e of a road was discernible, and the flanks of the
mountain, a ravine yawning on either hand, looked even more abrupt than
the ascent immediately before me.

There, however, stood the _diligenza_ which was somehow to convey me to
Catanzaro; I watched its loading with luggage-merchandise and
mail-bags--whilst the exquisite evening melted into night. When I had
thus been occupied for a few minutes, my look once more turned to the
mountain, where a surprise awaited me: the summit was now encircled
with little points of radiance, as though a starry diadem had fallen
upon it from the sky. "_Pronti_!" cried our driver. I climbed to my
seat, and we began our journey towards the crowning lights.

By help of long loops the road ascended at a tolerably easy angle; the
horse-bells tinkled, the driver shouted encouragement to his beasts,
and within the vehicle went on a lively gossiping, with much laughter.
Meanwhile the great moon had risen high enough to illumine the valley
below us; silvery grey and green, the lovely hollow seemed of
immeasurable length, and beyond it one imagined, rather than discerned,
a glimmer of the sea. By the wayside I now and then caught sight of a
huge cactus, trailing its heavy knotted length upon the face of a rock;
and at times we brushed beneath overhanging branches of some tree that
could not be distinguished. All the way up we seemed to skirt a sheer
precipice, which at moments was alarming in its gloomy depth. Deeper
and deeper below shone the lights of the railway station and of the few
houses about it; it seemed as though a false step would drop us down
into their midst.

The fatigue of the day's journey passed away during this ascent, which
lasted nearly an hour; when, after a drive through dark but wide
streets, I was set down before the hotel, I felt that I had shaken off
the last traces of my illness. A keen appetite sent me as soon as
possible in search of the dining-room, where I ate with extreme gusto;
everything seemed excellent after the sorry table of the _Concordia_. I
poured my wine with a free hand, rejoicing to find it was wine once
more, and not (at all events to my palate) a concoction of drugs. The
albergo was decent and well found; a cheerful prosperity declared
itself in all I had yet seen. After dinner I stepped out on to the
balcony of my room to view the city's main street; but there was very
scant illumination, and the moonlight only showed me high houses of
modern bui