palms (which bear electric lamps amongst their ochre
fruit-clusters), and so on, to the most sumptuous building in the
world, the new Cabreran _casino_.

"It differs hugely from the old temple of chance on the edge of the
Continent--that _enfer sur terre_ set amid a _paradis_. There
is no ornate concert-room here, or theatre or opera house. There is not
even a _salon_ for gossip and smoke and exercise. The whole is one
enormous _salle de jeu_, and the clink of gold against yellow gold
is the only instrumental music. The cartwheel five-franc piece is
nowhere permissible now, and at the _rouge et noir_ tables
hundred-franc notes are the smallest stake. There is a change in
everything except in the croupiers and the chefs, and the actual tables
and machinery over which they preside. Even the atmosphere is new. The
old dry heat is no more. In its place is a moist warmth, heavy with the
scent of heliotrope and tuba roses. It seems as if one of the scent
factories at Hyeres had staved its vats somewhere close at hand. Change
everywhere. Mesdemoiselles les cocottes----But I weary m'sieu' with my
twaddle. '_Rien ne va plus._' The farce is over.

"Regard that brown promontory yonder, the easternmost horn of Palma
Bay. With permission take my _lunette_. So; now you cannot fail to
see. A ship of the Romans laden with pottery struck there in time past,
filled, and went down in deep water. The fishermen often bring up in
their nets unbroken pieces from her cargo, crocks and pipkins identical
in shape and texture with those the islanders use to-day. Ah, m'sieu',
but they are ignorant, these Mallorcans, and happy in their ignorance.
Food is so easily gained that none need starve; they have the best
climate imaginable, free from the sirocco which plagues Algeria, and
from the mistral which kills one on the Riviera; they are too indolent
to meddle with politics; they live in a lotus-land of beauty and ease.
We should despise them, monsieur, but I fear many of us will envy their
lot."

The _Antiguo Mahones_ was threading her way through a fleet of
small fishing-boats, as I could tell by the reduced speed, the hooting
of the siren, and the constant and prolonged rattle of the steering
rods. Soon she would bring up to the quay in Palma harbour. Why should
I not get ashore there and work out the hard problem that was engaging
me?

So far I had made no scheme of ultimate route. The meeting at the Mahon
hotel with that cheery _chevalier