CHAPTER IX.

MESSINA THROUGH CALABRIA.

"Des montagnes noircies par des forêts de pins dont le sombre effet contraste avec les neiges qui couronnent leur cîme; les rochers suspendus sur des gouffres profonds; plus loin la brillante vegetation des plaines et le mouvement de l'in dustrie," &c. &c. Notice sur la Calabre, page 11.

WE loaded our speronara with provisions and all the necessaries for the voyage, and sailed from Messina, July 1st. Our passage was through Charybdis, no longer turbulent and dangerous; but in a situation where annual earthquakes form continual changes, much may be said to exculpate the ancients from. exaggeration and fable. How accurate is Virgil's geography, the descriptions in Pliny's letters, the journey of Horace! Can no excuse then be found for a casual difference? But let us remark, as I have often before had occasion to do, the beauty of classic allegory. Charybdis, a whirlpool, gathering treasures

and merchandize into its abyss, is fabled to have been a woman of unbounded avarice; and Scylla, a romantic rock, in a lovely site, but dashing back the sea from its precipices, was a beautiful girl, who was thus changed by Circe to frighten away her lover Glaucus, a deity of the sea.

We coasted along during the day the craggy shores of Calabria ultra. Stromboli on our left was frequently smoking, but at night emitted no flame. We arrived at the picturesque cape of Spartivento at sunset, and passing the bay of St. Euphemia in the night, had in consequence no view of the famous plains of Maida. In the morning we landed at Amantea, the place for which our passports were directed; but what was our surprise when we found ourselves denied pratique, owing to some trifling omission in not having previously touched at a larger port. We were, therefore, obliged to row to Paola, 16 miles farther in a sultry calm, nor did the verdure and beauty of the Calabrian coast reconcile us to the voyage.

It was evening when we arrived at Paola; two of our party did not feel inclined for the roughing of Calabria. We, therefore, seated ourselves round a tub upon the beach, and

all, before parting, partook of a farewell supper by moonlight. Captain. H-ns-n and Mr. Gl-v-r then set sail; while Mr. H-w—ll and myself, one servant and a small quantity of baggage, of which provisions formed the principal part, mounted the steep ascent to Paola. The village is prettily placed in a nook among the hills; a fine avenue shadows it, and the road is conducted thither on arches over a ravine. We found a small locanda in Paola, with a very civil landlord, and immediately hired mules to commence our labours on the

morrow.

There are very few places that had so thoroughly excited my curiosity as Calabria. Universal consent had denominated it as the most savage country existing in Europe. Italians look upon it with all the horror that the Cimmerian forests once caused to Rome; they shudder at the idea of crossing it, as if it were "a bourne from whence no traveller returns." Few persons with such accounts visit it. Those that do, conceive it necessary to magnify the undertaking; and I was rather inclined to suspect that I should be as much surprised in Calabria, as former travellers were on visiting Sicily, before the ridiculous reports of the Nea

politans had been contradicted by actual observation. We had no guide to a country. where there have been no travellers; the only account I have ever seen is written by a Capitaine de Rivarol: this is merely a pamphlet, but I will refer to it in passing, as it is on this subject unique*.

At four o'clock, the morning of July 3rd, we mounted our mules: our escort, which was declared absolutely necessary, consisted of five men armed with guns. We left the coast at St. Lucido, and began to wind up the Apennines. The scene was worthy the pen of Mrs. Radcliffe: the morning was fresh; the twisting path by which we ascended was absolutely perfumed by the broom in blossom, myrtle, violets, and the sweetest flowers; but these we soon left, to enter the enormous forests of beech which crown the higher parts of the mountains. I had never before seen such wood in Italy, never, indeed, except among the Alps. We now and then gained a view, through a vista in the trees, into distant valleys, but all were sombre with forests. No wonder that people talk here of banditti.

* I have seen since many accounts of Calabria, but Rivarol's is the only one of modern date.

I immediately recollected the forests where Schedoni was attacked by Spalatro. At nine we emerged on the side overhanging the valley of Cosenza. This valley is of amazing length and beauty, runs along between two chains of the Apennines, which have divided at the head of the vale, the one following the Mediterranean shore, the other the Adriatic. While the mountains are covered with woods, the valley between is fertile beyond conception. We soon descended again into woods, but these were of chestnut, and in their bosom is the village of St. Fili. We wished to have breakfasted here; however there was no room fit to enter, except one, which, with a gayer exterior than the rest, proved the shop of an apothecary, with this pompous inscription, "Medicamen inventum meum." We were, therefore, obliged to continue; and notwithstanding the attractions of some of the most beautiful women (whose fair complexions, delicate features, and slight limbs, seem to denote a different origin from the ordinary Italian) preferred opening our wallet under a chestnut tree, while our guide, who had hitherto been eager in gathering us flowers, &c. proved himself more usefully officious by the discovery of a clear cold rivulet.