s of the very poor a
great Cross is scrawled in whitewash. These rickety houses often
exhibit another feature more picturesque and, to the earthly
imagination, more consoling; on the balcony one sees a great gourd,
some three feet long, so placed that its yellow plumpness may ripen in
sun and air. It is a sign of plenty: the warm spot of colour against
the rough masonry does good to eye and heart.

My hotel afforded me little amusement after the _Concordia_ at Cotrone,
yet it did not lack its characteristic features. I found, for instance,
in my bedroom a printed notice, making appeal in remarkable terms to
all who occupied the chamber. The proprietor--thus it ran--had learnt
with extreme regret that certain travellers who slept under his roof
were in the habit of taking their meals at other places of
entertainment. This practice, he desired it to be known, not only hurt
his personal feelings--_tocca il suo morale_--but did harm to the
reputation of his establishment. Assuring all and sundry that he would
do his utmost to maintain a high standard of culinary excellence, the
proprietor ended by begging his honourable clients that they would
bestow their kind favours on the restaurant of the house--_signora
pregare i suoi respettabili clienti perche vogliano benignarsi il
ristorante_; and therewith signed himself--Coriolano Paparazzo.

For my own part I was not tempted to such a breach of decorum; the fare
provided by Signor Paparazzo suited me well enough, and the wine of the
country was so good that it would have covered many defects of cookery.
Of my fellow-guests in the spacious dining-room I can recall only two.
They were military men of a certain age, grizzled officers, who walked
rather stiffly and seated themselves with circumspection. Evidently old
friends, they always dined at the same time, entering one a few minutes
after the other; but by some freak of habit they took places at
different tables, so that the conversation which they kept up all
through the meal had to be carried on by an exchange of shouts. Nothing
whatever prevented them from being near each other; the room never
contained more than half a dozen persons; yet thus they sat, evening
after evening, many yards apart, straining their voices to be mutually
audible. Me they delighted; to the other guests, more familiar with
them and their talk, they must have been a serious nuisance. But I
should have liked to see the civilian who dared to manifest