Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. III.djvu/114

Rh inquire good-humouredly where goes la signora, and what she wants? La signora says that she comes from Svecia. The Monteros look at her perplexed, and then at one another. They do not know such a place as Svecia, and cannot understand the wanderer. She tells them that she is from un paeso sotto la estreja del Norte! And now they believe she says that she comes from the north star, and they say “Oh!” and look at one another, and smile significantly, and wrinkle their brows; they now comprehend that la signora is somewhat wrong in the head, and, compassionately shaking their heads, they drive on their horses. I cannot tell you how gentle and good-hearted they seem: and, slowly following them, we pursue the road back to Matanzas. Still the lofty mountain wall casts its shadow over the cocoa-palm grove by the well. We seat ourselves on the broken stone wall, and breakfast on bananas, which we have taken with us; an incomparable breakfast, in that delicious morning air, in that wonderfully beautiful valley! Gentle and happy people ought to live at the farm among the palm-trees, up among the hills. Amid such beautiful, joy-giving objects in that delicious air, human beings should become gentle and good.

The sun climbs over the hills, and it is quite hot before we reach Matanzas; but we have thus spent a beautiful morning in the Valley of Yumori.

I have made some acquaintance in the city of Matanzas, and through one of these have been able to visit a large coffee and sugar plantation in the neighbourhood of the city. There I saw avenues of many rare tropical trees and plants: a kind of palm-tree which twists its gigantically strong branches like corkscrews, and bears gigantic fruit; a kind of citron-tree, which bears immense citron-like fruit, but which are not valued as such. I was most interested by making acquaintance with the sago and date palms, with arrow-root, with the guava-tree and its pleasant fruit, as well as with the wonderfully beautiful