94 PEOSB HAIilEUTICS. 



ping of the canvas, and the tapping of the waves against 

 the tarry sides of the boat ; while ahead the sea is tra- 

 versed in all directions by zebecs and feluccaSj 



And every snow-white sail 

 Has spread its breast to the summer sea, 

 And swells to the freshening gale. 



Thus, for the luxury of a clean dip, you must row out 

 a mile from land, and then, towards the Ave Maria on 

 some hot July day (only an Englishman, lazzarone, or 

 dog ever thinks of it sooner), how refreshing it is to 

 plunge from the side of the baked boat, head over heels, 

 into the tepid waters of the Bay, none can know but 

 those who have tried it. No fear of Pliny's Briarean 

 Polypi, or the less apocryphal sharks, which, frequent as 

 they are in some parts of the Mediterranean, do not in- 

 trude here. The water on a summer evening is warmer 

 than the air by several degrees of Fahrenheit, but stUl 

 refreshingly cool to the skin, there being a strange dif- 

 ference in the sensations produced by an atmosphere at 

 seventy-five degrees, and immersion into water of the 

 same temperature.* 



At such a distance from shore the islands and main- 

 land show off to equal advantage, and the eye in pleasing 

 dilemma wanders from one horn of the Bay to the other, 

 vrithout knowing which to prefer. Here we follow the 

 rugged outline of the headlands about Sorrento, Castel- 

 lamare, and Vice ; next pass over to Capri with its white 

 townlet, Anacapri, perched on the brink of that awftd 

 precipice, only to be reached by the sloping acclivity of 

 the inland side after half a day's toilsome ascent ; then 



* Throughout the summer the average range about three feet 

 below the surface, and within a mile from the shore, is seventy- 

 five degrees, giviog those cold-blooded animals the fish a medium 

 considerably warmer to live in during this part of the year than 

 that of the warm-blooded animals on shore. 



