Rollo in Rome Page 2

  CHAPTER II.

  THE JOURNEY.

  There are a great many curious things to be observed in travelling bythe public conveyances on the continent of Europe. One is the way ofdriving the horses. It is a very common thing to have them driven, notby coachmen, but by postilions. There is a postilion for each pair ofhorses, and he sits upon the nigh horse of the pair. Thus he rides anddrives at the same time.

  In these cases there is no driver's seat in front of the coach. Or ifthere is a seat in front, it is occupied by the passengers. All thedriving is done by the postilions.

  The postilions dress in a sort of livery, which is quite gay in itsappearance, being trimmed with red. The collars and the lapels of theirjackets, too, are ornamented here and there with figures of stage hornsand other emblems of their profession. They also wear enormously longand stout boots. These boots come up above their knees. They carry onlya short whip, for they only have to whip the horse that they are upon,and the one which is by the side of him, and so they do not have toreach very far. When there are four horses, there are two postilions,and when there are six, three.

  A large diligence, with six horses, and a gayly dressed postilionmounted on one of the horses of each pair, makes a very grandappearance, you may depend, in coming, upon the gallop, into the streetsof a town--the postilions cracking their whips, and making as much noiseas they can, and all the boys and girls of the street coming to thedoors and windows to see.

  "I am glad we are going to have postilions, uncle George," said Rollo,as they were getting into the coach.

  "Why?" asked Mr. George.

  "Because I like the looks of them," said Rollo; "and then we always gofaster, too, when we have postilions. Besides, when there is a seat fora driver on the coach, it blocks up our front windows; but now ourwindows are all clear."

  "Those are excellent reasons--all of them," said Mr. George.

  The postilions did indeed drive very fast, when they once got upon theroad. There was a delay of half an hour, at the gate of the city, forthe examination of the passports; during which time the postilions,having dismounted from their horses, stood talking together, and playingoff jokes upon each other. At length, when the passports were ready,they sprang into their saddles, and set the horses off upon the run.

  The road, on leaving the gates, entered a wide and beautiful avenue,which was at this time filled with peasants coming into town, for thatday was market day in Naples. The people coming in were dressed in themost curious costumes. Multitudes were on foot, others rode crowdedtogether in donkey carts. Some rode on the backs of donkeys, with a loadof farming produce before or behind them. The women, in such cases, satsquare upon the donkey's back, with both their feet hanging down on oneside; and they banged the donkey with their heels to make him get out ofthe way so that the diligence could go by.

  The country was very rich and beautiful, and it was cultivated everywhere like a garden. Here and there were groves of mulberries,--the treeon which the silk worm feeds,--and there were vineyards, with the vinesjust bursting into leaf, and now and then a little garden of orangetrees. In the mean time the postilions kept cracking their whips, andthe horses galloped on at such a speed that Rollo had scarcely time tosee the objects by the road side, they glided so swiftly by.

  "Won't the silk worms eat any kind of leaves but mulberry leaves?" heasked.

  "No," said Mr. George, "at least the mulberry silk worms will not. Thereare a great many different kinds of silk worms in the world; that is,there are a great many different kinds of caterpillars that spin athread and make a ball to wrap up their eggs in, and each one lives on adifferent plant or tree. If you watch the caterpillars in a garden, youwill see that each kind lives on some particular leaf, and will nottouch any other."

  "Yes," said Rollo, "we found a big caterpillar once on the caraway inour garden, and we shut him up in a box, in order to see what sort of abutterfly he would turn into, and we gave him different kinds of leavesto eat, but he would not eat any but caraway leaves."

  "And what became of him at last?" asked Mr. George.

  "O, he turned into a butterfly," said Rollo. "First he turned into achrysalis, and then he turned into a butterfly."

  "There are a great many different kinds of silk worms," said Mr. George;"but in order to find one that can be made useful, there are severalconditions to be fulfilled."

  "What do you mean by conditions to be fulfilled?" asked Rollo.

  "Why, I mean that there are several things necessary, in order that thesilk worm should be a good one to make silk from. In the first place,the fibre of the silk that he spins must be fine, and also strong. Inthe next place, it must easily unwind from the cocoon. Then the animalmust be a tolerably hardy one, so as to be easily raised in greatnumbers. Then the plant or tree that it feeds upon must be a thrifty andhardy one, and easily cultivated. The mulberry silk worm has been foundto answer to these conditions better than any hitherto known; but thereare some others that I believe they are now trying, in order to see ifthey will not be better still. They are looking about in all parts ofthe world to see what they can find."

  "Who are looking?" asked Rollo.

  "The Society of Acclimatation," replied Mr. George. "That is a societyfounded in Paris, and extending to all parts of the world, that isemployed in finding new plants and new animals that can be made usefulto man, or finding some that are useful to man in one country, and sointroducing them into other countries. They are trying specially to findnew silk worms."

