EUCALYPTUS NEAR ROME. 27 



a number of prisoaers were set to clean oiit the whole^ re- 

 move the accumulated mud^ and make drains. Within 

 the desolate spot there is now a garden ; and although it is 

 not yet in fine order, it is, at least in sunshine, a great 

 improvement upon the neglected land around. I venture to 

 give no exact history, but tell only such few things as 

 were told me at the spot. 



During the first season several of the monks died (I 

 think five was the number given), and of fever such as 

 marshes produce. A few specimens of Eucalyptus glo- 

 bulus were planted ; and as they grew well, a small garden 

 is now thinly covered over with various species. As 

 one enters there is a peculiar odour perceptible ; it is fra- 

 grant, pleasant, and resinous : some compare it to that 

 from turpentine, some to the black currant ; but every 

 one attempts to give the name of some other odour as evi- 

 dently mixed with this more prominent one. Most of 

 the plants are two or three years old, and about ten feet 

 high ; but there is a diversity, and the oldest has been 

 planted only five years. This largest was judged by myself 

 and others to be about thirty-five feet high : at the height 

 of fourteen inches from the ground it was eight inches in 

 diameter. 



Not one of the monks had died after the first year ; but 

 then the place had not been inhabited during the night 

 until last summer. Still it will be seen that the experiment 

 is a very small one and a very imperfect one. It is, how- 

 ever, important in this respect, that during the last summer 

 and autumn (the dangerous seasons) no one had died, whilst 

 during the first year there were several deaths. But it 

 must be remembered that the place had been cleaned out 

 and drained ; and placed, as the buildings were, in the lower 

 part of a valley, draining must have been much required ; 

 and the fact of mud being in the church itself, showed how 



