88 LIFE OF THE A UTHOR. 



the buffaloes were wicked brutes, and would gore me to death. Hav- 

 ing singled out a tree or two of easy ascent where the herd was 

 grazing, I advanced close up to it, calculating that one or other of 

 the trees would be a protection to me, in case the brutes should 

 prove unruly. They all ceased eating, and stared at me as though 

 they had never seen a man before. Upon this, I immediately 

 threw my body, arms, and legs into all kinds of antic movements, 

 grumbling loudly at the same time ; and the whole herd, bulls, cows, 

 and calves, took off, as fast as ever they could pelt, leaving me to 

 return sound and whole to the inn, with a hearty laugh against the 

 Italians. 



" After I had seen the ram of Apulia in Naples, I no longer con- 

 sidered Homer's story of Ulysses with the sheep of Polyphemus so 

 very much out of the way.* 



" We took the advantage of a fine steamer for Sicily, but not with 

 any intention of staying there, as our projected return to Rome 

 would merely admit of a transient visit to that renowned island. I 

 had long wished for an opportunity to see Scylla and Charybdis ; 

 the first, so notorious formerly for the howling of her dogs under 

 water, 



* Scylla rapax canibus, Siculo latrare profundo;' 



the second, terrible for its hostility to ships, 

 ' Ratibusque inimica Charybdis.' 



" Stromboli's smoking crater was seen in the distance, as we were 

 advancing to these famous straits. But I was sadly disappointed 

 with their appearance, for they showed nothing of that tremendous 

 agitation so forcibly described by the ancients. I concluded at last, 



* When Ulysses and his companions had succeeded in extinguishing the eye of 

 the Cyclops, the blind monster stretched his arm across the mouth of the cavern 

 that they might not escape by passing out with his sheep. To elude his precau- 

 tions, Ulysses tied sets of three rams together, and under the middle ram of each 

 set he bound a comrade, who was thus flanked by the outside animals. Ulysses 

 himself was content with a single ram, the biggest of the whole so big, that, 

 hanging beneath its belly, and clasping its neck, with his hands buried in its wool, 

 he escaped detection, although the Cyclops stopped this king of the flock to 

 stroke it affectionately. [ED.] 



