tranquila was so pleasant that none of us really
+wished to leave it; yet a sense of duty urged that these sights must
+not be ignored. At first we thought of visiting one or other of the
+series of subterranean wonders, but opinion seemed so equally
+divided as to which was the finer that, in perplexity, we finally
+decided to see both and judge for ourselves.
+
+The weather favoured our reluctant departure. The sun had just risen
+into a cloudless blue sky when the bells of Bartolome's chariot
+jingled at the door, and with the crumbs of a hasty breakfast still
+clinging to our lips we hurried stationwards to catch the morning
+train for Manacor.
+
+We had spoken of going first to Arta, and a day or two later
+returning to Manacor and the Dragon Caves; but on the journey we
+made a chance acquaintance that had the effect of changing our
+plans. Two Englishmen, arrived that morning from Barcelona and
+giving five days to a rapid survey of the island, were going to the
+Dragon Caves. It was quickly arranged that we should view them in
+their congenial company.
+
+As a place to stay at in Manacor our Majorcan friends had
+recommended the Fonda Feminias, and there we went on arrival, to eat
+an early lunch and secure rooms for our return.
+
+The _fonda_, which has an architecture peculiarly its own, is
+situated right in the centre of the town. The large loggia, off
+which most of the sleeping apartments open directly, overlooks the
+fine church that is the pride of Manacor. My room, which was on the
+floor beneath, had a nice little sitting-room attached. I mention
+this specially because a lack of sitting-rooms is usually the weak
+point of Balearic _fondas_. The charge, arranged on arrival, was
+four pesetas a day, including the little breakfast.
+
+Lunch was quickly served in a large dining-room that was as quaintly
+original as the rest of the house. It had ten doors, four corner
+cupboards, and no windows. Light was admitted through two small
+cupolas in the roof.
+
+No time was lost. When we had eaten, a carriage was waiting to
+convey us to the caves. Just at the moment of starting a man,
+appearing from nowhere, silently seated himself on the box. He
+turned out to be the guide for the caves, an indispensable
+individual.
+
+The road to the coast, for one that was neither particularly steep
+nor crooked, was amazingly uncomfortable to drive over. Cruel
+patches of the sharp stones with which the roads are mended scarred
+the way. We bounced here, and bounced there; now surmounting an
+acclivity and catching a glimpse of the blue sea, now dipping into
+a hollow. It was a gratuitously bad road; evil alike for driving,
+walking, or cycling over.
+
+When we reached Puerto Cristo the carriage drew up beside two empty
+vehicles at the back door of a little _fonda_ that is said to be
+famed for its omelets and its pretty girls.
+
+Passing through a room where a table was set for lunch, we reached a
+trellised enclosure overlooking a charming little cove on whose
+waters a boat was sailing.
+
+The silent guide, who had lingered indoors to prepare his acetylene
+lamps, appeared with them already lit; and, following in his wake,
+we set off, past a few fisher houses in whose doorways sun-tanned
+boys were baiting lines, across a bridgelet that spanned a slender
+arm of the sea, and up a rough track over a moor so brown and bare
+that it might have been in Devon. Judging by outward appearance, it
+was the last place where one would have anticipated finding a cave
+of even the smallest dimensions.
+
+As we went we met two parties of Spaniards who had been seeing the
+caves and were now returning. It was for them that the carriages
+waited and the omelets were being prepared at the _fonda_ of the
+three pretty girls.
+
+Just as we were wondering if our taciturn guide would ever consent
+to humour us by producing a cave, he headed for an opening in a
+stone wall. Entering, we were confronted with a barred window and a
+locked door set in the side of a slope.
+
+Producing a key, the guide unlocked the door, then when we were all
+inside he carefully re-locked it. A breath of warm exhausted air met
+our faces. The guide, still preserving his impenetrable reserve,
+removed his coat, and the Boy, fortunately remembering the advice of
+an experienced friend, counselled us to follow his example. An hour
+and a half of hard going was before us. The temperature, which was
+high even in the entrance hall, was likely to increase as we got
+farther underground. So the men in shirt-sleeves and myself in a
+thin net blouse meekly pursued our dumb conductor down a flight of
+roughly cut steps that seemed to lead right into the bowels of the
+earth.
+
+Walking in advance, the guide flashed his light upon all sorts of
+varied wonders, from caverns so hideous and grimy that they looked
+as though coated with the refuse of a coal mine, to banks of
+glittering crystals or stalactites of glistening semi-transparent
+amber.
+
+At one point he drew aside, and stood mutely pointing in advance.
+Thinking he meant us to move on, I was walking forward, when he drew
+me back just in time to prevent my stepping into a lake so clear and
+pellucid as to be absolutely imperceptible.
+
+That was the beginning of the water effects that lend enchantment to
+the Caves of the Dragon. The Dragon himself is but a poor thing,
+diminutive and wholly unworthy his surroundings. We saw him. He was
+pointed out, sneaking up a pillar, a truly undignified position for
+any creature owning the romantic and awe-inspiring cognomen of
+dragon. And, speaking confidentially, the humble name of lizard
+would suit him better.
+
+The lakes and pools are indisputably lovely, and the charm of the
+Cave of Delights quite roused our enthusiasm. Imagine an azure lake
+overhung by myriads of glistening pendants. Near the centre a low
+pile of stalagmites suggestive of a fortress rose out of the water;
+from the miniature fortress extended a reef in the form of a cross.
+Stepping thereon, the guide set fire to a piece of ribbon which
+illumined the farthest recess of the cave, revealing new and
+unguessed beauties, and rendering the scene one of almost
+supernatural loveliness.
+
+Then came more caves and yet more. Up steps we went or down steps,
+getting hotter and hotter in these airless depths as in single file
+we "ducky-daidled" after our laconic conductor. Once, deep in some
+gruesome cavern, he announced that the name of the place was the
+Cave of the Catalans, and in reply to our question explained, with
+something of animation in the recital, that some years ago, before
+the entrance to the caves was guarded by lock and key, two young
+visitors from Spain had conceived the idea of exploring the caves
+without the aid of a guide. Twenty-seven hours later they were
+discovered in that repellent spot, deep in a dismal subterranean
+passage.
+
+It must have been soon after hearing this suggestive story that some
+one asked the guide if he could find his way out without a light.
+And when he confessed that he could not, we all secretly wondered
+how long the gas in the lamps we carried was calculated to burn; but
+we were all too considerate of the feelings of each other to express
+our thoughts.
+
+It was distinctly reassuring to remember that if the worst had
+befallen, if the man on whose guidance we trusted had been seized
+with illness or had met with an accident and the lamps had gradually
+flickered out, all we need do would be to sit down and wait; for the
+driver of our carriage, finding we did not return, would have routed
+out another guide, and we would soon have seen the lights of the
+search party gleaming among the pendants and pillars.
+
+At one point we were refreshed with water from a cleft in the rocks,
+served in a tumbler that was kept inverted over a conveniently
+placed stalagmite. Then we resumed the tramp. The sights seemed to
+be endless, and one of the best--the Lake of Miramar--was reserved
+for the last. About fourteen years ago this extensive waterway was
+made the subject of special exploration by M. Martel, the French
+expert. With the aid of a collapsible boat he spent a week in
+investigation, and at its close was obliged to leave the farthest
+reaches of the caves yet unexploited.
+
+Hot, clammy and tired, we had returned to the cooler air, and,
+resting upon the stone benches within the doorway, were refreshing
+ourselves with tea hot from a Thermos bottle, when the guide,
+suddenly dropping the mantle of reserve that had cloaked his
+pilotage, told us the story of the discovery of the Dragon's Caves.
+
+As he sat, a _coca_ in one hand, a square of chocolate in the other,
+he became almost loquacious for so taciturn a being. The history
+proved curiously limited for such remarkably extensive caverns.
+
+It began one wet day about thirty years earlier, when his father,
+who had been out shooting, took shelter in a cleft of the rocks to
+eat his breakfast. Happening to drop a loose pebble through a chink
+in the ground, he was surprised to hear by the sound that it had
+fallen into a cavity of unexpected dimensions. That accidental
+observation led to the research that opened the Dragon's Caves to
+the admiration of a curious world.
+
+Clothed and cool, though dusty and soil-stained, we regained the
+open air, where a group of small orchid plants growing beside the
+path attracted us. They were the fly orchis, and unusually perfect
+specimens. The neatest, most insect-like little flies I have ever
+seen poised amid the green leaflets on the slender stems.
+
+A glorious sunset was flooding the sky with colour as we lurched
+towards Manacor over the brutal road. The tall towers of the church
+of this city of the plain stood out sombre and imposing against
+glowing roseate banks of cloud.
+
+We had been discussing the puzzling appearance of the building,
+which had a faint resemblance to the Russian style of ecclesiastical
+architecture, and none at all to any other known school. Scaffolding
+still encircled the high steeple, and as we drew near the church it
+appeared as though exciting operations were in process. A constant
+stream of people entering the edifice was jostled in the passing by
+a rush of men, lads and boys, who were hurrying out propelling or
+dragging hand-carts and trolleys laden with blocks of stone, of
+which heaps were already piled about the exterior of the church.
+
+A useful rule in travelling, if you want to see what is going on, is
+to follow the crowd. Moving with the throng into the church, we
+stood astounded at the scene of destruction before us.
+
+The interior of the lofty building was a riot of wild commotion. The
+air was full of fine dust. By the light of the lanterns which showed
+dimly through the obscurity, we saw the great white dome rising to
+the sky; and on the floor beneath, two huge pyramids of broken stone
+and mortar.
+
+On the crest of the mounds vague figures were visible, working with
+almost feverish energy to remove the vast heap of _debris_. The air
+was vocal with the noise indispensable to violent and concerted
+action. And the raucous sound of the wheels grinding on the stone
+floor as a willing band seized each laden truck to propel it out of
+the church added to the unholy din.
+
+[Illustration: Manacor]
+
+The whole scene was so unexpected, so foreign to the manners of the
+twentieth century, that to our bewildered minds it almost appeared
+as though history had slipped back and we had become spectators of
+some iconoclastic mob engaged in the sacking of the church.
+
+It was a relief to find the labour sanctioned by the presence of
+priests, who looked with benign approval at the frenzied efforts of
+the workers.
+
+One of the number, seeing that we were strangers, and probably
+guessing at our bewilderment, kindly approached, and, with quiet
+pride illumining his fine old face, volunteered an explanation of
+the exciting scene before us.
+
+The clergy of Manacor, seeing the need of enlarging their already
+important church, had appealed to the people. The people promptly
+agreed to help, and the work of extension was quickly proceeded
+with, the labour being entirely local, even the statues that adorned
+the niches having been carved by one of the priests.
+
+The walls of the new church, gradually rising, enclosed the ancient
+building, in which service continued without intermission to be
+conducted. When the new walls were complete, the floor of the
+edifice was thickly covered with pine branches; and after Mass had
+been celebrated on the very morning of our arrival at Manacor, the
+ancient walls that had so well served their purpose were pulled
+down.
+
+After the inevitable blinding dust had settled a little, the labour
+of clearing away the _debris_ began. And we had returned from the
+Dragon Caves just in time to witness the multitude of helpers
+exerting their utmost strength to restore by lamplight the interior
+of the church from chaos to order.
+
+When we first viewed the scene of demolition the labour required
+appeared so herculean that it seemed as though toil that was merely
+human could make but little impression. But four hundred willing
+hands can accomplish marvels, and when we returned two hours later
+one great mound had been mostly cleared away, and the other was
+visibly diminished.
+
+With unabated enthusiasm the work was proceeding. When roused to
+their utmost effort there is no lassitude about these sturdy
+Majorcans. Strapping lads, shouting the while, seized each laden
+barrow and dashed off to empty it outside. Small boys imagined they
+were helping by pushing behind with an admirable assumption of
+strength, and adding their shrill voices to the clamour. Some of
+the smallest, with an air of importance, carried out single stones.
+
+Near where we stood a hole had been opened in the floor, and into
+the vacuum beneath a band of youthful assistants was emptying
+baskets of small stones and dust.
+
+Most of the labourers were of the thick-set Majorcan type, but at
+regular intervals a tall handsome young man--a veritable son of
+Anak--clad in a pink shirt, light blue trousers, and a wide felt
+hat, appearing out of the mist, advanced to the edge of the gaping
+hole and discharged into it the contents of a large basket of
+rubbish. He seemed to work alone, speaking to no one, and moving
+with the silent precision of a machine.
+
+The women kept strictly aside, taking no part in the work. In dark
+corners of the ancient chapels that had been left untouched, a few
+black-robed old women knelt in prayer. And near us a group of pretty
+girls stood tittering and whispering. At one moment human nature
+proved too much for some of the youths who had been passing us in
+relays, bearing on their heads great bundles of the pine branches
+that had been laid down for the preservation of the flooring. Making
+a species of organized sortie, they rushed towards the girls,
+brushing their faces with the ends of the dusty greenery. The girls,
+giggling and squeaking, fled before the onslaught, but soon stole
+back to resume their position as spectators.
+
+When work ceased for the night an incredible change had taken place
+in the interior of the church. And next morning, as we dressed, the
+sound of boys' voices chanting came in through our open windows. The
+people were already worshipping in their new church. For one evening
+only had service been suspended.
+
+During the labours of the previous night the women had perforce
+remained quiescent. It was now their turn to help. Active females
+carrying brooms were to be seen hastening through the sacred
+portals, to emerge later vigorously sweeping clouds of dust before
+them. One small girl had a baby tucked under one arm, while she
+industriously plied a broom with the other.
+
+When we took a final peep into the church before seeking the
+afternoon diligence for Arta, the yawning fissure in the floor had
+been cemented over, and rows of benches stood ready placed for
+evening service. An inconsiderable heap of rubbish in a side aisle
+was all that remained of the apparent desolation of the day before.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Arta]
+
+XX
+
+ARTA AND ITS CAVES
+
+
+We met the diligence for Arta at Manacor station, where the
+single-line railway ends on a track so grass-grown as to suggest
+that it had, inadvertently, strayed into a field. Were the engine to
+diverge a yard or two from the rails it would wreck the
+stationmaster's goat, make havoc of his family washing, and
+devastate his prickly-pear patch.
+
+The Arta diligence, a spacious vehicle, supplied with good horses
+and a capital driver, leaves the station yard immediately after the
+arrival of the afternoon train from Palma. Should a sufficiency of
+passengers arrive by the morning train, a diligence would start then
+also; but the afternoon coach is a certainty. The distance is 20
+kilometros, and the fare is three reales (sevenpence-halfpenny).
+
+The Man and I had secured the front seats. The Boy was inside with a
+typical set of travellers by diligence--a priest, a soldier, one of
+the very new recruits who had a six days' leave to visit his home; a
+specimen of the pleasant elderly countryman who is the inevitable
+accessory of such a journey, and two commercial travellers that we
+stopped to pick up as we passed a draper's shop in town.
+
+Our driver was a man of decision. Little time was lost over
+starting. Five minutes after the train had entered the station we
+dashed out of it at a pace that threatened to make the distance
+between us and Arta seem far too short.
+
+It was a perfect evening for driving. There was no wind, and the
+rain of the previous night had laid the dust. The road was a good
+one, broad and level--very different from that over which we had
+bumped and joggled on the previous day. The sinking sun cast a
+glamour over a land that was at any time beautiful. The swift motion
+was gloriously exhilarating. Perched up on the box seat, the Man and
+I felt radiant with the sheer joy of being alive as we drank in the
+sweet bean-scented air, and watched the approach of the picturesque
+groups of farm folk who were returning townwards from their day's
+work in the fields. Our driver, Canet by name, seemed to be popular.
+Sunburnt faces looked up to smile him a greeting. Laughing girls
+crowded into ramshackle carts exchanged gay repartee in the passing.
+
+As we drove onwards the surroundings became less flat, and in the
+distance a range of sugar-loaf hills--the mountains of Arta--appeared.
+About half-way on the journey we jingled through a nice little town,
+San Lorenzo, where grape-vines grew on the walls of the houses that
+lined the narrow streets, and old, old wives sat on the doorsteps
+taking their ease.
+
+Beyond San Lorenzo hills rose about us, and the road ran between
+tracts of uncultivated ground. Here, too, the road was busy with
+returning labourers in delightfully quaint groups. Many of the men
+wore their blue cotton shirts outside, like blouses, and all wore
+wide-brimmed hats of straw or felt.
+
+Each family party was accompanied by an animal--an ass or an ox, a
+goat or a black pig. What struck us as being funniest of all was to
+see the understanding way in which, in every instance, the pigs
+trotted sedately beside their owners, exactly like well-bred dogs.
+
+Then the road rose high between pine woods whose undergrowth was
+thick with the withered blossoms of heath, and we traversed a
+mountain pass up which the men walked, before rattling inspiritingly
+down the farther side.
+
+We were still some distance from the town, and the wayfarers we
+overtook had their faces turned towards it, when it became quite
+dark--too dark to distinguish anything except vague outlines of
+mountains.
+
+Leaving the smooth white road along which we had sped so bravely, we
+entered a narrow street thickly strewn with a misery of sharp jagged
+stones that made advance a penitential progress for both man and
+beast. And Canet, turning towards us, said impressively:--
+
+"We are in Arta!"
+
+Our destination in Arta was the Fonda de Rande, which had been
+warmly recommended by our friend the padre at Palma, but when the
+coach drew up in front of the Cafe Mangol we alighted, to find
+ourselves literally in the embrace of its voluble landlord. By
+pledging our word to hire a carriage from him on the morrow we
+obtained our release, and with Canet acting the dual part of guide
+and porter, we retraced our steps for a few yards along the dark,
+stony streets.
+
+In speaking of the Fonda de Rande the padre had described the Senora
+Rande's cooking as being excellent, her charges moderate, and her
+house the cleanest in Arta. After two nights' experience we not only
+endorse his statements, but go further, and say that her house is
+the cleanest in all Majorca, and that is saying a very great deal.
+
+Within half an hour a meal was before us--a dish of pickled fish,
+another of fresh fish, hot lamb cutlets and fried potatoes, sweet
+oranges, and plums of the senora's own drying.
+
+Our rest that night was luxurious. The beds were soft, the blankets
+light and downy. We slept until the hour when a man promenaded the
+town blowing blasts on a seashell to call the people to their work.
+
+Before we had left our rooms ponderous steps resounded in the
+passage outside our doors. It was the proprietor of the diligence,
+brother to the host of the Cafe Mangol, come in person to ask at
+what time we would require a carriage for our visit to the caves.
+
+Having promised to be ready an hour later, we descended to the
+dining-room, where, after we had drunk our glasses of coffee, the
+senora insisted on refilling them: an attention without precedent in
+our experience of Spanish hostelries.
+
+Breakfast over, we sallied out in quest of provisions for our little
+expedition, a somewhat difficult matter, for the shops at Arta are
+even more independent of signs than those of the other Balearic
+towns.
+
+A little questioning revealed a quite unexpected house to be a
+baker's. The apartment next to the street was fitted up with a
+counter; but its window was closely shuttered, its shelves empty. To
+all appearance the entire business of the establishment was carried
+on in the bakehouse at the back, where, in full view of a pile of
+egg-shells and other evidences that proclaimed the genuineness of
+the ingredients employed, we bought little square sponge-cakes hot
+from the oven.
+
+Boldly entering another shop, which we knew to be a greengrocer's by
+the orange-hued gourd and basin of parsley on the doorstep, we found
+it half shop, half weaver's workroom. In one part the mistress and
+her daughter sold vegetables, boots, and many other requirements of
+both outer and inner man. In the other the portly father wrought at
+his hand-loom, weaving the strong dark-blue cotton material so much
+in use locally.
+
+Having bought a supply of sweet little mandarin oranges at twopence
+a dozen--just half the Palma price--we returned to the _fonda_ to
+find the carriage, with Canet and the two horses that had made such
+light work of the diligence, waiting in readiness to take us to the
+caves.
+
+[Illustration: Towards the Parish Church, Arta]
+
+It had been so dark when we entered Arta that it was not until we
+left the town and looked back that we realized how picturesquely it
+was situated. The blue mountains form a wide circle round it, and in
+the centre of the clustered houses a hill crowned with church towers
+rises grandly.
+
+Arta is a district of rural occupations. The fresh butter of the
+island is made at Son Servera, a village close by. On our way
+coastwards we met many interesting and paintable figures. Here an
+old man with a scarlet and yellow handkerchief tied under his hat,
+and a shaggy goatskin bag slung over his shoulder, herding a flock
+of kids; there a handsome girl, whose petticoat had faded to an
+adorable shade of crimson, and whose fingers were busy plaiting the
+strands of the palm-leaves as she watched by a cow that looked, as
+so many of the island cattle do, like an Alderney.
+
+The fields on either side of the road were planted with flourishing
+trees of almond and olive and fig. Assuredly in their season no
+traveller need go hungry in any Majorcan road. He has only to help
+himself. They say that if a native sees a stranger taking his fruit,
+in place of upbraiding he will volunteer with sincere good-will to
+show him the tree the flavour of whose fruit is finest.
+
+At a lonely bit of the way a contented-looking little group,
+consisting of a fine, stalwart lad in light-blue cotton, a smiling
+matron in workaday dress, and a plump black pig, stood at the corner
+of a field by the road to watch us go past.
+
+As we neared them the radiance that illumined their faces found
+reflection in those of the Boy and Canet.
+
+"It's the soldier who travelled in the diligence last night," the
+Boy explained. "That must be his home. He is one of the new
+recruits, and had six days' leave to spend with his mother. Don't
+they seem to be enjoying it?"
+
+And they did. Even the black pig radiated supreme contentment.
+
+High up on the left as we journeyed we saw a little ancient-looking
+town grouped about the lower slopes of an eminence whose height
+seemed to be crowned by a castle surrounded by defences. It was
+Capdepera, a relic of antiquity of which we knew but little, and
+instantly resolved to learn more.
+
+The way to the Dragon Caves had been across a bald moorland. That
+leading towards the Caves of Arta was down a fertile valley, that
+through the efforts of skilled husbandmen had been brought to a high
+state of cultivation. In a field by the wayside clumps of narcissus
+were blooming unappreciated, and as we came near the cliffs we saw
+that their rocky sides were yellow with a species of gorse which
+grew in cushioning clumps.
+
+When we were within easy distance of a fine, sandy bay, flanked on
+the east by a towering cliff, a man left the solitary house which
+stood in the middle of the valley and came towards us.
+
+"That is the guide," Canet said, pointing his whip-handle in his
+direction.
+
+The guide to the Caves of Arta was a lean, middle-aged man, whose
+well-cut face suggested an innate appreciation of humour. When we
+stopped he mounted to the box, and we went on slowly, for the sandy
+road was heavy.
+
+A little farther on we drew up again. A woman, supporting with both
+hands a tray containing something edible, had left the house and was
+hurrying towards us across the field. When she got near we saw that
+the tray contained three of the large pastry turnovers that, in
+outward appearance, at least, so strongly resemble Cornish pasties.
+
+"I could do with one of these turnovers. I wonder if she sells
+them?" said the Boy, as she climbed to the box beside her husband
+and the genial Canet.
+
+"A turnover wouldn't come amiss," agreed the Man. "I suppose she
+sells them."
+
+But the woman did not offer her provender to us. The guide got one.
+I suspect Canet of getting another. The third was probably the
+cook's own dinner.
+
+Leaving the carriage, we turned to the left of the lovely bay, on
+whose sands rollers were breaking, and walked along the mile of
+delightful path that runs along the side of a precipitous
+pine-covered cliff. Beneath us roared the sea; from above came the
+murmur of wind-tossed pines, with whose perfume the air was
+fragrant, but the way was warm and sheltered.
+
+Our guide, who accompanied us, kept modestly in the rear. It was
+only when we waited for him, and discovered that he was engaged
+lunching on one of the hot pasties, that we understood his
+reluctance to join us. To judge by eyesight, the pasty was stuffed
+with spinach and prunes. To judge by another sense it was stuffed
+with garlic.
