here a crowd of
bare-legged, vociferous maidens with donkeys assailed us, nor in the
village above, did I see many girls for whom and one little isle a
person would forswear the world. But I can believe that they grow here.
One of our donkey girls was a handsome, dark-skinned, black-eyed
girl; but her little sister, a mite of a being of six years, who could
scarcely step over the small stones in the road, and was forced to lead
the donkey by her sister in order to establish another lien on us for
buona mano, was a dirty little angel in rags, and her great soft black
eyes will look somebody into the asylum or the drunkard's grave in time,
I have no doubt. There was a stout, manly, handsome little fellow of
five years, who established himself as the guide and friend of the
tallest of our party. His hat was nearly gone; he was sadly out of
repair in the rear; his short legs made the act of walking absurd; but
he trudged up the hill with a certain dignity. And there was nothing
mercenary about his attachment: he and his friend got upon very cordial
terms: they exchanged gifts of shells and copper coin, but nothing was
said about pay.

Nearly all the inhabitants, young and old, joined us in lively
procession, up the winding road of three quarters of a mile, to the
town. At the deep gate, entering between thick walls, we stopped to look
at the sea. The crowd and clamor at our landing had been so great that
we enjoyed the sight of the quiet old woman sitting here in the sun, and
the few beggars almost too lazy to stretch out their hands. Within
the gate is a large paved square, with the government offices and the
tobacco-shop on one side, and the church opposite; between them, up a
flight of broad stone steps, is the Hotel Tiberio. Our donkeys walk up
them and into the hotel. The church and hotel are six hundred years old;
the hotel was a villa belonging to Joanna II. of Naples. We climb to the
roof of the quaint old building, and sit there to drink in the strange
oriental scene. The landlord says it is like Jaffa or Jerusalem. The
landlady, an Irish woman from Devonshire, says it is six francs a day.
In what friendly intercourse the neighbors can sit on these flat roofs!
How sightly this is, and yet how sheltered! To the east is the height
where Augustus, and after him Tiberius, built palaces. To the west, up
that vertical wall, by means of five hundred steps cut in the face
of the rock, we go to reach the tableland of Anacap