56 SOME BIRDS OF THE CANARY ISLANDS 



round while Lorenzo was handing me the things I 

 required ; he was very useful in that way and would 

 steal up to me silently with a dark slide concealed about 

 his person, as though the sun could hear as well as 

 see. After the silence that always accompanied the 

 taking of the photograph their tongues would be loosed, 

 and Lorenzo would give them a sort of extempore 

 lecture on photography. This of course was while I 

 was photographing a nest. 



A day or so before we left I offered to take photo- 

 graphs of Don Ramon and his family, and a little while 

 before the time appointed a secret expedition was made 

 into my room, which contained a large wardrobe, to 

 extract therefrom Don Ramon's best Sunday suit, while 

 Lorenzo was preparing, in the next room, to attack him 

 with scissors and razor. This was not what I wanted, as 

 I was desirous of photographing him as he looked in his 

 everyday clothes, and as he used to accompany us on 

 our expeditions, so I intimated as much, and finally 

 induced him to come out and be taken. 



The event must have been noised abroad, for no 

 sooner had I photographed Don Ramon and his family 

 than their places were taken by other families, who had 

 walked quietly in, all decked in their very best, while a 

 thin stream of people could be seen threading their way 

 from the village. 



On the evening of the day previous to our departure 

 we find ourselves returning home across the bare undu- 

 lating ground for the last time, meeting now and then on 

 our way peasants, who give us a buenas tardes, Senores, 

 as they pass. Occasionally a string of camels would 

 go by, laden with cargo from Puerto Cabras, where the 



