, in great letters which one who runs may read,
is carved a line from the Acts of the Apostles:--

"Circumlegentes devenimus Rhegium."

Save only those sonorous words which circle the dome of S. Peter's, I
have seen no inscription on Christian temple which seemed to me so
impressive. "We fetched a compass, and came to Rhegium." Paul was on
his voyage from Caesarea to Rome, and here his ship touched, here at
the haven beneath Aspromonte. The fact is familiar enough, but,
occupied as I was with other thoughts, it had not yet occurred to me;
the most pious pilgrim of an earlier day could not have felt himself
more strongly arrested than I when I caught sight of these words. Were
I to inhabit Reggio, I should never pass the Cathedral without stopping
to read and think; the carving would never lose its power over my
imagination. It unites for me two elements of moving interest: a vivid
fact from the ancient world, recorded in the music of the ancient
tongue. All day the words rang in my head, even as at Rome I have gone
about murmuring to myself: "_Aedificabo ecclesiam meam_." What a noble
solemnity in this Latin speech! And how vast the historic significance
of such monumental words! Moralize who will; enough for me to hear with
delight that deep-toned harmony, and to thrill with the strangeness of
old things made new.

It was Sunday, which at Reggio is a day or market. Crowds of
country-folk had come into the town with the produce of field and
garden; all the open spaces were occupied with temporary stalls; at
hand stood innumerable donkeys, tethered till business should be over.
The produce exhibited was of very fine quality, especially the
vegetables; I noticed cauliflowers measuring more than a foot across
the white. Of costume there was little to be observed--though the long
soft cap worn by most of the men, hanging bag-like over one ear almost
to the shoulder, is picturesque. The female water-carriers, a long slim
cask resting lengthwise upon their padded heads, hold attention as they
go to and from the fountains. Good-looking people, grave of manner, and
doing their business without noise. It was my last sight of the
Calabrian hillsmen; to the end they held my interest and my respect.
When towns have sucked dry their population of strength and virtue, it
is such folk as these, hardy from the free breath of heaven and the
scent of earth, who will renew a flaccid race.

Walking beyond the town in the southern direc