+
+We were naturally eager to compare the attractions of the Caves of
+Arta with their rivals of Manacor. A striking contrast was evident
+from the first sight. The approach to the Dragon Caves had offered
+no suggestion of the glories within. The exterior of the Caves of
+Arta, viewed when, turning away from the sun, one mounted the big
+flight of steps leading to the vast opening in the face of the
+cliff, was sublime.
+
+When we had climbed the steps and were standing in the entrance-hall
+under the great overhanging roof, where maidenhair-fern grows green,
+the guide, kneeling on the ground before a lot of tin vessels, made
+a stock of acetylene gas to light our journey through the darkness.
+He had removed his hat, and as, with his mind intent on his work, he
+carefully mixed the ingredients, he suggested some magician
+preparing for some uncanny rite.
+
+While he was occupied with his incantations we surveyed our
+surroundings, and for the first time were able to understand how the
+Moorish refugees, who at the capture of Palma fled in vast numbers
+to the caves, were able, for so protracted a period, to defy the
+army of the Conquistador that had followed them thither.
+
+Beneath the wide opening the cliff falls precipitously to the sea.
+High above it the overhanging roof forms a protective hood.
+
+The rocky sides and floor of the caves afforded an endless supply of
+the rough-and-ready missiles popular in those days. A more perfect
+natural stronghold could hardly be imagined. And but for a clever
+stratagem on the part of two brothers, members of that band of
+intrepid young nobles who so ardently supported their valiant
+leader, the Moors might have held out interminably. These two
+brothers scaled the cliff, and, having reached the point directly
+above the mouth of the cave, threw lighted firebrands down upon the
+huts and defences that were clustered on the rocky shelf beneath,
+with the object of setting the huts on fire and filling the caves
+with suffocating smoke. But the caves were so extensive that even
+this ruse did not quickly prevail. And it was not until Palm Sunday,
+1230, three months after the taking of Palma, that the fugitives
+surrendered.
+
+Shouldering an iron rod, from which were suspended two lamps, the
+guide announced that he was ready to start. There was no need to
+take off coats. The caves were so spacious and lofty that the
+temperature was pleasant, and although the distance to be traversed
+was considerable, the work of seeing them was not fatiguing.
+
+The attitude of our present guide was different from that of the
+former. The guide who showed us the Dragon Caves trotted us through
+them in the business-like fashion of a man who is paid a fixed sum
+for performing a stated task. He wasted few words, and was, we
+thought, a trifle stingy in the matter of magnesium wire. The moment
+of his expansion came only after unexpected tips had been added to
+the amount of the regulation fees. But Amoras, guide to these Caves
+of Arta, showed them as though, after even thirty-five years of
+performance, he still joyed to reveal their glories. His interest
+also was a hereditary one; his father, who had held the post before
+him, had been killed by falling from the cliff path to the rocks
+beneath. Half-way between the bay and the caves, a cross set in the
+side of the cliff marks the place of the tragedy.
+
+[Illustration: Entering the Caves of Arta]
+
+Amoras took the pace slowly, and after lighting us through a
+succession of vast caverns, paused to remark, with a quiet smile of
+enjoyment at our surprise, "We are only now at the end of the
+entrance-hall."
+
+The drought that prevailed without appeared to have had a malign
+influence even on the water supply of the Caves of Arta. Pointing to
+a hollow enclosed by stones, Amoras told us that was the well,
+which, for the first time in his thirty-five years of experience, he
+now saw dry.
+
+Before we had traversed a tithe of the extent of these capacious
+caverns we understood how the fifteen hundred Moorish refugees, men,
+women, and children, with their flocks and herds, an immense
+quantity of grain, and many precious belongings, had found
+hiding-place within.
+
+The Manacor Caves are fantastic and wonderful. Those of Arta are
+stupendous, overwhelming in their gloom and grandeur. Any conception
+I had ever formed of cavernous magnificence was far exceeded; and to
+me the Caves of Arta were infinitely more impressive than the Caves
+of Manacor. When I tried to express this, Amoras said devoutly:--
+
+"The Cave of the Dragon is an oratory chapel. This is a cathedral."
+
+Countless glories are concealed in the vast caverns. Stalactites so
+large that to try to calculate the length of time occupied in their
+formation makes the brain reel. Statues as complete in detail as
+though carven by the chisel of a sculptor. Cascades of glistening
+crystal. The huge crouching figure of a winged Mephistopheles, and
+in the Hall of the Banners flags--marvels of immobile drapery--that
+stood out at right angles from the pillar whence they were
+suspended.
+
+It was in the Hall of the Banners that Amoras, warning us not to
+follow, disappeared from sight, leaving us in the dark. Then from a
+height came strange noises designed to strike terror into the
+breasts of the timid. Then the light of a Roman candle threw into
+weird effect the great maze of stalactite pillars, cones, and
+festoons that rose about and above us to unimagined heights.
+
+But perhaps the most beautiful if not the most amazing of the sights
+was that contained in the Salon of the Queen of the Columns, where,
+in a lofty hall, there stood alone, as though conscious of its
+exquisite beauty and holding aloof, a stately pillar twenty-two
+metros--over sixty feet--in height. About the base were grouped
+curiously modelled clusters of flowers, and above, as far as the eye
+could distinguish, the same delicate tracing was revealed.
+
+"Under it we are as nothing," Amoras had said reverently, as he
+stood beneath it, and one felt that had he worn a hat he would have
+uncovered before the column.
+
+There was a delightfully nerve-soothing effect in the absolute
+stillness of the caves. Not a sound from the outer world could
+penetrate these vast recesses.
+
+"All the neighbours are asleep," Amoras replied drily when the Man
+remarked on the silence.
+
+Though the Caves of Arta are astonishing in their immensity, there
+is nothing alarming or gruesome about them. It did not occur to
+anybody to speculate secretly on what would happen if the guide were
+seized with illness or anything happened to the lights.
+
+Both sets of caves--the Dragon and the Arta--are well worthy a
+special expedition. If it were possible to see only one I would give
+the preference to the Caves of Arta. But that is a matter of mere
+personal taste. I must confess that men seem more impressed by the
+fantastic marvels concealed in the Dragon Caves.
+
+I had promised to show Senora Rande the English way of serving
+spinach as a vegetable course. So when we reached the _fonda_, only
+a quarter of an hour late for lunch, the senora was waiting to hold
+me to my word.
+
+Fortunately the cooking of spinach is the simplest of culinary
+devices, and while the fresh green leaves were sinking to a pulp in
+the earthen pipkin, I had the privilege of watching the senora make
+one of her excellent omelets--an invaluable lesson, and one that I
+humbly trust will render impossible my again making such an
+egregious failure as I did when attempting to cook an omelet at the
+Hospederia at Miramar.
+
+Being certain of a good driver and good horses, we had engaged Canet
+to return for us at three o'clock. We were anxious to get a near
+view of the quaint old town, Capdepera, whose distant appearance had
+attracted us as we drove to the caves in the morning. And we wished
+also to visit Cala Retjada, a little fishing village a mile or two
+farther away, that we had heard was celebrated for its known fish
+and for its suspected smugglers.
+
+The short drive was full of the life and interest that characterize
+an agricultural district. About the stone dikes, sloe blossom lay in
+drifts, looking strangely home-like beside the giant clumps of
+cactus.
+
+Leaving the carriage when we had reached Capdepera, we walked about
+briskly, for the wind was fresh, bent on exploration. A peep into
+the church revealed nothing of special note. Turning away, we
+climbed a steep street, and found ourselves outside the old gateway
+leading to the fortified enclosure that in bygone days had evidently
+been the place of refuge for the citizens when danger threatened.
+And of a truth the space enclosed within these battlemented walls
+would have afforded shelter to a great community.
+
+To the well-preserved ramparts Nature had added an impregnable
+defence in the form of a thick growth of cactus. Both without and
+within the wall their prickly leaves luxuriated.
+
+From the flat roofs of the watch-towers that surmounted the
+battlements the watchers must have been able to see to a surprising
+distance. A white line across the sea revealed the coast of Minorca,
+twenty miles away. Close by was Cabo de Pera, the eastmost point of
+the island. With a vigilant guard stationed in these watch-towers no
+enemy, either from land or sea, could have reached Capdepera before
+the inhabitants had timely warning to remove themselves and their
+valuables within the safety of the stronghold.
+
+The old parish church--Our Lady of the Hope--is within the
+enclosure, close by a modern house that bore signs of occupation. In
+pockets of hungry soil a little spindly grain grew about the roots
+of hoary fig-trees. While all the fig-trees outside were still
+naked, one in a sheltered corner already showed bursting leaves and
+the diminutive knubbly warts that were to swell into fruit. Besides
+tufts of wild mignonette, henbane reared its downy foliage and
+evil-smelling creamy blossom.
+
+Seated in the open doorways of the houses, the women of this remote
+town were making baskets from the dried leaves of the palmetto
+(garbayous), a dwarf palm-tree that abounds on the mountains of
+Arta. Some were pleating the split fronds into long strips that
+others were sewing into the baskets, which besides being largely
+used in Majorca are exported by ship-loads to France.
+
+The pleasant and cleanly little industry seemed the ruling influence
+of the town. In the street we passed men carrying great numbers of
+the baskets fitted snugly inside one another. A glimpse into the
+open door of a warehouse revealed the place close packed from floor
+to rafters with the baskets. On the way to Cala Retjada we drove
+past a cart piled high with stock ready for shipment; and in a
+sheltered cove beyond the fishing village we saw, lying at anchor,
+the _pailebot_ that was waiting to convey the goods to an over-seas
+market.
+
+When we reached Cala Retjada the wind was blowing in fresh from the
+sea, and the boats lay snugly drawn up on the beach of a tiny haven.
+A number of small shut-up houses lining the semicircle of the bay
+showed that the stone-washed shore was a favourite place of summer
+residence. To the west is the imposing headland of Cape Vermay.
+Westwards pine woods clothe the rocky slopes about the sea. Truly a
+pleasant place to fly to when the interior of the island is hot and
+relaxing.
+
+The people of the eastern town struck us as being more Moorish in
+type than those of the more northern or western parts of Majorca. In
+Cala Retjada, in the person of the handsome bronzed captain of the
+_pailebot_, we saw and instantly recognized our ideal of a pirate
+chief--the heroic pirate who treats his enemies nobly. He wore a
+scarlet nightcap with a grass-green band, a golden brown velvet
+suit, an orange cummerbund, and yellow string-soled shoes. Truly he
+was a joy to behold.
+
+Daylight was fading when we turned our faces towards Arta; and as we
+approached the romantically situated town, we passed many parties of
+returning labourers, and many little bands of pretty girls, who had
+presumably strolled out to meet them, though each sex kept
+rigorously apart.
+
+It is the rarest thing to see an unmarried man and a girl walking
+alone in Majorca. The strict system of chaperonage that prevails in
+the higher classes evidently has its prototype in the lower also,
+for the maidens walked with twined arms--like some Maeterlinck
+chorus--and the men, as far as we could judge, confined their
+attentions to admiring glances.
+
+We had heard that the remains of a Phoenician village still
+existed in an ancient forest of ilex not far from Arta. When we
+questioned the senora next morning, as she poured out the coffee,
+regarding its whereabouts, she promptly suggested that her husband
+would take us there. So when we sallied forth it was in company with
+Senor Rande and the _perro de Rande_--a fine specimen of the ancient
+hunting dogs that are still prevalent in the island. It amused us to
+see him leap high into the air to sight his prey.
+
+The way, though it covered a bare half mile, was devious, and
+without assistance would have been difficult to find. But it ended
+in something far more wonderful than we had been led to anticipate.
+
+Near the summit of a gentle mound that was covered with ilex and
+low-growing scrub we found ourselves confronted by a wall built of
+vast, roughly hewn blocks of stone. Before us was an open portal,
+formed of two huge blocks supporting a third stone, one end of which
+was pierced by an orifice that had two openings towards the sky.
+
+Within this gateway were the tumbled remains of a city that had been
+encircled by walls constructed of great single blocks of stone--a
+city so old that all tradition of its builders was lost. We had
+thought the Roman remains at Alcudia and Pollensa as of surpassing
+antiquity. Here was evidence of an occupation far older still.
+
+An eminence in the centre of the enclosure revealed the site of the
+inevitable, and at that date indispensable, watch-tower. From its
+top, though now lowered by the passing of centuries and overgrown
+with herbage, we saw through the gaps in the trees beyond how
+comprehensive a view the watchers had commanded of the surrounding
+country.
+
+The top of the mound on which we stood had been hollowed out, and
+Senor Rande remarked that children came up from Arta to dig for
+treasures.
+
+"Do they find any?" we asked innocently.
+
+Raising his forefinger, the senor shook it before his face in the
+gesture we had grown to think characteristically Majorcan.
+
+"_Nada!_" he made laconic reply.
+
+Devil's tomatoes, heavy with golden fruit, and beautiful
+large-blossomed lavender periwinkle grew in great profusion about
+the devastated homes of the vanished people. And it seemed a curious
+coincidence to remember that the last periwinkles I had seen were
+those growing about the base of the megalithic monuments in Minorca.
+One wonders what connection this starry-eyed flower could have had
+with these prehistoric races.
+
+I had received the information that begonias grew wild in Majorca,
+with the mental reservation natural to a native of a less gracious
+climate. So it was a pleasant surprise to recognize a leaf or two of
+their distinctive marled foliage thrust out from between the heaped
+stones of the ruined Phoenician village.
+
+Our return journey from Arta was not worthy to rank in our memories
+with our triumphal progress thither. We had a special conveyance,
+but as Canet was already in Manacor, having driven the diligence
+that left Arta at three o'clock that morning, he could not act as
+our charioteer, and his employer, who drove us, set the pace
+sedately.
+
+The wind was high, dust was more than a possibility, and the box
+seat held no attractions. So we sat inside and yawned a little as
+the kilometros crept slowly past.
+
+In the little grass-grown station at Manacor the afternoon crowd was
+beginning to gather. And in the station yard the diligences for
+Arta, for Capdepera, for San Lorenzo, were drawn up prepared to
+start as soon as the train had arrived and their passengers had
+climbed into their seats.
+
+We had taken our places in one of the empty carriages that were
+standing ready to be attached to the train for Palma, when the
+smiling sun-tanned face of Canet appeared at the window. He had come
+to bid us good-speed, and remained to share our tea, and to puzzle
+over the powers of the Thermos bottle. Though he politely praised
+the tea, I am convinced that he secretly scorned the bad taste of
+the "Ingleses" who chose to drink so uninteresting a decoction in a
+land overflowing with good red wine.
+
+Our little excursion, undertaken though it had been with something
+of reluctance, had proved like others a charming one, and one whose
+every moment had been full of new interests.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Palm-Sunday at Soller]
+
+XXI
+
+AMONG THE HILLS
+
+
+March was more than half over; we had already reluctantly begun to
+measure our stay in the Fortunate Isles by weeks instead of months
+when we drove to Soller to spend a few days with an English friend,
+who, with all the world to choose from, elects to make her home at
+Soller.
+
+When we left Soller on our previous visit in early December,
+darkness had fallen long before we reached Palma, so the first half
+of this return journey was new to us. And as the day was beautiful,
+we sat luxuriously back in the open carriage and enjoyed it to the
+full. The shower that had fallen had greatly refreshed the land, and
+though more rain was eagerly hoped for, the almond-trees were heavy
+in leafage and thickly ruched with the green-velvet casings of the
+embryonic fruit.
+
+During the winter we had noticed few wild birds. Now, amongst the
+olive-trees that lined the highway as we approached the rising
+ground, many were flying. A brightly plumaged bird with a crested
+head crossed our path like a flash of gold, and disappeared among
+the trees. It was the hoo-poo, the typical Balearic bird, known
+locally as the _pu-put_.
+
+The highway between Palma and Valldemosa passes through a
+picturesque gulch. The road between Palma and Soller climbs a
+considerable mountain, up whose steep sides the native makers of
+roads--surely the most ingenious in the world--have carried the path
+in a series of amazing zigzags, so that the view of the traveller
+varies incessantly. As we mounted higher and massive crags rose
+about us, we sometimes stopped the carriage to look down over the
+vast orchard that covers the plain, to where the far distant spires
+of Palma Cathedral showed against the sea.
+
+As our altitude increased the air became colder. The wind that met
+us at the top was almost keen, and we were glad to rattle down the
+farther side of the hill up which we had climbed so slowly.
+
+A few turns down the zigzag, a fine old cross, its carvings gnawed
+by the corroding tooth of time, stands overlooking the valley and
+the tawny-roofed houses of Soller, as they lie surrounded by their
+orange gardens. A poor cottage was hard by, and while we paused to
+let the Man make a rapid sketch, two children, a boy and girl, crept
+nearer and nearer, until at last they grouped themselves in
+conventional attitudes at the foot of the cross. It did not require
+words to tell us that they must have posed in the foreground of many
+photographs of the same subject.
+
+At the Hotel Marina, where our friend was staying, three good things
+awaited us--a gracious welcome, a glorious fire of almond shells,
+and a daintily spread tea-table.
+
+In the evening we went to Son Angelats, a beautiful "possession"
+dating back to the Moorish occupation. Son Angelats nestles snugly
+into the side of the mountain, and all the year round it is bowered
+in roses of every shade and hue. The air was fragrant with the
+mingled odours of flowers innumerable; and when we walked down to
+Soller through the gloaming the sweet essence of the blossoms
+accompanied us, for our hands were full of roses and violets.
+
+As we strolled through the grounds I noticed what I thought was a
+blue bead lying on the path. Picking it up, I discovered it to be
+the seed of a small grassy-leaved plant new to me, but much used in
+Majorca for covering the sides of banks where grass refuses to grow.
+The seed, which was about the size of a pea, was of the pure deep
+blue of the sapphire.
+
+The name of the plant the gardener declared to be _convoladia_. I
+spell the word phonetically. And when I asked what the appearance of
+the flower was, he made the incredible statement--and stuck to
+it--that the plant had none.
+
+It is impossible to stay in Soller without feeling the magnetic
+attraction of the Puig Mayor, which is higher than any mountain in
+the British Isles. A dozen times in an hour we found ourselves
+turning to see how it looked, for its aspect held the charm of
+exhaustless variety. One might leave it a purple shadow amid
+light-hued satellite hills and turn again a few minutes later to
+discover it rose-tipped and the others in shadow.
+
+Next morning I looked out on a lovely scene. In the growing light of
+dawn the encompassing mountains showed clearly their outlines,
+unblurred save by a wanton wisp of mist that seemed too trivial to
+bear any meaning. But when my breakfast tray was brought in, rain
+was falling with the quiet persistence of rain that has come to
+stay. So we spent the morning indoors enjoying refreshing gossip,
+and refreshing peeps into English books, and in watching from the
+windows and balconies the ever-changing cloud effects on the
+mountains.
+
+There were moments when the crest of the Puig Mayor rose majestic
+above a rolling fleece of vapour that blotted out all the lesser
+heights; and times when, though the clouds hung heavy over the town,
+and the few passers-by huddled beneath time-worn umbrellas, every
+red rock and cleft of the mountain glowed under a sun that shone for
+it alone. Or again the Puig Mayor itself might vanish, and some
+nearer height stand out against the wall of mist in unexpected
+beauty of contour--imposing only because of its temporary isolation.
+
+In the afternoon the sky cleared a little and we ventured out. The
+Good Fairy, our hostess, who abounds in individualities that are as
+charming as they are original, possessed, by right of purchase, the
+fruit of a tree of sweet oranges. Her tree grew in an orchard on the
+outskirts of the town that is itself an orange garden. And hither we
+went to listen to the sweet clamour of the nightingales while eating
+the fruit we had plucked.
+
+Among the glossy-green leaves Keats's "light-winged Dryads of the
+trees" were singing "of summer in full-throated ease." We would
+gladly have lingered long, but heavy rain again encompassed us; and
+we returned to the comforts of the hotel, reluctant to leave the
+melodious plot, but rejoicing for the sake of the islanders, in
+whose expectant ears the sound of the rain falling on their thirsty
+land must have been much more musical than the song of the immortal
+bird.
+
+Next day was Palm Sunday--the children's day. Yet when we left the
+hotel in the morning and ventured out into the rain-washed streets,
+there was not a child in sight. Old people--grandmothers, formless
+figures muffled from forehead to ankle in black shawls, moved
+decorously along carrying folding stools; grandfathers, protecting
+their Sabbath garb with rose-coloured umbrellas of a silk so fine
+and antique that one longed to implore them not to ruin it by
+exposure to the weather, were hastening towards the church. But the
+narrow streets of the quaint old town were curiously empty of
+children.
+
+To our uncomprehending eyes it appeared more the day of the
+grandparents than of the children. I blush now to acknowledge that,
+for the moment, we had forgotten that the day of the children is
+always, and in almost greater measure, the day of the grandparents
+also.
+
+We entered the church to find both the outer absence of youth and
+the presence of the aged explained. Above even the pungent odour of
+incense, the savour of sweet flowers perfumed the air. The centre of
+the church was a seething mass of greenery. Tall spikes of palm
+arose like sword blades from out a forest of green branches--a
+forest that looked as though ruffled by a strong wind, so restless
+was its incessant motion.
+
+Closer observance revealed the motive power to be a multitude of
+small boys who sat, closely packed together, on benches, holding
+aloft branches, many of which were wreathed with flowers. Most of
+the trophies showed the grey-green of olive--a shapely bough chosen
+with care from the family possession, with all the available
+blossoms of the garden twined about the stem. And many revealed
+ingenuity and artistic taste in the garlanding of the flowers.
+Certain of the palm fronds had a piece fixed athwart the tip to
+represent a cross. A proportion, happily but a small proportion, of
+the trophies carried struck the blatant note of artificiality, for
+in their case the palm frond was split and twisted into ornamental
+shapes, and out of all semblance of that they were supposed to
+represent. A few were travesties of Christmas-trees, for their
+fictitious branches were laden with silvered and gilt sweets, toys
+and trinkets, seemingly trivial, but doubtless owning a significance
+of their own.
+
+Beside the rows of close-cropped dark heads moved priests and
+black-robed teachers. And on the outskirts of the throng hovered
+bigger boys, torn betwixt two opinions--whether it were better to
+continue to assert their claim to have reached an age exempt from
+such childish matters, or to yield to their natural desire to join
+the palm-bearers and have a place in the procession that was to
+follow.
+
+One urchin, but recently advanced to the dignity of his first long
+trousers, held half-concealed a scrap of olive, to which he added by
+furtive gleanings from the fallen blossoms that littered the floor,
+garnering a battered, but still recognizable rose here, a gaudy
+marigold there, until he had achieved a trophy that, if not one to
+court careful examination, yet at a little distance presented quite
+a respectable appearance.
+
+When the rose-red umbrellas had dripped themselves almost dry, and
+the branches supported by the hot hands of restless boys were waving
+faster than ever, the black-robed teachers and a nun, moving
+noiselessly amongst their pupils, began to marshal them into a
+double line.
+
+Standing at the side, in company with grandfathers whose fine old
+weather-beaten faces gazed proudly intent at those who were to carry
+their names to succeeding generations, we watched as the little
+forest of branches, borne sedately, passed in front of the altar,
+and then moved in procession round the church. The smallest boys
+walked in front, and many of them were burdened with the care of
+umbrellas in addition to the proud glory of the decorated branch
+that wobbled in their tired hands; while boys of larger growth,
+unable to resist, yielded to a natural desire to shoulder their
+boughs as muskets.
+
+Very few girls took an active part in the proceedings. The
+half-dozen who did belonged to the class that have hats for Sunday
+wear, and the palms they carried had cost money. Little girls whom
+fortune had denied the envied possession of either ugly hats or
+ornamental palms looked on with longing in their soft dark eyes as
+the favoured ones marched by.
+
+When the complete circuit of the edifice had been made the
+palm-bearers moved to a side, and a band of clergy advancing paused
+just within the great doors, through which certain of their number
+had slipped outside.
+
+Standing thus, their resplendent robes of purple and scarlet thrown
+into strong relief against the old wood of the door, the group began
+chanting. When they ceased there came from without the sound of
+answering voices. Again were the voices within raised in recitative.
