This One, They Say, Shifts Continually And Sometimes Reaches So Low A Level That Rich Crops Are Planted In Its Oozy Bed.

Here are countless frogs, and fish - tench; also a boat that belongs to the man who rents the fishing. A sad accident happened lately with his boat. A party of youngsters came for an outing and two boys jumped into the tub, rowed out, and capsized it with their pranks. They were both drowned - a painful and piteous death - a death which I have tried, by accident, and can nowise recommend. They fished them out later from their slimy couch, and found that they had clasped one another so tightly in their mortal agony that it was deemed impious ever to unloosen that embrace. So they were laid to rest, locked in each other's arms.

While my companion told me these things we had plodded further and further along this flat and inhospitable shore, and grown more and more taciturn. We were hungry and thirsty and hot, for one feels the onslaught of these first heats more acutely than the parching drought of August. Things looked bad. The luncheon hour was long past, and our spirits began to droop. All my mellowness took flight; I grew snappy and monosyllabic. Was there no shade?

Yonder ... that dusky patch against the mountain? Brushwood of some kind, without a doubt. The place seemed to be unattainable, and yet, after an inordinate outlay of energy, we had climbed across those torrid meadows. It proved to be a hazel copse mysteriously dark within, voiceless, and cool as a cavern.

Be sure that he who planted these hazels on the bleak hillside was no common son of earth, but some wise and inspired mortal. My blessings on his head! May his shadow never grow less! Or, if that wish be already past fulfilment, may he dwell in Elysium attended by a thousand ministering angels, every one of them selected by himself; may he rejoice in their caresses for evermore. Naught was amiss. All conspired to make the occasion memorable. I look back upon our sojourn among those verdant hazels and see that it was good - one of those moments which are never granted knowingly by jealous fate. So dense was the leafage in the greenest heart of the grove that not a shred of sunlight, not a particle as large as a sixpence, could penetrate to earth. We were drowned in shade; screened from the flaming world outside; secure - without a care. We envied neither God nor man.

I thought of certain of my fellow-creatures. I often think of them. What were they now doing? Taking themselves seriously and rushing about, as usual, haggard and careworn - like those sagacious ants that scurry hither and thither, and stare into each other's faces with a kind of desperate imbecility, when some sportive schoolboy has kicked their ridiculous nest into the air and upset all their solemn little calculations.

As for ourselves, we took our ease. We ate and drank, we slumbered awhile, then joked and frolicked for five hours on end, or possibly six. [34] I kept no count of what was said nor how the time flew by. I only know that when at last we emerged from our ambrosial shelter the muscles of my stomach had grown sore from the strain of laughter, and Arcturus was twinkling overhead.

THE END

INDEX

Abbade, author Abbadia San Salvatore Abruzzi, limestone deserts Acqua Acetosa, Rome Acqua santa, mineral fountain, its appalling effects Acque Vive, old Scanno Addison, J. Afforestation at Scanno Agave, plant; dislikes change of scene Alatri; its nameless tavern; citadel; ideal families at Alban volcanoes Alpengluehen, an abomination Amiata, mountain Anagni Analphabetics, their charm Anastasio, F. Aniene, river Anthology, Greek Anticoli Apennines, their general coloration Argos Aristotle Arno river, its colour-moods Artena Athene (Minerva), promontory and temple Attilio, a sagacious youngster

Bacon, misquoted Baedeker, on wine of Scanno Banca d'ltalia, its soi-disant director makes a fool of himself "Barone," an almost human dog Bathing in Tiber Baudelaire, C. Bears of Pescasseroli, rapid breeders Beds in England, neolithic features of Belgrave Square, its legendary partridges Bellegra, village Beloch, J. Bennet, Dr. J. H. Bentham, J. Berceau, mountain Bessel, F. W. Betifuli, ancient Scanno Bigio, marble Birds, their conservative habits Blackberries in Italy Blasphemies, as a pick-me-up Blind, Mathilde Blue, basic note of Italian landscape Board of Trade Labour Emergency Bureau, its lightning methods Boecklin, A. Borghese Gardens Bournemouth Bowles, Dr. R. Brachycephalism, menace to humanity Brahms, J., his inspiration Breil Brewster, H. B. Buckle, H. T. Building materials, of Florence, impart peculiar character to towns Bunbury, E. H., quoted Butter, French method of weighing, Italian regulations regarding

Cacume, mountain Calypso, her island Cammaiore Camosciara, mountain Campagna of Rome Campanella, headland Campoli Apennino Capaccio, G. C. Cap Martin (Mentone), a vulgarized spot Capasso, B. Capranica Capri Carbineers, good men and questionable institution Carrara Carrion crows, relatively gay fowls Casamari convent Casanova, J. Cascine Gardens Cats in Rome, their distressful condition Cement floors, a detestable invention Cemetery of Mentone of Rome; Scanno; Olevano Censorship Department, gratifying interview at Cervesato, A. Chamois Chaucer Children, good company neglected in war-time China, fatal morality of pre-Tartar period Ciminian forest Cineto Romano Circe, nymph Cisterna, a death-trap Civilization, its characteristic Civitella Coal-supply, a sore subject in Italy Coliseum, flora and fauna of Collepardo Conscience, national versus individual Consumption on Riviera; at Olevano Conterano, lake Corsanico Corsi, F. Crapolla, sea-cove Crinagoras, poet Critics, spleenfully criticized Cro-Magnon racev Cross, futility of bearing a

Darwin Deakin, botanist Dennis, G. Deserters at Valmontone Deslys, Gaby Dewlessness, a peculiarity of Italian townsmen Dialects of Italy Dictionary of National Biography Diodorus Siculus Dohrn, Dr. A. Donnorso, V. Doria, A. Dreams, recurrent; of flying Drowning accidents Drunkenness, not everybody's affair

Eagles Education Office, a "Sleepy Hollow" Edwards, Tam, naturalist Elba Elder tree, a venerable growth England, to be visited as a tourist English language, should remain in flux Englishmen, change in race-characters; contrasted with Italians; influence of new surroundings on Enthusiasm, unrewarded Eratosthenes Eugenie, Empress Experience, its uses

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