THE SOLE OP THE FOOT. 147 



friend to walk to Eome from Baccano, and, in order 

 to be more comfortable, lie determined to walk bare- 

 footed. 



' Having,' lie writes, ' been accustomed to go 

 without shoes month after month in the rugged 

 forests of Guiana, I took it for granted that I could 

 do the same on the pavement of his Holiness Pope 

 Gregory the Sixteenth, never once reflecting that 

 some fifteen years had elapsed from the time that 

 I could go barefooted with comfort and impunity. 

 During the interval, however, the sequel will show 

 that the soles of my feet had undergone considerable 

 alteration.' 



The result to which he alludes was that his feet 

 were terribly cut and bleeding before he had tra- 

 versed four miles, and that he was confined to the 

 sofa for two months. Of course the pavement was 

 comparatively smooth, and not nearly so likely to 

 injure the foot as the roadless ways which he tra- 

 versed in Guiana, but the sole of the foot, for want 

 of use, had lost its former toughness. 



I use this last word intentionally. The popular 

 idea, which until within a few years I myself shared, 

 is that when the boot, or shoe, or sandal is not worn, 

 the sole of the foot becomes hard. Now, so far from 

 being hard, it is quite soft. It is true that the skin 

 becomes extremely thick, but at the same time it 



