SARDINIA AND ITS WIIJ) SIIKEP 11 



inability to liold liiniself iipi'i^lit. I am ai'niul it cannot 

 be said llial llicx" aic as simple as doves. JMany of tlieni 

 arc, it iiiii>i lie confessed, sad rogues and sna|)})ers up of 

 unconsidered trifles ; but tlicii' Ixmhomie covers a mull it udf 

 of sins, and 1 confess I liked them. 



The lanouaoc bears traces of the same mixed origin as 

 ihr [)eoplr, and man\- Aralue words are used; but three 

 hundred years of iSpanish occupation has left the most 

 marked impression. Some of our party who knew S})anish 

 and no Italian had no difficulty in makinu'' themselves 

 understood. 



We had intended to establish a camp in some valley 

 high up in the best nioutlon ranges, but our camp efpii})age 

 had had to be left behind with the 1)ulk of our heavy 

 luij'ixao'e, so that until it arrived this scheme was out «»f 

 the question ; and though we began with two or three 

 brilliant days, for the rest of our stay the weather was 

 such as to make four walls and a roof a necessit}" of 

 existence. I have said that there were no houses outside 

 of the villages and towns. The exceptions tn the rule are 

 the cantoniere. These houses arc placed about ten nules 

 apart on the Government roads, which now traverse the 

 mountains in \arious directions. They are usud primaril}' 

 for the accommodation of the cantonieri, wdio keep the 

 roads in <U'(lci' ; i)ut thev also contain, as a rule, a laro'e 

 empty barrack-i'tiom for ilir shelter df tra\ cIIits, aud a 

 similar one for their horses. In one of these houses, at a 

 height of nearly four thousand feet, aud close under some 

 of the highest peaks on the ishnul. we took up oui' (puirters, 

 afterwards moving- to the ixuarddiouse of a mine a few 

 miles farther on. The nearest habitation, a small villace 



