I'ARMERS' REGISTER— THE ROMAN MALARIA. 



659 



" Over this wild waste, no rural (Iwclliniic, nor 

 scattered hamlets, nor fields, nor o-ardens, such as 

 usually mark tiie approach to a pojiulous city, were 

 to be seen. All was ruin; fallen monuments of 

 Roman days, — ijrey towers of Gothic times, — 

 abandoned habitations of modern years, — alone 

 met the eye. No trace of man api)eared, except 

 in the lonely tomb, which told us he had been. 

 Rome herself was all that we beheld. Slie stood 

 alone in the wilderness, as in the world, surround- 

 ed by a desert of her own creation, — a desert, 

 Avliich accords but too well with her former great- 

 ness, and her present decay. It may perhaps be 

 soothing to the contemplation of the traveller, or 

 the fancy of the poet, to see the once beautiful 

 " Campagna di Roma,'' abandoned to the wild 

 luxuriance of nature, and covered only with the 

 defaced toml)s of her tyrants, and the scarce visi- 

 ble remains of the villas of her senators ; but it is 

 melancholy to reason and humanity to behold, an 

 immense tract of fertile land, in the immediate 

 vicinity of one of the greatest cities in the world, 

 pestilent with disease and death, and to know that, 

 like a devouring grave, it anniiaUij engulphs all of 

 human kind that toil upon its surface. The unfor- 

 tunate laborers, employed in the scanty cultiva- 

 tion occasionally given to the soil, to enable it to 

 produce pasturage for cattle, generally fall victims 

 to the baneful climate. Amidst the fearful loneli- 

 ness and stillness of this scene of desolation, as we 

 advanced through the long dreary tract that divi- 

 ded us from Rome, a few wretched peasants, whose 

 looks bespoke them victims of slow consuming 

 disease, occasionally reminded us of the tremen- 

 dous ravage of human life, which this invisible and 

 mysterious power is annually making." 



" I need scarcely add, that the season of the 

 malaria is during the summer, and that, from the 

 fall of the autumnal rains in October, till the re- 

 turn of the midsummer heats, the atmosphere is 

 perfect!)^ salubrious." 



" Thus the Campagna seems to be the alternate 

 region of life and death. Amidst all the ingeni- 

 ous, and imjjracticable plans that have been pro- 

 posed, to stop the progress of this dreadful scourge, 

 the cau.se of it has never yet been satisfactorily 

 explained; and till that be ascertained, it is obvi- 

 ous, that no remedy can be applied; if indeed it 

 be within human control, which is a more pre- 

 sumptuous than probable conclusion."* 



Description of Home. 



" My eyes dimmed with tears when I gazed for 

 the first time on Rome, and saw before me, the 

 great, the ancient, the eternal city— the acknow- 

 ledged queen of nations — the mistress of the world, 

 the scat of glory, and the land of patriots, of poets, 

 and of heroes. 



" Other cities, however great or distinguished, 

 are only the capitals of a country; but Rome is 

 the metropolis of the world. Recollections dear 

 to every human heart, in which every nation and 

 people can sympathise, seem to make it the com- 

 mon mother of all. The awful ruins of its former 

 greatness, the proud ornaments of its early years 

 of glory, the accumulated memorials of long ages 

 of vicissitude, and the noblest works of art and 

 genius in every age, unite, in giving it an interest 

 and a dignity, which no other spot on earth can 



♦ E.ome 19th Century, p. 100. 



ever boast. As I grazed tiiWil il.-^all thes long 

 story of its fame, the deeds of its herocS, the shades 

 of its philosophers, and the strains of its poets, 

 burst upon my memory, and filled my heart with 

 emotions that could not be repressed. 



" Yet who, without emotion, could tread the soil 

 ennol)led iiy so many ages of glory, or behold, un- 

 moved, a spot in whose very name there is en- 

 chantment.'' All that we have read, thought, 

 admired and worshipped from our earliest years, — 

 all that awakened our youthful enthusiasm, — all 

 that exalts the mind, fires the imagination, or 

 touches the heart, is concentered on the soil of 

 Italy, and amidst the ruins of Rome."* 



Who can peruse these observations, without 

 feeling the most anxious wish for the success of the 

 l)roposed measures to restore the fertility and the 

 salubrity of the Campagna di Roma.'' 



Ably has a poet sung, 



"'Tis Rome demands our tears, 

 The mistress of the world, the seat of empire, 

 The nurse of heroes, the delight of gods, — 

 That humbled tlie proud tyrants of the earth, 

 And set the nations free, — Rome is no more!" 



Perhaps the best plan would be, to have a com 

 pany erected, with a sufTicient capital, to purchase, 

 from the Roman government, the property of the 

 whole tract in question, under the oblis;ation of 

 improving it. The practicability of that improve- 

 ment, I hope, has Iteen clearly pointed out in the 

 preceding observations, and that nothing is want- 

 ing to complete that great object, but adequate 

 funds to carry it on. It would certainly be neces- 

 sary, previously to have the whole tract examined 

 by skilful engineers from England, accustomed to 

 the drainage and improvement of fenny districts, 

 and who arc also well acquainted with the burning 

 and management of lime, for on the utility of that 

 manure, great reliance may be placed. But, on 

 the whole, there can be no doubt, that by the judi- 

 cious application of skill and capital, the "Cam- 

 pagna di Roma," may be rendered as productive, 

 and as healtlty a district, as any tract, of a similar 

 extent, and similarly situated, in any part of Eu- 

 rope. 



The experience both of England and of Scotland, 

 has proved, in the most convincing manner, that 

 by the introduction of agricultural imjirovements, 

 the greatest changes may be effected in the cli- 

 mate of a district; and that it is possible lo have 

 luxuriantcrops produced on the same soil, "where 

 formerly, noxious vapors abounded, impregnated 

 with disease and death." 



Attention to this interesting subject however, 

 ought not to be restricted to the neighborhood of 

 Rome. In other parts of Europe, more especially 

 in the department of the Bouches du Rhone in 

 France, and above all, in the neighborhood of 

 Aries, the same measures might be adopted, ?r(7^ 

 almost the certainty of success, and an extensive 

 district exempted from disease, and brought into a 

 state of productive cultivation. At present, the 

 inhabitants of that rich country, pine under the 

 attacks of agues during the greatest part of the 

 year; whereas, by the means above suggested, 

 that disease might be totally extirpaled,and a dis- 

 trict now unproductive, would be rendered the 

 granary of France. 



■ Rome 1 Sth Century, vol. i. p. 79. 



