4 2 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the southwest winds and the rains. Most of these grottoes were 

 inhabited fifty years ago, but the majority of them have been 

 abandoned in consequence of the land-slides and the development 

 of the knowledge and desire of a better way of living. Three of 

 them are still occupied by persons who boast that they are very 

 comfortable in them warm in winter with their southern expos- 

 ure and complete protection from the north, and enjoying a re- 

 freshing coolness in the summer. The caves are free from moist- 

 ure, and cost no rent except a slight fee paid to the proprietor of 

 the ground above them. The natural opening on the side of the 

 sea is closed not very tightly with boards or stones, in which one 

 or two windows admit a sufficient light. The house is usually 

 composed of two rooms, separated by a partition which was left 

 in the hollowing out of the cave, and the furnishings are as com- 

 fortable as those possessed by the majority of the peasants of the 



Fig. 13. Entrance to the Orotto La Femme Nettve, Meschers. 



region 



Other shallower cavities outside of the main ones serve as 

 sheds for the wood which is used to cook, in earthen kettles, the 

 soup and the fish and oysters which are found in abundance at 

 the foot of the bank. The visitor who expects to find misery or 

 signs of hard life in these grotto homes will be disappointed ; in- 

 stead, he will see people as satisfied with their lot as Diogenes was 

 with his tub. 



