Page:The Writings of Prosper Merimee-Volume 5.djvu/193

 THE SPANISH WITCHES

ANTIQUITIES, and especially Roman antiquities, have never appealed to me. I do not know how I ever consented to go to Murviedro to see what is left of Sagonta. I suffered great fatigue, had to eat abominable meals and after all I saw nothing. When travelling, one is forever worried by the thought that one may not be able to answer " yes," to the inevitable : " You have seen, no doubt 1. r. . ? " which awaits every traveller on his return. Why should I have to see what others have seen before me? I, for my part, travel without aim — I am not an antiquarian and I have outgrown sentimental notions. I am not very sure that I remember the old cypress of the Zegris * in the Generaliffe t with as much pleasure as I do the pomegranates and the de- licious seedless grapes I ate under the shadow of that venerable tree.

The excursion to Murviedro, however, proved

Moorish tribe.

A garden near the Alhambra.