26 THE GREAT THIRST LAND. 



extraordinary windows ? No all is quaint, and speaks 

 of former dates ; everything is mouldy, and tells of the 

 past. I like old buildings when they are ruins, or, at 

 least, uninhabited; but to live in them, to have no 

 light, no ventilation, no comfort never ! Besides, 

 insects, scorpions, centipedes, and tarantulas, all swarm 

 in such places ; and no wonder, for they are fit only for 

 such inmates. But with this condemnation I only 

 desire it to be understood that I should not wish to reside 

 in them ; still, the buildings interest one much, and 

 take one back to a time when bold deeds won heavy 

 rewards ; when fair dames and courtly cavaliers rode 

 together, hawk on hand ; when lordly demesnes had 

 lordly masters ; continents still were to be discovered, 

 unexplored seas yet to be navigated. 



The Almada of Madeira looks as old as the trees 

 that gird it ; the houses that surround it are doubtless 

 as antique. The past is whispered ominously, the future 

 not foretold. Is it ever to remain thus ? What a world 

 of good a small infusion of American blood would do to 

 such a place ! Have our Transatlantic cousins found it 

 out yet ? I guess so ; it is not many places that they are 

 not cognisant of ; but what a difference it would make 

 if one could see some of the pretty faces, equally 

 prettily dressed, and the most perfectly gloved and 

 booted ladies in the world wandering through those 

 dreamy labyrinths of streets, that look now as if they had 

 the plague-spot deeply indented on them. Again, the 

 hawkish, hungry-looking men that follow you as the 

 pilot-fish does the shark, to chisel and swindle you 

 out of all they can to steal, if not in act, at least in 

 thought. It is time, I think, these choice spots of 

 earth should be rescued from the curse of such a popu- 



