f the Latins is of volcanic origin. The Alban
Mountains are a great volcanic mass, and several of the craters have
been filled with water, forming lakes, of which the Alban Lake is one of
the most remarkable. The plain in which Rome stands, now called the
_Campagna_, is not an unbroken level, but a broad undulating tract,
intersected by numerous streams, which have cut themselves deep
channels through the soft volcanic tufa of which the soil is composed.
The climate of Latium was not healthy even in ancient times. The malaria
of the Campagna renders Rome itself unhealthy in the summer and autumn;
and the Pontine Marshes, which extend along the coast in the south of
Latium for a distance of thirty miles, are still more pestilential.

8. CAMPANIA extended along the coast from the Liris, which separated it
from Latium, to the Silarus, which formed the boundary of Lucania. It is
the fairest portion of Italy. The greater part of it is an unbroken
plain, celebrated in ancient as well as in modern times for its
extraordinary beauty and fertility. The _Bay of Naples_--formerly called
Sinus Cumanus and Puteolanus, from the neighboring cities of Cumae and
Puteoli--is one of the most lovely spots in the world; and the softness
of its climate, as well as the beauty of its scenery, attracted the
Roman nobles, who had numerous villas along its coasts.

9. SAMNIUM was an inland district, bounded on the north by the Marsi and
Peligni, on the east by the Frentani and Apulia, on the west by Latium
and Campania, and on the south by Lucania. It is a mountainous country,
being entirely filled with the masses of the Apennines. Its inhabitants,
the Samnites, were of Sabine origin, as has been already mentioned, and
they settled in the country at a comparatively late period. They were
one of the most warlike races in Italy, and carried on a long and fierce
struggle with the Romans.

10. APULIA extended along the coast of the Adriatic from the Frentani on
the north to Calabria on the south, and was bounded on the west by the
Apennines, which separated it from Samnium and Lucania. It consists
almost entirely of a great plain, sloping down from the Apennines to the
sea.

11. CALABRIA formed the heel of Italy, lying south of Apulia, and
surrounded on every other side by the sea. It contains no mountains, and
only hills of moderate elevation, the Apennines running to the southwest
through Lucania and the Bruttii.

12. LUCANIA was bounded on th