SECRETARY'S REPORT. 257 



largely engaged in the preparation of silk, thread and per- 

 fumery. A lofty peak rises up between the old town and the 

 new, close by the shore of the bay, and affords a most beautiful 

 and extensive view of the sea, of the city at its base, and of 

 the surrounding country. This peak is covered with trees and 

 walks, cemeteries and an ancient chateau. The century plant 

 here grows wild and luxuriantly, and some few had shot up 

 their rare and lofty flower-stalks, and were covered with beau- 

 tiful blossoms. The fig, the olive, the mulberry, the peach, 

 and other fruits are abundant, in and around Nice. 



Cimi^s is some four or five miles out of the town, and con- 

 tains an ancient and extensive convent, and the interesting 

 ruins of a grand old Roman amphitheatre, whicli we visited. 

 Its size indicated that it must have been made to accommodate 

 many thousands of people. 



Here the grounds around the numerous villas were surround- 

 ed by very high fences on either side of the road, built solid, 

 so as to make them very difficult to scale, to prevent the access 

 of intruders. Every thing indicated the most careful guard 

 against theft. The profusion of fruit and the luxuriance of 

 vegetation characterize the whole country. Nature is lavish 

 of her favors here. 



A day was all that we could devote to Nice, but it was suffi- 

 cient to see the town, the churches and the country around, 

 and just at night we were on the way again for Genoa, and the 

 next morning found us entering the harbor of that beautiful 

 city of palaces, the port of Sardinia. 



Genoa contains a population of nearly a hundred and fifty 

 thousand, and manufactures large quantities of filagree silver 

 articles of various descriptions for export. The cathedral of 

 San Lorenzo, built in the eleventh century, is a very imposing 

 structure, while the Chapel of St. John the Baptist, connected 

 with it, and into which no female is allowed to enter except on 

 one day in the week, is the richest portion of it. What could 

 have led that old Pope Innocent the Eighth to impose such 

 a restriction upon the freedom of women ? Was it pater- 

 nal solicitude ? fear of disturbing the devotion of his dear 

 sons ? And why admit the pretty feet to cross the marble 

 threshold at all after excluding them six days in the week ? 

 I do not know that tradition has left a satisfactory answer. 



33 



