136 REMINISCENCES OF A SPOETSMAN. 



frigate, the " Lavinia," with a barrel of the best wine of 

 the island, called " Malvosia de Buda," a sweet and 

 highly flavoured wine. They were all landed safely at 

 Malta, and subsequently I frequently partook of a glass 

 of the malvosia with Sir Hildebrand Oakes when din- 

 ing with him at the palace. Most of this wine was sent 

 to Cagliari for the king's table. 



After remaining about a fortnight at the bishop's 

 palace, waging war chiefly against the feathered tribe, 

 we returned to Cagliari. Our time was so fully occupied 

 in the sports of the field, that we could devote but a 

 small portion to the fair sex that adorned the court. A 

 marchioness, whose name I have forgotten, had some 

 handsome daughters, and we sometimes spent some 

 pleasant mornings in their society. The young ladies 

 were musical, and, like their mother, spoke French 

 fluently. They were, like many others of the nobility, 

 very poor. It was a painful sight to witness the 

 courtiers going to the king's receptions and evening 

 parties, walking through the dirty streets of Cagliari : 

 for, excepting the king, the Archbishop of Cagliari, and 

 Mr. Hill, no one kept a carriage, and I never recollecc 

 seeing a sedan chair. 



The forests and woods in Sardinia abound with a 

 variety of game : stags, wild boars, spotted deer, muf- 

 flons, &c. The stags are not so large as those in the 

 western countries of Europe, and are chiefly found 

 in the forests of Nurra, Sateis, Barbagia, and Gal- 

 lura. The daino, or deer, is a beautiful little animal, 

 and one of the chief objects of chase for those persons 

 who are allowed to carry firearms ; they are generally 

 found in herds of twenty or five and twenty, and are less 

 wary than the stag. The mufflon is a ruminating animal. 



