All those cultivated fields look uninhabited; the peasants work in them,
but they do not live there. One is led to believe that they benefit by
them but do not care about them in the least.
We saw a farm and walked in; a ragged woman served us some ice-cold milk
in earthen cups. The silence all around was peculiar. The woman watched
us eagerly, and we soon took our departure.
We walked into a valley, the narrow gorge of which appeared to extend to
the ocean. Tall grass with yellow flowers reached up to our waists, and
we had to take long strides in order to advance. We could hear the
murmur of flowing water near by, and we sank ankle-deep into the marshy
soil. Presently the two hills parted; their barren sides were covered
with short, stubby grass and here and there were big yellow patches of
moss. At the foot of one hill a stream wends its way through the
drooping boughs of the stunted shrubs that grow on its edges, and loses
itself in a quiet pond where long-legged insects disport themselves on
the leaves of the water-lilies. The sun beat down on us. The gnats
rubbed their wings together and bent the slender ends of the reeds with
the weight of their tiny bodies.
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