56 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



that we made an unnecessary sacrifice of personal com- 

 fort. The proprieties of life are matters of convention- 

 al usage. Our host was a don ; and when we present- 

 ed our letter he received us with great dignity in a sin- 

 gle garment, loose, white, and very laconic, not quite 

 reaching his knees. The dress of his wife was no less 

 easy ; somewhat in the style of the oldfashioned short- 

 gown and petticoat, only the shortgown and whatever 

 else is usually worn under it were wanting, and their 

 place supplied by a string of beads, with a large cross 

 at the end. A dozen men and half-grown boys, naked 

 except the small covering formed by rolling the trousers 

 up and down in the manner I have mentioned, were 

 lounging about the house ; and women and girls in 

 such extremes of undress, that a string of beads seem- 

 ed quite a covering for modesty. 



Mr. C. and I were in a rather awkward predicament 

 for the night. The general reception-room contained 

 three beds, made of strips of cowhide interlaced. The 

 don occupied one ; he had not much undressing to do, 

 but what little he had, he did by pulling off his shirt. 

 Another bed was at the foot of my hammock. I was 

 dozing, when I opened my eyes, and saw a girl about 

 seventeen sitting sideway upon it, smoking a cigar. 

 She had a piece of striped cotton cloth tied around her 

 waist, and falling below her knees ; the rest of her 

 dress was the same which Nature bestows alike upon 

 the belle of fashionable life and the poorest girl; in 

 other words, it was the same as that of the don's wife, 

 with the exception of the string of beads. At .first I 

 thought it was something I had conjured up in a dream ; 

 and as I waked up perhaps I raised my head, for she 

 gave a few quick puffs of her cigar, drew a cotton 

 sheet over her head and shoulders, and lay down to 



