THE VOYAGE OF THE HASSLER = 157 
Arrived in Chilian we were in a decent hotel 
enough, indeed much more comfortable in many re- 
spects than you would find travelling in out-of-the- 
way places at home. The picturesque repays me for a 
great deal of discomfort, and here the general aspect 
is effective. For instance, the hotels and indeed all 
the houses are built around patios — open square 
courts with a gallery all around on which the cham- 
bers open. The street side of the patio has a large hall 
through which you pass into the patio and on either 
side of which are usually the drawing-rooms or salons 
fronting on the street. Our hotel in Chilian was such a 
house, and there we dined very cosily, we three around 
a little table, our funny, frisky, fat landlord, Gascon 
French by birth, as he told us, dashing in and out au 
désespoir because we were dining ill, or réjouz because 
we expressed ourselves satisfied. He seemed exactly 
like excitable surly landlords on the stage. Steindach- 
ner is a great comfort to me as a travelling com- 
panion. He’s just like a woman in some respects, en- 
joys going prowling about in strange places, into the 
churches or into the private gardens. We see a house 
door standing open (they all do stand open here), giv- 
ing a fascinating view into a patio within planted 
with flowers and trees, sometimes with grape trel- 
lises. We walk in; the Senhora appears. Steindach- 
ner: “Pardon, Senhorita, but we are strangers walk- 
ing, and your garden looks so charming, so inviting, we 
ventured in,” etc., etc. 
Of course the Senhora asks us to come in, often 
gives us flowers and is full of an amiable curiosity 
