36 SOME BIRDS OF THE CANARY ISLANDS 



as it possesses a mill to pump up water, the only one we 

 had seen in the island so far. Some of the inhabitants 

 were engaged in carrying water from the small reservoir, 

 the contents of which had a much more refreshing look 

 than that of most tanks in Fuerteventura, where it 

 appears green and uninviting in the extreme. This 

 reservoir was surrounded by tall palm trees. The 

 pumping in many of the smaller villages is done by 

 camels, which are blindfolded, and walk round and round 

 on a small parapet raised about six feet from the level of 

 the ground. 



We had now completed about half our journey, and 

 it was necessary to give the camel a rest, for which 

 purpose it was unloaded, and allowed to kneel down on 

 the narrow street. We, too, required some refreshment, 

 though it was difficult to know what to get ; wine there 

 is none to be had, if I except a thin, white, and exceed- 

 ingly vinegary fluid that even Lorenzo's paved palate 

 rejected as soon as touched. Malo vino, he would say, 

 making a wry face and shaking his head. 



One noticeable fact, or rather omission, in connection 

 with these villages, is the scarcity of shops of any kind. 

 In England we are so accustomed to have goods brought 

 to notice as it were under our very eyes, that a shop- 

 keeper who apparently takes a vast amount of trouble 

 and pains to hide his wares in the remote recesses of his 

 shop, and then to shut the door and wooden windows of 

 that shop, would seem, to our enlightened minds, to 

 court failure of trade. On the other hand, perhaps, in 

 villages of this kind where few strangers ever come, the 

 shops are so well known that it is unnecessary for the 

 tenderos, as the shop-keepers are called, to advertise the 



