SECRETARY'S REPORT. 261 



handle fastened into a log of wood bent so that one end would 

 root into the ground. Tiie other implements were of nearly 

 equal rudeness, and yet the crops, owing to the richness of the 

 soil, to high manuring, or to some other cause, appeared to be 

 luxuriant, and to yield in abundance. 



During much of the journey in this part of Tuscany, women 

 of all ages were seen gathering the grass and herbage along the 

 railway and by the sides of the road. Every thing that would 

 do to braid was pulled, laid in heaps till the load was sufficient, 

 and then lugged oif on the top of the head. It reminded us 

 of the old woman of Goldsmith's " Deserted Village " : — 



"Yon widowed, solitary thing 

 That feebly bends beside the plashy spring, 

 She, wretched matron, forced in age, for bread, 

 To strip the brook with mantling cresses spread." 



It was only another of the innumerable instances of the 

 careful and minute painstaking to save every thing that could 

 possibly be turned to account. Here, and in many other parts 

 of the continent, we often saw women and boys going about 

 the streets, picking up every thing that could be made into 

 manure, the droppings of cattle and horses, with the most 

 scrupulous care, sometimes in aprons, more frequently in 

 baskets, which when full were thrown over the shoulder, with 

 straps to come under the arms, and borne off. 



We passed through the valley of the Arno, and arrived at 

 Florence towards evening, and the next morning went to drive 

 to the top of Fiesold, to look out over the whole region of 

 Florence — a landscape of surpassing loveliness. At our feet 

 almost stood Mario's villa. 



Fiesold was built by the Tuscans, long before the foundation 

 of Rome. Parts of the immense walls of the ancient town are 

 still in perfect preservation, though their antiquity can be 

 traced for more than four thousand, some say five thousand 

 years. There is, I suppose, no doubt that they have stood more 

 than four thousand years. Here we went through and had 

 the satisfaction of seeing the management of vineyards, under 

 the guidance of the tenant, who appeared to be very intelligent 

 and to take an interest in showing us the objects of most 

 interest, and among others the ruins of an ancient amphitheatre, 

 with the dens where the wild beasts were kept till let out into the 



