but all wear a pendent cap to protect their head from the vertical ray.

The rocks and caves of Amalfi are worthy of Switzerland; one of the latter, called the "Capucines' Grotto" because connected with their convent, is a stupendous vaulted chamber in the mountain's side: from its mouth you get one of the finest seaward prospects in the whole country.

In this town we went to see the Fabbrica of the best maccaroni in Italy. The process is a simple one: an enormous pressure is employed to drive the paste through the ring whose centre is solid; about about a hundred pipes are driven at once by using a form thick-set with such rings. There are many varieties, both as to calibre and quality. After this we ate of a new dressing of this national dish at the Hôtel de la Lune, (mem. a roguish inn, but comfortable,) to wit, tossed in a bowl with fresh butter and eggs. This is the third way we have tried it. The Neapolitans prefer it with "Sugo" and Pomi d'oro. Perhaps the most delicate is the simple fashion of plain boiled, with fresh butter and pounded parmesan in separate dishes. The English method of a hot brown fry, redolent of strong cheese, is intoler

able. I should add there is yet another, favoured by the common people. This is, almost raw, with a little oil, and large draughts of cold water. Amalfi itself is, I am sorry to say, dirty, very dirty, unconscionably dirty, in fact, an Augean stables. It reminded me of an unwashed hand bedizened with jewels; for all around is fresh, pure, and sparkling. The Italians one and all hate washing, until the time comes for government to bid the Stuffi and Bagni open, when I hear they are amphibious. We rowed into a sea-cave on our return: some hundred feet long, and I suppose 90 feet overhead. Here were dropping stalactites, green and azure water, vermilion funguses, coral, &c. Not far off is the "Buco," where the wave dashing in through an orifice in the rock gives a report as loud as a gun.

As we neared Salerno, we called on the boatmen for a song. They gave us two or three: "Il campanello," ""Ti voglio ben," &c. ; one voice, that of a youth, was clear and sweet, which the delighted father, who steered, never failed to point out by rapturous exclamations of "Lo figlio! è lui stesso!" The chorus was noisy, but fair enough in an open boat and after five-and-twenty miles' rowing.

Amidst this fairy-like scenery the compass was invented.

This reminds me we must leave Naples in a few days, as the lava-pavement in the Chiaja is of a white heat, and the sea is approaching that happy condition when it is said to take fire.

ISCHIA.

July.

HERE is a spot within a few miles of the mainland, but with a perfectly different style of features in its scenery. It is not Italian, it is not Swiss; I am told it resembles Greece, and the moonlight view of Casamicciola from a cliff above has sometimes reminded me of sketches which I have seen of that country.

The people of the island morcover are Greek by extraction, and though the original stock has since been grafted with so many strange slips, still the intervention of a considerable arm of the sea, and certain primitive habits surviving among the people, keep them a distinct race in many respects.

The Ischiote is less sophisticated than the Ncapolitan he is every inch as greedy and as much bent on roguish tricks, but he is not so "rusé;" his mind has not worked so hard in the winding ways of deceit.

Naples is now a furnace, and this island is at once cheap and interesting. The living is in some departments better than in the metropolis. If you want veal, fine butter, or good beer, you must order them from Naples; but if you are content with bread and eggs, poultry and small birds, abundance of fish, and a profusion of fruit and vegetables, you may get fat here, yet be as free of the big city as Robinson Crusoc on his lone island. Grocery, it is true, you must have; but the wiser plan is to bring a two months' stock with you when you first come; and then, if any is left, you can bless some simple household with it on departing. As for fish, Lucullus or Apicius should have passed a season here. We have whiting, mackerel, red mullet, sardines, anchovies, lampreys, Peter-fish, crabs, needle-nose, and perhaps half-adozen more sorts of which I do not even know the Then the tunny-nets are out all day, and yield the base of a delicious pickle. All these

names.

might be had in Naples, if the fishermen had courage to venture out farther into the bay; but, though the best swimmers in the world, they fear the storms on the Mediterranean, and not without reason. For fruit we have cherries, strawberries, apricots, and plums, and figs better than I ever ate anywhere. Grapes to eat are not yet well in, but some capital wine is made here from the true Falernian, white and red. The way of life among the poorer classes, and they immensely outnumber the others, is simple and uniform.

After the brilliant bustle of Naples, it is pleasing to watch the homely labours of a population of not more than 8000 or 9000 adults; yielding, indeed, only a small item in the cargoes that throng the port of Naples, but sufficing to sustain the islanders, and presenting here and there the cheerful and healthy images of patriarchal life. During working hours almost every man in Casamicciola is driving an ass or making bricks: and every woman or child that you meet carries on their head the immemorial pitcher [note (e)], which obtained for this island the name of Pithecusa in days of old. Elsewhere, the husbandry of crops and vines is going on; and perhaps a tenth of the