Old Calabria

t now richly dight with the yellow flowers of the giant fennel, with patches of ruby-red poppy and asphodels pale and shadowy, past their prime. I had thought upon

zing that it was only a little more than half smoked. We were crossing the Calendaro, a sluggish stream which carefully collects all the waters of this region only to lose them again in a swamp not

vertheless, on s'y fait. I am studying him and, despite his protean manifestations, have discovered three principal ingredients: malaria, bronchitis and hay-fever--no

co." And certainly this pest of the south blows incessantly; the mountain-line of Gargano is veiled, t

ed's

ant. It sounds rather improbable; still, yesterday evening there arose a sudden vision of a white town in that direction, remote and dre

n colour of moons and crescents and dolphins; some are marked like the "orange-tip" butterfly. A gunboat is now stationed here on a mysterious errand connected with the Albanian rising on the other side of the Adriatic. There has been whispered talk of illicit volunteering among the youth on this side, which the government is anxious to prevent. And to enliven the scene, a steamer calls every now and then to take passengers to the Tremiti islands. On

d plashing in its rivulets. It may well be that the existence of this fount helped to decide Manfred in his choice of a site for his city; such springs are rare in this waterless land. And from this same source, very likely, is derived the local legend of Sai

a plain sloping ve

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zens could take the air in the breathless summer evenings, instead of being cooped up, as they now are, within stifling hot walls. The choice of Manfredonia as a port does not testify to any great foresight on the part of its founder--peace to his shade! It will for ever slumber in its bay, while commerce passes beyond its reach; it will for ever be malarious with the marshes of Sipontum at its edges. But this particular def

the iron lamp-posts between the town and the station. Now here was a statement sounding even more improbable than her other one about Castel del Monte, but admitting of verifi

had time to set them alight. They could not burn them nowadays, and this points to a total change in economic conditions. Wood was cut down so heedlessly that it became too scarce for building purposes, and stone took its place. This has altered domestic architectu

edi T

The desiccation of the climate has en

d method of construction and the wooden shingles, scandulae, in use fo

rried them; the wish being father to the thought. But the story is disputed; rightly, I think. For the portrait is painted in the French manner, and it is hardly likely that a harem-lady would have been exhibited to a European artist. The legend goes on to say that she was afterwards liberated by the Knights of Malta, together with

with the Indian fig (cactus). In the shade of these grotesque growths lives a dainty flora: trembling grasses of many kinds, rue, asphodel, thyme, the wild asparagus, a diminutive blue iris, as well as patches of saxifrage that deck the stone with a brilliant enamel of red and yellow. This wild beauty makes one think how much better the graceful wrought-iron balconies of the town would look if enlivened with blossoms,

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ity; a hard life amid burning limestone d

ituation, covering a forlorn semicircular tract of ground about the old Anjou castle, is a priori a good one. But when t

ntleman who was strolling about here

ot have e

as a suggesti

thing sometimes e

idea of vital novelty (which Charles Lamb, poor fellow, thought peculiar to natives of Scotland) is as common among Ita

the trees? Only a few makers of bad pictures. They can go elsewhere. Our country, dear sir, is e

nd flew merrily over beds of flowering marguerites in the direction of the main street, while he race

rant wild fig that has thrust its roots into the sturdy old walls. Here, at Manfredonia, we are already under the shadow of the holy mountain and the archangel's wings, but the usual representations of him are childishly emasculate--the negation of his divine and heroic character. Th

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s set among barrels and vats full of dark red wine where, amid Rembrandtesque surroundings, you can get as drunk as a lord for sixpence. Blithe oases! It must be delightful, in summer, to while

l: an ominous blue metal tablet with a red cross, be

n? I enquired of a serious-looking i

not help to c

in Cerignola or somewhere, a society which persuades the

paying out money between his finger a

be to keep a guardian on their premises at night--what had the municipalities to do with it--was there much house-breaking in

ker. After heaving a deep sig

on. Eat--eat! That's all they think about, the

a long white beard, and an air of apostolic detachment from the affairs of this world. They came nearer. The boy was listening, deferentially, to some remark of the elder; hi

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anxious to learn what misdeeds could be laid

. He had quietly withdrawn himself, in t

and elusive