es matting
and long-fleeced sheep skins covered the dusty floor; a large tartan
shawl did duty as an alcove curtain; a stove of somewhat eccentric
habits, and consisting simply of an iron cylinder with a pipe that
passed through the window, had been manufactured for them at Palma; a
charming clay vase surrounded with a garland of ivy displayed its beauty
on the top of the stove; a beautiful large Gothic carved oak chair with
a small chest convenient as a book-case had, with the consent of the
sacristan, been brought from the monks' chapel; and last, but not least,
there was, as we have already read in the letters, a piano, in the
first weeks only a miserable Majorcan instrument, which, however, in
the second half of January, after much waiting, was replaced by one of
Pleyel's excellent cottage pianos.

[FOOTNOTE: By the way, among the many important and unimportant doubtful
points which Chopin's and George Sand's letters settle, is also that of
the amount of duty paid for the piano. The sum originally asked by the
Palma custom-house officers seems to have been from 500 to 600 francs,
and this demand was after a fortnight's negotiations reduced to 300
francs. That the imaginative novelist did not long remember the exact
particulars of this transaction need not surprise us. In Un Hiver a
Majorque she states tha the original demand was 700 francs, and the sum
ultimately paid about 400 francs.]

These various items collectively and in conjunction with the rooms in
which they were gathered together form a tout-ensemble picturesque and
homely withal. As regards the supply of provisions, the situation of
our Carthusians was decidedly less brilliant. Indeed, the water and the
juicy raisins, Malaga potatoes, fried Valencia pumpkins, &c., which
they had for dessert, were the only things that gave them unmixed
satisfaction. With anything but pleasure they made the discovery that
the chief ingredient of Majorcan cookery, an ingredient appearing in all
imaginable and unimaginable guises and disguises, was pork. Fowl was all
skin and bones, fish dry and tasteless, sugar of so bad a quality that
it made them sick, and butter could not be procured at all. Indeed,
they found it difficult to get anything of any kind. On account of
their non-attendance at church they were disliked by the villagers of
Valdemosa, who sold their produce to such heretics only at twice or
thrice the usual price. Still, thanks to the good offices of the French