The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-05-23

his turn, with utmost fairness. Begin-
 ming at the end of the line, nearest the
 east, the first gentleman crosses the
 room sits down beside the girl with his back to the rest of the company, and l for ten minutes talks to her very rap- 1 idly, in tones audible to her alone. Of
 course he does his best to make as fla
 vorable an impression as possible in the short time allowed him. If he over-
 stays his limit or endeavors to occupy
 an undue share of the young woman's
 attention, the others remind him of 1t by boisterous coughing and scraping
 their feet upon the floor. Should he rashly persist in the error of his ways, he is more than likely to be presently seized by the coat collar and trousers
 seat and pitched out of doors. Inci- dents are common of suitors who would not heed the warning being murdered
 by enraged competitors.
 The amusements of the rustic popula- ton are crude enough. The favorite
 fun is known as ''El Joch del Gall'' and Is similar to "El Galllno' of Mexico. A
 dead rooster is suspended from the
 branch of tree by cord tied around
 his legs Competitors in the game are
 bindfolded led some distance from the
 tree turned around several times and
 then ordered to advance upon the cock
 he who succeeds in cutting 1t down
 with a sword being entitled to some
 sort of a prize. Of course, after the turning the blindfolded youth Is utter lily bewildered as to directions; and his ,antos--slashing the air, yards away
 from the cock--are as ludcrous as the
 attempts to pin on the tail,' which we used to see when donkey parties were fashionable.
 Scattered all over these islands are most interesting Roman remains
 Nearly all the roads and bridges now in use were built by the Romans two 1 thousand years ago; and after twenty i centuries are as solid as ever. The Ro-
 mans held every stra tegic point by means of fort, and their castles were placed, with infallible Judgment, in sit
 nations where they commanded the en- trance to passes, the vital points of
 every road. The ponderous bridges
 constructed with enormous stones and \ cement, seem as invincible to time as
 the everlasting hills One of these an-
 cient roads, probably constructed
 about the time that Christ was born, I leads through the main gateway in
 Iviza's mediaeva'l walls, off into the
 country: and all day long 1t Is crowded
 with water pedders and their donkeys, ! eho, as in most of old Spain, supply the I Balearic villages with water. Happily,
 there are few wheeled vehicles in these l Acadian islands. and no heavy tires to cut up the roads The unhod hoofs of | the little donkeys and the bare feet of men and women make no impression upon Roman pavements of basalt, DOT phery and granite,
 l There are other ruins, much older than the Roman structures-so old, in fact, that nobody knows their origin. Most of them are in the form of round towers, similar to those of Iseland- Taljots, Bi-lethons and Megallithic en- closures-a subject too lengthy to touch upon at this time. Coming down to later times, but In an age preceding our own. are many fortified churches, which tell of a day when even sanctu- aries were not safe from despoilng mo- blemen and greedy brigands. Each an- cient church Is surrounded by thick, high walls, pierced at intervals with slits through which the archers and later the musketeers could aim; and occasionally larger port-hole is seen,
 indicating that sometimes cannon was necessary to protect the monks and their property.
 The most important natural feature of Majorca, the largest island, are the famous Dragon caves, which are prob ably the most extensive in the world. They have never been fully explored, the passages being intricate and almost innumerable, but some of them have been followed for twenty miles or more without coming to the end. The Bal carries are undoubtedly of volcanic orl- gin, though the subterranean fires burned out ages ago and limestone stra ta, penetrated everywere by caverns, overlies the volcanic rock In the Dra- gon caves are dark, swift underground rivers. lakes of unknown depth and ex- tent, and fifty roofs which for miles are masses of glittering stalactites. In ex- ploring one of them. we passed tower ing stalagmite, called El Fraile, "the Friar," because of it's resemblance to a cowled monk; crossed a strange section known as Fl Carbonera, "the coal mines" where the walls blacken the hands like coal walked beneath Las Aranas, "the ndeliers"-immense clusters of stalactites hanging from the loof like clustered candelabTa, and emerged upon promontory jutting out. in precarlous unfenced fashion, upon a large subterranean lake. At this point the guide left us taking his torch with him and leaving us in total darkness only for a moment, but quite long ! enough for human nerves. Having | clambered over some rocks into the next cavern. he held his light amid the op- | posite stalactite in such way as to il- lumine the chandeliers with wonder ous effect Below us stretched the still, transparent sheet, of water, refecting | upon its mysterious bosom the fantastic columns and filagree work surrounding | us. The most impressive of the caverns !