rength. Here at Cotrone
the air oppressed and enfeebled me; the neighbourhood of the sea
brought no freshness. From time to time the fever seemed to be
overcome, but it lingered still in my blood and made my nights
restless. I must away to Catanzaro.

When first I spoke of this purpose to Dr. Sculco, he indulged my fancy,
saying "Presently, presently!" A few days later, when I seriously asked
him how soon I might with safety travel, his face expressed misgiving.
Why go to Catanzaro? It was on the top of a mountain, and had a most
severe climate; the winds at this season were terrible. In conscience
he could not advise me to take such a step: the results might be very
grave after my lung trouble. Far better wait at Cotrone for a week or
two longer, and then go on to Reggio, crossing perhaps to Sicily to
complete my cure. The more Dr. Sculco talked of windy altitudes, the
stronger grew my desire for such a change of climate, and the more
intolerable seemed my state of languishment. The weather was again
stormy, but this time blew sirocco; I felt its evil breath waste my
muscles, clog my veins, set all my nerves a-tremble. If I stayed here
much longer, I should never get away at all. A superstitious fear crept
upon me; I remembered that my last visit had been to the cemetery.

One thing was certain: I should never see the column of Hera's temple.
I made my lament on this subject to Dr. Sculco, and he did his best to
describe to me the scenery of the Cape. Certain white spots which I had
discovered at the end of the promontory were little villas, occupied in
summer by the well-to-do citizens of Cotrone; the Doctor himself owned
one, which had belonged to his father before him. Some of the earliest
memories of his boyhood were connected with the Cape: when he had
lessons to learn by heart, he often used to recite them walking round
and round the great column. In the garden of his villa he at times
amused himself with digging, and a very few turns of the spade sufficed
to throw out some relic of antiquity. Certain Americans, he said,
obtained permission not long ago from the proprietor of the ground on
which the temple stood to make serious excavations, but as soon as the
Italians heard of it, they claimed the site as a national monument; the
work was forbidden, and the soil had to be returned to its former
state. Hard by the ancient sanctuary is a chapel, consecrated to the
Madonna del Capo; thither the people of Cotrone ma