on the
plain, whatever may be its level. Where these are not sufficient, the
rains are added to the reservoir, or a string of buckets, turned by a
mule, lifts the water from a well. But it is in the economy of
distributing water to the fields that the most marvellous skill is
exhibited. The grade of the surface must not only be preserved, but the
subtle, tricksy spirit of water so delicately understood and humored
that the streams shall traverse the greatest amount of soil with the
least waste or wear. In this respect, the most skilful application of
science could not surpass the achievements of the Majorcan farmers.

Working my way homeward through the tangled streets, I was struck with
the universal sound of wailing which filled the city. All the tailors,
shoemakers, and basket-makers, at work in the open air, were singing,
rarely in measured strains, but with wild, irregular, lamentable cries,
exactly in the manner of the Arabs. Sometimes the song was antiphonal,
flung back and forth from the farthest visible corners of a street; and
then it became a contest of lungs, kept up for an hour at a time. While
breakfasting, I had heard, as I supposed, a _miserere_ chanted by some
procession of monks, and wondered when the doleful strains would cease.
I now saw that they came from the mouths of some cheerful coopers, who
were heading barrels a little farther down the street. The Majorcans
still have their troubadours, who are hired by languishing lovers to
improvise strains of longing or reproach under the windows of the fair,
and perhaps the latter may listen with delight; but I know of no place
where the Enraged Musician would so soon become insane. The isle is full
of noises, and a Caliban might say that they hurt not; for me they
murdered sleep, both at midnight and at dawn.

I had decided to devote my second day to an excursion to the mountain
paradise of Valdemosa, and sallied forth early, to seek the means of
conveyance. Up to this time I had been worried--tortured, I may say,
without exaggeration--by desperate efforts to recover the Spanish
tongue, which I had not spoken for fourteen years. I still had the sense
of possessing it, but in some old drawer of memory, the lock of which
had rusted and would not obey the key. Like Mrs. Dombey, I felt as if
there were Spanish words somewhere in the room, but I could not
positively say that I had them,--a sensation which, as everybody knows,
is far worse than absolute ignor