QUEBRADAS. 



21 



were always gratified by the interest we took in 

 their affairs, replying readily and cheerfully to 

 our inquiries. Their first anxiety was that we 

 should be seated, in order, to use their phrase, 

 that we might " feel ourselves in our own house.'^ 

 Their next wish was that we should taste some- 

 thing, no matter how little ; some offering us spi- 

 rits, or milk and bread ; others, who could afford 

 nothing else, presenting a cup of water. Yet, 

 however wretched the cottage, or poor the fare, 

 the deficiency was never made more apparent by 

 apologies : with untaught politeness, the best they 

 had was placed before us, graced with a hearty 

 welcome. 



These ranchas, as well as the houses in the 

 town, are built of large flat bricks dried in the 

 sun ; and thatched with broad palm leaves, the 

 ends of which, by overhanging the walls, afford 

 shade from the scorching sun, as well as shelter 

 from the rain. Each cottage is divided into two 

 rooms ; one for the beds, and the other as a din- 

 ing-room ; a portion of the mud floor in this 

 apartment is always raised seven or eight inches 

 above the level of the other parts, and being co- 



