convite'. 



205 



end of the table stood a dish of cheese, ingenious- 

 ly carved into the shape of radishes and turnips. 

 At each corner was a dish of olives, covered with 

 slices of raw onions, floating about in vinegar. I 

 need not add, there was aguardiente and wine in 

 profusion. Such ample justice was done to this 

 whet, that the dinner, I thought, stood a poor 

 chance of being touched ; but in this I was much 

 mistaken. 



Forty people sat down to one table. At the 

 top were placed the two principal ladies ; on their 

 right sat the military Commander-in-chief, while 

 I was requested to sit on the other side, next to 

 the lady of the house. Then came the Alcade, 

 the civil chief authority, and so on. The master 

 of the house served at table, in the capacity of 

 waiter, assisted most good-naturedly, by four or 

 five gentlemen, for whom there were no places, 

 and who preferred making themselves useful in 

 this way, to dining in another apartment along 

 with ten or a dozen others, equally shut out by 

 want of room. 



At first a suspicious kind of calm prevailed, 

 but the soup had scarcely been removed before 



