382 SAN REMO. 



place, too. is then more apparent as it is not siitficiently 

 concealed b\' the wild splendour of surrounding nature. 

 The inhabitants have, as vet, but little experience of 

 strangers; the)- regard them with mistrust and do not 

 even beg of them. 



From Riomaggiore, the last town of the Cinque 

 Terre, ^'ou cross the mountain to Spczia. The outlook 

 over the decph* indented gulf, suddenh" disclosed to view, 

 is glorious. The jagged peaks of the ]3recipitous Apuanian 

 Alps are white with dazzling snow: and the coast of 

 the gulf is still bare. We must return hither at a later 

 season of the A'car. 



C[IAPTKR Vlll. 



On the evening of the next daA' I arrived at San 

 Remo. The starlit sky enticed me into the open air 

 at a late hour. Close b\' the gate of the 1 h'ltel Ro\al [ 

 found m^'sclf once more under the stateh' Date Palms 

 of the garden, and the impression was renewed which 

 these majestic forms of vegetation alwavs leave upon my 

 mind. I had missed tliese trees ol late, yet scarcely 

 knew how much I missed them. Here in the garden 

 thev rose like slender pillars against the sk^' line, illumi- 

 nated on one side b^' the bright lights from the windows 

 of the hotel. High over my head their fronds formed 

 intersecting arches, like those in the roof of a Gothic cath- 

 edral. Above them stretched awav the spacious firmament 

 with its innumerable stars into the depths of which the 

 eye could penetrate so deeplv, even through the darkness 