+From outside came again the reply.
+
+Then, reverberating solemnly through the deep silence that ensued,
+came the sound of a thrice repeated knock on the closed door. At the
+summons the wide doors were thrown open and the outside band
+admitted. Then, the symbol of the release of repentant souls from
+purgatory having been thus impressively enacted, the band, now
+chanting in unison, moved towards the high altar.
+
+The ceremony of the blessing of the palms is a beautiful one, and
+one of which no child who has taken part can ever forget the
+meaning.
+
+The last we saw of it was a hale old grandfather, who carried in his
+arms, under the shelter of his big rose-hued umbrella, a sleepy
+little boy, whose weary hand still grasped his flower-wreathed
+olive-branch as they took the path leading to the mountains.
+
+The earnestly prayed for rain, when it did come, came in unstinted
+quantity. It had rained all night, and on Monday rain was still
+falling, but more softly--almost, one might say, reluctantly--on the
+little white-robed first communicants who, sheltered by the
+umbrellas of mothers or aunts, were threading their way delicately
+among the pools of water that lay as traps for their white-shod
+feet.
+
+But the Majorcan climate is too beneficent to spoil the notable day
+for the young communicants. Before noon the clouds had drifted away
+from the mountains; and though the sun did not appear, the air was
+mild and balmy, and through the wonderfully absorbent nature of the
+Soller soil the streets speedily became dry enough to enable the
+dainty white shoes to trip about almost without blemish.
+
+And all day long, everywhere one looked, young girls, some in
+expensive raiment, others in evidently home-made garments, but all
+with long white veils flowing from their wreathed heads, moved
+sedately from house to house, accompanied by an admiring train of
+female relatives, as they paid visits of ceremony to all their
+friends.
+
+And as for the boys!--words fail to tell of the glories of their
+harshly new suits, their shining patent leather boots, of their
+spreading collars, of the elaborate bow of gold embroidered white
+ribbon that decorated their left arms; or, greatest of all--of their
+self-importance.
+
+They, too, had their public promenade, and paid their visits. They,
+too, had their attendant group of appreciative relatives. On meeting
+any friends the little party would pause, and the graceful ceremony
+of asking forgiveness for past misdeeds be gone through, when the
+young communicant, bending and kissing the hand of the elder, would
+say, "If I have ever done you any harm, forgive me now."
+
+My men had gone off to see Biniaraix, a hamlet of brown houses
+grouped about the white tower of a church on the mountain-side, and
+to enjoy a reminiscent glance at Fornalutx, the quaint hill-town
+where, on our previous visit to Soller, we had spent a well
+remembered afternoon.
+
+So the Good Fairy and I, left to our own devices, passed the
+afternoon in rambling about this town of amazing contrasts. As I
+said before, Soller is endowed with a curiously absorbent soil--a
+soil that acts as a charm in cases of inflammatory rheumatism and is
+prime factor in the remarkable longevity of the inhabitants. The
+roads were already so dry and pleasant to walk on that, but for the
+evidence of the _torrente_, which was a raging river, it would have
+been hard to credit that for two days and nights thrice-blessed rain
+had fallen without intermission. Snow covered the crest of the Puig
+Mayor and lay heavy on its shoulders, yet down in the valley the
+soft air was sweet with the fragrance of orange blossoms, and all
+about the golden or copper-coloured fruit hung in profusion on the
+trees. Truly Soller is a place of piquant contrasts.
+
+The trespasser is welcomed in Majorca. There are no
+notice-boards--except a few _vedados_ to warn against hunting--no
+padlocked gates. So we wandered about, following bypaths that led
+from one small "possession" to another; and never, after we left it,
+returning to the highroad until it was time to return home.
+
+That the Good Fairy is widely beloved was evident at every turn. Her
+diplomatic powers are great, but she had to exercise them all to
+avoid spending the afternoon indoors in the hospitable homes of her
+humble acquaintances, who, catching a glimpse of her as she passed,
+hastened out to entreat her to enter.
+
+Living in this place of natural delight must be cheaper even than in
+Palma. One courteous dame took us all over her house, that we might
+see the views from her windows. The house, which was in the town,
+was a comparatively new dwelling in a good airy street. It had a
+large high-ceilinged _zaguan_--the entrance chamber that is a
+combination of hall and reception-room--from which opened a neat
+kitchen. A few steps up from the _zaguan_ was a cosy parlour from
+which a stair led down to the _terras_. Above, on the first floor,
+were two bedrooms, and on the second floor two more, all well lit
+and affording exquisite views. Being in town the house had no
+garden; but the _terras_ with its big jars of plants seemed a
+favourite place for taking the air.
+
+When I indulged my curiosity by asking the rent, the good dame told
+us that for all this excellence she paid twenty-four dollars a
+year--less than five pounds; and the rent included taxes!
+
+As we strolled farther afield the wealth of the land was heaped upon
+us. Our hands overflowed with the Balearic violets, that are the
+sweetest in the world, and the Balearic pansies, that are, I verily
+believe, the poorest. For pansies love a cold damp soil, and rarely
+flourish south of the River Tweed; and the Tweed is a far, far cry
+from these sun-loved isles.
+
+We had sprays of orange blossom given us too, and ripe oranges,
+whose golden sides the beneficent sun had tanned to copper. And we
+sat in a garden and ate them, while the aged donor, who still
+possessed the fine features and limpid eyes of her bygone youth,
+talked to us, illustrating her stories by a pantomime of feature and
+gesture so expressive that even I, with my meagre knowledge of her
+language, could hardly fail to grasp their meaning.
+
+In the kitchen of her house the wide hearth was almost shut in by a
+three-sided settle, whose seats were strewn with fleecy white
+sheepskins. On the kitchen shelves the native ware of brown,
+decorated in crude patterns of red and yellow, was arranged with
+unconscious artistic effect.
+
+Mounting gradually higher, we rested at a point where the town lay
+open before us. Hills rose steeply behind us; in front the ground
+sloped down in terraces; and, far beyond, the fruitful gardens and
+russet houses of the town rose again towards the snow-crested
+mountains, or at one point fell gradually to the cleft beyond which
+showed the sea.
+
+Becoming suddenly conscious that we had let the tea hour slip past
+unheeded, we were hastening back to the hotel, when, crossing the
+bridge that spans the _torrente_, we caught the promise of a sight
+that made us quickly return to the open space of the market square
+that we might obtain a less interrupted view. Over the roofs of the
+houses the snow-capped mountain summits, struck by some magic shaft
+from the hidden sun, glowed rose-red, and the unearthly beauty of
+the transfiguration held us mute and spell-bound.
+
+The curious thing was, that though little groups of people stood
+gossiping in the market-place no one appeared to have eyes for this
+refulgence but ourselves. Seeing us standing gazing silently towards
+the mountains, they turned also to see what had attracted our
+attention, then turned away uncomprehending.
+
+
+
+
+XXII
+
+DEYA, AND A PALMA PROCESSION
+
+
+The last lingering trails of rain-clouds had vanished and the sun
+shone from a cloudless blue sky when next day we drove off behind
+Pepe and his pair of white horses to picnic at Deya, the curiously
+distinctive little town that perches on a hill betwixt mountain and
+sea, half-way between Soller and Miramar.
+
+The road was a good one, and as the way, though steep, was set in
+zigzag fashion, its ascent would have been easy but for the
+barbarous way in which, acting with the empty cunning of these
+would-be crafty island road-menders, someone had littered the road
+with lumps of stone, thus forcing the passing vehicle to act the
+ignominious part of road-roller by threading its way out and in over
+the newly mended parts. Sometimes the stones were so evilly placed
+as to impel us to venture perilously near the edge of the
+precipitous track.
+
+It was a relief as we slowly mounted upwards to come upon the
+perpetrator of the crime in the very act of further blocking our
+path. Taken thus red-handed, he was not one whit dismayed, but
+complacently stepped aside to let us pass.
+
+The opportunity was not one to be missed. Half drawing up and
+turning round on the box, Pepe launched towards him a few
+objurgations in trenchant Majorcan. And the Good Fairy, putting her
+head out of the carriage, added the weight of her gentle reproach.
+
+[Illustration: Deya]
+
+"What is this you do?" she asked in her pretty Spanish. "Placing
+stones on the road to welcome the strangers! Is this the way you
+show them the delicacy of the Spaniard?"
+
+Thus doubly reproached, the _caminero_ stood transfixed; and our
+emotions having found vent, we drove on, leaving him with his hand
+raised to his brass-bound hat, his mouth open but speechless.
+
+Having reached the summit, we began the descent, losing sight of our
+grand mountains, but gaining a glimpse of the Mediterranean, which
+glowed in that warm blue that makes one wonder--until one tries the
+temperature--why sea-bathing should be confined to the summer
+months.
+
+The tawny-roofed houses of Deya cluster on a high rock that rises
+like an island from out a sea of valley which is girdled by
+precipitous mountains. Streams in cascades were rushing down in a
+joyful pell-mell, the cherry-trees were heavy with blossom, and the
+pomegranates were opening their first delicate copper-tinted leaves
+as we drove along the highroad that follows the curve of the valley.
+
+The attentive _chef_ of the Marina had made us independent of
+_fondas_, and Pepe had promised to find us a good place to lunch in.
+So when he drew up at a path that branched off from the highway on
+the Miramar side of Deya, we took our hamper, from which the neck of
+a bottle protruded alluringly, and started to explore it.
+
+The path ended at a gate that opened into private grounds. In any
+other country the most presumptuous among us would have hesitated
+before invading the garden of unknown owners. But we were in the
+Fortunate Isles and the charm of their unconventionality influenced
+us. Walking in, we found some conveniently placed stone seats under
+the shade of a huge lemon-tree, and there we spread our feast of
+lamb cutlets, potato omelets, cakes and fruit.
+
+The house, of one corner of whose quaintly terraced garden we had
+taken possession, appeared to be untenanted. Its windows were
+closely shuttered, its stable empty; but soon from the highest
+terrace an old head peeped at us. A little later it appeared on a
+terrace lower, then nearer still, the attached body becoming
+gradually more and more visible, until the owner appeared before us
+in the person of an aged woman whose frivolously abbreviated
+petticoats seemed incompatible with her sober face.
+
+It was the caretaker, come not to warn us that we were intruding,
+but to urge us to leave the place we had chosen for one where there
+was a proper table and much water.
+
+We resisted her enticements and she trotted off, her appearance a
+ludicrous combination of propriety and indecorum, with her serious
+face swathed in its black kerchief and her lavishly displayed light
+drab ankles.
+
+She did not quite abandon us, however; and when the men had gone off
+to paint she returned, and was so evidently desirous that we would
+not leave before seeing the marvels of the garden, that we consented
+to allow her to show them.
+
+And, indeed, the arrangement of the grounds revealed much ingenuity.
+The spot where she would have had us eat was a stone-built
+_mirador_, through a shallow cave, at whose back a mountain torrent
+had been induced to flow. As she had promised, there was both "a
+table" and "much water." In summer the suggestion of coolness
+imparted by even a trickle of water would be charming. Then, with
+the torrent rushing at breakneck speed, the effect was a little
+overpowering and the noise positively deafening. Our chosen place
+under the big lemon-tree might not be so extraordinary, but it had a
+placid charm that soothed while it did not detract from the matter
+in hand.
+
+The nephew of our unconsciously serio-comic cicerone, in the person
+of a one-eyed _calender_--I beg his pardon, gardener--joined us to
+reveal fresh attractions of summer-house and rivulets, and of a
+grotto where, amid a perfect cascade of maidenhair-fern, a graceful
+statue of Our Lady of Lourdes was embowered. From every point the
+view was lovely, but I defy anybody to find a spot about Deya that
+does not afford a lovely prospect.
+
+When we left the place our lady of the stockings, eager to do
+something for the generous tip the Good Fairy had slipped into her
+hand, insisted on carrying our hamper. And during the remainder of
+our afternoon at Deya, whether we went up hill or down dale, amongst
+the picturesque houses clustered on the church-crowned hill or
+through the gardens that lined the side of the river, we seemed
+always to be encountering her. Whether she was paying a round of
+visits to display her coin, or bound on an exhaustive shopping
+expedition to squander it, we did not know; but at every turn of the
+road we seemed to see the twinkle of those drab ankles.
+
+One of the many charms of Deya is the proximity of the sea, which
+laves the foot of its valley. Another is its delicious irregularity.
+I do not believe there are a half-dozen yards of straight road in
+Deya. Every house has its own elevation, its individual bypaths.
+Another and an invaluable charm to artists is the manageable quality
+of its pictorial effects. The extensive grandeur of Miramar is
+almost unpaintable, but Deya has a complete picture at every turn.
+We saw many in the course of that afternoon stroll. Women washing,
+men gathering oranges, a handsome woman in a petticoat of vivid
+scarlet leading a recalcitrant black goat: all ready for
+transference to canvas.
+
+The hours flew past. Almost before we knew, dusk was falling and we
+were on our way back to where the snow-capped Puig Mayor presides
+over the wonderful Soller valley.
+
+We had been a little apprehensive, expecting a repetition of the
+somewhat hazardous morning journey. But the Good Fairy's appeal to
+the chivalry of the Spaniard had borne immediate result. Every stone
+had been laboriously removed from the path. So without hindrance we
+rattled gaily down into the valley, where lights were already
+twinkling through the dusk.
+
+The final day of our visit to Soller brought yet another experience
+of unusual interest. Our hostess had still another surprise in store
+for us. We had viewed the high mountains from beneath, now we were
+going to see them from the crest of one of their number.
+
+Pepe took the reins in his skilled hands and guided the surefooted
+mules, who, for this expedition, replaced the white horses, up a
+perilous road that curved about the mountain-side, rising higher and
+ever higher until we looked down over the many terraces of olives
+into the valley that lay placidly basking in the afternoon sunshine.
+
+Our ascent was necessarily very deliberate. As we wound slowly up we
+passed neither dwelling nor human being; and those of us to whom the
+way was new began to wonder why any road should have existed on so
+lonely a height. Then when we had got so high that it seemed as
+though an eaglet's aerie would be the most likely habitation, the
+road ended on a flat plateau, and we found ourselves driving into
+the outer courtyard of a farm-house so old and weather-beaten that
+in appearance it resembled the rocks and crags that surrounded it.
+
+We alighted unnoticed. Doves were flying overhead. A dog greeted our
+advent with an interrogative growl; fowls clucked about unheeding.
+Pepe, rolling himself up in a striped blanket, curled up on the box
+to await the hour when it might be our pleasure to return. And we
+walked on, wondering if we had left the everyday world behind in the
+valley and had all unwittingly climbed to the palace of the sleeping
+beauty.
+
+A stone-cast from the house was a _mirador_ known to our
+conductress. Securely seated therein, poised right on the edge of
+the mountain-crest, we looked at the vast panorama. Crags rose high
+about us. Behind and above us towered an unfamiliar side of the Puig
+Mayor, its massive shoulders deep in drifted snow.
+
+Far beneath, looking like some gaily coloured map when seen from
+that height, lay the port of Soller with its lake-like harbour and
+pigmy headlands. And northwards spread the far-reaching sea, whose
+grandeur no altitude could dwarf.
+
+The sensation of being above the world was gloriously exhilarating.
+When a bird flew overhead we almost felt as though we too had
+wings, and two lines from Davidson's _Ballad of a Nun_ kept running
+through my mind:
+
+    "I am sister to the mountains now,
+     And sister to the sun and moon."
+
+Leaving the _mirador_, we wandered happily about the plateau. Among
+the grass a strange flower was blooming, and it seemed quite natural
+that this amazing location should boast a flower of its own. It was
+an orchid whose sugarloaf-shaped spike was covered with florets of
+dull purple, close-packed after the manner of a grape hyacinth. In
+many of the plants the flowers burst into a tuft at the top. It was
+strange and not pretty, but curiously in keeping with its isolated
+situation.
+
+When we returned to the house Pepe, swathed in his blanket, was
+still deep in the slumber of the man of tranquil mind: but the
+mistress of the house was at hand. Approaching, she greeted us with
+grave courtesy. She had the remains of much beauty. The soft bloom
+of girlhood lingered on her matronly cheeks, and the retrospective
+look of one accustomed to deep solitude was in her fine dark eyes.
+
+On her invitation we entered the house, whose tall sides surrounded
+an inner courtyard. One end of the big cool kitchen was partitioned
+off with high-backed settles, and right on the middle of the floor
+of the "cosy corner" thus formed a pile of logs was glowing. Looking
+up, we saw that overhead the roof contracted until it became a wide
+chimney, through which a glimpse of blue sky was visible. A gun hung
+on the whitewashed wall, and on one of the seats which was thickly
+spread with skins a shepherd lad was resting.
+
+Returning to the _mirador_, we watched the sun sink in a golden
+glory over the misty blue sea. Then, lamenting the inevitable close
+of another perfect day, we drove back down the vagrant deviating
+way, feeling as though we had for a brief space been translated to a
+new and inspiring world.
+
+It was with sincere regret that on the morning of Holy Thursday we
+bade the Good Fairy farewell and, with Pepe again as charioteer,
+started on our drive back by way of Deya, Miramar, and Valldemosa to
+Palma, where we had an afternoon engagement.
+
+The scenery of this coast road must rank with the finest in the
+world, and on that March morning it was looking its loveliest. There
+was no wind, and both sea and sky were of that deep warm azure that
+makes so fitting a background to Balearic Island vistas.
+
+On reaching the first houses of Deya, we stopped the carriage, and
+alighting, climbed the easy ascent to the church. Halfway up the
+slope a French artist was painting, filling in his canvas with a
+delicate mosaic of heliotropes and pinks and purples.
+
+He was enthusiastic about the pictorial quality of his surroundings.
+"Deya," he declared, was "_un paradis pour les peintres_."
+
+When we peeped into the church Mass was being celebrated, and from
+the dusk of the interior the eyes of young communicants looked
+gravely at us from under their white wreaths.
+
+Amid the clustered houses halfway down the hill a quaint old
+building proclaimed itself the Casa Consistorial. A worm-eaten stair
+led to the town hall. The iron-barred door of the dungeon opened at
+a touch, revealing its abandonment to the base uses of a
+lumber-shed. As far as we could see, the sole person in charge of
+the municipal chambers of Deya was a year-old infant who occupied a
+low chair in the wide-roofed porch. He, however, maintained a
+magisterial dignity of demeanour throughout our cursory inspection
+of the premises.
+
+As we left the valley the lofty crags and olive-clad slopes of
+Miramar rose about us. Their appearance was already familiar, and it
+was with a positive thrill of pleasure that we saw them again.
+Across the smooth surface of the Mediterranean a liner was passing,
+and we wondered what impression the passengers would get of the
+island.
+
+We reached the Hospederia to find that for the moment the solitude
+that in November we had found so attractive had vanished. Evidently
+some periodic household inspection was in process, for in the wide
+doorway women sat mending house-linen, and children clinging to
+their skirts glanced shyly at us.
+
+Fernando was absent, but Netta remembered us, and brought a large
+glass jug of the matchless Miramar water out to the _mirador_
+overhanging the sea just beyond the house whither Pepe had already
+carried our lunch.
+
+Valldemosa was looking lovely in the fresh green beauty of spring,
+when an hour later we drove through its steep streets. The terrace
+gardens of the old Carthusian monastery were sweet with bud and
+blossom; and on the road beneath, a couple of bearded brown-robed
+Franciscan monks, treading softly on sandalled feet, gave us
+greeting.
+
+As we left the gorge whose precipitous sides rose high overhead, an
+eagle, clearly outlined against the azure sky, gave the finishing
+touch to the wild beauty of the spot.
+
+After the soul-inspiring grandeur of the everlasting hills, the
+plain, in spite of its luxuriant verdure, seemed tame; and even
+Palma appeared almost uninteresting. But it must be admitted that we
+were approaching it by the back way--by the kitchen entrance, so to
+speak--and in strict justice Palma should be entered by the front
+door, which is the port.
+
+We had been invited to the palace of one of the noble Majorcan
+families to witness the passing of the Holy Thursday procession, and
+as we walked into Palma in the early evening, signs of preparation
+for the ceremonial were in evidence. Strangely clad figures, looking
+supernaturally tall in their long robes and high pointed hoods, were
+advancing towards the city. And their odd garb and masked faces gave
+them the appearance of beings strayed from out the dread days of the
+Spanish Inquisition.
+
+By the gate of Santa Catalina one of the masked men--his
+face-covering thrown back--was having a heated argument with a
+_consumero_ respecting a demand for payment of duty on the tall
+candle he carried. And within the gates like figures were to be seen
+all advancing towards some given point.
+
+Outside the walls, where the buildings were comparatively new, the
+weirdly garbed shapes had seemed anachronisms, with more than a hint
+of the fancy dress carnival about them; but once within the walls of
+the ancient city, its narrow streets and tall closely shuttered
+dwellings made fitting setting for their mediaeval guise.
+
+In the streets ladies wearing mantillas and the costumes of black
+brocaded satin that they reserve for religious ceremonials were
+hastening, rosaries in hand, from one church to another. It is the
+custom to visit as many churches as possible on Holy Thursday. One
+lady we knew told us she had entered twenty-two that day.
+
+Just opposite the old palace on whose balconies we were placed was
+one of the five churches through which the procession was to pass.
+In the roadway beneath, people had already gathered in expectation
+of its approach, and as we waited a sound of distant music,
+monotonous, penetrating, reached us. Then the town drummers, led by
+a small body of mounted civil guards (who defiled to a side and rode
+on to await their exit from the farther door of the building)
+appeared, and still vigorously plying their drum-sticks, marched
+into the church.
+
+Very few members of the clergy were to be seen. The participants in
+the solemnity were almost entirely laymen. Representatives of many
+municipal bodies took part in the procession. There were civic
+authorities who carried a well-brushed silk hat in one of their
+white-gloved hands and a lighted candle in the other: doctors,
+members of the Red Cross Society, the town band, firemen, police,
+boys from the orphanage, old men from the workhouse--all evidently
+proudly conscious of the importance of their position.
+
+[Illustration: Processionists of Holy Thursday]
+
+At intervals a platform supporting one of the fine carved images
+from the Cathedral was borne by. When the beautiful effigy of the
+Crucified Christ from the Church of La Sangre--that exquisite statue
+to whose flowing hair so many women have gloried to contribute their
+tresses--was carried past, the expectant crowd fell upon its knees
+before it.
+
+To our untutored eyes a striking feature of the observance was the
+long succession of masked penitents, who, bearing tall lighted
+candles, walked in a double line. The hue of their robes varied from
+almost bright blue to the more effective black and white. Some were
+handsomely embroidered, others plain. Two of the men were laden with
+chains; and one at least trod the cobble stones with naked feet, in
+public fulfilment of a vow taken in a time of impending danger.
+
+Most of the penitents held lace-edged handkerchiefs to protect the
+candles from the warmth of their hands; but in spite of the
+precaution certain of the candles already showed signs of softening.
+Many of the processionists bore emblems of the Passion, and one
+group as it entered the church broke into a mournful chant.
+
+One of the observances of the function appeared to be the
+distribution of sweets. It was curiously incongruous to see the
+masked figures drop comfits into outstretched hands. We noted one
+pause before a pretty pink-clad senorita, who with her _duena_ was
+standing opposite our balcony, and signing to her to open the silver
+chain-bag she held, he poured into it a great handful of sugared
+almonds, to her blushing satisfaction.
+
+The ceremony was imposing, touching, full of affecting suggestion;
+but even as we looked we could not help regretting that night had
+not fallen. Then the sight of a long sequence of quaint figures
+bearing the tall lighted tapers through the sombre crooked streets
+of the old town would have been much more impressive.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: During the Carnival at Palma]
+
+XXIII
+
+OF FAIR WOMEN AND FINE WEATHER
+
+
+The first thing that impresses the traveller regarding the
+inhabitants of Majorca is the prevalence of good-looking young men
+and of pretty and graceful young women. Legend tells that in
+long-past days the people of Majorca were induced to make a treaty
+with the Dey of Algiers, by whose terms they yearly paid him a
+tribute of a hundred virgins, on condition that he restrained his
+piratical hordes from molesting the island. One feels that the Dey
+had an eye for beauty, for in these favoured isles to be handsome
+seems to be the rule, not the exception.
