Down North and Up Along 
culty in believing the statement, but in time 
will learn that it does not mean quite what it 
says. 
All along the way are rounded hillsides cov- 
ered with tawny grass and run over by large 
white sheep with beautiful fleeces. The sheep 
were never in large flocks, but in groups of 
half-a-dozen or so. Sometimes they would 
come tumbling down a bank by the roadside 
and run along in front of us to disappear into 
the first gap that took their fancy. But gen- 
erally we saw them on the hillsides moving 
about, or bounding in graceful undulations 
through the tawny grass. These hillsides were 
often yellow with the airy August flower, which 
may not have been nutritious, but was lovely 
in company with the large soft-fleeced sheep. 
It being harvest time, we constantly came 
upon distracting pictures of red-cheeked, short- 
gowned girls among the yellow barley, stoop- 
ing, with one hand grasping the ripe grain, 
the other the sickle, and eyeing us curiously 
as they stopped midway in their work, or else 
standing erect, arms on hips and sickle still in 
hand, to gaze after the strangers. Sometimes 
we stopped and spoke to them, but seldom 
228 
