' However, later I always took care to do it, on the principle that
when one is at Rome one should do as Rome does. Apart from these little
social peculiarities Trieste was the most hospitable and open-hearted
town, and people entertained there, if they entertained at all, on a
lavish scale and right royally.
"The population of Trieste was very interesting, though a strange medley.
To the east of the town the Wallachian _cici_, or charcoal-dealers,
wore the dress of the old Danubian homes whence they came. Then there
was the Friulano, with his velvet jacket and green corduroys (the most
estimable race in Trieste). He was often a roaster of chestnuts at the
corners of the street, and his wife was the best _balie_ (wet nurse).
She was often more bravely attired than her mistress. The Slav market-
women were also very interesting. I loved to go down and talk with them
in the market-place. They drove in from neighbouring villages with their
produce for sale in a kind of drosky, the _carretella_ as it was called,
with its single pony harnessed to the near side of the pole. Some of
the girls, especially those of Servola, were quite beautiful, with a
Greek profile, and a general delicacy of form and colour which one would
hardly expect to find amongst the peasantry. But their eyes were
colourless; and their blonde hair was like tow--it lacked the golden ray.
The dresses were picturesque: a white triangular head-kerchief, with
embroidered ends hanging down the back; a bodice either of white flannel
picked out with splashes of colour, or of a black glazed and plaited
stuff; a skirt of lively hue, edged with a broad belt of even livelier
green, blue, pink, or yellow; white stockings; and short, stout shoes.
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