AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 203 



It has been already suggested that the peculiar profile of the 

 country suits this wonderful, economical mode of enriching poor 

 and exhausted lands, and making arid plains yield the richest 

 grasses and most luxuriant plants. And what is more and most 

 of all, Northern Italy has the finest schools, the best workshops, 

 and the richest marts of trade to be found on the peninsula. The 

 next division lies south of the declivities of the Appenines. This 

 chain of mountains is so elevated as to stop the cold winds of the 

 north, and the nearness of the two seas, that both the shores of 

 Italy have a great influence in softening the climate. Though 

 you do not have here the piercing frosts of Switzerland, yet the 

 heat of summer is very great. The vine has more strength and 

 taste than those that grow near the Alps. The orange ripens its 

 rich fruit in the open air, and commands most every slope and 

 eminence. A series of terraces are raised, step by step, upon the 

 sides of mountains, artificially sustained by walks of grass, and 

 crowned with agreeable sites of a great variety of trees loaded 

 with the choicest fruits. 



Here the eye seldom rests on pastures or meadows. Nature, 

 aided by the hand of man, shows her magnificent operations. 

 The palm and olive, natives of tropical climes, with the peach 

 and apricot demonstrate the refining influence of a volcanic soil 

 and sunny sky. 



The country of Malaria, on those romantic plains which be- 

 gin near the river Arno, and stretch to Terracina, the Jinxur of 

 the Romans. It lies to the east, on the flanks of the Appenines, 

 and bounded on the west by the shores washed by the Tuscan 

 Sea. To speak more correctly, this region is the spot where the 

 marsh or intermittent fevers spread so nuich misery and desola- 

 tion among the inhabitants, and prove the greatest scourge to the 

 stranger. This sj^rings from the decay of vegetable matter, 

 which is certain death on the Campo Morto, a little south of the 

 city of Rome, when one is exposed to night air. The Malaria 

 never occurs while the plants are growing and it only thrives 

 when the naked earth has no shade and no trees to absorl) the 

 pestiferous gas. Were the Sacred Groves, the pride of the 

 ancient lords, restored, accompanied with orchards and copses of 

 trees scattered over tlie present desolation, this frightful curse 

 would flee the land. This i!l-lated waste has been the scene of 

 some of the most interesting events in ancient history, but is now 

 the abode of human l)eings swayed by the must savage propen- 

 sities, leading a life of indolence, and subsisting by pilfering and 



