in the Diligence (13 francs in the _coupe_, 10 in the body of the
stage), and at half-past 10 were to have been on our way to Rome. But
the start was rather late, and on reaching the gates of that wretched
village, which seems to subsist mainly on such petty swindles as I have
hastily described, our Passports, which had been thrice scrutinized that
morning within sixty rods, had to run the gauntlet again. I do not
remember paying for this, but while detained by it the ostlers from the
stables of our Diligence were all upon us, clamoring for money. I think
they got little. But we changed horses thrice on the way to Rome, and
each postillion was down upon us for money, and out of all patience with
those passengers who attempted to put him off with copper.

Aside from those engaged in fleecing us as aforesaid, I saw but three
sorts of men in Civita Vecchia--or rather, men pursuing three several
avocations--those of Priests, Soldiers and Beggars. Some united two of
these callings. A number of brown, bare-headed, wretched-looking women
were washing clothes in the hot sun of the sea-side, but I saw no trace
of masculine industry other than what I have described. The place is
said to contain 7,000 inhabitants, but I think there is scarcely a
garden outside its walls.

Half the way thence to Rome, the road runs along the shore of the
Mediterranean, through a naturally fertile and beautiful champaign
country, once densely peopled and covered with elegant structures, the
homes of intelligence, refinement and luxury. Now there is not a garden,
scarcely a tree, and not above ten barns and thirty human habitations in
sight throughout the whole twenty-five miles. Such utter desolation and
waste, in a region so eligibly situated, can with difficulty be realized
without seeing it. I should say it can hardly here be unhealthy, with
the pure Mediterranean directly on one side, the rugged hills but two to
five miles distant on the other, and the plain between very much less
marshy than the corresponding district of New-Jersey stretching along
the coast from New-York to Perth Amboy. A few large herds of neat cattle
are fed on these plains, considerable grass is cut, and some summer
grain; but stables for post-horses at intervals of five or six miles,
with perhaps as many dilapidated stone dwellings and a few wretched
herdsmen's huts of straw or rubbish, are all the structures in sight,
save the bridges of the noble "Via Aurelia" which we