The Sketches 



A broad mattress was laid where the table had been ; we 

 rolled ourselves in our cloaks, turning the esclavlna (cape) 

 over our heads, then, standing at the foot of the mattress, 

 we fell back like tragic heroes, so as not to unswaddle our 

 feet in lying down. We were considerably eaten by fleas. 

 Harry next morning counted forty-two separate bites on one 

 knee. 



Accordingly, we got up at sunrise, and while our choco- 

 late was being made ready investigated the little level 

 ground at the top of the rock-city, where there is a large 

 building that contains a church, a town hall, and a school, 

 apparently once a convent. It forms the massive mural 

 crown of the pyramid. We ascended the castle still 

 higher up, and had a fine view of mountain-tops. On our 



return, breakfast was ready, and the A s stirring. We 



breakfasted together, and after breakfast sketched the castle 

 apex, which, from the other side of the phza^ appeared high 

 above the posadcHs roof. Here fifty or sixty inhabitants 

 gathered to observe the performance. Lady Jane made a 

 very nice drawing, and we a couple of very nasty ones. 

 The spectators exclaimed with wonder and delight, when 

 el job en (the young man) put in what they called \\\% golpe% 

 de maestro (master-strokes), and kept telling one another, 

 " There is Juliana's chimney ! That is the roof of Pedro's 

 stable ! " &c. 



We said good-bye to the A s, regretting much that 



our routes lay in opposite directions. Down the other side 

 of Olvera, and up over a long bare hill, — so bare that there 

 was not anywhere a scrub to cut a switch out of, and we 

 were about to make a rush-whip, when we found a heap of 

 vine-cuttings for firewood by a hut on the roadside. After 

 a while we came to a cortijo (farmstead) picturesquely 

 perched on a rock. Here we learnt that we had missed 



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