volcanic and level than that of Rome; the hills and valleys of
Baiae are nothing but the cones and craters of extinguished volcanoes;
and if we would see what such a district becomes when left in a desert
state, we have only to go to the Maremma of Pestum, now as desolate and
unhealthy as the Pontine marshes themselves. But in the Campagna of
Naples an industrious population has overcome all these obstacles, and
rendered the land, tenanted only by wild boars and buffaloes in the
fourth century, the garden of Europe, known over all the world, from its
riches, by the name of the Campagna Felice.

Nay, the Agro Romano itself affords equally decisive proof, that where
circumstances will permit the work of cultivation to be commenced so as
to be carried on at a profit, the malaria and desolation speedily
disappear before the persevering efforts of human industry. In many
parts of the district, the custom of granting perpetual leases at a
fixed rate prevails, the _Emphyteutis_ of the Roman law, the sources of
the prosperity of the cultivators in Upper and Lower Austria, and well
known in Scotland under the name of feus. Sismondi has given the
following account of the effect of the establishment of a permanent
interest in the soil in arresting the effects of the malaria, and
spreading cultivation over the land:--"The Emphyteutic cultivator has a
permanent interest in the soil: he labours, therefore, unceasingly for
the good of his family. He cuts out his slope into terraces, covers it
with trees, fruits, and garden-stuffs: he takes advantage of every
leisure moment, either in himself, his wife, or children, to advance the
common cultivation. Industry and abundance reign around. Whenever you
ascend the volcanic hills of Latium, or visit those ravishing slopes
which so many painters have illustrated, around the lakes of Castel
Gandolfo or Nemi, at L'Aricia, Rocca di Papa, Marino, and Frescati;
whenever you meet with a smiling cultivation, healthy air, and the
marks of general abundance, you may rest assured the cultivator is
proprietor of the fruits of the soil. The bare right of property, or
superiority, as the lawyers term it, belongs to some neighbouring lord;
but the real property, "il miglioramento," belongs to the cultivator. In
this way, in these happy districts, the great estates, the _latifundia_
of Pliny, have been practically distributed among the peasantry; and,
whenever this is the case, you hear no more of the malar