+
+While young the Majorcan women are charming after a peculiarly
+feminine fashion. Compared with them French working women of the
+same class are hard of feature and masculine and ungainly of form.
+Their features are refined, their complexions clear, their feet
+slender, their hands small, shapely, and well-cared for. When I
+mentally compared the condition of their hands with those of the
+rough toil-hardened hands of the women of the British working
+classes, I wondered if the substitution of charcoal for coal and of
+olive oil for grease in cooking could account for their better
+preservation.
+
+To rise to the admired standard of aristocratic Majorca a man should
+look as though he had never done a day's work in his life. His hands
+should be soft, his skin untanned. A youth who had been yachting
+declared regretfully that on his return to Palma he was so brown
+that none of the girls would look at him!
+
+To judge from a letter written to the Palma paper, _La Almudaina_,
+by a Majorcan on board an Italian liner bound for the Argentine, the
+delicacy and fine modelling of Majorcan hands would seem to be
+locally recognized and even gloried in.
+
+    "What a misfortune," lamented the Voyager, "that the
+    Italians have feet and hands so large, and fingers so
+    twisted. Oh, hands of my country, with slender fingers
+    and blushing nails, how my eyes feel home-sick to look
+    upon you!"
+
+Women of all classes wear long skirts, which on being daintily held
+up reveal natty petticoats; and all show a pleasing taste in
+footgear. Boots are cheap in Majorca, and the servant maid or the
+work-girl on their Sunday afternoon promenade on the Borne will wear
+smart shoes of patent leather or high-heeled boots of cream-hued
+kid.
+
+Nothing more charming or more suitable for everyday wear than the
+native head-dresses--a mantilla of black lace for the mistress, a
+_rebozillo_ of white muslin for her maid--could possibly be devised.
+While for gala occasions, such as a bull-fight, the white lace
+blossom-bedecked mantilla is positively captivating. And one
+sincerely regrets that, in Palma at least, the hat is gradually
+making its way. The ladies who lead Palma fashion wear hats, and
+where they lead others hasten to follow.
+
+A positive thrill of excitement runs through fashionable Palma when
+notice is received of the approaching visit of a milliner or
+costumier from Paris or Madrid. The hotel where the private view of
+the new season's styles is held is thronged with eager buyers. When
+the cream of the stock has been secured, the enterprising adventurer
+disposes of the skim milk to the second-rate local shops, and sets
+sail with full pockets. The pity is that, with both the tradition
+and the usage of so picturesque a national custom for guidance,
+matrons who themselves rigidly adhere to the mantilla should,
+doubtless from the best possible motives, condemn their young
+daughters to wear hats.
+
+Even at the best the prevalent mode in hats was ugly, and possibly
+the choice in Palma was limited, but it must be admitted that in the
+matter of hat selection their customary refinement of taste appeared
+occasionally to have deserted the Palma mothers. It was sad to see
+the nice modest face of a young girl overshadowed by a huge erection
+of green or red felt that was trimmed with a wild scurry of
+dishevelled plumage--a style of headgear that might not have looked
+out of place in the Old Kent Road, but which looked hopelessly
+incongruous over the grave expectant eyes of a young Majorcan lady.
+
+Contrasted with the life of an English maiden, which is full of
+varied employments and endless social entertainments, the existence
+of a Majorcan young lady would appear to be needlessly lacking in
+interests.
+
+She does not ride, or shoot, or golf, or cycle, or play tennis or
+croquet, or do gardening, or smoke cigarettes. She has little
+concern with politics, and she is content to leave the care of the
+poor to an efficient staff of clergy.
+
+She has been carefully and thoroughly educated. She has probably had
+a special governess to teach her English, another for French or
+Italian. The private chaplain may have instructed her in Spanish,
+and she probably has a good knowledge of classical music.
+
+But, her course of study over, there seems little left for her to
+do. In the morning she goes to Mass; later she performs miracles of
+intricate embroidery. In the afternoon she drives out, in winter
+always in a closed carriage, and nearly always in the same
+direction, which is westwards towards Ben Dinat. Sometimes the
+carriage stops, and the occupants, alighting, take a little
+promenade; then, re-entering the carriage, drive back to the tall
+old palace in some narrow street in the city. After Mass on Sundays
+she strolls on the Borne; from four o'clock till sunset she may
+promenade on the ramparts or on the mole. That is the substance of a
+Palma girl's exercise, and everywhere she goes her footsteps are
+carefully shadowed by those of her _duena_.
+
+Private dances, musical evenings, afternoon "At Homes," private
+theatricals, are almost unknown. There are plenty of house-parties,
+especially in summer, when the family is living at one or other of
+its country seats; but those gatherings are usually confined to
+relatives. Then there are the infrequent bull-fights; and
+occasionally a dance is given at the fashionable club, the _Circulo
+Mallorquin_--a festivity that begins at four o'clock in the
+afternoon and ends at eight o'clock in the evening.
+
+Sometimes the wife of the Captain-General gives an evening
+reception; or the rare function of a real ball sends a flutter
+through the higher circles of the island. Then and then only does
+the aristocratic Majorcan maiden permit her graceful shoulders to be
+seen. Frequently, carefully chaperoned, she goes to a theatre, and
+sits in the family box throughout the interminable waits between the
+acts. At the Carnival, which occupies three afternoons in the week
+preceding Lent, she can appear on a balcony or in a carriage on the
+Borne; and even, such is the _abandon_ of that time of licence, go
+to the extreme length of exchanging repartee in the form of confetti
+or paper streamers with an admiring foe.
+
+Yet already there are signs of the far-reaching influence of an
+English queen. Certain of the noble families have young English
+ladies to teach their language to their daughters, and the few
+Majorcans we heard speaking English in Palma spoke it beautifully.
+Nowadays a Majorcan lady is not ashamed to admit that she dislikes
+bull-fights. A few years ago such an admission would have been
+accounted the rankest heresy. And Palma residents say they can tell
+the girls who have English governesses--they always walk so quickly!
+
+And here I may say that any young English lady, of good family and
+of the Roman Catholic religion, who is so adventurous as to journey
+to Majorca to fill a post as companion or governess can do so with
+the assurance of meeting with every possible consideration. She will
+not get a large salary, for money has a higher value in Majorca than
+in Britain, but she will be treated like a princess. I know of one
+case where a Palma family, who had engaged an English governess,
+went to the trouble and expense of having a bedroom specially
+decorated and furnished for her, after a high-art chamber pictured
+in the _Studio_, that the expected guest might feel more at home
+than if her room had been fitted up in the native fashion.
+
+To our emancipated way of thinking there was something curiously
+mediaeval in the careful chaperonage to which the lovely and graceful
+Majorcan girls were subjected. And the scrupulous separation of the
+sexes seemed to argue distrust, of the maidens as well as of the
+men.
+
+Matrimony is a popular institution in Majorca, and when a damsel has
+reached a marriageable age an eligible suitor is rarely awanting. It
+is when that suitor has cast the glad eye upon the lady of his
+choice that matters would appear to proceed after an unsatisfactory
+and yet most conspicuous fashion.
+
+Suppose Don Sebastian desires to pay court to a lady whom he has
+seen taking her carefully chaperoned walks, he writes a letter
+asking her permission to do so. If the reply is in the negative the
+matter ends. If it is in the affirmative the Don puts on his cloak,
+which is frequently picturesquely lined with scarlet, and hies
+himself to the palace of his inamorata, but in place of boldly
+knocking at the front door and being ushered into one of the
+reception-rooms, he takes up his position beneath the balcony on
+which she is most likely to take the air.
+
+When the object of his desire appears--and you may be certain the
+_duena_ is close at hand--the lady looks down, the lover gazes up,
+and only those who have put the matter to the test can judge how
+physically harassing it is to breathe impassioned nothings to
+someone who is suspended above your head.
+
+[Illustration: The Wooer]
+
+At this stage the matter halts for a period that sometimes runs into
+years--for in these restful latitudes even the course of true love
+moves slowly. Then, permission having been asked and granted, Don
+Sebastian may accompany the lady and her chaperon in their walks for
+a period approaching six months. When this point is reached, the
+parents of Don Sebastian, carrying a handsome present, which most
+frequently takes the form of a ring, call on the guardians of the
+lady, and, their consent to the prospective union having been
+gained, the suitor is at length admitted to the house, and the
+public cease to see his love-lorn figure beneath the balcony. Even
+when matters have crawled to this advanced stage the visits of the
+Don are merely ceremonious calls, paid strictly under the watchful
+eyes of the _duena_. And I am told it is not until the night before
+the wedding that he is favoured with an invitation to dine at the
+home of his bride.
+
+In order to impart the proper aspect of romance to this oft-played
+balcony scene, the actors ought to be, and often are, young and
+graceful. When they are otherwise it is only too easy to give a
+ludicrous rendering of the drama.
+
+During our early months at the Casa Tranquila we sometimes, in the
+evenings, passed a tall house, from a balcony on whose third storey
+a plump lady would be shouting down coy replies to the blandishments
+of an elderly swain who had to stand out in the middle of the road
+in order to see his sweetheart. After a time both balcony and street
+were vacant; presumably the suitor had been admitted inside. Then a
+_to-let_ bill appeared on the balcony. The little romance had
+evidently ended happily, and the mature lovebirds had built a nest
+elsewhere.
+
+Our six months' experience of the Balearic Isles fostered the belief
+that we had discovered the ideal winter climate. Perhaps we had
+chanced upon an abnormally fine season, though I question that; but
+certain it is that from the middle of October, when we entered the
+bay and saw Palma looking celestial in the rosy light of dawn, until
+the second week in January, the weather was perfect.
+
+Spain is proverbially sunny. Against England's 1,400 and Italy's
+2,300 annual hours of sunshine, Spain offers 3,000. With this grand
+allowance of sunshine the Majorcan heat is temperate. Statistics
+show that during the Balearic summer the thermometer rarely rises
+above 90 deg. Fahr., while in winter it seldom falls below 40 deg.
+Fahr. A gentleman who has passed his life in Palma told us that twice
+only had he seen snow fall--once when he was twelve year old, and
+again a few years ago.
+
+Except for a sultry day or two in the end of October the atmosphere
+was only pleasantly warm. Week succeeded week when the sea reflected
+a sky of cloudless glowing azure, when the air was soft and yet
+exhilarating, and we could both walk and bask with pleasure.
+
+Rain never comes before it is welcome in Majorca. Sometimes the
+welcome waits long before it is claimed.
+
+When after an unbroken succession of days or weeks, or it may be
+months, of unbroken fine weather, one is awakened by the sound of
+rain falling in torrents on the tiled roofs, it is to rejoice with
+the knowledge that the thirsty crops are already drinking in the
+moisture, that the diminished store in the wells is being
+replenished, that your oranges are swelling, and that your lemons
+will soon lose the hardness of the nether millstone and become
+available for lemonade.
+
+There is no hesitation about Majorcan rain. It does not play at
+being wet; it is simply drenching. And when rain comes, no man,
+however distinguished the uniform he wears or elevated his position
+(he may even be mounted on a panniered mule), hesitates to carry an
+umbrella. _Consumeros_, carbineers, farm labourers, postmen, all
+shelter under them. Nobody thinks it funny to meet a solemn
+policeman carrying a sword, a revolver, _and_ an umbrella.
+
+After the middle of January the weather changed. The temperature
+fell, and for nearly a fortnight cold winds raged. Warm wraps were
+brought out of the trunks where they had hitherto lain, and in the
+evenings a wood fire became a much appreciated luxury.
+
+It was curious to note how speedily even this only comparatively
+cold weather made its malign influence felt on a people accustomed
+to warmth and sunshine. Colds and coughs abounded. Most of our
+Majorcan acquaintances appeared to suffer. As one lady said
+resignedly, "It is the tribute we must pay to winter."
+
+Even the Boy spent several days in bed with a cold, reading all the
+French and Spanish novels he could beg or borrow, and comforting
+himself with the reflection that had he been well the weather for
+the first time during the winter would have made it impossible for
+him to paint outside.
+
+Yet, had three months of sunshine not made us critical, we would
+never have grumbled at these few days of cold wind. Adopting
+unconsciously the local opinion of the weather, I found myself
+commiserating the Squire and his Lady, who had recently arrived from
+England.
+
+"What a pity you didn't come earlier than you did. There was no bad
+weather till you came."
+
+"But we've had _lovely_ weather!" the Lady said, opening wide eyes
+of surprise. "Why, we've been out long walks every day. It isn't
+really cold, and there's only been one shower, and that fell at
+night."
+
+Remembering our British standard I was dumb.
+
+Though Majorca was free from fog, sometimes on an absolutely
+windless morning a light mist would envelop Palma and the smoke from
+the works in the Calle de la Fabrica would hang heavy in the still
+air. Then the Boy would hasten to say that we might be in
+Bradford--a town, by the way, that he knows only by repute. But with
+the rising of even the faintest breeze the highest spires of the
+Cathedral would appear out of the mist as though, through some
+supernal agency, they were suspended in mid-air. Then gradually, as
+if a veil were being slowly drawn aside, the city would again become
+visible.
+
+With early February our radiant weather returned, and heads were
+shaken, for the young crops showed sign of wilting under the
+long-continued drought. Over a period of fifteen days the churches
+sent up special petitions for rain--petitions that must have been
+echoed in the heart of every man that owned a "possession," or
+farmed a patch of ground, or even rented a garden plot.
+
+We were at Soller when for two days and two nights the rain fell
+incessantly, soaking the parched soil and transforming the dry
+_torrentes_ into raging rivers. Then it suddenly ceased, leaving us
+with the glory of snow-tipped mountains seen against a glowing blue
+sky.
+
+Late in March and early in April rain again fell, delaying the
+annual ceremony of the Swearing to the Flag, but making the
+spindling corn fill out in a magical fashion and the beans that had
+begun to shrivel and blacken become erect and juicy. When we left
+Majorca on the last day of April all fears of the fate of the crops
+had been removed; figs and vines were budding, almond-trees were
+luxuriant in foliage, and the far-spreading meadows were covered
+with grain that gave promise of a rich harvest.
+
+We had thought vegetables and fruit so cheap that it astonished us
+to hear the natives declare that _now_ prices would fall--that it
+was through the past two successive dry summers that they had risen
+so high!
+
+Residents told us that for nine months out of the year the weather
+in Palma might be relied upon to be delightful, but that during the
+three hot months--which were July, August, and September--the moist,
+damp heat was very relaxing. Then it is that the aristocracy,
+temporarily vacating their sombre palaces in the narrow streets,
+remove their entire establishment to one or other of their country
+seats, while people of smaller social importance flock to their
+villas at the Terreno, or Porto Pi, or Son Rapina, or even to modest
+cottages at our little Son Espanolet.
+
+To us there seemed something funny in the notion of people having
+coast residences that were within a twopence-halfpenny car-drive of
+their town homes. But it is undoubtedly pleasant to live in a land
+where, by a change of locality entailing, at the most, a two hours'
+drive, one can avoid any extreme of either heat or cold.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The National Sport]
+
+XXIV
+
+OF ODDS AND ENDS
+
+
+In Majorca there are hotels to suit all purses. At Palma the Grand
+Hotel is probably the best suited to tourists, especially if there
+are ladies in the party; while those who would like to see a real
+Majorcan _fonda_ of the better class and eat good native cooking
+should go to Barnils' in the Calle del Conquistador.
+
+The sum charged is invariably by the day, and varies according to
+the pretensions of the establishment. In most hotels it includes
+both wine and aerated waters. On arrival it is always well to
+inquire what the rate will be and whether it includes the little
+breakfast. If the traveller thinks the terms asked too high and says
+frankly what he is prepared to pay, he is almost certain to be
+accommodated at his own price.
+
+Our experience of the country _fondas_ was that they were
+infinitely superior to British inns of similar standing. The cooking
+was far better and the prices much lower. If one knows a little
+Spanish and can make a bargain, three pesetas a day is quite a usual
+price for a country _fonda_. The best should not charge more than
+four, and the catering is surprisingly good. In remote places beef
+may be scarce, but fish are generally plentiful, the rye bread is
+good, and the omelets are always excellent.
+
+Here I might say that in every instance we found the beds admirably
+appointed and comfortable. The Majorcan housewife takes special
+pride in her daintily embroidered house-linen. Toilet arrangements
+are apt to be primitive, and, except at the larger hotels, baths are
+unknown. An india-rubber bath is easy to pack and will be found
+invaluable. In obedience to Baedeker's advice to travellers in
+Spain, we carried round a tin of insect-powder. But though the
+Balearic Isles are in Spain in one respect, at least they are not of
+it, for at the end of our wanderings the tin was still unopened.
+
+In Palma there are several clubs, notably the _Circulo Mallorquin_,
+the _Club Real de Regatas_, the _Veda_, and others, political,
+military, and social, to which the desirable foreigner would find
+little difficulty in being elected. The subscriptions, which are
+collected monthly, would strike a London clubman as ridiculously
+low. He would find his fellow-members both courteous and charming,
+but disinclined to join in any exertion. And unless in very
+exceptional instances their acquaintance would begin and end at the
+club.
+
+The Majorcan does not go in for sport, though there is a sports
+club. He detests walking, and very infrequently plays tennis. The
+entire group of islands does not boast a golf course. An English
+resident who was trying to get up a golf club found the natives
+apathetic; but the invasion of half a dozen good enthusiasts would
+probably change this attitude. Many of the Palma men keep boats.
+Yachting seems to be the only occupation they incline to; and it
+would be hard to conceive of a more delightful pastime than cruising
+about that picturesque coast.
+
+Furnished houses are difficult to find, anywhere in Majorca. But in
+Palma unfurnished flats can be had. We saw quite a nice one in a
+good locality that was let at forty pesetas a month--a rent that
+included all taxes. At the delightful suburbs of the Terreno and
+Porto Pi, houses with exquisite views of the sea can be obtained.
+But everywhere to the foreigner who does not speak Spanish terms are
+said to rise.
+
+Even in the capital town the wages of both male and female servants
+are very low. For about twelve pounds a year I imagine one might
+have the pick of ordinary female servants, the price paid men being
+alike small. But it would be futile to expect to find the carefully
+drilled attendance with which home usage has accustomed us.
+
+To our more conservative minds, the attitude of the island servitors
+towards their employers seems strangely familiar. And their dress is
+apt to be informal. Once when I was paying an afternoon call in
+Palma the man-servant entered the drawing-room to receive an order
+sketchily attired in a pink undervest and trousers. And throughout
+the visit his voice trilling roundelays in the adjacent pantry made
+unusual accompaniment to our polite conversation. At the moment I
+confess I was surprised, but that was during our very early days in
+Majorca. A few months later I doubt if I would have noticed anything
+odd in either occurrence.
+
+The cost of living strikes any one accustomed to British
+housekeeping as small--not perhaps because food is so very cheap,
+for it is dearer in Palma than in the country towns and rural
+districts, and much dearer than in Minorca and Iviza; but because
+life is much simpler and less pretentious and conventional than in
+England.
+
+Certain imported commodities such as sugar are expensive,
+consequently the sweets that with people of the same class at home
+would be an everyday article of diet are reserved for special
+occasions, particularly the frequently recurring feast days.
+
+Residence in Majorca entails no exhausting social demands on either
+the strength or the bank account. Even among themselves the
+inhabitants but rarely entertain beyond the circle of their own
+relatives. And their meetings with friends seem confined to the
+theatre, the promenade, the bull-fights, or at one of the infrequent
+entertainments given at the principal clubs.
+
+The payment of fourpence secured a stall at the combination of
+cinematograph and variety show that during our stay in Palma was the
+fashionable form of amusement. And without further disbursement the
+visitor who inclined that way was entitled to wait on through the
+interval between the two houses and witness the whole performance
+over again. For plays or for light opera the fees advanced a little,
+though I doubt if they ever rose to the sum charged for the pit of a
+London theatre.
+
+The bull-fights patronized by Majorcan society are those given in
+summer. We went to one held at Easter, and though society was absent
+the people were there in numbers that filled two-thirds of the Plaza
+de Toros, which seats five thousand. The action was mercifully
+modified, for no horses were exposed to the attacks of the bulls. We
+entered the place with our national prejudices strong upon us, and
+left it with a conflict of mingled attraction and repulsion. When a
+bull knocked down a clumsy _matador_ who had been making painful but
+futile attempts to give him the fatal stroke, we lamented that the
+bull failed to kill his torturer. Yet when another and more skilful
+_matador_ by a single thrust mercifully vanquished his bull, we
+shared something of the enthusiasm of the spectators, who threw hats
+and cigars into the arena, and finally bursting in, carried the hero
+of the moment shoulder-high round the ring.
+
+It had certainly not been a fashionable function. From a
+neighbouring box our Vigilante bowed graciously, and Bartolome, who
+was of the Vigilante's party, beamed broadly upon us. When we left
+the Plaza de Toros we encountered Maria, who was chaperoning two
+tall daughters in mantillas. And as we walked back along the
+ramparts we overtook Mrs. Mundo trotting homewards with her twin
+girls, whose uncovered locks were tied up with ribbons till they
+looked like a couple of nice little ponies on their way to a horse
+show.
+
+For certain temperaments Majorca has a curious magnetic attraction.
+People who have first set foot upon its shores with comparative
+indifference find themselves returning again and yet again; with
+each visit becoming more under the thraldom of its charm. The Squire
+and his Lady, who half a dozen years ago visited the island because
+so many other Mediterranean resorts were already known to them, have
+returned with increased anticipation of pleasure each successive
+spring since. And during our stay in Palma we made the congenial
+acquaintance of a Scots lady and gentleman who find the glamour of
+these fair islands strong enough to induce them to make a yearly
+pilgrimage thither from the North of Scotland.
+
+Majorca is a delightful place to loaf in. I know no place where one
+more keenly experiences the mere joy of being alive. In that ideal
+temperature, under those cloudless skies, one at first feels content
+to let the days drift past, taking no heed for the things of the
+morrow. But the air has an amazingly rejuvenating effect. In a short
+time years drop off--one loses superfluous weight and regains
+colour. Exercise ceases to be exertion and becomes a keen delight.
+Walks that formerly ranked as a day's excursion become merely a
+pleasant stroll, to be undertaken between an early tea and a late
+dinner.
+
+[Illustration: Calle de la Portella, Palma]
+
+In Palma something to interest or touch one was always happening.
+Once--it was on the first day of February--we entered the usually
+deserted Rambla to find a crowd composed chiefly of young men, all
+of the same age, gathered in front of the barracks. The majority had
+the sunburnt complexion of the rustic. A few were evidently of
+higher social standing. Many girls and a few old peasants fringed
+the crowd. It was the occasion of the annual drawing of lots for the
+enrolment of the young men of the Palma district, who were to spend
+their next three years in the army.
+
+Some of the lads peered anxiously in at the closed gates of the
+barracks; others concealed their concern and chatted gaily with
+their friends. Military service in that land of sunshine is not
+arduous. Recruits thus drawn by lot are never sent off their native
+island, and to flirt with pretty maidservants on the Borne on a
+Sunday afternoon--which to the casual observer appears to be the
+leading labour of the Majorcan force--can hardly be termed hard
+labour. So no doubt many of the rustics were already wondering if
+they would not look better in shakos and crimson breeches than they
+did in the blue cotton and goatskins of their shepherds' dress.
+
+At length the gates were thrown open and sergeants called upon the
+conscripts to enter. Many paused to wave farewells, and almost all
+saluted or raised their hats as they advanced to put their fortunes
+to the test. A few of the more smartly dressed strolled nonchalantly
+in, smoking cigarettes, and we guessed that they, following the
+native love of a gamble, had already paid a hundred crowns to the
+insurance company that, in the event of their drawing an unlucky
+number, would forfeit to the State the three hundred crowns that
+would purchase their exemption from the three years of service.
