ntry here wears a wild
aspect; as far as the eye can stretch, it rests upon mountains of
different elevations. The little town of Radicofani lies on the
plateau of a considerable hill, surrounded by rocks and huge blocks
of stone. A citadel or ancient fortress towers romantically above
the little town, and old towers look down from the summit of many a
hill and cliff. The character of the lower mountain-range is
exceedingly peculiar; it is split into gaps and fissures in all
directions, as though it had but recently emerged from the main.

For many hours we almost rode through a flood. The water streamed
down the streets, and the wind howled round our carriage with such
violence that we seriously anticipated being blown over. Luckily
the streets in the Tuscan are better than those in the Roman
territory, and the rivers are crossed by firm stone bridges.

November 26th.

To-day our poor horses had a hard time of it. Up hill and down
hill, and past yawning chasms, our way lay for a long time through a
desert and barren district, until, at a little distance from the
village of Buonconvento, the scene suddenly changed, and a widely-
extended, hilly country, with beautiful plains, the lovely town of
Siena, numerous villages great and small, with homesteads and
handsome farms, and solitary churches built on hills, lay spread
before us. Every thing shewed traces of cultivation and opulence.

Most of the women and girls we met were employed in plaiting straw.
Here all wear straw hats--men, women, and children. At five in the
evening we at length reached

SIENA.

Our poor horses were so exhausted by the bad roads of the Apennines,
that the driver requested leave to make a day's halt here. This
interruption to our journey was far from being unwelcome to me, for
Siena is well worthy to be explored.

November 27th.

The town numbers 16,000 inhabitants, and is divided almost into two
halves by a long handsome street. The remaining streets are small,
irregular, and dirty. The Piazza del Campo is very large, and
derives a certain splendour of appearance from some palaces built in
the gothic style. In the midst stands a granite pillar, bearing a
representation in bronze of Romulus and Remus suckled by the she-
wolf. I saw several other pillars of equal beauty in different
parts of the town, while in Rome, where they would certainly have
been more appropriate, I did not find a single one. All the houses
in the