  "There are some kinds of caterpillars in America," said Rollo, "thatwind their silk up into balls. I mean to get some of the balls when I gohome, and see if I can unwind them."

  "That will be an excellent plan," said Mr. George.

  "If I can only find the end," said Rollo.

  "There must be some art required to find the end," rejoined Mr. George,"and then I believe there is some preparation which is necessary to makethe cocoons unwind."

  "I wish I knew what it was," said Rollo.

  "You can inquire of some of the people when we stop to dine," repliedMr. George.

  "But I don't know enough Italian for that," said Rollo.

  "That's a pity," said Mr. George.

  In the mean time the horses trotted and galloped on until they had goneabout ten miles, and then at length the postilions brought them up atthe door of an inn, in a village. Fresh horses were standing all readyat the door, with new postilions. The postilions that had been drivingtook out their horses and led them away, and then came themselves to thewindow of the coupe and held out their caps for their _buono mano_, asthey call it; that is, for a small present.

  Every body in Italy, who performs any service, expects, in addition tobeing paid the price regularly agreed upon for the service, to receivea present, greater or smaller according to the nature of the case. Thispresent is called the _buono mano_.[2]

  [Footnote 2: Pronounced _bono mahno_.]

  The postilions always expect a buono mano from the passengers in thestage coach, especially from those who ride in the coupe.

  Rollo gave them a few coppers each, for himself and for Mr. George, andjust as he had done so, a young man without any hat upon his head, butwith a white napkin under his arm, came out of the hotel, and advancingto the window of the coupe asked Mr. George and Rollo, in French, ifthey wished to take any thing.

  "No," said Mr. George. "Not any thing."

  "Yes, uncle George," said Rollo, "let us go and see what they have got."

  He said this, of course, in English, but immediately changing hislanguage into French, he asked the waiter what they could have.

  The waiter said that they could have some hot coffee. There would not betime for any thing else.

  "Let us have some hot coffee, uncle George," said Rollo, eagerly.

  "Very well," said Mr. George.

  So Rollo gave the order, and the waiter went into the house. In a momenthe returned with two cups of very nice coffee, which he brought on atray. By this time, howe
ver, the fresh horses were almost harnessed, sothat it was necessary to drink the coffee quick. But there was nodifficulty in doing this, for it was very nice, and not too hot. Rollohad barely time to give back the cups and pay for the coffee before thediligence began to move. The postilions started the horses with astrange sort of a cry, that they uttered while standing beside them, andthen leaped into the saddles just as they were beginning to run.

  The journey was continued much in this way during the whole day. Thecountry was delightful; the road was hard and smooth as a floor, and thehorses went very fast. In a word, Rollo had a capital ride.

  After traversing a comparatively level country for some miles, the roadentered a mountainous region, where there was a long ascent. At the footof this ascent was a post house, and here they put on six horses insteadof four. Of course there were now three postilions. But although thecountry was mountainous, the ascent was not steep, for the road wascarried up by means of long windings and zigzags, in such a manner thatthe rise was very regular and gradual all the way. The consequence was,that the six horses took the diligence on almost as fast up themountains as the four had done on the level ground.

  About five o'clock in the afternoon the diligence made a good stop, inorder to allow the passengers to dine.

  "We will go in and take dinner with the rest," said Mr. George, "and sosave the things that we have put up for a moonlight supper on thePontine Marshes."

  "Yes," said Rollo, "I shall like that very much. Besides, I want to goand take dinner with them here, for I want to see how they do it."

  The place where the diligence stopped was a town called Mola di Gaeta.It stood in a very picturesque situation, near the sea. For though theroad, in leaving Naples, had led at first into the interior of thecountry, and had since been winding about among the mountains, it hadnow come down again to the margin of the sea.

  The entrance to the hotel was under a great archway. There were doors tothe right and left from this archway, leading to staircases and toapartments. The passengers from the diligence were conducted through oneof these doors into a very ancient looking hall, where there was a tableset for dinner, with plates enough for twenty persons--that being aboutthe number of passengers contained in the various compartments of thediligence.

  On the opposite side of the arched way was a door leading to anotherhall, where there was a table set for the conductor and the postilions.

  After waiting a few minutes, the company of passengers took their seatsat the table. Besides the plates for the guests, there was a row ofdishes extending up and down the middle of the table, containing apples,pears, oranges, nuts, raisins, little cakes, and bon-bons of variouskinds. There were also in this row two vases containing flowers.

  Excepting these fruits and sweetmeats, there was nothing eatable uponthe table when the guests sat down. It is not customary in Europeandinners to put any thing upon the table except the dessert.

