on, the Orientalist, giving me a list
of the works they had on the geography of Eastern Asia and the most
recent travels in the Himalaya, Thibet, and China, with much useful
information from himself. I was indebted to Sir Henry Pottinger, then at
Rome, for information relating to Scinde, for he had been for some years
British Envoy at Beloochistan. Thus provided, I went on with my work. We
lived several winters in an apartment on the second floor of Palazzo
Lepri, Via dei Condotti, where we passed many happy days. When we first
lived in Via Condotti, the waste-pipes to carry off the rain-water from
the roofs projected far into the street, and when there was a violent
thunderstorm, one might have thought a waterspout had broken over Rome,
the water poured in such cascades from the houses on each side of the
street. On one occasion the rain continued in torrents for thirty-six
hours, and the Tiber came down in heavy flood, inundating the Ghetto and
all the low parts of the city; the water was six feet deep in the
Pantheon. The people were driven out of their houses in the middle of
the night and took refuge in the churches, and boats plied in the
streets supplying the inhabitants with food, which they hauled up in
baskets let down from the windows. The Campagna for miles was under
water; it covered the Ponte Molle so that the courier could not pass;
and seen from the Pincio it looked like an extensive lake. Much anxiety
was felt for the people who lived in the farm houses now surrounded with
water. Boats were sent to rescue them, and few lives were lost; but many
animals perished. The flood did not subside till after three days, when
it left everything covered with yellow mud; the loss of property was
very great, and there was much misery for a long time.

Our house was in a very central position, and when not engaged I gladly
received anyone who liked to come to us in the evening, and we had a
most agreeable society, foreign and English, for we were not looked upon
as strangers, and the English society was much better during the years
we spent in Rome than it was afterwards.

I had an annual visit of an hour from the astronomer Padre Vico, and
Padre Pianciani, Professor of Chemistry in the Collegio Romano. I was
invited to see the Observatory; but as I had seen those of Greenwich and
Paris, I did not think it worth while accepting the invitation,
especially as it required an order from the Pope. I could easily have
obta