28 TRAVELS IN BRAZIL. 



back ground Meleda, came in sight, as also the 

 two rocks, Pelagosa, which stand in the middle of 

 the sea, and are inhabited by innumerable flocks 

 of gulls. We left the latter to the windward, and 

 sailed between them and the Italian continent. 

 The appearance of the sky had changed several 

 times, and we had some showers ; the wind, how- 

 ever, remained constant. Monopoli, and the long 

 edge of the coast of Apulia, came in sight on the 

 morning of the following day ; and towards eleven 

 o'clock we were in the vicinity of the ancient 

 Brundusium. We clearly distinguished the sea- 

 shore, which is covered with pines, the broad 

 crowns of which are visible at a great distance. 

 Two small forts seemed to us to lie to the north, 

 and a third to the south of the town, which stands 

 rather more in the back ground. Several watch- 

 towers, built to observe the Barbary pirates, stand 

 along the coast ; memorials of a different age 

 from that when Brundusium, the eastern station of 

 the Roman maritime power, sent formidable fleets 

 to sea^ and kept Greece subject to Italy. Cicero's 

 complaints, when, avoiding Rome, he came here to 

 pass over to the Peloponnesus, and Csesar's vast 

 efforts when besieging his rival Pompey, rise 

 before the mind of the traveller, on seeing this 

 ancient maritime town. St. Cataldo and the moun- 

 tains of Lezze became visible before we doubled 

 Capo della St. Maria, the extreme point of Apulia, 

 where, on the steep naked coast which stretched 



