modest people went to bathe. The lazy barber
opposite my lodgings, cigar in mouth, was just
beginning to open his shutters. Suddenly he
stretched out his head, as I did, to see who
it was whose approach was being heralded by a
loud smacking of whips, and a noise of laughter
and swearing that broke all at once upon our
ears.

"It's Hayward, of course!" I exclaimed;
"but what has he got in front of him? It looks
as if he were driving before him a mule with a
dead man on it!"

In another minute, up came Hayward and his
servant, mounted on a couple of horses, driving
before them a mule, on which was the baggage;
and strapped on the top of it lay the muleteer,
a negro, so drunk that even the violent jolting
he had gone through had failed to rouse him.
Juan undid him in a trice, and pitching him
like a log on to some straw that lay in the
yard, said, "There let him lie, and if the ants
don't sober him before the evening, I'll pay for
a first-class surprise ticket—that's all!"

Next, I myself ordered the horses at four P.M.,
and as I was impatient to show off my handsome
visitor, and to see what sort of impression
he would make on the Creole beauties, I went
to him half an hour before that time, and called
out, "Come along, Hayward, and make yourself
as great a swell as possible. I am going
to present you to some of the prettiest girls
in Valencia."

"Oh! there are some pretty girls, then?"
said he, looking up from a book he was reading.
"I was afraid, from the specimens I saw as I
rode up the street, that all the Valencianas were
of the colour of the King of Dahomey's
bodyguard." To this comparison I objected.

The Calle de la Constitucion is one of the
central streets that run from the Gran' Plaza at
Valencia, as straight as a die, on and on, till the
houses begin to be interpolated with gardens
and orchards, and at last cease altogether, and
one finds oneself in the green valley which
bounds Valencia to the east. At the opposite
or south-western angle of the Plaza there is
another long straight street, which runs on till
it merges in the road to Nágua. The houses in
each of these streets near the square are large
and fashionable, and they grow smaller and
smaller as one approaches the outskirts of the
town. It was not, however, the houses that
interested us; for, indeed, nothing can be uglier
or less attractive than the outside of a
Venezuelan house, with its low one-story-high façade
of plain brick. But at this hour every window
was open, and in every window sat the ladies of
the house, some lovely, all more or less good
looking, for the plain and antiquated keep in the
background on these occasions. "I always
wonder," said I to Hayward, "what becomes of
the men at this time of day at Valencia. It may
be true, as I have heard said, that there are five
women in the place to one man; but still, what
becomes of that one? He is nowhere to be
seen. Whether it is that the men are riding, or
walking, or congregating to smoke, I know not;
but, whatever the reason, the fact remains that
the women are left all alone, and can indulge in
any amount of flirtation they like. Now mark
me; the white Creoles live at this end of the
street, near the Plaza; lower down we shall
come to the trigueñas, or 'brunettes;' and
beyond these we shall find mulattas and mestizas,
and we shall finish up with some beauties of a
downright black, who are not so much to be
despised as you would imagine. Now mind, I
am not going, like a Yankee pedlar, to keep my
best wares to the last, in the hope of fixing you
with a Number Two or Three article. I mean
to show you one of the prettiest girls in Valencia
straight off at once. You see the large house
on the right hand, with the two little maidens
seated at the first window? They are the younger
sisters. We will ride up and speak to them,
and Erminia will be sure to show herself at the
next window, with her second sister, Camila,
who is almost as handsome as Erminia herself."

With these words I was turning my horse
towards the window I had pointed out, when a
boy, about ten years old, a brother of the girls,
suddenly jumped on to the window-sill, and sat
down between them without a particle of
clothes on. I was not much surprised, for it is
one of the peculiarities of Valencia that the
boys, even of the best families, think nothing of
stripping themselves and running about in puris
naturalibus, so that I had often seen a naked
urchin leaning out of a window between
elegantly dressed women. But, somehow or
other, I did not like to choose exactly that
moment for introducing my friend, so we rode
by, and as we passed, Erminia came to the
window, bowed, and smiled. She was just eighteen,
a little above the middle height, but looked
taller, from her perfect symmetry; a cloud of
shining black ringlets fell on her ivory shoulders.
Her face was oval, her complexion fair, a little
too colourless perhaps, but, in revenge, her lips
were red and pouting, and disclosed, when she
smiled, teeth of such dazzling whiteness that
they seemed to flash like gems; but the most
attractive feature of her face was her immense
black eyes, fringed with long silky eyelashes.

"I have seen enough," exclaimed Hayward;
"I don't want to go a step beyond that house.
I don't believe there is such another beauty here
or anywhere. If I can but win that girl, I am
content."

"On my word," I said, "that's very well for
a beginning; but I came out to show you the
lionesses, so I must finish my undertaking.
Turn your eyes to that next house on the
right. Don Fernando, the proprietor, has ten
children, and the three eldest girls, grand
queen-like beauties, are already married. The
fourth daughter, Olympia, the handsomest of
all, sits there, as you see. She is magnificent;
not so very much shorter than you are yourself,
and modelled like a statue. But what is the
use of looking?—she is engaged; so come along,
I see Felipa Hernandez in that small house on the
left. She is a dark brunette, but she is very
accomplished, sings charmingly, and is the best