zzi Mountains that bound the vision to the east; of the vast expanse
of the Mediterranean, stretching in one unbroken sheet of turquoise to the
west, varied by violet patches of reflected cloud, and studded by
innumerable ships, from the vast liners to the tiny fishing craft with
their glistening sails, like snow-white sea-swallows resting on the calm
waters. Again we turn to Robert Browning, most human of poets and most
kindly of philosophers, to find adequate expression for the thoughts we
dare not, cannot utter.

"Oh, heaven and the terrible crystal!
No rampart excludes
Your eye from the life to be lived
In the blue solitudes.
Oh, those mountains, their infinite movement!
Still moving with you;
For ever some new head and breast of them
Thrusts into view
To observe the intruder; you see it
If quickly you turn,
And before they escape you surprise them.
They grudge you should learn
How the soft plains they look on, lean over
And love (they pretend)
--Cower beneath them, the flat sea-pine crouches,
The wild fruit-trees bend;
E'en the myrtle leaves curl, shrink and shut,
All is silent and grave:
'Tis a sensual and timorous beauty.
How fair! but a slave."

[Illustration: MONTE FAITO, CASTELLAMARE]

We descend by the slopes of Monte Faito in the quiet of the evening,
facing the distant headland of Posilipo and the sunset, where above the
horizon we see collecting thick masses of dark purple cloud, which augur a
stormy morrow. Above us the peak of the Archangel is already wreathed in
garlands of white mist, a sure sign of coming tempest, and it is amid a
lurid light from the sinking sun that we hasten downwards, bending our
steps in the direction of Pozzano, where the form of its convent stands
out sharply defined against the background of the Bay. Night is rapidly
approaching, and in the gathering darkness as we strike the road below the
convent, we can already hear the ominous roaring and seething of the
waters under the cliff, lashed to fury by the first deep breaths of the
coming squall. Hurrying along the broad smooth roadway it is not long
before we reach our hotel door, where we bid good night to Vincenzo, just
as the first heavy drops of rain have begun to fall; pleasantly exhausted
after our long excursion, we are ready to appreciate to the full the
warmth and good cheer of the hospitable Hotel Quisisana.