254 Mary Somerville. 



early hour there was a very fine eclipse of the sun, 

 though not total at Perugia or the neighbourhood; 

 the chill and unnatural gloom were very striking. 



Perugia is one of the places in which the ancient 

 athletic game of pallone is played with spirit. It is 

 so graceful when well played that I wonder our 

 active young men have not adopted it. A large 

 leather ball filled with condensed air is struck and 

 returned again by the opponent with the whole 

 force of their right arms, covered to the elbow with 

 a spiked wooden case. The promptness and activity 

 required to keep up the ball is very great, and the 

 impetus with which it strikes is such, that the boxes 

 for spectators in the amphitheatres dedicated to this 

 game are protected by strong netting. It is a very 

 complicated game, and, I am told, somewhat re- 

 sembles tennis. 



* * * * 



On leaving Perugia we went for a few days to 

 Assissi, spent a day at Chiusi, and then returned to 

 Eome, which we found in a great state of excitement^ 

 on account of three steamers which had just ar- 

 rived from England to ply on the Tiber. The Pope 

 and Cardinals made a solemn procession to bless 

 them. No doubt they would have thought our 

 method of dashing a bottle of wine on a vessel on 

 naming her highly profane. 



