6O SOME BIRDS OF THE CANARY ISLANDS 



so it adopted this subterfuge to try and get rid of me, 

 which after all amounted to much the same thing. 

 This leads me round again to the leave-taking question, 

 for the owner of this donkey, having accompanied me 

 as usual for a short distance on my way, and being about 

 to say good-bye, I asked him if I might be allowed to 

 make some small return for his kindness. We were 

 sitting down, smoking, at the time, and he waved the 

 suggestion aside vehemently, "No, Senor, nada" he 

 said most emphatically, moving his hand quickly to and 

 fro in front of his face. Here was evidently a dead- 

 lock ; I did not know what to say next, but after we 

 had been sitting for some little time without speaking, 

 he said in a very low voice, apparently addressing 

 himself, Para el burro ? then shrugged his shoulders 

 and put his head on one side as though to see how 

 the suggestion looked, now he had got it out. I did 

 not catch his meaning at once, and it was not until he 

 had repeated the words, this time a little louder, and 

 again surveyed them, as it were, after they were spoken, 

 that I saw what he was driving at. It appeared that 

 the donkey was to be the scapegoat, so I asked him 

 if he would accept something for the use of the donkey. 

 He was still very diffident, and had evidently not 

 accustomed himself to the idea yet, so he gave a depre- 

 catory shrug, as much as to say if I would insist on it, 

 that was the only way he could see out of it. I must 

 confess, after my experiences of the said donkey, I 

 would rather have had some other object made the 

 medium of payment, but that was evidently the only 

 solution of the question. 



We saw but few birds on this our last journey in 



