192 FIRST JOURNEY IN EUROPE. [1839, 
longed and repeated fainter and fainter for nearly a 
minute. ... 
The coast at Marseilles and that I saw yesterday 
may be described in a few words: bare, jagged, sterile, 
rocky mountains; scarcely high enough to be pictur- 
esque, perfectly destitute of verdure, barely support- 
ing here and there a few stunted olive-trees. We 
passed Toulon and had a distant view. We sailed 
between the mainland and the islands of Hyéres, so 
remarkable for their fine climate and healthfulness, 
but they did not look very inviting to me. 
When I rose this morning the scenery had become 
bolder and more interesting. ye were where the 
Alps first come down to the sea, and we have since 
sailed along a coast so closely skirted by the Maritime 
Alps, the chain which passing into Italy forms the 
Apeninnes, that there is scarcely room to construct a 
road between. The loftier peaks, the whole day, were 
covered with snow, in fine contrast with the gray and 
sterile cliffs below and the dark blue sea which seems 
to lave their base, for the Mediterranean has the deep 
azure tint of mid-ocean quite up to the shore. There 
are many pretty villages also, which either seem hung 
on the mountain’s side or to rise out of the water. In 
one place I counted twelve in a single view, by no 
means a wide one. We passed Savona, the town 
where the pope lived while Napoleon was master of 
Italy. Here the hills are more fertile, and vines, 
olives, and oranges are cultivated wherever room or 
soil enough to plant them can be found. . . . 
Iy THE HARBOR OF LeGHORN, Monday evening, five o’clock. 
I must tell you of the pretty view I had Saturday 
night. My room, I think I mentioned, looked directly 
