QuiTONIAJSr Chaeactek. 71 



Rudeness, which some Northerners fancy is a proof of 

 equality and independence, we never met with, and duels 

 and street quarrels are almost unknown. We detected 

 none of the touchy sensitiveness of the punctilious Span- 

 ish hidalgos. Their compliments and promises are with- 

 out end; and, made in the magnificent and ceremoni- 

 ous language of Spain,* are overwhelming to a stranger. 

 Thus a fair Quitonian sends by her servant the following 

 message to another lady : " Go to the Senorita Fulana de 

 Tal, and tell her that she is my heart and the dear little 

 friend of my soul ; tell her that I am dying for not having 

 seen her, and ask her why she does not come to see me ; 

 tell her that I have been waiting for her more than a week, 

 and that I send her my best respects and considerations ; 

 and ask her how she is, and how her husband is, and how 

 her children are, and whether they are all well in the fam- 

 ily ; and tell her she is my little love, and ask her whether 

 she will be kind enough to send me that pattern which she 

 promised me the other day."f This highly important mes- 

 sage the servant delivers like a parrot, not omitting a sin- 

 gle compliment, but rather adding thereto. 



A newly-arrived foreigner is covered with promises: 

 houses, horses, servants, yea, every thing is at his disposal. 

 But, alas ! the traveler soon finds that this ceremony of 

 words does not extend to deeds. He is never expected to 

 call for the services so pompously proffered. So long as 



ble to avoid, gazing at her for a moment ; but my two companions almost 

 instantly, by way of apology, made the common salute of the country by 

 taking off their hats. Where would one of the lower or higher classes in 

 Europe have shown such feeling politeness to a poor and miserable object of 

 a degraded race?" — Darwin^ s Naturalist's Voyage. 



* The Spanish tongue is the manly son of the Latin, as the Italian is the 

 fair daughter ; a language in which, as Charles V. said, ' ' God ought alone 

 to be addressed in prayer." It is spoken in America with an Andalusian 

 rather than Toledan pronunciation. 



t We are indebted to Mr. Hassaurek for this capital illustration. Every 

 lady, married or unmarried, is addressed Senorita, or Miss. 



