beds, one of
which was allotted to the two Russian gentlemen, and the other to the
Italian and myself. Our mode of turning in was somewhat novel. The
Russians put away simply their greatcoats, and lay down beneath the
coverlet. My bed-fellow the Italian took up a position for the night by
throwing himself, as he was, on the top of the bed-clothes. Not
approving of either mode, I slipped off both greatcoat and coat, and,
covering myself with the blankets, soon forgot in sleep all the mishaps
of the day.

The voice of the _conducteur_ shouting at the door of our apartment
awakened us before day-break. Our company mustered with what haste they
could, and we again betook us to the road,

"While the still morn went out with sandals gray."

The path lay along the banks of the torrent Carza, and the valley we
found frightfully scarred by the flood of the former day. Fierce
torrents rushing from the hills had torn the fences, ploughed up the
road, piled up hillocks of mud among the vineyards, and covered with
barren sand, or strewn with stones, many an acre of fine meadow. Had we
attempted the path in the darkness, our course must have found a speedy
termination. At length, ascending a steep hill, we found ourselves
overlooking the valley of the Arno.

Every traveller taxes his descriptive powers to the utmost to paint the
view from this hill-top; and I verily believe that, seen under a
cloudless sky, it is one of the most enchanting landscapes in the world.
The numberless conical hills,--the white villas and villages, which lie
as thick as if the soil had produced them,--the silvery stream of the
Arno,--the rich chestnut and olive woods,--the domes of the Italian
Athens,--the songs,--the fragrance,--and the great wall of the Apennines
bounding all,--must present a picture of rare magnificence. But I saw it
under different conditions, and must needs describe it as it appeared.

Sub-Apennine Italy was before me, and it seemed the Italy I had dreamed
of, could I only see it; but, alas! it was blotted with mists, and
overshadowed by a black canopy of cloud. Outspread, far as the eye could
extend southward, was a landscape of ridges and conical tops, separated
by winding wreaths of white mist, giving to the country the aspect of an
ocean broken up into creeks, and bays, and channels, with no end of
islands. The hills were covered to their very summits with the richest
vegetation; and the multitude of villages sprinkled over