+
+A period of suspense dragged past. Then a sympathetic movement of
+the crowd intimated the deliverance of the first two freed men, who,
+as they left the gate, threw high in air the couple of breakfast
+rolls that, with two reales, are presented to every man who has
+drawn a lucky number. Others relieved and hilarious followed
+quickly, but many pretty girls and old men waited in vain for the
+return of the candidates that fate had decreed were to swell the
+ranks of the standing army. The barracks had swallowed them up and
+they were seen no more. Perhaps they also had rolls and reales;
+perhaps they were elated at the prospect of town life; perhaps they
+already looked back with longing to their almond-trees and
+goatskins!
+
+For the adventurous, Majorca has plenty of peaks to climb, coasts to
+navigate, shrines to visit, caves to explore. The distances between
+the known points of interest--and there are very many places still
+unexploited--are so easy that a tourist with only a few days at his
+disposal can visit the most noted parts.
+
+The two brothers in whose interesting company we visited the Dragon
+Caves had only five days to spend in Majorca. But even in so brief a
+space of time they succeeded in seeing and in doing much. Their
+method of mapping out their time was so admirable that I am tempted
+to quote it.
+
+On Monday night they crossed from Barcelona, arriving at Palma early
+on Tuesday morning. Having breakfasted on the steamer, they caught
+the early train for Manacor, where they lunched before driving to
+the caves. After dining and sleeping at Manacor they took the train
+on Wednesday morning to the railway terminus at La Puebla, and from
+there drove to the old towns of Pollensa and Alcudia. That
+accomplished, they journeyed by rail to Inca, where they passed the
+night, returning on Thursday by the morning train to Palma, where
+they spent the day visiting as many places of interest as possible.
+On Friday they drove to Soller by way of Valldemosa, Miramar, and
+Deya. Rising early on Saturday morning they drove to Fornalutx, and
+starting from there, climbed the Puig Mayor, getting a superb view
+from the summit. In the afternoon they drove back to Palma in time
+to catch the mail boat to Barcelona. The weather had been perfect,
+and they were able to carry out their well-planned expedition
+without interruption.
+
+For those who enjoy gentle exploration Palma makes an admirable
+centre. A good pedestrian could encompass the island on foot, and a
+journey more full of varied scenery or among pleasanter or more
+unsophisticated folk could hardly be imagined. Those of less
+energetic nature would find much of interest within very easy
+walking distance.
+
+It is almost impossible--in Palma at least--to hire mules, but
+driving is comparatively cheap. Every few minutes tramcars run to
+Porto Pi, where there is a good aquarium, with, when we saw it, a
+splendid display of writhing octopi.
+
+A mile beyond the car terminus is Cas Catala, where there is a
+delightfully situated hotel. Just beyond the hotel are lovely walks
+through the pine woods that border the sea, and pretty little bays,
+in one of which--that a little way past the _carabineros'_ hut, I
+think--I got some nice little shells and quite a lot of sponges that
+had been washed up by the sea.
+
+Genova, which is a very short walk inland from the car terminus at
+Porto Pi, makes an attractive point for a little excursion. In a
+garden off one of the by-ways is the entrance to a recently
+discovered cave, which is the property of the landlord of the little
+_taverna_--the Casa Morena--who discovered it when he was digging a
+well. The cave, though small in extent, resembles the Dragon Caves
+in miniature, and has beautiful stalactites and stalagmites which
+are both fine in form and quite unblackened by smoke.
+
+The village church, which until lately was a favourite place of
+pilgrimage, has many fine altar-pieces and other paintings, and it
+has the rare quality of being so well-lighted that visitors are able
+to admire their beauties.
+
+In one of the side chapels is a delicately modelled recumbent wax
+figure of a young girl. Another chapel has a small square glass case
+containing a representation of the Nativity that is peculiarly
+interesting because of the purely local dress of certain of the
+figures. The Virgin holding the Holy Child is seated in the centre.
+At her right stands an elderly man, apparently meant for Joseph. It
+was surely without humorous intent that the devotee who fashioned
+his garments garbed him in the quaint old Majorcan dress of
+abnormally wide blue breeches. After seeing Joseph's dress it is
+not the least surprising to notice that two women who are less
+important actors in the scene wear their hair in pigtails and the
+native _rebozillos_.
+
+From the hill-side that rises behind the church, where the prickly
+pear grows in great profusion, one can enjoy a glorious panoramic
+view of the coast.
+
+For slightly longer excursions diligences leave Palma almost daily
+for all sorts of out-of-the-way and wholly charming places, such as
+Esporlas, Andraitx, Lluchmayor, Soller, Estallenchs, Calvia, and
+Valldemosa. And if the traveller is wise and hastens to book the
+front seat he will escape danger of death by compression, and be in
+a position to enjoy a leisurely and comprehensive view of the
+country.
+
+It is well worth while, when intending to remain overnight at a
+town, to arrange to arrive on the eve of the weekly market. For
+market morning brings many quaint rural people flocking into town on
+panniered mules or in odd ramshackle conveyances. Sunday is the
+market at Pollensa, and there the traveller may see a profusion of
+the old men of the zouave-like breeches. San Sellas and Binisalem
+hold their markets on Sunday also. That of Manacor is on Monday.
+Arta, Montuiri, Llubi, and Porreras hold market on Tuesday.
+Wednesday is the day at Sineu, and Thursday at Inca, Muro, and
+Andraitx. Lluchmayor has Friday, and the day of the week at Palma is
+Saturday, when the country folk bring in the harvest of their fields
+and hold a little market of their own in the Plaza del Mercado,
+under the shadow of the high-towered Church of San Nicolas. Early in
+May Soller holds a three days' _fiesta_, when a historic incident of
+the landing and repulsion of a band of piratical Moors is enacted
+with great spirit by the people of the town.
+
+A hint that may prove useful to any one arriving at some remote
+place where there is no _fonda_ is to ask to be directed to the
+schoolmaster. He is certain to know Spanish, may be pleased to meet
+a foreigner, and is sure to be able to recommend a lodging. It is
+to the courteous schoolmaster of Santany that we were indebted for
+this suggestion.
+
+Failing the presence of a schoolmaster, the civil guard is a good
+person to apply to. They are said to be a fine and absolutely
+reliable class of men. An artist friend chancing at nightfall to
+light upon a village where there was no inn, applied to the civil
+guard, who not only gave him a room in his own house, but appeared
+in the morning to offer the use of toilet appliances in the form of
+a comb and a pot of pomade.
+
+The Balearic Islands appear to offer a good field to the
+entomologist. A friend who visited Majorca during February has given
+me this list of the butterflies and moths that, even at that early
+season, he saw in plenty, mostly within a few miles of Palma: Bath
+White, Cabbage or Common White, Red Admiral, Painted Lady, Clouded
+Yellow, Brimstone, Wall Brown, Holly Blue, Small Copper, Swallow
+Tail, and the Humming-bird Hawk Moth.
+
+As the spring advanced and the giant poppies I had sown in November
+became a four-feet-high hedge, butterflies--strange, to me at least,
+and very beautiful--fluttered into the little garden of the Casa
+Tranquila, and probably not finding the poppies so luscious as their
+brilliant appearance had led them to expect, speedily fluttered out
+again. They did not make their home with us, as had the big locust
+that, in the late autumn, I captured when he was feasting on a moth
+in the shrubby field behind the convent. Bringing the prisoner home
+in my handkerchief, I set him on a pink ivy-geranium that flourished
+in one of the big green flower-pots on the veranda.
+
+He seemed well content with his new quarters, for there he stayed
+all winter, taking up his position first in the tall scented
+verbena, and, when that lost its leaves, changing his perch to an
+adjacent almond-tree, as though he knew that would be the first to
+bloom.
+
+Very early in the year he vanished, and we thought he had gone for
+good. But just as the first pale blossoms were opening in the
+almond groves he re-appeared, bringing with him the female of his
+species, and together in connubial amity they shared his old home in
+the almond-tree. When the pale rose-tinted blossoms had fallen, and
+the grey-green velvet pods of the young almonds were emerging from
+the crimson calyxes, the locust and his bride deserted us to seek a
+wider pasturage.
+
+Though we wandered far from beaten tracks, the sole trace of
+reptiles encountered was an occasional discarded snakeskin. In Iviza
+lovely green and golden lizards and highly-varnished toy frogs in
+all "art" shades abounded, but we saw none of either in Majorca.
+
+Our only insect pests were mosquitoes--who, probably recognizing an
+alien and attractive flavour in our blood, were a disturbing
+nocturnal influence until, with the aid of a few yards of mosquito
+netting, we succeeded in frustrating their knavish tricks. Even by
+day they were not invariably quiescent; but the mosquito is a
+gentleman. He always gives warning before attacking an enemy, and
+when we met in open combat, there was something of the joy of battle
+in the defence. According to local report, the tenure of his days
+should have ended with November; but it was not until a fall of the
+temperature about the middle of January that our assailant withdrew
+his battalions and left us in peace.
+
+Though our visit was a winter one, the wild flowers were an
+unfailing source of pleasure. The season was unusually dry, yet I
+never took a country walk without finding some blossom that was new
+to me.
+
+When we arrived in October the rocky slopes about Porto Pi were
+covered by a royal carpet of the purple autumnal crocus. The last of
+the sea lavender was fading, but horned poppies and chicory were in
+bloom. It was there, too, that in November we found the curiously
+shaped brown and green wild arums that are known in America as
+"Dutchmen's pipes," and locally referred to as _frares_, whose
+acquaintance we afterwards made at Andraitx. In April, when we left
+Majorca, pretty little white and lavender iris starred the ground
+and rich purple mallows and golden mesembryanthemums covered the
+rocks of Porto Pi.
+
+The beautiful coast about Cas Catala had a herbage of its own. Tall
+flowering heath, a persistently blooming plant with dark blue
+buttons, and delicate yellow rock roses were, as the months slipped
+past, succeeded by a fine display of cistus.
+
+Throughout the whole time of our stay a constant succession of sweet
+lavender blossomed on the grey-green bushes. Asphodel, too,
+abounded. The first to open was the smaller species, with its rushy
+foliage and slender spikes of bloom. In January the tall rods of the
+poet's asphodel rose in such profusion that we were forced to give
+it place as the typical island flower. Forced reluctantly, I
+confess, for to some the odour of the tall asphodel, when growing in
+quantity, is far from pleasant.
+
+It was at Soller, that district of piquant contrasts, that we saw
+the delicate greenhouse maidenhair-fern growing in masses with
+English ivy along walls, or draping the moist sides of the water
+runnels.
+
+It was at Soller, too, that we first made the acquaintance of the
+ten-inch-high daisy. There was little of the character of its Scots
+relative, the "wee, modest, crimson-tipped flower," in this aspiring
+plant. But the Balearic Islands have another form of the _Bellis
+perennis_, a lavender daisy, that sustains the family reputation for
+humility by cowering close to the soil.
+
+The winter had been so dry that the flowers of early spring were
+disappointing. I found a few purple anemones where I had expected to
+see hundreds, and gleaned a handful or two of narcissus from the dry
+bed of the torrent where I had hoped to gather baskets full.
+
+But with the coming of the long-hoped-for rain the earth gave up her
+secrets, and secrets worth knowing they proved themselves. There
+were amazing orchids--little round-bellied flies, so life-like that
+one half-expected to hear them buzz; or glorious travesties of
+insects that never were, some with bodies of glittering metallic
+blue daintily edged with brown fur, others with delicate wings of
+rosy heliotrope.
+
+It was odd to find garden pets--grape hyacinths, gladiolus,
+iris--leading a gipsy life on those sunny slopes, and odder still to
+discover begonias, or even _Nigella damascena_, camping out, as it
+were. One felt inclined to demand to be told why they were shirking
+their obvious duty of beautifying gloomy British gardens.
+
+The following list of the rarer Balearic plants, given me by a noted
+Scottish gardener, is specially interesting as showing the wide
+range of the island flora: Anthyllis cytisoides, Astragalus
+poterium, Cynoglossum pictum, Daphne vallaeoides, Delphinium pictum,
+Digitalis dubia, Genista cineria, Hedysarum coronarium, Hedysarum
+spinosissimum, Helianthemum serrae, Helianthemum salicifolium,
+Helichrysum Lamarkii, Hippocrepis balearica, Hypericum balearicum,
+Lavatera cretica, Lavatera minoricensis, Leucojum Hernandezii,
+Linaria triphylla, Linaria fragilis, Lotus creticus, Melilotus
+messanensis, Micromeria Rodriguezii, Micromeria filiformis, Ononis
+crispa, Ononis breviflora, Ononis minutissima, Pastinaea lucida,
+Phlomis italica, Polygala rupestris, Scutellaria Vigineuxii, Sencio
+Rodriguezii, Sibthorpia africana, Silene rubella, Sonchus spinosus,
+Vicia atropurpurea.
+
+Perhaps it was because wild flowers bloomed all through the months
+that the native children did not care to gather them, and that
+indifference to natural blossoms prevailed in all classes of the
+community. It seemed as though the Majorcans had not yet realized
+the decorative value of flowers. One rarely saw cut flowers used on
+the table or in the reception-rooms even of people on whose country
+estates roses and violets blossomed all the year round. I never saw
+flowers for sale in the big daily market, and the few clusters that
+in spring the countryfolk brought in to the Saturday market would
+scarcely have sufficed to trim one fashionable hat.
+
+In February, when the rose-coloured blossoms of the cistus were
+beginning to open on the uplands, the brown-cheeked shepherd boys
+began to look for the young shoots of the wild asparagus, which they
+made into little bunches for sale, bound round with broad asphodel
+leaves fastened with long, sharp prickles.
+
+Though a gourmet could hardly have taken exception to the flavour of
+the asparagus thus gathered, he might have objected to the size, for
+the shoots were seldom larger than that sold in London under the
+mysterious name of "sprue." But the flavour was delicious, and when
+one added the pleasure of gathering to the value when found, the
+wild asparagus was worth its weight in gold. While the season lasted
+we often brought in a bunch or two from our sunset strolls, and
+these occasions were signalized by the appearance of asparagus
+omelet at supper.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Sunday Morning at Iviza]
+
+XXV
+
+IVIZA--A FORGOTTEN ISLE
+
+
+With regard to Iviza, the third in importance of the Balearic Isles,
+even the usually omniscient Baedeker maintains a dignified reserve.
+And indeed Iviza is so little visited that while the _Islena
+Maritima Compania Mallorquina de Vapores_ convey passengers thither
+from Majorca for fifteen pesetas first class, or eleven pesetas
+second, they charge eighteen and thirteen pesetas respectively to
+bring them back to Majorca, which looks as though they thought
+voyagers might require to be cajoled into going to Iviza, but would
+need no inducement to return.
+
+From the records in existence one gathers that no relics of the
+Stone Age have been discovered in Iviza, though traces left by many
+dynasties prove that from very early times occupation of the lovely
+and fertile isle was hotly contested. Chaldeans, Egyptians,
+Phoenicians, Romans, Greeks, Vandals, Saracens, and Moors fought
+for its possession, but since the Aragonese invasion of the
+thirteenth century Iviza has belonged to Spain.
+
+We had heard strange tales of the Ivizans--told, it must be
+admitted, by people who avowedly had never set foot on the
+island--grim stories of ferocity, of the crack of the ready pistol,
+of the slash of the handy knife. We had also heard that these grim
+islanders were invariably kind to strangers. Now we were on the way
+to judge for ourselves.
+
+While the departure of the Barcelona boat lures all Palma to the
+mole, only a handful of spectators was assembled when, at noon on
+the 8th of April, the _Lulio_ steamed westwards.
+
+It was a fine day with a brisk head-wind. Like the high mountains
+around Soller, the waves were white-crested, and for the first three
+hours the voyage was a delight. As the _Lulio_ skirted the coast we
+enjoyed identifying the places now familiar to us by land. The
+little bays beyond Cas Catala, Ben Dinat among its woods, the
+windmills above the town of Andraitx, and the long, high islet of
+Dragonera.
+
+As the heliotrope mountains of Majorca receded into the distance,
+the brilliance faded. From warm azure the sea changed to purple,
+from purple to grey, and the wind blew keenly against us. The
+_Lulio_ is only some 600 tons, and there was little shelter on the
+saloon deck, which is forward of the funnel. We felt inclined to
+envy the Ivizan passengers, who, camped on the snug lower deck,
+first ate strange messes, then after a brief but busy interlude of
+regret, curled up on their bundles and went snugly to sleep.
+
+With us there were half a dozen men and one lady. And when the
+captain invited her to share the cover of the chart-house which
+abutted on our promenade, I envied her also until, after the dubious
+enjoyment of a few moments of splendid detachment from the common
+herd, she revealed signs of inward discomfort and fled to seek a
+less conspicuous position.
+
+Before the land we had left was out of sight, two little clouds low
+on the western horizon were recognized as outlying islets of the
+Ivizan group. Then, as we gradually approached nearer, hills upon
+hills, promontories, more islets, appeared; and still we steadily
+steamed westwards. The sun sank in golds and greys behind the Ivizan
+heights, and still we went on through the grey gloom, past a rocky,
+indented coast on which we saw no sign of habitation.
+
+Then, out of the darkness arose the vision of a town piled on an
+eminence--a town of unexpected beauty, for from the tranquil waters
+of the almost landlocked bay to the highest point it was sparkling
+with lights. It was Iviza, the one important town of the main
+island.
+
+To the hoarse grating of her anchor chain the _Lulio_ swung to, and
+through the darkness the vague outlines of rowing boats could be
+seen approaching.
+
+The young boatman who was the first to accost us secured our custom,
+and we stepped down the accommodation-ladder into the swaying boat.
+Half a dozen natives followed, carrying their belongings in big
+cotton handkerchiefs, a form of Balearic travelling case that to me
+always seemed peculiarly alluring, for when not in actual service,
+the handkerchief-portmanteau could be folded and stowed in the
+pocket; or even, did occasion require, be put to other uses.
+
+The behaviour of the boatman who rows him ashore in a new
+country serves the experienced traveller as symbol of the treatment
+awaiting him in that country. Our boatman asked one real
+each--twopence-halfpenny--as his fee, which was exactly the sum
+required of the native passengers. And that served as our token of
+Iviza. We would be treated with strict honesty--there was but one
+price either for native or stranger.
+
+The arrival of the steamer, whose departure from Palma had attracted
+so little attention, was a matter of importance at Iviza. People
+clustered on the pier, and the steps leading to the water's edge
+were so densely crowded that it was difficult for those landing to
+find foot-room.
+
+A burly Ivizan took the luggage, and after a cursory custom's
+inspection we reached the _fonda_, which was only a stone's-cast
+away. The _fonda_, which appeared to be the only one in the town,
+was delightfully situated on the harbour. The rooms allotted to us
+were the best in the house. Two opened from the drawing-room and one
+had a balcony overlooking the water. The inclusive charge was six
+pesetas a day--about four shillings and sixpence of English money.
+
+Supper was in process of serving. Going downstairs, we entered the
+dining-room, to find one long table at which were seated about a
+dozen men. Judging rashly by our Minorcan experience, we classified
+them collectively as commercial travellers, and concluded that Iviza
+must be a more important place than we had imagined, if it gave
+employment to so many.
+
+The meal, which revealed a lack of inspiration on the part of the
+cook, was served by a solitary waiter. When it was over, we went out
+and felt our way about the streets. The capital town of Iviza, which
+is built on a high rock, faces the sea. It has no back, no other
+side. The old town, which is surmounted by the Cathedral and the
+castle, is entirely surrounded by a perfectly preserved Roman wall.
+The newer portion of the town, which is built on land reclaimed from
+the sea, lies just below the principal gate of the old city.
+
+Passing the quaint circular fish market and the vacant market-place,
+which consisted of a red-tiled and raftered shed, supported on white
+pillars and surrounded by trees, we walked up the slope leading to
+the great gate in the Roman wall that encircles the ancient town.
+
+In a niche on either side of the opening stood a massive marble
+figure. The heads were gone and certain other members had not
+outlasted the ravages of the centuries, but enough still remained to
+show the beauty of the workmanship. From the neck-socket of the
+draped figure foliage was springing, and the statue of the legionary
+had the scarce dignified effect of carrying a bundle of fodder, so
+boldly had the weeds sprouted from under his right arm.
+
+The streets within the old city walls were dark and steep and
+twisted. In their secretive recesses something of the atmosphere of
+the Middle Ages seemed still to linger.
+
+The Ivizans go early to bed. The lights that illumed our landing had
+already been extinguished, and finding our progress over these
+tortuous steeps a protracted stumble, we groped our way back to the
+_fonda_, resigned to leaving further exploration to the morrow.
+
+We slept soundly. When our early coffee came we drank it on the
+balcony as we watched two boys fishing from a boat in a shallow just
+beneath our windows. The bait seemed to be shell-fish, and the boy
+in the Carlist cap who held the rod was catching little wriggling
+fish as quickly as he could re-cast his hook into the water.
+
+Then for the first time we awoke to the picturesque charm of the
+Ivizan's choice of material and love of colour in dress. The fishing
+boy wore plush trousers of a lovely pinky-fawn shade. His
+companion's were moss-green, and his waist scarf was scarlet. A crew
+of fishermen, their garments a kaleidoscope of gay hues, were
+breakfasting in their boat near. And along the beach beneath, a boy
+clad in faded blue velvet was carrying in one hand a basket of
+beautiful rose-coloured fish and dangling a hideously suggestive
+octopus in the other.
+
+Our good friend the padre, a presbitero of Palma Cathedral, had
+kindly recommended us to his chosen friend, who was a beneficiado of
+Iviza Cathedral. So our first walk, on the morning after our
+arrival, led up the precipitous paths towards the superbly situated
+old church.
+
+Seen by daylight the streets were vaguely reminiscent of both Palma
+and Mahon, without resembling either. While the whitewashed walls
+recalled the austere cleanliness of the Minorcan capital, the
+condition of the streets gave one the impression that the
+inhabitants subsisted chiefly upon oranges. The plenitude of
+balconies held more than a hint of Palma, though most of the Ivizan
+balconies were heavily fashioned of wood; and from many the entire
+family washing (which in Palma would be dried on the flat roof),
+even to sheets, hung out to dry. The Ivizans showed both taste and
+skill in floriculture. Quite a number of the balconies were prettily
+decorated with pot plants, from cinerarias to peonies, in full
+bloom.
+
+The market was busy when we passed. Grave-looking women, with
+wide-brimmed white hats perched rakishly a-top the handkerchief that
+covered their heads, were selling oranges or vegetables. One, with a
+row of moist water-jars balanced on either side of the furriest
+donkey I ever saw, was plying the trade of water-carrier.
+
+We reached the Cathedral during morning service, and we waited,
+enjoying the music and the tuneful clamour of the great wheel of
+bells that mingled so harmoniously with the sound of the organ, and
+wondering in which of the officiating clergy we would discover the
+friend of our friend. He also had been looking out for us, and as
+we, along with two old men, were the entire congregation, he had no
+difficulty in distinguishing us.
+
+When Mass was over we met on the _mirador_ outside, and though by
+force of nationality, religion, language, and training we ought to
+have been poles asunder, from almost the first moment of our
+acquaintance we recognised a congenial spirit in Don Pepe, as the
+young choristers, who clustered round, affectionately called the
+padre.
+
+Under his care we re-entered the Cathedral, which, despite, or
+perhaps because of belonging to no known school of architecture, is
+very beautiful, the interior with its canopied Virgin having an
+inspiring sense of light. Then, accompanied by the sacristan, a
+grave man with a charming smile, we saw some of the treasures of the
+church, climbed the tower to see the comprehensive view from the
+top, and visited the adjacent castle, which is now used as a
+military barracks.
+
+While within the fortifications we were introduced to an especially
+interesting specimen of the cunning traps prepared by the Romans for
+their unwary invaders. From one portion of the castle, which is
+perched high within the strong fortifications, we were guided
+through a long, dark, shelving passage, down, down, down, until on
+passing through a massive door we entered an alley, lit from above,
+that ended abruptly in a four-feet-high portal deep set in the great
+city wall, and from without partly secured by a bastion.
