activity, benevolence, and good sense, during
these trying times. He came to my barrack,
accompanied by all the authorities of the
district. I offered him a chair, but not the others,
who had abused and neglected me. He threw
down his cap on my bed, and, looking round
my hut, exclaimed, "Bravo, Signore Major!"
Then, turning to the authorities, he said,
"You have taken good care of yourselves;
but little of the poor." Many of the poor
presented petitions to him, which he presented
to me, at the same time telling the people,
"You have a gentleman here who knows
what is best for you." "At Saponara," he
said to the authorities, when speaking of me,
"we had not such a man to show amongst us."
This must have been a great rebuff to them;
for they had recommended the population
not to take anything of me, or they would
be put in prison. This may sound like self-
laudation, but these incidents belong to the
case.

After having fulfilled my mission amongst
those people, I prepared to leave; and, to
their honour be it said, when I bad them
adieu, they manifested the greatest gratitude,
and shed tears.

It remains for me to make some
observations which I could not well insert in my
narrative; but which will, perhaps, be of
interest to the reader. The agricultural state
of that part of the country, where I spent
most of my time, was very bad and primitive.
There were no olive nor fruit trees, but a
good deal of grain was grown, and is exported
from the province of Basilicata. A day field-
labourer will earn in these parts a carlino (or
fourpence) a-day, and this not always in
money, but in kind. For myself, I paid all
who worked at making huts, two carlini
a-day. With the exception of the great road
which runs through to Calakia, and on to
Tarentum, there are no roads, and everything
is transported on mules. Thus, from Saponara
to Portenza, a distance of, perhaps,
thirty or forty miles, it will take four days to
make the journey by the same means.
Provisions are, consequently, cheap; for there is
no market for selling the produce. I
observed a very marked difference between the
character of those who lived in these parts of
the country, which were traversed by roads,
and that of the population of those districts
which were less favoured. Nowhere,
however, were they contented with, their government;
and, in many parts they were greatly
discontented. If I were to describe the state of
the population, I should say, that they are in a
state of semi-barbarism; perhaps very similar
to that of the English several centuries
ago. Nor do I observe anything in the
ecclesiastical or civil administration of the
country at all likely to elevate them. As for
the religion, it is a modified form of paganism:
the worship of Venus under the figure of the
Madonna. There is a large statue to her
honour which remains on a high hill near
Viggiano for a great part of the year; and, in the
month of September it is visited by fifty
thousand people. The masses are as
superstitious and as ignorant as they can be,
though now and then, perhaps, persons may
be found who read more than men of the
same class do in Naples; but, it is a reading
necessarily confined to the past, and has
nothing to do with current or modern
literature.

As for priests in these districts, I do
them no injustice in calling them debased
and ignorant; I abstain from a number of
odious anecdotes which would prove it.
On the lists presented to me, I observed
attached to the names of many, Projetti
and Muli; and, the interpretation given
to me was, that they were the priest's
children. The community contributed to the
support of the children until they were
twelve years of age, when they were turned
on the streets, unless a nurse became so
attached to them, as to adopt them. Several
such children were brought to me, not
knowing themselves by any other name than
that of Muli. I spoke to a priest about it,
much regretting the state of things, and his
sole observation was, that he thought it a
very good arrangement, as the children
would be otherwise destroyed at their birth;
but at present their souls were saved by
baptism.

Of the officials with whom I met, I can speak
in no other terms than as swarms of hungry
thieves who rob the inhabitants: whether
they be clerical or civil officers, my description
is still the same; and, during the whole
of my sojourn amongst them I met with only
two priests who even spoke like honest
men. It is only just, however, to add, that
amongst the civilians I found several
authorities who were willing to face the thievish
underlings. In an especial manner I must
speak of the Intendente of Salerno and of
the Basilicata, who fully impressed me
with the idea of their being honest and able men.

With regard to myself, a daily report of
my movements was made to the police: for
this country is not so tranquil and prosperous
that a man can be suffered to wander freely
about with a bag of money at his free
disposal. It is very possible that the
gendarmes who accompanied me, were sent as
much to watch me as to protect me, though
they served me well. In fact, except to the
local and humbler authorities, my best thanks
are due for the facilities accorded to me in
my work of charity.

Different statements of the numbers who
perished by the earthquake have been given.
I believe the following to be correct. In the
very centre of the disaster there perished at
Montemurro six thousand; in Saponara two
thousand; in Viggiano one thousand; and
perhaps a thousand more in scattered
villages in the same neighbourhood. If to these