of many a conflict between the Colonnas
and the Orsinis, and captured on one occasion after a twelve days'
siege by Caesar Borgia,--has been converted into a barn. The
inhabitants of the village do not exceed a hundred in number, and
present a haggard and sallow appearance--the effect of the dreadful
malaria which haunts the spot. It is strange to contrast this blighted
and fever-stricken aspect of the place with the description of
Dionysius, who praised its air as in his time exceedingly pure and
healthy, and its territory as smiling and fruitful. In the little
square of the village are several fragments of marble and other relics
of Roman domination; and the church, about four or five hundred years
old, dedicated to St. Pancrazio, is in a state of great decay. The
walls are damp and mouldy, and all the pictures and ornaments are of
the rudest description, with the exception of a faded fresco of the
coronation of the Virgin, which is a fair specimen of the art of the
fifteenth century. The service of the church is supplied by some
distant priest or friar in orders.

We left our conveyance in the piazza, and took our lunch in one of the
houses. We brought our provisions with us from Rome, but we got a
coarse but palatable wine from the people, and a rude but clean room
in which to enjoy our repast. This inn--if it may be called, so--had
at one time a very evil reputation. But nothing could be more
simple-hearted than the landlord and his wife, with their group of
timid children who clung to their mother's skirts in dread of the
strangers. They told us that the poverty of the place was deplorable.
Nearly all the people were laid down during the heats of summer with
fever; and they were so poor that they could not afford to keep a
doctor. Many deaths occurred, and the survivors, emaciated by the
disease, were left to drag on a weary existence embittered by numerous
privations. At a distance the village on its lofty rock, surrounded by
its richly-wooded ravines, looked like a picture of Arcadia; but near
at hand the sad reality dispelled the idyllic dream.

Taking with us from Isola a guide, originally a big burly man, but now
a sad victim to malaria, we set out to visit the site of the ancient
city and the few relics which survive. It takes about four hours to
complete the circuit of the walls; but there are four objects of
special interest, the Arx, the Columbarium, the Ponte Sodo, and the
Painted Tomb, which may be v