  The other dishes are brought round, and presented one by one to eachguest. First came the soup. When the soup had been eaten, and the soupplates had been removed, then there was boiled beef. The beef was upontwo dishes, one for each side of the table. It was cut very nicely inslices, and each dish had a fork and a spoon in it, for the guests tohelp themselves with. The dishes were carried along the sides of thetable by the waiters, and offered to each guest, the guests helpingthemselves in succession to such pieces as they liked.

  After the beef had been eaten, the plates were all changed, and thencame a course of fried potatoes; then, after another change of plates, acourse of mutton chops; then green peas; then roast beef; thencauliflower with drawn butter; then roast chicken with salad; andlastly, some puddings. For each separate article of all this dinnerthere was a fresh plate furnished to each guest.

  After the pudding plates were removed, small plates for the dessert werefurnished; and then the fruit, and the nuts, and the bon-bons wereserved; and the dinner was over.

  For every two guests there was a decanter of wine. At least it was whatthey called wine, though in taste it was more like sour cider. Thepeople generally used it by pouring a little of it into their water.

  When the dinner was over, the passengers all paid the amount that wascharged for it, and each gave, besides, a buono mano to the waiter whohad waited upon his side of the table. By this time the diligence wasready, and they all went and took their seats in it again.

  The sun was now going down, and in the course of an hour the last of itsrays were seen gilding the summits of the mountains. Soon afterwardsthe evening began to come on.

  "Before a great while," said Mr. George, "we shall begin to draw near tothe frontier."

  "Yes," said Rollo, "the frontier between the kingdom of Naples and thedominions of the pope. They will examine the baggage there, I suppose."

  "No," said Mr. George; "they will not examine the baggage till we get toRome."

  "I thought they always examined the baggage at the frontier, when wecame into any new country," said Rollo.

  "They do," said Mr. George, "unless the baggage is under the charge ofpublic functionaries; and then, to save time, they often take it intothe capital, and examine it there. I asked one of the passengers at thedinner table, and he said that the trunks were not to be opened till weget to Rome."

  "They will examine the passports, I suppose," said Rollo.

  "Yes," replied Mr. George, "they will, undoubtedly, examine thepassports at the frontier."

  You cannot pass from one country in Europe to another, any where,without stopping at the last military station of the country that youleave, to have your passport examined and stamped, in token ofpermission given you to go out, and also at the first military stationof the country which you are about to enter, to have them examined andstamped again, in token of permission to come in. All this, as you maysuppose, is very troublesome. Besides that, there are fees to pay,which, in the course of a long journey, amount to a considerable sum.

  Besides the passport business which was to be attended to, there was agrand change of the diligence establishment at the frontier. The coachitself, which came from Naples, and also the conductor and postilions,were all left at the border, and the passengers were transferred to anew turnout which came from Rome. Indeed, there was a double change; forthe Roman diligence brought a load of passengers from Rome to meet theNeapolitan one at the border, and thus each company of travellers had tobe transferred to the establishment belonging to the country which theywere entering.

  This change was made in a post house, in a solitary place near thefrontier. It caused a detention of nearly an hour, there were so manyformalities to go through. It was late in the evening, and the work wasdone by the light of torches and lanterns. The two diligences werebacked up against each other, and then all the trunks and baggage weretransferred from the top of one coach to the top of the other, withoutbeing taken down at all. The baggage in these diligences is alwayspacked upon the top.

  You would think that this would make the coach top heavy, and so it doesin some degree; but then the body of the coach below is so large andheavy, that the extra weight above is well counterpoised; and then,besides, the roads are so smooth and level, and withal so hard, thatthere is no danger of an upset.

  The work of shifting the baggage from one diligence to the other wasperformed under an archway. There was a door leading from this archwayinto a large office, where the two companies of passengers wereassembled, waiting for the coaches to be ready. All these passengerswere loaded with carpet bags, knapsacks, valises, bundles of umbrellasand canes, and other such light baggage which they had had with theminside the coaches. Many of them were sitting on chairs and benchesaround the sides of the room, with their baggage near them. Others werewalking about the room, changing money with each other; that is, thosethat were going from Rome to Naples were changing the Roman money, whichthey had left, for Neapolitan money. The money of one of these countriesdoes not circulate well in the other country. In the middle of the roomwas a great table, wher
e the conductors and other officials were at workwith papers and accounts. Rollo could not understand what they weredoing.

  Rollo walked about the office, looking at the different passengers, andobserving what was going on, while Mr. George remained near the coaches,to watch the transfer of the baggage.

  "I want to be sure," said Mr. George, "that our trunk is there, and thatthey shift it over to the Roman coach."

  "They are changing money inside," said Rollo. "Have you got any that youwant to have changed?"

  "No," said Mr. George. "I did not know that we could change here; and Icalculated closely, and planned it so as not to have any of the Naplesmoney left."

  "I have got only two or three pieces," said Rollo, "and those I am goingto carry home to America for coins."