+
+The ingenious plan of the ancient defenders had evidently been to
+leave unguarded the inconspicuous door, and when the besiegers,
+discovering it and imagining themselves in luck, had crept through
+the secret door into the alley, to shower missiles on them from the
+circular opening overhead. It was a shrewd device, but one hardly
+calculated to endear the Romans to their enemies.
+
+Leaving the heights, we walked down towards the church of Santo
+Domingo, an antique building with curious red-tiled domes. The
+priceless treasure of this old Dominican convent is an image of
+Christ which for ages has been the object of great devotion. Until
+the last century ships on leaving or entering the harbour of Iviza
+were in the custom of saluting it with their flag and a shot from
+their cannon.
+
+As we neared the church we saw approaching from a side street a
+peasant family of such attractively quaint appearance that we paused
+and, affecting to be admiring the prospect, waited for them to pass.
+They were all attired in the gala dress of the island. The
+sun-tanned farmer father wore a suit of old-gold embossed velvet and
+a purple scarf was wound about his waist. The mother wore the
+immoderately wide skirt gathered into a plain high-waisted bodice,
+the short green silk apron, the little shoulder shawl with its
+prettily flowered border and long fringe, and the gay embroidered
+head-wrap that make up the distinctive Ivizan costume. From the tip
+of her pigtail a brightly coloured ribbon hung down to the hem of
+her spreading skirts. The eldest child, a girl of eight or nine, was
+a diminutive facsimile of her mother. The elder boy wore a man's
+suit in miniature of very light blue, and a wide-brimmed yellow hat.
+The group tapered off with a wee boy in a quaintly cut long frock
+and a white Carlist cap, and a baby in bunching petticoats and a
+muslin cap with wings. The father, who smiled pleasantly when he saw
+us notice the children, carried with evident care a liqueur bottle.
+Moving decorously, as though bound on some important mission, they
+preceded us into the church.
+
+We had paused to examine a fine old painting, and when we reached
+the special chapel that contained the celebrated image we found the
+little family already kneeling before the altar, even the youngest
+apparently impressed by the solemnity of the occasion.
+
+After a few moments the father, rising from his knees and still
+holding the bottle, approached the padre to crave a private word
+with him, and they quitted the chapel together, leaving the mother
+and children still on their knees.
+
+A great silver lamp, suspended from the roof, burned in front of the
+_Cristo_, and all around the walls were votive offerings--models of
+hearts, of legs, of arms, even of heads, and little silver figures,
+some in peasant dress, one in a smart frockcoat. Oddest, perhaps, of
+all was a pair of silver trousers.
+
+[Illustration: Thanksgiving]
+
+There were medals, a fine model of a full rigged ship, a little
+muslin frock, another of rich satin in a glass case, all presented
+in token of succour prayed for and obtained in time of imminent
+danger to life or limb.
+
+While we lingered, a female attendant entered the chapel carrying
+the liqueur bottle, and drawing down the great silver lamp,
+proceeded to fill its reservoir from the store in the bottle, the
+family, who still maintained their devotional attitude, half turning
+with something of proprietary interest to watch her movements.
+
+Returning to the body of the church, we found the padre and the
+father of the family in earnest converse. During a recent serious
+illness, explained the padre, the peasant had vowed the gift of a
+bottle of olive oil for the sacred lamp. Now, on his recovery, his
+first action had been to make a little pilgrimage to the chapel,
+bringing his entire family to give thanks for his restoration to
+health and to deliver the promised gift.
+
+The exhibition of such unquestioning faith and gratitude in this
+world of scepticism was inexpressibly touching. And our hearts
+melted and were glad with the little household. Still, though the
+father declared himself again robust, a sickly pallor showed beneath
+his tan, and when he grasped our hands in farewell his touch was
+ice-cold.
+
+Walking back along the ramparts we noticed a gentleman who, though
+personally unknown to us, yet bore a remarkable racial resemblance
+to many people we had known in Britain. He was well dressed after
+the English fashion, wore fawn kid gloves, and though the sky was
+cloudless, carried a neatly rolled umbrella.
+
+"That is the Senor Wallis, a member of an illustrious family here.
+They all speak English. Shall I introduce you?" asked the padre,
+seeing that we were interested.
+
+To our gratification the Senor Wallis not only spoke English
+admirably, but also understood it perfectly.
+
+"My grandfather came here as British Consul," he explained. "He
+married and settled here. My father was Consul after him. We have
+always spoken the English language at home."
+
+Here then was a family, living in a remote island where they might
+not hear English spoken once a year, who because their ancestor had
+been English carefully maintained the language and traditions of
+their forebears. As the Boy said afterwards, it reminded one of
+Kipling's tale of Namgay Doola!
+
+A little farther along, a massive figure, joyously arrayed in a suit
+of maize-coloured corduroy, a lilac-check shirt and a green hat,
+gladdened our vision.
+
+"That is the present English Consul," said the padre, who seemed to
+be on good terms with everybody. "I shall introduce him to you."
+
+The British Vice-Consul blushed when presented to genuine natives of
+the country he represented. His knowledge of the language was
+rudimentary, and after a few tentative efforts the conversation
+lapsed into Spanish. As the Boy said, it was quicker.
+
+The padre had promised to call at three to take us to see the
+excavations in process on a slope just outside the city. And after
+lunch I strolled out to the fields in search of Ivizan wild flowers.
+Within a five minutes' walk of the town I soon gathered an
+armful--purple and yellow and white and yellow toad-flaxes, pink
+asters, blood-red poppies, big cream chrysanthemums, little blue and
+white iris, a handsome garlic-smelling pink flower, wild mignonette,
+both the tall and the dwarf asphodel, a yellow pheasant's eye, one
+or two unfamiliar blossoms, and, best of all, many regal spikes of
+the tall crimson gladioli that were growing among the green corn.
+
+The padre was punctual to a moment, and we were soon mounting the
+rocky hill just beyond the city wall where the excavations were
+going on.
+
+There was nothing in the appearance of the place to suggest that
+underneath our feet there existed Phoenician catacombs. Great
+spikes of the handsome evil-smelling asphodel were blooming all
+around, and two men in wide felt hats and abbreviated blouses,
+standing by some heaps of soil, were the only visible sign of the
+important work that was being done.
+
+When we reached them we saw that their labour consisted of passing
+the earth that had been brought to the surface through a fine
+sifter, and that close by yawned a hole overhung by a rope running
+on a wheel attached to a rough tripod.
+
+The Boy was the only one of the party daring enough to accept the
+invitation to descend. Leaving his coat behind, he slid down the
+rope and vanished through a hole in the bottom of the shaft. The
+younger workman followed. While we awaited their re-appearance we
+noticed that many bones, earth-coloured, light in weight and brittle
+to the touch, mingled with the mounds of refuse, and that bits of
+broken pottery and fragments of iridescent glass leavened the heaps.
+
+Soon the Boy and his guide, earth-stained and perspiring, for the
+underground atmosphere was close and hot, scrambled their way back
+to the surface.
+
+The Boy's account was that when he had swung himself down the shaft
+he and his guide entered the subterranean passage, feeling as though
+he were entering his own grave, in place of merely going to view
+that of other people. Passing through an outer hall, they came to a
+narrow chamber where, by the light of an acetylene lamp, a being
+looking like a gnome or a ghoul was sitting on the edge of a long
+stone coffin grubbing in the dust and ashes that filled it.
+
+Resting on the rim of the coffin were the relics that he had already
+recovered from the debris--bits of shattered pottery, and a
+beautiful but mutilated statuette of terra-cotta about five inches
+in height.
+
+From that cell they descended to a large chamber on a lower level,
+where there were many coffins and a plenitude of bones.
+
+When in recent years three Phoenician catacombs were discovered it
+was found that their existence had been known to the Moors, who at
+some unknown date had already despoiled them of treasure, leaving
+traces of their appropriation in the form of broken water jars and
+other worthless relics. Fortunately the Moors valued only the gold,
+so that, in spite of the damage caused by their rough handling, a
+mine of precious things still remains to gladden the archaeologist.
+
+Leaving the sunny hill-side, where spring flowers were blooming among
+the crumbling bones of these nameless dead, we mounted to the house
+by the windmills, where the treasures found in the graves are
+primarily housed.
+
+There also was the padre a welcome guest, and in a small dark room
+wonderful things were shown us. Tiny jars delicately figured;
+perfect vases of iridescent glass; strange bas-relief recumbent
+figures with stiffly extended hands; antique coins, scarabs that the
+Moors had bereft of their setting, ornaments that had escaped their
+rapacity, and old lamps enough to have satisfied even the covetous
+Abanazer.
+
+It was oddly suggestive to think that, while the people who were
+entombed in these stone coffins thousands of years ago had known
+delicate arts and worn costly jewellery, their successors on the
+land lived in primitive dwellings and drew the water they drank in
+earthenware jars that in form were exact copies of those so long
+buried in the tombs. Truly in some things the world has not
+progressed!
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: A Trio and a Quartette]
+
+XXVI
+
+AN IVIZAN SABBATH
+
+
+Sunday morning was as calm and beautiful as could be desired by
+visitors with only a few days in which to explore an island.
+
+With quite unwonted energy we rose before seven o'clock, and after
+dressing and taking a cup of tea in our own little sitting-room,
+went out to the Alameda to see the countryfolk coming in to Mass or
+market.
+
+On the ships in the harbour flags were flying. Everybody was in gala
+dress. The very air felt gay. And as we sat on one of the stone
+seats in the leafy Alameda and watched the people streaming into
+town from the broad white roads that lead to San Antonio, Santa
+Eulalia and other villages, we chirruped with irrepressible delight,
+so unexpectedly and deliciously quaint were the figures that passed
+before us.
+
+Some of the women rode mules, and sat perched high on a pile of
+sheepskins, their multi-coloured petticoats billowing about their
+neat ankles. Others were packed closely into open carts that had
+cushions placed low on either side of their sagging floor-matting.
+Many walked, accompanied by vigilant elderly relatives. And oh! how
+demure and decorous they all looked, with their dark hair parted in
+the middle and severely plastered down the sides of their rosy young
+faces.
+
+An object of fervent admiration in my childhood was a pincushion
+made of a little china doll, whose placid head and insignificant
+body appeared from a widely distended skirt. And on this brilliant
+Sunday morning the Ivizan women and girls in their exaggerated
+skirts seemed to me like a procession of walking dolls.
+
+The dresses appeared to be fashioned from any material that boasted
+a pattern, for the Ivizan detests a plain material. Even the velvet
+or plush used in the men's clothes was in many instances flowered or
+striped. The short broad aprons were of bright-coloured silk
+elaborately tucked above the hem. Their deeply fringed shawls and
+head wraps were bordered with wreaths of gaily tinted flowers. The
+chains of big oblong gold beads and elaborate gold pendants in the
+form of crosses and crowns gave a blatant and contradictory note to
+the staid costume, while the gaudy hue of the ribbon that tied the
+end of the pigtail and fell in long ends nearly to the hem of the
+skirt suggested a hint of the original Eve lurking behind all this
+apparent demureness. Gold buttons closely set ran from the wrist of
+the long sleeve, which was often of green, to the elbow. And the
+white sandalled shoes, whose toes were caught up by a cord bound
+round the ankles, had a suggestion of sabots that added a Dutch
+touch to the picture.
+
+Sometimes a mother in sober garments or a smiling father in a wide
+hat marched past in proud chaperonage of a diffident young daughter
+rigged out in all the family jewellery. One girl, who enjoyed the
+personal care of her mother, wore a gown of old rose-spotted brocade
+looped up in pannier form to show a pink petticoat.
+
+To our thinking the extreme of quaintness was reached in the person
+of a little maid of seven or eight, whose dress was a travesty of
+that of her widowed mother; with the sole difference that, while the
+mother's mourning garb was of unrelieved black, the kerchief and
+tiny shawl of the child had bordering wreaths of white flowers. As
+she walked slowly by, a tiny entity in over-voluminous garments, the
+Man declared that, despite her superhuman sobriety, and the "papa,
+prunes, prisms" expression of her infant lips, he felt convinced
+that it was with difficulty she resisted a desire to skip!
+
+They say there are ten men for every woman on the island, and our
+experience of that Sunday morning inclined us to believe it. From
+every direction came fine strapping lads moving in droves. A
+distinct resemblance in the dress, taken in combination with the
+rakish dare-devil air with which these young bloods set their wide
+hats to one side and swaggered along, vividly suggested the Mexican
+cowboy.
+
+In striking contrast to the expansive attire of the women, the men's
+dress appeared designed to accentuate their natural slimness. The
+trousers of velvet or plush in all manner of rich shades fitted
+closely to the figure except at the ankle, where they spread widely.
+Gaily hued shirts or short full blouse jackets, usually black or
+blue, were worn. Red or striped sashes were wound about their
+waists. Most of the hats were large and adorned with gold cords. And
+in addition to one necktie for use, it was customary to add a second
+and sometimes even a third for show.
+
+We were sincerely sorry to find that nine o'clock, the hour when we
+were due at the hotel for coffee, had rushed upon us. When we came
+out again on our way to visit the Museum, the streets about the
+market were busy with a moving throng resplendent in colour.
+
+For the moment the girls appeared to have got rid of their chaperons
+and were parading about in quartettes, sextettes, even septettes,
+their tightly pleated pigtails streaming stiffly behind, their
+hands, holding pocket-handkerchiefs heavily edged with substantial
+crochet lace, sedately crossed in front.
+
+One group that particularly rejoiced the artistic soul of the Man
+was made up of four demure damsels who walked in a row, the tallest
+at one end, the others decreasing in height till the row ended in a
+dear dot. Their outlines were so much alike that they had the effect
+of having been stencilled in a diminishing scale.
+
+It was perhaps only to be expected that wherever one saw a bevy of
+girls a corresponding cluster of men would not be far distant. Yet
+we rarely saw them address each other.
+
+The modern etiquette of peasant courtship in Iviza runs on strict
+though simple lines. A plenitude of suitors being assured, it is the
+maiden who makes the selection. The admirers of a marriageable girl
+wait for her outside the church door on Sunday. When she leaves Mass
+the one who has the premier claim attaches himself to her, and trots
+beside her for the first portion of the homeward journey, then at a
+fixed point or within a stated time-limit he gives place to the
+second, and so on until the number is exhausted. If any man seeks to
+exceed his allotted space, or in any other way tries to transgress
+the unwritten law, pistols may flare and knives are apt to spring!
+Apart from this the people of Iviza are peaceable, and on all points
+moral and virtuous. It must be admitted that certain of the more
+frolicsome spirits still keep up the old custom of saluting the
+maidens of their choice with a charge of rock salt fired at the
+ankles. And it is devoutly to be hoped that the unwieldy masses of
+petticoats serve at least one useful purpose by shielding their
+wearers from the saline missiles of love's artillery.
+
+When we had reached the Cathedral square, where the Museum is
+situated, we found the door open and the custodian--in whom we
+were surprised to recognize one of our fellow-guests at the
+_fonda_--waiting to receive us.
+
+Though the Museum at Iviza has been in existence for little more
+than two years it already contains a notable collection of
+Phoenician, Roman, Byzantine and Moorish remains. To an
+archaeologist, inspection of the contents would have been a special
+treat. Even to us who had little knowledge of the subject it was
+intensely interesting.
+
+Within the centre cases and in the glass-doored cupboards that line
+the walls were many things whose worth we could not venture to
+guess. The varied assortment of coins seemed especially valuable.
+One jar found during the process of excavation had contained over
+six hundred specimens.
+
+Among the other exhibits were several primitive bas-relief figures
+with abruptly out-jutting hands, resembling those we had seen on the
+previous day. Two figures had the hands clasped on the bust over
+something suggesting a loaf, and one had a ring through the nose.
+
+Many of the vases and slender vials from the tombs were beautiful,
+both in outline and in decoration. And we saw a particularly fine
+scarab that had been found in one of the stone coffins immediately
+after our visit to the catacombs on the previous afternoon.
+
+In the second room were some curious old documents and certain of
+the more bulky exhibits. And from a top shelf a row of skulls of
+these bygone races grinned down upon us creatures of to-day, as
+though their owners found something ludicrous in the idea of a
+special house being set apart in which to guard as treasures what to
+them had been but everyday possessions.
+
+When we left the Museum the padre, with kindly thought and subtle
+intuition of what is most likely to interest the stranger in a
+foreign land, took us a-visiting. First he introduced us to the only
+professional artist on the island, who like everybody else in the
+place seemed a special friend of our sponsor.
+
+And in the artist of this far-off southern islet we rejoiced to meet
+the romantic painter of fiction--the picturesque hero one reads
+about but rarely has the good fortune to encounter.
+
+Don Narciso--his very name was in keeping--was young, buoyant of
+spirit, charming in manner, and enthusiastic regarding art. He had a
+thick curly black beard, abundant wavy black hair. He wore a
+becoming blouse, and his loosely knotted silk tie was of _amarilla_
+silk.
+
+The painter welcomed us cordially, and took us into his studio,
+where he was at work upon a full-length portrait of a bishop who had
+been a native of the island.
+
+Round the walls were brilliant studies both in figure and landscape.
+We had been living close to Nature for six months. It was a pleasure
+to breathe again the studio atmosphere. In less than two minutes the
+three artists were deep in discussion of kindred interests. Their
+nationalities might be different, but Art has only one language.
+Names--Velasquez, Goya, and others of more recent date--were bandied
+between them, the while the padre and I sat dumbly attentive.
+
+When we were leaving, Narciso took us into the artistically unkempt
+garden attached to the studio, and from the line of orange-trees
+beyond the old well plucked a spray heavy with the luscious blossom.
+This he presented to me with a grace that dignified the sprig into a
+bouquet. And we all parted with promise of an early reunion.
+
+A few yards farther down the road we passed a group of ladies, whose
+smart Paris hats and modern raiment, seen in that land of quaint
+attire, gave the wearers an oddly foreign look.
+
+"Son la familia Wallis," murmured the padre, as he raised his hat to
+them.
+
+The house of the padre, our next place of call, was just beyond the
+seminary where the students whom we had seen leaving the Cathedral
+in their robes of black and scarlet were undergoing their thirteen
+years of probation before entering the Church.
+
+The padre's home in all its appointments impressed us as being
+exactly suited to the quiet refinement of its master. From the
+windows one gained a superb view of the rippling waters of the
+landlocked harbour and of the undulating country beyond.
+
+We had the honour of meeting the padre's mother, a lady who, though
+shrunk a little by weight of years, was still hale and bright. And
+his sister, the widow of a distinguished officer. And his niece, who
+was so vivacious and charming, that when she waved to us from her
+balcony as we left we wondered if the _novio_ who was standing in
+the street, whispering love up to a maiden in a mantilla on the
+balcony just beneath hers, had not made the mistake of a floor!
+
+It was evidently the feast-day of one of our fellow-guests at the
+hotel, for at the close of the midday meal a tray of dainty Spanish
+sweetmeats in frilled paper cases was passed round--being handed,
+evidently by special instructions, to us also.
+
+When we had helped ourselves we bowed indecisively towards the
+farther end of the table, saying vaguely--in the hope that our
+gratitude might reach the donor--"Muchos gracias, senor." The other
+senores were quick to indicate the benefactor, who flushed a little
+as he acknowledged our thanks.
+
+While lunch was being served a dark silent young man, who was one of
+the regular company, several times left his place, and from our
+seats at table we saw him go to the open front door of the hotel and
+glance up and down the street, as though on the look-out for
+somebody. Seeing him return alone for the third time, we whispered
+hints of a dilatory sweetheart.
+
+But when the eagerly expected guest did appear it was not some
+graceful dona, but a little baby girl, the sleeves of her white
+frock tied with black ribbon, who was carried in in the arms of a
+stout peasant nurse. As the padre told us later, our taciturn
+fellow-guest was the postmaster, who had lost his young wife, and
+this was their babe come to pay the bereaved father her weekly
+visit.
+
+When we went out in the afternoon the townsfolk were promenading
+under the shade of the Alameda, but the _payeses_ had all
+vanished--gone back to the rural homes whither we would like to have
+followed them. With the disappearance of the quaint figures the
+charm seemed to have vanished, and when we met our new friend the
+sacristan we cajoled him into going for a stroll along the
+watercourses that intersect the reclaimed land beyond the harbour.
+
+These are a curious feature of a delightfully curious country. On
+either side of the raised centre path were broad ditches full of
+clear water, whose yellow sand was speckled with black shell-fish.
+Shoals of little fish darted in and out among the rushes, and on
+every patch of floating weed a tiny frog sat and croaked.
+
+The fertile ground on either side of the ditches was divided into
+small holdings, or _feixas_ as they are locally called. And there
+mixed crops of fruit and vegetables flourished abundantly. Vines
+trained to trellises bordered the water, and at frequent intervals
+tall whitewashed gateways, reached by little bridges and quite
+unsupported by walls, reared their gleaming bulk with something of
+the self-conscious air that might be attributed to whited
+sepulchres. As in Majorca, the small agriculturists appeared to live
+in the towns. There were no dwellings on the _feixas_, though a few
+had sheds from which issued the grunts of unseen animals.
+
+The evening glow was on the hills when we left the watercourses and
+followed a track that led between fields of full-bearded rye dotted
+with blood-red poppies towards a picturesque white-walled _noria_.
+In the shadow of the trees close by the old Moorish well, which was
+encircled by a trellised vine, sat the farm folk enjoying the rest
+of the Sabbath. A guest in a mantilla was with them.
+
+So far from resenting our intrusion they welcomed it. Seeing that we
+were interested in the working of the _noria_, the farmer ran
+forward and, seizing the long wooden donkey shaft, set the wheel
+revolving, and made the circle of buckets (which were not fashioned
+of earthenware as in Majorca, but formed from lengths of hollowed
+pine stem--a peseta each they cost, he told us) discharge their
+contents for our benefit, the primitive machinery, which made
+laudable objection to Sunday labour, protesting the while with
+groans and squeaks.
+
+[Illustration: The Gates of the _Feixas_, Iviza]
+
+His wife--who had received us with friendly looks and kindly
+greeting in the Ivizan dialect, that, while greatly resembling
+Majorcan, omits the harsher sounds, hastened further to reveal her
+good will by picking me the few blossoms within reach. Even the
+townified guest in the mantilla added a genial word of greeting.
+
+Yes, the Majorcans had spoken truly when they said the people of the
+sister isle were courteous to strangers.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The Church of San Antonio, Iviza]
+
+XXVII
+
+AT SAN ANTONIO
+
+
+It was Monday morning, and when the Man went out in search of a
+subject to sketch, I lured him along by my favourite watercourses.
+
+The sun beat warmly on the limpid water, in which the swarms of
+little fish, looking like vivified marks of exclamation, were
+ceaselessly flashing about. And on the surface herbage countless
+glistening frogs, green, golden, bronze, and chocolate, were
+perched, like little kings, each on his floating throne. It was with
+lamentable lack of monarchical dignity that each in turn, as he got
+hint of our approach, took an agile header into the water and
+disappeared.
+
+Going on past the tall whitewashed gates that seemed to have so
+scant reason for existence, we reached the San Antonio road, and
+there in the shadow of a wall at the side of a bean-field the Man
+sat down to paint.
+
+Against the cloudless sky the Cathedral-crowned town rose grandly.
+From where we sat the encircling ramparts appeared as complete and
+impregnable as they did in the time of the Roman occupation.
+
+From our point of view, which afforded no glimpse of the newer
+houses sheltered close between the ancient gate and the harbour, the
+city looked much as it must have done in those bygone days when the
+ground on which the lower portion of the town is built was still
+lapped by the salt water of the bay.
