EUROPE 305 



try, fifteen feet high perhaps and as many long, with 

 the boatmen leaning against it below or standing on 

 the top to steer with their long poles, without a new 

 sense of pleasure. 



Our leave-taking was quite impressive — all the 

 three gondoliers brought bouquets to each one of us, 

 and as our padrona said, we had quite the air of 

 a floral procession. 



The change from the sirocco of Venice to these 

 mountain solitudes w^here the air is pure and fresh 

 and full of vitality is wonderful. We are now at 

 Perarolo, the sweetest little tow^n with mountains 

 on either side and a rushing river, where the women 

 are washing their linen and the men are collect- 

 ing the timbers brought down on the stream and 

 putting them on rafts to transport them. 



Cortina, Vol d''Ampezzo, August 2 

 . . . My chief pleasure here (and it is a very great 

 one), is in my morning tramps. I sometimes wonder 

 whether [if] you were here, you would join me in my 

 early cup of tea and be off by seven o'clock. As 

 my companions are not given to this style of en- 

 joyment, I go alone, and there is something rather 

 fascinating in the solitude. Occasionally I meet — 

 not exactly with adventures for they do not deserve 

 so grand a name, — but with incidents which are 

 sometimes interesting, and at least amusing. Yester- 

 day morning at the end of my ascent (which was 

 accompanied by magnificent views with endless 

 changes of light and shade all the way) I stopped 



