Any northern person who passed a day or two at the Concordia as an
ordinary traveller would carry away a strong impression. The people
of the house would seem to him little short of savages, filthy in
person and in habits, utterly uncouth in their demeanour, perpetual
wranglers and railers, lacking every qualification for the duties
they pretended to discharge. In England their mere appearance would
revolt decent folk. With my better opportunity of judging them, I
overcame the first natural antipathy; I saw their good side, and
learnt to forgive the faults natural to a state of frank barbarism.
It took two or three days before their rough and ready behaviour
softened to a really human friendliness, but this came about at
last, and when it was known that I should not give much more
trouble, that I needed only a little care in the matter of diet,
goodwill did its best to aid hopeless incapacity.
Whilst my fever was high, little groups of people often came into
the room, to stand and stare at me, exchanging, in a low voice,
remarks which they supposed I did not hear, or, hearing, could not
understand; as a matter of fact, their dialect was now intelligible
enough to me, and I knew that they discussed my chances of
surviving. Their natures were not sanguine. A result, doubtless, of
the unhealthy climate, every one at Cotrone seemed in a more or less
gloomy state of mind.
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