baggage, without orders, and sternly bade him cord up the trunks
again and place them on the mule, which he performed without
uttering a word. The gentleman then asked what the trunks
contained: I answered clothes and linen; when he begged pardon for
the insolence of the subordinate, and informed him that I was at
liberty to proceed where I thought proper. I thanked him for his
exceeding politeness, and, under guidance of the boy, made the best
of my way to the Inn of the Three Nations, to which I had been
recommended at Elvas.



CHAPTER IX



Badajoz--Antonio the Gypsy--Antonio's Proposal--The Proposal
Accepted--Gypsy Breakfast--Departure from Badajoz--The Gypsy
Donkey--Merida--The Ruined Wall--The Crone--The Land of the Moor--
The Black Men--Life in the Desert--The Supper.

I was now at Badajoz in Spain, a country which for the next four
years was destined to be the scene of my labour: but I will not
anticipate. The neighbourhood of Badajoz did not prepossess me
much in favour of the country which I had just entered; it consists
chiefly of brown moors, which bear little but a species of
brushwood, called in Spanish carrasco; blue mountains are however
seen towering up in the far distance, which relieve the scene from
the monotony which would otherwise pervade it.