mark twain's innocents abroad

this one is already fun.

i have become interested in knowing more about mark twain, his works and his beliefs. and i hoped this book would also give me insight into the way americans travel - because the peace corps, as i understand it, was a response to the negative vibes we tend to emit.

i was suprised to read the following early in the book (other readers may not be so suprised):

"The donkeys and the men, women and children of the family, all eat and sleep in the same room, and are unclean, are ravaged by vermin, and are truly happy. The people lie, and cheat the stranger, and are desperately ignorant, and have hardly any reverence for their dead. The latter trait shows how`little better they are than the donkeys they eat and sleep with." p45

here he is describing the Azores because, he says, little is known of it in america and he is moved to include the "dry facts" of it. p44

my goodness.