y
mainstay of life, a number of persons drive a considerable trade in the
sale of that liquid. Most of us know what a trouble it is to get water
during a severe winter when the pipes are all frozen. Suppose such a
state of things to be usual the whole year round, and you will perhaps
understand the difficulties of families in some tropical lands with
regard to what is to them--in a sense almost more than it is to us--a
necessary of existence. Thus it is that the water-carrier is so
important a personage in these warm climes. His figure is as common in
the streets as our milkman, though he is generally a very much more
picturesque-looking individual.

In the illustration on this page we have grouped together portraits of
the water-carriers of different countries, and it will be seen that, in
respect of their quaint attire and the curious vessels in which the
water is carried, there is no reason for surprise that they have engaged
the brush of many painters.

[Illustration]

No. 1 represents a water-carrier of one of the provincial towns of
France. With his cocked hat and queer staff, and his water-skin strapped
like a knapsack on his back, he reminds one not a little of an old
soldier. His next door neighbour's nationality is a good deal more
obvious. Whose can that jaunty, lazy air be but that of the gay,
ease-loving water-carrier of Madrid? With earthenware pail hanging from
each arm, turban on head, bright-coloured waistband, and cigarette in
mouth, you can tell at a glance that he belongs to a sunny country where
leisure and pleasure go hand in hand. In No. 3 we find the
representation of the Peruvian water-carrier. He does such good business
that he can afford to keep a donkey to carry the water, which is
contained in a big leather sack that lies like a bolster across the
animal's back. I am afraid he is not so mindful of Neddy as he ought to
be, and that some of our own costermongers could teach him a lesson or
two in the humane treatment of his patient beast of burden. Leaving Peru
and South America, and travelling to the northern continent, we are
introduced in No. 4 to a water-carrier of Mexico. Notice how he carries
the water in two odd-shaped vessels suspended from his head by means of
a broad band. In No. 5 will be observed an Egyptian fellah woman
carrying a jar of water on her head. Compared with her, the Norwegian
peasant in No. 6 looks prosaic and businesslike. The last two are not
sellers of water, b