his guard against the most distant resemblance to those unfortunate starvelings. [8] See note B. The custom of sleeping after dinner, called _Siesta_, is universal in summer, especially in Andalusia, where the intenseness of the heat produces languor and drowsiness. In winter, taking a walk, just after rising from table, is very prevalent. Many gentlemen, previously to their afternoon walk, resort to the coffee-houses, which now begin to be in fashion. Almost every considerable town of Spain is provided with a public walk, where the better classes assemble in the afternoon. These places are called _Alamedas_, from _Alamo_, a common name for the elm and poplar, the trees which shade such places. Large stone benches run in the direction of the alleys, where people sit either to rest themselves or to carry on a long talk, in whispers, with the next lady; an amusement which, in the idiom of the country, is expressed by the strange phrase, _pelar la Pava_--“to pluck the hen-turkey.” We have in our _Alameda_ several fountains of the most delicious water. No less than twenty or thirty men with glasses, each holding nearly a quart, move in every direction, so dextrously clashing two of them in their hands, that without any danger of breaking them, they keep up a pretty lively tinkling like that of well-tuned small bells. So great is the quantity of water which these people sell to the frequenters of the walk, that most of them live throughout the year on what they thus earn in summer. Success in this trade depends on their promptitude to answer every call, their neatness in washing the glasses, and most of all, on their skilful use of the good-natured waggery peculiar to the lower classes of Andalusia. A knowing air, an arch smile, and some honied words of praise and endearments, as “My rose,” “My soul,” and many others, which even a modest and high-bred lady will hear without displeasure; are infallible means of success among tradesmen who deal with the public at large, and especially with the more tender part of that public. The company in these walks presents a motley crowd of officers in their regimentals,--of clergymen in their cassocks, black cloaks, and broad-brimmed hats, not unlike those of the coalmen in London,--and of gentlemen wrapped up in their _capas_, or in some uniform, without which a well-born Spaniard is almost ashamed to shew himself. The ladies’ walking-dress is susceptible of little variety. Nothing short of the house being on fire would oblige a Spanish woman to step out of doors without a black petticoat, called _Basquiña_, or _Saya_, and a broad black veil, hanging from the head over the shoulders, and crossed on the breast like a shawl, which they call _Mantilla_. The _mantilla_ is, generally, of silk trimmed round with broad lace. In summer-evenings some white _mantillas_ are seen; but no lady would wear them in the morning, and much less venture into a church in such a _profane_ dress.