  At length the changes were completed, and Mr. George and Rollo, and alsoall the other passengers who had come in the diligence from Naples,began to take their places in the coach for Rome; while at the same timethe other company got into the Naples coach, which was now going toreturn. The conductor came for his _buono mano_, the new horses wereharnessed in, the postilions leaped into the saddles, and thus bothparties set out upon their night ride. It was not far from nine o'clock.

  THE PONTINE MARSHES.]

  "And now," said Mr. George, "before a great while we shall come upon thePontine Marshes."

  The Pontine Marshes form an immense tract of low and level land, whichhave been known and celebrated in history for nearly two thousand years.Though called marshes, they are so far drained by ancient canals thatthe land is firm enough for grass to grow upon it, and for flocks ofsheep and herds of cattle to feed; but yet it is so low and sounhealthy, that it is utterly uninhabitable by man. The extent of thesemarshes is immense. The road traverses them in a direct line, and on aperfect level, for twenty-five or thirty miles, without passing a singlehabitation, except the post houses, and in the middle a solitary inn.

  And yet there is nothing desolate or dreary in the aspect of the PontineMarshes. On the contrary the view on every side, in passing across them,is extremely beautiful. The road is wide, and smooth, and level, and isbordered on each side with a double row of very ancient and venerabletrees, which give to it, for the whole distance, the character of amagnificent avenue. Think of a broad and handsome avenue, runningstraight as an arrow for twenty-five miles!

  Beyond the trees, on one side, there is a wide canal. This canal runsparallel to the road, and you often meet boats coming or going upon it.Beyond the canal, and beyond the trees on the other side, there extends,as far as the eye can reach, one vast expanse of living green, as smoothand beautiful as can be imagined. This immense tract of meadow isdivided here and there by hedges or palings, and now and then a prettygrove appears to vary the scene. Immense flocks of sheep, and herds ofhorses and cattle, are seen feeding every where, and sometimes herdsmen,on horseback galloping to and fro, attending to their charge.

  Mr. George and Rollo had had a fine opportunity to see the scenery ofthe Pontine Marshes when they came to Naples, for then they crossed themby day light. Now, however, it was night, and there was not much to beseen except the gnarled and venerable trunks of the trees, on each sideof the road, as the light of the diligence lanterns flashed upon them.

  The postilions drove exceedingly fast all the way over the marshes. Thestage stopped three times to change horses. Mr. George kept up acontinual conversation with Rollo all the way, in order to prevent himfrom going to sleep; for, as I have said before, it is considereddangerous to sleep while on the marshes.

  About midnight Rollo proposed that they should eat their supper.

  "No," said Mr. George, "we will keep our supper for the last thing. Aslong as we can keep awake without it we will."

  So they went on for two hours longer. About one o'clock the moon rose,and the moonbeams shining in through the windows of the coupe, enlivenedthe interior very much.

  "The moonlight makes it a great deal pleasanter," said Rollo.

  "Yes," said Mr. George, "and it will make it a great deal moreconvenient for us to eat our supper."

  The diligence stopped at a post house to change horses, a little beforetwo, and immediately after it set out again. Mr. George said that it wastime for them to take their supper. So Rollo opened the two bags, andtook out from one the chicken and the two rolls, and from the other thebottle of coffee and the oranges. He placed the things, as he took themout, in a large pocket before him, in the front of the coupe. Mr. Georgetook two newspapers out of his knapsack, one for Rollo and one forhimself, to spread in their laps while they were eating. Then, with asharp blade of his pocket knife, he began to carve the chicken.

  The chicken was very tender, and the rolls were very nice; and as,moreover, both the travellers were quite hungry, they found the supperin all respects excellent. For drink, they had the juice of the oranges.To drink this juice, they cut a round hole in one end of the orange, andthen run the blade of the knife in, in all directions, so as to break upthe pulp. They could then drink out the juice very conveniently.

  At the close of the supper they drank the coffee. The coffee was cold,it is true, but it was very good, and it made an excellent ending to themeal.

  They made the supper last as long as possible, in order to occupy thetime. It was three o'clock before it was finished and the papers clearedaway. At half past three, Rollo, in looking out at the window, saw asort of bank by the side of the road; and on observing attentively, heperceived that there was a curve in the road itself, before them.

  "Uncle George," said he, "we have got off the marshes!"

  "I verily believe we have," said Mr. George.

  "So now we may go to sleep," said Rollo.

  "Yes," said Mr. George. "I'll lay my head over into the corner, and youmay lie against my shoulder."

  So Mr. George and Rollo placed themselves in as comfortable a positionas possible, and composed themselves to sleep. They slept several hours;waking up, or, rather, half waking up, once during the interval, whilethe diligence stopped for the purpose of changing horses. When theyfinally awoke, the sun was up high, and was shining in quite brightthrough the coupe windows.