y are plastered white
and overgrown by the ivy; and as one walks along in these, he may well
occupy his time in watching a species of little reptiles that are very
nimble but shy, running up the high smooth walls as easily as along the
ground. They are harmless, no doubt, but I dreaded them quite as much as
if I had been in a similar danger of treading upon snakes! They dart like
arrows across the streets, and in their reckless haste of attempting to
cross the street to avoid me, they frequently came near losing their lives
under my feet! They are about 3 to 6 inches long, we will say; have four
legs as near as I could count, and are very slim, resembling the snake in
form and the frog in features. Good-by, Old Rome!

I spent 8 days in London, 17 in Paris and 6 in Rome; doing to one city
about as much justice as to the other, in those various periods of time;
but if one would come to Rome first, he would not be able to tear himself
away in less than a few weeks. No one should travel any other way than
_against_ the course of civilization, on his first visit to Europe. In my
course from Liverpool to Rome I enjoyed new sights in a constant flow,
like that of a steady rain. I do not believe that it would be well for an
American to be abruptly transported to Rome and awake one morning there.
The strange sights would assail him suddenly, like a flood of angry
waters!

Chapter XIX.

Rome to Brindisi.

From Rome I went to Pompeii, stopping long enough at Naples, however, to
learn that the impudence of the pestiferous porters is quite unendurable.
Italy throughout is much infested with porters, but in the southern
section of the peninsula they are a regular pest, which at times becomes
epidemic. During the traveling season it seems as if everybody was a
porter. Sometimes they will surround the traveler and assail him on every
side, asking him to let them carry his baggage. Sometimes I found them to
be of great service in finding hotels for me, but at other times I was
much inconvenienced by their attacks. I think it was at Naples, where a
dozen or more of them yelled at me all at the same time, each desirous of
carrying my satchel. As none of them could speak in a language that I
understood, I declined to let any one have it. Each one evinced his
earnestness by taking hold of my baggage while asking for it. After taking
turns at their chances in this way for a while, at the same time crowding
the path in front of