vering is then withdrawn, and the decision is announced. On one
occasion they decreed that a certain man whom they considered in fault
was to pay a fine. The unwary litigant, thinking that his case had not
been properly heard, began to try to address the judges in mitigation of
the sentence.

"But, Senores--" he began.

[Illustration: THE WATER TRIBUNAL IN VALENCIA. SHOWING VALENCIAN
COSTUMES]

"Pay another peseta for speaking!" solemnly said the spokesman of the
elders.

"_Pero, Senores_--"

"_Una peseta mas!_" solemnly returned the judge; and at last, finding
that each time he opened his lips cost him one more peseta, he soon gave
up and retired.

The Valencian costume for men consists of wide white cotton drawers to
the knees, looking almost like petticoats, sandals of hemp, with gaiters
left open between the knee and the ankle, a red sash, or _faja_, a short
velvet jacket, and a handkerchief twisted turban-fashion round the head.
The _hidalgos_ wear the long cloak and wide sombrero common to all the
country districts of Spain.

In speaking of Spaniards and their characteristics, as I have already
said, we have to take into account the presence of all these widely
differing races under one crown, and to remember that to-day there is no
hard-and-fast line among the cultivated classes: intermarriage has fused
the conflicting elements, very much for the good of the country, and
rapid intercommunication by rail and telegraph has brought all parts of
the kingdom together, as they have never been before. Education is now
placed within reach of all, and even long-forgotten Estremadura is
brought to share in the impulse towards national life and commercial
progress. Comte Paul Vasili, in his charming _Lettres inedites_ to a
young diplomatist, first published in the pages of _La Nouvelle Revue_,
gives such an exact picture of the Spanish people, of whom he had so
wide an experience and such intimate knowledge, that I am tempted to
quote it in full.

"The famous phrase, _A la disposition de V._, has no meaning in the
upper ranks, is a fiction with the _bourgeoisie_, but is simple truth in
the mouth of the people. The pure-blooded Spaniard is the most
hospitable, the most ready giver in the world. He offers with his whole
heart, and is hurt when one does not accept what he offers. He does not
pretend to know anything beyond his own country ... he exaggerates the
dignity of humanity in his own person.... Even in askin