But they were
not realised. When the landlady was asked for the promised coffee, she
brought out a small earthenware pitcher containing a black liquid, and
proceeded to bury its lower extremity in the hot embers of the wood
fire, by which means the liquid was speedily warmed up, and also
thickened with unnecessary ashes. When served--in the same dusty
pitcher--it had a green and mouldy taste, combined with a sour
bitterness which made it utterly impossible as an article of food, and
so the breakfast was confined to the rejected fragments of the loaf of
the preceding night.
The guide, or comrade as he preferred to call himself, appeared in good
time, and we started about half-past six, under a sun already
oppressively hot, and through heavy flaky dust, which made us feel very
thankful when our route branched off from the high road. Liotir was
strong in mulberry trees and vines, for he was a keeper of silkworms,
and a wine-merchant. Silkworms had not been profitable for a year or
two, and he was almost in low spirits when he talked of them.[94] An
epidemic had visited the district, and the worms ate voraciously and
refused to spin--a disease which he believed to be beyond the power of
medicine.
Pages:
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348