An interesting throwaway phrase by Decoud. The conquistadors, of course, were Unionists (indeed, empire builders), and Viola's inn is named after national unity. Moreover, this "conquistador farmer" resembles an ancestral version of Viola himself, who was a soldier and farmer in his turn. The sea in Nostromo being a symbol of Liberty, a "pearl fishery" suggests the attempt to harvest something beautiful from the libertarian impulse in man, another reference to Viola. But this house, "contrived" out of the optimism of unifying Liberty, is now "perfectly silent," reflecting the demise of those ideals.