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  • tion, dances more or less graceful. Conspicuous among

these dusky and insistent beggars is the self-styled King of the Gypsies who, with a stagy dignity, accosts the traveler, informs him of his rank and state, sells him his portrait for two pesetas, and offers to pose before a kodak for a dollar. Courageous is the stranger who refuses to pay tribute to this picturesque old monarch. But the sight of him is worth whatever it may cost; his brigand face and raiment, his lordly and commanding air, speak to us of the romantic past,—he is in harmony with his surroundings.

THE KING OF THE GRANADA GYPSIES Photograph by Harlow D. Higinbotham

And now the guides appear to press their services upon us, having with unerring judgment recognized new-comers. Guides, as a rule, I heartily abhor; they rob you of delightful first impressions; they lead you blindfold along a beaten path, force you to look upon the wonders of the world through their spectacles of ennui; they make the traveler a slave. Not so with Juan de Lara, the handsome youth who