+
+While the Man painted I sat by, well content. The bean blossoms made
+sweet savour in our nostrils, and the gentle swish of falling water
+from the _noria_ in an adjacent field gave a refreshing suggestion
+of coolness. And as we sat near the roadside quaint figures passed
+by in slow succession. Perched sideways on their panniered mules
+came broad-hatted women. The local convention that proscribes hats
+for Sunday female wear permits them on weekdays; and so, set
+jauntily on top of the sober handkerchief that covered the head,
+most of the peasant women wore a wide white hat, bound with black,
+and encircled with a black ribbon that hung in long ends
+behind--women whose grave sun-browned faces argued that the day for
+protecting the complexion was surely past.
+
+Leaving the Man at work, I crossed to where in the raised _noria_, a
+dozen yards beyond the white highroad, a blindfold mule was
+patiently at work. All alone there by the creaking old Moorish well
+he was walking round and round the path, already worn to dust by the
+passage of his willing feet.
+
+But if one chanced to be born a mule and had to draw water for a
+living, a pleasanter place in which to carry out one's vocation
+could hardly be imagined. For close about the stone-sided platform
+that surrounded the well grew two immense fig-trees and a large
+pomegranate; and for many months of the year the _noria_ must have
+been an oasis of leafy shade in the midst of sun-baked fields.
+
+Even on that April day the fig leaves were unfolding, and the small
+green knobs of the first crop of fruit had sprouted close under the
+foliage at the tips of the ash-grey branches. The big pomegranate-tree
+held its spreading branches over the mule-track, as though desirous of
+warding off the sun from the patient worker. On the delicate tracery
+of branches the leaves, that always seem too minute and finely
+fashioned to be in perfect accord with the heavy roseate fruit, were
+showing rich copper hues.
+
+In humid spots about the stone bastions of the well moisture-loving
+maidenhair fern was clinging. As the shaft, slowly revolving, turned
+the wheel, the chain of wooden buckets emptied themselves with a
+musical tinkle of falling water into the wooden trough beneath, from
+which it flowed into a big square tank.
+
+At first sight the enduring mule had seemed the only sentient being
+near, but a second glance revealed abounding life. The water in the
+reservoir was dotted with lively black entities that proved to be
+tadpoles. On a decaying log sat a handsome frog with a panel of
+green, of so vivid a tint as to seem as though freshly enamelled,
+neatly let into his glistening brown back. Along the sandy bottom of
+the clear water a great warted toad moved sluggishly. Close in the
+shadow a dark trout was lurking. Within reach of my hand a golden
+lizard lazily sunned himself; and on the top of the wall rested a
+dragon-fly with a broken wing.
+
+A swallow swooped overhead. Among the poppy-strewn barley
+grasshoppers were chirping merrily. In the sunshine a newly-hatched
+swarm of insects gyrated, tentatively exercising their wings--all
+Nature seemed indolently happy. But still the patient mule trod on
+its way. Sometimes it paused a space, and I rejoiced; but the moment
+the listening ears ceased to hear the trickle of the falling water
+the persevering beast had again started upon the monotonous circular
+tour.
+
+It must have been a case of conscience, for nobody was at hand to
+see whether the task was accomplished or not; but still, with eyes
+blinded to the beauty around, the patient mule pursued the ceaseless
+round, until, ashamed of my own inactivity, I longed to loosen the
+halter, to take off the straw blinders that covered his eyes, and to
+turn him into the cornfields to eat his fill.
+
+"What have you done with yourself?" asked the Man, as he closed his
+colour-box and prepared to return to the hotel for lunch; "I'm
+afraid you must have had a dull morning."
+
+But when I would have explained to him how excellently well I had
+been entertained I found it difficult. So I said nothing, for, after
+all, what possible social community could one find in a blindfold
+old mule and a handful of saltant or fluttering creatures?
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+In the afternoon the padre came with us, and we drove right across
+the island to San Antonio, the town that ranks second in importance.
+From Iviza diligences run to San Antonio, to Santa Eulalia, to San
+Carlos, San Jose, and San Juan, and the fare is fivepence. But
+Ivizan diligences are impossible things. We had seen them and
+shuddered, for they were merely rough carts with matted floors and
+close airless canvas covers. And any we had seen were so crammed
+that segments of squashed passengers protruded from every opening.
+
+To secure the services of a two-wheeled carriage, a horse, and a man
+for a complete day costs a douro (four shillings) in Iviza, and the
+charge for a half-day is the same.
+
+The padre, Don Pepe, accompanied us, and in the care of a
+grave-faced Ivizan clad in a mourning suit of black ribbed velvet we
+set off, pausing at the hamlet of San Rafael to see the fine vista
+of the town from the plateau before the church.
+
+I must confess that at first sight San Antonio was disappointing.
+What we had expected I do not know. What we found was a whitewashed
+village set on a rocky slope by an enclosed bay. The situation was
+delightful; but after the grandly characteristic city of Iviza this
+zealously whitewashed town, in spite of its antiquity, seemed
+insignificant and _new_.
+
+Antonio, the friend whom Don Pepe sought, was away on his
+"possession." So while a willing messenger sped to fetch him, we
+visited the church. The cura was absent, though his lace-trimmed
+vestments--which, like the town, were white as the driven snow--were
+hanging to dry within the precincts by the church porch.
+
+The church of San Antonio shares the attractive informality which is
+the distinctive feature of Ivizan architecture. It was once a
+fortress of defence against the Moors. From the flat roof we had a
+magnificent survey of the country about, saw the bay, which, like
+all the water about the island, abounds in fish, and the lighthouse,
+to which Don Pepe promised to take us, and the rough track up the
+solid rock towards the _Cueva de Santa Ines_, into whose recesses
+Antonio was going to guide us.
+
+We had left the church and were moving in the direction of the
+lighthouse, when the padre's quick eyes noted a figure hastening
+towards us. The messenger had done his work. Antonio had returned.
+
+The senor was in the prime of manhood and on the eve of marriage.
+After our other sightseeing was done, we were promised a glimpse of
+his chosen one--or, to speak quite correctly, of the damsel who had
+selected him; for, as I have said before, in Iviza it is the lady
+who chooses.
+
+On the sunny bank near the lighthouse we encountered an interesting
+and venerable trio--the Alcalde, the Captain of the Port, who wore
+earrings, and the cura of San Antonio. With them also our padre was
+a favourite. The cura urged us to return to the _curato_ and take
+coffee with him. But the afternoon was passing and there was still
+much to see.
+
+So we said good-bye and left them with something of envy in our
+hearts, to resume their dawdle among the white flowering asters and
+butterflies, by the shores of the placid bay. Wherever their lives
+had been passed, they seemed at length to have found anchorage in a
+spot remote from the storms and dissensions that agitate and perplex
+the world.
+
+The men walked the mile to the cave. I drove, but many times during
+the short journey I realized that it would have been far less
+exertion to walk. The road lay over wickedly disposed rock, and when
+my hat was not butting the canvas sides of the trap it was violently
+colliding with that of the driver, who, though he bounced up and
+down on his seat, still managed to preserve his air of imperturbable
+calm.
+
+The story of this subterranean chapel is a curious and interesting
+one. It is believed that in the early years following the conquest,
+before the fortress was converted into a church, the inner chamber
+of the cave was used as a temple where Mass and other religious
+services were held. Some time later--probably towards the end of the
+sixteenth century--a wooden image of the martyred Saint Ines was
+discovered in the cave, an image that, though it was several times
+removed to the Church of San Antonio, always mysteriously reappeared
+in the cave. This was ultimately accepted as a sign that the saint
+desired her image to remain in the cave, which then received her
+name.
+
+On the anniversary of San Bartolome's day--the very day on which the
+image had been discovered--in the height of a violent tempest, a
+foreign barque found safe harbourage in the bay of San Antonio. On
+board the distressed ship was a gentleman who had in his possession
+a beautiful painting of Santa Ines. In his extremity he made a
+definite bargain with the saint, vowing that, if through her
+intercession the whole ship's company landed without scath, he would
+present her portrait to the church of the first port where they
+disembarked in safety.
+
+It was on hearing of this miraculous intervention, and of the
+widespread notice it attracted, that the ecclesiastical authorities
+at Iviza gave permission for the little subterranean cavern to be
+used as a place of worship.
+
+After that time, on the annual recurrence of San Bartolome's day,
+people in great numbers journeyed from all parts of the island to
+the little town, and after attending Mass in the parish church went
+with the inhabitants of the town to the cave, near which they
+picnicked. Then, after having taken a draught of water from the holy
+well in the interior of the cave, they assembled outside and danced
+until sunset.
+
+This quaint custom continued until 1865, when it was modified
+because the roof of the cave showed signs of collapse, and the
+natives of Iviza had a superstitious belief that the impending
+catastrophe would occur on the day of the annual gathering. Since
+then the dance has been held in the town, but is only attended by
+those from a distance, as, since the scene of the festival has been
+changed, the girls of San Antonio refuse to take part in it.
+
+When we had secured the key from a silent woman at the farm-house
+near by, we gained the mouth of the cave by treading unconventional
+paths--first walking in single file along the broad top of a stone
+wall, then treading across a tobacco patch, where, warmly sheltered
+by surrounding walls, the broad young leaves were growing strongly.
+
+At the entrance to the cave Antonio and a companion who had joined
+him--we knew him only as "Charles, his friend"--lit candles, and
+close on each other's heels we crept, doubled up and with stumbling
+feet, through the burrow-like passage that led to the inner shrine.
+
+Many changes must have taken place of late years, for the chapel was
+cumbered with fallen refuse. The arch of the roof masonry and the
+hollow where the altar had stood could still be distinguished,
+otherwise there was little token left of the strange history of this
+underground place of devotion. As we crawled back towards the light
+and the outer air, Antonio pointed to where, at the bottom of a
+tortuous and shelving passage, was situated the holy well.
+
+The climax of our visit to the little white town was the promised
+introduction to the beloved of Antonio, whom we met in the house of
+her mother, in the street near the church.
+
+Antonia could not have been more than twenty, if indeed she had
+quitted her teens, but in sobriety of dress and demureness of outer
+deportment she was a facsimile of her comely mother. It was only
+when you noticed that her full red lips had difficulty in refraining
+from curving into smiles, just as the dark hair so smoothly
+plastered down on either side of her rosy face seemed rebelliously
+determined to ripple into waves, that you realized that Antonia was
+overflowing with exuberant young life.
+
+Antonio knew it, though. No disguise of decorous matronly garments
+or assumption of a demure manner could conceal from him Antonia's
+real girlish charm. One could see that by the way his string-seated
+chair edged imperceptibly nearer hers, and by the ingenious manner
+in which, without seeming to do so, he yet managed to watch her
+every motion.
+
+It was at this juncture that a happy thought occurred to the padre.
+
+Would it be possible for the Man to do a sketch--just the smallest
+jotting--of Antonia, as a memento of the occasion?
+
+"Of course it would," agreed the Man. "And of Antonio, too!"
+
+At this the lips that Antonia had been trying so hard to keep prim
+broke apart in irrepressible giggles and her hand slipped up to see
+if her rebellious hair was smooth enough to do her credit. And
+Antonio straightened his shoulders and gave a furtive twist to the
+ends of his moustache.
+
+The light was fading, and the chairs had to be placed--close enough
+together to satisfy even Antonio's desires--near by the open door;
+just outside which a row of children had already secured front
+places to view the show.
+
+The sketch was necessarily hurried, even perfunctory, but it gave
+immense satisfaction.
+
+"Oh! Look at Antonio," Antonia gurgled joyously. "See his moustache!
+Is it not fine?"
+
+"It is like the moustache of an officer of _carabineros_," said
+Antonio, feeling it to see if it were actually more imposing than he
+had thought. "If I really look like that I ought to be a Minister of
+State; but--I prefer to be the husband of Antonia!"
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The Church of Jesus, Iviza]
+
+XXVIII
+
+WELCOME AND FAREWELL
+
+
+The shimmer of the sunrise and the reflection of the hills in the
+unruffled waters of the harbour were so ethereally beautiful in
+these Ivizan mornings, that I found it impossible to stay in bed. On
+the last day of our stay I was early out on the balcony.
+
+Scarcely anybody was about. A man in a red cap and a coat of yellow
+velvet was baiting lobster-pots. And a boy in velvet trousers that
+sun and the passage of time had faded to an inimitable shade of pale
+moss-green was playing with a dog. Otherwise the town seemed asleep.
+The scene was the perfection of drowsy restfulness, when the sudden
+blast of a steam-siren broke in upon the placidity, and with the
+sound a steamer, looking gigantic in these miniature surroundings,
+entered the bay.
+
+With her appearance the world awoke. As the ship moved slowly in
+towards her berth, which was just below my balcony, people appeared
+from all directions, as though they had been lying in ambush
+awaiting the signal to concentrate upon a given point. Probably the
+fact that the military element was present in force suggested the
+simile. A band of officers in full dress, with short natty
+astrakhan-lined overcoats and white gloves, stood a little apart
+from, and in advance of, the general public. Among them were the
+lieutenant in command of the carbineers, and the tall chief of the
+civil guard, who looked immense in a heavy cloak lined with scarlet.
+
+The municipal authorities had assembled in force, also
+representatives of the Church, the British Consul--"Good morning,
+sir!" to me on the balcony--and a comprehensive gathering of
+townsfolk, all with the air of being pleasantly excited about
+something that was going to happen.
+
+The steamer--it was the _Cataluna_--was close to the wharf now, but
+there was no sign on deck of any unusual occurrence. Except for the
+crew, a few steerage passengers, and a knot of priests who clustered
+on the boat deck amidships, nobody appeared to be on board. But
+still the crowd waited expectant.
+
+Then just as the gangway connected the _Cataluna_ with the land a
+solitary martial figure, a uniformed officer whose breast was
+decorated with several medals, appeared on the poop. And towards the
+ship and up the gangway, in slow and ceremonial order, moved the
+officers. The lieutenant-colonel of the Ivizan battalion of the
+_cazadores_ led. Over the gangway, across the deck, up the
+companion, and into the arms of the decorated officer, which were
+outstretched to receive him. In quick succession the others passed
+up, to be received cordially, if not so affectionately as their
+colonel. Then, as in turn the waiting authorities followed, it
+dawned upon us that we had been close spectators of the arrival of
+the new Governor of Iviza, and that from our point of vantage we had
+witnessed his first official reception.
+
+It was about this stage of the proceedings that among the men in
+uniform who were surrounding the new Governor on the poop we began
+to recognize different members of our hotel party.
+
+The imposing captain of infantry was the tall man who sat next to us
+and spoke to nobody. The man with the bellowing voice and the
+beautiful eyes was the lieutenant in command of the Ivizan
+carbineers. The man at the end of the table was a captain of
+engineers. The man with the eye-glasses was the captain of the
+medical corps.
+
+So much for our fancied astuteness. In place of sharing the table
+with a party of commercial travellers, as we had imagined, we had
+really been eating at the Ivizan equivalent to an officers' mess!
+
+When everybody with any claim to the distinction had been presented
+and the company on the poop had dwindled down to a few, the family
+of the newly arrived Governor made its appearance, in the persons of
+three lively boys and a baby in a nurse's arms. Then, coincident
+with the appearance on deck of a lady in a hat and motor-veil, the
+six soldiers in fatigue uniform who had been in waiting sped up the
+gangway, to return laden with hand baggage, which, with other
+femininities, included a blue bandbox. And in their wake the
+Governor and his little tribe, accompanied by the colonel, stepped
+in stately measure across the wharf, and disappeared into the door
+of the hotel that gaped hospitably open beneath us.
+
+As we drank the coffee that the overworked Paco had just brought us,
+we wondered a little what the new Governor's impressions of Iviza
+would be. He looked worn, we thought, as though weary with years of
+service; and we hoped that he would find his new home in this remote
+island a place of peace.
+
+The little breakfast over, our black-garbed driver and the British
+Consul, who had suggested taking us to see the _Salinas_, were
+waiting. And we drove out in the sweet morning towards the curious
+series of lagoons where two great harvests of salt are yearly
+reaped.
+
+The day was glorious, the air crisp, exhilarating, as we drove out
+over the country roads towards the wide stretch of flat land where
+the sea-water, prisoned by a cunning sequence of locks into vast
+shallow vats, was slowly evaporating in the strong sunshine.
+
+Although lead and zinc are mined near Santa Eulalia, the Salinas at
+Iviza and at Formentera form the great industry of the Ivizan group
+of islands, salt to the amount of nine thousand tons being shipped
+each year to various parts of the world.
+
+The history of these vast salt lagoons reaches back to before the
+conquest. In 1871 the Salinas, which for many years previously had
+belonged to the State, became the property of a private company, now
+known as the _Salinera Espanola_.
+
+The road, which led between green fields, had been lovely. An
+occasional girl perched on a donkey comprised almost the entire
+traffic. We reached the Salinas to find a scene of great brilliancy.
+All along the sides of the pools rose pyramids of salt, their
+glistening sides clearly reflected in the still water with something
+of the effect of carefully moulded icebergs. And along the portable
+line of rails strings of trucks laden with the sharp-faceted
+crystals of the rough salt were moving towards the wharf.
+
+Down by the wharf everything was white--the roads, the few houses,
+the great stores of salt that lay awaiting shipment, the shoes of
+the men that stood in the flat-bottomed barges beneath with long
+rakes, packing away the salt as it streamed down in a sparkling
+white torrent from the pulverizing machine on the staging of the
+quay above.
+
+From Iviza salt is shipped in great quantities to many distant
+countries. It was interesting to hear that even in salt the taste of
+the nations varies--Russia liking hers large in crystal, America
+preferring that supplied her to be as fine as possible.
+
+We stood on the pier that jutted out over the clear green waters of
+the islet-studded bay, watching the men at work filling the barges
+with the salt that was to be transhipped to the Italian barque that
+lay in the bay of Iviza. A fine, robust, brown-faced smiling lot of
+men they were. And the work on which they were at the moment
+engaged seemed mechanical and easy. Hanging on the railing close by
+were fishing nets, and they told us they caught many fish in the
+bay.
+
+On that bright airy morning the work seemed pleasant and not
+over-arduous: different from what it must be when the fierce
+southern heat has dried up the sea-water and the labour consists of
+standing under the burning sun, beset by mosquitoes, scooping up the
+salt from the floor of the lagoons and building it up into pyramids.
+If ever there was specially thirsty work it must be salt salving.
+
+There seemed to be surprisingly little accommodation for the
+labourers near the Salinas. In summer, when close upon a thousand
+labourers are employed, a large proportion of them are forced to
+live in the town of Iviza and add a walk of many miles to the
+exertion of the day.
+
+At the hotel at luncheon the newly installed Governor with all his
+family (except the baby) and the colonel sat by us at table. The
+elder men were still in uniform, but the _habitues_ of the board had
+been quick to return to mufti.
+
+Our walk that afternoon was in the care of Don Narciso, and under
+his guidance we walked through pleasant country byways towards the
+few clustered houses that comprise the little village of Jesus, to
+see a notable picture in the church there.
+
+It was through a fair green world that Narciso led us that radiant
+afternoon--under trees heavy with great green velvet almonds, and
+through fields deep in full-bearded grain and rich in blood-red
+poppies and crimson gladioli, among which wide-hatted women, the
+upper of their many skirts tucked up pannier fashion, were busy
+working.
+
+Just outside the Church of Jesus, at a _noria_ in the shade of a
+tall palm, trellised vines, and budding pomegranate-trees, a
+sun-browned man, his little brown son, and an old brown mule were
+working in happy unison. The church itself belonged to that informal
+type of architecture in which Iviza abounds. The roof was
+red-tiled, and without and within the building was severely
+whitewashed. The special panel which formed the centre of the great
+altar-piece was the work of an unknown painter of the early
+Valencian school.
+
+In a broad, simple composition it represented the Virgin and Holy
+Child surrounded by angels. The details were obscure, even after Don
+Narciso had thrown open the big door of the church to allow more
+light to enter; but the colour was remarkably rich and full. And
+though the surrounding subjects were inferior in workmanship, their
+subdued tones harmonized well with the dignity of the central panel.
+
+The cura was not at home, but his parents, a dear old peasant couple
+who lived with him, received us warmly, offering that ready and
+insistent hospitality that struck us as being a special feature of
+the Ivizan life. Our winter in Majorca had accustomed us to the
+polite but purely perfunctory fashion in which, like the Spaniard,
+the Majorcan tenders food to all comers, secure in the knowledge
+that it will be declined. But when the Ivizan offers refreshment to
+the visitor he means it to be accepted.
+
+The moment we were all seated on chairs set round the walls of the
+wide, airy room into which the large door directly opened, the good
+old father hastened to bring out a tray of tiny glasses and a
+decanter of the pure, amber-hued Ivizan wine--wine that had been
+pressed from grapes ripened close by. And the mother ran to fetch a
+plate of sweet biscuits and goblets of clear water. Then they
+watched with genuine pleasure while we sipped the wine, and, having
+praised it in all sincerity, followed the custom of the country and
+drank of the water.
+
+The sole family of the worthy couple had been two sons, both of whom
+had shown a vocation for the Church. The one in whose house they
+lived was now cura of Jesus, the other that of San Raphael, only a
+short walk distant.
+
+Our casual visit to the little hamlet left in our minds an unfading
+picture of rustic sweetness of atmosphere and of modest pride that
+had attained its ideal.
+
+From there we went to see a fine old country house, one of the
+"possessions" of a friend of Don Narciso, who, though he does not
+live there, courteously cycled over to do the honours. From the
+roofed _mirador_ we had a good view of the town rising on its rocky
+height above the sea.
+
+Here, too, we had evidence of the Ivizan spirit of hospitality.
+Native wine was again offered us, and from the orange gardens down
+by the palm-encircled _noria_ we got abundance of huge oranges, and
+a curious fruit that, with the outward appearance of the lemon,
+boasted the sweetness of the orange allied to a floating essence of
+bergamot.
+
+There the kindly Don Pepe joined us, and together we walked back
+through the gloaming.
+
+At dinner the new Governor, still in uniform, his handsome wife and
+their three nice boys again were present. After the State reception
+of the morning, it amazed us to see with what an utter lack of
+consideration they were treated. The very officers who had risen at
+daybreak and donned their best uniforms to honour his arrival sat at
+table with the Governor as though unconscious of his presence.
+
+The sole sign of deference that we could discover was that the
+landlord and Paco had put on their best coats in which to wait at
+table. But there the distinction ended. In common with the others,
+the Governor and his family patiently endured the tedious service.
+To me it was almost painful to see the representative of official
+power sit uncomplainingly, until the overworked Paco, having made
+the round of the long table, handed the few chilled fragments still
+remaining in the dish to the hero of the imposing little ceremony of
+the morning. It made us inclined to wonder if the hospitality of the
+Ivizans was confined to the humbler classes, or whether it would
+have been a breach of Ivizan etiquette had one or other of the
+principal residents offered these new-comers the freedom of their
+homes.
+
+So ended our visit to Iviza. For when dinner was over and our
+farewells said, the _Cataluna_ was ready to take us back to Palma.
+Our experience of the remote island that we had approached with
+doubts had been a thoroughly delightful one, and when we steamed out
+over the placid water we watched the lights of Iviza sink in the
+distance with the feeling that we left real friends among the kindly
+islanders.
+
+Our visit had been a short one, yet our minds held precious memories
+of the sincere and kindly people--of the padre, Don Pepe, and his
+affectionate care for his flock; of Narciso and his pictures, of the
+loves of Antonia and Antonio, and of the dear old father and mother
+of the cura of Jesus.
+
+Though it lacks the savage grandeur of some parts of Majorca, Iviza
+has beautiful and romantic scenery, and life in the lovely island is
+sweet and simple and wholesome. There is little money in
+circulation, but more is not needed. The ground is fertile, the
+climate gracious, the water-supply is unfailing, and fish may be had
+for the catching. So food is plentiful and cheap. House rent in the
+town of Iviza may be counted at about a half less than in Palma, and
+when the townsfolk speak of the cost of living in the smaller towns,
+such as San Antonio, they hold up their hands at the amazing
+cheapness of it.
+
+This, then, was our impression of Iviza, the remote island about
+which such extravagant tales are circulated. That fire-arms and
+knives still play a part when the interests of rival lovers clash is
+openly acknowledged. But during our visit the course of true love
+must have run smoothly, for no echo of pistol shot or clash of
+weapon marred the peace of our stay.
