fore I had completed the tour of the church,
court-yard, and the long-drawn, shady corridors of the silent monks; and
when I took my seat on the stones at the foot of the towers, with the
very scene described by George Sand before my eyes, a number of older
persons added themselves to the group. A woman brought me a chair, and
the children then planted themselves in a dense row before me, while I
attempted to sketch under such difficulties as I had never known before.
Precisely because I am no artist, it makes me nervous to be watched
while drawing; and the remarks of the young men on this occasion were
not calculated to give me courage.

When I had roughly mapped out the sky with its few floating clouds, some
one exclaimed, "He has finished the mountains, there they are!" and they
all crowded around me, saying, "Yes, there are the mountains!" While I
was really engaged upon the mountains, there was a violent discussion as
to what they might be; and I don't know how long it would have lasted,
had I not turned to some cypresses nearer the foreground. Then a young
man cried out: "O, that's a cypress! I wonder if he will make them
all,--how many are there? One, two, three, four, five,--yes, he makes
five!" There was an immediate rush, shutting out earth and heaven from
my sight, and they all cried in chorus, "One, two, three, four,
five,--yes, he has made five!" "Cavaliers and ladies," I said, with
solemn politeness, "have the goodness not to stand before me." "To be
sure! Santa Maria! How do you think he can see?" yelled an old woman,
and the children were hustled away. But I thereby won the ill-will of
those garlic-breathing and scratching imps, for very soon a shower of
water-drops fell upon my paper. Next a stick, thrown from an upper
window, dropped on my head, and more than once my elbow was
intentionally jogged from behind. The older people scolded and
threatened, but young Majorca was evidently against me. I therefore made
haste to finish my impotent mimicry of air and light, and get away from
the curious crowd.

Behind the village there is a gleam of the sea, near, yet at an unknown
depth. As I threaded the walled lanes, seeking some point of view, a
number of lusty young fellows, mounted on unsaddled mules, passed me
with a courteous greeting. On one side rose a grand pile of rock,
covered with ilex-trees,--a bit of scenery so admirable, that I fell
into a new temptation. I climbed a little knoll and looked arou