NEW QUARTERS 39 



villages, the further of which, we are informed, is 

 Tuineje. Soon we pass through the village, accom- 

 panied by barking dogs and wondering children, and 

 then halt before a long, low house of the usual type, 

 which is the residence of the farmer to whom I have a 

 letter of introduction. 



I sent Lorenzo down the path leading to the front 

 of the house, soon hearing, as I had anticipated, a 

 sharp encounter with the watch-dog. That animal being 

 quieted by its owners, a pleasant-featured old lady came 

 out and bade me welcome, saying that her husband, 

 whom we will call Don Ramon, would not be at home 

 until late that night, having gone on a journey to a 

 distant village, but that their best room was at my 

 service for as long as I would be their guest. 



I do not know whether they had been previously 

 advised of my visit, but whether they had or had not, 

 nothing could have exceeded the quiet welcome of this 

 farmer's wife. My luggage was unloaded, and for the 

 second time on this island I felt that I had fallen 

 among friends. 



Don Ramon, an old man of about seventy, but 

 very spare and active, came home later and joined his 

 welcome to that of his wife ; and I may here say that 

 a kinder pair than these two old people, from start to 

 finish of my visit, I have yet to meet. No trouble was 

 too much for them to take, Don Ramon, while joining 

 in our ornithological expeditions, or his wife when wel- 

 coming me home in the hot afternoon, with a quiet 

 shake of the head and a smile, as she opened the door 

 of the cool room and remarked on the heat outside. 

 They had several children, but most of them were 