+
+As we found the people of that forgotten isle--honest, courteous,
+generous, and hospitable, quaint of dress and soft of voice--so have
+I written.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: Moorish Tower at the Port of Alcudia]
+
+XXIX
+
+LAST DAYS
+
+
+The golden months had flown past, speeding so swiftly that we felt
+as though time must have defrauded us. Scarcely a day seemed to have
+elapsed after our return from Iviza before we were saying, "Next
+week we must go home."
+
+But before beginning preparation for departure, three days were our
+own. Three clear days in which to take a real lazy holiday; for
+though the holiday spirit had pervaded our wanderings, we had all
+been working hard. To be really idle we knew we must seek a spot
+already familiar to us, one that offered no temptation to register
+fresh impressions. And a brief family conclave found us unanimous in
+the opinion that the port of Alcudia, from which, in January, we
+had sailed to Minorca, was the ideal place.
+
+Friday morning found us at La Puebla station, mounting the little
+one-horse diligence that runs to and from Alcudia in connection with
+the trains.
+
+I shared the box-seat with a semi-comatose driver, a big box, a
+bigger sack, a loaf of bread, and sundry nondescript parcels.
+Besides my people, the only occupant of the interior was a bronzed
+young man who had travelled in the same compartment with us from
+Palma.
+
+In the train the studied perfection of his dress had made me wonder
+on what errand of ceremony he was bound. His trousers and waistcoat
+were of very light pique, his coat of shining black alpaca. His
+linen was new, his tie resplendent; his watch-chain of linked metals
+was an inch broad; his face beamed with expectancy; his whole being
+seemed to vibrate with glad impatience.
+
+The way to Alcudia passed through a rural district, running at first
+by many small holdings, where patient mules were turning
+water-wheels to irrigate the little fields where their masters were
+hard at work.
+
+The driver, curling himself up in his corner of the box-seat, dozed
+off after the manner of diligence drivers who have started on their
+first journey long before dawn. The horse, taking advantage of his
+master's somnolence, walked more and more and more slowly, until at
+intervals the driver, unwillingly opening half an eye to see how far
+we had progressed and finding us almost at a standstill, would urge
+him on with opprobrious words.
+
+The day was lovely--how often I seem to have written that! In the
+lush green corn grasshoppers were chirping. By the wayside the
+convolvulus was opening its big pink cups. And in the dark interior
+of the diligence the bronzed man was telling his story.
+
+He was a son of the district towards which we were slowly advancing.
+His parents had a wayside _taverna_ and a tiny farm. But in the
+family there were many mouths to feed, and though in Majorca there
+was always food for all, money was scarce. So five years ago he had
+gone to Algeria to push his fortunes. Now, having made a little
+money, he was returning, without warning of his coming, to his old
+home. As to the future? Well, that was for his parents to decide.
+
+One did not require to be told that the five years of exile had been
+industrious and frugal ones. Now the great moment was at hand. He
+was already experiencing the expectant joy of the returning
+wanderer.
+
+When the small holdings had been left far in the rear and rocky
+hills rose beyond the fertile fields, his assumed composure
+vanished. He became frankly excited, eagerly watching the lonely
+road and scanning the fields for sign of familiar forms and faces.
+
+As the coach made a momentary pause while the driver delivered a
+loaf and an amorphous parcel to a road-mender, the Exile, thrusting
+his head from the back window, shouted greeting. And the roadman,
+recognizing an old friend, ran after the already receding coach to
+grasp him warmly by the hand.
+
+The driver was wide-awake now, and evidently determined to make up
+for lost time. And the cigars our Exile wished to give the
+_caminero_ had to be thrown on the road, from which with grateful
+nods and smiles he picked them up.
+
+As he drew near his old home the Exile, though even more keenly
+alert, became silent. When the little _taverna_ by the wayside came
+in sight the driver, rising to the occasion, put on pace and pulled
+up before the door in grand style.
+
+The unusual sight of the coach stopping brought the old _tavernero_
+and his wife to the wide doorway. From my perch on the box I saw
+their expressions change from surprise to amazed delight. It was the
+father--a typical Majorcan with a hale spare figure and shrewd
+kindly face--who, advancing first, seized his exultant son in his
+arms. The mother held back a moment, quivering with joyous
+emotions, her lips parted in speechless welcome. Then, running
+forward, she fell upon his neck.
+
+The host and hostess of the Fonda Marina gave us hearty welcome,
+and, as before, heaped benefits upon us. In our three months of
+absence young Cristobal had grown perceptibly. He was at school now,
+and had already learned to recite in Spanish sing-song the days of
+the week and the months of the year.
+
+Our former rooms overlooking the bay were vacant, and for three long
+summer days we wandered as we listed--over the white sands, which
+were now rich with the rare shells and scarlet coral for which, on
+our previous visit, I had looked in vain; or among the pines, whose
+sun-distilled fragrance mingled with the sea air. One radiant
+morning we took a luncheon basket and wandered as far as the
+Albufera, but at all other times the excellent cooking of the
+mistress of the _fonda_ lured us back in time for meals.
+
+The few people we encountered looked pleasantly at us. And the
+Captain of the Port--a retired naval officer who spent much of his
+time fishing from a boat moored at his own front door--most
+courteously called, and presented me with a bouquet sent by the
+ladies of his house.
+
+Monday evening saw us back at the Casa Tranquila. With Tuesday began
+the uncongenial labour of dissolution; for the little house that
+during the never-to-be-forgotten months had been our headquarters
+had to be emptied of its contents. Our belongings were few in
+number, but our manner of living had brought us into such intimate
+relations with them that we felt personal interest in each article.
+We had developed quite an affection for our yellow cups and saucers
+with their crude bunches of red and blue flowers; and our
+chocolate-pot of brown and yellow native ware, with its perforated
+lid and wooden pestle, ranked as a family friend.
+
+The great vine that during the first months of our stay had
+converted the veranda into an airy bower was again covered with
+foliage and with embryonic clusters of grapes that some more lucky
+tenants would enjoy. The rose-bushes that had bloomed all winter
+were sending out an abundance of bud-laden shoots. Ripe lemons still
+clung to the higher branches of the tree, though the new fruit was
+already formed.
+
+There was scant time for all we had to do. Yet we managed to pay
+good-bye visits; to take final peeps at our favourite haunts; to
+secure on behalf of a poultry-fancying friend a setting of the eggs
+of certain Moorish-looking fowls whose jet black bodies were topped
+by huge white feather turbans; to dig up bulbs of the most curious
+kinds of fly orchis for another friend who is so fortunate as to
+possess a "wonder garden."
+
+Our final day, which rushed upon us before we had steeled ourselves
+to meet it, was deplorably wet. It seemed as though the climate that
+had treated us so generously was weeping at the thought of our
+departure.
+
+We lunched daintily at the home of our good friends the Consul and
+his wife. Then came the moment when, for the last time, the bells of
+Bartolome's chariot jingled at the door of the Casa Tranquila, and
+the neighbours came out to wish us God-speed. None of them came
+empty-handed. Pepe brought his finest carnations. The Andalusian
+lady, her entire brood clinging to her matronly skirts, also offered
+flowers, and the retired gentleman who lived in the lordly mansion
+across the way hastened to cut his choicest roses.
+
+So with the carriage full of fragrant evidence of good will, we
+drove off, to pause a moment at Apolonia's door to bid her farewell.
+At the distribution of odds and ends a rug and a hat had been
+allotted to Apolonia. And when she seized this opportunity of
+thanking us for the trifles sent her, Apolonia spoke appreciatively
+of the rug, but there were tears in her bright eyes when she
+referred to the _sombrero_. And that makes one wonder how it is that
+the utterly useless and incongruous gifts are often the most valued.
+The dear old soul had never worn a hat in her life and certainly
+never would. The article could be of no possible use to her, but
+perhaps, like Jess in the _Window in Thrums_ with her mantle, she
+"would aye ken it was there."
+
+As we turned the corner we got a glimpse of Mr. and Mrs. Pepe
+carrying a gaily coloured handkerchief containing the discarded suit
+of the Boy's that had fallen to Pepe's share. Waving the bundle,
+they indicated that they were already on their way to the tailor's
+to have the suit altered.
+
+The Angelus was ringing as the _Miramar_ steamed out into the mist.
+Standing at the stern, we looked back while the rain-clouds
+gradually blotted out the town, and thought of the little house at
+Son Espanolet standing empty and forlorn.
+
+We had hoped that when the inevitable hour of parting came we might
+leave in one of those magnificent sunsets under which we had so
+often watched the mail-boat start for Barcelona. But though our last
+sight of Majorca was veiled with rain and tears, we will always
+remember it as a land of sunshine and of smiles.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX
+
+  Afterglow, 251
+
+  Alaro, 204
+    Castle of, 211
+    Children of, 213
+
+  Albufera, the, 173
+
+  Alcudia, 169, 175
+    Port of, 170
+
+  Almudaina Palace, 27, 149
+
+  _Almudaina, La_, 265
+
+  Aloes, 184, 188
+
+  Amphitheatre, Roman, 176
+
+  Amusements, 277
+
+  Andalusia, family from, 22, 332
+
+  Andraitx, 111
+    Port of, 117
+
+  Aquarium at Porto Pi, 282
+
+  Archduke Luis Salvador, 66, 82
+
+  Arraco, 123
+
+  Arta, 227
+    Caves of, 232
+
+  Asparagus, wild, 288
+
+  Asphodel, 286, 298
+
+  Astronomers, British, 55
+
+
+  Banners, Hall of the, 235
+
+  Barbarossa, 198
+
+  Barcelona, 1
+
+  Barnils, Hotel, 5, 6
+
+  Barranco, the, 100
+
+  Basket-making, 238
+
+  Begonias, 240
+
+  Bellver, Castle of, 4, 51
+
+  Biniaraix, 100, 249
+
+  Birthday party, 102
+
+  Boot-brushing, 190
+
+  Borrow, 49
+
+  Breeches, baggy, 64, 159, 164, 282
+
+  British Consul at Iviza, 297, 321
+    "       "     " Mahon, 200
+    " influence in Minorca, 186
+
+  Bull-fighting, 277
+
+  Butterflies, 284
+
+  Byng, Admiral, 195
+
+
+  Cabo Blanco, 211
+
+  Cabo de Pera, 182, 237
+
+  Cabrera, 169, 211
+
+  Cabritt and Bassa, 209
+
+  Cactus (prickly pear), 21, 122, 124, 160, 189, 205
+
+  Cala Fonts, Minorca, 198
+
+  Cala Retjada, 238
+
+  Calvario at Pollensa, 160
+
+  Candelabra, silver, 149
+
+  Capdepera, 231, 237
+
+  Cape Vermay, 238
+
+  Carabineros, 77
+
+  Carthusian Monastery, 71
+
+  Cas Catala, 109
+
+  Castle of Alaro, 211
+    "     " Bellver, 4, 51
+    "    and fortifications, Iviza, 294
+
+  Catalans, Cave of the, 218
+
+  Cathedral, Palma, 134, 143, 147
+    "        Iviza, 294
+
+  Cave at Genova, 282
+    "  of the Holy Well, 139
+    "   " Ramon Lull, 86
+    "   " Santa Ines, Iviza, 316
+    "  Smugglers', 87
+
+  Caves of Arta, 232
+      "    the Dragon, Manacor, 217
+
+  Chaperonage, 5, 239, 268
+
+  Charcoal stove, 45
+
+  Charioteer, our, 67, 74, 152, 277, 332
+
+  Chopin, 12,70
+
+  Christians, early, 115
+
+  Christmas Eve, 134
+      "     market, 132
+
+  Church of Jesus, Iviza, 324
+
+  Ciudadela, Minorca, 181
+
+  Clubs, 275
+
+  Cobbler and his wife, 21, 333
+
+  Coinage, 49
+
+  Columns, Queen of the, 236
+
+  Commercial travellers, 182, 200
+
+  Conquistador, the, 4, 10, 52, 83, 109, 139, 144, 181, 194, 232
+        "       Feast of, 143
+
+  Conscripts, 166, 280
+
+  Consell, 204
+
+  Consul, our friend the, 15, 43, 131, 202, 332
+
+  Consumos, 46, 127, 133
+
+  Cookery, 11, 33, 65, 93, 113, 156, 171, 206, 227, 236
+
+  Coral, 331
+
+  Cost of living, 276
+
+  Courtship, 268, 304, 318
+
+  Customs, 5, 130
+
+
+  Dances, religious, 213
+
+  Dancing at San Antonio, Iviza, 317
+
+  Delights, Cave of, 218
+
+  Deya, 91, 254, 259
+
+  Diligence, travelling by, 105, 126, 225, 283, 329
+
+  Dogs for hunting, 239
+
+  Dress, fashionable, 266
+
+  Dress, native, 10, 61, 63, 159, 226, 265, 293, 312
+
+  Dromios, the two, 165, 168
+
+
+  Eagles, 71, 211, 260
+
+  Electric light, 17, 136, 206
+
+  Enciamada, the, 6
+
+  Esglayeta, 68
+
+  Exile, returned, 330
+
+
+  Fairy, the Good, 245, 250, 252, 255
+
+  Ferrer, 3
+
+  Firewood, 45
+
+  First communicants, 248
+
+  Flowers, wild, 99, 121, 141, 192, 220, 240, 258, 285, 286, 298
+
+  Fonda de Mallorca, Palma, 5
+    "    " Rande, Arta, 227
+    "   Central, Mahon, 185
+    "   Feminias, Manacor, 216
+    "   Marina, Alcudia, 170, 331
+    "   at Iviza, 291
+
+  Fondas, country, 274
+
+  Footgear, 10
+
+  Fornalutx, 100
+
+  French influence, 98
+
+  Frogs at Iviza, 311
+
+  Furnishing, 17
+
+
+  Gardening, 21, 45
+
+  _General Chanzy_, wreck of, 182
+
+  Genova, 282
+
+  Governesses, 268
+
+  Governor of Iviza, 321, 326
+
+  Grand Hotel, Palma, 4, 204, 214, 274
+
+  Gymnesias, 11
+
+
+  Holy Thursday, procession on, 260
+
+  Hoo-poo, 243
+
+  Hospederia, 67, 72, 90, 260
+
+  Hospitality, 15, 325
+
+  Hotel Barnils, Palma, 5, 6
+    "   Grand, 4, 204, 214, 274
+    "   Marina, Soller, 92, 97, 105, 244
+
+  Hot months, the, 273
+
+  House-hiring, 16
+
+  Housekeeping, 23
+
+
+  Ilex, forest of, 239
+
+  Inca, 63
+
+  Iviza, 289
+    British Consul at, 297, 321, 322
+    Castle and fortification, 294
+    Cathedral, 294
+    Cave of Santa Ines, 316
+    Church of Jesus, 324
+    Cost of living, 327
+    Courtship, 304, 318
+    Dress, 293, 302, 308, 312
+    Driving, 314
+    Early occupation of, 289
+    Fonda, 291
+    Frogs, 311
+    Hospitality, 325
+    Market, 293
+    Museum, 304
+    New Governor, 321, 326
+    Noria, 308, 312, 324
+    Phoenician catacombs, 298
+    Roman wall and statues, 292
+    Salinas, 323
+    San Antonio, 314
+    San Rafael, 314
+    Santo Domingo, 295
+    Small holdings, 308
+    Wild flowers, 298
+
+
+  King Alphonso IV, 209
+   "   Jaime, el Conquistador, 4, 10, 52, 83, 109, 139, 144, 181, 194, 232
+   "   Jaime II, 149
+   "   Sancho, 69, 84
+
+  Kitchen, farm, 103, 258
+
+
+  Language, 48, 121, 196, 200
+
+  Laundress, our, 49, 332
+
+  Lavender, sweet, 141
+
+  Locusts, 284
+
+  Lonja, the, 56
+
+  Lull, Ramon, 83
+
+
+  Mahon, 184
+
+  Mallorquin antiquities, 81, 150, 177, 240
+      "      prices, 7, 43, 44, 112, 155, 168, 170
+
+  Manacor, 216
+
+  Marketing, 7, 63, 80, 132, 159, 164, 189, 225, 283
+
+  Martel, French expert, 219
+
+  Mas, Juan, 167
+
+  Masked penitents, 263
+
+  Military service, 280
+
+  Minorca, 181
+    Athenaeum at Mahon, 189
+    Barbarossa, 198
+    Boot-brushing, 190
+    British Consul, 200
+       "    influence, 186
+    Byng, Admiral, 195
+    Cala Fonts, 198
+    Ciudadela, 181
+    Commercial travellers, 182, 200
+    English words, 196
+    Fonda Central Mahon, 185
+    Market at Mahon, 189
+    San Luis, 195
+    Talyots, 190
+    Taula, 192
+    Villa Carlos, 198
+    Whitewash, 185
+    Wreck of the _General Chanzy_, 182
+
+  Miramar, 75
+
+  Monastery, Carthusian, 71
+
+  Montjuich, 3
+
+  Moorish oppression, 144
+     "    refugees, 232
+     "    tower, 173
+
+  Mosquitoes, 118, 285
+
+  Music, 31, 102, 140, 145
+
+
+  Navidad, 128
+
+  Nightingales, 245
+
+  Noria, 174, 308, 312, 324
+
+
+  Offerings, votive, 162, 297
+
+  Olive-oil factory, 103
+
+  Operations in church, exciting, 220
+
+  Orchis, fly, 220, 286
+
+  Our Lady of the Peak, 164
+   "    "    "    Refuge, 209
+
+
+  Palma de Mallorca, 4
+    Almudaina, 27, 149
+    Body of Jaime II, 150
+    Cathedral, 134, 143
+        "     treasures of, 147
+    Consumeros, 46
+    Customs office, 5
+    First impression, 4
+    Grand Hotel, 4, 204, 214, 274
+    Hotel Barnils, 5, 6
+    Lonja, the, 56
+    Markets, 7, 132
+    Port, 27
+    Post-office, 129
+    San Francisco, church of, 85
+    Social life, 266
+    Tavern at the port, 32
+
+  Palmettos, 160, 238
+
+  Palm Sunday, 245
+
+  Peak, Our Lady of the, 164
+
+  Penitents, masked, 263
+
+  Phoenician catacombs, Iviza, 298
+        "      village, 239
+
+  Pigs, 134, 181, 183
+
+  Plants, the rarer Balearic, 287
+
+  Plum pudding, 130
+
+  Pollensa, 155
+    Port of, 157
+    Town hall of, 165
+
+  Port of Palma, 27
+
+  Porto Pi, 4, 15, 273, 276, 285
+
+  Post-office, Palma, 129
+
+  Prices, Majorcan, 7, 43, 44, 112, 155, 168, 170
+
+  Puebla, La, 154, 329
+
+  Puerto Cristo, 217
+
+  Puig Mayor, 100, 105, 244, 245, 249, 256, 257
+
+
+  Queen of the Columns, 236
+    "   of Spain, birthday of, 14
+
+
+  Rain, 10, 92, 203, 271
+
+  Ramon Lull, 83
+
+  Refuge, Our Lady of the, 209
+
+  Refugees, Moorish, 232
+
+  Relics, sacred, 147
+
+  Rent, house, 19, 250
+
+  Road-mending, 252
+
+  Roman amphitheatre, 176
+    "   gateway, 169
+    "   graves, 177
+    "   statues, Iviza, 292
+
+
+  Salinas, 323
+
+  Saloon accommodation, first, 2, 194, 197
+     "        "         second, 180, 194, 197, 202
+
+  Salt, shipping, 323
+
+  Samphire, 207
+
+  San Antonio, Iviza, 314
+
+  San Francisco, church of, 85
+
+  San Lorenzo, 226
+
+  San Luis, Minorca, 195
+
+  San Rafael, Iviza, 314
+
+  San Roch, Feast of, 213
+
+  Sand, George, 12, 70
+
+  Santa Catalina, 15, 18
+
+  Santa Maria, 62
+
+  Santo Domingo, Iviza, 295
+
+  Scots visitors, 278
+
+  Secoma, 125
+
+  Sereno, the, 12
+
+  Servants, 276
+
+  Shells, 172, 282, 331
+
+  Smugglers' cave, 87
+
+  Snow, 271
+
+  Social life, 266
+
+  Soller, 94, 243
+    Port of, 96, 257
+    Fiesta at, 283
+
+  Son Espanolet, 15, 18, 46, 166, 273
+
+  Son Mas, Andraitx, 115
+
+  Son Moragues, 82
+
+  Son Puigdorfila, 138
+
+  Son Rapina, 138, 273
+
+  Son Servera, 230
+
+  Sponges, 282
+
+  Squire and Lady, 204, 272, 278
+
+  Steamer _Ancona_ of Leith, 30
+    _Balear_, 1, 3
+    _Cataluna_, 321
+    _Isla de Menorca_, 197
+    _Lulio_, 290
+    _Miramar_, 34, 333
+    _Monte Toro_, 180
+    _Vicente Sanz_, 194
+    _Villa de Soller_, 97
+
+  Sunshine, 270
+
+
+  Talyots, 190
+
+  Taula, 192
+
+  Taylor, Bayard, 69
+
+  Tea, 6, 81, 241
+
+  Temple, the white, 76
+
+  Terreno, the, 15, 51, 273, 276
+
+  Tobacco, 32, 119, 317
+
+  Torrentes, 94, 117, 140, 249
+
+  Tourists, 28, 281
+
+  Tower, Moorish, 173
+
+  Town Hall, Pollensa, 165
+
+  Train, travelling by, 61, 153
+
+  Travellers, commercial, 182
+
+  Travelling by diligence, 105, 108, 126, 154
+
+
+  Valldemosa, 69, 80, 260
+
+  Vegetable man, our, 25, 50
+
+  Vermay, Cape, 238
+
+  Vigilante, our, 39, 277
+
+  Villa Carlos, Minorca, 198
+
+  Votive offerings, 162, 297
+
+
+  Wells, chain (norias), 174, 308, 312, 324
+
+  Whitewash, 185
+
+  Wild asparagus, 288
+
+  Wild flowers, 99, 121, 141, 192, 220, 240, 258, 285, 286, 298
+
+  Wind at Minorca, 191
+
+  Windmills, 122
+
+  Wine shop, 65, 112
+
+  Winter climate, ideal, 270
+
+
+  Yachting, 275
+
+  Yacht of the Czar, 28
+
+
+
+
+The Gresham Press
+UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED,
+WOKING AND LONDON.
+
+
+
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's note:
+
+Times are shown using a period notation e.g. 7.40, these have been
+left unchanged.
+
+Changed quatro to cuatro in the second repetition of "Onza reals,
+_cuatro_ centims, dos centims". (Ch. IV Housekeeping.)
+
+Changed jewelry to jewellery in "conjunction with handsome
+_jewelry_" for consistency with the rest of the book. (Ch. VI THE
+FAIR AT INCA.)
+
+_En el nombre del Padre, y del Higo, y del Espiritu Santo_ was left
+unchanged, but this is normally written _En el nombre del Padre, y del
+ =Hijo=, y del Espiritu Santo_. (Ch. VI THE FAIR AT INCA.)
+
+Changed biscochos to bizcochos in "crisply toasted _bizcochos_".
+(Ch. VIII MIRAMAR.)
+
+Changed 'were' to 'was' in "Even in its natural state it _was_
+difficult". (Ch. IX SOLLER.)
+
+"made his money in Buenos Ayres" was left unchanged, although more
+commonly known as Buenos Aires. (Ch. XV THE PORT OF ALCUDIA.)
+
+"Muchos gracias, senor." was left unchanged, but this is correctly
+said - "Muchas gracias, senor." (Ch. XXVI AN IVIZAN SABBATH.)
+
+There is quite a lot of inconsistency in the book with words that are
+hyphenated or spaced and/or joined. These have been left unchanged.
+
+Likewise, accents and indication of foreign words (using italics) are
+inconsistent. These have been corrected for placenames without
+comment; all others have been left unchanged.
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FORTUNATE ISLES***
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