, or
with harrows. In some places it was even worse, for they saw women
laboring in the fields, while the men lolled on the fences, or sat
smoking under the shade of some tree. The implements of labor used
excited their surprise. The hoes were as ponderous, as clumsy, and
as heavy as pickaxes; the ploughs were miserably awkward things--a
straight pole with a straight wooden share, which was sometimes,
though by no means always, pointed with iron. These ploughs were
worked in various ways, being sometimes pulled by donkeys, sometimes
by oxen, and on one memorable occasion a donkey and a woman pulled
the plough, while a man, who may have been the woman's husband,
guided it through the furrow.

The road was a good one, and was at first well travelled. They met
soldiers, and priests, and peasants. They met droves of oxen, and
wine carts, and large herds of those peculiar hairless pigs which
are common to this country. As they drove on farther, the travel
diminished, and at length the country seemed more lonely. It was
still fertile, and covered with luxuriant vegetation on every side;
but the signs of human habitation decreased, until at length they
ceased. The reason of this lies in the unhealthy character of the
country, which, like many places in Italy, is subject to malaria,
and is shunned by the people. This is the nature of the country
which lies around ancient Paestum; and though the fields are
cultivated, yet the cultivators live at a distance upon the slopes
of the mountains.

At about midday they arrived at Paestum. Here they descended from
the carriage, and giving instruction to the driver to remain at
this place until they should return, they started off to explore
the ruined city. It had been their intention to make use of the
driver as guide, to show them the objects of interest in the town;
but his long-continued sulks drove this from their minds, and they
concluded to trust to themselves and their guide-books. The carriage
was drawn up on the side of the road, not far from where there
stood an archway, still entire, which once formed one of the gates
of Paestum.

Towards this they directed their steps. The gateway was formed of
large blocks of stone laid upon each other without cement, and by
their great size they had resisted the ravages of time. On either
side of this could be seen the foundation stones of the city walls,
which have fallen or have been removed in the course of ages. But
the circuit o