74 THE PIvANT WORLD 



With "a thousand thanks " the old lady disappeared, and I continued 

 my writing. In about an hour she returned and offered me some of her 

 " biscocho de rima,'" thin, crisp, toasted slices of bread-fruit, which tasted 

 very much like fried sweet potatoes. She said they were very nice to 

 carry in one's pocket and nibble on, and to take with one on a journey, 

 as they did not require re-cooking. 



She then told me of a misunderstanding which she and her husband 

 had had with a neighbor over the boundarj^ line of some property situated 

 near Lake Matan-hanom, and that another neighbor in town had asked 

 to have a tree cut down which was growing in her yard, claiming that it 

 was too near the stone wall which separated their property. Now she 

 was a poor woman, and she sometimes made money by selling betel-nuts 

 and betel-pepper leaves. The nuts her husband brought from trees near 

 the cienaga; but the leaves were from her own plants, which climbed all 

 over the tree which her neighbor wished to have cut down. Would the 

 sefior have the grace to come and look at the tree and see if it were indeed 

 necessary to sacrifice it ; and some day, perhaps, the senor might have 

 leisure to walk to the farm at Matan-hanom, just over the hill from Sin- 

 ahaiia, and settle the question about the boundary line ; and might she 

 offer the senor a few cuttings of betel-pepper from her fine plants ; she 

 would come and plant them herself. She had noticed the senor working 

 in his garden, and she knew he must love plants. The betel-pepper was 

 a beautiful plant and would look pretty climbing over his stone wall and 

 his lemon tree. She continued talking for some time, saying some very 

 pretty things, which I knew to be arrant flattery but which were very 

 pleasant to hear. Finally, as she seemed to be waiting for me to dismiss 

 her, I rose and said good-night, inviting her to come again. The old 

 lady thanked me, tied her handkerchief over her head, and saying " con 

 permiso, senor,'' * she made a curtsey and backed out of the door. 



As I sit writing up my diary I hear a rumpus among the pigs of my 

 neighbor at the rear of my yard. He keeps several of them beneath his 

 house tethered by the fore-leg to the supporting posts. They do not look 

 well fed, and from time to time a disagreeable odor is wafted over to me 

 across the fence. The house is old and dilapidated and needs a new roof. 

 The owner is an old man now living in Merizo, a village at the southern 

 end of the island. I shall make him an offer for his property, but will 

 not insist on buying it if he hesitates to sell. If I do acquire it I shall 

 remove the house and extend my garden through to the next street — 

 Calle Isabel la CatoUca. In this way I shall have more room for my 

 sementeras . I expect to enclose my whole property with a low stone wall 

 and plant some of the palms and other ornamental plants I have brought 

 with me from Honolulu. 



*" With your permission, sir." 



