Every Thursday the old men take their seats on a bench outside one of the doors of the cathedral, and to them come all those who have disputes about irrigation, marshalled by two beadles in strange, Old-World uniforms.  When both sides have been heard, the old men put their heads together under a cloak or manta, and agree upon their judgment.  The covering is then withdrawn, and the decision is announced.  On one occasion they decreed that a certain man whom they considered in fault was to pay a fine.  The unwary litigant, thinking that his case had not been properly heard, began to try to address the judges in mitigation of the sentence.

“But, Senores—­” he began.

[Illustration:  THE WATER TRIBUNAL IN VALENCIA.  SHOWING VALENCIAN COSTUMES]

“Pay another peseta for speaking!” solemnly said the spokesman of the elders.

“Pero, Senores—­”

“Una peseta mas!” solemnly returned the judge; and at last, finding that each time he opened his lips cost him one more peseta, he soon gave up and retired.

The Valencian costume for men consists of wide white cotton drawers to the knees, looking almost like petticoats, sandals of hemp, with gaiters left open between the knee and the ankle, a red sash, or faja, a short velvet jacket, and a handkerchief twisted turban-fashion round the head.  The hidalgos wear the long cloak and wide sombrero common to all the country districts of Spain.

In speaking of Spaniards and their characteristics, as I have already said, we have to take into account the presence of all these widely differing races under one crown, and to remember that to-day there is no hard-and-fast line among the cultivated classes:  intermarriage has fused the conflicting elements, very much for the good of the country, and rapid intercommunication by rail and telegraph has brought all parts of the kingdom together, as they have never been before.  Education is now placed within reach of all, and even long-forgotten Estremadura is brought to share in the impulse towards national life and commercial progress.  Comte Paul Vasili, in his charming Lettres inedites to a young diplomatist, first published in the pages of La Nouvelle Revue, gives such an exact picture of the Spanish people, of whom he had so wide an experience and such intimate knowledge, that I am tempted to quote it in full.

“The famous phrase, A la disposition de V., has no meaning in the upper ranks, is a fiction with the bourgeoisie, but is simple truth in the mouth of the people.  The pure-blooded Spaniard is the most hospitable, the most ready giver in the world.  He offers with his whole heart, and is hurt when one does not accept what he offers.  He does not pretend to know anything beyond his own country ... he exaggerates the dignity of humanity in his own person....  Even in asking alms of you he says:  Hermanito, una limosna, por el amor