TH3 IRRIGATION AGE. 



249 



aware that my host was of 

 pian proclivities. A dark-eyed 

 child with an uncomfortable stam- 

 mer in her speech answered my 

 summons the clapping of hands 

 and the call of "Ave Maria!" and 

 conducted me across a little area, 

 tiled with marble and protected 

 from the sun by means of a spac- 

 ious awning, beneath which canopy 

 rows of myrtle and arbor vitae 

 flourished, the central space dis- 

 playing an ancient basin in which 

 a slender fountain plashed and mur- 

 mured. 



Leading me to a massive doorway 

 opening on the court, the child 

 pulled at a bell-chord hanging out- 

 side and scampered away. The 

 doctor, since so I must now hail 

 him, advanced to meet me, issuing 

 from an interior apartment, evi- 

 dently pleased to renew the rela- 

 tions of the previous day. His ap- 

 pearance was more professional, 

 his alien locks being surmounted by 

 a black skull-cap, and an apron, 

 dotted with the cabalistic record of 

 his medicinal prowess, heightened 

 the impressiveness of an already 

 unique exterior. I saw by the gory 

 symbol of his craft in his hand that 

 he was occupied in cupping some 

 helpless seeker after lethean calm, 

 and seating myself in the patio or 

 court, awaited the close of the tat- 

 tooing. Surely this was Sangrado 

 himself, and perchance the gentle 

 Bias was not far off. 



I saw the victim, decorated yet 

 distressed, vanish by a distant 

 portal, and soon the doctor reap- 

 peared, still wearing his cap but 

 otherwise arrayed for company . 



The breakfast table was laid in 

 an adjacent court, also sheltered by 

 an awning and ornamented with 

 tiers of pelargoniums (an aversion 

 among the natives, by the way), 

 Chilian jasmine, and superb tea- 

 roses trailed against the walls and 

 shedding a delicious perfume, huge 

 shrubs of althea and pomegranate 

 occupying the more open portion of 

 the enclosure. The ubiquitous par- 



rot reiterated his preternatural 

 gurgle near by, and birds of gay 

 plumage and no song, and others 

 gifted with witching melody though 

 clad in sombre livery, were ranged 

 about us. A tame weasel, hand- 

 somely marked with black and gray, 

 bounded playfully or wandered at 

 will amid the shrubbery, purring as 

 he went. 



The young girl who had been my 

 cicerone upon arrival brought our 

 repast, her swarthy features and 

 straight black hair, together with 

 the sullen expression of counte- 

 nance resulting from generations 

 of vile servitude, indicating the class 

 from which there is no ascent in 

 these semi-barbarous regions. 



The meal was served after the 

 prevailing fashion of the country. 

 A savory broth, with hard biscuit 

 or French bread, in the attractive, 

 club- like form, was followed by 

 boiled beef and potatoes, the tid-bit 

 of the course being marrow laid on 

 bread and sugared plentifully; then 

 a roast, consisting of beef ribs cut 

 in convenient pieces, with salad of 

 fresh lettuce, and, for an entree, 

 stuffed onions; and, finally, dessert 

 of quince marmalade and cheese, 

 eaten together, with black coffee 

 bearing the seal and flavor of the 

 genuine beverage. An occasional 

 sip of red wine mixed with water 

 during the repast served to give 

 zest to appetite never to conver- 

 sation here, in the coarser Saxon 

 sense. 



My host astounded me by the in- 

 scrutable capacity in which he 

 revelled. That viands so stimulat- 

 ing should result only in propor- 

 tions so cadaverous led me to won- 

 der whether some mysterious divin- 

 ation of occult truth were not 

 vouchsafed to him. "With luring 

 adroitness I questioned him upon 

 various topics relating to hygiene, 

 hoping to discover the laws by which 

 through the purveyorship of that 

 formidable omnium gatherum which 

 gaped before me, he was enabled to 

 assimilate so sturdy an allowance, 



