The Argosy . eir beautiful forms and undulations. The com-fort of our journey was over. Here we changed carriages, and allluggage was examined. It vvas three oclock in the morning, andrain was coming down like waterspouts. This, I assure you, is noexaggeration. I would not for a moment take pattern by H., whowrites us word from India that they have blackbeetles as large askittens, fleas like grasshoppers, and a clap of thunder lasting fifty-nineminutes. We were simply drenched in going from one platform toanother, and what made it worse, I had now said with Byron : Mynative land, good-night !
The Argosy . eir beautiful forms and undulations. The com-fort of our journey was over. Here we changed carriages, and allluggage was examined. It vvas three oclock in the morning, andrain was coming down like waterspouts. This, I assure you, is noexaggeration. I would not for a moment take pattern by H., whowrites us word from India that they have blackbeetles as large askittens, fleas like grasshoppers, and a clap of thunder lasting fifty-nineminutes. We were simply drenched in going from one platform toanother, and what made it worse, I had now said with Byron : Mynative land, good-night ! to find myself in the midst of an unknowntongue. Luggage was duly scrutinised, coffee was administered, and notforgotten; we asked by signs and paid by signs, all as intelligibleas language, but humiliating. Then we went off to secure seats in,we devoutly hoped, an empty compartment. The train, however, seemed crowded, and the guard was rude andunamiable. He showed us to a long carriage overflowing with noisy. Palma. 44 Letters from Majorca. Spaniards, all smoking. We protested; he shrugged his shouldersand departed. We followed; he glared. We abused him inEnglish j he returned the compliment in Spanish. Our language wasrefined and well chosen ; his, we felt convinced by the sound, wasextremely improper. The train was about to start; we would not pointed to an empty carriage, to which he had refused a dozenpassengers admittance, and recklessly declared for that or was a case of the stronger will. We conquered, secured a compart-ment to ourselves, and the remainder of the journey, which wouldhave been most wretched, was passed in comparative comfort. Day broke, the sun rose, and clouds dispersed. The scenerywas already very Spanish in character; the country fertile andpicturesque. Whole districts of olive trees, with their sober green, andcurious old trunks clothed plains and hill sides. The cactus abounded,with its prickly fruit, and woe be unto him who pluc
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Keywords: ., bookauthorwoodhenr, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, bookyear1865
