THE BAY OF SPEZZIA. 63 
out brick and stone, and a basketful of healthy 
plants, shortly to be put on the lower tier of the 
Warwickshire Fernery. At La Spezzia in Italy 
I found a diminutive form of Ceterach, which 
might be called pinnate. It v^ras growing on a 
rock within a few yards of the tideless sea, facing 
the glorious bay, where a whole fleet could ride 
at anchor. Nothing could exceed the grandeur 
of that Spezzia bay on a clear Sabbath morning 
in autumn, a cloudless sky overhead, and the 
deep blue waves breaking into white ripples about 
the huge men of war, whose gay pennons bespeak 
their nation. Eight-oared boats are passing from 
the ships to land, bringing, it may be, some of 
their crews to join the motley throng of worship- 
pers gathered in the cathedral to hear mass. 
Some of the women kneeling there have white 
linen folded like dinner-napldns on their heads ; 
others have the Spezzia hat — like a little cheeseplate, 
made of fancy straw, and trimmed with scarlet 
braid; others, again, have the Genoese headdress 
—a gay cotton shawl like a counterpane, wrapped 
